This last season was quite an enigma for me as a coach. This is the first year I have ever had an athlete, my top three to be exact, to take such a large step back. All three are different ages ranging from 16-18. They have all ran track for at least 4 years. I have coached girls and boys for a long time and clearly aware of the ups and downs of the developing female athlete, although not an expert. What is so interesting is that I strongly urged the 3 to invest in a new, full plate spike. Each had worn out their olds spikes to brittle and I firmly believed that each would benefit from a supportive, full plate spike. The reviews weree great online about these shoes and I have watched collegiate and professionals wear the same shoe. Different nikes but mostly the Zoom Jah.
Now the control group, albeit unintentional, kept their previous half-plate spikes from previous season. Each of them ran personal bests in their respective races 100-400 with the same training regimen as the previously mentioned. As a matter of fact, they went 1,2, and 3 in the 400 conference championships. Whereas my other girls struggled to make finals in their races and ran at least .5 slower than their average times throughout the season. It was painful to watch especially since one of the girls won the 100 in conference the last two seasons and was no where close to her best by the end. Their strength levels in the weight room improved dramatically, their overall fitness was great and they never complained of excessive fatigue. Their body weight remained the same or even dropped from the previous season with intentional changes in diet offseason to improve results and cut unecessary body fat. Nothing extreme in this area at all.
One thing they each had in common was…new spikes!! Could it be the shoes?? What the *#!@ happened!!!
I understand that this is probably not an ideal thread but I am hoping to understand this a bit more. Is it possible that this sort of plate might expose a strength defficiency in the calf, achilles, or foot muscles? Bold…et al…I can always rely on you guys for quality responses. I hope you can help
It’s possible it’s the spikes, I find when I sprint that I never feel as ‘high’ on my feet wearing my half plate training spikes as I do when I’m wearing my full plate competition ones.
It could just be that their new spikes simply don’t fit as well? I’ve always used Nike spikes, and infact I ran my 200m PB in Nike Zoom Ja’s last season. Now using the Adidas Prime Finesse sprint spike, which just seems to fit my feet better (I have relatively narrow toes for a size 11)
I read somewhere that 1mm of movement of the foot within your spikes equates to 0.1s lost time for every 100m run.
Or it might simply be that they are just not used to the different running technique required to fully utilise the stiffer full plate?
With the current discoveries in nano technology and new materials, we might get more dependent on technology, such as in faster tracks and better shoes.
Its funny though, that the shoe design change from year to year, it’s almost like the shoe companies want us to buy more
I think the optimal design varies from person to person though. And it could very well be the shoes that is the problem. I once coached some high jumpers (15-17 yo) and told them to get high jumping shoes because they where jumping in normal/all-round. But it took much longer to get used to as I though, it took a whole season to get adjusted to the new spikes. So they should have waited until off season before switching.
I would like to borrow the thread a bit and ask if someone have any advice in new spikes for me. I weight over 200 punds (97kg) and have an extensive heel strike. So I would like to have a bit more robust shoe, with some elastic material for heel cushion, to get more springiness.
I appreciate your input NFS. I will respectfully ask you to start a separate thread. This is a serious issue for me and I would like to keep the replies (what few there are) on track. You bring up an interesting point however. There might be a longer adjustment period than I anticipated. I wonder how many others have experienced this.
Judging by your facetious response Bold, this may not be worth firing up the synapses. So would shoe selection not be an issue for an advanced athlete; they just buy what they like and not be concerned with adjusting?
One would think that it couldn’t be the shoes… our 400m girls almost exclusively wear Nike JA w/o issue.
However I have seen a few girls switch from flatter shoes such as Asics cyber jump to Nike LJ and subsequently come through the last 10m .05 (or more) slower.
Do you know specifically which spike each girl had? I would think that the amount of ‘negative heel’ would have as much or more of an effect than a half plate vs a 3/4 or full plate. Sometimes 3/4 or full plate shoes are just too restrictive for some people.
They all had last year’s version of Nike Jah Fly, the $100+ version, full plate. Can you talk more about the restrictiveness of a shoe? They said it forces them to stay on ball of foot so I thought that to be a good thing. One thing that I considered is if a sprinter is not ready to support themselves in that position or push off with that kind of action then buying more expensive shoes is a moot gesture.
A friend of mine trained in full plate spikes in all his speed based track sessions as well as competing and is times dropped back, two weeks after dropping back to half plate for speed sessions (he used full plate for acceleration and max speed still) he was getting personal bests. This athlete has a history of calf problems.
Yeah I’ve always felt that shoes like the JA which has a negative heel force you to stay on your toes. I’ve found that good for 100/200 in general. However if you get fatigued when running in then then they will almost pivot your back on your heel then all your lower leg efforts become not damaging your achilles instead of good sprint performance.
Personally (if I’m sprinting) I don’t like such negative-heeled shoes for sprints…especially not longer sprints. I prefer a flatter plate like the Nike Jsc or old Adidas Powersprints (2002) regardless of plate length.
That being said, I would think that an 8week or so period may be enough to adapt to the Nike JA. Personally with the JA, I’ve found its main benefit is forefoot support (stability/anti-pronation/anti-supination) and keeping you on your ‘toes’ (such as for 100H races).
