Speed Issues

I'm no coach but have watched a lot of high school meets.

Some obvious reasons some kids don't have a good finishing 'kick' -

- Horrible pacing in the longer races, going out on the first lap of a 3200, for example, way, way too fast, and simply having nothing left by the end of the race. Try slowing down the first half of your next race and running negative splits for the second half - for example, to take a reductio ad absurdum approach - walk the first 7.5 laps of the race and then sprint in the last half lap - you don't want to do that, but you can't run fast at the end if you're dead.

- Just increasing general fitness and endurance will help make you stronger by the end of the race - run a few doubles some days, with a few miles in the morning. Do some basic core stuff to help maintain your form by the end of a long race - some planks and side planks and leg raises, etc.

- Strides, of course, like you mentioned, especially after those long runs when you are already tired.

- Occasionally throw in some fast bursts in your long runs, fartlek kind of stuff, just for even 30 seconds or so. Do the same on some hills, etc.

All that stuff worked when my kid was running a few years back.

some people have kicks other don't. it's not really trainable. You have to learn to die twice in a race.

End every run with a high tempo 200-400m and do strides.

Do your drill and hills to increase your speed.

Learn to run on your toes when you start kicking..

Agree that speed is tough to train or coach. Much like a vertical leap or good arm, either you have decent sprint speed or you don't. Having said that, people with so so speed can equalize things against better srinters by increasing strength and endurance so that whatever speed they do have is still there @ the end of a race. Best way to do this is longer runs @ prudently faster paces. The longer the runs and the more honest the pace, the better. Speed work (killer 200s, 400s, etc) at this time of the year is not the answer (unless you want to peak in April). Racing at longer than your ideal distance (mlers running 2 mile) a good way to build on this early in the track season. Good luck.

timmy t wrote:

some people have kicks other don't. it's not really trainable. '

Well you are even proving that wrong in you next sentence

'End every run with a high tempo 200-400m and do strides.'

Now you are talking, but don't do this on recovery runs' However don't be scared to finish some runs flat out

'Do your drill and hills to increase your speed.

Learn to run on your toes when you start kicking..

More good stuff

I've beaten a guy 10 seconds faster over 800m than me in a sprint, it's not all about speed but being able to put down your best speed at the end of a race

One more tip when make your move, go all out. Open up a gap and a lot runners will give up and let you go

I've seen loads of good runners finishing in 10th or something, not bothering to put a sprint on. Never do that. If you've run several miles you can turn it on over the last couple of hundred metres. You can rest once you cross the line

pacing can make a big difference, as well as conditioning and fitness.

in a mile, you really have one move, most hs guys shoot their wads on the firs lap and in the first 250m.

2 mile, fading in the last mile is a result of pacing and conditioning.

the mile usually goes like this for most hs guys

first lap - fastest lap, by far.

second lap - slower than the first, but still fast

third lap - slowest lap by far, saving up for the "big kick"

4th lap - faster than the third, but slower than first or second.

for anyone to offer sound advice, you need to provide a little more detail than what you have provided. if you are blasting the first lap, no amount of "speed gaining exercises" is going to help if you have nothing left to give. additionally, it is quite often the case that people who have issues with pacing or conditioning will only go out faster and die harder when they focus on speed.

@ukathleticscoach that a kick is trainable or not comes down to the fact if the runners has topend speed and is able to utilize this at the end of a run.

So if one of the 2 elements are not presented enough than it's really hard to become a kicker.

Of course everybody can increase his ability. but at what point does it become a 'kick'.

One thing I always try to do is to sprint always at the end of a race. from 800m to half marathon.

This way you really learn how to die twice.

agree with ukathleticscoach - i would get trounced in workouts by teammates with more raw speed. come race day, i knew that i was in the driver's seat if i found myself on their shoulder with 300m to go.

also, you need to have unwavering confidence and drive / "will to win" over that last few hundred meters. as ukathleticscoach said, when you make your move - go all out.

think about relaxing your muscles as you are kicking ... relax and go.

you have to stay calm and in control until it is time to pull the trigger, then you go like there is no tomorrow.

imagine that you are in the olympic 1500m final, and kick to win.

random thoughts and idioms ... about what you should be thinking.

