Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #67: Gill1918 Presents 3-time Olympian Angela Williams “Training the First 20 Meters” Powered by Coach O

Transcript

#67: Gill1918 Presents 3-time Olympian Angela Williams “Training the First 20 Meters” Powered by Coach O · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to the Gill 1918 Project, a podcast series by
• 0:03
  coaches for coaches, powered by Gill Athletics.
• 0:05
  Think of it as the Ted Talks of track and field coaching.
• 0:08
  Short, insightful, and packed with valuable strategies to help
• 0:11
  you grow as a coach. This episode is part of the
• 0:13
  Youth and Beginner Series, brought to you by Coach O.
• 0:16
  In this series, we focus on topics relating to coaching
• 0:19
  youth athletes, coaching beginner athletes of any age,
• 0:21
  and supporting brand new coaches as they find their way.
• 0:24
  With that in mind, let's grow. Hello everyone, my name is
• 0:29
  Angela Williams 19841988. Olympian, world class athlete
• 0:33
  from 1982 till 1996. Retired head women's track and
• 0:41
  field and cross country coach at Prairie View A&M University.
• 0:45
  Was there from 2007 to 2023. After retirement coached at Ali
• 0:51
  Middle School in Houston, TX where I relocated to from 1996
• 0:56
  to 2002. High school Thurgood Marshall
• 1:00
  High School in Fort Bend, Texas from 2002 to 2007.
• 1:08
  National coach for USA Track and Field, several teams and now I'm
• 1:15
  I'm retired helping some youth teams with training and being a
• 1:22
  mom and enjoying it. My goal today is to give you my
• 1:27
  perspective based on the training that I have given to my
• 1:32
  athletes, specifically at Prairie View and other schools.
• 1:36
  But I'll highlight maybe 3 of my athletes and kind of show the
• 1:41
  progression from the workouts. I won't be able to get too in
• 1:46
  depth with workouts, but I'll give you the equipment that I
• 1:50
  use starting in the fall and going all the way through
• 1:55
  preparing for not just conference but post season,
• 2:00
  which includes NCAA Regionals, NCAA Championship, USA Outdoor
• 2:09
  Nationals, juniors, anything beyond the conference meet.
• 2:14
  As a collegiate athlete, the equipment and workouts also work
• 2:18
  for high schoolers. High school.
• 2:22
  Their season generally begins in February, so fall Even though
• 2:27
  they may be playing basketball, volleyball, soccer, other sport,
• 2:33
  it is imperative that they get into track and field form by
• 2:39
  December. My goal is to highlight the 1st
• 2:46
  20 when competing in the short Sprint, but it also enhances
• 2:54
  every other event because you have to learn how to get out in
• 2:59
  anything that you do on the track.
• 3:02
  The process for me begins in the fall.
• 3:06
  Collegiately, fall begins the second week of September for
• 3:11
  getting prepared for the indoor season and the outdoor season.
• 3:15
  Again, I said high school. They start school in August, you
• 3:20
  may want to get them started at least by September, and even if
• 3:24
  you have to work them in two days or so out of the week
• 3:27
  because they're doing other sport, you want to get them in
• 3:29
  track and field shape. The equipment that I use in
• 3:34
  speed training I use the bullet belt.
• 3:38
  I use the run rockets, total body boards, sleds, bleachers.
• 3:44
  I consider equipment 6 inch cones instead of the wickets,
• 3:50
  the hurdles, the short hurdles. I found that to be a little
• 3:54
  dangerous. Once you really, really really
• 3:58
  Start learning how to develop speed, If you're not careful,
• 4:03
  your feet get caught in the hurdle as you're coming up.
• 4:08
  If you don't learn how to push down and allow your feet to just
• 4:12
  come up instead of leaning forward, leaning back, it's a
• 4:18
  skill that has to be developed over time.
• 4:20
  I use the cones where I place 26 inch cones side by side.
• 4:26
  I go 16 cones down and and the distance in between.
• 4:30
  I start off at three of three steps.
• 4:34
  In between I go to 4-5 and as you get faster and develop power
• 4:38
  and speed, I take it all the way out to 7 feet in between the
• 4:43
  hurdles. The the, the cones.
