Last night at the track, 4 of us did 8 x 300m reps, and I was at the back on each one. I wouldn't care about that if it wasn't for the fact that I was running pretty much flat out, and that made me question why I can't generate the same amount of speed (or even close) as some others.
I don't believe it's strength or fitness, but rather I'm convinced there is something inherently inefficient with my running technique. I've suspected this for ages, and when I first joined the club I did ask about running technique, but no-one seemed to have given it much thought, they just did what came naturally. I suppose that's all well-and-good when "what comes naturally" is a pretty good technique, but in my own case it seems I'm not that lucky.
Here are some of the things I suspect that I do wrong (speed-wise)
I don't believe it's strength or fitness, but rather I'm convinced there is something inherently inefficient with my running technique. I've suspected this for ages, and when I first joined the club I did ask about running technique, but no-one seemed to have given it much thought, they just did what came naturally. I suppose that's all well-and-good when "what comes naturally" is a pretty good technique, but in my own case it seems I'm not that lucky.
Here are some of the things I suspect that I do wrong (speed-wise)
- planting my foot too far in front of my body, and thereby causing a "braking" effect rather than forward propulsion
- too long a stride length
- too low cadence
- "swinging" my leg forward in a kind of neutral manner rather than powering forward to create forward motion.
The question is, whether it's possible for an old dog to learn new tricks, or whether I'm doomed to life in the slow-lane. I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of others on this subject.
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16 comments:
i honestly believe it could be a lack of strength.
if you go to bearpowered.com, you will see they are strong beleivers in the deadlift to improve running efficency by improving strength.
The deadlift is an overrall body exercise. Many people think doing weights can lead to unwanted muscle mass, but using the techniques they use, you wont put on any muscle mass, but can get way sronger.
Its all about mass specific force, and the bodyweight to strength ratio.
The secret is only lifting 90% of your 1 rep max.
only do two reps per set and do 3 sets, remember to have a full 5 minute rest between each set.
I have the e-book that i got from bearpowered.com if you want me to email it to you..
I have beaten my 200m PB this season by doing deadlifts in the winter. I still do them now during mid season.
Chris,
Here are my observations;
I don't think there is too much wrong with your running action. I have seen far worse (myself included) who can generate quite a reasonable pace with a poor running action.
It may be worth trying to pick the knees up a little more but to radically change your action at this stage would be:
1. Pretty difficult
2. Highly likely to lead to injury
Watching the session it just looks like a matter of leg speed. ie other people legs appear to be moving quicker.
Just watch Keith who runs very flat footed but has a fast leg action.
Try to find techniques for increasing leg speed such as trippling (if I remember correctly)
Also for these shorter session it is probably better to do a more extended warm up with strides etc. like some of the younger groups which us oldies can't be bothered with.
Finally I hate to ask the question but are you really running flat out?
I know myself that on a session like that if I ran flat out I could only manage one or two then the others would be very slow due to total fatigue.
Next time on a short speed session try really hammering it on one or two and forget about the rest and see if your times are quicker.
PS something else to bear in mind is speed declines with age as we are all finding out!
There are 2 things to think about.
1) You need fast twitch muscles. You can only have a limited impact on changing nature with regards muscle types but e.g. cycling for 100+ miles will definitely NOT help. This helps endurance but not speed.
2)Speed is achieved by long stride length, high cadence and short time in contact with the ground. I worked at increasing my stride length but just got unbalanced. I guess I tried to do too much too quickly. Gradually try to increase your stride length by a few inches a time. How do you increase cadence? This is a different way of thinking about leg speed. What about skipping with a rope? Time on the ground can be improved by running on your toes.
There is also something in what Steve says, you need power for the really short distances.
Please bear in mind that this advice is coming from the slowest "sprinter" of all time.
Thanks everyone, I'm definitely going to try a bit of experimentation. I think the high cadence is probably the thing to work on, because my leg speed is slow.
Vic - I remember running alongside you ages ago on one session and noticing I was doing only 2 strides to your 3-4 strides, yet we were running at the same speed. That was one thing that made me think I over-stretch. You are right about the biking/endurance thing, but I was never able to run fast even before I was doing long bike rides.
Steve - I'm sure it's not strength because I came to running after 20 years of body-building, and it's taken a real effort for me to shed some of the muscle to get me from a lean 15.5 stone to where I am now. It's not long since I could deep squat 300lbs for 16 reps with no problems! When I was 36 I did a sponsored squat for charity to see how many times I could lift my body weight without a break (over 14.5 stone at that time), and I managed 36 reps before I blew up. I've still got a lot of that leg strength left, and I can sprint pretty fast on a bicycle. This is what makes me suspect it's my running action.
Long stride length is a result of force production. This can only be increased by increasing strength and power. If leg strength isnt an issue (although theres always room for improvement), then it may be worth doing some plyometrics. Studies confirm plyos combined with strength training yields the best results.
Things like drop jumps, single leg bounding, standing long jump, theres plenty of examples on the net..
