Meet vs. Del Mar

Hey all -

Well we had a good meet this week. As always the scores are irrelevant. The most important stat, PRs, was ~23 PRs according to my count. In addition to that we had some big season bests from Trevor in the 3200 (14 seconds faster) & Courtney in the 400 (3 seconds faster) . I was happy with today. Remember though that this week isn't finished, we need to get some work in still.

Full Results are posted on the front page of the website.

This weekend is the St. Francis invitational. This will be another high quality meet, not quite Stanford invite but very close. Not every entry I summitted will be accepted. (They had 1700 athletes enter for 2300 events) I should know by practice tomorrow who made it or not. Next week at Leland everyone who wants to go will be able to. You Tube is down otherwise I would post some video of the girls and boys 4 by 100.

See you tomorrow - Coach Mike

As promised

Girls 4 by 100 Video from Stanford... A little better then the Stanford video... but it was tough to film

Rant on running shoes

On Friday I had everyone do strides on the grass barefoot. People were asking me why did they have to do them barefoot. Well, if you read my post on running mechanics you will know it is important to get the foot underneath the body. When companies first produced running shoes the extra weight on the foot would cause peoples feet to swing out further then usual, so when they brought there foot down they would hit on the heel instead of the ball of the foot. This lead to people landing softly, and lead to people leaning forward when they ran. People also started having heel issues becasue no one every landed on their heels before. What did the running companies do? They made the padding on the heel THICKER. That way people didn't hurt their heels anymore when their heel hit the ground. Look at the heel of your running shoe, I guarantee it has a HUGE thick heel pad. Now people could run with BAD form and not hurt themselves. Of course the thick heel pad caused shoes to be HEAVIER, which caused runners feet to swing out further.

Imagine if their was a company that made a grill and people kept getting burned on it. Instead of making it safe, they invented a pill that caused the brain to ignore pain. This is essentially what the running shoe companies did. Their solution made the problem worse but easier to ignore??? How does that make sence? Some companies have used air as the padding as a way to keep the protection without the extra weight.

Anyways, when you run barefoot you naturally run the way you are supposed to. This is why I had everyone run that way. Which countries dominate distance running? Not the countries where kids have running shoes. So what is the solution? Run barefoot when you can, and when you can't be conscious about bring that foot underneath you and not letting that heel make the first contact.

Running Mechanics

As promised just thought I would talk a little bit about running mechanics.

The take home message of this whole thing will be understanding the kinetic chain. Again when someone has a problem it is never in a vacuum one thing leads to another and another. This is the reason why in the weight room we don't use exercise machines. The body doesn't use muscles in isolation. We train movements. Use the exercise machines if your goal is to look good at the beach not if you want to actually use those muscles.

Anyways, the best place to start is with posture. It needs to be upright. Your body is only stable underneath your center of mass. When people lean forward their center of mass (CoM) also moves forward. To stabilize themselves they need to bring there foot down in front of them because the foot will land underneath the CoM. Try it. Lean forward while running and you will notice that your foot contacts will land in front of you. (This will also speed up your turnover, but decrease your stride length) The biggest offenders are distance runners. They for some reason are taught to land on their heel and roll over it. Well to land on your heel you need to lean forward. Again this is just an example of how everything is connected... your posture determines your foot placement.

So why is it important for your foot to land underneath you? Simply it lets you reuse energy, allowing you to conserve energy until the end, or run at a higher energy demand while not fatiguing as much.

Within muscles there is elastic tissue. When elastic tissue is deformed (stretched) it returns to its initial position. Well this characteristic can be used in running. Tendons are also elastic. When you bring down the foot forcefully on the ball of the foot, it causes the achilles tendon to be stretched out. So that force that you used to bring down the foot is 'stored' in the achilles tendon. When the tendon snaps back (it is elastic) it causes your ankle to extend, which causes you to push off the ground. The best part of this is that it is a reflex, meaning it happens naturally and quickly. Top runners spend less then one tenth of a second on the ground. This would be impossible with out reflexes. The longer you are on the ground the more you slow down.

So what happens when your foot hits in front of you. Well if you hit the ground hard, you will slow down. By creating a braking force. (Newtons 3rd Law) So people who lean forward need to have a 'soft' landing to prevent slowing down. However, with a soft landing the elastic tissues aren't loaded up. So you will have to produce the energy that brings your leg down and then you will have to provide the enrgy that pushes off the ground. No energy is being reused.

Also because if is not a reflex anymore people spend more time on the ground (causing a decrease in speed, so they need to push off longer which causes the leg to swing way behind the body) we call that back side mechanics. With that leg so far behind you, you don't have enough time to get it out in front again and you are stuck with another 'soft' landing.

