With all these bad starts it prompted me to go back to the tapes and review what my start looks like. I’ve known for a long time looking back that there was something that just wasnt clicking with them. The angles just werent popping out when you watched it and it showed in the acceleration. I havent actually really attempted to change anything technically on my start in a long time now.
What the tapes have shown me when I slow motion them is that my front arm action is really open. So instead of having a nice arm split of 90 degrees at the elbow or whatever elbow flexion is optimal for the start, I’m more down towards 170 degrees. Nothing like my profile picture, now that I look at it.
So what I’m seeing is happening is that I’m pretty much reaching out with my front arm in the direction of running motion sort of like my rear arm action. The thing that is causing the problem is the front leg. As what I suspect is either a result of the arm action or a relationship with the arm action, is that my front knee angle is open as well. So instead of striking the ground behind my center of gravity, I’m pulling it. You can see it pretty clearly in some start videos I took at the end of the summer.
With this in mind, I’m going to make some technical tweaks that will hopefully help out quite nicely along with some new start videos. I’m going to stick to the original competition arrangement that I set up initially so my training wont change much. I know its easy to get carried away with the analysis but I think I’ve pin pointed something pretty specific that I can implement and observe what happens.
My legs are still pretty sore from the meet, so tomorrow is going to be a good recovery day.
Thursdays workout was a little bit tougher then I’ve been doing. I did a bunch of block starts and ended up with 3 flying runs over about 40m. I’m competing in a 4x200 relay today, which is more of a practice run to get the passing down for the next few competitions.
I’ve got 3 more meets to run the 60m in. I’d prefer that the middle one be the best run of the 3 because the competition will be the best, the surface is really fast, I’ve set pb’s there in the 60 2 years in a row.
The last of the 3 meets is my area champs, which will be an easy win since no one around here runs faster then 7.30. So no need to save my top form for that meet.
So with thursday and today these will be the last of my substantial workouts. Everything in between will now be very low volume and maintenance between meets. I’ve found that the meets take a huge toll on my body and taking it easy during the week will be necessary if I want to hit top form.
My workouts will consist of either a warm-up a few days out before the competition or some block starts with some cleans to keep fresh but not create any sort of fatigue. The meets themselves will be the training in between.
That 4x2 went ok, my run was great but our passing was awful, probably tagged on 2 full seconds on our passes. The guy I was passing to just took off on me, and I was dying quickly.
For the outdoors what I want to focus on is my start and hit some really decent SE. My goal for now is to be consistently faster then my current pb. An exact time will depend on how well I do in the indoor season.
The next few meets I’d like to be at my best at so this is what im doing to get there.
Sat- Competed in a 4x200m relay ( wouldnt say this was a maximal stimulus because we were running alone, so it was more of a practice 200m)
Sun- Hurdle mobility
3x4 Bench press
Today:Tempo 10x100m, 2x3 cleans
Tuesday: Warm up, 2x20m submaximal block starts
Wednesday:Tempo 10x100m, 2x2 Bench press
Thursday: Warm up
Friday: Travel
Saturday: Compete
My korean friend said he might come down to the meet this weekend. If so it will give me some good competition to run against. I was initially use this meet as a technical practice to try out some technical adjustments in race, but this should be a good opportunity to run a fast time.
If possible, but at this point I’d be happy with a 6.8s. I’m lowering the speed volume to maintenance, racing once a week and maintaining CNS stimulation with frequent low volume workouts. The tempo is dirt slow, like jogging really at this point. I dont have many meets left and I still need a 6.8 to qualify for the national champs. So I’m looking for peak freshness at these next meets. The lifts will hopefully maintain the CNS and the racing will be the training for the most part.
Thanks I’ll go check out the 10day taper thread. You know where I was headed with that. My only reasoning for the really low speed vol. is that I find that it takes me forever to recover and feel fresh, and I need incredibly low volumes of work to get there.
But we’ll see, nothing is set in stone yet. Maybe I’ll increase the volume slightly on tuesday but keep the next days as is.
I wouldn’t make major changes, trust me you will be fresh but flat which is a bad thing. You want to make small drops in volume.
I am starting my comp season this week, since I got therapy today I’m gonna make a small change in my training this week by adding a neural session instead of a true second speed session. I’m doing this to see will it help loosen my hamstring before racing on Sat.
First week of comp:
Speed session 1:
3x30 sled last week of pulls.
2x60 30/30
pc
db jsq
bp (lighter on the bp, because I went up to 345 last Sat after my race)
The speed stuff looks good but it really depends on what you have been doing the weeks prior. I know CF says you can spread the lifts out once you start to taper but I prefer to keep them on the speed days just to be safe, esp if you can’t get therapy every day.
Example:
Wk 1-3:
3x30
3x70
Week 4:
3x30
3x60
Week 5:
4x30
2x60
Week 6
5x30
1x60
The above example seems to work well for me, small drops in volume.
Just got home from the meet. It didnt go so hot. First I’ll say that my goal for this meet, since there was no real competition for me was to get some good starts and test out my pre-comp preparation.
Both of those things went well. I had a fantastic start, in one race at least, and felt sharp as hell!
With that being said heres what went down.
The heats, got out well was way ahead of the field at 20m, cruised in for a 7.19s easy heat.
The finals, we’re in set, the guy next to me twitches really badly, and it made me react, almost fell from my blocks, managed to stay in them though. I was about to just stand up after that point because we had been in set for a while and the guy next to me totally messed me up. Then the gun went off and when I saw the guys out in front of me I figured I should start running. I could see their 2nd steps while I was in set. It was that bad.
What a mess of a race. I ended up running them all down but my time was garbage, not even worth mentioning.
So some positives. The meet this weekend is here, so no travel required and there will be some good competition. I’m going to turn it on for that.
I ended up running a 7.16 and 7.12. Nothing fantastic.
I realize now that my goals were a little lofty, but I like to set them high to begin with. The quest for 6.7 will be ongoing.
My start stinks, but I think I’ve made some good technical advances that I have yet to try in a competition because they are not quite stable yet. I just ended up running the hell out of those races.
I have one meet left this season and I’m going to run it like hell.
The good news is that I’ve got a technical coach for this summer, which will be a huge benefit. The 60 is a tough beast without a decent start. I think I’m more of a 100-200 guy. Unfortunately there arent any open 200m run indoors around here.
I think I’m going to move up this summer to the 200m. I think with my longer limbs and decent top speed that I’m a little more suited for the 200. I’ve just never really given it a chance.
Reflecting over this past season I think I’ve learned alot and have figured out many things. I’m hoping to apply those things to the upcoming outdoor season and run some fast times.
Leading up to my last race of the indoor season and my prep looks like this:
Sat: Race
Sun: Off
Mon- Hurdle mobility and Tempo
Tues-Off
Wed-Easy starts, couple of easy 60m, easy sets of cleans
Thurs-Off
Fri-Warm up, starts
Sat-Compete
After this I’m going to re-evaluate where I’m at and what I need to do for this summer.