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Re: Some tips on improving running form [BarryP] [ In reply to ]
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.....and I picked this up from Tinman over at TheRunZone. He used to post a lot on Letsrun and is fairly knowlegable of the running research that's been done out there.

Here's his post. Take what you can from it (or skip to th esummary at the end of it).
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Friend in running,

Running "drills" have different meanings. If you are talking about technique drills (the A, B, C drills), such as butt kicks, high knees, and pawing motion, then you probably won't find much science research, one way or the other, that shows results. If you do, it probably shows only results if the subjects are novice!

The use of techniqe drills is traditional and emperical. Some coaches have found that drills "seem" to improve skill (in running), especially at faster speeds. But, there isn't much scientific proof (that I know of) to verify the assumption or supposition.

If you are talking about bounding or plyometric drills, there is some evidence that economy is enhanced. The question is, economy of what?

Economy tends to be fairly specific to the activity one is doing and related to the speed of movement. It is also quite related to previous experience or, rather, inexperience. If you have been doing traditional base conditioning in which slow or moderate paced distance work is being done, then anything that is faster will enhance running economy and thereby facilitate performance enhancement.

The next question is this: Are the changes in performance related to motor-neural elements instead of biochemical?

Are you able to, as a result of doing some dynamic bounding or plyos or quick step running, integrate or initiate more motor-neural units or even activate them in a more fluid an efficient manner than before?
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In my opinion, the best uses of drills are as follows (based on my emperical observations):

1) Technique drills improve dynamic flexibility and therefore may provide less resistance at faster running speeds.

2) Bounding drills improve motor-neural activation and coordination for explosive (sprint) running.
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Next question: Can performance enhancement result from simply including fartlek or interval or repetition training to one's training program and provide similarl gains that drills do (if they do)?

My answer: Probably yes!

I believe that Bill Bowerman, one of my four heroes on the coaching realm, had it right when he said that his method was "eclectic." He borrowed the best training items from various camps of theory or practice and integrated them into his training method.

- I borrow some basic things that seem sometimes to come from various camps. For example, if I am coaching hands-on, I use technique drills to loosen up a runner before or after a workout, sometimes before or after a distance run, too.

- I include bounding drills, but only lightly and typically they are uphill which is safer for a runner. Sure, there may be a some loss in translation (from uphill bouding) to flat running, yet there may be substantive motor-neural activation (the central nervous system's part in performance) which is global rather than local. At least that's my theory!


I don't schedule plyometric drills simply because the risks for injuries or excessive muscle soreness are high. As a high schooler, I was exposed to plyos all 4 track seasons. I did not do them during cross-country or while road-racing in the summer - and I performed and responded better to traditional training items because my legs were not so darn beat up.

The best year my high school team had included fewer plyos (than other years). We had better interval workouts and the distance guys were able to actually do more than 2-3 miles before their legs gave out on them.
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As a collegiate coach (only 3 years), I did not use plyos. I avoided their use like the plague. My sprinters and jumpers weight trained 3 times per week - very simple stuff like box-squats, quarter-squats, et cetra. The routine was simple: 3 x 5-10 reps at a light, medium, and heavy weight that could be controlled. Rest breaks were 2 and 3 minutes between the 2nd and third sets.

When they weight trained, they did 20-25 minutes of pool running to loosen up their muscles, afterward. The opposite days were technical skills and then conditioning. Skill development for the jumpers and hurdlers was progressive. Workouts started with smaller elements - chunks. First phase, second phase, final phase was my motto.

We worked on each phase 3 times and then moved on. The athletes took their sweet time between each rep, too! I wanted them to have full motor-neural capacity in order to practice their event to perfection, or as close to it as possible. (Afterward, they did basic workouts).

* I don't believe in making workouts too complicated or convoluted. Core concepts and practices do the job every time. That means doing sets that are easy to design and easy to administer. I never timed my sprinters! Not once! I had them run totally by effort.

Examples: After a thorough warm up,

Monday - 8-10 x 100m at 80-85% effort, jogging 100m and walking 100m between each rep. Cool down.

Wednesday - 4 x 400m at 85% of best effort, alternating jog 100m, walk 100m, for a full 400m recovery. Cool down.

If they did not race on Friday or Saturday, they ran a step-down workout such as 600, 400, 200, 100m at 80-90% effort. It's that simple.

* During the time that I coached 3 years collegiately, my athletes took down 14 school records.
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Conclusion:

Though this discourse moved off the initial topic about "research on drills," I hope my position on the utitilty and use of drills is evident: do some but not too many. Don't expect drills to do magic, though!

- Drills may enhance dynamic flexibility, espcially for those who are not flexible.

- They may active the motor-neural system and therefore enhance the ability to generate peformance power.

- Other things can be done to facilitate peformance enhancement, too, which may be related to economy such as strength training and water running and doing workouts that are at the right effort and right amount are key!

- Use core workouts that do the job.

Be sure, no matter what type of event you are training for, to modulate your training. If you don't vary the intensity and the fatigue levels, you limit the progress that can be made. That doesn't mean you should rest every other day! *Runners need endurance more than anything, so taking days off isn't going to cut it. It means that intensity should be purposively varied, day to day.

If you ran hard intervals, a fartlek at a good effort, over hilly terrain, or a tempo run or race yestreday, today and tommor, you probably should run slowly and allow your body to absorb the harder workload of yesterday!

During times when you aren't doing fast or intense workouts, it ok to run some of your distance work at a quicker pace. Just don't get in the habit of trying to beat your "course record" every time you head out the door!

Modulation facilitates economy or efficiency, I posit, so keep that in mind!

Regards,

Tinman
runfastcoach@gmail.com

-----------------------------Baron Von Speedypants
-----------------------------RunTraining articles here:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...runtraining;#1612485
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Re: Some tips on improving running form [BarryP] [ In reply to ]
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The original post, some followups and other posts have been added to SlowTwiki:
http://slowtwitch.com/wiki/index.php/Run_Training_by_BarryP

Slowtwiki is "the user-edited endurance sports infobank published by Slowtwitch.com." ... "Slowtwiki is very easy to use. Just log in, click the "edit" button and start writing!"
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Re: Some tips on improving running form [Paulo] [ In reply to ]
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In Reply To:
In Reply To:

Yet pretty runners seem to win all the time.
No, those that win all the time seem pretty. They determine what is good form.

What's the difference between being pretty and seeming pretty? After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder...
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