{"id":353,"date":"2018-08-30T18:15:35","date_gmt":"2018-08-30T18:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/?p=353"},"modified":"2018-08-30T18:15:35","modified_gmt":"2018-08-30T18:15:35","slug":"being-a-running-fan-spectator-part-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/30\/being-a-running-fan-spectator-part-three\/","title":{"rendered":"Being a running fan\/spectator part three…"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Sprints are a lot of fun to watch. Some of the fun for me is that I was not a sprinter. I was put into the distance camp on day one and it’s fascinating to watch how people race short distances. Also, sprints are easy to watch, even for my kids, since the races are anywhere from 9+ seconds to 40+ seconds.\u00a0In the replays, the broadcasters can go down to minute detail to show the little things that happened during the race.<\/p>\n

However, sprints are difficult to follow. In track and field, there are many events throughout the year including indoor meets, Diamond League, the World Championships, etc. In contrast to a professional marathoner who will run two marathons per year, sprinters can run multiple races per day during a track meet. Since recovery time is much shorter when sprinters run the 100M or 200M, they can do more than one event. Multiple events are also partly by necessity. If a track has eight lanes but 32 100M contestants are there, then you need to run qualifying heats to get down to the finals. This creates an incredible amount of data.<\/p>\n

In the Rio Olympics, Usain Bolt won gold medals in the 100M, 200M, and as a member of the 4X100M relay. Including all the qualifying heats, he ran a total of nine races. In the same Olympics, Mo Farah, who double gold-medaled in the 5000M and 10000M, ran one qualifying race and final for the 5000M and the 10000M final, a total of three races (Usain Bolt source<\/a>; Mo Farah source<\/a>; Olympics source<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Unlike a distance race where runners may be able to analyze a course or tweak strategy based on whether they’re good on hills, have a solid final kick, etc., sprints get down to small details. Leading up to the Rio Olympics in 2016, I read that in the 2012 London Olympics, Usain Bolt took 41 steps in the 100M dash; two of the other competitors took 42.5 and 46 steps (Steps source<\/a>).\u00a0\u00a0In addition, Bolt was not as quick out of the blocks as other sprinters but once he got going, well, we all know what he did in most of his major races. So, when another racer got ahead of Bolt early, they needed to hold off on popping the champagne because his closing speed was ridiculous. Knowing these details and the traits of runners will help create a better understanding of the race once the runners are out of the blocks.<\/p>\n

Sprinting is also a very different form of running. They are running but it’s very much a power-based, all-out, quick release form of exertion.\u00a0Here’s a brief article<\/a>\u00a0on sprinting technique for the 100M dash.\u00a0The arm movement would be the easiest way to highlight the difference between distance running and sprints. If you watch a distance race, the pros have very little arm motion. There may be some towards the end if\/when they get into a final kick but largely, they are conserving motion and energy. Sprinters are pumping their arms the entire race to maximize their speed. They need to. When .01 seconds matter, you better be giving it all you’ve got the whole time.<\/p>\n

Track and Field News<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and LetsRun<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>are outstanding sources for following running. Specifically for track and field, they’ll highlight the big meets and notable times, and help break down what it all means. While there is a large amount of data out there for sprints, certain names will come up again and again. Usain Bolt, though retired from track and field now, is about as close to a household name as one can get for a runner but if you’re interested in the sport, others will start to sound familiar. An American sprinter, Noah Lyles<\/a>, is starting to get a lot of attention.<\/p>\n

I also realized that in covering the marathon last week, I neglected to include the other distance events, so I will do those next time and if there’s space, also go over middle distance.<\/p>\n

