Help with Sprinting

girlinblack

Hi All,

I wonder if someone out there could help me. I am looking for someone to help me with Sprinting. I am a female referee & as part of our fitness modules, we have regular fitness tests. The test consists of 6 x 40m sprints. I need to complete these sprints in 6.4 seconds. Three months ago i failed these sprints by a country mile! But since that, i have worked hard on core strength training & have come back to 6.45. That's still .05 of a second too slow! So, i think what i need to work on now is my sprinting technique. I have no grounding in this area & could use all the help i can get. There are a couple of us who could use someone on the track to just identify those minor changes that could make all the difference!

The only thing is that the next test is in 3 weeks... If anyone could please help, i'd really, really appreciate it! I cannot afford to fail the repeat test in 3 weeks... Oh - i should mention we train every tuesday in Alsaa so the Dublin area would be best, but if anyone, anywhere can help it'd be brilliant.

Thanks in advance!!!

thirtyfoot

3 weeks is not a long time to make big improvements. There are some basic things which can improve your time - like your start (I presume its a 3 point start) and then pickup. Try 40 yard training on youtube and you will get lots of stuff as 40y speed in a benchmark in American Football so there is loads of stuff. Here is the first one I came across.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNllw2Y7X5c&feature=related

Physically you may not get big improvements in the timeframe but technique through drills etc could shave off .2 or .3. I'll PM with more details.

Jay P

Try 60m sprints. Our trainer makes us do them because he says that's the longest person can accelerate for, and by accelerate, I mean sprint as fast as they can until they cann go no faster, just in case some smart ass takes me up on that

girlinblack

Thanks for these responses guys. Every little helps & i really appreciate you taking the time to help me.

--amadeus--

Are they sprint drills - "ready, steady, go" sprint, come back and repeat or is it a beep test?

girlinblack

It's 6 x 40 metre sprints timed by electronic timing gates. They're in your own time, so not on a gun or whatever. You approach the start & when you're ready, you go. The only stipulation is that there should be a max of 90 seconds recovery between each sprint.

Pherekydes

Jay P wrote: »

Try 60m sprints. Our trainer makes us do them because he says that's the longest person can accelerate for, and by accelerate, I mean sprint as fast as they can until they cann go no faster, just in case some smart ass takes me up on that

You can only accelerate until you reach maximum speed. This will vary for each person. A world class sprinter will take 60m to reach maximum speed, but a young child can reach top speed in a few steps. The trick, and the tough bit, is to recognise when you've reached maximum speed. You cannot accelerate any more, so you should stop trying to. This is where many sprinters fall down. They continue to strain, thus tying up faster in the latter part of races.

With the 40m sprints, this tying up isn't going to be a major problem. Get your legs turning over quickly at the start (first 5 steps), then try to lengthen the stride all the way to the finish. Pick up your knees gradually, but try not to overstride (reaching out in front with the lead foot). Don't forget the arms: drive as powerfully as you can with the arms.

There is more technical stuff to sprinting than people realise. People do drills to isolate each part of the technique. The drills don't have to be long, 30m is fine, but you have to concentrate.

Give yourself two full days rest before the test and dream about doing it well. (yes, seriously)

girlinblack

It's this technique stuff that i don't have a clue about... So thank you very much for this reply Slow coach.

I think the 'dreaming' stuff is VERY important too. I was so nervous in the last test. My legs were like jelly & almost completely powerless. So i'm slowly learning to 'let go'. What's the worst that'll happen if i don't get there? Not a whole heap will be different. So i'm giving myself a break from the pass/fail pressure. I'll do everything i can in terms of training & tips on technique etc. to pass, but an awful lot of this stuff is in the mind.

Thanks again everyone!

sharkDawg

Slow coach wrote: »

Don't forget the arms: drive as powerfully as you can with the arms.

When you drive your right leg forward you should drive your left arm up simultaneously, and then the same with your left leg and your right arm. Keep your elbows in close to your body too.

petethedrummer

I presume this is from a standing start. So rather than 'jump' into your first step or forcing it. Lean forward and let your foot fall into the first step. If that makes sense. We were shown this in football training to gain half a yard.

kinda like this guy...... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7NVon1yYxo

If ur starting from blocks, ignore me.

tampopo

yeah, petetherunner has made a good point I was going to make. Lean forward for your first few steps.I am a retired rugby player, one of the last games I played was a few years after I regularly played. At kickoff I was easily the fastest to the ball among my team mates, over ten years my junior, and I was able to tackle the ball catcher pretty much every time, something I rarely did when I was 'young'!!!
It probably helped to have a good kicker, to get good 'hang' time, but I think it was my running!!!

If you have a chance to look at 'real' athletes, their first few steps, they don't look, up,they're leaning forward, head down, looking at the ground in front of them, and only becoming fully upright several metres later.

(I haven't checked the links earlier, maybe these points are apparent in them)

I think that the momentum of you 'almost' falling over gives you a little bit more speed. You know the way when you trip over something and your feet are VERY quick to readjust?!!! Well, use that reflex to get yourself moving!!

Ah, I wish I was young again and got good training and a better technique.If I'd have been able to develop a side step I'd 'a' been a contender!!!

good luck, more power to you being a ref. I jacked it in at rugby refereeing!!!

girlinblack

Guys, thank you so much one and all for all your tips & advice. I passed my fitness test last night & i'm delighted! (I'm now eligible once more for all my nice international matches & i'm off to Slovakia in April for a Women's Euro Qualifier! What a life!!).

My times were in and around 6.3 the whole time. That was with a gale force wind behind me, so there's still a LOT of work to do, but i have 4 months up to the next fitness test, so i'm going to knuckle down & work hard on these fast-twitch muscles & hopefully i'll be OK by the next test.

Thanks again!!!!!!

Pherekydes

Many congrats. Good job. Good consistent running.

Diamondmaker

Im gonna get this thread going. A lot of good stuff on it. Congrats on making the grade GIB

My team has entered a tag rugby league here in Oz and the standard is very high and competitive. I am the paciest person I have yet to come across, but have no intention of resting on my laurels.
I wish to specifically train on the sprint element of my game which obviously is crucial to a winger, if I am naturally fast I can only assume with good training I could be pretty good.

Not any real questions to ask until I have a good read of all enclosed and start the research.....but with regards to gym work what would the critical weights excercises be ?

I have a pretty comprehensive gym routione at the minute, so it would be great or any in the game to point out any of the less obvious or specialised routines that may help.... I guess there would be more to it than squats for example.....


cheers guys
DM

thirtyfoot

Diamondmaker wrote: »

Not any real questions to ask until I have a good read of all enclosed and start the research.....but with regards to gym work what would the critical weights excercises be ?

Main ones I focus on are bench, squat, cleans, lunges. Thats twice a week and then there is a 3rd 'power' session of plyometrics (bounding, pit jumps, stair hops etc) all explosive and crucial you minimise ground contact in all efforts. I do another session which incorporates running and circuits. But for speed all these sessions are not any good if you ain't running fast in a training session, doing a pure speed session (as mentioned already 1-7 secs of all out effort). Get strong in the gym, fast on the track (or pitch). By the way, thats light on the power focus, most sprinters will be 3-4 days lifting with plyos another session but for where you are at 2 lifting sessions, 1 plyo, two running would probably do. I always combine lifting with running session and I always do weights after my running.