I could keep going but I will stop there for now. I will post a little soap box rant about running shoes now though.

Girls 4*100 Video

This was posted on Stanfords website... girls aren't the focus so we will wait on Marks video but just figured I would post this

Girls (Lane 8)


HEre are the guys: (Lane 1)



Here is Pauline: (Lane 9)



and here is the link to all the videos:
http://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?do=videos&pg=1&event_id=57&video_id=9658&folder_id=810&offset=2#video

Stanford Invite

Well it was a fun meet (tshirts were kind of expensive)

The girls 4*100 put themselves on to the ccs top marks list (assuming 6 schools didn't have ridiculous times at the wilcox meet)

They ran a 51.98. I will post some video later, Mark has video of it so maybe he will post it or if he gives it to me I will post it. Here is a photo of Erika coming around the corner to pass the baton to Courtney. (This handoff was AWESOME)

The guys 4*100 had a season best also, although there is still a lot of work to do. Mark also has video of that race. (45.16)

Pauline had to run in lane 9 in the 400 and might have broke 60 iuf she didn't keep looking at the clock instead of the finish line haha. (60.60)

Just got an email from Steve saying that more photos are coming. - Coach Mike

Thanks Janet

Just wanted to give Janet a thanks on the blog, just so other people understand how big of a help she has a been. Today I got 2 full boxes various types of athletic tape from her. Not too mention all the help she gave with our athletes injuries and just being a supportive force. Can't wait til she makes it back down in May, good luck at Berkeley. See you soon.

Stanford Invite Info

The 4*100s: I am planning on getting there around 7:30ish to pick up your credentials make sure that you are there at 7:45. We will meet outside the stadium. Just call or text me when you get there. It does cost $10 dollars for spectators enter. There will be concession stands, make sure you bring sunscreen and water it will be hot.

Any last minute questions, feel free to call.

- Coach Mike

PRs

Hey All -

So it looks like we had 13 PRs, even after converting those 100 times they still look fast. It will be interesting to see what they are after using FAT. (We will get 2 cracks at it next week)

If you all are interested here is the excel spreadsheet I use to track progess. If you see any mistakes let me know. (I know I still need to change Nikkis shot put typo from Avis kelly)

http://www.liveoakcaf.com/LOHS_PR_List.htm

-Coach Mike

Track Meet Today

Hey all -

Some great performances, alot of good battles. Some people are back to the drawing board. Results are posted, Steve also has some pics from the meet, they are posted here(toward the end):

http://picasaweb.google.com/msullivan.kin163/2009


I still need to go through to look for PRs. Make sure you remember our next meet is Tuesday.
Also those of you interested in the St Francis invite need to let me know tomorrow. - Coach Mike

Thanks to all parents helped as well as the alumni that stoped by. Next home meet isn't until april 30, which means us coaches can coach again for a few meets.

MH Times

Hey all There was an article in the Morgan Hill Times on the track team on Tuesday.

Here is a link.

http://www.morganhilltimes.com/sports/254773-on-pace-for-new-heights

CCS Top Ten Lists Week 2

Hey all one more week of competition and we had an athlete added to the top ten list for the CCS. Pauline Olsen in the 400. She will be competing against 4 of the other girls on this list on Saturday.

1 __00:56.81 F__Hardiman, Iesha____9__Wilcox
2__00:58.41 F__Irish, Lauren______11__HMB
3__00:59.16 F__Davis, Jenna______ 11__Valley Christian
4__00:59.24 F__Venable, Elena_____10__Santa Cruz
5__00:59.40 F__Sakellar, Natasha___11__Monta Vista
6__00:59.79 F__Gradiska, Angela___ 11__Pinewood
7__00:59.83 F__Arenas, Erica_____ 12 __Evergreen Valley
8__01:00.06 F__ Olsen, Pauline ___ 11__Live Oak
9__01:00.14 f __Gordon, Emily____ 11__Santa Clara

Here are the rest of the lists:

http://www.dyestatcal.com/ATHLETICS/TRACK/2009/ccstopmk.htm

Stanford Invite

I know this meet isn't on the schedule but we do have some athletes that are entered in it. It is this Saturday at Stanford College. This wasn't like other invitationals, I needed to submit the entries 3 weeks ago along with proof of the performances. There were very strict qualifying standards (for example 11.39 FAT for the 100m, 9:59 FAT for the 3200)

We have 9 people who will be competing - Jeff, Greg, Billy, James in the 4*100. Erika, Courtney, Catherine, Lauren in the 4*100 and Pauline in the 400. They will be going up against some fast schools/athletes.

