Got some updated films. They aren’t too pretty. A little bit different from the last ones I posted, new issues. I’m the one in orange shorts. Any and all criticism is appreciated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8K8i_b3qcQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLJDB6ciRdU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_lEwNZQHJc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BaNR5GUR3A
It’s hard to comment much when I have not been following your progressions and I don’t much about your training.
I don’t think you look too bad.
I see you look like you are spending too much time on the ground and I am not sure why.
You look pretty fit.
I was looking at some of your clap drills.
What comes to mind is you seem to run with a fair bit of tension. Your hips seem to looser now than in the early runs 4 months ago.
Even with the clap drills you seem to have some trouble just relaxing.
I appreciate you taking a look Ange
I feel I am very fit. And yes, my hips are more mobile now for sure, I have made sure to include hurdle mobility in my training and it’s helped a bit.
As far as upright technique, it seems my heels maybe aren’t coming up high enough now? That’s what I see. Before, I was kicking myself in the butt and on my tippy-toes, as some of you might remember.
I do feel myself still spending too much time on the ground. A few months ago, I felt like I was getting too vertical of a trajectory in my upright running. So I’ve tried to get more horizontal. However, I feel and see my hip height suffering. Part of it is me instinctively trying to keep up with my training partner’s frequency, especially evident in the first link. The second link looked best in my eyes, the knees got a little tighter fold and the knees driving higher.
Relaxing is an issue for me, and I know that may be the worst (and source) of my issues. I also understand another mistake I make is thinking too much.
Right now, early in SPP, my first comp will be 1st week of December. The drills I posted were 20m flys with 20m buildups. I have taken T’s advice and went with a 2-HI schedule. This past Monday 9/14 was SE split reps, 2x5x60 (15m limit). The other day is obviously speed work. Tempo has been 2 or 3 times per week, around 3000m a week or so. Been doing therapy more than ever, stretching, actually doing some massage (shaking stuff before sessions, deeper stuff day after HI), regular contrast showers. Hamstrings and calves have been the tightest muscle groups for me.
Curious as to what T’s thoughts are.
Not sure how I should go about adjusting my mechanics now.
This past week HI sessions (week 2 SPP):
Monday 2x5x60 (15m) wb/5min
Thursday speed - 4x20m accels, 4x20m fly from 20m, 2xFEF (15-20-15)
Mon 9/21
3x20, 2x25 accel
2x4x60 (20) 2.5/7min
Tues 9/22
1600m tempo
Wed 9/23
Hurdle mobility, stretching
You have a standing offer to come up here and work with my guys for a session. Shoot me a PM, schedule a date, and we can go from there.
T
QUOTE=Brett;252912]I appreciate you taking a look Ange
I love watching people run. And thank you for appreciating this forum as there are many people looking and watching and learning from you and me and others that have the chance to take the time and comment.
I feel I am very fit. And yes, my hips are more mobile now for sure, I have made sure to include hurdle mobility in my training and it’s helped a bit.
How fit are you? How might you be able to define this for us? Otherwise we are taking your word for it. I said you look fit but this does not mean you are.
How much hip mobility are you doing? How long have you been doing it? You don’t stop doing it by the way. You have not been training very long have you? Keep doing it even if it’s routine leg swings, side leg swings and trail leg forward and backward. I did these drills every day I training almost 100 percent of the time.
As far as upright technique, it seems my heels maybe aren’t coming up high enough now? That’s what I see. Before, I was kicking myself in the butt and on my tippy-toes, as some of you might remember.
Video really is great but it’s not telling us what we need to know. You analysis might be correct but what you think and what you are doing are going to be defined by what you know or better put how little you know.
I do feel myself still spending too much time on the ground. A few months ago, I felt like I was getting too vertical of a trajectory in my upright running. So I’ve tried to get more horizontal. However, I feel and see my hip height suffering. Part of it is me instinctively trying to keep up with my training partner’s frequency, especially evident in the first link. The second link looked best in my eyes, the knees got a little tighter fold and the knees driving higher.
