Sport Specific Training Discussion > Track & Field

Teaching my Girl to Run/Sprint

(1/3) > >>

scoobychau:
Preparing for a 800m race.
I got the info from others that we should train 100m 200m and 400m 
(instead of running 800m over and over)

So I am teaching my girl to do the 100m and 200m.

I told her to have LONG big Step, High Knee, and STRONG arm swing back and forth,  look fwd. not upward. and not to have side to side head movment.

every thing seems alright.

Until i saw this:
how come this professional runner... Swing their arm Outward...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjejTQdK5OI

i teach my girl to swin her arm front and back and never side to side..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPGagjVkQ9s

adarqui:
by messing with her form, you're probably going to do more harm than good. if you're going to try and help her form, focus on only one small thing at a time.

this goes back to our recent convo... do you think you are helping or hurting by making her think of all of these things when she runs? and, how do you know they are correct?

the best cue in there that I see is to not look upward. telling her to swing her arms back and forth hard could cause her to rotate and go crazy etc.

i'd start with the "where to look cue" and then just have her run hard. not sure what kind of shape she is in, so no idea about the actual intervals she should do.

but, to clarify, are you preparing her for 800 or 100/200 ?

if i could unlearn anything when running, it would be thinking about my form when running. it's literally the worst thing that's ever gone into my head. it's torture. I don't want to think about any of that. it's a waste of brain power. Having a clear mind is much more powerful than thinking about what my footstrike is doing, how my hands are positioned, my stride length, how i'm breathing etc. If I could empty my mind completely, I would. I don't want to think about ANYTHING. So, from a runner who has thought about form and still does, I made more progress when I stopped (try to stop) thinking about form and just ran hard.

personally, i say stop focusing on it. just run or jump often, run and jump hard, and have fun. If you really want her to get better form instruction from the onset, find a professional track & field coach, someone with lots of experience. They'll probably do drills which try and correct some of the things you are seeing, but then they will also just let them run hard and let the drills slowly take effect.

the more we run, the stronger & more efficient we get. these improvements end up correcting all kinds of things that we shouldn't be trying to correct manually.

my 2 cents!

btw as for jumping: I never thought about form. People told me to do all kinds of stuff but I ignored them. I just jumped HARD, aggressive, gave everything.. My jump form improved over time, as I got stronger & put more reps in. Wish I had taken this approach with running. When I ran during boxing, I didn't think about form. Sometimes the "smarter" you get, the more detrimental it is.

pc!

Mikey:
The best way to improve running is by running especially with kids. Don't even worry about technique just keep it simple. With sprinting just tell her not to look behind her and focus on looking straight. If she clenches her fists when she runs try and encourage her to run without her fists clenched. Just simple things like that. Don't say anything about knee lift, arm motion, running at x% or anything just focus on her putting in 100% effort. It's all about work capacity. The best way to get good at running 800m is to run 800m once a week at 100% effort.  Same as any other distance. As kids you want to make it enjoyable and for them to have fun. The worst thing you can do is make running a chore. Keep it natural. Honestly with athletics technique really doesn't play a factor until athletes are on the verge of professional.

Mikey:
In Australia we have Little Athletics for track and field. Basically once a week in summer junior athletes from the area all get together and compete against one another in various track and field events e.g. 100m, long jump, shot put 800m. The alternative week will be 200m, high jump, discuss, 400m. Because they are competing against other kids they always put in 100% effort and this helps them improve their own performances and gives them the experience to be able to strategise themselves in the events. If Hong Kong has anything similar that would be the best avenue towards improving your daughter's running/sprinting. It's fun, she makes friends, and she improves on her times and gets fit.

seifullaah73:
Exactly what mutumbo said. The best way to learn when new to running is to do a lot of running.

T0dddayyy mentioned doing 5 reps of 100m everyday until you see an improvement in your time. Also they develop these techniques automatically, but technical aspects should only be done in drills i.e. a walk, a skip and a run, that is a useful drill to follow if you want her to have high knees, arm swings back and forth. But never in actual runs as you don't want to concentrate, you just run.

Drills put the technique in place so when you run, they occur naturally.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page