I just wanted to ask the senior members this question:
2 sprinters in a 100 meter dash. Sprinter A is faster than sprinter B. Let’s say sprinter A can run 27 mph while sprinter B can run 24 mph.
Sprinter B calls the starts. he shouts “go!” and he’s off while sprinter A reacts to his word.
Will sprinter A be able to beat sprinter B given he’s much faster, or, is it impossible for sprinter A to beat sprinter B because sprinter B has the advantage of calling the shots and reacting quicker to his own “go” thereby already covering a decent amount of distance. So, sprinter A has to play “catchup”.
The reason I’m asking this hypothetical question is because the fastest sprinters( by this i mean they go below 11) in my club usually do this 100 meter dash where one will call the start. The sprinter calling the start almost always wins with the other 3 trailing behind him but can never get past him, although, when its the coach calling the starts, the cards are dealt equally and winning the 100 is random.
I know my questions strange, but, I just had to know. Ive never seen the guy calling the start getting beaten even though they’re all technically, as fast as each other.
so only maybe? Hypothetic question again, what if in the race, a world class sprinter would participate (someone thats gone under 10)?
Is it that difficult to play “catchup” to someone calling the start?
I told you. All you loose is reaction time which will be 0.2-0.4. If they are running 9.8 you are going to have to be faster than 10.2 for them not to beat you!
but then, don’t you think the one calling the start will always be ahead even though they’re slower because:
a) by calling the start, you automatically have the advantage of predicting getting of the block therefore, you don’t have to "react’ to your own go.
b) by calling the start you have an advantage of accelerating and reaching your maximum speed earlier.
c) by calling the start you have already covered a decent amount of distance while your opponent is still reacting or accelerating to reach his max speed.
or all these things don’t really matter and even if someone did call the start, one could always beat them provided their max. speed and acceleration rate is faster?
Welcome to the Forum…Ok…I assume you’re asking this question due to your own personal experiences in training. What I would suggest is:
1:Rotate who calls the ‘go’.
2:The best way to keep it uniform is to count down from 3 and actually go on ‘1’.
3:If that person ‘insists’ that they should always call it (I have been in that situation in one of my first ever groups where I was the ‘new boy’) antisipate the start. Don’t guess. Move just before he calls the ‘go’ so that you both move at the same time. The chances are you’ll both move at the same time removing the advantage he has of knowing when to move.
At the end of the day, all of this serves no real purpose…Just focus on running relaxed and going through the phases. Some people get a ‘false’ sense of security when they come first all the time in training and calling the start and moving before everyone else makes it easier for them to run their own race why everyone else is playing catch up.
So B and C occur because of A but do not influence YOUR performance. Yuu are still only down by the time it takes you to react to the othe person’s movements or voice. To 10m maybe you will loose all the time but over 100m if you are faster by 0.2-4s you are going to beat them. Asafa Powell is always going to beat me over 60-100m because in my old age he is at least 1 second faster than me to 60m and probably 2s faster to 100m! I can’t see how I could possibly get a second on him unless i start running and then shout go!
The person who is calling is probably winding up and might call when they actually start moving, as opposed to when they start pushing.
Sounds like you could be fighting it to try and catch up with him too - if your faster, you should still be coming back to him at some point in the run.
Either way, learn to stay relaxed when you’re behind - it’s bound to happen sometime when you race anyway.
Thanks. Glad to be part of it. yep. this is part of my training. New at the game going at 1 month. Although my coach lets me do the sprints with his seasoned sprinters, I am nowhere near as fast as them. (i just noticed that the one calling the start usually wins when we do the 100 meter).
I would rather prefer they called the shots since Im the newbie lol.
2-3. Isn’t like that. The one calling the shots is moving already by the time they shout “go”. I tried moving upon hearing the “g” in the “go” once, but got called a false start.
Id pretty much follow wat u said in yor last 2 sentences. It really does serve no purpose. Id rather focus on running relaxed and perfecting the technique rather than trying to play “catch up”, but sometimes I do lose it and play into it. I guess I still fear being left totally behind(ego) which usually stiffens up my form.