Gay's training leaves him unprepared to run 100m

What gay? Bolt? Flagpole? stuck with match.com? WHAT GAY?

Addressing 2 obvious replies before they arise:

1--No, just because he can run a credible 400 does NOT mean that he can run a credible 100 while escaping injury. Credible for him, anyway.

2--Statements made by his agent, while not having the greatest of credibility, nevertheless have more credibility than the conjecture of anonymous blog posters and others. We have more reason to believe his agent than to believe anonymous posters or media who generate and circulate unsubstantiated rumors about enhanced drug testing, etc..

He needs to bump up the frequency of his crossfit exercises. His sprint training should just be supplemental to those. That will allow him to be prepared to run world class 100m times.

I don't buy this state of unpreparedness statement. Didn't he run a world record in the 200M flat in Birmingham, UK last month?

Something's fishy!

Giving even more idiotic comments the attention they deserve.

Anyone who knows enough about sprinting to look at Gay's website (tysongay.net) would know what the plan is. He raised his 400m fitness to a level probably never before seen in a pure sprinter. He is the only sub-10/sub-20/sub-45 athlete ever. Given the groin injury, Gay's team is understandably cautious and has no reason to risk things with Bolt not present. Gay has absolutely nothing to gain by racing 100 now, and nobody is going to argue with Müller-Wohlfahrt on this matter.

Gay has 3 200s scheduled in July, starting with Preclassic and ending with Monaco. He has planned 100s in August.

The schedule was obviously set up to beat the WR, and Bolt may or may not be in shape after his present injury problems. Gay has coaching from Lance Brauman and Jon Drummond, and has been to LA occasionally to see Bob Kersee. I think they know slightly more about how to prepare for a peak 100 than you do.

I

NYER1 wrote:

I don't buy this state of unpreparedness statement. Didn't he run a world record in the 200M flat in Birmingham, UK last month?

Something's fishy!

You can race a fast 200 without accelerating completely all-out (Allyson Felix) from the start. It doesn't have quite the max acceleration of the 100.

We don't know if Gay is really completely healthy, or if perhaps he damaged something is Manchester. I don't know if they pulled out to take more time before pushing 100% or if something's wrong.

I wouldn't worry about his race fitness (though some races to get sharp should be expected), but his injury health is something you have to wonder about.

Who are you, Coach D, one of Gay's coaches?

First off, one need not know ANYTHING about sprinting to look at Gay's website.

Gay has nothing to gain by racing 100 now? That is tautological, as he is not READY to race 100.

If he was ready, he would stand to gain significant 100m appearance fees, which would be an opportunity for him to make excellent money at a meet in which Bolt was running the 200.

By "risk things", I assume you mean risk injury doing a fast 100 without Bolt present.

Again, the reason would be if he wanted to run a big-money meet where Bolt was already running the 200.

How can you tell that the schedule was "obviously set up to beat the WR"? I'm not trying to be argumentative, it is a genuine question. I assume you're talking about the 100m WR.

And yes, Drummond and Kersee do know more about how to prepare for a peak 100 than I do--if by "prepare" you mean "inject PED's".

Again, if he wants to get anywhere near the WR, he needs a start and early drive phase. His is crap compared to Bolt's. Take a look at his start in Shanghai--he basically stands up, and his head pops up for an instant as he is looking out across the track. He then realizes that he has already screwed up, and puts his head back down in a failed attempt to recover some "drive".

Ridiculous, for a guy who is "obviously trying to break the WR". What a testament to Drummond's coaching.

But on the upside, the 'roids sure helped Drummond get out quickly.

Galen who?

You know, Coach D, a coach of an elite athlete is supposed to make that athlete better at what they do poorly. That is how they help to develop the athlete to his/her maximum potential.

Elite athletes don't need help with what they do well--because they are elite, they're already at the top of whatever category they perform well in. That is why they are elite.

Gay is Mr. Turnover and Mr. Smooth. He doesn't need help with those aspects.

If any of his coaches were really any good, his start and early drive would improve.

Maybe it has--do you have any breakdowns of his 0-40 times in his 100 races over the past two years?

It certainly doesn't LOOK like it has improved in general, and it is nowhere near what is required to even approach the WR.

BTW, I do hope he nears Bolt.

White boy what is your 100?

White speed geezer wrote:

White boy what is your 100?

Drummond hasn´t run as fast as Gay. How can he coach Gay, then?

My 100 is crap, but pretty good I think for a white guy:

PR's-10.49w

10.73

But I wasn't a dedicated 100 guy.

With great coaching, my 100 improved from consistent 11.2's to consistent 10.7's

If I had been dedicated, maybe I could have run 10.5's.

Point is, a good coach (plus work) made half a second of difference.

And it was all totally clean. Maybe I could have been really fast for a white guy if I had 'roided-up.

What does it matter what my 100 was?

are you sure you didn't ask yourself so you could boast about your 10.49?

do you notice that little w at the end of the 10.49? I'm not sure why you think that's bragging.