If you feel like you spending too much time on the ground I wonder if you feel heavy? To me you look heavy on your feet but I bet if you were here and unloaded and then had a day or two off or of the correct work we would get a more true picture of what is going on with your sprinting. How can you feel your hip height suffering? This technical aspect of running is not easy to see and most people with the exception of few get their hips up AND are able to keep them up.
Relaxing is an issue for me, and I know that may be the worst (and source) of my issues. I also understand another mistake I make is thinking too much.
Relaxing is an issue for most or it’s the opposite which creates other issues so don’t worry about it. Charlie used to tell me that a big aspect of relaxation was a function of having the right preparation. It was true for me up to point. The thinking is something that is also a function of how you are prepared and how you feel about how you are prepared. I always ask people if they are able to remember a point in time when they felt very fast and confident. I think it’s important to have been in that place so you know what it feels like especially if you are coaching yourself.
Right now, early in SPP, my first comp will be 1st week of December. The drills I posted were 20m flys with 20m buildups. I have taken T’s advice and went with a 2-HI schedule. This past Monday 9/14 was SE split reps, 2x5x60 (15m limit). The other day is obviously speed work. Tempo has been 2 or 3 times per week, around 3000m a week or so. Been doing therapy more than ever, stretching, actually doing some massage (shaking stuff before sessions, deeper stuff day after HI), regular contrast showers. Hamstrings and calves have been the tightest muscle groups for me.[/QUOTE]
Your training that you list is not very detailed. I know very little about the duration of your actual warm up as one example. I often tell people to time their warm up every day and compare and refine and hone and record. This is the science of the one of the most important aspects of running. The warm up.
[b]It says a great deal that your hamstrings and your calves are tight. This might mean you are not adapting yet to the volume of all things. Tight calves are something to take very seriously because rehabbing a calve is not fun. I would be telling you to get your volume of tempo done in the pool at least 2/3 of the time and save yourself for the speed. If you can’t do pool then bike it. If the bike won’t work then do medicine ball extensively for a continuous duration matching the time you spend doing tempo. ( just one idea)
If Tyrone invites you to come and see him and you have no coach you need to try and do this. Adjusting your own mechanics without someone watching that knows is a tough task.[/b]
A couple of quick comments:
-Your top speed mechanics look better to my eye than your acceleration mechanics.
-You look like you’re dragging/shuffling a bit at the start, but once you get moving that seems to sort itself out.
-I think your right leg cycle is smoother than your left leg cycle, though the low frame rate makes it very difficult for me to confirm if I’m correct or not. Have you had a hip or knee injury in recent years?
How fit are you? How might you be able to define this for us? Otherwise we are taking your word for it. I said you look fit but this does not mean you are.
How much hip mobility are you doing? How long have you been doing it? You don’t stop doing it by the way. You have not been training very long have you? Keep doing it even if it’s routine leg swings, side leg swings and trail leg forward and backward. I did these drills every day I training almost 100 percent of the time.
I’ve been training since high school and 2 years in university (I am 22 now), but the past two have been on my own so it’s been a struggle to try to incorporate different things as I learn along the way. I’m doing hip mobility every session in the form of leg swings and hip rolls, a good amount as part of the warm up and between some reps too. 1-2x a week I do actual hurdle mobility. About 3-4x a week I stretch for a good half hour or so, and a lot in the hip area. I’ve also been doing myofascial release with the stick 1-2x per week usually the day after a HI session. I’ve been doing contrast showers 3-4x a week as well.
If you feel like you spending too much time on the ground I wonder if you feel heavy? To me you look heavy on your feet but I bet if you were here and unloaded and then had a day or two off or of the correct work we would get a more true picture of what is going on with your sprinting. How can you feel your hip height suffering? This technical aspect of running is not easy to see and most people with the exception of few get their hips up AND are able to keep them up.
The way I would describe my running is very ‘level’, not much undulation.
Your training that you list is not very detailed. I know very little about the duration of your actual warm up as one example. I often tell people to time their warm up every day and compare and refine and hone and record. This is the science of the one of the most important aspects of running. The warm up.
