Unless you are a :46 or faster runner, you really can’t hold up and race well under the true Baylor system, because you spend too more time in lactate in the longer effort of 300, 350, 450, 500… I think those athletes that are :46 and faster certainly can gain a lot from the Baylor system.
I’ve been a fan of Hart for years, but he doesn’t seem to think there are any events in track other than the 400m. From what i’ve “heard” that was part of the reason why Jeremy left initially.
Surely the times can be adjusted for different levels of runner. It appears from what I’ve read that Baylor runners train at percentages of their target maximum. Anyone can do that by adjusting the times to suit them.
My only question is, with that much “intermediate” work in the 70-85% range, how do his runners maintain their speed? I think the orthodox answer is that running in that range will shift muscle fibers, and perhaps “teach” the nervous system to run at slower speeds. Yet clearly Hart has no problem harnessing speed in his athletes.
Any thoughts?
I like this quote Mortac. Can anyone familiar with the Baylor way of doing things, enlighten us on how many 45sec Hart gets straight from HS who dont make it? I’ve heard and read the rumours that plenty of the athletes break down due to the training load, but is this just a myth??
Look up Jacob Norman and his ‘progression’ to see how well the system works for short sprinting.
Could we say the opposite on how it worked great for schools like LAX and there short sprinters?
Hart’s system isn’t anything like Lax’s, unless Hart started doing hills and sleds a couple times a week during the fall on top of having a legit strength program.
Don’t know about the strength program but from what I hear there short sprinter’s sprint program is slightly different - more starts, sled work etc etc.
I looked up Jacob Norman on the Baylor website. If this is the same fellow (100 meter specialist), he did not really improve from his junior year of highschool to his last year of college.
11th grade - 10.37 (Texas state champ 100 meters)
Senior Year, 2008 - 10.29
NCAA’s 2008 - hamstring cramp in qualifying round
http://www.baylorbears.com/sports/c-track/mtt/norman_jacob00.html
So it appears whatever system Mr. Norman used did not result in steady improvement past the age of 18. But I should stress there is a lot we don’t know.
I was being sarcastic. He was a freak talent (ran 10.2fat in HS after putting his hand on the ground because of a massive stumble) that was ruined through injuries.
This is the same guy that won, yes won nationals in the 60m as a freshman, running like 6.57 or something, only to be injured every season since then.
there is a long list of guys who don’t make it in this program eventhough they have tremendous talent. did you know Darold Williamson ran 20.xx in the 200m out of high school. look at JT Scheurman now, he ran 10.39 20.7 and 46 low in high school. he has been injured constantly every year at Baylor.
Schuerman’s performance profile was nearly identical to Wariner’s out of high school yet he’s been a bust. Mark Teter was a 46.0 guy who won the Texas state meet 400m in 03 yet he never broke 47.00 while at Baylor.
Keep in mind though that Ford has been coaching the sprints exclusive from Hart for 4 years now. According to people that I have spoken with he has made some additions/alterations to the program. This is an evolutionary process by a new coach and it can’t be easy with his former coach still around. How much can he stray and how do you add speed/power work within the Hart template?
From what I heard it was Wariner’s perception that there needed to be a more balanced approach to the program with more speed oriented sessions throughout the year. Of course he did injure his hamstring while training with Ford in 08.
Not too much actually. It depend on the athlete’s 400m p.b. An athlete’s 200m p.b. is not a factor from what I have observed.
Well, if a 20+ 200 meter runner is training at a 28 pace, then he is training at 60% of his maximum. A less qulified runner, say a 23+, would therefore train at 32 seconds, which is 60% of 23.
Of course, as Charlie has pointed out, a person’s maximum fluctuates dependent upon dozens of variables, so that always must be kept in mind. A set of 28 200 meters may be hard for a 20 athlete at certain points of the season.
This kind of leaves out the fact that, in Hart’s program, people even with the same PB may come from completely different backgrounds. That seems obvious, but when someone like Mark Teter comes in from an endurance background, his 20 point 200 can be a bit different than someone like Jacob Norman who just has freaky top speed. Interestingly though, people of both backgrounds have gotten grinded out of existence by the heavy running volumes.
From what I’ve seen and heard (from someone who actually trained @ Baylor), there isn’t much change for paces unless you are going to go ahead of pace. Athletes are pretty much expected to hit pace or exceed it if of a higher caliber.
Not much different then most “tempo schools”, you would have 1000 different workout groups if you had different times for every athlete. I’m going over the line but I understand what your saying.
Hart splits his 400m runners.
One is a “200” group while the other is the 400 group. MJ, and I suspect Wariner, were in the first group. It is in fact the program that Hart was forced to develop specifically for MJ. There is at least some speed oriented training for these athletes. The 400 group is on the old program which we see splattered all over the internet. I suspect that this is how Hart would have trained a guy like Teter.
So Hart does take into account the athlete’s background, but not in a manner that I think is correct. The workload is different, but the paces and themes are generally similar.
In closing all that I can say is that we have covered Hart’s 400m training in incredible detail, numerous times on this forum. There are better ways to get it done.
I hate the way he says “strength and speed” are synonamous. Why does he call endurance strength? It should be “endurance and speed are synonamous”. I’ve often heard 400m athletes say, “oh I’ve really improved my strength from doing all this overdistance work”. Confuses the hell out of me!
I agree that is a bit confusing.