Pure Speed(Finishing Kick)- The Best Way to Improve It

I have a strong kick. I have never been beat in a sprint to the finish.

I do sprints (usually 8-10 at a distance of 50-100 meters) at the end of 3 runs per week and I finish every run, even my easy ones, by picking up the pace the final half mile, blasting through the last 1/4 mile and sprinting the final 100 meters or so.

Works for me.

Plyos are hugely important. the only debate over these is really about how often they should be done.

Each drill separates one aspect of running form and works it through a full range of motion or at a quick speed, both important for improving pure speed.

If you are going to do a lot of these, make sure that you stop immediately once you cannot maintain good form.

doing plyos with the wrong form will only make you slower

keep doing what you are doing

I asked the question because what I have been doing has not shown the improvements I have hoped for.

I would understand if an elite runner would see miniscule or no improvements, but I have so much room for improvement that I am shocked that it is not coming.

A further note; my turnover when sprinting is pretty high, so I am not a giant slab of slow twitch. I have performed cadence drills and reached up to 260-270 strides per minute for 15 second sprints (Mo Greene ~ 270 spm, Michael Johnson up to 33).

However, I have not been able to put together a good stide length and rate to have a fast kick and good speed.

A big portion of a good kick is mental.

1) Despite working really hard, you have to *relax* while you are kicking. In workouts I would routinely get trounced by guys with better natural speed, but with 200m to go I would blow by the same guys in a race ... mostly because I was able to relax and let it happen. Mostly, I had the ability to relax and run closer to my max speed than the guys with more natural speed.

2) Practice your drills when you are *tired* ... do fast striders after a hard run. Another workout would be to do an easy tempo run to the track, run an 800 with the first 400 being at your 5K race pace ... then *burn* the last 400. (It's helpful if you do this one with other people)

3) While you are doing your striders and drills you have to convince yourself that you are fast, and you must develop an unshakeable confidence in your ability to outsprint an opponent. Essentially, you have to *know* that with 200m to go "I can outkick this guy".

There is nothing better than hills.

Try using 100m build-ups at the end of each distance run

10x 100m Stride outs 30to50to90% Like a snowball going down

a hill. Work your form, run tall, forward lean, good mechanics. A drill that sharpens (season end) 600's

400 at race pace 200 all-out - 3/4repeats.

2/3pace1/3all-out can be adapted to X-C, Mile/800, but

if leg speed (turnover)is your need keep to the 600's.

The best kick is take the kick out of your opponent,

drive early and make him catch you.

Malmo- Any specifics?

I.e., what kind of hills? What distances? Sprinting up them or bounding?

You can do what you are trying to achieve if you would run barefoot. I don't preach running barefoot anymore though until you have mastered the art of walking barefoot. Once this is done you will have a more powerful, or is it less energy resistant?, stride.

Actually, if you are ever able to race barefoot, do it. You will be able to run much faster and more naturally. Imagine those light racing shoes of 4-5 oz. thy sell. Now imagine the 0 oz. racers- ie.e your feet.

heres another idea to trial.

I recently started working with a German coach, and he introduced me to these. Run your reps over 200m with acceleration periods in between. Eg. - for a 400m, run 80m fast, then drop right down to 5km pace for the next 80m, then pick it up to max again - then so on. These are VERY hard. You blood acidosis levels go through the roof, and its the up and down nature of the speed which does it. It also allows you to hold good form when you are running fast - you just get to the point where you startlosing form, and you can relax.

I ran the following session, just check out the difference in resultant times - each rep was as hard as the other - the "change-ups" were perhaps even harder.

400 52.3

400 tempo change 56.1

400 49.7

400 tempo change 57.0

VERY good for finishing speed - physiologically - AND mentally.

Henry Rono: "Dee Heeel!"

Interviewer: "Henry, what hill?"

Rono: "Any Heeel!!!"

I did bounding once. ONCE. It was crap. Too many coaches try to think too much. Hills force the "right" mechanics on all runners. Hills force the nervous system into the right turnover rate for sprinting.

Try this: Mext time you run hills (1:00 to 2:00) find one where you can do a short jog on the backside and BOOM! a short :20 hill. It works. You will be able to outkick guys who are much faster than you.

Learn how to sprint. Talk to your sprint coach. The mechanics are very different and running as hard as you can at the end of a race will not do it.

What I would always do 2 years ago (I couldn't do this workout this spring due to a torn hamstring) and what seemed to be rather effective was this. I would run some 500s after an easy distance run. Basically did however many I felt like. Kinda not organized, but it got the job done. I would just run the first 300m at a little bit faster than race pace, sometimes at mile pace. Then between 300m-350m I would start to accellerate and hit full stride and just ran as fast as possible, paying close attention to my form and relaxation while keeping it as intense as possible. Not only did this help my body get physically prepared for kicking, but it got me mentally prepared for a strong bell lap.