Warm up is slow jogging, usually 800m, I follow this up with shaking the muscles, and doing leg swings. I do short, sharp stretches in walking movements (similar to Donovan Powell’s) like reaching down and stretching the hamstring or pulling the knee up towards the chest while walking for example. Just short and brief, feeling where I’m at. And then power speed drills (buttkicks, running A’s, dribbling, skipping, straight legs).
It says a great deal that your hamstrings and your calves are tight. This might mean you are not adapting yet to the volume of all things. Tight calves are something to take very seriously because rehabbing a calve is not fun. I would be telling you to get your volume of tempo done in the pool at least 2/3 of the time and save yourself for the speed. If you can’t do pool then bike it. If the bike won’t work then do medicine ball extensively for a continuous duration matching the time you spend doing tempo. ( just one idea)
Thanks again for all the the insights Ange. I usually do my tempo on grass, but since there’s been like only like 5 days of rain in the past two months, the ground is pretty hard. The past week or two my calves have gotten a bit better from the massaging, contrast showers, and stretching more of course. My gastrocs are usually not too bad, my soleus tend to tighten up easier though.
It is smoother on my right leg, not sure why as I’ve never had any major injuries to my left side, but I can say that my left leg is definitely tighter than the right one, especially in the biceps femoris.
Update on technique, your review would be much appreciated. There are 5 total videos from this:
These are fly-ins that I do, beginning with about 3m of a runoff downhill, which get me upright, then i build my speed even more on the flat for about 20-30 more meters, and the fly zone is 20m.
Been a while since I gave an update on here. A season, in fact.
In January 2016, I ran a PB of 7.15 in a 60m prelim. It was one year to the day where I ran a 7.7. So obviously, a lot of issues were sorted out. But not all.
It was over 4 years since I PB’d in 2012 with a 7.20.
First, the question is, how in the world did I go from 7.20 to 7.7? Well, obviously, this is a multi-headed monster. Back when I ran that, I was training on a team with other D1 athletes. I was never taught/coached much on technique. And most of all, I didn’t think nearly as much. I had fast people to run with all the time, and so, I just ran to beat them. These things promoted relaxation and confidence for me.
However, in the years to follow, I was left to train alone. For numerous reasons, my confidence suffered. I started off doing way too much volume, and going HI to frequently. Not only that, but my technique suffered dramatically as well - which a lot I can attribute to thinking too much (and about the wrong things, like, “run on your toes”) and not having a training partner did not help either. My backside mechanics maximized, my frontside mechanics minimized. I was fried from having 3 high intensity sessions per week (I stuck to the plan to a T or even ADDED volume unfortunately), which had too much volume per session to effectively recover and supercompensate from, as well as no true max velocity work. At the time of running that 7.7, I also had recently moved that week and so there was some stress that probably contributed to how slow I had become. Literally, tippy-toed strikes prematurely in front of the body, flicking the heel all the way up hitting the butt before the recovery leg even got even with the stance leg - and not only achieving this poor position, but doing so late into ground contact. Combine these factors - improper training, poor technique, lack of relaxation and confidence, along with a garbage reaction and a slower track, and it added up to over 7.7 for me. Yes, once a collegiate athlete now running slower than some high school females.
Some of you know how I went about correcting these issues. One of the first things was fixing the extreme tippy-toes. Even in tempo I would do it. I had to learn to relax and do just a simple fast jog. I quickly adopted a 2-HI plan with a big reduction in volume, and had much more of an emphasis on max v work. I increased my quantity and quality of therapies - primarily self massage/rolling, and things like contrast showers as described in Ange’s blog. Simply put, I tried to make sure I was more prepared to run fast for the given training session. Versus forcing it, like before. With a 2-HI it obviously made it much easier to shift a HI day ahead if I needed more recovery. Trying to err on the side of caution, I started eliminating reps if I figured or even just second-guessed if my next rep would be just as fast. Really, just understanding the basic principles and actually applying them was really all. Common sense for the most part. Aside from that, of course I’ve made a lot of technical changes since, with regards to frontside mechanics in particular. And simplifying my thought process in cuing - just step down, cock the foot, lead arm forward at the start. Again, really hacking away at the nonessentials and doing less to accomplish more - roughly something I remember CF quoted about Bruce Lee.
