Florida Atlantic University track schedule

I am proud to announce that the Florida Atlantic University track and field team will be competing in so many meets this upcoming season. The following schedule is of where the team will be traveling starting in January 2009. Feel free to visit the website, http://www.fau.edu/ and go to the athletics page to follow up on how the track team is doing. Go Owls!

2008-2009 Florida Atlantic University Track & Field Schedule

The following are indoor meets that the team will be traveling to:
01/16/09 Washington Indoor Seattle, WA
01/17/09 Washington Indoor Seattle, WA
01/29/09 Mountain T Invitational, Flagstaff, AR
01/30/09 Mountain T Invitational, Flagstaff, AR
01/31/09 Mountain T Invitational, Flagstaff, AR
02/01/09 Mountain T Invitational, Flagstaff, AR
02/06/09 New Balance Invitational, New York, NY
02/07/09 New Balance Invitational, New York, NY
02/28/09 Sun Belt Indoors, Jonesboro, AR
03/01/09 Sun Belt Indoors, Jonesboro, AR
03/13/09 NCAA Indoor Championships, College Station, TX
03/14/09 NCAA Indoor Championships, College Station, TX

The following are outdoor meets that the team will be competing in:

03/14/09 FAU Invitational, Boca Raton, FL
03/20/09 Hurricane Challenge, Coral Gables, FL
03/21/09 Hurricane Challenge, Coral Gables, FL
03/28/09 Golden Knight Invite, Orlando, FL
03/29/09 Golden Knight Invite, Orlando, FL
04/11/09 Miami Elite Invitational, Coral Gables, FL
04/23/09 Penn Relays, Philadelphia, PA
04/24/09 Penn Relays, Philadelphia, PA
04/25/09 Penn Relays, Philadelphia, PA
05/08/09, Sun Belt Outdoors, Murfreesboro, TN
05/09/09 Sun Belt Outdoors, Murfreesboro, TN
05/10/09 Sun Belt Outdoors, Murfreesboro, TN
05/16/09 Georgia Tech Last Chance Meet, Atlanta, GA
05/28/09 NCAA East Regionals, Greensboro, NC
05/29/09 NCAA East Regionals, Greensboro, NC
05/30/09 NCAA East Regionals, Greensboro, NC
06/10/09 NCAA Nationals, Fayetteville, AR
06/11/09 NCAA Nationals, Fayetteville, AR
06/12/09 NCAA Nationals, Fayetteville, AR
06/13/09 NCAA Nationals, Fayetteville, AR
06/25/09 USA Junior Nationals, Eugene, OR
06/26/09 USA Junior Nationals, Eugene, OR
06/27/09 USA Junior Nationals, Eugene, OR

GO OWLS! Make sure to check the website to follow how the FAU Owls do this season!

Accelerate yourself to the finish line

Acceleration is crucial to winning performance across numerous sports. Forget just running at your top speed. Athletes that can increase their speed, which is what accelerating is, more rapidly than their rivals can gain an incredible performance advantage.

The most obvious example is the 100m sprinter, who might not attain the highest top speed, but reaches the finish line first because they are able to attain their top speed before the other competitors. The event may be won or lost, in the first ten or twenty meters.

The purpose of acceleration is to analyse what makes for a quick getaway from a technical point of view, and identify the best training methods to develop this crucial aspect of sport performance.

Track coach, Owen McGregor trains his athletes to run the first 30 meters of every race. He believes very strongly that a race can be won or lost in the first 30 meters. If you are running a 400, you are on a stagger start. Which means since you are running around two turns, you need to try and catch the person infront of you. If you catch the person infront of you in the beginning, you have strengthened your lead.

Acceleration drills can be done with or without tape. Coach McGregor puts down about 20 pieces of tape all about a yard from each other. Try and run as fast as you can and step of every piece of tape. This will also help lengthen your stride pattern.

A stride pattern is important and instead of trying to explain it to you, the assistant track and field coach at Western Michigan University, does a great job doing so in this article.

Spikes will make you run faster

Track spikes are very important. You never go to a track meet and find a sprinter running in their trainer shoes. Spikes are lightweight and have spikes on the bottom, which help you to run on your toes. If you did not wear spikes it would be harder to run on your toes which would make you flat footed when you run.

There are two types of running spikes, the most common type being worn by the sprinters. These spikes usually consist of an extremely lightweight shoe which has a base plate which allows the runner to insert spikes into the base of the shoe.

These spikes provide the runner with better traction on the track. They also help the runner to dig in better and also help to prevent slipping.

There are different types of spikes for different surfaces which ultimately you need to pay attention to. Most track meets have the rules listed and you will be able to see what limitations they have on the spikes. Certain meets don't allow you to wear some longer spikes.

Runners who plan to use running spikes should be aware of these rules and guidelines before they participate and should also carry replacement spikes as well as spikes of a different size to ensure they are properly prepared for each race.

Make sure you have extra spikes on you at all times. A lot of times a spike will come loose and you will lose it. It is bad to run with any spike missing.

If you are planning on running in spikes in meets, you should try to train in them a little bit to make sure that they fit your feet. Nothing is worse than having spikes that do not fit or that are not formed to your feet.

