January, 2008

Teammates & Friends:

I'm rushing to get this Newsletter out in hopes that the looming deadlines of the WMA Indoor Championships, the RCC Tiger All-Comer at The Reggie, and the Millrose Games 4x4 qualifying times, won't pass anyone by. I'm sure that I probably missed something that should be in this Newsletter but I assure you that I'll get out a Mid-Month Missive in the weeks to come. My thanks to John Novak for submitting his Big Apple Armory Adventure and as always, I encourage submissions from more of you.

So here's YOUR Newsletter...

On December 23rd I made the trek into the BIG APPLE to run at the Armory. I have found driving to Stamford and taking the train to Grand Central is better than driving into the city. On a rainy, windy day it is all warm and dry up to the Armory by taking the Times Square Shuttle, then hop on the 1 train up to 168th St. I arrived early and the PSAL meet was still going. What I thought was a Masters meet turned out to be both Masters & Open. The sign up line was VERY LONG & VERY SLOW!!!!! My 400m race was ready to start and I was still in line. In a bit of panic I bolted to find a USATF official who got all the 400m entrants off to the side and ran us through sign up, whew!! So with almost no warm up I find Lane 2 and the gun sounds. Into the first turn my legs aren't turning over fast enough. After the cones I start to loosen up and finish with a burst in a dismal 1:07.51. The meet did not offer a 60m so I waited 3 hours to run a 200m. With a proper warm up and a Lane 5 I was able to run 28:67. The meet was run very well and the Armory was warm and the track was fast. The events were $12.00 each and you could enter several. I thought I would see some fellow Velociteers but instead I hung out with a bunch from Shore AC from NJ. As always they were very friendly and fun. A long day ended driving home in BIG WIND & rain back from Stamford to Guilford. But I would do it again in a heartbeat. See you all @ Dartmouth Relays!

Sports trainer Steve Conca will be at the RCC All-Comer Meet on Saturday with his equipment to provide Functional Movement Screening for anyone interested in finding out where they can improve speed, strength and flexibility through corrctive exercises. Normally this screening costs $75 but Mass Velocity Members can get it for just $40. Look for Steve under the big Mass Velocity banner.

Dale Smith - M50 from Woburn, MA "Thanks for getting back to me , I've followed your club through your web site for over a year. I do not belong to any other club, started to run April 2006 after a 14 year hiatus. I have worked out sometimes with the Shamrock running club from Woburn, Mass. I have competed in 5k an 1-2.5 mile road races. I was able to pass my first hurdle of getting back on the track by running the mile at the BU FIRST mini meet. I would love to get practice times an places I can do speed work gearing toward 1 mile- 1/2 mile. Thanks again, Dale"

Steven Snow, M50 from Gilford, NH

Manny Garcia, M40 from Lawrence, MA

A number of months ago I decided that it would make the dues bookkeeping much easier to switch to a calendar year system, the same as USATF uses for its membership. So with the new year, here's a reminder that you should renew your membership with USATF and renew your membership with Mass Velocity.

For your Mass Velocity annual $15.00 dues you can either pay online via PayPal (no longer a subscription so you don't have to become a PayPal member and can use any major credit card) or by mail, by going to the Renewal Page. If you have paid your dues within the past three months, we will apply that to your 2008 dues.

---

The winter, indoor track club for all high school (and some middle school) boys and girls in the City of Springfield is off and running!! Led by Mass Velocity's James Morton, CEO and President of the Greater Springfield YMCA and coordinated by Mass Velocity's Larry Libow, the program now has 65 kids signed up. For a peek at what the Y-Speed practices are like, jump on over to http://springfieldyoutholympics.com/Y-Speed/. Click on the image below to read a recent local newspaper sportswriter's story about the program.

James and I expect to bring a busload of kids to the RCC All-Comer meet this Saturday. Look for them in their new red, black & white warm-ups (YMCA colors) and feel free to offer your advice and assistance.

---

Reminder: On-Time Entry Deadline for 2008 WMA Indoors is January 4

January 4, 2008 is the deadline for entries for the 3rd World Masters Athletics Championships – Indoor to be held in Clermont-Ferrand, France from March 17 to March 22, 2008. The meet will offer standard indoor track and field events and a pentathlon, plus several outdoor events – winter throwing, half-marathon, 8 km cross country, and a 10 km race walk. A complete schedule is available at www.clermont2008.com.

The entry form has two parts – the meet entry form and a USA supplemental form. Both are available on the USATF website at www.usatf.org/events/2008/WorldMastersAthleticsChampionshipsIndoor or by mail from Sherry Quack, USATF National Office, One RCA Dome, Suite 140, Indianapolis, IN 46225. The completed forms, including payment of all fees (in US Dollars), are to be returned to the USATF National Office at the same address before January 4, 2008. The USATF staff and the USA Team Managers (Philip Greenwald and Mary Rosado) will then process the entries and forward the entries and fees to the local organizing committee in France. Late entries will be accepted through January 25, but there is a $75 late fee being collected by the meet organizers.

