Long term strategies for youths.

Coaching Forums
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3: Is his inability to hold his speed through the rounds to the final in Athens related to his training or was it only bad race tactics (which were clear beyond any arguement

I think you are spot on here CF. IMO, his weakness is his head. If he can get it right he runs an awesome race.

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yes, sorry, Asafa just triggered all these…
the first thing that came to my mind when reading these questions was the thread about Zhanna; although she didn’t necessarily use such an approach/distances, the way she was using the shorter ones (at least as described on that thread) did not target her weaknesses, i.e., last 20-30m and tightness; it’s an one-off situation, right?

  1. strength? maybe yes, but definitely not the kind needed… not claiming to be an expert, i’ve just tried such approaches -or rather was “forced” to- and didn’t work AT ALL!
  2. none, as i think the 400m speed of a 100m runner approaches more that of intermediate, rather than Speed End. pace, or even worse Special End -an unecessary element to train for
  3. his age, lack of experience and over-excitment on such a big occasion might all add to the above points, and
  4. the closer to peak performances, i suppose not… too confusing for the body, i think :confused:

comments?

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Thanks Formula for showing this article. I would read with care anything written by Galina Bukharina, she was a Soviet sprinter (11.4) in the late '60s and later coached 400m greats Marya Pinigna and Olga Nazarova.
A similar article, written by Fedorets in 1989 (?) , coach of Bryzgina, deals more specifically on 400m training at various age, following the same text structure as Coach Bukharina’s article.

The first thing to keep in mind with USSR and GDR teens preparation is that school program was adapted to sport program, as opposed in most of other country systems. Physical and psychological progresses were checked scientifically and tests were used to rank pupils, the best be selected to more and more specific and intensive programs. All this based on decades of experience and unity between ALL coaches and scientifics (i mean rivalry was not as hard as today between coaches who kept their knowledge as secrets).

About Asafa Powell, one thing is sure, that 400m was a bad idea as half of his group get injured during that competition. Also, Athens Games were a great example of what do to through the rounds, see who did the show with mind games in qualification rounds (several re-accelerations during races) and see the rankings in Final.

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Meaning? Sorry, but I can’t recall…

Thanks!

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Meaning that he (and Crawford) were being show-offs in the heats and blew their load before the final. Nobody will remember who ran what in the heats and anyone of the competitors who can be influenced by heat times will blow up in the final anyway.

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What happened with Powell for the 200 final, anyway, why’d he pull out? From what I recall, his cockiness (and I guess inexperience) almost got him knocked out of the heats in the 200. He was in lane 3 I think, and looked to his right in the last 20 metres (and decelerated to a jog), meanwhile, the guy in lane 1 closed quickly and almost relegated Asafa to a fifth place finish. Did he forget that most of the athletes in the heats don’t save themselves for the later rounds (because its not certain they’ll get through)?

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Yep, and in Sydney, Mo and Ato were critisized because they said they played a game during 100m heats, trying to qualify with the slowest time possible. People thought it was disrespectful to the other sprinters. But it is just about strategy. However, Boldon couldn’t ran slower than 10.04 but strong wind helped him. Mo started with 10.31. From his 9.87 in Final, it is 95.7%. Ato followed in QF and SF in 10.11 and 10.13, Mo in 10.10 (97.7%) and 10.06 (98.1%). You can’t run 4 races in 2 days at 100%. Guess who finished 1-2 in Sydney?

4 years earlier in Atlanta, where was Bailey in qualifying rounds? Behind Fredericks and Boldon who ran so easely sub10s.
4 years earlier in Barcelona, Christie opened in 10.48, which is 95% of his Final time…
4 years earlier in Seoul, Ben 10.37 (94.4%), 10.17 (96.3%), 10.03 (97.6%), 9.79.

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This was about John Smith being smart, particularly with Ato, who always over-qualified. this way Ato and Mo could relax and ignore the rest.
Have any of you seen Ben’s round one out of Seoul- it is truly shocking to see how incredibly easy that was. He turned off at 30, yet was so relaxed he kept pulling away for another 30m or so before almost walking across the finish line.

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Charlie,
The other importent point about Ben’s opening round that you pointed out at the Ashville seminar was that most of the sprinters in that heat were capable of running the time that Ben did, but because they struggled to keep up with him for the first 30m they tightened up and ran much slower than they were capable of running.

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Yes my cousin and I watch it and ALWAYS end up laughing at the fact that he looks like he is JOGGING. There is no urgency in the actual movement of his arms and legs but he killed the opposition. His “plyometric bounce” is amazing.

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Have a video??