Question for charlie francis and others

Hello Mr. francis,
I have been done to track meets already and my time has been detiorated completely. both times for the 100 metres are 14 secs.According to people that have been watching me run, they say I run flat footed, I do not stay low, I do not accelerate from the start and I do not lift my knees.I was wondering as to what i can do to change these problems because i have another meet in june. My other problem is that after the start and someone will be leading by 5 metres and i will just let the person beat me and i would like to know what i can do about that. Thank you

Start fighting! Use your arms violently! Forward! Forward!

…this has helped me!

Acceleration is always about fighting. If you stop fighting you are done for!
Sprinting is about being aggressive right from the very start and as obvious as it sounds some people have to learn how to do it.
It took me well over a year to really understand this and put it to good use. Suddenly it dawned upon me: “Your not fighting! Your not doing any work!”
I was holding back, waiting for top-speed. That is where I wanted to invest all my physical energy. That is where I invested all my mental energy. But what good is top-speed if you can’t reach it first!

Remember it is nothing radical, just good old-fashioned aggressiveness! Try it and see if it works for you too!

If you’re running 14 sec in the 100m, you can hardly be surprised if someone is 5 meters ahead right away, and there’s nothing you can do about that- except get to work and improve overall.
As for fighting! Give me a break. The oldest rule in the sprint book is to run with optimal form, no matter what happens! If you get a great start- terrific. If you get a bad one, too bad- but you must run with the same optimal form all the same! There’s a big difference between fighting and aggressive good form.

you must run with the same optimal form all the same! There’s a big difference between fighting and aggressive good form.

I meant, of course, fighting the urge to stop working. It was meant as a mental cue in preparation for a run.
I have to fight my own habit of not being aggressive!

Speedmaster,is there a big difference in your performances in training and competition?

I think there is a difference because i perform really well in practice and get slow on competition.On competition i react to late after the gun is fired.

When you are in the blocks, don’t think about anything except getting out. Any noise that you hear come from the starters direction…go.

What about after the gun is fired? Upright and struggling? Do you feel like you give it all you’ve got but still move as in slow-motion?

Maybe the best way to describe it is as a lack of determination when running.

It could be that you, like me, are suffering from this even in practice, but to a lesser extent than in competition and so it really doesn’t become apparent in the times recorded.
If this is so what happens in competition is just the result of what happens in practice and should be resolved there first. That is what I am working on at the moment.