Start Doctor Speed Training

Some Basics of Running

The most important aspect of sprinting is the max velocity and fundamental to that are basic aspects of running. For those that do multiple sessions with me, ideally the athlete is in shape enough for me to film some intense sprints to assess his/her technique. Ideally, the sessions can be with at least one workout partner, as I like for athletes to have that feel of someone they are competing with. This will be followed up with low and medium intensity runs of various distances to additionally try to assess effectiveness of movement, and to also help to develop the body control to consistently execute runs with a good balance of "projection, switching, and reactivity". I like to refer to these runs as running with "Easy Speed". Certain flaws in movement mechanics, ie, body alignment, deficits in stiffness, etc..., may be spotted during these sub max runs, and often times, it can be pointed out how these factors relate to flaws that occurred during the intense runs.

We Can Begin With You Sending Me Film

Please first email me before sending any film because I want to make sure I can get to the film in a timely manner. If I respond telling you I have the time, then before any training sessions or comments from me regarding film I am sent, I will need this Informed Consent Waiver signed and emailed to me (leveloneathletics@gmail.com). Each participant's name must be included on the waiver along with the adult's signature. Sending competition and training videos that include athletes other than the ones on the waiver can get a little touchy, as schools, clubs, etc..., may have guidelines that must be followed. It is like that at the school where I coach.

Suggestions for Sending Film

For Max Velocity you can have the athletes sprint 50 meters and with you standing beside the track, field, etc..., have your phone, Ipad, etc..., held at the 40 meter mark to film that section as they cross that zone. I only need to see one complete stride from each leg. You also can stand back far enough to catch from 30-50 meters. Tell the athletes to run all the way through the finish line.

For the Start and Initial Acceleration have the athletes do a 15 meter sprint. It can be from starting blocks or from a standing, 3-point, or 4-point position without blocks. For one angle you should be at the 10 meter mark and to the side. For another angle you should be at the 15 meter mark and in front of them but not directly in their path so that one of you will have to move to avoid a collision. The other angle should be directly behind the athletes.

If I simply have a brief response, ie, your kid looks good along with a short comment, there is no charge for that. If you want a Zoom of up to 15 minutes anyway for me to show and explain in detail why I feel your kid looks good, then there is a charge for that. For me to take the time to break the film down and to examine each part of the strides as you can see at the bottom of this page, there is, of course, a charge for that. This includes a Zoom/Google Meet of up to 15 minutes where I can explain and show my findings. This may include footage of more advanced athletes executing certain things at a high level. I decide how much to charge on a case by case basis, as some situations are a lot easier to assess and to explain.

Training Sessions

I am willing to drive up to 1 1/2 hours to a session. If the session is on grass, I do have long spikes to drive into the ground to secure the starting blocks. Doing sessions remotely is also an option. Contact me at leveloneathletics@gmail.com for questions and to set up a session.

Assessing Athletes

In my training sessions we will do a variety of drills, exercises, and activities that are done to address key aspects involving; coordinated actions, range of motion, joint stiffness, orientation of forces, etc. This even begins during the warm up and stretching parts of the session, as well as with various sub max and even easy runs.  Watching how the athletes move you can look for bouncing vs plodding. As one of my mentors, Jonas Dodoo said, “Can they trot like a show horse or are they collapsing into the floor as they run.

Dodoo Added - Are they knee and quad dominant, over-using the knee joint to push against the ground or overusing the hamstring to pull the ground forward. Over-amortizing on each landing, sinking and using concentric tissue. You want the load shared across the whole system, not overusing a body part or muscle group. Being more air based. Being ground based in acceleration is good, but they should not remain ground based during max velocity. Need to set up tendons to be bouncy to be springy. Accel/Decel, however, is ground based. You want to see a decent posterior chain and awareness of the pelvis. Some may have the positive abilities but don’t know how to use them in a jog.

As intensity grows throughout the warm up see if they can project/displace themselves along with creating leg separation. Push to punch. Punch knee forward and push leg back. Applying force to project hips in a desired direction. Proximal to distal acceleration/extension. How well does the spine structure from the spine down to the ground. Is that a good order or pattern in order to push self forwards. That is one part of the push, but push to punch is asking how well does the lumbo-pelvic control, the groin, the side glutes, how well are they at lifting the leg in reaction to the pushing leg. 

Push to punch is the first mental model of efficient extension. That is the push, coupled with efficient flexion. How well are the limbs connected together. That is projection, and looking at it forward, backward, and sideways.

Switching; once you’ve made a big shape forwards in acceleration, can you get to the end of that movement and smoothly stop the limbs, and then smoothly reaccelerate the limbs to go back in the opposite direction. 

Reactivity; how well is the foot/ankle complex ready for the ground, how well can you be reactive. Can you get energy back from the floor. What kind of foot postures do you create. Can you handle your force and body weight. Or when you put your foot on the ground do you collapse, amortize, sink into the floor. Identify limiting factors in movements allows us to guesstimate body parts that need attention. 

I am presently in Dodoo's Virtual Mentoring Program, and I am in the process of learning to identify these types of things.