I have heard from many sources that the full length plate can cause problems for some with the Achilles. Doing a search on the net brings up many such sources of information.
About 1.5 years ago I bought a pair of the new Nike Zoom Superfly R4 full plate sprint spikes for my daughter, who then age 14, and this was about her 5th set of sprint spikes… she tried wearing them and getting used to them, but after awhile, they still hurt her Achilles on both legs, so I told her not to wear them anymore.
The spike she wears most often, she has had for 4 years… ASICS Prima Diva 2… just a medium priced average spike, but she likes the fit and feel.
This is a “full length plate”, but it is somewhat flexible, unlike the very stiff Nike plate.
She wears a size 7/womens or 5.5/mens, which limits on what spikes she can get… many that she would like to try don’t go down to her size.
She will soon be in the market for a sprint spike upgrade for winter indoor track and next years outdoor season… hopefully some new spikes that will work for her, will be coming out at the beginning of the year.
My spikes always had a small heel for cushion.
Some spikes don’t have that you will notice.
Another option is an insert but this is something you must try over and over to experiment. I would not recommend doing too much drastically on my own as shoes have specifics and it might be best to get a clear recommendation opposed to trial and error which could be cheaper but painful.
What components ensure an effective spike for sprinters?
Coach Charlie Francis believed that spikes have to move as naturally as possible with the foot and not against the foot. A full plate spike might not move as easily with the mechanics of the foot depending on the type of material used on any given spike.
In general terms you will find a more thoughtful design spending more money but I do not think that cost should be the only determining factor. Be careful if you think spending more will give you a better spike. The Bend Test = Charlie insisted that the spikes we wore passed a bend test. Simply hold the spike and ensure the movement at the junction of the toes moves easily. I recommend this same test for running shoes. I rarely buy any shoe that does not move with my foot. Cheaper shoes tend to use less pliable materials that are less performance oriented.
During competition season I only wore running shoes. Wearing " normal " shoes were hard on my feet. I might have worn dress shoes once or 2 x per year. Explaining this concept to non competitive athletes is difficult but athletes are looking for small gains everywhere.
The sprinting movement of the foot as well as consistent daily training depends a great deal on the health , mobility and strength of the foot. One reason you want the spike moving with your foot is to prevent stress on the Achilles tendon. I know Charlie had very strong feelings about the relationship between " harder" spikes and lower calf, Achilles and issues with ankles and shins. Ease of movement is important in a spike because it will allow the proper mechanics of the foot. Any restriction of movement creates stress which prevents or takes away from the execution of drills and training.
I do not think you want to wait to adapt to a shoe. If a shoe is not comfortable and does not fit correctly upon first try don’t buy it and wait. Athletes can not afford to wait for something they might otherwise control.
One interesting fact = Cristiano Ronaldo used to dip his cleats into hot water before every game. When I buy soccer cleats for my son or running shoes two key critiria is how they bend and allow the normal foot to move.
Girls at that age - a lot of the time, once they start winning, it means they have been training hard, and well. As a side effect, they become very desirable to boys…
As such - their focus is distracted, they stay up late nearly every night, their training suffers. Even though they do the same workload - their recovery suffers and the ability to supercompensate reduces.
As such - the ability to adapt to the new shoes and produce faster times like other have becomes mute - and infact can be totally the wrong thing. Because their workload is the same, their recovery is reduced, we now implement a new Stressor (new type of shoes) and their feet suffer = slower times.
This may or may not be what’s happening in your case - just something to be aware of.
Rule out this and i’ll supply other options
So eliminate the boys then buy new shoes? LOL… I get what you’re saying though. Not sure how I would measure this however. Thanks for everyone’s input.
[QUOTE=boldwarrior;247591]Sorry, have not been on a laptop all week.
Girls at that age - a lot of the time, once they start winning, it means they have been training hard, and well. As a side effect, they become very desirable to boys…
As such - their focus is distracted, they stay up late nearly every night, their training suffers. Even though they do the same workload - their recovery suffers and the ability to supercompensate reduces.
As such - the ability to adapt to the new shoes and produce faster times like other have becomes mute - and infact can be totally the wrong thing. Because their workload is the same, their recovery is reduced, we now implement a new Stressor (new type of shoes) and their feet suffer = slower times.
This may or may not be what’s happening in your case - just something to be aware of.
Rule out this and i’ll supply other options :-)[/QUOTE
Females are not able to " get away" with the same lifestyle choices as males.
Female athletes in general need more sleep.
Female athletes require higher volumes of tempo to maintain lean muscle mass ( compared to male counterparts)
Female athletes have less testosterone. ( in general all woman on average have less testosterone than males)
Certainly there are exceptions.
Baseline testing of some female athletes have shown higher testosterone levels than some males…Obviously the comparison would be for the low testosterone males opposed to the average male athlete.
What does seem some what difficult to believe is it’s not just one athlete but a group.
Another variable I might think about is the duration of years they have been training. How many days per week are these girls training?
Only one of the three from the sample group played a fall or winter sport. The other two focused on lifting during the winter. As stated in the initial post, they all have a minimum of 3-4 years of training.