If you have any questions at all about running in spikes most sports equipment stores will be able to assist you in finding the right pair for you. This website answers some very important question about track spikes. If you have ever had a question about whether or not to wear them, check out this site.

Pool workouts can keep you running

A lot of athletes use the pool as a way to recover from injuries. Whether you are injured or not, working out in the pool is a great way for sprinters to stay in shape. Using pool workouts are great to take the pressure off of pounding and taking the strenous activity off of the legs, but all while keeping the athlete active.

Do sprints, kickboard and underwater swims will strengthen your legs tremendously. The burn you feel while in the pool is a different kind of burn than you get while you are running.

If you want to do a cardio workout in the pool you can do an easy pace cardio swim to burn fat at a higher rate.

If you want an intense workout in the pool, try this one that the FAU coach recently gave his injured athletes. Do five x 50m sprint freestyle, rest with 20 seconds, hydrate if needed. Then five x 100m sprints, any stroke and rest 40-60 seconds in between each set. When done with your sets, make sure to do a cool down.

Just like if you were running and needed to do a cool down, the same goes for in the pool. After an intense workout your heartrate will be up and you need time to let it slow down again. Try swimming a few laps in order to help that.

Also, if you are still feeling up to it, try to do something we call "under overs." "Under overs" are designed to help strengthen your lungs and help your breathing. Take a deep breath and then go underwater, try to swim as far as you can until you can't hold your breath anymore. At the last second before you feel like you can't hold it any longer, hold it for one last second before coming up. This will strengthen your lungs and help you with your endurance.

Happy swimming!

Beach runs will make you stronger

Running on the beach is tough. It is one of the most effective ways to boost edurance and strength in your legs. Running on sand is something that you really have to ease into, it is really hard on your calves. If you want really big calves, running on the sand is a great way to get them.

According to Florida Atlantic University track coach, Alex Smolka, running on the beach is very benefitial. Even if you do not do speed runs on the beach, just going for a distance run will help build muscle.The FAU track team will start doing beach runs in week eight, in order to start developing more footspeed.

Running in the sand will strengthen your body but could also strengthen your mind. With the breeze blowing and the waves crashing, a lot of people use this as a way to relax. Once you are done with your beach run, you could go for a light swim or cool down in the water.

I found a really good website that gave me some very good tips when it comes to beach running. My own personal tip is to wear shoes and socks. I know it is probably going to be hard to run in shoes, but I have learned from experience that by not wearing them, it is very likely that you will get blisters.

You should visit this website to check out the other tips that they give.

In the past for a sprint workout, we jogged a mile warmup and then did twelve 150 meter sprints, as fast as you can.

Sprint training week six

It seems like you have been running forever, hasn't it? The calendar just keeps flipping from month to month and no races have happened yet. It's hard to keep doing workouts week after week but I promise, it is going to help you in the future. The workouts are getting harder and are meant to be run faster. So stay strong and push yourself to the limit. The first meets of the year are coming up and the training will make you stronger.

Monday:

Jog two laps around the field, stretch and do drills. Make sure you do the two new drills I added in a recent blog. After drills, make sure you grab some water and get ready to run. Do some quick runs for about 20 meters just to get your fast twitch muscles going.

Long sprinters: the workout is 500, 300, 200 x three. Run a 500, walk a 400, run a 300, walk a 200, run a 200 and walk a 100. Do that three times. Try to run your first 400 out of the 500 in 62 seconds. For the 300, try to run it in 42 seconds and for the 200 try to run it in 26 seconds. In between sets make sure you get some water and stretch out.

Short sprinters: the workout is 250 x six. Mark off 250 meters and run the first 200 meters in 27 seconds. Try to maintain that pace for all six of your runs.

Tuesday:
Both jog two laps around the field, stretch and do drills. Make sure you do the two new drills that I mentioned in a recent blog. After drills, make sure you grab some water and get ready to run.

Long sprinters: run 300+300 x two. Run a 300, rest for one minute, run another 300. Walk a 400 for recovery and then do it again.
Short sprinters: run six times 150meters. Walk back to where you started from for a recovery.

Wednesday: Both long and short sprinters warm up and do drills. You do not have to do the two new drills that I have recently mentioned in a new blog. Stretch out and then head to the weight room to do a lower body workout.

Thursday: Go to a hill somewhere that is safe and mark off 200 meters. Both long and short sprinters run 10 times up a 200 meter hill. If you can not find a hill, go to a gym and put a treadmill on an incline of at least five. Try to make it up the hill in under 35 seconds.

Friday: Jog two laps around the field, stretch and do drills, including the two new drills. After drills, make sure you grab some water and get ready to run.

Long sprinters: run ten 100 meters as fast as you can. Walk 100 meters inbetween.
Short sprinters: run 12 times 100 meters. Walk a 100 inbetween.

Congratulations on running for this long. Track is a sport that takes a lot of dedication. One of my favorite quotes is, "our sports is your sports punishment." If you think about it, all the other sports, if they get in trouble what do they have to do...run! That is all our sport is. We are runners and have to push through all the hard times.

Yoga for Runners

The key to being any athlete is flexibility. I have started taking yoga classes because I have not flexible at all. I could see how all the other girls on the team were able to touch their toes and hold stretching positions for at least 20 seconds. I was jealous and needed to figure out what I could do to become more flexible.