• 4:45
  The reason why I use the cones is because it allows the athlete
• 4:49
  to, if they feel out of control, to step to the left or step to
• 4:53
  the right on the track and not hurt themself.
• 4:58
  But that's just me. This is just something that I've
• 5:00
  used. I love the speed vests.
• 5:03
  I bought them from the manufacturer.
• 5:04
  They came with workouts. I've incorporated my own
• 5:06
  workouts with them, but I love the speed vests because they
• 5:09
  don't move around like a weight vest.
• 5:12
  They, they, they are secure on the body.
• 5:15
  It's almost like you don't have anything on so that you're able
• 5:17
  to Sprint and run freely. And of course blocks.
• 5:21
  And I do a lot of bounding, double leg bound, single leg
• 5:23
  bounds, frog out and UPS, just a lot of different boundings to,
• 5:28
  to develop power. This is all utilized in the
• 5:31
  fall. I I incorporate the run rocket,
• 5:35
  the bullet belt, the cones are from day one.
• 5:39
  It's a party, a warm up. You want to get the fast twitch
• 5:41
  muscles working. My 10,000 meter runners worked
• 5:46
  on the cones from day one. They need speed as well.
• 5:51
  And so those equipment carry me through the the entire year.
• 6:01
  I've incorporated the four week cycle into all workouts that I
• 6:07
  do with the 4th week being that recovery week where you're not
• 6:12
  off completely. You have I, I incorporate a
• 6:19
  stretch company to come out stretch my athletes, but that
• 6:22
  starts in the fall and on a recovery day during the
• 6:28
  workouts, they get a massage, they get treatment, they get hot
• 6:32
  and cold therapy. They utilize that day for full
• 6:37
  recovery, recovery, flushing out lactic acid, everything that's
• 6:42
  built up, the toxins built up in the body.
• 6:45
  During the week, 3 weeks of that cycle, every Monday, Tuesday,
• 6:51
  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, you have the same workout.
• 6:56
  I love the three-week cycle because it allows me to see the
• 7:00
  progression of the athlete. I can see if your recovery is
• 7:04
  getting better as well as the performance.
• 7:07
  The athlete can also communicate to me whether they feel like
• 7:11
  they're improving and they feel like their recovery is getting
• 7:15
  better. When I say recovery, if I give
• 7:18
  you a 101 hundred 100 15 seconds in between each 102 minutes rest
• 7:24
  after a set, you go to 101 hundred 215 seconds rest in
• 7:29
  between 100 hundred 202 minutes rest after each set.
• 7:33
  And I go up the ladder and come down the ladder.
• 7:36
  The first week, the first Monday should be a struggle.
• 7:39
  That second week, that Monday, you should be able to
• 7:42
  communicate to me. I'm feeling like I can move
• 7:45
  faster because usually I have it at about 60%.
• 7:48
  When you're doing it like that, but you're making sure you're
• 7:50
  working on form and you don't need the full 2 minutes of
• 7:54
  recovery, you find yourself ready to go before the two
• 7:59
  minutes. Although I don't ever stop
• 8:03
  before the two minutes, I still want you to get that full
• 8:05
  recovery because your lactic acid is learning how to build
• 8:09
  itself up and push itself down. So what I start off with
• 8:16
  thinking of the sprinter and thinking of the 1st 20 is hill
• 8:21
  work. Pushing down, going up that
• 8:23
  hill, pulling those arms back to the butt, moving it forward
• 8:29
  under the chin becomes a way of learning the mechanics of
• 8:34
  running. When you're going up a hill,
• 8:36
  you're getting your feet up under you, almost like coming
• 8:39
  out of the blocks because you're on an incline.
• 8:42
  So you're pushing and it needs to be quit going up the hill.
• 8:45
  You're not striding going up the hill, you are pushing down
• 8:48
  almost like you're marching going up that hill, developing
• 8:51
  the power that you need to develop.
• 8:53
  Same thing with a sled. I don't ever put more than 10 to
• 8:58
  15 lbs on a sled. If I have my athletes going down
• 9:02
  60 meters with a sled, they have to be able to move quickly and
• 9:06
  freely with the same mechanics that you you need to have and
• 9:10
  running. So I don't want you leaning
• 9:11
  forward. I don't want you leaning back.
• 9:14
  You have that slight incline in the hips.