"take no prisoners"

"this f**ker is not going to beat me"

"lay it all on the line"

"go big or go home"

"pedal to the metal"

"it's showtime!"

you need to rehearse kicking and winning in your head.

you need to rehearse in practice - focus on catching and passing a teammate in practice, pick out a telephone pole, mail box, etc on your training run and sprint to it.

also, if you know that you have given it your best shot and you know that you did everything right, it makes getting out kicked a little easier - keeping in mind that there is always next week, next year.

*this is all assuming that you have the overall fitness and conditioning necessary to get you to the point where you are able to execute your kick effectively. In the words of the great Juma Ikanga "The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare."

'So if one of the 2 elements are not presented enough than it's really hard to become a kicker'

Of course you are limited by your top speed but most people don't come close to realising this at the end of the race

You have to think what level you are as well of course if they drop you into an international race you are going to be lost for speed only looking to beat the people around you in a race

I fairly often got picked to run in the 4 x 400m on the basis of having a good finish.

My coach one pointed out 'you can't sprint' But people assumed I was fast over 100/400m just because they had seen my finish. ..and more than that I developed the ability (at my level!) to change pace or kick

It's called a kick for a reason. You actually can start the effort with a dynamic kick with your strongest leg and then put the power down for a few strides to make the effort

You can also work on strength, get running art or sprintgeezer on this that's their area. Seb Coe said if he hadn't spent yeart doing squats with weights he would never have had the same kick. Running is all about improving what you've got and even he had to work at it!

"Of course you are limited by your top speed but most people don't come close to realising this at the end of the race"

This is the key thing - the ability to tap into the speed that you do have, whatever that might be, at the end of a race.

In college, we sometimes did a 5 mile steady/tempo style run, followed by an 800m run on the track where we hit 400m at 70 seconds and then burned the last 400m. Despite having only 53 second 400m speed, I managed to split 55 - 56 seconds over the last 400m of this particular workout. In this particular workout, we only did one 800m rep because the last 400 was to be done all out.

This concept of a kick is silly.

You only have a kick if you've not been running all out. Top end sprint speed isn't really the issue. So the answer is to get in as good as shape as possible. And when you're in a race that's too slow for you, you will have a kick at the end. The slower the race, the closer to your top end speed you will be able to reach. There is NO way that you will have a kick in a race that you have been running at 100%.

It's why Morceli could run a 50.5 second last lap in a 3:34 race, but only a 55 second last lap in a 3:27 race.

Always running a consistent race, not going out to hard or anything like that, just not enough speed at the end.

So tell us about your training, what kind of training did you do over the summer? Did you run cross country? Did you take time off? What is your typical training week?

Sorry, misunderstood the question. Over the summer I was training for XC, and averaged about 55 miles a week. The only times I have taken off since then was about 3 weeks after States because I do not run winter track. Typical training week over the summer consisted of a hill workout and a long run every week and a 3-5 mile tempo every other week. Also had some variation of track work every other week. Every other day was miles varying for 6-9ish. Now that I'm training for track the miles have gotten shorter and workouts faster. Track workouts have also become much common.

@ukathleticscoach that's a clear explanation. Jack D also believes that a runner maybe more gifted with topend speed or endurance, and both are of course trainable.

I disagree with Twitched that the race needs to be slow to use your kick.

It's even possible in a real fast race where you performed at your 'max' to kickout the last 300M or less.

A kick is of course highly overrated because you need to be in front of the race to use it.

Not like me to sprint for the 4th place:)

Squats.

Plyos.

Knee lift.

Turnover.

also go to Speedendurance.com. Its helpful. Also read a book, because reading is fundamental.

any specific plyo exercises that you recommend?