Forums >General Running>How to develop a strong kick to the finish?
Soprano (isn't it a TV show?):
It's also a voice part. :-) The singing runner.......it's not that easy to sing while running though, I've discovered.
Speed is fine-tuned by mainly 2 ways; working on technique (more economical running form as well as more powerful form) and firing of the nerve impulse. Well, in other words, longer strides and faster strides. Make sense? There's a workout called "toeing". This is when you hold onto a bar or something off a motor bike or a automobile and being pulled along FASTER THAN YOU CAN NATURALLY FUN. This way, you teach your body to move quicker than you had been used to. Think of it this way; if you try to go down the stairs as fast as you can but making sure you place your feet on each step; you get this feeling that your legs are not moving fast enough. Wel, so you work on it and now you can move your legs faster than before because, as Arthur Lydiard put it, you had "overcome muscle viscosity". It's not that now your muscle fibers are not as "thick" and "sticky"; but simply now it moves quicker. This is probably a good place to explain; we basically need 3 basic elements we need to develop; (1) aerobic capacity, (2) anaerobic capacity and (3) raw speed. When someone preached here to "run a lot and mostly easy", it's to develop (1). "Sometimes hard" is to develop (2). But if you want to be a complete runner, which I wouldn't be surprised if most of readers here don't really care, you need to actually work on "raw speed" which is your very point. But what you got to understand is; you need all three of them. One (or two) without the other is not quite well-balanced. You certainly seem to have done a good job with other elements but don't forget to maintain those. Sacrificing other elements in the name of "developing speed" is not going to work out. Hope all this makes sense.
Speed is fine-tuned by mainly 2 ways; working on technique (more economical running form as well as more powerful form) and firing of the nerve impulse. Well, in other words, longer strides and faster strides. Make sense? There's a workout called "toeing". This is when you hold onto a bar or something off a motor bike or a automobile and being pulled along FASTER THAN YOU CAN NATURALLY FUN. This way, you teach your body to move quicker than you had been used to. Think of it this way; if you try to go down the stairs as fast as you can but making sure you place your feet on each step; you get this feeling that your legs are not moving fast enough. Wel, so you work on it and now you can move your legs faster than before because, as Arthur Lydiard put it, you had "overcome muscle viscosity". It's not that now your muscle fibers are not as "thick" and "sticky"; but simply now it moves quicker.
This is probably a good place to explain; we basically need 3 basic elements we need to develop; (1) aerobic capacity, (2) anaerobic capacity and (3) raw speed. When someone preached here to "run a lot and mostly easy", it's to develop (1). "Sometimes hard" is to develop (2). But if you want to be a complete runner, which I wouldn't be surprised if most of readers here don't really care, you need to actually work on "raw speed" which is your very point. But what you got to understand is; you need all three of them. One (or two) without the other is not quite well-balanced. You certainly seem to have done a good job with other elements but don't forget to maintain those. Sacrificing other elements in the name of "developing speed" is not going to work out.
Hope all this makes sense.
Yes, this makes sense. Thanks for your thorough explanation. I definitely agree with you.
A singing runner... Are you from Victoria, BC, by any chance?
One day at a time
My kick comes from my genetics, I was a sprinter long before I was any sort of a distance runner. During my marathon I unleashed a good 1/4 mile from the finish and people were stunned.. I don't know how it works but even in XC I was that jerk who would put the pedal to the medal when the finish line was in sight and easily cruise up a few more positions
You are the person my son curses!
rectumdamnnearkilledem
The marathon is the only distance where I have had no kick at the end (also the only distance where I get leg cramps, which is directly correlated--can't kick when I cramp-up). Every other distance...I'm that girl who picks up the pace in the last half mile and really pisses off her best friend who plodded the rest of the race with her (though she kicked my ass in the only marathon we ran together, so that makes us even).
Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to
remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.
~ Sarah Kay
No, never been there I'm afraid. I don't even know any songs about the area. Is that area noted for its singing runners? :-)
Craig
He's dying, you're fresh... Which one of you do you think is going to finishe first? Yup, you guessed it. Your dying buddy. It's not a matter of who's fresh at the end when it comes to the kick. It's a matter of tactics. ... Now, all this being said, the real reason why people get left behind in the final lap of major competition is because they run out of gas, not because they can't sprint.
He's dying, you're fresh... Which one of you do you think is going to finishe first? Yup, you guessed it. Your dying buddy. It's not a matter of who's fresh at the end when it comes to the kick. It's a matter of tactics.
Now, all this being said, the real reason why people get left behind in the final lap of major competition is because they run out of gas, not because they can't sprint.
Nobby,
I find your examples to be contradictory. You say the dying buddy with the faster sprint speed will beat the slower fresh runner, but your other examples are of the runner with slower sprint speed pushing the pace farther from the finish to tire out the faster sprinters. Either the dying buddy is not as tired as you suggest or he is not going to beat the fresh runner or the runner with slower sprint speed needs to build a gap (or lead) to offset the time that the faster sprinter will gain over the final sprint.
Nobby, I find your examples to be contradictory. You say the dying buddy with the faster sprint speed will beat the slower fresh runner, but your other examples are of the runner with slower sprint speed pushing the pace farther from the finish to tire out the faster sprinters. Either the dying buddy is not as tired as you suggest or he is not going to beat the fresh runner or the runner with slower sprint speed needs to build a gap (or lead) to offset the time that the faster sprinter will gain over the final sprint.
Well, it was a matter of an extreme example. I didn't kow how tired my buddy was. The point is; if your buddy is fast, faster than you, say, he can run 100m in 11.5 seconds. Even if he's pretty tired, he can probably manage 14 seconds. If your all-out sprint for 100m is, say, 15 seconds, it wouldn't matter how fresh you are; you'll lose. So, for a slow runner like that, the only way he/she can beat faster runner is to start pressing much earlier. Yes, if your opponent is still fresh and can keep up with you, basically you are SOL. But then it'll become a matter of; what if your 300m time was equivalen to your opponent's? How about 600m? How about 1200m? So you'll have to make a long drive home.
Here's a good example (well, maybe not as good of an example...I don't know); 1982 Boston (or was it 83?); The Duel in the Sun. Salazar was clearly more tired than Beardsley; yet, Salazar won. That's a matter of basic speed. I said it may not be a good example because Salazar was not known for his sprinting speed either. I guess Beards was even slower!