Built for Speed – Built to Last – Built for Style

Rock stars are born, not made.  All the leather, hair product and auto-tuning in the world couldn’t put me on America’s Top 40.  It is the same with me and sprinting.  My hips just don’t move like that. 

The US Outdoor Track & Field Championships are being held this week and it is obvious; sprinters, too, are born, not made.  But an odd thing happened.  Officials decided to run the men’s marquee 100 meter finals opposite the normal direction – right to left, from the viewpoint of the main grandstand, instead of left to right – because of a strong wind that would have been against the runners if they had run the normal direction.  What if they ran the Boston Marathon from east to west?  Picture the course in reverse.  Sign me up for that!

With the wind assist, Tyson Gay won the 100 meters with the fastest time in the world this year – 9.75 seconds.  The camera shot that is so impressive is the one that parallels the runners.  Watching the 100 meter dash begs two questions.  How do they run that fast?  What can we (distance runners) learn from sprinters? 

Here’s what we can learn from the biomechanical traits of sprinters.  When their feet land, the shin is perpendicular to the ground, therefore avoiding a heel strike and “breaking” with each footfall.  Sprinters’ feet spend less time on the ground which contributes to faster recovery.  It is more like their feet bounce off the track rather than sinking into the road like I sometimes feel my feet do.  Sprinters achieve this by driving their knees up and getting off the ground as fast as possible.  Their leg strength enables them to produce more force into the ground which makes them move faster.

The other thing we can learn from sprinters is to develop a speed-work mentality which means more rest between intervals.  Having more rest means we can practice running with better form.  Sprinting does help improve marathon performance.  It helps us run the longer intervals faster which helps us run our tempo runs more efficiently which allows us to conserve our energy in the ½ and full marathon distances.

I finished Running on Air by Bud Coates.  Through years of observation and research Coates noticed that the greatest impact stress of running occurs when your foot strike coincides with the beginning of an exhale.  This means that if you begin to exhale every time your right foot hits the ground, the right side of your body will continually suffer the greatest running stress, making it more vulnerable to injury.  All of my injuries have been on my right side which is the side I used to exhale on before changing my breathing pattern. 

Now I use a 3:2 breathing pattern when running easily and moderately, that is, I breathe in for three strides and out for two.  When I start running faster (or harder up hills), I switch to a 2:1 breathing pattern, that is, I breathe in for two strides and out for one.  By alternating the exhale and foot strike, the theory goes, risk of injury is lessened.  It was easy to make the transition to the 3:2 pattern, but when I shift to the 2:1 pattern it is almost like I am hyperventilating.  This gives me something else to obsess about.