I talked to head track coach at Florida Atlantic University, Alex Smolka, who told me that "yoga is a great way to relax the mind and truly focus on your body. Flexibility is important for sprinters because you need to get the full range of motion out of your body. You can't do that if you are tight."

The website, http://www.yogaforrunners.com/, promotes a video of yoga made for a runner by a runner. According to the website, Christine Felstead's Yoga for Runners is an easy, empathic method of improving flexibility for all athletes, regardless of body type. The four-part format allows you to focus on any individual segment or run through the program in its entirety.
-Fundamentals - as a runner, how to integrate yoga into daily life to improve sitting, standing and running postural alignment.
-Lower Back
-Hamstrings
-Hips

After only taking yoga for four month, I can already see a difference in my flexibility. I am able to hold stretches longer and reach past my foot when I am sitting down doing stretches. It is amazing to me because I always thought I was semi flexible, but once I was done with my first few classes of yoga and could stretch further, I realized I wasn't flexible at all.

Yoga will also help keep you keep your balance. As a sprinter, you need to be able to balance yourself when you are coming out of the starting blocks. If you have ever competed before, you know that there are chances that a starter can hold you in the blocks a lot longer than he really should. If you have strong arms you can hold yourself up, but if you don't then it's over. Yoga can help strengthen your arms and help you keep your balance for those times in the starting blocks.

Yoga classes are available at most gyms and also at specific locations. To find a location just look it up online or in a phonebook!

Inspirational Movie

A lot of times athletes get discouraged and want to give up since it is hard work and takes a lot of dedication.

I recently saw a movie called, The Express which was really inspirational and made me really realize that what I am doing is a gift. I hear sometimes people feel that they want to give up and that there is so much more they could do with their time instead of training hard.

This movie is about the first african-american, Ernie Davis, to win the Heisman Trophy. He was blessed with a gift of talent, but never used that as an excuse to not train hard.

I really recommend that you see this movie. There are times when he is hurt and still runs. There are times when he has struggles in his life, but he still trains. Playing the game is all that matters to him.

Ernie Davis grew up in a life of poverty, but that never brought him down. Through the tough times he focused on his goal of being the best player he could be.

Try to see this movie if you get the chance. It really helped me realize that all the hard work that I am putting in on the track is going to pay off. So hang in there, season is right around the corner!

Sprint training week five

Week five is here and is getting harder, but it will be worth it. That is me in the picture in the second lane, running at a meet at University of Florida.

It may be hard to keep doing these workouts week after week, but trust me, in the end it is worth it. Crossing that finish line in the lead is one of the best feelings a sprinter can have.

Whether or not you did a time trial is up to you, but if you did it I want to congratulate you on at least attempting to do one! It is hard to get yourself out there and run at a race pace only racing against yourself. Week five is going to test your endurance your strength. If you feel sore or tight, take extra time to stretch and prepare yourself for the workouts.

Monday:
Jog two laps around the field, stretch and do drills. Make sure you do the two new drills I added in a recent blog. After drills, make sure you grab some water and get ready to run.

Long sprinters: run 500 meters, walk a 400 for recovery. Run 300 meters, walk a 200 for recovery. Run a 200 meters, walk a 100 for recovery. Run a 100 meters, walk a 400 for recovery. Stetch yourself out and get ready to run 400 meters as fast as you can. Stretch and jog two laps for a cooldown.

Short sprinters: run 300 meters, walk a 200, run 200 meters, walk a 100, run 100 meters, rest for five minutes, then do it two more times.

Tuesday:
Both jog two laps around the field, stretch and do drills. Make sure you do the two new drills that I mentioned in a recent blog. After drills, make sure you grab some water and get ready to run.

Long sprinters: run ten 100 meters as fast as you can. Walk 100 meters inbetween.

Short sprinters: run 12 times 100 meters. Walk a 100 inbetween.

Wednesday:
Both long and short sprinters warm up and do drills. You do not have to do the two new drills that I have recently mentioned in a new blog. Stretch out and then head to the weight room to do a lower body workout.

Thursday:
Go to a hill somewhere that is safe and mark off 200 meters. Both long and short sprinters run 10 times up a 200 meter hill. If you can not find a hill, go to a gym and put a treadmill on an incline of at least five. Try to make it up the hill in under 35 seconds.

Friday:
Jog two laps around the field, stretch and do drills, including the two new drills. After drills, make sure you grab some water and get ready to run.

Long sprinters: run 500 meters, rest for 2 minutes, run 300 meters and walk a 400. Do this three times.

Short sprinters: run 300 meters, walk a 200, run 200 meters, walk a 100, run 100 meters, rest for five minutes, then do it two more times.

Make sure you rest this weekend. Week six is going to include weights on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Make sure you get a lot of water and have an active rest. If you feel sore or tight, get up and go for a light jog and stretch yourself out.

Running in the cold

Okay, I know that most people don't live in 80 degree weather for most months out of the year, but when it gets down in the 50's, I am freezing! This morning was the hardest workout I have done, it was 54 degrees and I had to do sprints.

I decided to do some research because I could not run as fast as I normally could. My nose was running and my legs were tight. I wear long tights everyday (even when it is 90 degrees outside) because they are a good way for you to keep your legs warm while you are warming up. I don't mean warm as in hot.