First of all, the 10.49w isn't a boast or brag.

I ran that in a 100m in which I finished dead last.

Second, I don't know why that guy asked for a 100 time. It is totally irrelevant to coaching and analytic ability.

The BEST coach and sprint analyst I ever had, and that I ever saw, was this overweight, aging guy on the west coast, with a buzz cut, a hawaiian shirt, and a stogie he was constantly chewing on.

Some of you may know the guy I'm talking about--he often coaches guys who have been drafted by the NFL but who are not currently playing.

He was better than any national coach I ever encountered.

And HIS 100 pr would have been at least 13.00--in fact, I don't think that he ever ran in his life!

But he was one heck of a coach. The best.

oh come on this sh#t happens all the time with these twits.

It's classic "male black sprinter" behaviour after the endless "I talked myself up to being better than the other guy but in reality my sense of self confidence is just a f$#king façade and I am just a big freaking pussy" spiels.

It's not a new phenomena - started off with Carl Lewis and his refusal to run any meet outside of a World Champs against Ben Johnson and if you think it's going to change anytime soon you are kidding yourself.

Do you think Gay will ever race Bolt this year? Hahahahahahah!

Furthermore what chance is there of Gay, Bolt and Powell racing each other?!?! There is more chance of the friggin New Zealand Space Agency sending a black sheep to the moon!

Gay is still recovering from the 19.41. Imagine the lactic acid building up in you legs over 10k or so. Now imagine that same buildup hitting your legs in about 10 seconds.

Real sprinting hurts in so many ways from thigh muscles to the soles of you feet.

Published research puts the lactate from a maximal 200 at ~20 mmol/L. The lactate/H+ itself is gone in 60 minutes, and the muscle damage takes 36-48 hours to recover from.

But the CNS effect takes up to 10 days to recover from. He would have recovered from a WR 200 by now. And Gay's 100m split was 9.88, recording a middle split of 8.72, which is one of the fastest flying 100 times ever run. Take this into account when you see how bad Gay's training has been.

Whether Gay ran that 200 without re-injuring his groin, or whether he is (psychologically perhaps) ready to accelerate flat-out in a 100 against Powell right now, is the real question.

BTW, the All-time world rankings for the 100m from World Masters Athletics can be found here:

http://www.mastersathletics.net/fileadmin/html/Rankings/All_Time/100metresmen.htm

There are only 2 listed timed for 10.73, both of whom were in the 35-39 age group:

10.73 1.2 Dennis McNeil USA 05.08.2006

10.73 0.3 Thierry Lubin FRA 10.11.1970 Nice 28.05.2009

It appears that nobody over 40 has ever run precisely 10.73. Draw your own conclusions.

First of all, Coach D, I'm well over 40.

Second of all, I ran those times 20 years ago.

As I've said before on other posts, I'm now a mid-11 second masters hack. I'd still do well in a good master's meet, if I ever had the time, or the real desire, to do one. I do make it to the track 2-3 times a week, in season. Maybe I'll run some meets in July, when my schedule is thinner.

Coach D, you seem to have difficulty with cogency.

Why would you assume that those were my current times?!

Who the heck would think that some white 40+ master's guy would run 10.73, or better yet 10.49? The only guys anywhere near that territory are guys like Thigpen, Gault, Collins, Christie, or my favorite, Troy Douglas, and they're obviously not white, so I'm obviously not one of them. And no, I'm not Simpson.

Anyway, back to substance: IF the "real question", as you put it, is whether Gay re-injured his groin running the 200, that can be answered in the negative, supported by both testimonial evidence from his agent and from Gay himself, and from his apparent lack of trauma during or immediately following that race.

As far as we know, HE IS NOT INJURED. Unless you have some secret knowledge of which the rest of us are unaware.

Why don't you stick to the acknowledged facts instead of to conjecture: he is not injured, but he is not ready to run a fast (for him) 100m.

When an athlete is required to do something that doesn't come naturally, the mastery of that movement or task requires repeated practice.

Like Gay coming out of blocks and driving. It OBVIOUSLY doesn't come naturally to him. He needs to do it over, and over, and over, and over again to be able to re-set himself and do it without thinking. It's called training.

Without that specific training, he doesn't have the start or drive to run a credible (for him) 100m, let alone a WR 100m.

Fortunately for Gay, there appears to yet be time. Track fans seem forgiving of him when he withdraws from meets, and will welcome him in a 100 come July or August.

Problem is, while Gay's ducking meets, Powell is burning up the track. His performances make one forget how early it is yet in the track season, which makes Gay seem like he's woefully behind.

My prediction: Gay's start training will be too late, he won't benefit from it, and he will likely injure himself doing it, because he will be doing it in a compressed time frame, and not at the time he should be doing it--during a time when he is doing substantial weights and plyos and attendant recovery, rather than running. I hope I'm wrong.