Speed from Strength

By Steve Bennett B.Sc. (Physiology)
oztrack.com

A great thing for any runner to develop would be more “bounciness” and in any endurance athlete would be “sustained bounciness”. The good news is that most athletes can significantly improve their stride’s power and sustainable power.

Sprinters can improve their stride frequency by improving technically in several ways. They also need to optimize their power delivery by having high levels of stabilization strength and developing powerful prime movers. For many people, running fast can be developed very simply. They need to develop strength in the gym and practise at speed when not fatigued.

Fast Running

Fast running allows the nervous system to learn better how to utilize the gains in strength. Middle-distance athletes need to develop high endurance levels to sustain race pace for the distance required, e.g., 55s laps for 1500m. To win, these athletes will also need to be able to change pace rapidly and have a sustained higher-speed finishing burst. Said Aouita was appointed our national distance coach in Australia in 2002. The key area of his philosophy was for athletes to do enough quality volume in key sessions to develop high stamina levels. He also believes in building excellent recovery into a program by having plenty of recovery days and weeks.

Speed for middle-distance athletes can be developed from the effects of weights, many repeats of short hill repetitions and plyometrics. Importantly, this can be done without the athlete doing volumes of really fast sprinting. In middle-distance athletes, this is a common cause of injury.

Plyometrics

•  Plyometrics is even more important than weight training in developing the type of speed that middle-distance athletes need.
• Starting early is the key to developing athletes who can safely train with plyometrics. Get young athletes to do various lower-intensity plyometric activities. Then, as adults, these athletes will be much more able to do them with safety.
• Older athletes need to build intensity slowly in this area. In the past, my squad performed a wide variety of plyometrics. 

A Plyometric Plan

A summary of some of the activities from our plyometric program follows:

Hill Bounding

Hill Bounding very effective at improving hip extension power and can have a significant impact on all runners. Hill-bounding stimulates the athletes to generate more power, which is sustainable and good conditioning for other more intense power activities.

• All bounding involves the athletes impacting with a flat foot and having an active foot strike (the foot moves backward as it hits). Athletes must stay tall, lift their knees high and aim for some “hang time” in long bounding. Each foot contact needs to add to the momentum. It is common to see athletes reaching in front for more distance, which causes them to lose momentum. The key is to have the athlete use high hip extension power generated by the glutes to project the body forward.
• When bounding uphill, it is best to ensure the athlete’s foot is on impact pointing straight up the hill. The knees should be lifted high in front while the athlete stays very tall.
• In the early phases of periodization, the sprinters in my group did two sets of 5 x 60m hills where they ran 20m – bound 20m – run 20m. They have often progressed to 2 x 5 x 60m hills where they bound 20m – run 20m – bound 20m. They do these with 2 minutes between reps and 5- 10 minutes between sets.
• The middle-distance athletes have built up to do more of them, and we have found good effects from 20 x 60m hills with 20m bound – 20m run – 20m bound with a walk-down rest. They do the bounding less powerfully than the sprinters and do more of them quite safely. The activity has low structural stress on the athletes. But they often feel it the next day by having sore glutes. This is evidence of some good work being done.
• With the Middle Distance athletes, we sometimes do hill circuits where the athletes bound up a 50m hill run across the top and then swiftly down a gentle slope across to the bottom and back up the 50m bounding section. The circuit has been about 600m a lap, and they have built up to doing six laps.

Bounding

• We perform three types of bounding. We have succeeded with all three kinds while using very low volumes.

Standing start bounding

Standing start bounding is very safe and performed about once weekly for much of the year. 5 repeats of 4 bounds and a jump into a sandpit. Measure the total distance of each effort and strive for progress. Improvements in mid-torso strength and leg strengthening from weights (especially the glutes) should assist progress. Rest for at least 3 min. I have athletes do these in racing flats on a mondo surface. Most athletes can improve the total distance by over a metre in a season.

Running start bounding

Running start bounding is performed more with sprinters/jumpers. It requires the athlete to be technically good at standing start bounding. The athletes must get off the ground much quicker after each contact during running-start bounding. It is much more specific to sprinting. My squad often performed five repeats of 4 bounds and a jump into a sandpit from a 10m running start. Once again, the total distance is measured, and the athletes aim to progress. Athletes may need to start with a 5m running start.

• High-level athletes can progress to doing them with an 8-stride run-up and then 9-bounds and a jump into the pit.
• Middle-distance athletes do running start bounding in the pre-competition phase as well.

Speed Bounding

Speed Bounding is the most specific form of bounding a sprinter can perform. We usually do speed bounding from a running start over 20m or 30m. We time the athlete over the distance and count the number of steps. By multiplying the time in seconds by the number of strides, the “Speed Bound Index” can be calculated. The lower the index, the better the athlete. Once again, we only do about five attempts over 20-30m and have seen excellent athlete progress.