The term warm in track means to keep them ready and fresh. If you get cold you seem to tighten up which isn't good because you can easily pull something.

After doing some research I found out that one of the most important ways to stay warm is to protect your hands and feet. As much as 30% of your body heat escapes through your hands and feet. If I would have known this I would have ran in thicker socks and mittens!

Also, I found out to stay away from cotton clothing because the cotton keeps the moisture in your clothes which will make you colder. I had on three cotton t-shirts today, so I was extremely cold.

There are many different types of cold weather and for many people they are different from what I consider cold. Growing up in Florida hasn't really taught me the meaning of cold weather.

Dr. Stephen Pribut has this great website which he classifies the different types of cold weather and what he suggests you wear. Check out his website in order to stay warm while you are going to workout!

Stay warm!

Sprint Weight Training

I have mentioned that it would be good to go to the gym and do upper and lower body workouts on Wednesdays. According to track coach Owen McGregor, after the first several weeks it would be good to up the amount of times that you lift.

If you are not comfortable going right to three days a week, you can start lifting two days a week. Lifting on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays would be a good way to spread out the amount of weight lifting that you do.

I have spoken to weight trainer, Brian Remington who works with the Florida Atlantic University track and field team about what a sprinters workout should be. When the workouts are given, for example, the first one says Side Lying, Glute Med 2x20. The 2x20 means that you have two sets of 20.

This is the following workout that he provided for the first Monday:

Side Lying, Glute Med 2x20
BAND GM’s 2x15
TKE’s 2x20

Box Squat 5x5
(work up to a little heavier weight)

(Circuit x3)
Bodyweight Reverse Hypers 3x20
GB Pull-ups 3x12
DB Shrugs 3x 12-15

I know that probably does not make a lot of sense the first time you look at this, but I will explain every part of the workout.

Side Lying Glut Med, 2x20- What you will need is to get a small band that will go around your legs. You could probably ask the front desk of a gym and they should have one. Lie on your side with your hips and knees bent, and your feet together. From here, make sure you keep your elbows on the ground and then slowly rotate your top leg away from the bottom. Rotate as far as you can without moving the lower back, and then return to the starting position. Do this 20 times on both your right and left sides. When you finished the first set, do it again for a total of two times.

Band GM's, 2x15- You will need to get a a larger band, one that you can place under your feet and put up around your shoulders. Spread your feet shoulder width apart and step on the band. Bend down and and the band around your neck, so when you come up there is resistance on the band. Lean forward and then come straight up and that is one. Do this for two sets of 15 repititions.

TKE's, 2x20-For this exercise you will need the same band you used for your band GM's. Tkae the band and put it around a piece of equipment, or if you have a partner put it around the back of their knee. Put it around the back of your knee and keep your foot on the ground. Make sure there is resistance and lift your heel up and then put your foot back down on the ground, that is one. Do this for two sets of 20 repititions.

Box Squat, 5x5- A box squat needs to be done on a rack and should be done with a person spotting you. Since box squats are very important to do correctly, I want you to go to this site and make sure to do it at a weight that is not as heavy for you at first. You should build up your weight so you can add some every set.

The next set of exercises are part of what is called a circuit. A circuit means that each excersise needs to be completed before you can start another set. There are three sets of each, so make sure you complete the three exercises before you start over.

Bodyweight Reverse Hypers- are imporant and need to be done on this machine at the gym. This exercise is important to build up muscles in your lower back and hamstrings. Do three sets of these and 20 repititions.

GB Pull-ups 3x12- can be done on a pullup bar and needs to be your own bodyweight for three sets of 12.

DB Shrugs 3x 12-15- can be done with any dumbbell weight. Try to start off with at least 25 pounds. Grab both dumbbells and hold them down by your side. Shrug your shoulders up to your ears and then release and bring them back down to where they started. Do this for 12-15 reps.

Well this is the first workout for Monday. There will be different workouts for Wednesdays and Fridays. Good luck trying this and if you have any problems at all, you should always feel comfortable to ask for help when you are in the gym.

Speed Time Trial

I have given you the workouts for four weeks and if you are ready for a bit of a test to see how you are doing you could try to give yourself a time trial.

A lot of people like to see how their workouts are going for them and if they are getting faster. We haven't done a time trial yet, so it would be hard to really judge how the workouts are going for you.

A time trial is a way for people to know where they are at in their workouts. This is our first one, so this will be a beginning point. In another five weeks, I recommend that you do another time trial to see how you compare to the one that we do this week.

A time trial is an all out intense run to see how far you can get. You can do time trials in distance or in time. For a distance time trial, you would decide how far you really want to test yourself. A lot of athletes will run a 400 all out to see how fast they can do it in. You can do this in any distance that you like.

What I recommend, and what I did for my time trial was to run 45 seconds all out and see how far you can get. This is what I call a timed time trial. Choose a time you want to run. Maybe you are training for the 200 meters and your goal is to run a 24 seconds. You could run for 20 seconds and see how far you could get. 45 seconds is a good amount to run if you are training for any type of sprinting event.