All USA athletes must wear official uniform tops. Athletes can use the top they purchased for previous WMA championships events held in 2005 or later (San Sebastian, Linz, and Riccione) or they can order one with their entry. Additional uniform items (additional tops, matching shorts, warm-ups, rain suits, etc.) are available on-line.

In scheduling their travel, athletes should plan to arrive in Clermont-Ferrand the day before their first event. There will be team meetings every day at 10:30 (location to be announced on the USA message board) and arriving athletes should either attend the next meeting or check with Philip Greenwald regarding any last minute changes.

Athletes planning to run the 4x200 relay should enter the 200 meter event (the selection of teams is based on performances in the 200) and arrange to stay through the evening of March 22.

Once a year since 1982, USATF has invited all elite coaches (to be more correct, coaches of elite athletes) to a summit. Based on the philosophy that there is only one true track team - team USA and that there should be no secrets amongst coaches. The goal is simple - to get as many U.S. athletes on the medal podium in the "big 3" events - The Pan-American Games, The World Championships and The Olympic Games. Although this gathering was packed with many college rivals, all these elite coaches have bought into the "no secrets" approach to improving the sport and USA Track and Field's "science-based, athlete-centered, coach-driven" formula for success.

This year, for the first time, all USATF certified coaches were given the opportunity to attend what had previously been a smaller, exclusive summit. One reason for the open invitation this year is that USATF has watched a trend where 20 years ago some 30 coaches worked with elite athletes and now only about 7 coaches are placing 90% of the athletes on the winners stand. Unfortunately, these few coaches are not going to be around in the next 10 or so years and USATF needs to start developing the next generation of elite coaches. So here was an opportunity for hundreds of college and club coaches to learn from the accumulated wealth of knowledge of the Greats. I selected to attend the sprints session but there were also sessions for hurdles, jumps, throws and multi-events.

There were hundreds and hundreds of coaches from throughout the United States (and even a few from Canada) at the sprawling Tuscany Resorts and Casino in Las Vegas. It wasn't on "The Strip" but wasn't far away either. It was also about a 15-minute walk to the UNLV track which was a nice break to have some sessions out there instead of in the huge lecture halls at the conference center. Based on my estimates there were an equal number of white and minority coaches with men clearly outnumbering the female coaches. Most coaches appeared to be college coaches with a sprinkling of club, high school and youth coaches. Amazingly I ran into Marc Mangiacotti, the sprints coach from Wheaton (MA) College and I also saw the head coach from UMass Lowell was there too.

Every year USATF assembles biomechanists, sports psychologists, strength and conditioning experts, nutritionists, medical doctors, performance technologists, and other scientists to present their research and findings at this yearly summit. Often the elite coaches knew their drills or workouts were effective but never really knew the scientific basis why they were effective or what science it was based on. On occasion there would be some heated exchanges between the scientists and the coaches. In one case, biomechanist Dr. Ralph Mann asserted that pumping the arms at the end of a 200m or 400m race had little to do with the athletes ultimate performance. Coach Clyde Hart (think Michael Johnson, Jeremy Warriner) would not accept that, even after Dr. Mann provided the research and science to prove his point that arms are primarily for balance and have no effect on stride rate.

For three days the sessions ran nearly non-stop from 8am to 7pm with brief breaks and a one-hour lunch break. The emphasis of the sessions was putting together a year-long track program, which is what the majority of the attendees work with at the college level. I was concerned that I would not find enough information that I could use with my youth, high schoolers and masters but there was so much useful stuff that I only have space to pass on some of the key points. So skipping much of the science courses I sat through, here are a few items that might be useful to you:

Sprint effort (force) is exerted to produce lateral (side-to-side), horizontal (down the track towards the finish line) and vertical (up and down) motion. At maximum sprint velocity the goal must be to produce maximum vertical force while minimizing forces in all other directions. This is not a typo. The science basis of sprinting is that it is actually a series of vertical jumps (for elite athletes, 5x per second for 10 seconds) where each leg is hitting the ground with a gravity-influenced force of about 400 pounds on each leg.

In comparisons between very good athletes and elite athletes where stride length, stride rate (turnover speed) air time and ground contact time were compared, both sets of sprinters had identical numbers in all aspects except one - ground contact time. The elite athlete was able to get their feet off the ground faster. Even average sprinters had the same air time as the elites, but it's the ability to push that leg off the ground against the 400 pounds of pressure (50 times in 10 seconds) that gets an athlete onto the podium in world-class competition.

Starts - Analysis of elite sprinters shows that somewhere between the 11th and 12th step is when they are considered to have reached the maximum velocity threshold. The definition of the max velocity threshold is when the athlete reaches 80% of their max velocity, which occurs at the 20 meter mark. It's at the 50 meter mark where absolute top speed is reached and then begins to tail off. When breaking down a 100m race into components, the start component now includes the first two steps out of the blocks. Amazingly, research shows that elite sprinters reach over 50% of their maximum velocity by their second step!

Just the facts:
- the key to maximizing stride rate is to minimize ground contact time.
- legs generate power, the truck is for stability and the arms are for balance.

