Everything is about track and track is about speed

Its been a long time since I sat down and wrote. In the past I would write on a regular basis. In the last few months I have been listening more. The direct result has been extensive time in introspection. I have read through a few of my old posts and specifically see the enthusiasm and passion for the sport that I still have. Fortunately I now have the gift of experience. I am, of course, not a finished product.

I've enjoyed the writing of Stuart McMillan recently. He works at Altis which is an elite level training center located in Phoenix, AZ. He is able to articulate what I have learned and know about sport. He has also shared some anecdotes about athletes that he has coached that have helped me to work on cuing strategies with current athletes that I work with.

Coaching Speed

When it comes to speed there are a few things that we need to consider. Speed is first and foremost a skill. It is not unlike playing any musical instrument. It is different that much of the skill is based on the neural recruitment of muscle tissue whereas piano is much more about developing and refining motor skills. It is the exhaustion of the CNS that requires periods of rest in between training sessions. The following are essential components to any speed development program.

1. Acceleration
2. Max Velocity
3. Speed Endurance
4. Special Endurance

These qualities are listed in order of development. Early season should begin with acceleration, then to max velocity then finally ending with speed and special endurance.

Acceleration

The skill of acceleration is applicable to all sports, and disciplines. Every single act in the world has an acceleration component. Practicing effective, efficient acceleration skills will enable any athlete to move from a static start into the max velocity portion of their race. These qualities can always be refined and like all motor patterns gain efficiency with practice.

Max Velocity

In my experience, this quality is woefully undertrained. Often this quality is trained without specific intent. Any run that exceeds 30m that does not exceed 70m contains, likely, max velocity qualities. These bouts of CNS stimulus can be as short as 10m and as long as 30m. If this quality is specifically addressed and tracked it is easy to see that gains as small as .02 over 10m can translate into huge gains in 100m where there are 10 10m segments! That is .2 of improvement. The difference between 12.2 and 12.0 for girls and 11.00 and 10.8 for men is huge! Additionally these coordination and neural gains are retained! Interestingly Dan Pfaff mentions that in his experience beyond 40 bouts of Max Velocity have limited gains.

Speed Endurance

I do not like the term "endurance" in relation to speed qualities. I understand the nature of the term, however because speed is so rooted in coordination I would prefer something like Speed Coordination Endurance. Too often coaches get caught up in pushing workouts with recoveries of 2-4 minutes which because of their limited recovery, limit intensities. Speed Endurance runs must be performed with recoveries between 8 minutes and greater. This allows the body to operate at near maximal intensities which allows for specific adaptations to race pace scenarios.

Special Endurance

This term refers to runs that are specific to the race distance, for example Special Endurance 1 refers to runs of 150m-300m while Special Endurance 2 runs are typically 300m-600m. Again the intensity is dictated by the recovery and the recoveries must be long enough to allow for close to race intensities.