It would be more benefitial for you if you had someone come out with you to time you. It is hard to start and stop your watch while you are sprinting. Sometimes a lot of people who wear their watches while sprinting focus more on their time rather than their form and the actual race. If you can not get someone to come out and time you, it is not a problem. Just make sure you mentally prepare yourself to focus on how far you can get in the quickest time possible.

If you do have someone out there to help time you, what would also be benefitial is to have the person time your first 100 and 200 meters. Do not have them stop the clock as you go through the 100 and 200 meter mark, but just have them clock down how many seconds it took you to get through that mark.

Good luck and remember to stretch and do the complete warm-up before you attempt this. It would be horrible if you did not warm up and you ended up pulling something. If you do this, make sure to comment and let me know how you did!

Here is one of my favorite quotes to end this entry. It was said by famous runner, Steve Prefontaine and helps me get through the tough times in this sport...

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."

Sprinting Drills

I have already talked in previous blogs about the drills we use to warm up. We do the same warmup every day, but we recently just added two new drills that I am going to start including in the workout. They are accelerations and hurdle walkovers.

Accelerations are to be done right after the drills. They are quick thirty meter sprints that are supposed to work on your fast twitch muscles.

There are two different types; fast and slow twitch muscles. Fast twitch muscles are much better at generating short burts of strength and speed. By doing acceleration drills, it is good to get the thirty meter bursts of energy.

Although they fatigue more quickly, it is good to do them everyday so you can build up the stamina that you will need during competition. Fast twitch fibers generally produce the same amount of force per contraction as slow muscles, but they get their name because they are able to fire more rapidly. Having more fast twitch fibers can be an asset to a sprinter since they need to quickly generate a lot of force.

There are so many things to learn about fast and slow twitched muscles. This is one of my favorite sites to visit. Athletequickness.com has many ways for athletes to work on becoming faster. In most sports, being fast is a key element in order to be successful. I hope you find the site as helpful and enjoy it as much as I do.

The second drill we do are hurdle walkovers. Hurdle walkovers are done over a set of ten-fifteen hurdles. They are designed to strengthen your hip flexors and also increase balance. In order to get a good idea of what a good hurdle walkover should look like, take a look at this video.

I know it could be hard to do hurdle walkovers if you do not workout at a track or have access to the hurdles. If you don't have access to hurdles, one could watch the video and get the motions down so you wouldn't need to use a hurdle. If you can get your hips high and stay on your toes, you may be able to get the same exercise done without a hurdle. You could also use something about the same height as a hurdle, or at least a little higher than past your knees. Make sure to stay on your toes in order to work the calves and try not to touch the hurdle with your hands.

More sprint training

Weeks three and four workouts are the same in the amount of distance that you are running. The only difference between them is that week four should be a bit faster than week three. Sounds easy right? As the days pass you get closer to the ultimate goal, competition.

Right now it is October, but according to track coach Owen McGregor, "it is already November." In order to think like a runner you need to look at what you are training for. What you are training for in October is how you are going to run in November. If you don't train in October, November is going to be tough for you. You must put in the work and dedication to the track now.

Like I said, week three and four workouts are the same. Just make sure you push yourself to try and get the most out of the workouts. The faster you run, the quicker you will get. If you slack off, you won't see the results when track season comes along.

Monday:

Jog two laps around the field, stretch and do drills. After drills, make sure you grab some water and get ready to run.

Long sprinters: run 500 meters, rest for 2 minutes, run 300 meters and walk a 400. Do this three times.

Short sprinters: run 300 meters, walk a 200, run 200 meters, walk a 100, run 100 meters, rest for five minutes, then do it two more times.

Tuesday:

Jog two laps around the field, stretch and do drills. After drills, make sure you grab some water and get ready to run.

Long sprinters: run ten 200's at your own pace.

Short sprinters: run 12 times 100 meters. Walk a 100 inbetween.

Wednesday:

Both long and short sprinters warm up and then head to the weight room to do an lower body workout.

Thursday:

Go to a hill somewhere that is safe and mark off 200 meters. Both long and short sprinters run 10 times up a 200 meter hill. If you can not find a hill, go to a gym and put a treadmill on an incline of at least five.

Friday:

Jog two laps around the field, stretch and do drills. After drills, make sure you grab some water and get ready to run.

Long sprinters: the workout is 3x300x3. Let me clarify, run 300 meters, rest for 2 minutes and then run 300 meters again. That is one, we have it times three. After the first set, make sure to rest for a 400 meter walk and then do it again.

Short sprinters: run 300 meters, rest a 100 walk and do that four times.

I hope you find this workout helpful. I can not wait until season starts and I can see how this training has improved my running from last year. If you struggle at all, remember that we are running because we love the sport. Don't let anyone, including yourself, tell you you can't do anything. We can all do whatever we put our mind to!

Benefits of massages

Soreness happens to athletes in every sport. A way to reduce the amount of soreness you have is by getting a massage.

Massages are good for the body and also for the mind. There are physiological and psychological effects of a good sports massage.

The physiological effects are pain reduction in the area. The tension and waste products in muscles can often cause pain and soreness. A massage helps reduce this in many ways including releasing the bodies endorphins. Massage also allows the the body and mind to have complete relaxation. The muscles relax through heat generated, circulation and stretching.