• 9:16
  Your feet are coming up under you, your heels are not going
• 9:20
  behind you and and cycling like if you were on a bike, but it's
• 9:26
  going up and under, up and under.
• 9:28
  I do a drill that's called Frogger out and up where you
• 9:31
  push out like you are doing a standing broad jump and then
• 9:36
  from that position you go straight up.
• 9:38
  You push straight up in the air and you bring your feet up under
• 9:42
  your butt. So it teaches you the mechanics
• 9:46
  of good running. The run rocket I incorporate in
• 9:49
  the fall at a heavier weight. We do high knees with it.
• 9:57
  So you're walking down the track or slightly jogging down the
• 10:02
  track doing high knees coming up and down and the run rocket goes
• 10:06
  from 0 in weight to the highest I've gone is about 15 with the
• 10:14
  with the young women and it's think of a bungee, but no one's
• 10:19
  behind you. It's a a piece of equipment that
• 10:22
  is solid to the ground and it has a bungee that goes out about
• 10:26
  25 meters and you have that length on that bungee to do
• 10:30
  everything that you need to do from high knees to acting like a
• 10:36
  sled because it it doesn't it can retract you.
• 10:40
  So you have to develop the power to hold on and to go in quickly
• 10:46
  coming out of the blocks. In all that I have explained,
• 10:51
  what I'm trying to do is develop strength, power and speed
• 10:57
  endurance. Speed endurance is the length of
• 11:02
  time you can hold your speed without decelerating, so the
• 11:09
  further you can push that threshold, the better you
• 11:13
  become. As a sprinter, you must have
• 11:16
  speed endurance in order to be able to complete a race, any
• 11:21
  race. Because my goal is to have my
• 11:26
  athletes ready in December, I try to get them to 70 to 80% of
• 11:35
  what they're capable of doing going home.
• 11:39
  Collegiate. A collegiate break starts from
• 11:41
  the finals, when they're taking their finals the first week of
• 11:45
  December and they don't return to campus until the 1st week of
• 11:50
  January. So usually my athletes have two
• 11:58
  to three weeks away from campus. I do have some that will if they
• 12:02
  live in the area, I'm available to work with them.
• 12:06
  The other coaches are available to work with them.
• 12:08
  And so I have to be able to have you come back at that same 7080%
• 12:15
  shape that you left during the Christmas break for high school.
• 12:20
  I think they get 2 weeks off. So I think the same concept
• 12:23
  should be in place for high school where you want to get
• 12:26
  your athletes in shape in the fall so that when they come
• 12:30
  back, they're at 70 to 80% because you're going to start
• 12:33
  hitting them hard with speed. Everything now becomes more
• 12:38
  quality, not quantity when they get back.
• 12:41
  So their muscles have to be strong enough to handle the
• 12:44
  speed that they're going to be doing, the work that they're
• 12:47
  going to be doing, that they're going to place on their muscles
• 12:51
  so that there are no injuries. You want them to be balanced.
• 12:54
  What I love about the total body board, it is a piece of
• 12:59
  equipment that gets from your the tips of your toes to the
• 13:04
  tips of your fingernails in shape.
• 13:06
  It is it, it is designed to do exactly what the name says,
• 13:10
  total body board. If you're weak in the weight
• 13:13
  room, the total body board prepares you to get stronger in
• 13:17
  the weight room. I use it in conjunction with the
• 13:21
  weight room and there's several exercises that's done on the
• 13:25
  total body board specific to track and feel that will get you
• 13:28
  in the kind of shape to prepare you to be able to run fast.
• 13:33
  The second portion is the indoor season.
• 13:36
  I look at the indoor season as my precursor to the outdoor
• 13:41
  season. I train my athletes to be in top
• 13:44
  shape by conference, which is the second week of May.
• 13:48
  I utilize the indoor season for them to get fast.
• 13:52
  That 60 in the indoor season should translate into an
• 13:57
  incredible 100m through the outdoor season because we work
• 14:01
  on the first part of the race. The first part of the race is
• 14:06
  that 20, that 30, that 40, that fifty, that 60, it is broken
• 14:11
  down. So the first part we work on is
• 14:15
  that 20, well, driving out of the blocks first.