Well though I ran a PB in the prelim that day, in the final I ran a 7.3. It should have been sub 7 though. I already arrived late and got through probably less than half of my warm up. The race really felt like the warm up. I was surprised at the time, because not only did I hardly get to warm up but my start was terrible. I have had terrible starts all year. But my max V was what got me to break my PB, as I was actually making up ground on some 6.8-high guys during the final 10-20m. Had I had the same start as I did when I ran my 7.20 four years prior, it would have been a massive PB. Subsequently this winter after there were no more meets, I had ran some 6.9’s in training. But this was a real confidence booster. Still, I ended up thinking too much about getting a good start in the final “ooohhhh if I could just get a good start in the final I’ll run sub-7!” …Forced it. Ran 7.3. Felt like I was on the ground forever, hips never got high enough. And so it prevented me from getting into my max v too. Another lesson learned.
Outdoor this year was another story, I ran in I believe it was 3 meets, all with headwinds and cold/or rain and the times were only 11.6-11.8. During this summer though, I got to train with a consistent 11.3 guy and I was beating him by a small margin every time. So over the course of this past year, though it wasn’t the most successful it could have potentially been, I have gained a lot of confidence and learned a lot.
I really wish I had body awareness like you to know when to eliminate reps. It’s amazing that you were make all those technical changes on your own, like front side mechanics, and even making major improvements on max velocity. Thank you for being inspiring, congratulations on your PR, and best of luck on your next season, even the outdoors.
Well I’m still working on all of it. Sure, there are sessions where you realize afterward that you shouldn’t have ran that next rep. But you learn from it. Part of it too is that I have a Freelap and so I have accurate times on my runs. This also has helped me to determine what kind of day I’m really having and when to end the session.
I think the moral of my story is to not overthink or overdo things in general. That’s how I went backwards. Seriously, keep it all simple. Don’t complicate things and you’ll head in the right direction.
Thanks kwave, I was hoping that this could help others. If anyone has read my story, you’ll see just how frustrated I was, for such a long time. Part of it was not taking full advice, being hesitant to take criticism, and, continuing to overthink things. When all I had to do was simplify things. I think that, when we feel hopeless, we tend to go to extremes to get out of the hole. Like cranking up volume, forcing things in general, etc. When you really just need to find what worked, what didn’t work, and how things can work better. Also, sometimes, it’s not WHAT you’re exactly doing, but HOW you are doing it that can make the biggest difference.
I hope I’m not overthinking…I’ve been very busy with work and all recently, and haven’t had as much time to think about training.
Clearly things have to be done differently when in a desperate situation, but as you stated, often it is done poorly and makes things worse. Hopefully I can do it wisely like you did and get good results.
This is spot on, Brett! I have recently been coming to the same realization for myself. I like where you mentioned in an earlier post that you are focused on getting yourself prepared for the next speed session and making it of the highest quality. My biggest year-to-year gain was with a similar guiding principle. I’ve found myself trapped by “the numbers” over the years, as well: “I have to get tempo running in today, otherwise I won’t hit my target weekly volume.” Same can be said for the speed work: “I need to get at least N reps.” While I still track my volume, I truly believe that it isn’t the main guide. Rather, aim for quality of work and use volume only to ensure you’re not doing too much. If anything, think of it as “my total volume must be LESS THAN OR EQUAL to plan.”
Simple is often the way to go. The body is complex, but that doesn’t necessitate training be overly complicated. The #1 goal is to run fast. All other training elements must support this goal. Rest as needed; self-massage as needed; and develop general fitness only to the extent that it does not impede speed gains. I’ve definitely overdone tempo work and general conditioning in the past, where I entered the following speed day in a less than optimal state. Of course, the balance of these items will vary throughout the training year: it’s ok to spend a little more capacity on general fitness during the GPP phase. But when you’re trying to push the envelope of speed, everything else must play a supporting role.
Running fast is fun. Tell yourself that you’re fast. Visualize winning before each rep. Sprint and have fun. Good things happen when you enjoy training.
Are you a 400m runner?