One of the main psychological effects is the reduction of anxiety in the muscles. Muscles carry a lot of tension in them, especially during and after a workout. It is very important to relax these muscles through a sports massage.

There are many places to go to get massages, but you need to find the right place to go. There are specific places that specialize in sports massaging, which would be more benefitial for you.

Florida Atlantic University sports uses Dr. Bruce Fischer for all our our massage and chiropractic needs.

The main difference between sports massage and other massage techniques is that it directly targets and reduces tension in muscles that are affected from the sport you are doing.

When weather doesn't always cooperate

When you say the word track, we normally think of the outdoor track and field. There is such a season as indoor track, but there are not many of them in Florida. If you are training near a university that does have an indoor track, it is easy to train inside which could be good for when the weather turns bad.

Down here in Florida, it is hard to always run your workouts around the rain. Storms can pop up right when you are about to start your workout. If that does happen, don't get discouraged because you can still get a good workout indoors.

You can go to a gym such as Golds Gym, Worlds Gym, LA Fitness or any gym that is close to your house. Most gyms have a one day pass if you do not want to pay for a membership.

If you have to miss a workout outdoors, make sure to find a gym and get a good cardio workout. If there is a treadmill available you can do sprints on the treadmill. You can turn it up to the speed of 8.0 and run on that for 30seconds, then back off for another 30 seconds and repeat for eight times. This will work yourself as if you were doing sprints outside.

If you are not comfortable having the treadmill at such a high speed, get on a stationary bike and do the 30 second sprints on a bike, peddling as fast as you can and then resting by slowly peddling. You never want to stop peddling because that could slow down your heart rate extremely fast and that would not be good because you could find yourself feeling faint and dizzy.

A good way to warm-up and cool-down would be do ride a stationary bike for twenty minutes each time. Make sure you remember to stretch so you will not injure yourself. Even though you are not outside and putting all the pounding preasure on your legs, you are still very vulnerable in the gym because a lot of people do not warm-up as much as they should.

Is it getting easier yet?

As the weeks progress, your workouts should feel a bit easier. The first two weeks are tough because you are probably not used to the strains you put on your body. The workouts are tough and the body has endured a lot more than it is used to.

As week three begins, your body should feel a bit lighter when you run and not as heavy. Here is the workout for week three:

Monday:
Jog two laps around the field, stretch and do drills. After drills, make sure you grab some water and get ready to run.

Long sprinters: run 600 meters, walk a 400, run 400 meters, walk a 200, run 200 meters, rest for five minutes, then do it again.

Short sprinters: run 300 meters, walk a 200, run 200 meters, walk a 100, run 100 meters, rest for five minutes, then do it two more times.

Tuesday:
Jog two laps around the field, stretch and do drills. After drills, make sure you grab some water and get ready to run.

Long sprinters and short sprinters: both run 12 times 100 meters. Walk a 100 inbetween.

Wednesday:
Both long and short sprinters warm up and then head to the weight room to do an upper body workout.

Thursday:
Go to a hill somewhere that is safe and mark off 200 meters. Both long and short sprinters run 10 times up a 200 meter hill. If you can not find a hill, go to a gym and put a treadmill on an incline of at least five.

Friday:
Jog two laps around the field, stretch and do drills. After drills, make sure you grab some water and get ready to run.

Long sprinters: run six 300 meters. Walk 200 meters in between each one.

Short sprinters: run 10 times 110 meters, walking 100 meters in between each one.

If this is not getting easier for you, take your time and don't worry about your speed. If this is getting easier for you, feel free to pick up the pace and challenge yourself during these workouts.

Icing your injury

Sometimes injuries do happen, whether you want them to or not. I wrote in a recent blog about pulling and straining your hamstring, but I did not write about what to do if that does happen to you.

Right now I have a hamstring injury. I have a minor hamstring strain, which if taken care of properly I should be back to training in a few days.

Those few days that I have to recover from my injury are crucial and to not be taken off. There are many things one can do while injured in order to help your body heal faster.

It is important to make sure you ice your injury. When icing, you want to wrap or sit on a bag of ice for 20 minutes. When an injury occurs anywhere on your body the ice slows down the inflammation and swelling . Ice helps to relieve pain by numbing sore tissues. It slows down the nerve impulses in the area, which interrupts the pain-spasm reaction between the nerves.

Ice should be applied soon after the injury occurs. The coldness makes the veins in the tissue contract, which reduces circulation in the area. After the ice is removed from the injury, the veins in the body dilate. Once that happens, the blood rushes into the area bringing nutrients necessary to heal the injured area.

By icing, you are helping yourself heal faster and allowing yourself to get back on the track faster.

In sports, there is a very important mnemonic divice one should remember. It is R.I.C.E.

Injuries should not be taken lightly, they are a serious part of being an athlete and if not properly treated it could mess up your entire competitive career.

Time to work on those abs!

It is very important to have a strong core of your body. It is very important to work on your abdominals after every workout that you do.

According to Florida Atlantic University trainer, Brian Remington, a runner needs to do a minimum of 4,000 abs a week.

There are many different ab workouts one can do, but I will introduce you to the twomain ab workouts that the sprinters at FAU use.

The first one is called crunches.

