I filmed myself again today, again a sort of frontal view of a 20m. accel and also a side view of the first 10 meters, I hope the angles give a reasonable view of things. Comments please!
The first things that strike me, I have no idea if they’re good or bad, maybe someone can comment (and also add what else you see!).
Arm swing opens up too much when my arm is in the middle of the swing, then seems to close up a little, but still the angle at the back is very large too. Angle up front and height to which the arm comes up seems good.
From the side shot, I do something weird with my lead arm, I first swing back and then pull it forward quickly before the first step. Is this normal for this type of start (ie the arm can only come straight forward when on the ground from blocks?).
From the side shot again, my chin is down, but my back is pretty bent, should I try to straighten the back out?
I had never timed myself doing a short accel, so this is also my first accurate timing of a short distance. With a stopwatch, I time 2.6x from first movement to when I go out of the picture, the camera is exactly at 20m., so add maybe a meter more, so this was probably 2.7x … counting the frames, it’s 45 frames from the first movement to when my shadow passes over the camera (you can see the shadow if you watch closely), so since there are 15 frames a second that gives 3.00 electronic exactly. The stopwatch timing also supports this (add .24 to 2.7x and you get around 3.0). So it’s a pretty good time? How much can one do off 2.8 with proper max v. development, 6.6-6.7ht I suppose? That would mean I’m on track for my goals if I don’t mess up
Aln,i looked at the front view alot and i think you are pushing too much! your foot plant isn’t great landing very shallow with hips low due to the OTT effort.practice your runs with a lower % and get the feeling of the arms vs legs.you are just trying way too hard.get your vcr out and look at the top guys starting pick out the basics of what they are doing and apply them to yourself.learn whats right and whats wrong.
as far as the side view,i won’t even comment because the camera is static and very hard to see.the set-up fpr your start maybe a big factor in you being soo low.
LOL!!! Yeah those old dudes are always a pain in the a–, like 1/2 of my club’s members are over 50 … so there is no shortage of these speed bumps and obstacles “exercising” on the track … lol and getting traumatized by the weird stuff I do there.
Thanks for the comments, I now see many things I didn’t see alone. I hadn’t noticed how low I’m running until you pointed it out. I hadn’t even been noticing it as of late because I’m so concentrated on improving the arm action, but I had posted about that feeling that I was sitting during accels many times in the last few months in my training journal. So now the video confirms what’s happening, I had earlier concluded this - that the problem was starting from the beginning of my runs, I stay in the low hip position after accelerating and it then hinders me in max v or speed work. If I don’t fix this I won’t be able to run my best in longer speed work, any suggestions/drills? What do you think the main problem is, some mechanical failure early on putting me in this position or just too much pushing going on (though I don’t feel like I’m doing anything strange when I run like TRYING to push). As to the start, that’s a “normal” start here, that’s how I see most “top” sprinters start here during practice sessions, lol, I’m not surprised if it’s a poor way!! What exactly do you see wrong from your perspective, I don’t know any better then that because I don’t have any other examples and videos I have are all from blocks.
As to submax sessions, my next two sessions will be submax, I had already planned that, so these submax sessions come just in time to apply what I’m learning from seeing myself on video. I’ll film myself again in 4 or 5 weeks in a 30m. to compare. At that time I’ll also film one max v session and do the same thing, analyze that and 4 or 5 weeks after film again.
Thanks again for the comments, you guys are my only source of help in this matter … there are no coaches here in Argentina who can help me in this type of technical matter and reviewing film and stuff like that … no one cares here or has the passion to take it this far and this technical. Anyway, the level is so mediocre here that coaches get away with poor mechanics and technique when they find someone who’s naturally plain fast or strong. I already trained with the “best” coaches here but I’ve just ended very disappointed with each one (my ex-coach coaches the top woman here 11.61 and a kid that’s top in the national ranking this year with 10.56, my current coach has coached 21.10 guys and is supposed to be very good about technique).
Yes, I also see it, how I sort of shift from side to side. I have to analyze that and see if it’s a problem or natural. I have scoliosis (minor, just like 1.5º) and also my right leg is a little stronger, those might be factors in why that’s happening. For example when I walk I always feel my right leg doing more work or swing faster/different then my left leg. If it’s one of these cases then I have to solve this problem from places other then mechanics, or not fix it at all if it doesn’t cause problems when running.
Firstly it looks to me, like has already been pointed out, like you are trying too hard. This is not giving yourself enough time to complete your stride. If you watch the side view in particular and advance it frame-by-frame in QuickTime you can see that you pull your trail leg through before you have completed the push off (triple extension).
I think an effort needs to be made to complete extension and drive the lead knee into the chest with the extra time. These changes will rely more on power and should also help lift your hips and give you more control in general.
I think the side-to-side swing is due to your arm action not adequatly counteracting the turning force imposed by each (opposite) leg.
Pushing too much !!! It´s all here.
Ok, you have a good frequency ( more than 4 steps/second ) but the frequency changes from Hard Surface to track.
The “school” from Video Clips is very efficient but it takes time until you develop your own skills.
I can tell that my 1 year ago starts was 10 thousands times worst than now, and i have another 10 thousands to improve.
I recorded my self more than 10 times ( Once a month ) and every time that i watch i see a new point to develop.
Take you time. You are not haveing full extension with each step. Its like you are pulling your leg too fast before you complete full extension. You need to be patiant along with being fast and strong out in the start. Let your leg give as much as it needs to be fully extended. Trying to gain frequancey faster than you need will result in you trying to force your self low and it will not be an easy issue.
Foot contact. I guess you might struggle from shin splints from time to time. I used to get shin splints a lot. But when I fixed my foot contact, I never had shin splints again even though I train very big volumes of tempo speed and plyometrics. Its really hard to explain. But just try to keep the force of the ball of the foot and tuck in some phase. Watch a slow mo of a top WC sprinter and compare to check foot contact.
Thanks for the comments. As I said before, I had never noticed or purposely tried to increase frecuency to go faster. So seeing that this is a problem I’ll have to fix it. The feeling I get from all the comments I got is that it looks like I’m forcing the pace forward and should work more on getting better impulsion and position in each stride. I also have to fix the start, I’m thinking of getting rid entirely of the chin down style start … that has just stuck from my previous training group where the coach thought his 11.xx sprinters and 13.00 girls should immitate Maurice Greene’s drive phase. For now maybe I should just do standing starts, but ensure I have proper hip position. Anyway, is there really any benefit of doing a lower start vs. a standing start. Work that emulates block angles after all should be done 1) from blocks 2) from hills. OK, lol, I think I just convinced myself, I’m dropping these low starts and only doing standing starts from now on. I had always thought doing angles closer to a block start in everything I do would reinforce the firing patterns (at least that’s what I reasoned was my previous coaches’ reasoning) and get me more used to that type of angle for when I am in the blocks. Also, regardless of the type of start I use I want to make sure my back is straighter, I must be losing a lot of power in the initial steps with the hunch I’m starting with. I think these steps will solve my most immediate and urgent problems, getting my hip up, if not my speed work will suffer.
Angle up front and height to which the arm comes up seems good.