• 14:19
  But that 20 is for me the most important piece in developing a
• 14:24
  good 60m runner and a good 100m runner.
• 14:28
  Once I've gone through the full fall training and the athletes
• 14:33
  have returned from the break, they've had their workouts that
• 14:35
  they have to, to do over the break.
• 14:39
  I incorporate time trials. So I have several time trials
• 14:43
  throughout the, the, the year. When they come back from the
• 14:46
  break, the first thing that I do is a time trial so that I can
• 14:49
  see where their fitness level is.
• 14:51
  I can see, do I have to go back and do this or do that?
• 14:55
  Or are they ready now to move into the the heavy, heavy
• 14:59
  hitting of speed? Two things that I use during
• 15:04
  once the time trials is out of the way, I get on that run
• 15:09
  rocket and the speedfest. So the run rocket Fridays
• 15:16
  because we are not competing yet and Tuesdays I'll utilize the
• 15:24
  run rocket. The run rocket you want to do
• 15:28
  one set with what with resistance, one set without
• 15:33
  resistance coming out of the block.
• 15:36
  Keep in mind I've already done 3 point stands.
• 15:38
  We've gone through the process of, of, of navigating through
• 15:41
  setting the blocks, knowing where your blocks are.
• 15:44
  The blocks are pushed up against the run rocket.
• 15:46
  If you don't have a run rocket, it's the same utilizing A
• 15:49
  bungee. And so the first set is with
• 15:53
  resistance. The second set is without
• 15:55
  resistance. The reason why you go with
• 15:57
  resistance and without resistance is once you do the
• 16:01
  the the 25 meters, because you're going to drive for 25
• 16:04
  meters with resistance and you now walk it back.
• 16:08
  Your body is now ready to push as hard as if you have the
• 16:14
  resistance when you're without it.
• 16:16
  After you do that first set with the resistance, when you come up
• 16:23
  and set position and push off, your body forces you to have to
• 16:29
  catch yourself because your your body is acting as if there's a
• 16:33
  resistance behind me. So you stumble when you first
• 16:37
  come out of the blocks without the resistance.
• 16:41
  What that does is teaches you how to absorb the power that you
• 16:44
  have now developed from the resistance, push down quickly,
• 16:49
  and then get that other leg down as quickly as possible to catch
• 16:52
  yourself. So now you're working on your
• 16:54
  reaction, the force, the power, and the speed all in the same
• 17:00
  time. I would do four sets of those,
• 17:03
  one with resistance, 1 without, one with resistance, 1 without,
• 17:07
  one with resistance, 1 without, one with resistance, 1 without,
• 17:11
  one without. Four sets of the one run rocket,
• 17:14
  and by the third set you should see yourself catching yourself
• 17:19
  from falling. That means you have now.
• 17:22
  Your body has now learned how to accept and absorb the power and
• 17:27
  the force that you are generating.
• 17:29
  Now it's ready for more with the speed vest.
• 17:35
  The speed vest is similar to a weighted vest, but the speed
• 17:40
  vest fits you snug to your body, so there is no movement.
• 17:45
  The weight on the speed vest is heavy enough for you to notice,
• 17:51
  but light enough for you not to notice, and it does the same
• 17:55
  thing as the run rocket. The concept is the same, but now
• 17:59
  you're freestanding with the speedfest.
• 18:01
  There's several workouts that I would do in the fall with it
• 18:05
  that starts off with the 110. Mind you, my sprinters 100 and
• 18:09
  200 in the fall. They don't do anything over 200
• 18:16
  in each cycle, but I can trick my sprinters into doing a 500 by
• 18:23
  having them do ten 50s with 15 seconds rest in between where
• 18:28
  they're going to run. Because the mindset of a
• 18:30
  sprinter, they have brain farts once they get over 250 and now
• 18:34
  they slow the process down because they're trying to save.
• 18:36
  It's subconsciously. So if I give them 50s, they're
• 18:39
  going to run those 50s. Even in fatigue, they're going
• 18:42
  to push down and they're going to run those 50s.
• 18:44
  So with the speed fest, it's the same concept, but I go thirties,
• 18:48
  40s and 50s. And with the 30s, they have the
• 18:53
  vest on. You drive for 20, you accelerate
• 18:57
  for 10. With the vest on, you take the
• 19:01
  vest off, you drive for 20, you accelerate for 10.