To do a cruch, you need to lay on your back and put your knees up in the air. Position your legs hip length apart. Place your hands behind your head so that your thumbs are tucked behind your ears. Hold your elbows slightly out to the sides and keep your chin pointing upward. Curl up forward and make your head and shoulder blades lift off of the floor. Make sure that you are not pulling your head with your hands, as that would not be working your ab muscles. Pause for a moment and hold as you squeeze your abs. Release and continue until you do 100 of them.

The second one is called V-Ups.

To do a v-up, you need to lay on your back with your arms stretched above your head and your legs flat. Raise your straight legs up in the air and reach to touch your toes with your hands at the same time. Once you touch your toes with your hands, flatten back out to the starting position. Continue to do these until you reach 100 repititions.

Benefits of protein powders and shakes

After a workout it is very important to get proper nutrition. According to Frederike Feil, whose father is the nutritionist for the German National Track and Field Team, it is very important to fuel your body within 45 minutes of an intense workout.

One of the main ingredients in shakes and powders is protein, a compound known as a building block for muscle, bone, skin, and other tissues. Meal replacement drinks are a great way to lose weight, increase protein intake, and increase muscle. In track, it is imperitive to increase the protein intake in order to increase the muscle in your body.

There are many different opinions about shakes and drinks, but it is really up to the athlete as to what you would like to drink or eat after a workout. For information on powders and shakes, please refer to this site.

Shakes and powders can be expensive, so if you are trying to cut back and save money there are also some homemade ways to support and build muscles in your body. The only thing you should buy is whey protein, which can be bought at your local grocery store.

You can try one of these homemade recipes:
1 Banana

8 ounces of skim milk

1 tablespoon peanut butter

2 scoops of whey protein powder

Mix it all up in a blender and you have yourself a tasty power protein drink!

If you prefer a fruitier taste, try this recipe:

1 cup of frozen strawberries

1 cup of low fat vanilla yogurt

2 scoops of whey protein powder

1 tablespoon of honey

1 ½ cups of skim milk

½ cup of orange juice

Mix it all up in a blender and blend until the mixture is nice and smooth.

Injuries Happen

Injuries occur whether one wants them to or not. The most common injuries in track happen to some part of the the leg, thigh and knee. The muscles in the leg need to really be loosened up before any type of activity or else you could risk the chance of pulling something.

The most common running injury to people who run a lot is called runner’s knee. The injury has pain behind the knee cap during running and especially when you press your knee cap against the bone behind it. You can keep the knee cap from rubbing by wearing special inserts in your shoes and strengthening exercises so that the muscle pulls your knee cap inwards.

I talked in another post about the importance of running on the grass to avoid shin splints. That is another common injury that sprinters need to look out for. Shin splints can be anything from tendonitis to stress fractures in the shin area. If you have a dull ache in both or just one of the legs which becomes worse when you are running, you would want to go see a doctor.

When talking to a lot of sprinters, the most dreaded injury is an injury to the hamstring. Of course no one wants to become injured but a hamstring injury is difficult to recover from quickly.

It is very important to understand the muscles of your body. If you are having any type of pain in your hamstring, you could have either or a pull or a strain. please go see a doctor and get it looked at before you injure yourself even more.

Every runner needs to rest

The weekends are a great time to relax and prepare yourself for the upcoming week of training.

There are somethings one should know thought about resting. The type of resting we do while we are training is not a complete rest, but rather an active rest. Active rest meaning that you don't want to sit on a couch all day, but you need to at least stretch out your muscles while taking it easy.

When we have had a tough week of practice in week two and it is imperative that you get out and shake out your muscles over the weekend. Just do a light stretch and a ten minute jog.

By getting out and shaking out your legs and arms, it will losen you and prevent you from becoming sore.

When people begin any type of workout they tend to overdo it. As you have noticed there is no clock on the workouts. They are meant to be at your own pace, so there is no reason to overdo them in the beginning of training. The workouts are meant for your to run it at a pace that is comfortable for you, for now.

There are also the healthy benefits of rest. Research has been done that supports the theory that the immune system is at risk when over-training occurs.

So your responsibility as a runner is to take care of your body. You are the only one that has the ability to control how much you push yourself and how much you really take care of yourself. Do not overtrain and do not skip out on relaxing on your weekends. You will only be as good as you allow yourself to be.

Week two begins

The start of the second week is going to be tough. You may be experiencing some soreness and tightness in your legs, especially in the hamstring area. Make sure you stretch before you do any of these workouts. If you are too sore to do any of these workouts, do a light jog to loosen up your muscles and begin the workout when you feel you are back to normal.

When completed with any of these workouts, run a two lap cool down, stretch and then go home and relax.

Monday:

Short sprinters have a breakdown workout. The workout is, 300, 250, 200, 150, and a 100. In between each one, walk the distance you ran. After you run a 300 walk a 300. After you run a 200 walk a 200, and so on.

Long sprinters have a repeat workout. Three times 600 meters, walk 300 meters in between each one.

Tuesday:

Short sprinters have another breakdown workout. Three times 300 meters, 200 meters, 100 meters. Walk the distance that you ran.

Long sprinters have ten 100 meters. Run 100 meters (the length of a football field) and then walk back up and do it again ten times.

