How much power do you loose in the cold?
I was absolutely pathetic on the track today. No matter how relaxed I where I just couldn’t run a good race.
The only time I felt good was during the acceleration with which I end my warm-ups.
Also when I did a couple of short accelerations between two runs I ran 40-meters half a second faster than before…
Was I the victim of the cold? It was 0 degrees C and a slight wind today. The coldest day so far.
Here are a couple of webcam-quality shots from todays session. The spot on the ground marks 30-meters.
I think I look better than before. More relaxed and slightly better knee-drive.
Still I only covered the last ten meters of this 40-meter run in 1.2 - 1.3 seconds. The slowest I have ever been recorded…
I took between 4.5 and 4.8 steps during those ten meters.
A bit earlier in the run.
Thor i have been keeping tabs on your form over the past few months and slowly its falling apart and will do so even further if you continue to run like so.
in the double sequence shots your leg action isn’t opening up as they should because…well just look at your arm range!! keep the range in the arms at roughly 90’ front and back.on the up-stroke hand in front of you not into your shoulder as you are now.on the back-stroke try to aim for 90’ angle on full completion.
i think you are not understanding “relaxed running” completly.relaxed running dosen’t mean you being like “jelly”.keep your form strict but don’t force the movement.tense your fist as tight as you can and hold for 10secs,now release and thats relaxed.you feel the difference!
just make sure you get full extension of the arms and the legs will follow.you have sound mechanics as we all have seen before but concentrate on what i’m telling you.full range!
X-man, thank you for your answer. I agree with you very much. I didn’t mean to imply that I was happy with the way I look in those images and I’m sorry that is how it came through. I only meant to comment on the actual relaxation, not the overall execution.
(The truth is that I was so dissapointed with my running that it nearly came to a fight with my brother who did the filming.)
Your answer confirms my suspicion that I was pussyfooting the whole way. My brother who saw me run for the first time in months wondered why the intensity was so low, but I actually gave it my all!
Still the lift I have been experiencing in the last couple of weeks never happened.
The thing is that during that warm-up acceleration on the grass I actually got the lift, which my brother where quick to point out. He also said that I was getting better range in my arms than ever before, which no doubt is what makes the lift happen. I think the cold got to me when on the track.
So the images that should have shown me with better range than before, because of improved relaxation, ended up showing me with less range than ever. I hope to be posting some other images in a couple of weeks time.
Once again, thank you, I was counting on you!
don’t be disappointed at all as the only way is to improve.i have seen myself run at times and i know how the feelings are but you got to understand whats happening and how you can improve the movement.the mind makes you think you are doing X movement until you actually see it for yourself,thats when you see the truth.when your mind and body are in synch thats when you’ll start doing things because you have total understanding and proer visualisation of whats happening through watching clips of your running etc.
look at my picture of carl lewis,now thats full range.strive for a full extension something similiar to that.
Thor
I’m not sure from the pics. They seem OK to me except the arm comes in to the torso too much in the front. Can we get a vid clip? Yes if you’ve had a cold for a few days you’ll be very weak and you’ll gain more in the long run by staying in bed for a day or two!
Wait, now I’m confused, is this about a “cold” or being in the cold?
I have got a video-clip in quicktime format. The size is 2,1 mb, but I haven’t got anywhere to upload it. It is not of a very good quality though.
I look really powerless at the start. No real arm-drive and I think I get upright to soon because of it.
I meant cold weather by the way.
Sorry. My fault! It was the cold TEMP.
In that case, assuming you’ll have warmer conditions available other days, if it is especially cold, you could work mainly on short accels.
Here’s the clip. It’s a quicktime-movie - the native format. If I convert it to another format the quality gets even worse.
To me it looks like a lack of arm-drive makes the start very slow and more upright than needed. I accelerate okay I guess, but when I pass the 20-meter mark I stand up and just cruises for the next 20 meters, making it look like a 20 meter fly.
I hope you can download it. Right click and save.
When it is THAT cold, your muscles are not going to have their normal range of motion due to hypothalamic response. Your body’s attempts to keep itself warm and its regulation of muscle length are linked by the same mechanism.
Initially this will have its greatest impact on the higher speed portion of your workout because this requires greater range and also, very importantly speed of motion. These qualities are greatly affected by the inhibition mechanism in your muscles due to the cold.
As it gets colder, this will of course extend to acceleration until it become pointless to do any type of sprint work outdoors at all.
The solution? An indoor facility.
Going to your video, you can see this pretty clearly how you start “twinkle toeing”, running like you are on a slippery surface. This is because your body is trying to protect its muscles by reducing your range through inhibition.
I have gained access to an indoor track now. Only 40-meters and one lane, but I get to use spikes. It is a kind of “mondo-mat” that is lowered into the floor of a gym.
All I need now is somewhere to run a few 60’s.