UP or DOWN?

Da Heel

Can JK, ET, or Joe Rubio give some advice?

an old post from ET:

"Improving basic speed is fairly simple. The scenario I've seen many times is this. Let me introduce you to runner "Joe."

Joe is 27 years old, was decent but no better in H.S., tried to make the cross-country/track team at the local university but was unsuccessful. Joe ran 10:00 in the 3200 in H.S., and now runs local road races with an average 5k of 17:30. Joe runs about 40 miles a week and does intervals in the form of 800m and mile repeats in fartlek form with the local club.

Joe can no longer come close to a 10:00 3200. He can't do this because 5:00 for the mile is all he can muster. An 800m in 2:20 is a race for him.

Joe has 2 big problems that are equally important to address 1)Lack of mileage, 2)No speed. Joe, however has decided he wants some more success and is willing to work for it.

I look at his recent mileage and plot out a course for raising it. We go to the track and warm-up etc. and I put him through a small true speed workout. I have him run what I call an "accela 200." He starts out at mile race pace and builds speed over 200 meters until the last 20-30 are full out. This is always the final component of the warm-up and the beginning of the workout on a true speed day.

Because he has not done any true speed work since high school he will run 1 or 2 200s. I give him 5 minutes recovery and explain that he will run this next 200 as fast as possible while staying relaxed. He jogs into into it with a raised hand which is dropped when the 200 start is reached. As the hand drops I click my watch and observe. The effort to relax is apparent but he is not relaxed and isn't generating a lot of power. The time is 29.3. He walks a bit, jogs a 600 back to the start where I meet him and ask how he is feeling etc (rest was about 8 min). We decide to do another one. Same procedure, 29.7.

I let him know that he will be sore etc. but that his speed will improve. This workout is repeated once a week with the number of 200s increased to 5 after the accela 200. The recovery is whatever is necessary (within reason) to be ready to go again. Usually starts at about 8 minutes and drops to 5 minutes after a couple months. It is never reduced to less then 5.

Joe's progression.

Week 1: 29.3, 29.7

Week 2: 28.8, 28.5, 29.1

Week 3: 28.5, 28.4, 28.6, 28.8

Week 4: 28.1, 28.0, 28.3, 28.3, 29.2

Week 5: 28.2, 28.5, 28.4, 28.5, 28.4

Week 6: 27.7, 27.6, 28.0, 28.1, 27.3

(Finally gets around to buying a pair of spikes to use instead of road flats. The last 200 of week 6 was run in spikes. Joe put them on for strides 2 times during the week. He has not be sore so the last 3 will be run in spikes on week 7. Week 8 will be completely in spikes.)

Week 7: 27.5, 27.6, 27.0, 26.8, 26.6

Week 8: 26.9, 26.5, 26.4, 26.7, 26.2

Week 9: 26.3, 26.1, 26.0, 26.6, 25.9

Week 10:25.9, 26.3, 26.1, 25.9, 25.8

(During this time mileage was raised from 40-70)

This Joe levels off about here, two Joes I have coached progressed to the mid 24's, another is currently at about week 6. All joes increased there mileage and threshold running and dropped up there 5k times substantially--and didn't get outkicked at the end. In less than a year Joe is now running 15:30 for 5k and 4:28 for a mile.

FOR MOST SPEED IS AS SIMPLE AS THAT.

If muscle imbalances are present drills are introduced to correct them. Usually the speed will fix them if it is run relaxed. Drills and plyos can be helpful but usually distract from the speed and a loss of specificity is incurred. Ability for 400 meter usually starts at 61-62 and drops to 53-55.

Don't over complicate things. Don't excessively worry about drills and form. Just do it and do it relaxed. Devote 1 workout a week to speed until you start to level off. After you level off finish 1 to 2 workouts per week with 1-2 fast 200s. For most people that is enough to maintain speed and some see continued improvement.

I like 200s because that are short enough to sprint but long enough to focus on relaxation.

Some may do it different, however this works so I stick with it.

My favorite athlete to work with is one who was a B class runner in HS, showing some talent, but never developed for one reason or another. For example I am working with an 800m runner who ran 2:00 flat in HS, 2:00 as a freshman in college and then quit. This guy will never make a U.S. national team but just wants to see improvement. Two weeks ago he raced for the 1st time in 5 years, the first time ever indoors, at 4500 feet, and 1 week after the highest mileage week of his life, and without a prepratory time trial, no hard 600's etc. He PRd with 1:59 FAT. He will peak for outdoors and run much faster. The two MAJOR factors? More mileage. More speed."

Just bumping this to see if anyone else has input.