Archives
2 Major Changes to the 2014 Clinic
I don’t know any good coaches who run the same system year after year. And we’d be doing you a disservice if we ran the same clinic each year, regardless of how successful and well received our event. One of the concerns people have when considering attending/sending athletes to our clinic is the sheer number of athletes. (Last year over 500 athletes from 8 countries came to the clinic.) More specifically, people want assurance their athlete/s will get individual attention and not just be a faceless member of the herd. Rest assured, our staff to athlete ratio is superior to what you’ll find at clinics 1/10 our size. The first change we’re making is to *reduce* the size of the event groups (the sprints group…
Learn This at the Summer Clinic (Heavy vs Light Sled Pulls)
If you study speed development based resistance training, you’ve no doubt read the standard line, espoused by many, to ‘never use more than 10% of bodyweight’ when doing sled pulls. The logic is that any more resistance than that will compromise acceleration mechanics making the drill not only ineffective, but counterproductive. Well, the other day I got involved in a training discussion with a few of the lead clinicians from this summer’s Complete Track & Field Clinic. It stemmed from an article on the topic forwarded to us by Harvard University’s Marc Mangiacotti. The results of the study were (arguably) a bit surprising in that they showed that heavy sled pulls done over a short distance did not, in fact, adversely affect acceleration. In fact, the…
Sprinters vs Cross Country
Each summer I like to write an article about whether or not sprinters should run cross country and, if they do, what should happen. To progressive programs and coaches, running a ‘modified’ cross country program for sprint types who want to be successful is, at the very least, an interesting option. On the other side of the spectrum are people who freak out over the idea. I dealt with that at a school I once coached at. It was very sad. There are many variables involved for kids considering this route. On the one hand you simply can’t get fast by running slow despite most sprints programs attempting to prove otherwise. But maybe the structure of cross country is better than a kid sitting on…