Top tips to run and sprint faster

Here are the top tips that will help you to run faster and become a faster sprinter.

Remember, in sprinting, the difference between 9.95 seconds and 10.15 seconds is an eternity (it may seem so small while reading in the newspapers).

So what’s the secret that makes certain athletes like Usain Bolt run faster than his rivals do?

1. Explosive Type 2 Muscles

   Sprinting coaches look for runners who’re explosive and powerful, they tend to have Type 2 muscle fibres (the explosive muscle fibres). It’s a high proportion of those Type 2, fast-twitch fibres that make people like Bolt such good sprinters. People with Type 1, slow-twitch fibres tend to do better at endurance sports, such as marathons. In World class sprinters, 90 per cent of their muscle fibres are of the Type 2 variety.

2. Efficient with their Movements

   In 100m sprinting, fatigue kicks in so quickly that sprinters actually decelerate during the last few metres.
   Top sprinters like Usain Bolt are very efficient with their movements so they only propel themselves forward and don’t waste energy with sideways movements.

3. Takes Longer and Powerful Strides

   Research shows that an amateur runner takes around 50 and 55 steps to complete 100m, while an elite sprinter takes around 45, using their fast-twitch muscle fibres. Bolt typically completes a 100m race in about 41 steps – three or four fewer than his rivals.

4. More Time in the Air

   The fastest sprinters spend around 60% of the time in the air, with no foot on the ground, while for amateur athletes it’s more like 50%. An elite sprinter’s foot will typically spend 0.08 seconds on the ground (at the beginning of each stride), compared with about 0.12 seconds for an amateur athlete.

5. Work Hard for Several Years

   Like in most sports, sprinters also typically peak in their mid-20s. Most sprinters have professional careers that run about 10 years (probably a couple of years less). So, once you find a top-flight coach, you have to slog for years to become the best in the world.

   Despite all your talents, you will need to find a coach who can help you become a top athlete, that you always dreamt of becoming some day.

6. Natural Ability

   Most coaches agree that natural ability plays an important role in sprinting than most other sports. While good training helps, the best sprinters in the world have a huge amount of natural ability. To some extent, it also depends on what nature allows you to do with your legs.

7. Height Can Give an Advantage

   At the beginning of a race, sprinters take short steps in order to accelerate, but tall athletes (such as Usain Bolt who is 6ft 5ins tall) are unable to do that. However, when they reach top speed, they have an advantage over others because they take far fewer steps.

   Joke by a Geek…

   Just rename any .exe file as “faster than Usain Bolt”.
   Double click this renamed file and select “Run”.
   Voila!!! You have managed to create something that can run faster than Usain Bolt!!

8. Show Up for the Workouts

   “I’ve had a couple of bad seasons, but I’ve always come back and shown up for the workouts. I need to put in a lot more work, and I should be okay.”

9. Take Care of Your Body, Don’t Ignore Pain

   After injuring his foot, Bolt has become more in tune with his body. “If I feel pain, I make sure I check it out.” Its better to take a day off from the gym than working out and worsening an injury.

Diet Secrets of Sprinters

Unlike long-distance or endurance athletes, sprinters don’t really need to consume a lot of carbohydrates such as potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, and cereals. The top sprinters consume a lot of protein-rich food such as eggs, meat, fish, nuts, beans, and dairy products to meet their dietary requirements.

Usain Bolt loves chicken nuggets and wings, but his main food is the superfood Yam (its like a sweet potato), which Usain indulges in any time. It gives 177 cals per cup, packs 34 percent of your daily vitamin C requirement (which fights post-workout muscle inflammation), 40 percent of vitamin B6 (a natural energy booster), and 26 percent of daily potassium requirements (a key electrolyte).

“The older you get, the better you have to eat.”

Breakfast: Ackee and saltfish (a traditional Jamaican dish) with dumplings, cooked banana, yellow yam, and potato. Lunch: Pasta and chicken breast. Dinner: Rice and peas with pork.

Indian Sprinter Dutee Chand

Indian sprinter Dutee Chand won the silver medal at the women’s 100 metres event at the Asian Games 2018, losing by 200th of a second. Those who have seen her run the race could see the power she generates within her diminutive body.

Dutee feels that a couple of inches (to her height) would have benefited her; however her coach Ramesh is not too worried about the height factor. “After all, Shelly-Ann Fraser is only 5″. At the top, athletes don’t go with universal theories. There are disadvantages and advantages. It’s better to work on her strength and improve her frequency versus stride length.”

While Dutee may not have the advantage of height, she definitely has the advantage of power (as her coach rightly points out).

Dutee’s Gender Related Controversy

For those who are not aware, Dutee was banned from competing due to her gender related controversy because the Athletic Federation doubted Dutee’s gender as tests revealed that her body produced excess testosterone (known as hyperandrogenism).

For Dutee, it was time to go to battle. “I am not at fault. Neither have I doped. It is God given and because of sports, I can’t change myself. When I am not at fault, why should I go away or withdraw. Let me fight back,” said Dutee to her coach Ramesh who stood by her throughout the controversy.

“The clause under which the ban was put was wrong. It said because of hyperandrogenism (higher testosterone), you get an undue advantage, so, you are banned from participating in the women category. If you want to participate in the women’s category, then you should go for surgery or therapy.

So, her argument is when you are saying ‘undue advantage’, there is a six-foot girl against a four-foot girl, so isn’t that an ‘undue advantage’.

There are developed countries and right from the beginning, they have every facility. There are girls, who are underdeveloped, and don’t have three-time food. Then is it not an ‘undue advantage’?

And she is born as a woman, and for the sake of sport, why should she change her gender,” says Payoshni Mitra, an Indian researcher with a doctorate in gender issues in sport who fought for Dutee and explained how the AFI and the IAAF were wrong.

Finally, help came in the form of Bruce Kidd, principal of the University of Toronto, Scarborough, who brought in James Bunting, a prominent Toronto lawyer and expert in sports cases. Bunting argued that there is no medical evidence that higher levels of testosterone give women athletes an advantage.

In fact, the lawyers said other factors such as facilities, better infrastructure, diet, higher levels of coaching, and biomechanical analysis are more crucial aspects to higher levels of athletic performance.

The court eventually cleared Dutee Chand, and to train and qualify for the Rio Olympics she stayed at Gopichand Badminton Academy, where PV Sindhu (ace badminton player) became her best friend.

While scars remain (from the court cases), Dutee says, “I am happy a lot of nations supported me in my fight and I promise I won’t give up.”

Source: firstpost.com