Running food review of the week:\u00a0<\/span>(note–gels, bars, chews, and other items affect everyone differently. Try them on a short run before using them for a key training run or race):\u00a0Hammer Gel Tropical Fruit<\/a>: This tasted like a more mild version of the Honey Stinger fruit smoothie. Like the vanilla Hammer Gel (and other Hammers that I’ve tried) it has the pleasant thinner texture. If I was going for flavor, I’d go with the Honey Stinger fruit smoothie. If I was looking to take down gel fast while in a race, I’d go with the Hammer Gel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sources used:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
https:\/\/www.olympic.org\/usain-bolt<\/a><\/div>\n
https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mo_Farah<\/a><\/div>\n
https:\/\/olympics.nbcsports.com\/2014\/12\/15\/rio-olympic-track-and-field-schedule-released\/<\/a>:<\/div>\n
https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/london-2012-olympics-blog\/2012\/aug\/06\/london-2012-five-reasons-usain-bolt-100m<\/a><\/div>\n
https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/sports\/olympics\/noah-lyles-out-front-in-race-to-claim-usain-bolts-sprinting-throne\/2018\/07\/19\/a18f3ea6-86a6-11e8-9e80-403a221946a7_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.fd634acdc086<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sprints are a lot of fun to watch. Some of the fun for me is that I was not a sprinter. I was put into the distance camp on day one and it’s fascinating to watch how people race short distances. Also, sprints are easy to watch, even for my kids, since the races are … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Being a running fan\/spectator part three…”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[29,27,26,30,28],"class_list":["post-353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-noah-lyles","tag-olympics","tag-sprints","tag-track-and-field","tag-usain-bolt"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9W0ku-5H","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":315,"url":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/16\/being-a-running-fan-spectator\/","url_meta":{"origin":353,"position":0},"title":"Being a running fan\/spectator…","author":"36jonraessler50","date":"August 16, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"How to follow running. It's difficult to follow running as a spectator for several reasons. Running doesn't get nearly the same amount of television coverage as other sports. There are no teams beyond the college level and even there, it's how the individuals perform in their respective events that dictates\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":367,"url":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/2018\/09\/06\/being-a-running-fan-spectator-part-four\/","url_meta":{"origin":353,"position":1},"title":"Being a running fan\/spectator part four…","author":"36jonraessler50","date":"September 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Middle distance and more long distance... When you watch middle distance, 800M to 3000M, you see races where\u00a0more strategy is involved\u00a0but there is still little room for error.\u00a0Though it may not be as common as sprints, you can see world records at the Olympics in a middle distance race. David\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"10000M\"","block_context":{"text":"10000M","link":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/tag\/10000m\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":807,"url":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/2019\/11\/21\/but-for-three-seconds\/","url_meta":{"origin":353,"position":2},"title":"But for three seconds…","author":"36jonraessler50","date":"November 21, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"As mentioned in an earlier post, after being shelved in terms of expectations, Kenenisa Bekele won the 2019 Berlin Marathon in 2:01:41, just two seconds shy of tying the world record and three shy of breaking it. In a post last year, I said that if he were to break\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":336,"url":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/23\/being-a-running-fan-spectator-part-two\/","url_meta":{"origin":353,"position":3},"title":"Being a running fan\/spectator part two\u2026","author":"36jonraessler50","date":"August 23, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Let's start with with easiest distance to follow, the marathon. One note for the next couple of posts. If I have information that needs to be cited, there will be a \"source\" link at the end of the respective sentence that you can click. Also, those articles\/websites will have more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Berlin Marathon\"","block_context":{"text":"Berlin Marathon","link":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/tag\/berlin-marathon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":656,"url":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/2019\/05\/24\/bolt-or-kipchoge\/","url_meta":{"origin":353,"position":4},"title":"Bolt or Kipchoge?","author":"36jonraessler50","date":"May 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Shortly after the conclusion of this year\u2019s London Marathon my daughter asked me, \u201cWho\u2019s a faster runner, Bolt or Kipchoge?\u201d She was referring to Usain Bolt, arguably the greatest sprinter of all time , and Eliud Kipchoge, the greatest marathoner of all time. This is an interesting question and not\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1761,"url":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/03\/the-beginning-of-the-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":353,"position":5},"title":"The beginning of the history…","author":"36jonraessler50","date":"April 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Before diving into the history of the 5000M and 5K, I note that the two are distinguished from each other: the 5000M is the track version of the distance and the 5K is the road\/cross-country version. To attempt to keep my posts from being cluttered, when I\u2019m referring to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":356,"href":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353\/revisions\/356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/untamedrunner.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}