• 19:06
  So you're learning how to come out of that 20 and take the
• 19:10
  power and speed that you've developed and accelerate with
• 19:12
  it, and you're stopping at a 30. I'll have a cone at the 20.
• 19:15
  I have a cone 10 meters down. For them to be able to know
• 19:19
  where they're accelerating to because they have to learn the
• 19:22
  difference between the driving and the acceleration and how
• 19:25
  that feels, they'll do four sets of the 30, driving, 20,
• 19:31
  accelerating 10. Then we go to three sets of 40s
• 19:36
  where you're driving for 10, accelerating for 15, and running
• 19:44
  for five. Vest on 1st set, vest off second
• 19:50
  set. You're driving for 20, you're
• 19:53
  accelerating for 15. Accelerating is working the arms
• 20:01
  pushing down, coming off of that drive that you got to help you
• 20:05
  accelerate. The five of running.
• 20:08
  You are now in that zone where you are on the speed that you
• 20:14
  have created and all you're doing now is running.
• 20:17
  It's robotic. You're using the arms your your
• 20:20
  legs are coming up up under you. Your forearm is good.
• 20:24
  You have that slight. Lean in in the hip slight and
• 20:31
  you're taking that acceleration into a run.
• 20:35
  The last part of that workout is 2 fifties.
• 20:40
  You're driving for 20, you're accelerating for 20, and you're
• 20:45
  running for 10. So you're driving, you're now
• 20:50
  accelerating, which means you're working, and now you've extended
• 20:56
  your run 10 more meters after each one you're leaning 'cause
• 21:00
  you have to get that body used to leaning at the line.
• 21:04
  So, so I will yell to my athletes, drive for that 20
• 21:08
  drive, drive, drive, drive, drive, drive, drive, drive,
• 21:10
  drive, Dr., accelerate. And you should be able to see
• 21:14
  them pushing down, coming off the ground quickly.
• 21:19
  You don't want to be in the air forever.
• 21:21
  You're trying to get distance in speed.
• 21:23
  You're not trying to get height in speed on the 40s drive,
• 21:29
  drive, drive, drive, drive, drive, drive, Dr. accelerate,
• 21:31
  accelerate, accelerate, run, run, run, run, run on the 50s,
• 21:36
  same thing. That's just one sample workout
• 21:42
  that's not on a Monday. That workout is done on a
• 21:50
  Friday. When we're in season, if we're
• 21:54
  competing on a Saturday, we travel on a Friday.
• 21:57
  That workout is done on a Tuesday.
• 22:01
  Thursday is a recovery day for travel on Friday.
• 22:05
  So when I'm in season, I have to adjust when I do that workout.
• 22:09
  They'll get it two days out the week when we're not traveling.
• 22:15
  That workout will definitely be done on a Friday.
• 22:18
  I may even incorporate it on a on a Saturday.
• 22:20
  That's for working on the 1st 20.
• 22:25
  So just samples of progression with a few athletes that came in
• 22:32
  and of course having to determine what's their best
• 22:34
  event. So back in 2010 I had an
• 22:37
  athlete, Teresia Moody. When she first started in 2010
• 22:41
  her best 60 was eight O 6. She did not compete 2011 she had
• 22:48
  major surgery on her knee so she was out 20/11/2012.
• 22:54
  Her best 60 was 769 in 2013 because I only had her for three
• 23:00
  years, she graduated on time. So I had her in 2013.
• 23:05
  Her sixty was 767. Mind you, she's a quarter mile.
• 23:10
  Her 200 when she started that season was a 2583 indoor.
• 23:16
  She ended with a 2547 by conference 2012 because she did
• 23:23
  not compete 2011. Her best 200 was 2477 indoor,
• 23:29
  2451 indoor, 2013 outdoor. Her best 200 starting off was a
• 23:38
  25 O 8. By the end of the 2010 season
• 23:42
  she was at 2449. Did not compete 20/11/2012.
• 23:48
  Her best outdoor 200 was 2448 and her best 2013 was 2419400
• 23:56
  indoor when she started off 5878 was her best indoor that season
• 24:01
  2010. She finished with the 5711 did
• 24:05
  not compete 2011. Her best indoor 4201255-O2.
