• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Click here to download the  free ebook of Alberto Juantorena’s  detailed training workouts leading up to the 1976 Montreal Olympics

SpeedEndurance.com

Success in Track & Field ... and Life

  • Home
    • About
    • Contact
  • Track & Field
    • 400 meters
    • 800m & Mile
    • 1/2 & Full Marathons
    • Long & Triple Jump
    • Hurdles
  • Training
    • Weight Training
    • Abs & Core
    • Injury Prevention
    • Shoes & Spikes
    • Masters
  • Coaching
    • Freelap Friday Five
    • Interviews
    • Sports Nutrition
    • Sport Psychology
  • Archives
  • Shop
    • My account
    • Checkout
    • Basket

Rest and Taper After a Maximal Performance – Thoughts on Tyson Gay

You are here: Home / Coaching / Rest and Taper After a Maximal Performance – Thoughts on Tyson Gay
7
SHARES
FacebookTwitter

June 7, 2009 by Jimson Lee 5 Comments

Last Updated on November 17, 2012 by Jimson Lee

We all know to rest and taper BEFORE the big meet.  That is just common sense.  For a good review, check out Derek’s 10 Day taper DVD.

Here are two of many guidelines I like to use for my sprinters:

  1. 10 day taper AFTER a major Personal Best or World Record.
  2. 5-7 100 meter races before a Championship meet to "get sharp".  3-5 races for the 400 meters.

Flashback to 2008

Tyson Gay ran a wind assisted 9.68 at the US Olympic Trials, which would have surpassed Usain Bolt’s existing WR of 9.72 if it weren’t for the wind.

Wind or no wind, 9.68 is still a maximal performance, because the human body still ran 9.68.

After the race, he severely injured his hamstring which resulted in a lack of races leading up to the Olympics once he recovered.  You can argue he wasn’t even 100% at the Olympics!  But you can’t blame him for running the 200m trials.  He was the best sprinter in the world in 2007 in both sprints events. 

What was he supposed to do?  Sit in the bleachers during the 200m heats?  Unlike some countries with pre-selection, there are no special exemptions or exceptions to qualify for the USA Olympic Team.  It’s Go Hard or Go Home.

I know, everyone is wondering how Usain Bolt did it.  Well, he did ease up in the 100 meters, and he didn’t run the semi-final of the 4×100 meter relay after his maximal 19.30 effort into a headwind.

2009 – A Different Scenario

This time around, Tyson Gay decides to rest after his scintillating 19.58 200m at the Rebook meet in New York.  Smart move (it satisfies my Criteria #1)

See also  iDashboards presents 2009 NCAA Basketball Final Four Brackets

But this strategy won’t give him the required 5-7 races under his belt before the US National Championships.  No matter… he is peaking for Berlin, so that is all that matters.  With the “Michael Johnson rule” for the IAAF World Championships, he is granted a free pass and doesn’t need to qualify on his home turf.

Here is the partial article from The Guardian:

World 100 metres champion Tyson Gay has decided not to compete in Sunday’s Prefontaine Classic and likely will not run again until the U.S. championships in late June, his agent said on Thursday.

The American had considered running his first 100 metes of the season in Eugene after clocking 19.58 seconds, the third fastest 200 metres of all-time, at last weekend’s New York grand prix.

"It was probably slightly unrealistic to think Gay could recover that fast," his agent, Mark Wetmore, told Reuters. "He didn’t even really start jogging until yesterday… There is absolutely no injury."

Gay probably will not run again until the June 25-28 U.S. nationals in Eugene, Wetmore said. "But that is up to Tyson and his coach."

The championships serve as the U.S. trials for August’s world championships in Berlin.

September 2008 Newsletter

The following expert appeared on my Sept 1, 2008 newsletter, but was not published as a blog article.  (Hence a better reason to sign up for the Monthly newsletter)

Disclaimer: This commentary is not meant to criticize Tyson Gay or his coaching staff in any way.   I am simply using his unfortunate experiences to point out a few of my fundamental coaching principles.

Here are two of many guidelines I like to use for my sprinters:

  1. 10 day taper AFTER a major Personal Best or World Record.
  2. 5-7 100 meter races before a Championship meet to "get sharp".  3-5 races for the 400 meters
See also  Training with Usain Bolt: Obinna Metu BBC Interview

Let’s take a quick analysis:

1) 10 day Taper After a Personal Best or World Record

We all agree on a 7-10 day taper BEFORE a major Championship.  It is just as important AFTER a major performance.

Tyson Gay ran 4 rounds at the US Trials, including a wind-aided "world record" 9.68 at the time.  Sure, it was wind-aided, but his body still ran 9.68.  The amount of CNS (central nervous system) shock would be huge on any athlete; simply put, after a performance like that, you need time to recover.

I know it sounds crazy to say this, but Tyson could have skipped the 200m to focus on the 100 meters entirely.  Walter Dix doubled at the Trials and qualified in both events.  In the Olympics, Usain Bolt doubled with World Records in the 100m and 200m but his 100m was not a maximal performance (I’m sure we all love to see him run all out as he did in the 200m).  As well, several other athletes doubled without injury.

So Tyson’s injury was probably an unfortunate exception and a combination of other factors including a maximal performance.  Make no mistake about it: the US Trials is harder than the Olympics, at least for the Sprints.  You have to go hard or go home.