Pre- Workout Routine During My Sessions

I. Initial limbering with various types of movement to loosen the body before some dynamic stretching.

II. Warm up continues with some basic movements like; hip hinges, squats, split squats and lunges, before an initial solo warm up run at a moderate intensity

III. Stationary range of motion exercises for the hips and upper body.

IV. Activities that promote foot and ankle prep as well the development of pre-tension for attacking the ground with each stride. 

V. Sub max warm up run with others. The run will be long enough to experience a build to a particular top speed, maintain it for a bit before a gradual deceleration.

VI. A few drills and exercises to help support various fundamental aspects

VII. Warm up runs from a walk and/or skip and eventually from a standing start from a bit of a roll into the start. This is a foundational aspect of developing the necessary coordination and control needed to tie together an effective first three steps to the rest of the initial acceleration and the rest of the run.

VIII. For conditioning runs it depends upon the fitness level of the athletes. Those not in shape will do runs that are short enough where athletes are not in survival mode during the workout, but long enough to discourage runs at too high of an intensity, ie, two sets of 3 x 200 with a very short break during the 200s in the same set, but with a good recovery before the next set. Then finish up with what I would call a cool down set of 3 x 200 where the athletes can run as slow as they want.

IX. Jog a bit, stretch and done.

Those in shape to be able to safely do a more intense workout will do runs of shorter distances with sufficient rest between runs.

Other Important Limiting Factors that will be Assessed

Throughout the whole workout the athlete is being assessed and will be asked to self-assess to some extent. An important item to assess is to see if some explosive abilities and stiffness are present and to also determine if there is adequate flexibility being demonstrated as the athlete is moving up the track? For child athletes, their flexibility is most often very impressive, but with maturity, as the muscles and tendons strengthen, flexibility inevitably lessens. According to Ralph Mann (rest his soul)," The biggest non-genetic factor affecting flexibility, however, is neglect." He explained the critical role flexibility plays, stating, "If a sprinter is not flexible enough in their pelvic area to shift their hips forward at Touchdown, then they are forced to "sit back" at foot strike. This position not only shifts the body center back (insuring more braking forces) but also presents a "soft" (less rigid) body position which leads to time consuming hip flexion, as well as requiring the hips to move through a longer range of motion (both time and energy wasteful)."

So, in other words, these considerations can help us to set some realistic goals as we proceed to try to improve speed. This video thoroughly demonstrates some stretches that hit the hips, glutes, and surrounding areas.

In-Person Single Session Sprint Assessment

Those that feel they are in good enough shape to safely sprint all out repeatedly, may want to consider the Single Workout Sprint Assessment described below. This is similar to what I suggest for sending me film. The difference is that I'll be present to assess how the athlete is moving during warm up, how he/she stretches, etc...

I will be available to lead warm up and stretching if that is desired, but if the athlete has a routine he/she likes they can do that as well. I will be observing and may make some suggestions. Once the athlete feels he/she is loose enough and ready to do a Flying 20- meter sprint then:

1. The athlete will do a flying 20-meter sprint (30 meter run up) with me filming from a side view.

2. After a full recovery the athlete will be allowed to do whatever preparation is needed before I film the athlete doing a 20-meter sprint from a 3 or 4-point position with or without starting blocks

3. (Optional) After a full recovery the athlete will be allowed to do whatever preparation is needed before I film the athlete doing a 20-meter sprint with starting blocks if the previous sprint was not with blocks. I will bring a selection of blocks to the session.

4. After a full recovery the athlete will be allowed to do whatever preparation is needed before I film the athlete doing three sprints of 10 meters from a standing start position. I will film one sprint from the side, one from the front, and one from the rear.

5. Cool Down and Stretch

The workout is over. After I've had the time to review the film, we will meet virtually to go over my findings, suggestions, etc..., and we can leave it there or make plans for additional sessions.

Availability

For In-Person Sessions I am available certain evenings during the week for those within 20-30 minutes from Lexington, SC. Much further than that will have to be on the weekends. For Virtual Training, along with me reviewing film and assigning workouts, there will be periodic Zooms of up to 15 minutes.

Speed Training for Other Sports

When speed training for sports other than track and field, it should be understood that executing fundamentals of the sport should always be a primary concern, and the goal should be for an improvement in effective movement to be ingrained to establish a new norm. Numerous sports include scenarios where the athletes move for very short distances, especially when compared to sprinters in Track and Field. I believe that a tremendous benefit can be gained by learning how to accelerate to the max velocity of which the athlete is capable, and then make adjustments to best suit the sports scenarios the athletes find themselves in. Examples of great athletes that were able to excel in close quarters as well as over longer distances were NFL greats Barry Sanders and Gale Sayers. They could get low enough to run behind their pads when needed to confront defenders, but could also shift to top speed when in the open field. Go to the 1 minute 25 second point of this video.

As stated previously, conditioning and various types of physical conditioning should be an important part of speed training. This video shows good conditioning for sports that feature stopping, starting, and changes of direction. FYI - I like this type of training also for track and field athletes as I believe that training the abilities to move in different directions, decelerate and change direction, etc..., can be good for injury prevention. Similar types of training that includes a lot of jumping and landing can also be good preparation. See video.

So, if you contact me for some training, I will inquire about what else you are doing in regard to conditioning. If you are "in season" then that is fine, at least you should be in pretty good shape. I still will want to know the overall training schedule to make a judgement on how intense my workouts should be.