Muscles involved with cycling dont transfer over to running as well as you'd think.. although it can help your cardio vascular system.
My personal view is to be as light as possible , but as strong as possible. If youve got two identical cars with the same power engines, but one car is carrying more weight, guess which car is going to go faster...
http://www.bearpowered.com/blog/PermaLink,guid,f71e29fd-2598-48db-ae46-af020d7d284b.aspx
I think there some good points. Obviously generated some interest. I think Steve Mc has a point but any improvement will be marginal. You may lack basic speed but you have sufficient speed for what you need to do at 800m/1500m (as your main limitation is fitness not speed).
Sprinters are born, they can make marginal improvements by doing drills etc and increasing strength. I read an article that said that Linford Cristie could run 11s without training and he got it down to 10.5 with a year of training!
In conclusion I wouldn't worry about it (especially if you can't do long bike rides)
Gosh, there really is some knowledgable runners at Spen.
When I watch other runners I am amazed at how different we all are(stride length, stride rate, style, arm movements, breathing e.t.c).
My thoughts on this are: if you want to run fast then you train fast with speed work or faster running. The reason we train is to place stress on our bodies, and then our bodies adapt by getting fitter and stronger. You can make yourself stronger by weight training and cycling, and this should lead to less muscle fatique, I dont think it will make you faster.
I personally think that unless you are super fit anything over 300 meters is not a speed work session, rather a part aerobic session. This is because shortly after this distance you will go into 'oxygen debt' and you will need to slow down rapidly and into normal 'comfortable' running. I am not in any way saying the longer sessions are no good - just not the best at getting you to run faster, and your body to adapt to the speed.
We are so different that you do need to experiment and see which sessions work best for you. I know Dave Watsons does regular speed work sessions of 50 x 100 meters.
I hope this all gives you some food for thought.
I think the "born fast" thing Gareth mentions is true. But I don't entirely subscribe to the lack-of-fitness thing, otherwise I'd have been somewhere close on the 1st rep, but I was close to maximum speed (for me).
Steve's right about the power to weight ratio, and the cycling muscles (predominantly quads) translating to running (more hamstrings) also, the dead-lifts he suggests do work the hamstrings, but I don't think in my case it's the root of the problem, just a naturally slow cadence and an over-long stride (maybe). I'm pretty sure the over-striding + heel strike is causing a braking effect, and I'm going to try to experiment with a shorter stride and faster cadence. It starts on Thursday so look out!
chris - you misunderstood me. What I was trying to say was that in an 800m it would be your cardio fitness that would be the limitation not the ultimate speed. If you overcame that then I guess that your ultimate time would be your 50m time * 16 (for 800m). If you could achieve this then the only way to get faster would then be improve basis speed. Unliikely to ever occur, but you never know!!
Guys, he's just a natural born whinger: he takes 3 seconds off his PB at Wakefield last night and still complains. I'll never get Yorkshire folk!! Well done though Chris!
Gareth, I re-thought about what you said, and I agree with you now, I would have a significantly better 800m time if I could maintain my 1st lap speed for 2 laps. So, I need to work on that.
John - it was 4 seconds actually - heheh
Well done on gaining your PB! In pretty poor conditions, 10 degrees, wet, and breezy! I reckon that counts for another 5 seconds...
And i finally got to meet the man himself, oh, and my email is steve378@hotmail.co.uk , i doubt i'll be subject to spam if i post it in here...
Whilst im no expert in the 800m, what i will say is that doing both endurance and speedwork in the same session will be good for neither... it may be worth takin a session solely on speed work, it doesnt have to be exhausting. An example i do would look something like this;
- light warm-up
- medium intensity warm-up drills
- plyometrics
- 8-10 50m runs at full pelt with 4 minutes of rest betwen each run. If your rest is any shorter, it starts to become more of a cardio work-out than speed work. Any increases in maximum speed has gains in ANY run from 100-1500. Some of the best 800-1500 runners are quite proficient in the 100m for good reason.
cheers Steve, I saw some of your 800m times from last year, and I'd settle for something even approaching those! - btw invitation set!
Chris,
Can't believe the positive response you have received. If taking all this advice doesn't help then you are a lost cause!
I think part of the problem is you/we knowing what you want to do? Do you want to run fast 300m reps or 800m races or 10k races or 3 peak races? Because I don't think you can do all these at once. You have mentioned my stride length being half of yours but over 300m I would barely be in the same straight of track as you. John G is a bit faster than you over 800m but I wouldn't fancy his chances over 20+ miles in the Dales. Decide what your goals are and tailor your training to these.
Truth is, I want to do a bit of everything;) I'm not talented enough to specialise and it to be worth my while. Most, if not all of you, I regard as better runners than me, yet I enjoy competing. However, I'd just like to have that extra "kick" be it on the track, road, or when I hit a flat section on the fells. It's so frustrating when I overtake people on the fells on the climbs and descents, only to have them out-run me on the "runnable" bits grrr!
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