• Home
• About
• Contact
• Blog
• Best of Articles
• Archives
• Promotions

Subscribe

• 40 Yard Dash
• 400 meters
• 800m-Mile
• Coaching
• Marathons
• Most Popular
• Nutrition
• Soccer
• Supplements
• Track and Field
• Training
• Videos
• Weight Training

Flying 30 for Sprinters: Achieving Max Velocity and Maintaining it Over the Critical Area of Race

The post was written by Ed Barber, currently the Sprints / Pole Vault / Multis coach at Hartnell College in Salinas, CA.
A Level III certified USATF Coach, Coach Barber took Calvin Harrison (44.78) to the Olympic Trials in Atlanta 1996.   Calvin went on to earn a gold medal in the 4×400m Relay.

Flying 30 for […]

Massage, Recovery, and Massage Sticks

If you can’t afford a daily massage, then I recommend at least a weekly massage as a bare minimum.  A good therapist will cost anywhere above $70 USD per hour.  I find 1 hour insufficient for the lower body, so my sessions are usually 75 or 90 minutes long.
$70 bucks may be pretty steep for […]

Dwayne Miller - Coach of LaShawn Merritt

From the mailbag:
Jimson,
You’ve covered a lot of great 400m coaches on your website like Clyde Hart, Bud Winter and Stan Dowell. 
How about LaShawn Merritt’s coach?  What kind of training philosophy does he have?  Long to Short or Short to Long?

First of all, Dwayne Miller is LaShawn Merritt’s coach.
LaShawn’s last 4 years have been impressive […]

49er Josh Morgan’s Track Workouts for Football

There are a lot of coaching experts out there who deal with sports specify.
And they all charge big bucks.
I simply look at any given sport and break it down to the fundamentals of training principles and sports physiology.
For example, I’d rather focus on the short speed of a Soccer player than to advise a 10km […]

2009 World Track and Field Championships - Half-time Report

Here are some thoughts and opinions from the 2009 World Championships in Berlin “half-time report”.
As usual, I’ll try to focus on coaching and training concepts.
Starting Blocks – Back to the Low Blocks
Track and Field at the elite level has gone back and forth from low blocks to high blocks during the last 3 decades.
With the […]

Usain Bolt Splits - 9.69 vs 9.58 - Can He Run Faster?

This is Part 1 of a 2 part series. Click here for Part 2 with 10 meter splits
.
Honestly, I didn’t expect Usain Bolt to run sub 9.60. 
I felt a WR was imminent after watching his SF, and I knew his chest thumping slowdown in Beijing showed me he could run low 9.60.
But a […]

Vitamin B Complex Supplementation

It is amazing how many items in the local grocery store are supplemented with common vitamins and minerals.
Table salt is iodized, to prevent goiter.
Milk is supplemented with Vitamins A and D because calcium absorption to the bones decreases during the Northern winter months.  Our past generation (before the supplementation) would suffer rickets due to the […]

Interview with Alicia Weber - Part 2

Matt Bogdanowicz’s is a sub-Masters middle distance runner who set WR for 1 minute pull-ups (46), 1 hour pull-ups (522), 30 minute pull-ups (433 set in 2006) but missed the 30 minute WR on Oct 2007 (completed 417 when the current record at the time was 442).
In comparison, Alicia Weber is a former University of […]

Strength and Endurance = STREND Fitness Challenge

What is the STREND Fitness Challenge?
Basically, it is when running a 5K alone just isn’t enough.
This is a 6 event decathlon that combines strength and endurance.
It’s the total repetitions of 5 exercises divided by run time in minutes (the 6th and final event), plus there is a strict recovery between events (3 minutes).
STREND Events

Bench press  […]

The 7 Scientific Principles of Training

This is my Decathlon.
In any given week, or mesocycle, we try to cover these 10 types (i.e. events) of training in our routines.
The first 6 are training specific at the track & weight room, and the last 4 are things outside the track.  You can call it intrinsic and extrinsic.  Or call it […]

Saturated Fats, Monounsaturated Fats, Polyunsaturated Fats, and Terrible Trans Fats

I discussed the topic of protein in great detail, and promoted Omega 3 fatty acids.  I even promoted chocolate milk, which contains saturated fats, especially the whole milk variety.
But what about fats?
Here is a brief overview of the 3 main fats: Saturated Fats, Monounsaturated Fats, and Polyunsaturated Fats, and of course, the terrible Trans Fats […]

Peaking, Planning and Periodization

Timing is everything.
Can you really peak 2 or 3 times a year?
More recently, Jeremy Warnier’s 2004 season come to mind with his victories at the NCAA Championships, USATF Olympic Trials, and of course, the Olympic Games.  Each of these victories were personal bests, and he sure saved the best for last!
Did he really peak 3 […]

When Should an Athlete Double Up?

This is part 2 of the article Running 100 Meters before your Big Race.
With the USATF National Championships around the corner, you have to ask yourself when is a good time to double.
Unlike the Olympics or Olympic Trails spread over 8 –10 days, the USA system is 4 days long and only 3 days for […]

Speed and the Masters Sprinter

Speed decreases with age.  That’s a fact of life.  Check the World Records in different age groups if you don’t believe me.
I call it "The Law of Attrition".
I used a random sample of the 2007 WMA results in Ricionne, using the M40 – M65 5 year age groups as my sample pool:

100m 0.4 seconds […]

Cereal and Milk, not Chocolate Milk Better for Recovery?

I’ve harped on the benefits of chocolate milk instead of high priced protein powders in the last few articles.
Now research from The University of Texas at Austin has proved a bowl of whole-grain cereal is just as good .  (Sorry, Fruit Loops, Coco Puffs and Lucky Charms do NOT count!)
Because at the end of the […]

Uphill Running Benefits for Speed and Special Endurance

I discussed overspeed training by means of a pulley or slight downhill grade.
But what about uphill running, or running with resistance such as sleds?
These two scenarios have two different functions, but I’ll discuss sleds and pulleys on a later post.
Over the Hills
Because distances on the hills are hard to measure (i.e. […]

150 Meter Fly Time to Project your 400 Meters

Can you use your 150 meter fly time in practice to determine your 400 meter performance?  A 150 fly is simply running 160 meters and timing the last 150m.
Yes and No.
First it would be scary to consider Usain Bolt’s 14.35 150 meter fly time which is probably around 13.35 subtracting 1 second for acceleration out […]

400 Meter Training Workouts - the 6×200 meters

I had a lot of email questions on the 400/800 Meter Training Workouts - The Beakdown, so I thought to add a few more of these workouts. (I wish readers would comment on the blog below the article so everyone can provide feedback)

The Clyde Hart 8×200 Workout

For men,

8 x 200m in 28 seconds.

as the […]

Why Food can be Better than Protein Powders

We all agree protein powders have an edge for convenience. Some are RTD (ready to drink), and some just require cold water and a shaker.

But natural wholesome food sources have extra benefits beyond powders. Beef has iron. Fish has Taurine, Omega 3 oils, and B12. Dairy products have calcium.

The Protein Book […]

Basic and Advanced Technical Models for Sprinting

This article is guest blogged by Jim Hiserman, author of the book Program Design Method for Sprints & Hurdle Training.

This is a 5 part series:

Part 1 - A Total Sprint-Training Program for Maximum Strength & Power, Core Strength, and Maximum Sprint Speed.
Part 2 - A Sprint & Hurdles Program Design Overview
Part 3 - Training for […]

Next Page »

NEW: Functional Strength Coach 3.0