Short Sprinting

Short Sprinting

By: Chris Parno

Originally Published in: Techniques Magazine

"Rhythms Create Order Among Chaos"; a phrase not only tattooed on my right foot, but a mantra for daily living. I see the world in rhythms, and if you asked my fiancé, the consistent tapping of my hands and feet brings her daily annoyance. Who would have thought the metronome sound of a car blinker could strike up a full-on symphony of beats? This rhythmic passion originated from my early exposure to Drum Corp International (DCI), a mesmerizing display of movement, coordination, hair-raising melodies and overwhelming presentation of what creativity can generate. In middle school, I picked up the marching snare drum and rhythm (drumming) changed my life forever. If you've never seen DCI, I suggest a quick YouTube search of "Backseat Freestyle by Brandon Olander" to see some true Central Nervous System (CNS) magic.

Drumming brought an overhaul for my CNS; I created new motor patterns while organizing and increasing efficiency as I practiced and performed. If you've ever read the Talent Code by Daniel Coyle, Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, or The Sports Gene by David Epstein, the subject of myelination and purposeful practice are explored. Myelin wraps cells on the axons of motor neurons, speeding up neural activity, bringing improvements within specific movement. One cannot simply be an Olympic sprinter; it takes years of practicing, sequencing, refining and a high genetic ceiling. I have been fortunate to attend rhythm symposiums on hurdling from Marc Mangiocotti and Ralph Lindeman, and recently took a liking to a blog post by Altis coach Andreas Behm titled "Practice Rhythm & Flow." Coach Behm discusses his love for rap music and states; "Rhythm in rap music is inherent from the various elements of the beat (drums, bassline, dubs and snips) to the vocal rhymes timed out in bars and creative delivery of syllables. In track, rhythm is present in such activities as acceleration, synchronous limb movements, hurdle step patterns, discus and hammer rotations ... just to name a few." Coach Behm understands the prevalence of rhythm in the context of track and field. Throughout all of this experience, my interest in track-based rhythms started to blossom.

The prevalence of rhythm in our daily lives goes far beyond the track. Rhythm, tempo and flow are synonymous within many life tasks. If one is stuck on organizing their thoughts in a paper, they make an outline; musicians organize songs in series of choruses, verses and bridges, while teachers create lesson plans to fill class periods. These pathways of organization help create flow and rhythm to the task. On the track, coaches define Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to break down elements of short sprinting, hoping to increase rhythm and flow when the skill is performed. Furthermore, the curriculum designers at NASPE, the National Association of Sports and Physical Education, have advocated rhythm as a foundational skill in physical activity. Rhythm activities are wrapped in contemporary pedagogy of physical education curriculum. While studying to be a physical educator in college, one of my favorite classes was "Teaching Rhythms." The curriculum incorporated rudimentary rhythmic movements like skips and hop progressions and moved to hand-eye coordination activities like lummy sticks and juggling. The goal of this course was to engrain and internalize rhythms at a young age.

How can coaches better utilize rhythms in the daily coaching of short sprinters? The science behind skill acquisition and refinement often leaves me awestruck as our body interacts with the world around it. A quick look into some of the elements of science within rhythm will help get us started.

The nervous system is comprised of the Central Nervous System (brain and spinal cord) and the Peripheral Nervous System (brain to body connection). Within the brain, the cerebrum (directs volitional movement), the basal ganglia (initiates well-coordinated movement), and the cerebellum (storage of learned movements) are the drivers. The personification of these parts of the brain are reminiscent of the movie "Inside Out" where the five emotional characters go through the day-to-day task of controlling the body and storing different memories. Messages from the brain are expressed to the body from the motor cortex and thalamus, which is a sort of "control center" that dictates which muscle will contract in the desired movements. From here the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) takes the message to the intended target expressing it through physical movement.

When thinking about the PNS, and the messages sent throughout the body, I'm reminded of a book called Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The author, Robert M. Pirsig, covers the difference between "classic" vs. "romantic" understanding. Pirsig explains the difference between the two; "The romantic mode is primarily inspirational, imaginative, creative, intuition. Feelings rather than facts predominate...The Classic mode, by contrast, proceeds by reason and by laws – which are themselves underlying forms of thought and behavior." Each year there are signature performances in track and field. The romantic sees the movement and individual limbs coalesce into rhythmic harmony, while the classic would think about the inner workings of the PNS and how the systematic rhythmic movements are wired and transmitted as they are performing. A great example of a track romantic is Guy Drut, I suggest watching his video, "13 Seconds." Guy utilizes limited dialogue while he describes his movements. The few words he uses to explain his technique are "Economy" and "Efficiency." Drut focuses on these primary words as he takes you through hurdle movements with very little technical verbiage throughout the video. Guy is a man truly obsessed with the rhythm of the hurdles.