• 24:11
  Her best indoor 4201350436 outdoor 400 Started off her
• 24:22
  first meet at 5926 by her last meet which was USA Juniors 5466.
• 24:31
  2011 did not compete. 2012 ended her season AT53912013 ended her
• 24:39
  season at 5333. So this is 1/4 mile A she's able
• 24:45
  to run a 76760 and she only ran 101 hundred meters.
• 24:51
  She wanted to run at a conference. 1188 didn't train
• 24:54
  for the 100. Her real workouts were geared
• 25:00
  towards that 400 because she immersed as a 400m runner.
• 25:05
  But because we worked on the first part of her race, she's
• 25:09
  still able to run a good 60 meters.
• 25:15
  Asia Harris came to me as a volleyball player, actually had
• 25:20
  not really been trained in track and field.
• 25:24
  She started with me in 2021, her best 60, and she only ran 1 of
• 25:30
  it because I I wasn't sure if I was going to have her compete
• 25:33
  her freshman year or not. Her body was just beating her up
• 25:36
  because of the workouts that she's gone through since.
• 25:38
  She'd never really trained for track and field but she had the
• 25:41
  ability so she only ran at conference in the 60s and she
• 25:44
  ran 786. That was in 2021.
• 25:48
  End of season 2022 she was at 768.
• 25:54
  End of season 2023 which is the I retired she was at 7:47. 200
• 26:03
  indoor. Her best indoor 200 was 2530 in
• 26:06
  2021-2022. 2450 was her best 200-2023.
• 26:14
  Her best 200 was 2418 hundred meter.
• 26:21
  She started off at 12:28 in 2021, the beginning of the
• 26:25
  season. She ended with a 12/14 by
• 26:28
  conference in May 2022, her sophomore year, 1177.
• 26:34
  So her hundred went from a 12/14 to an 1177 in one season.
• 26:39
  That and and I'll go over some of the things that that help
• 26:44
  with that. By her junior year she was at
• 26:46
  11:35 in the 100. The 200-2548 was her first race
• 26:54
  of 2020120469 is how she ended that season. 2022 she was at
• 27:01
  23982023 she was at 2326. I'll utilize those two because
• 27:11
  there's others, but the progression of them as athletes
• 27:17
  each year, one, they bought into the workouts, they believed in
• 27:23
  the workouts, they believed in the training and they saw the
• 27:27
  progression in the meats. When they went home over the
• 27:31
  break, they did not just do nothing.
• 27:35
  They worked out in the summer. They all athletes go home with
• 27:38
  summer workouts. They worked out in the summer to
• 27:42
  stay in shape. You want to come back from
• 27:45
  wherever you go and whatever you do where you left off at the end
• 27:53
  of that season or better. So I'm quite sure if Asia would
• 27:58
  have returned at 786 in 20/22, she may not have run at 768 in
• 28:08
  2022. So each year, once the season is
• 28:14
  over, you want to have your athletes do workouts that they
• 28:19
  can do on their own because they're going to probably do it
• 28:22
  about 70 to 80% of what you want.
• 28:26
  But at least they're maintaining their shape.
• 28:28
  And it always helps if they, you know, go to NCS, go to NCAA
• 28:32
  regionals. If their season is lengthened by
• 28:34
  them competing, then of course they're going to come back in
• 28:37
  better shape because that fall off is going to take longer.
• 28:40
  They're not going to fall off that well.
• 28:43
  I hope this short intro to the 20 helps.
• 28:49
  I can always develop and create well.
• 28:52
  It's the workouts are already developed, but go through
• 28:56
  workouts from the fall all the way through a full season in
• 29:01
  another presentation if necessary.
• 29:07
  Thank you for listening, have a great day.
• 29:10
  Hey gang, Mike Cunningham here. Thanks for joining us for this
• 29:13
  episode in the Youth and beginner series Powered by Coach
• 29:15
  O Powered by Coach O is more than a platform.
• 29:18
  It's a movement to benefit track and field by supporting coaches,
• 29:21
  athletes, parents, officials and event directors in countless
• 29:25
  ways. Find out more and get yourself
• 29:27
  plugged in to the Powered by Coach O by visiting coacho.com
• 29:31
  today.