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Track & Field and Athletics: #1 Sports site with latest training info for coaches and self-coached athletes
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THE DRIVE TO THE FINISH LINE
The race is almost over, but the body hurts so much that you are not sure that you can maintain or even increase your effort from now to the line. How are you going to muster up the courage and strength to hold off the runner breathing down your neck? The way that you do this is to forget about the others and get back to the basics. These basics are:
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ARMS: Drive the arms as fast and hard as possible--the feet will follow. The hands should go up to at least chin level and should go at least as far as the hip on the down-swing. The downward drive should be forceful to help drive the foot into the track.
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LEGS: The quads are probably starting to tie-up at this point so relax them. This is tough to do, but by concentrating on it for a stride or two, it will help.
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FEET: When fatigued, there is a tendency to float, so get the feet back down onto the track as quickly as possible. This couples with the fast arm/hand drive to produce a faster turn rate.
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SURGE: At this point in a maximum effort race, the body will usually be slowing. To overcome this, you have to surge. To do this, use the "in & out" technique. The "in" portion will only last three or four strides. Hold your breath, lean slightly forward and try to accelerate. On the "out" portion, come back to the full upright running form, breathe normally and try to maintain your speed. You may want to go through this cycle three or four times on the way to the line.
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DORSIFLEX: Avoid coming too far up on your toes when you surge. Running on the toes rather than dorsiflexed disables the ability of the calf muscle to help in the push-off and makes the hams carry all of the load. Accelerating while up on the toes can lead to serious hamstring tears.
Don't wait until the race to try this. Practice it so that it becomes almost automatic.
Latest News from the IAAF
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11 March 2010 ? Doha, Qatar - The traditional IAAF and Local Organising Committee (LOC) Press Conference on the eve of the opening day of the 13th World Indoor Championships was held this afternoon at the Headquarters of the Qatari Olympic Committee.
11 March 2010 - Abu Dhabi, UAE - Usain Bolt was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for the second straight time at a gala ceremony in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
11 March 2010 ?Competitors in the second indoor meet of the season in China held in Nanjing from Wednesday to Thursday (10 ? 11 March) naturally didn?t feature in the Chinese team for the World Indoor Championships as they have travelled to Doha already. But there still were a few stars in this meet with 22-year-old Su Xiongfeng rising to a new level in the men?s Long Jump.
11 March 2010 ? 2008 Double Olympic medallist Jared Tallent and former World champion and World record holder Nathan Deakes will lead an 18-strong Australian team into action at the IAAF World Race Walking Cup in Chihuahua, Mexico, 15/16 May.
10 March 2010 - The inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG) will take place in Singapore this August and qualifying for the athletics competition begins this coming weekend.