If there was one thing that we could all do to improve our sprint performance, considering we don't have a full-year, college practice schedule, it would be to use the winter months in the weight room to work on leg strength and hip joint flexibility. Squats, single and both legs - down to an angle comparable to the angle at the knee while in the blocks. No deep squats! For drills, work on lunges with dumbbells, hurdle hops, step-ups of 12"-14", single and double-leg broad jumps and on the track work on short runs of 10, 15, and 20 meters with knees up, toes up and attacking the ground. Try 20m float, 10m fly, 20m float, and 10m fly, two or three times. Always start sets after full recovery but a good workout is one of constant motion. Never sit down between sets, never just stand around. Walk until fully recovered - a heart rate of about 120 b/m.

Finally, after a good workout you should consume a 4-part carb to 1-part protein food or drink within 30 minutes to rebuild and reload at a ratio of .7 grams of carbs for every 2.2 pounds of body weight. Check the ratios on your sports drinks or powerbars. If you weigh 160 lbs., look for 50 grams of carbs and 12.5 grams of protein. Chocolate milk usually contains the right carb/protein ratio.

Out on The UNLV Track:

---

"Larry, Great newsletter as usual. I have been out of my usual training regimen since early October when my younger brother died unexpectedly at age 41. He had a wife and a 23 month old son. Makes one consider that each day needs to be lived to its fullest. Just getting back into training again, though I never let myself get too far out of shape. The other thing I've been doing alot of is working, which I will be doing this Saturday so I will not be competing but I hope to run on Dec 15. Best of luck to you and all MVTC members that will be racing." - Dave Nuemann

"Hi Larry, Just read through the newsletter. When I got to the final thoughts - I had to chuckle - talk about hitting close to home! It ends up that just after I saw you last week at the Reggie, I went ahead and strained my right hamstring (although not too badly) during my first jumping workout since outdoor nationals (though in my defense, I have been lifting & sprinting pretty regularly during the fall). In a similar spirit as your final thoughts... just yesterday, I still went ahead and entered the Harvard Open even though I may not make it down the runway ;-) Barring re-injury this week, I will see you at the meet!" - Brian Rowles

"Hi there Larry. I hope your time in Las Vegas was enjoyable and instructive. The Harvard meet was a fun kick-off for the year. I really needed to get the rust out of my brain as well as my body. In the 60 I set up my blocks and just before they told us to go to our marks I noticed I had moved the foot pedals but didn't click them into the middle piece. That would have been a flying start in the wrong direction. Then, as you know, I set up my blocks in the 200 pointing straight off towards the outer edge of the track. Oh well. I can blame my slow times on those things. I actually beat one person in the 60 dash, maybe she fell at the start. I've loaded up a variety of pictures that came out fairly well so you can choose a few for the newsletter if you like. Nice to talk with Katie and see some of the Commerce kids and alumnus (?) there. See you again soon I hope. Stay healthy." - Kim Williams

"I hope there will be some fellow Mass Velociteers to keep me company (at the WMA Indoor Championships in in Clermont-Ferrand, France)" - Susan Weimer

"Would anyone from or coming through Western Massachusetts like to carpool to the Dartmouth Relays on January 11? Also, I am going to the East Regionals in Landover, MD on February 23 and then, coming back, the New Jersey Championships on February 24. Anyone want to carpool?" - Jonathan Tetherly (contact: tetherly@verizon.net)

[Editors Note: This letter was received months ago from M90, Bob Matteson after learning he was awarded the 1st annual MVTC Best All-Around Award. Bob doesn't use e-mail and it was my fault that the letter got lost in the shuffle] "Dear Larry - What a pleasant surprise! I'm glad to have been able to score some points for Mass Velocity. The Best All Around Award is much appreciated. The Winged Foot Trophy is tops! I am placing it very visibly in my office - a great counterpoint to the urns and arms-outstretched athletes! It is good of you to have brought me into Mass Velocity - certainly an up-an-coming outfit. I appreciate my membership and am pleased it has benefited Mass Velocity. I'll keep trying to score points! Regards, Bob Matteson"

Perhaps it was the combination of my Las Vegas seminar on sprinting and starts and seeing Jon Drummond (who I did not get a chance to talk to and the Paris incident was never mentioned) that made me start thinking about starts and the one intangible - the starter. Let's be frank, a good starter is hard to find. The start is so critical to short sprints and coming out of the blocks (especially as we get older) becomes increasingly difficult. How many of us have been held in the blocks so long that our arms start to tremble as we try to hold ourselves up, try not false start and get a good reaction to the gun? I would guess, most of us.

I realize that most starters try to vary the time between the set command and the gun, and I can understand the reasoning. But holding a heat of sprinters way too long, almost ensuring a false start, is proof in my eyes that these folks never competed as a sprinters. To anyone that's never started in blocks, it must look pretty simple and straightforward. But I know full well from personal experience that the dozen different things I try to train my kids to do automatically to ensure a good start can easily be forgotten in an instant at the crack of the starter's gun.

The worst part of any sprint is the time between "set" and the gun. I'll say it again - a good starter is hard to find!

Peace, speed and good health,

The Mass Velocity Newsletter is an open-access publication under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. Users may freely copy, distribute, and display its contents, but must give credit to the original publication source and author.