Taking a deeper look at classic vs. romantic; the "classic view" of the PNS introduces terms like:

1. Motor Units: motor neurons innervate skeletal muscle

2. Afferent and Efferent pathways: sending and receiving messages from the brain to the muscles and back

3. Actin and Myosin proteins: provide the movement portion of muscular contractions

4. Bone and connective tissues that allow and potentially impinge movements

Contrary to the Romantic view, the classics are cut and dry on structural make-ups and messages producing certain movements, considering elements of:

1. Rate Coding, dealing with frequency of producing movements and coordinating those movements at higher speed

2. Myelination of Schwan's cells which assist in speeding up messages sent through the neuron

3. Recruitment, which deals with the amount of fibers contracted and the potential forces that can be produced within movements

The romantics are more concerned with gross motor movements and how the PNS and CNS coordinate messages into world record performances. Some coaches see short sprinting as a systematic set of rigid technical models (classic) while others see it as work of art with the various physiological systems working in symphony (romantics).

With the science and understanding touched on, let's get back to rhythm. The CNS and PNS create the possibility to talk on this subject, and it's important to know the rules governing how the body orchestrates specific movements within the context of our sport. When I consider how I have coached and think about ways to get my group to the highest level, rhythm always maintains a presence within that process. These thoughts revolve around the origination of motor patterns, the myelination involved in enhancing acceleration, and max velocity motor pattern efficiency. The next section of the article will talk about strategies to involve rhythm into your daily practice plans. We will talk about auditory and visual cueing systems that will assist in developing rhythm.

AUDITORY RHYTHM SYSTEMS

It is not a secret that the landscape of college hallways changed in 2001 when Apple came out with the iPod, allowing for large quantities of music (rhythms) on demand. In 2005, my freshman year of college, I had an iPod Nano that cut me off from the rest of the student body, consistently filling my brain with beats. Fast forward to the present day, Mp3 technology has been integrated into smartphones replacing the iPod. Rhythms, beats, differing time signatures, tempo changes and varying dynamics are a part of students' daily lives. I believe its changing athletes within the sprints/hurdle world. Generally speaking, student-athletes have a higher exposure to rhythm than students circa 2001. I have used this to my advantage. I compare rhythms to track-based movements and capitalize on my student-athletes ability to understand the language of rhythm.

With that being said, I am a proponent of music being present at practice. Some coaches may be adamantly against this, but I have found rhythm can be a subliminal message that creeps into the brain of the athlete trying to perform a skill. Without my athletes knowing, I choose songs in our practice mix tape that have a tempo close to the tempos I'm looking for in the warm-up/sprint drills. Neuromuscular days have a more aggressive beat as the warm-up is specific to the higher intensity nature of the day, while recovery days may have a laid-back beat or melody to try to signify the goal of the session. Although it is not in the forefront, music may help lay a rhythmic foundation for the day.

Various cueing systems are another way rhythm can be integrated within practice sessions. During early season warm-up periods, I take a methodical approach to explaining and teaching each skill within the warm-up. I am careful to pick and choose direct cues that assist in learning the rhythm of an exercise. A straight to the point temporal cue dealing with the time and rhythm of sprint drill is important. For example, the "A-skip" is a fairly prevalent drill. I think of the rhythm of the drill in quarter notes. A vast amount of music is in 4/4 time signatures, with each quarter note getting one beat per measure (think "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson). In that song, the first few measures have the bass drum and snare drum alternating on each quarter note. Imagine the right knee coming up on the snare hits and the left knee coming up on the bass drum hits...with the alternating shuffle on the back beat of each knee rise. This pattern produces the A-skip with the assistance of a popular song backing the rhythmic make-up of the drill.

Taking this concept a bit further, a coach can add the simple cue "up, up, up, up" on each beat (snare & bass) allowing the athletes to hear the pattern on top of the music. A more advanced athlete could use a rhythm cue that uses an 8th note pattern cuing "up and, up and, up and, up and." It may seem quite rudimentary, but I've had plenty of All-Americans that struggled early on with coordinating sprint drill movements. Coaches can cram a lot of teaching in the warm-up using rhythmic cues, instead of just yelling out "A-Skips" then turning to set up a something for practice as the athletes shuffle along aimlessly. If you hold your warm-ups to a high standard rhythmically, the motor development can carry over to your practice.

The acceleration portion of a short sprinting race is highly rhythmic as the body rises to the upright position characteristics of max velocity running. One rhythmic cue for acceleration is comparing the pattern to a slow clap. The beginning patient portion of the clap signifies the increased time spent on the ground as the body creates momentum, while the ending sped-up portion of the clap suggests the body's rise into our mid-race stance/ cadence. Unfortunately, just cueing a slow clap won't do a whole lot because the tempo you start the clap at is highly individualized. Start the clap out too fast and the acceleration can be a rushed "wheel spinning" type pattern, conversely, start it off to slow and you may see an over striding, bounding type pattern. Each athlete may click to different temporal cues, but it's also important we do not use rhythmic cues in a detrimental manner!

