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Running 100 Meters before your Big Race – Thoughts on Shawn Crawford

You are here: Home / 400 meters / Running 100 Meters before your Big Race – Thoughts on Shawn Crawford
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June 9, 2009 by Jimson Lee 4 Comments

Last Updated on March 12, 2013 by Jimson Lee

Did anyone notice Shawn Crawford’s 100-300m double at the 2009 NIKE Prefontaine meet?   He ran a 10.21 (+0.1) 100  meters followed by a rare 300 meters in 32.47 about an hour later.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Shawn Crawford crossed the line in 4th place, got a silver medal from 2 disqualifications (Churandy Martina and Wallace Spearmon), then decided to give his medal back to Martina.

You’ve seen 100/200 combos if the schedule permits.  Same day 200/400 combos are rare unless you are a NCAA athlete.

You’ve also seen 100 and 200 meter Semi-Finals and Finals separated anywhere by 90 –120 minutes.  This is great if you can cruise through the rounds, and then you really don’t need much of a warm-up for the Finals.  Just a good rub down and “shake-out” from your trainer.

But what about running an all-out “maximal effort” 20 minutes (or up to an hour) before a big race?

Kick-start Your Engine

This is a good reason why you see the 4×100 meters as the first event in an All-Comers meet.  In that relay, 3 of the sprinters run about 120 meters “on the fly”, and only the lead-off leg uses starting blocks.  You can argue the lead-off leg only runs about 90 meters.

By running all out prior to your race, you can get some of the nervous energy out of your system, and become more relaxed for the big race when it matters.  Any mistakes can be corrected.   After all, running relaxed is the secret to running fast.  Just ask Bud Winters.

See also  Worlds Greatest Female Sprinter - Irena Szewinska

We used to do an all-out 150m on the fly about 15-20 minutes before our 200 or 400 meters.  It just "loosened us up", gave us confidence that all systems are in check, and a chance to test our track spikes on the track surface.

But the plan can backfire.

You have to time your race carefully.  I’ve done this before only to have the starter request to start the race 15 minutes early!   My ATP/CP stores weren’t even replenished when I was walking back to my blocks!

In a similar situation, I’ve also run a full turn of the 400 meters only to have the race called back.  You can bet I used some family un-friendly expletives when I heard the gunshot again coming off the turn and heading to the back stretch.

The Purpose of a Warm-up

What does all this mean?

It all goes back to the meaning or definition of the Warm-up.

The purpose of the warm-up is simply having your body ready to perform when the gun goes off.

I’m not going to harp on static or dynamic warm-ups, just as long as you do whatever you have to do to get ready.  Even if it means an all-out 150m Flys (say, 95% maximal controlled effort) 15-20 minutes prior to your race.

If you’ve tried this method, please comment below whether your results were positive or negative.

Category icon400 meters,  Coaching,  Featured Story,  Track & Field Tag icon100 meters,  4x100,  Bud Winter,  Nike,  Olympics,  relay,  speed

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. almatari says

    June 10, 2009 at 3:24 pm

    Yes i use this with my athletes every time they do a test or before a race but with 30min – 40min rest , my 400m athlete used to do 100m very fast with full relaxation he managed to do 10.7 (handtime) and after that he only relaxe for his big race or time trail.

    What i want to say that we are using this kind of warm up after many trails and errors and we saw that this kind of warm up had a big and positive effect on his performance , because when you do 100m very fast your body adabt to this kind of speed so when you ran the 400m you never exceed that speed so it felt easy for him to run 11.5 to 11.7 the first 100m on his way to 400m , on the contrary if he didn’t do this 100m fast he will be struggle on his first 100m and it will felt hard for him to manage 11.5 for the first 100m and with bad technique and that will effect the overall performance.

    The day before a race we usually do 150m test and the day before it’s a rest day so he is peaking with speed on the right time.

    I belive 101% on this special warmup before race or time trail.

    ahmad almatari

    Reply

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