CACA Newsletter Issue 2

Next Meeting of CACA

The next meeting of CACA will be at 7pm on Wednesday, MAY 24 2006 at Sheepmount Stadium, Carlisle.

The theme of the meeting will be: “How do we release our coaches to actually get down to coaching?”

Further meetings will provisionally be at:

Wednesday, June 15 Copeland Stadium, Whitehaven 7pm

Wednesday, July 19 Penrith (tbc) 7pm

Wednesday, September 20 Kendal/Barrow (tbc) 7pm

Please let me know, either by e-mail, fax or post if you will be attending on 24th May.

CACA Two Day Coaching Conference

Date : October 14 &15 2006

Venue: Sheepmount Stadium, Carlisle

Theme: Good Coaching Practice: General and Event Specific

Programme: The conference will include general lectures on good coaching practice as well as specifically dealing with the disciplines of sprinting/hurdling, endurance, jumping and throwing, coaching psychology and nutrition.

Staff: Invitations will go out to some of Britain’s most experienced coaches who will be with us for the two days so it will be your chance to rub shoulders (and pump for information!) with the best.

Further details including course fee, accommodation etc. in due course.

Other provisional dates and venues:

Courses for Coaches 2006-2007

November Strength Training Penrith

December Sprints/Hurdles Carlisle

January Core Stability Kendal

February Endurance Whitehaven

County Championships, Carlisle, May 13th

If you are going to be at the Cumbria County Championships at Sheepmount, Carlisle on May 13 and we haven’t met as yet please make contact and let me know what you think of CACA and let me know what we can do to assist your coaching.

Absent Friends

We urgently need more qualified coaches and the quickest way to get them is to woo those who are qualified but are currently inactive back into the sport. If you know of such coaches use your persuasive powers and get them to contact me.

Extract : High Performance Sprinting by Mike Smith

The Training Year

The Peak Competition Season

June through to September, this is what the workload has been all about, competition rising to a peak at the major events. The key to the training programme at this stage is quality rather than quantity with speed the all-important consideration. This means a comparatively light regime, with good recovery spells, concentrating all the time on the feel good factor. If the year’s training has gone well, this is the time to move to peak performance at the major events. It can be difficult to fit in the quality work required if every race is regarded as vital, and so it becomes necessary to be ruthless in the sense that some events have to be treated as build-up runs in the overall pattern. This is not to say that races should be avoided, rather it is a case of not taking every competition with the same degree of intensity and this is where good pre-season planning is important.

Now of the problems to be faced is how to maintain a good level of performance between the major events. An example here is the need to do well in the national championships in order to qualify for a place in the team for one of the major international championships that may take place a month later (or, say, between the last League meeting and the Scottish championships- Ed). One answer is to take a short, non-competitive break after the national event, when there can be a topping up process with a return to some pre-season sessions such as hill and grass running. The intensity does not have to be at the same level of those sessions of earlier in the year but the change in emphasis can be as good as a rest. Then it is possible to get back to the fine-tuning needed for success at the next big event.

It is also a mistake to completely abandon the principles of winter work in the strength area with circuit and/or weights sessions still needing to be fitted in at a maintenance level. Without this it is all too easy to lose the benefits of the winter strength gains.



100 & 200 metres

The Competitive Season

The principle part of the competitive season will normally run from late May until September. Training sessions will be based on quality with comparatively few runs, long recovery periods and fast times. The feel-good factor is an essential part of the process. Weights and circuits should be continued but on a maintenance basis rather than long tiring sessions. Many of the early season sessions will still hold good but possibly with extended recovery times.

Track Sessions

  1. 150m x 120m x 100m x 120m x 150m – with the emphasis placed on fast runs and a full recovery.
  2. 3 x 80m and then 3 x 110m – fast, concentrating on rhythm and relaxation. Recovery as required to be able to maintain a fast pace.
  3. 3 x 150m runs in lanes, at race pace with a full recovery.
  4. 2 x 200m with 12 minutes between runs then approximately 15 minutes recovery before 2 x 120m with 10 minutes between runs.
  5. 2 x 60 m, 2 x 150m, 2 x 60m with 10 minutes between the pairs and an unhurried recovery between the runs.
  6. Starts as in the early season must be included.
  7. ‘Increasers’: 4 x 20m, 3 x 30m, 2 x 40m, 1 x 50m all with an unhurried recovery.
  8. ‘Inverse pyramid’: 1 x 60m, 1 x 50m, 1 x 40m, 1 x 50m, 1 x 60m, all with an unhurried recovery.
  9. Although not a full session, 3-4 timed, first-foot runs over 40m can be used as a speed exercise. First foot, for the uninitiated, simply means timing from the first movement of the foot.
  • The times expected for each run in track sessions can be agreed according to ability and fitness. The same principle applies to
  • recovery times. It should never be assumed that all athletes fit into the same mould.
  • Sessions on the track should always include a full warm up and warm down.
  • Skills work should be an integral part of the sessions.
  • At the height of the competitive season, after a heavy spell of racing, it can be a good thing to step back a stage for as few days and return to relaxed grass or hill sessions. In a sense this is a pit stop for refuelling. Remember that in competitive terms no one can continually turn in peak performances.
  • Mike McFarlane, one of the top sprint coaches in the UK, himself a Commonwealth champion and Olympic medallist, stresses the simple point that coaches and athletes need to be creative, in that they should be prepared to modify and change sessions if that is required to make progress – no programme is laid down in tablets of stone.
  • McFarlane also makes the point that after an important race there can be a mental and physical fall off. With that in mind he feels it is a good thing to find a low-key competition to race in as soon as possible to bring life back to normal.

High Performance Sprinting by Mike Smith is published by The Crowood Press, priced £12.99. Go to their website, www.crowoodpress.co.uk and the site price is £10.39. Go to www.amazon.co.uk and the price is £8.57. All exclusive of p & p.

Highly recommended.