I am a relative of the sprinter Brendan Christian of Univ of Texas. The problem has been for 2 seasons " How to hold or improve on your best performance."
As a senior in high school he peaked
at the Texas State Meet 10.15 + 2.4 and 20.32 +2.4. He held the form 2 weeks later at Golden West 20.30 over the very best US high schoolers (Kelly Willie and Jeremy Wariner) but only 1 week later could run only 10.45 +0.1 and 20.97 to finish second. Took a break but never found his top form and ran 20.73 at World Juniors…
This Year he peaked at the big 12 championships and ran 20.28 -0.6 beating the indoor and outdoor Ncaa champion (leo bookman), but in as little as 1 week later felt weak at regionals and ran poorly and was not able to regain form for the ncaa’s finishing 5th in 20.74. This would be great for most freshmen but the sudden loss of form after peak is bewildering. He was expecting a range of 20.20- 20.50 based on the conditions. Could it be a need for several days of rest after big meets or perhaps increased in workout intensity or perhaps even a missing nutritional nutrient. It will be interesting to see how he will overcome this. My feeling is that his small frame wears down after several weeks of hard training and running.
Tradewinds this happens all the time not just with your friend. A pr is run and then a week later it looks like the athlete has seemly crashed. The truth is I dont believe its his small frame that causes this, but for the sake of asking does he lift? After a pr the performance level is brought done and overcompensation has to take place return these levels to normal or to a higher level. This will in turn let him improve on his pr. What Im trying to say is maybe he needed more then 7 days to be fully recovery to hit another peak time. Maybe a rest week was needed? But in college you can’t conrol this. You have to run the meets the coach calls for. Also you can only hold your peak for a certain number of weeks anyways. Then its back to training. Goodluck, he’ll be alright.
i understand this about stress being placed on the central nervous system.how would u explain cases like this people who run 5to 7 races in like a 1 week period and consistent even pring each run
Yes you need to have rest after a pb, maybe for 5 days if there is a meet the next week and get the legs moving with run throughs and short speed work leading into the next comp.