USATF 2007 National Podium Education Project, Las Vegas

@Tuscany Hotel, Las Vegas

If you’ve never been to a USATF National Podium Education Project, I highly recommend it.

I also recommend signing up for all the disciplines (Sprints, Throws, Jumps, Distance) and choose the seminars that interest you. It’s good to have a refresher in fundamentals, or a different perspective on certain topics.

Today’s session started off with Dr. Ralph Mann, silver medalist in the 1972 Munich Olympics in the 400 meter hurdles behind John Aki Bua of Uganda. He quoted a successful coach has the desire to learn and the commitment to teach..

Sprint Overview presentation

The 100 meters is a complex event that must be broken down into several phases.

POP QUIZ: What is the difference between a 9.74 and a 10.24 100 meter sprinter?

half a second?

No, 0.01 seconds. Why? 50 steps x 0.01 seconds = 0.50 seconds. 50 steps is used to simplify the math in this example. The actual number is more like 43 or 44 steps.

For example, Dr. Mann presented in the start, you reach 50% of max velocity at your second step, 90% of max velocity at around 20 meters, and maximum velocity at about 50-60 meters.

He goes more in detail in his morning presentation, which is depth in his book which can be purchased directly from Compusport. A great read.

Another excellent presentation was Dan Pfaff’s “Athletic Training for Throwers” in the Throws schedule. I’ll post some of those notes at a later date.