Asafa Powell took 7-10 days off after his three 9.77 and 9.74 WR between 2005 and 2007, despite lucrative offers from race directors to race soon after his world records.

Dwain Chambers quoted he would need an ambulance if he ran a 9.6 because his body would fall apart after a super maximal performance.  And he was supplementing!

See also  Conversation with Kebba Tolbert & Latif Thomas (Part 3 of 4)

The point I’m trying to make is you need to recover from a maximal performance.  How you adjust it for your athlete is up to you, and how well your athlete responds to maximal loads and multiple rounds.

2) 5-7 Races Before a Championship Meet to Get Sharp

The amount of races could be less, if you use the rounds as "races".  Of course, it also depends if you are in the position to ease through the rounds, or if you have to run all out.  Again, go hard or go home.

After the Olympic semi-final where Tyson did not advance to the finals, he quoted, "I may have needed more races, but I don’t really have any excuses.  I just didn’t make it. My hamstring feels good; it’s not bothering me."

There are just too many cues and too many phases to remember in a short 10 second 100 meter sprint.  Sprinting is a "hind brain" activity.  Even in the 400 meters, you need to divide the race into 8 "zones", and not the traditional 4 x 100 meter segments (blocks & curve, back straight, 2nd curve, home stretch)

I personally tried to run the Canadian 400 meter Masters Championships as my second 400m race of the year after focusing on the 200 meters all year.  I went out too hard, probably on sheer excitement and misjudging my competition.  I simply ran out of gas with 100 meters to go, and ended up 3rd (similar to Sanya Richards without the hamstring cramp – I had no excuses)

Comments and Feedback are always welcome.

Category iconCoaching,  Featured Story,  Injury Prevention,  Recovery,  Track & Field Tag icon100 meters,  200 meters,  4x100,  Asafa Powell,  Michael Johnson,  Olympics,  relay,  speed,  Tyson Gay,  Usain Bolt

About Jimson Lee

I am a Masters Athlete and Coach currently based in London UK. My other projects include the Bud Winter Foundation, writer for the IAAF New Studies in Athletics Journal (NSA) and a member of the Track & Field Writers of America.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Chui Chimani says

    June 8, 2009 at 9:22 am

    Also, IMHO, one of the problems is not being able to cooldown properly after such a performance. I witnessed several athletes including quartermilers that needed and received immediate attention in this area subsequent to a mind numbing relay carry (Henry Thomas, 1987 Mt SAC comes to mind). With Gay, it was circulate around Haywood Field and stand for around for several interviews after the race.

    Now I’m not against these type of things altogether. T&F needs its’ heroes and celebs these days given the negative pub from prior PED publicity. But that’s the tradeoffs. I believe there are some athletes that would require the immediate recovery support from out-of-body performances such as what Gay experienced @ ’08 Oly trials!

    Reply
  2. Jimson Lee says

    June 9, 2009 at 3:08 am

    @Chui – yes, Track bodies are like a finely tuned Ferrari… very delicate.

    Reply
  3. Montana says

    June 9, 2009 at 12:58 pm

    We’ll just have to wait and see what the future brings for him – i certainly agree he could beat Usain

    Reply
  4. K says

    July 1, 2009 at 6:53 pm

    keep up the good wrk, great information, thanks

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Primary Sidebar

Recommended

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xbs-aWxyLk

Shop Our Store

  • Bud Winter (9)
  • Championship Productions (6)
  • Clyde Hart (2)
  • Derek Hansen (1)
  • Electrical Muscle Stimulation (2)
  • Jim Hiserman (6)
  • Jimson Lee (4)
  • Uncategorised (0)

Articles by Category

Products

  • Jim Hiserman - Developing 800m Runners: Identifying, Categorizing and Developing 400m-800m Type Athletes $42.99 $39.99
  • Private Coaching - Monthly Plan $600.00 $525.00
  • Jim Hiserman-Developing-Distance-Runnersv2 Jim Hiserman - Developing Distance Runners Volume 2: A Systematic Approach to Developing Individual Success within a Dynamic Team Culture $34.95 $29.95
  • Feed-the-Cats-Clinic-3-Pack-701 'Feed the Cats' Clinic 3-Pack $64.99
  • Tony Holler's Feed the Cats": A Complete Sprint Training Program Tony Holler's "Feed the Cats" Complete Sprint Training Program $49.99
  • Bud Winter and Speed City presents Arthur Lydiard 509x716 Bud Winter & Arthur Lydiard MP3 [Download only] $9.99

RECENT POSTS

  • IFAC 2022: The Return of In-Person Conferences (with Virtual option)
  • Here is our 400m Discussion Recording… over 2 Hours Long
  • The Best Free Coaching Book – post Beijing 2022 Olympics
  • The Ultimate 400m Track Webinar for Coaches & Athletes
  • NACAC Athletics Coaching Science Series 2022
  • Top Six 400m Predictor Workouts (Number 4 is my Favourite)
  • Best 6 Podcasts for 2021 (and Beyond)
  • Why Karsten Warholm’s 45.94 400mH WR is my Highlight of 2021
  • Sprinting: 10 Research Articles for Effective Sprint Training [Part 23]
  • Pressure in Sports – Reflections from Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Copyright © 2023. SpeedEndurance.com is owned and operated by Aryta Ltd. Privacy Policy
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy