Short Sprints (100m/200m) Elite Sprint Norms Men Women Horizontal Velocities (m/s) Poor: 9.37 – 9.40 8.84 – 8.86 Average: 10.72 – 10.74 9.87 – 9.89 Good: 12.06 – 12.09 10.91 – 10.93 Stride Rate (s/s) Poor: 4.07 3.92 Average: 4.52 4.42 Good: 4.97 4.91 *Stride Length (m) Poor: 2.19 – 2.21 2.09 – 2.11 Average: 2.36 – 2.39 2.24 – 2.26 Good: 2.54 – 2.56 2.38 – 2.40 Ground Time (GT) Poor: 0.11 0.12 Average: 0.10 0.10 Good: 0.087 0.083 Air Time (AT) Poor: 0.133 0.133 Average: 0.123 0.123 Good: 0.123 0.123 14
Sprint Hurdle Norms 100mH/110mHH Men Women Maximum Velocity of the Hurdle Stride (m/s) Poor: 7.95 – 7.97 7.95 – 7.97 Average: 8.35 – 8.37 8.17 – 8.19 Good: 8.78 – 8.80 8.90 – 8.92 Air Time (AT over the hurdle – sec.) Poor: 0.36 0.32 Average: 0.33 0.28 Good: 0.31 0.25 Hurdle Stride Length (into and off the hurdle - m) Poor: 2.55/1.36 2.38/1.48 Average: 2.35/1.23 2.12/1.03 Good: 2.14/1.08 1.85/0.57 Ground Time (into and off the hurdle - sec.) Poor: 0.135/0.114 0.157/0.127 Average: 0.127/0.098 0.129/0.103 Good: 0.119/0.082 0.101/0.079 17
General strength routines can improve postural alignments, which are critical to performing at optimal competition efficiency. Calisthenics, isometric exercises, and stabilization routines can level out the head and pelvic areas to ensure that proper range of movement specific to the event can be achieved. Improved posture and balance can help eliminate any extreme or severe movement orientation that can only serve to diminish good technique and further hurt athletic performance. General strength gives the sprinter/hurdler a better “feel” for what their body can do, and with that comes more confidence. The more skillful the activity, the less likely one can just “bull-rush” their way to a top performance. And since sprinting and hurdling are both high level skills requiring special movement proficiency, talent, and aptitude, it is critical that the sprinter/hurdler become the man or woman capable of the aforementioned skills. I mentioned before that the word “general” in general strength does not mean that the training is ordinary, or run of the mill. General strength routines hit specific areas of technical development helpful in making the sprinter/hurdler more qualified to perform at a high level. But general strength routines are also helpful in determining if one of your sprinter/hurdlers may be on the verge of an injury. Since most of the general strength routines use body weight, there is less chance of an injury, as opposed to in the weight room or with the use of other apparatus. The exercises may lack the use of a bar or machine, but because of certain postural, balance, and speed of movement issues, the general strength actions can test areas that may have hidden away overuse problems about to become full blown injuries if allowed to go unchecked. Calisthenics, short or long bounding exercises could immediately give the athlete a danger signal and allow them to back it off or completely shut activity off for the day (without it happening at race speeds during a competition). Even skillful movements at low speed and effort require a certain physical efficiency close to real competitive levels. A good general strength program can have an extraordinarily positive effect of the increase of the aerobic pathways. As mentioned earlier in the text, aerobic training can not enable you to run faster. Nevertheless, the development of 32
Coaches also tend to respond to the first repetition with feedback, correcting the sprinter’s start or the hurdler’s first run over two hurdles, before the athlete has had the opportunity to warm up to high quality reps. The very technical problem the coach sees early in the workout may not even exist at the end of the workout (so commenting on everything you see them do is not an effective method for increasing learning and retention). Low feedback intervals allows the athlete to run a few reps and work out the kinks before the highest repetitions that come later in the workout, and keeps the static from the coach’s constant suggestions to a minimum. So even though you may not let your sprinters go 10 starts without feedback, you will resist the urge to make comments based on everything you see while they are training. This process can also assist in individual video sessions with your athletes by keeping your comments to a minimum. Watching slow motion video of one of your hurdlers can prompt you to address every little thing they do wrong, and leave your hurdler feeling as if they can’t do anything right. Pick one or two technical nuisances during the session, and stick to making corrections concerning those nuisances only. Watch the video carefully before the session, and select the technical corrections you know will make the best improvements. If they try to focus on another technical issue during the session, lead them back to your original feedback areas and tell them that by making your corrections, the other areas will get smoothed out. Sport Learning can be enhanced when the coach programs into the training a series of “desirable difficulties” that place the athlete under conditions that mimic the real deal as closely as possible. Real race stressors need to be injected into training so after the athlete adapts and stabilizes the skill, they can actualize the movements on the day of competition. Often hurdle coaches set up their workouts so that the teammate in the opposite lane does not use the same lead leg, which can cause trail arms to bump or even hook each other. A desired difficulty is one where you look for the race stressors, and inject them for the purpose of stabilizing technical competency under real duress. Better performances come from varying the conditions of learning in situations that do not upset the ability to continue block training (training blocks that have built in interferences increase skill). Making the sprinter or hurdle run under stressors beyond those encountered during the real deal will ensure learning. For example: 43