A Guide To Athletics Training

So you want to get into athletics and start running on the track and possibly join an athletics team. So if you're coming from a different sport, either football or rugby or swimming or any other sport, you have a level of fitness. And you've got to remember that running on the track is different than your team sport.

So, it's an individual sport. So, what counts is the time. It doesn't matter how good you are in a team sport, in athletics, you've got to reach a certain time and you've got to be faster than anybody else.

So what discipline do you want to do? You may be fast, but you may not be quite fast enough for the hundred and two hundred or four hundred. So my advice would be: try them all. Try a mid 100, try the middle distances 800, 1500 and see which one you like and which one you're best suited to.

So if we look at middle distance runners, they're running in excess of about nine, ten miles an hour. So, they will have almost a sprint in action. So, their arms will be pumping so they will be moving back and coming forward to propel the body forward.

And their legs will be cycling and landing underneath their center of gravity. And their feet, they will either be landing heel-toe and flat or on the balls of their feet. So if you look at this runner, his arms are moving backwards and forwards, his posture is upright so he's not leaning forward and his heel is coming up almost to his backside.

Now, if we look at this sprinter who is running, his characteristics are slightly different, so all of the movements are exaggerated. So, the arms are really pumping hard to get the legs to work faster, the foot is landing underneath the center of gravity so we're not over-striding and we're not breaking and therefore losing speed. The body is upright.

He's holding his breath because he's only going to be running between ten and twenty-five seconds. Most of the training on the athletic track is done through drills - through a series of drills which is to stimulate strength, power and the nervous system. So be prepared - the tiredness will be different to what you get in a team sport.

Also, the shoes that you wear - athletics tracks are quite hard because they're designed to be fast, so you will need to get spikes. But don't start with spikes straight away. Work with your trainers, let your muscles get adjusted to it.

So, remember, try a variety of different athletics disciplines to find the one that you like and that you think you will be good at, remember about the footwear and remember about the different types of training. .