The reason I made this post is becasue the cool thing about the Stanford invite is that it is a college meet too. Looking at the entries Cal, University of Oregon, University of Washington, BYU, Idaho, Stanford (obviously) will all be there. So if anyone is interested in going it will be a good chance to see what your events look like at the next level as well as a chance to cheer on your fellow Acorns. Here is the schedule of events (events with a B or G are high school, events with a M or W are college)

http://www.sml1.com/recordtiming/stanford/invite09/stanford_invite_schedv2.pdf

Who won? part 2

So thanks to you guys I think we have settled it that Courtney did get the win in the 100. Now here is my next question regarding this video of Greg Triple jumping. The pit wasn't raked at the end so we didn't get a clean measurement. So lets see what you all think. Some facts to know. He jumps from the 24 foot board, our pits are 20 feet so it is 44 feet from where he jumps to the end of the pits, based on where he landed how far of a jump do you think this is? Vote to the right, and post your comments below. -Coach Mike

Road to Recovery and Great meet

The road to recovery isn't like getting your car fixed. Recovery doesn't just happen in one day. To be honest, rehab and full recovery can take anywhere from a week to a couple of months to get back full strength.. The lesson here is that if you come down with shin splints, dehydration issues, or constant calf tightness, it takes steps to get you back into tip top athlete shape. There isn't a magic salve that I can give you and suddenly you're back in action. If there was, I'd be making the big bucks and wouldn't be toiling through basic biology classes =D So, if you're hurting, take active steps such as progressing back to your 110% self. That means starting with jogs and doing what you can when hurt and making sure that you take time to really ice yourself each and every night. If the pros do it, you can do it too.

also, if you didn't see me or didnt know who i was, i was at saturday's meet and i was impressed with what i saw.. glad to have witnessed some pr's and been around to see some people come out to perform. made me excited to see you guys again at practice and see the game come out on thursday.

so, i'll be around until thursday so if you have issues, want me to come up with a recovery plan that includes vaccuming your calves, need a rub out or just a lesson in how to tape shin splints, don't be shy come up to talk to me during practice and I'll be glad to share my knowledge and do my best to heal you up!! =D

Videos Videos Videos

Here are a few more of the videos from Steve on Thursday at Independence. Reminder: After you click play, there is a HQ button that pops up, if you turn that on it will play in high quality mode. Enjoy!

Kenny Long JUMP



Stephanie High JUMP


Taylor Long Jumping


Lauren in the Triple Jump



Greg in the Triple Jump


Mason in the Shot Put


Erika, Lauren and Catherine in the 200

Who Won?

Here is some video of the meet yesterday thanks to Steve Drewniany.

This is the 100 with Erika and Courtney. Who do you guys think won? Very close race. More videos coming soon.

- Coach Mike

FAT vs Hand Timed

Some definitions:

FAT - Fully Automatic Timing - this is when the meet uses a camera at the finish line to find who won and what there times were (accurate up to the .01 of a second)

Hand Timed - Just as it seems, some one used there watch to time a race

All of our invites will be FAT, while the dual meets are hit or miss. (Andrew Hill had FAT, we have hand timed, Del Mar will be FAT, Westmont should be FAT, not sure about Santa Teresa)

When the gun goes off, the FAT timer starts immediately so there is no reaction time. With hand timing, reaction time does play a part. How we reconcile this is by using conversions.

To convert hand time to FAT:

Round hand time up to the nearest tenth and then for all events less then 400 meters add .24; for the 4*100 and 400 add only .14 (timers and starter are near each other so it takes less time to react.)

Example: Erika ran a 12.91 today so we round that up to 13.0, then add .24 so her time is 13.24, to let people know we converted it we put a lowercase f.
13.24f.

In the 400 Vaziry ran a 57.22. So we round up to 57.3 and then add .14. So his 400 time was 57.44 f

The significance of the f is to show it is a converted time. When you see performance lists it may have:
27.63F
27.74 f
27.75 F
28.01 F
28.04 f

The upper case F shows FAT and the lowercase is converted hand.

Just in case people are confused about the PRs. I converted them all.

Results

Results are posted on the front page, we ended up having 20 PRs and our new total is 35. 200 is gonna be hard to hit but 10 more meets like today and we are set. See you guys tomorrow. - Coach Mike

Meet vs. Independence

Thanks you guys so much for helping out and making a meet with 200+ athletes (180 from indep. and 35 from us haha) go so smoothly. Really couldn't have done it with out your help and your parents.

As for the results, I will post them in a bit, my preliminary count is 17 PRs. Score wise, not that it matters, but the guys lost 113-14 (way to keep it to a double digit loss, haha. Also this is probably a good estimate of Live Oak boys to Independence boys) and the girls despite being outnumbered again (still only 12 of you, won 85-42).

Results coming later tonight. Thanks again all, and we will need some help in a week from now with Sobrato coming over.