Don't ANY (middle-)distance runners know how to START or take a PASS?

dukerdog wrote:

Technique #1 (usually successful): Incoming runner holds the baton in front of him in a vertical position. Outgoing runner grabs it.

Technique #2 (usually successful): Outgoing runner puts his hand up with palm facing back and fingers up. Incoming runner puts the baton into outgoing runner's hand.

Technique #3 (often unsuccessful): Incoming runner tries to put baton in outgoing runner's hand. Outgoing runner tries to grab the baton.

Your job as coach is to make sure Technique #3 never happens.

Duker, I agree with you. Obviously from my ramblings I prefer technique #2. However, I notice you did not make a comment about the starting technique also discussed in this thread...how come?

The OP might be referring to our DMR. Yep, we F'd up that one. But our middle distance guys actually do practice handoffs in a few workouts and we've all run relays in meets. As late as Wednesday before the meet, we did some 100 meter strides with baton passes. Almost all of us have practiced handoffs with every other middle distance guy and with many of the 400 guys and we hadn't had a miscue prior to this one. But as luck would have it, the 400 guy we used on the DMR was only put on the squad at the last minute when another guy became unavailable, and he had never practiced handoffs with the middle distance group. He expected a higher baton pass than he got, so we botched it. You really don't expect that sort of thing to be a problem so it's easy to think it will take care of itself, but it goes to show the lack of practice on little stuff like that can sometimes come back to bite you on the ass. As far as starting stance, yeah, we've heard how people say it should be done, but in the end we go with what's comfortable for us.

Worth a bump, now that indoor's underway.

As far as the start thing: you have (very roughly) six seconds at the start of a race, in which you can go as fast as you want and accumulate essentially no lactate (creatine phosphate energy system). Those six seconds aren't available later in the race--it's "use it [at the start] or lose it." So it seems strange to me that anyone would deliberately piss away those few "free" seconds at the start.

But...it's only six seconds, not thirty! If your athletes understand the whole bit about maximizing those few seconds, and you teach efficient starting technique, then they're likely to be in the lead early--even *well* in the lead--and it can be very tempting, especially for tyros, to try to keep that pace going. In a distance race, running the whole first lap at that speed/effort will spell disaster later on.

So have runners try this. Pick a leg (doesn't matter which). By the time that leg has taken ten steps, the first six seconds of the race will be over (or nearly). Yes, teach your athletes to blast off the line and maximize those CP "gift" seconds; but *also* teach them that, by the time that leg has taken ten steps, they should be completely settled into *their* race pace. (This takes a little practice/experience. Not too much, though.) In a lot of races, that means other runners will pass them after the first fifty meters or so, but that's fine; those other, presumably faster, runners should have been ahead of your kid the whole time, but started less efficiently.

re: open races (not relay)/800/1500/above distances - see Wottle in '72, and Keino + Ryun in '68 ... in fact Ryun in most races. Start is a bit over-rated except PERHAPS indoors. Also Auoita in '84 - edged out but no one was gonna beat Kipeter that day. The examples are numerous - not as sure with college/HS levels - I know Waigwa took off very casually. I think the 800 could be the changing of the threshold. KNow a guy in HS who never started 'hard' and almost never led at 400 - but was undefeated for 2 years and always ran negative splits... and led the nation timewise. I think its whatever produces optimal results. Coming from behind requires a lot of confidence