I was out at the track yesterday doing some speed
work to take advantage of the nice weather.

I haven’t done anything approaching speed training
since last summer so I knew I was going to have a
tough time putting things together.

I also knew I was going to run longer than I should
have because I wanted to test out 2 ways of running
the turn for my sprinters.

During the course of that workout I made (confirmed)
a few important realizations that are easy to
overlook when you are the coach holding the stopwatch
and not actually out running at the same intensity
as your athletes.

And this applies *regardless* of the sport/s you
coach.

The first is the importance of a short to long
program.

Part of my workout was 5×30m from a crouch. Not only
was I completely vertical by 20-25 meters, but it wasn’t
until the fifth repetition that I even felt like I
was getting good force application, lift or correcting
the anterior pelvic tilt (butt sticking out) that
was screwing up my acceleration.

And I actually know what it is supposed to feel like
and can make mechanical corrections mid-stride.

So if I had those problems at that distance, you
can imagine what your inexperienced athletes are
doing wrong.

So if they haven’t mastered (and you haven’t effectively
taught) the ability to accelerate over that distance,
then you certainly shouldn’t have them run any longer
distances.

That said, I broke my own rule by running 2×110m
around the turn.

I realized very quickly that by about 45m, I could
not maintain an efficient, effective and powerful
sprint position, proper mechanics or technique.

Why? Because I was unable to run 30m, so it was only
going to deteriorate exponentially at longer distances.

All the reason to ensure your athletes meet certain
benchmarks at shorter distances before you let them
run longer.

And you can find all those coaching cues and
benchmarks in the Complete Speed Training Program:

http://www.CompleteSpeedTraining.com

But the length of the run and the accompanying
‘rust’ from my layoff isn’t the only reason I couldn’t
maintain over that distance.

I could also feel, very clearly, that my physical
strength was not sufficient to get acceptable force
application or maintain required posture conducive
to slowing my rate of deceleration.

(Because by 40-50m, *everyone* is starting
to slow down. The fastest athletes are the ones
who decelerate slower than the competition.

‘Accelerating’ past someone in a race or when running
someone down on the field is a myth and an illusion.)

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I spent more
time on other athletes’ training this winter than
my own.

But it only proves, once again, that specific focus
on developing absolute strength, core strength and
explosive power is critical to developing fast
athletes.

And the secrets to putting those protocols in place
can be found in the Complete Speed Training Program.

Now, none of this is new information to me.

But actually experiencing just how pronounced these
issues are myself, instead of just reading about it
in a book or article really drove home how important
it is to have this type of structure in your speed
training program.

If you’re truly serious about developing faster
athletes that is.

So let me take you step by step through the
process of developing explosive athletes so you
don’t have to keep guessing about whether or not
you are progressing your athletes too fast, too far,
too soon.

To your success,

Latif Thomas
P.S. Got training or coaching questions? Complete
Speed Training comes with a 30 minute phone
consultation with me. I’ll answer every question
you have and tie up any loose ends that may prevent
you from maximizing the potential of your athletes.

http://www.CompleteSpeedTraining.com

------------------------------

Spread the Word:

 digg this  del.icio.us  Technorati  Blogmemes  Ask Jeeves
 Furl  Reddit  Rojo  Simpy  Spurl  Socialize It
 Earthlink  Google  Netscape  Windows Live  Yahoo

------------------------------

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 at 1:15 pm and is filed under Speed Training . You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.