My first job out of college was not coaching track, it was teaching a classroom full of kids with behavioral, social and emotional disorders. Spend a few full work days restraining a kid screaming racial slurs and trying to spit at and bite you for six hours and you quickly learn the art of patience….
Archives for 400m training
Sprinting Techniques
Sprinting Techniques By Latif Thomas Sprinting technique is all about power and efficiency. In a sport where ‘elite’ and ‘run of the mill’ athletes are separated by fractions of a second, getting the most out of an athlete’s ability is essential to success, from the youth through professional levels. How efficient an athlete’s running style…
400m Training vs McDonald’s
Last week I posted some information (here and here) about training 400m runners. And I endorsed the speed based ‘short to long’ approach. Invariably, every time this topic comes up, people immediately say, ‘But so and so says train slow to get fast’. Well, here’s the thing about that… If you perennially get a…
4 Goals of 400m Training
The 400-meter event is no different, in general definition, from any other sprint event. There is an acceleration to a level of maximal race velocity which concludes with the attempt to maintain the highest possible level of that maximal race velocity for the duration of the event. When training for any sprint event, velocities and…
Speed vs ‘Strength’ For 400 Runners
Speed vs ‘Strength’ For 400 Runners Some people argue that the best way to develop your 400m runners is with a ‘strength’ (aka long to short) approach. This says that in order to get fast, we should run at sub-maximal paces at higher volumes and for longer distances. To me, this is a ‘run slow…
Measuring What Matters Part 5 – Meet and Season Performance
Measuring What Matters Part 5 – Meet and Season Performance By Carl Valle With the short sprints, especially the 50-60m sprint, technical execution is a direct influence in performance, but many times the longer 200m event and the 100m performances are a result of program design. The calendar year and other factors such as meet…
Why Usain Bolt Is So Fast
In past articles, I have discussed why stride length and stride frequency should never be taught directly. That they are byproducts of what really determines speed: The amount of force applied to the ground, as well as the length of time and the direction it is applied. To get a clearer understanding of what force…
Developing Speed in the High School Athlete
Most coaches would probably classify speed as the most critical of all athletic abilities. Yet in spite of this importance, in many programs speed abilities go largely undeveloped. This is often because of the faulty assumption that speed cannot be improved, or simply because so many training systems follow traditional yet ineffective means for developing…
Measuring what Matters – Guidelines to Evaluating Practice Times
Part 1 Is Your Sprinter a Diva or a Rock Star? By Carl Valle The purpose of this article series is to break down the 100m sprint and 200m sprint events into four testing qualities; Acceleration, Maximal Speed, Speed Endurance, and some specific work capacity. While this series is focused on the short sprints, other…
2011 New England Sprints & Jumps Clinic (Major Update)
Just a reminder that the ‘Early Bird’ registration discount comes to a close one week from today (June 15). So I highly recommend you sign up now, if you haven’t already. If you know me, you know I’m a big fan of diversity. So I’m really excited about the fact that our reach extends…
3 Rules for Developing Speed
If I had to pick one thing that contributed to the success of my sprints/hurdles/jumps program this year, especially being in a new (distance runner based) school, it would be this: I went back to the basics. And the truth is I simply had no choice. This spring, for example, I had to teach…
The Truth about ‘Peaking’
It’s Championship Season and, if you’re a coach, you’re hoping you’ve put your athletes in position to have their best performances during this small window of ‘win or go home’ meets. So at this time of year, I get a lot of questions about peaking. -What are the best workouts to get athletes to…