Elitetrack: Sport Training & Conditioning

last night, i was thinking about something after i had watched some videos of 100m and 200m sprints…I dont know if this means anything or not, but figured id share it with you all…

Do you think that shutting down 10-20m from the line in the 100m and 200m aids towards peaking for some athletes, maybe mentally i would guess…

becuase after watching Gay’s 200m race at the Adidas classic, it was obvious that he in 19.60 something shape already, i mean there was a -1.7 wind and he chilled the last 20m. If he goes to nationals and run 19.80 people will say he peaked at the right time, but if he had ran the previous race hard, then he may have ran his fastest race of the year too early…

do you think athletes know this during the race, and decide that they dont want to run that fast yet…Obviously Usain Bolt didnt really do that…but i dunno, what you all think…

Hah yea it aids in peaking… “wow they sure peaked at the right time”....just because they ran through the f-ing line for once.

yeah, so peaking? ? ? ? really…i mean, most of the time, they seem to be able to run fast all year round, from first meet to the last…but yet they do run “harder” when it counts…so is the idea of “peaking” over rated?

First Place and the Gold Medal goes to….....Mortac, who is always at a peak.  LOL

Tapering to reach a peak is for real, but easing off in the last 20 meters of a race is not part of it.  But, as Mortac says, you can look as if you peaked simply because you finally ran the whole distance.  I suppose some world-class sprinters ease up when they are sure they have the race won and they are trying to minimize injury risk.  Or maybe they just think it’s cool.

yeah, true…i do understand the physiology behind peaking…this was just a though i had…i mean, physically speaking in the jumps and sprints, ive seen huge jumps very very early that were fouls, and super fast races early on where the person ran 10.00 and stopped running at the 70m mark…then at “peak” those people actually jumped the foul distance legally and ran the 9.80 or whatever when they ran through the line…so it just makes you wonder if physically theres any difference from may to aug say…

Back in the day, when I was in college (D-III), we did no off-season training.  Our progress in our 4-month track season looked remarkable, but that was just because we started from such a low level of fitness.  See how dramatically High School times come down in the course of a season. I think you have it right: today’s world class sprinters are in great shape all the time, just not perfect peak shape.  Of course, if I “peaked” by .1 to a new PR nobody would care, because that would be around 11.2.  If Tyson Gay peaks to set a PR by .1 it will be a very big deal indeed.

yeah totally…and many top class athletes year in year out dont not set PR’s…they are just kinda “stuck” at a very high level it seems…lol.

Oh, what we wouldn’t give to be “stuck” at under 10.00