We have had a very interesting few weeks here at our Centre! The Running School is really busy with youngsters and adults wanting to learn how to run faster and more efficiently. It’s great being an elite level coach and working with professional athletes, but when you are teaching kids the personal satisfaction is immense, they learn so quickly that they make you look good!
People often ask me how we switch from working with an elite or professional athlete in one session to working with 8 or 9 year olds after they have had a tiring day at school, in the next session. You will be surprised at how similar the process of teaching a new technique is.
Take this week for example where we have been doing sessions with two of the UK’s fastest sprinters – Christine Ohuruogu and Simeon Williamson. The focus was on getting their running mechanics to be more efficient at high speeds.
So what we do is analyse the biomechanics – the way they run and how the feet and the arms interact - we then breakdown the movements into smaller segments and practice the correct movements, to enable the nervous system to learn the correct pattern. Then we practice it at high speeds in excess of 20 mph.
We use the same process to teach someone how to run, who hasn’t been coached before. Except for one thing - we don’t work at high speeds! We work within the limit of the individual. But everything else is the same and the accelerated learning techniques that we use mean we see results very quickly.
The contrast in terms of age and ability was very noticeable this week with 8 different sprinters, professional footballers coming in for speed sessions, alongside youngsters who want to learn how to run fast and people doing their rehabilitation after injury. The positive energy that gets generated is what gives all of us a buzz!
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