Coaches hear a lot about specificity of movement within our sport. Each drill and warm-up movement may assist athletes in creating correct and efficient motor patterns. At the elite level (i.e., state championships, NCAA national meets), there are very few athletes that can get away with being completely out of sync rhythmically during a warm-up, but then flawlessly perform a correct acceleration pattern. The rhythmic qualities of the warm up and pre-race routine signify the coordinative abilities and readiness of the CNS system and can be a strong indicator of the rhythmic qualities that the athlete will express during race or practice demands. Correct auditory cues while performing the warm-up, helps create efficiency and economy within high-powered neuromuscular movement.

VISUAL RHYTHM SYSTEMS

I have always been a visual learner, which is why I started "running school" during our fall general/specific prep phase at Minnesota State. Every Wednesday, we will get together in a classroom and work through different themes within sprinting and hurdling. We breakdown film, talk about biomechanics and how we achieve certain positions in sprinting.

Biomechanical considerations within short sprinting go hand-in-hand with rhythm and timing. Watching a 30m acceleration, or a rep through wickets, requires a high level of rhythmic understanding. Furthermore, a coach must know the individualistic demands of our sport with athletes expressing unique biomechanical markers and timing based on the relationship between the upper and lower lever length (e.g., taller athletes have unique rhythms compared to short athletes that have quicker timing.) During running school, I will show both correct and incorrect versions of sprinting and stress the visual rhythmic patterns needed to perform these movements. The previously covered auditory cues used at practice can be presented during film study to add another layer of support to learning.

Outside of visual or auditory learning, the combination of the two can greatly assist teaching of a skill and implementation of a drill. When instructing a high level skill such as an "in and out", I like to use both sets of cues to assist execution of the timing and rhythm within the drill. If we are performing an 80m in and out, I will have an experienced runner line up in a 3pt start and on my cue start the drill. As the athlete accelerates, the group watches from the side as the demonstration progresses. Using the auditory cues "Accelerate, In, Out, In, Out" as the athlete runs through the zones can assist the less advanced athlete gain a better understanding of the proper execution of the skill. With a primary goal of successful and meaningful efforts through the exercise, the use of a combined visual/auditory cue set can help engrain the timing and rhythm needed to perform the drill.

Another example comes from demonstrating acceleration patterns. If an athlete is having trouble applying pres sure through the first 4-6 steps within an acceleration, I may use "push, push, push, push" after initial clearance. This cue signals to the auditory dominant athlete that you want to see pressure applied at each contact, while still allowing the visual learners to see the appropriate technical execution of the initial segment of acceleration. Another common issue within acceleration is an athlete rising too quickly during their initial drive out of the blocks. You can take the same cue from above and elongate it by only saying "push" on every right foot contact to extend the initial drive pattern. Creativity with cues can address athlete's issues and may also uncover other underlying problems within certain movement patterns.

An important aspect to remember is that each coach will need to tailor their cue sets to their different populations of athletes, whether auditory or visual. A cue or cue system is only as good as the results it garners. Using rhythmic considerations to enhance cuing can be an effective strategy to assist athletes progress a skill regardless of the learning style.

CONCLUSION

The classic thinker views complex movements within short sprinting as a purely systematic brain to body, top down approach. No matter how hard you think classically about these movements, a personal best effort in any sprinting event is a work of art and the romantic thinker is always looking at the symphony of the timing and rhythm pattern contributing to those works.

Getting back to the tattoo on my foot from the intro, "Rhythms Create Order Among Chaos" is tattooed on my right foot because that foot is used to control the bass drum in a drum set. When recording music, the drummer is usually the first to lay down tracks as it organizes the rhythm of the song and the other musicians rely on this structure to govern their contributions to the song. Without this foundational rhythm or timing, the music can become chaotic as the members make their way through. The body isn't far from that concept; movement can be chaotic without the governing of efficient and effective rhythms. This is imperative since the environment in which our sport takes place can be chaotic! The Central Nervous System is a rhythmic genius as it organizes the millions of signals we take in and produces efficient and optimal rhythmic motor patterns. Anything we can do as coaches to assist the CNS in producing the motion necessary to achieve a work of art, is imperative. You can always open a book to learn more about the science behind running, however the application of that science is truly where the art of coaching begins.

REFERENCES

Backseat Freestyle, Brandon Olander [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ASXQcSvGDG4

Behm, Andreas., (2015). Practice Rhythm & Flow. Altis Blog. Retrieved from https://altis.world/articles/practice-rhythmflow/

Bompa, Tudor., (1993). The Theory and Methodology of Training (Third Edition). Kendall Hunt, Dubuque

Pirsig, R. M., (2006). Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

New York, NY: Harper torch Publishing Schexnayder, B. (2014). Sports Science for the Speed and Power Events

USTFCCCA Academy Curriculum 13 Seconds [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p- WW8oa4hm0

Chris Parno is an assistant track and field coach for both the men and women’s track and field programs at Minnesota State University. Parno directly coaches the men and women’s sprint/ hurdle groups, while also serving as the recruiting coordinator.