How Do You Run?

Question

im 15 and running in the 100m, 200m, and 400m at my school in detroit

my best times are 12.3 in the 100m, 23.6 in the 200m, and 61.0 in the 400m

a lot of the seniors say that i could drop my times by at least .5 seconds if i just ran with the right form

i run kind of flat footed for some reason in the sprints and i was wondering what is the correct way to run?? do only your toes hit the ground??

and if anyone here uses ankle weights to run or w/e.. can u give me a good work out to do with them.. remember im trying to get faster

thanks

Answer 1

I ran the 100m and 200m in jr high and high school. For sprints, you should be running with only the front half of your feet. Not really on your toes, but I guess that's how they get people to run correctly. If you look at your sprint shoes, all of the spikes are in the front. And that's what you're supposed to be running on.

Coming out of the blocks, you should lean a little forward, almost falling forward. Then let your feet catch up and balance yourself.

Relax when you run, don't waste energy clinching your fist or hardening your face. And breath.

You might want to lift weights too. Both lower and upper body.

Good luck.

Answer 2

The correct way to run is run with the toe part of your shoe. That's why they put the spikes there, and remember the bottom half of the shoe NEVER touches the ground in a sprint. The reason you want to run on your toes is because you want to spend as little time as possible on the ground for faster legwork. You don't want to be hitting the ground with your heel or anything extra because that will slow you down.
Also, you don't want to be swinging your arms across your chest, but I don't know if anyone has ever told you this. When you move your arms in a sprint, they always have to be parallel and never criss-cross at your chest. Your arms should always be at 90 degrees and NEVER change. This takes practice for the right form, but the right form is basically having your 90 degree arms keep swinging back and forth, but parallel to each other all the time.
Also, how is your 200m split better than your 100m?
Your 200m split is 11.8 and your 100m is 23?
Anyway, your 400m could be down to 54-55 seconds at least.
Good luck!

Answer 3

When sprinting you want to lean yourself slightly forward and keep your legs pumping up to 90 degree angles, and launch them downward so that you "claw" the ground. When your foot strikes as a sprinter you want it to hit at the middle of your foot and claw off the ground, rounding up to your toes and pushing off. When your leg goes behind you, you don't want to raise it too high off the ground, but just enough for the leverage to push you that extra inch. Remember, every split second counts in a sprint. Keep your arms pumping down to your waist and launch them backward as hard as you can for the propulsion. Keep them at a 90 degree angle at all times, this is what gives you the most leverage, and will propel you farther. Keep loose fists and a loose face, you don't want to use more energy than you need to, keep all of it in your arms and legs.

When I sprinted I practiced with parachutes and bungees, ankle waits tend to no be that great on your ankles. Have someone hold one end of the bungee back, and sprint forward. The person holding the bungee should follow you but keep the rope taught so that it is difficult to run forward, this makes it much easier to sprint when you don't have the extra weight carrying you. Also practice doing 30 and 60m sprint repeats: 10 to 20 of them at a time every other day or so, this will get you in shape. For the 400, which is middle distance you can do 100 and 200m repeats. A good workout for these would be 6-8x200m followed by 5 or so 100m. You can check out runnersworld.com and they have awesome workouts there for every type of runner, and I use it a lot.

Hope all this helps man, and don't forget www.runnersworld.com

Answer 4

The sprinting technique should be as follows:
Acceleration Phase
On the ball of foot/toes at all times
Out of the blocks keep your eyes focused on the track to keep low to keep momentum created
Face and neck muscles relaxed (no tension)
Shoulders held back and relaxed, square in the lane
smooth forward backward action - not across the body - drive back with elbows - hands approx. shoulder height to hips
Legs - fully extended rear leg pushing off the track with the toes - drive the leg forward with a high knee action
foot down in a claw action with a ball of foot/toe strike on the track below the knee

Stride Phase:
fully extended rear leg pushing off the track with the toes - drive the leg forward with a high knee action,being Tall , Relaxed and Smooth with maximum Drive

Lift Phase
High knee action (prancing)
Leg action fast and light as if running on hot surface
Fast arms - more urgency
Hands slightly higher at the front

Workouts: I don't know what Phase you are in your workouts yet. But we are in Phase 2 right now and this is what my kids are doing now. No ankle weights, they screw up your technique/form and wreck your ankles, achilles and knees.
100M
Specific endurance
2 x 3 x 120 (80%)
Anaerobic quality
3 x (40, 60, 80) (80%)
Strength intensive
3 x 3 x 40 (90%)
Block work
3 x 3 x 30 (100%)

200M
Specific endurance
2 x 3 x 240 (80%)
Anaerobic quality
3 x (80, 120, 160) (80%)
Strength intensive
3 x 3 x 120 (90%)
Block work
3 x 3 x 40 (100%)

400M
Specific endurance
4 x 300 (75%)
Anaerobic quality Speed
4 x 100
Speed Work
9 x 50

Answer 5

You need to run on the balls of your feet im sure you've been told this a ton of times. My coach always tells me that when im tired form is the thing that is going to keep me running faster so keep your legs up and pump your arms and you should go faster. sorry i had to comment on this... but you have fast 100 and 200 times but your 400 is no where near where you could be i run a 60 in the 400 are you sure your time in the 4 is right? (sorry i had to ask) seems odd

Answer 6

your times are pretty good. but, you can definately improve by your form alone. do you wear track spikes? they're designed so that you run with the front of your feet. you also want to keep your head up and pump your arms along with your legs. when you're sprinting fast enough, i just naturally don't let my heels touch the ground. try moving your knees up and down as fast as you can.

Answer 7

I have a friend who does the 200m and she says that the faster your arms go, the faster you'll run. So when she's warming up she runs in place and moves her arms really fast with weights in her hands. When she lines up to sprint her arms go faster, and she says that makes her run faster. If its true or not, I don't know, but it seems to work for her.

Answer 8

my coaches tell me that 10 seconds into the sprint you should be on your toes and gradually straitening your back out, you should never start a race out competely standing straight up. but after about half way through the race you need to on your whole foot going heel to toe. the fastest person running the race is the fastest person that can retract their knees back the quickest.

Answer 9

Don't train in ankle weights, they can damage your knees later in life and won't really do much except ruin your form... Stay low, take alot of quick strides and don't let your heels touch the ground if you can manage that