Wednesday:

Short sprinters and long sprinters, warm up and stretch for a good hour. Afterwards, go to the weight room and work on upper and lower body.

After weights, go outside and do four 100 meter jogs before the cooldown.

Thursday:

Short sprinters and long sprinters both have 110 meter sprints up a hill.

Friday:

Short sprinters have six times 300 meters, walking 200 meters in between each one.

Long sprinters have eight times 600 meters, walking 300 meters in between each one.

Saturday/Sunday:

Enjoy your days off! Make sure to get plenty of rest, eat healthy and try to stay off of your feet as much as you can.

Running on Grass

When you are starting to train for sprints, it is important that you start out running on grass.

Most people feel that grass is much softer and better for your knees, ankles and shins. It is a lot better to start on grass than it is to run on concrete or the track.

For the first six weeks, the workouts will be done on the grass because it helps protect you from getting shin splints.

Weight Training

Strength training, also known as weight training is very important in achieving the goal of becoming a sprinter.

Most serious athletes do some sort of weight training, but it may not work for everyone.

The great American sprinter and long jumper, Carl Lewis, said that he performed his worst in the one year that he did weight train.

It all depends on personal preference on whether or not you believe a weight program is right for you.

At FAU, we weight train three times a week. After our workouts on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday's we hit the gym for an hour long strength and conditioning session.

I will post our weight room workout in one of my future entries.

Here we go!

Week one of training begins

After you determine what sprinter you are, follow the workouts below for our first week of endurance training.

Monday:
On the grass, the short sprinters have eight times 300 meter runs, with a 200 meter walk in between each run. If you are training on a football field, a 300 meter run is approximately one lap around the entire field.
On the grass, the long sprinters have three times 800 meter runs, with a 400 meter walk in between each run. If you are on a football field, a 800 meter run is approximately two and a half laps.

Tuesday:
On the grass, both short and long sprinters have 10 times 100 meter runs with a jog back of 100 meters in between.

Wednesday:
On the grass, the short sprinters have five times 200 meters with a 100 meter walk in between. If you are running straight on a football field, 200 meters is approximately two up and backs.

On the grass, the long sprinters have 10 times 200 meters with a 100 meter walk in between. Same thing, if you are running straight on a football field, 200 meters is approximately two up and backs.

Thursday:

Both short and long sprinters go to a hill and run 10 times 120 meters up a hill, walking down on the way back to the start.

Friday:
Do complete warm-up, including drills and then head into the weight room for weights.

Are you a short or long sprinter?

When getting ready for a track season, you must start out with endurance training before you can get into speed training.

Before we begin we split up into two groups. Short Sprinters and Long Sprinters.

Short sprinters include: 100 meter runners, 100 meter hurdlers, 200 meter runners, high jumpers, long jumpers, triple jumpers, heptathletes and pole vaulters.

Long Sprinters include: 400 meter runners, 400 meter hurdlers and 800 meter runners.

Both long and short sprinters to the entire warm-up. Afterwards we split up into our groups for the workout.

The man behind the workouts

Before I give you any type of workout to do, I would like to introduce the man who is making these workouts. Coach Owen McGregor is an experienced track and field coach.

McGregor attended St. Andrew Technical High School in Kingston, Jamaica.

His accomplishments include, running one of the fastest times in the Caribbean Islands in the 400 meters.

McGregor anchored his high school 4x100m relay team to 1st place at the Penn Relays, one of the most prestigious track meets in the United States.

He was also one of the first Caribbean high school athletes to run 20.90 seconds in the 200m.

He also finished in 6th place at the Olympic Trials in the 200m.

McGregor's collegiate career includes a year at Central Arizona JC, where he was a seven-time All-American, including a four-time member of the First Team. He is on the list of Top 10 fastest 100m and 4x400m competitors at the University of Florida.

He later transferred to Arizona State University, were he competed in the 100m, 200m and 400m, and anchored the 4x100m and 4x400m relay teams.

Coach McGregor came to FAU from Pheonix College in Arizona, where he was the mens and womens head coach.

He recently went to Bejing, China for the 2008 Olympics to watch one of his athletes compete in the 200 meters.

If you want to run fast and do it the right way, follow the warm-ups and workouts from Owen McGregor.

Pre-Season/ Warm Up

It's hard to just one day wake up and say "Hey, I want to run in a track meet...sign me up." It takes hard work and dedication to prepare for meets. Depending on what you are training for, a season could be up to eight to 11 months long.

Our first week of training at FAU was difficult. You don't hit the track the second you start to train. We stay off of the track and practice in the grass to make sure to protect your shins and legs from injury. We don't start off with speed either, we do endurance and distance runs.

This is how we warm up:

- Jog 2 laps on the inside of the track, on the grass

- 4 striders (100 meter accelerations)on the grass

- 40 minutes intense stretching

- 30 meter Mobility Drills x2 (High Knees, A Skip, B Skip, Straight Legs, and Lunges)

Before You Begin

There are many different things to consider before beginning any workout program. Sprinting is a intense workout and could result in injury if you do not take precautions. Stretching properly is key to not becoming injured.

Sleep, nutrition, and water intake are the obvious ways to help, but are quite frequently neglected. It's very important to not neglect these key things in order to make the most out of your training efforts.