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Blazing - building speed for
the track attack
Ask
any athlete - speed is an integral part of nearly all sporting
arsenals.
Racecar drivers depend on a speedy car to reach the finish line.
Pitchers rely on a speedy fastball to blast batter.
Runningbacks need speedy feet to fool
that blitzing linebacker sitting in the hole and tennis players can
keep their opponents swinging at air with a speedy serve - every
sport has a need for speed.
Yet, perhaps more than any other sport on earth, track athletes look
to speed as the cornerstone to achieving success - slow isn’t a word
that you’re likely to find in a sprinter’s lingo.
“Speed is nearly a necessity,” says Denison University sprinter Eric
Meibers with a smile. “Without base speed, it would probably be very
hard to compete in any race. Speed is the driving force behind track
- plain and simple.”
According to the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA),
speed is defined as ‘the ability to achieve high velocity in a
manifestation of explosive force applied to a specific task but is
often incorrectly perceived as independent from strength.’ Are you
taking notes?
In basic English, NSCA notes that their
is much more to producing speed than meets the eye. While a set of
naturally quick feet help, producing speed relies on a number of
components that many track athletes can polish through a proper
training regimen. Obviously, as with any sport, a basic program
grounded in weight training is a huge benefit when looking to build
top speed. Understandably, a few track coaches still frown upon
weight training in fear of the athlete gaining too much muscle mass
and diminishing flexibility. While these fears do hold some water, a
proper lifting routine focused on light weights and high repetitions
will aide runners in their development of the muscle groups needed
to conjure speed. On top of the weights, sprinters should stretch,
stretch and stretch - that part is common sense.
Moving to probably the key of speed development, sprinters need to
understand the relationship that exists between running form and
endurance - you can’t have one without the other. “In a short race,
the start is important,” says Meibers, who is currently a junior for
the Big Red. “But you still have to have top-notch form to run your
best. In the longer races, like the 400 meters, it is crucial to use
your from for endurance. A race like that is won or lost in the last
100 meters - you have to have the right equation to make it work.”
By having a crisp running form - including relaxed shoulders, proper
hand ‘hammering’ and maximum stride length - runners can draw the
most from their energy by optimizing their overall endurance for the
final burst, leaving their opponents in the dust.
Through basic drills that draw on the mental repetitions of keeping
correct from when the body is pushed through competitive stress,
sprinters can get the most out of their performance by making good
form a habit, not a hit-or-miss action.
“The
most important tool for any runner to have is discipline,” says
Meibers, who will compete in the 400 hurdles, 400 dash and the 4x100
relay this spring. “It is easy for a lot of runners to just go out
and run - great runners understand that it takes work to increase
their performance. You have got to want to get better with each
practice - the rewards will come when competition calls.”
Ryan Bush
Our Town News
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Spring is Here!
A quick glance at my calendar reveled that right about now,
(regardless of what mother nature has to say) the doldrums of the
Ohio winter should be lifted, and spring should start. And we all
know what starts with spring!
No, not the end of your break from lawn work. I’m talking about
Baseball!
Now that the NCAA Tourney is done, and professional hockey still on
ice, (haha! Get it?) I found myself missing baseball more and more
over the winter months. Cleveland was supposed to be good again, and
with my acceptance to Case Western University, the possibility of
making a regular pilgrimage to Jacob’s Field had opened up to me.
This season really had all the ingredients of a classic, and I was
willing to forgive my past anger towards the MLB for this season.
And then a funny thing happened. Jose Consaco wrote a book that
finally published what a lot of us had been suspecting for a long
time. Baseball players, in fact, a lot of baseball players that we
looked up to and enjoyed watching, took steroids. Before I knew it,
there was finger pointing, precious minutes of Sportscenter wasted,
and worst of all, a congressional hearing.
That’s right, even congress decided to get involved. Hey, I’m a
future political science major, C-SPAN doesn’t scare me, but I watch
sports to get away from that kind of stuff! It turns out I really
wasn’t the only one upset with our legislative branch messing with
baseball. Presenting exhibit A, LCSports.com
Scuba laments congressional involvement, saying “With all the crap
going on in this country. Our Government finds time to take on
baseball. For goodness sake there isn't there better things for
Capital Hill to be doing!”
CWebb disagrees, laying out why he thinks that Congress SHOULD be
involved: Congress backs the anti-trust laws or such that MLB are a
part of. Steroids are illegal to everyone in the country. The media
exposure is a little overboard but as MLB in a whole as a business
Congress turning a back to illegal activities would be the same
things as corporate crime with Enron, or monopolization as with
Microsoft. The media is the one to blame for in making this seem as
a witch-hunt
There is plenty of discussion going over there about whether
congress ought to be involved, or how to fix the problem. I don’t
have all the answers, but this much I do know: until baseball gets
it’s act together, I’m done. No games on TV, no buying MLB products,
nothing. I’ll save my buck, and buy a hot dog at a high school game.
Check them out, I hear we have some good local teams this year. And
none of these kids are going to whine for higher pay.
Matt Brown
LCSports.com |
