How long is the acceleration zone

The exchange is non-visual. The first athlete will use a sprint start and will have to modify the right-hand position to hold the baton securely. The athlete has the following options for holding the baton:. This is the start position for the 2nd and 4th leg runners. The 3rd leg runner will stand to the inside of the lane, use the left hand to support the body and watch for the incoming athlete under the right arm.

The receiving hand is extended behind them at hip height with the palm facing down and a wide angle between the thumb and the rest of the fingers. The incoming athlete passes the baton in an upward movement into the receiving hand. The advantage of this method is that this is a standard position for the receiving hand. A disadvantage is that it may require some manipulation of the baton in hand to make the next exchange safely.

The receiving hand is extended behind them at hip height with the palm facing up and a wide angle between the thumb and the rest of the fingers. The incoming athlete passes the baton in a downward movement into the receiving hand.

The advantage of this method is that it will require no manipulation of the baton to make the next baton exchange safely. A disadvantage is that it is not a natural position of the outgoing athlete's hand to receive the baton. The outgoing runner's arm is extended out behind them parallel to the ground, and the hand is open with the thumb pointing down.

The incoming runner holds the baton vertically and pushes it straight into the open hand. The advantage is the incoming runner can easily adjust the baton's position up, down or sideways and can observe the outgoing runner's hand take hold of the baton. It will require no manipulation of the baton by the outgoing runner to make the next baton exchange safely. A disadvantage is that it is not a natural position of the outgoing athlete's arm and hand to receive the baton.

This is perhaps the safest method of baton exchange. The performance in the relay event primarily depends upon the perfection of the baton exchange and the sprinting ability of the team. For the selection of athletes for the different relay legs, it is sensible to find out their capacities for a particular section the second and third runner cover longer distances.

It also is advisable to establish each athlete's full potential for running sections on the straight and around the bend. These individuals' abilities must be considered in deciding the running order of a relay team, considering the following:. If there are noticeable differentials in the speeds of the runners, it can be a good idea on the first leg to exchange 5 metres into the zone and then on the second leg to exchange 5 metres from the end of the zone and then on the third leg 5 metres from the beginning of the zone.

This way your first leg runner goes 95 metres with the baton and hands off to your second fastest runner with a flying start. The athlete on the second leg then runs metres carrying the higher speed. First and foremost, the coach should emphasize correct posture for optimal sprint technique.

As any sprint workout begins, the shoulders should nearly be perpendicular to the ground. If the shoulders are significantly pressed forward, negative sprint mechanics will result.

Casting the shin from the knee occurs, resulting in a breaking effect as the foot strikes the ground. Also, the sprinter's stride will not continue to reach an optimal stride length if they are pressing forward with the shoulders.

Usain Bolt on YouTube made an interesting comment about shoulder position in the video, www. He says, "Lift your posture, run tall and pick your knees up, and hold your shoulders down.

Hold your shoulders down! He is no longer talking about the drive phase because he says, "run tall". Yet, "hold your shoulders down"! Later he reminds the sprinter to, "keep your body forward". If while sprinting ,one does not keep the body forward, a foot stride too far in front of the center of mass may result. This forward lean does not mean bowing. The power line, hips over the support foot, and shoulders over the hips , is still to be maintained.

This degree of forward lean will be only slightly different for each sprinter. The posture must always be in the mind of the athlete. Good posture, therefore, allows the power line to produce the required power angle of force. The direction of the force must be vertical. Another important component that is related to the posture is leg stiffness. Leg stiffness is the ability to resist the force of gravity as each foot strikes the ground.

Leg stiffness was found by Dr. Peter Weyand to be an Important determinant of efficient sprint speed. Weyand , JAP The body is not overcome by gravity with each step. If the body sinks, it takes longer to come off the ground in the stance phase, resulting in slow ground contact times, GCT , thereby slower maximum velocity.

The sprint coach can next teach the biomechanics of the sprint cycle and how these biomechanics effect maximum velocity. These mechanics involve skills that can be rehearsed and learned in a transition zone. In the sprint cycle, the proper positioning of the legs, and how vertical force is produced, becomes the priority. The coach must teach their sprinters to have a feeling, a developed kinesthetic sense, of the proper positioning of the legs. This kinesthetic sense is related to the timing and rhythm of the repositioning of the legs.

The coach moves the sprinter on from posture, to the mechanics involved in leg positioning. Sprinters start an acceleration and move into transition using a cue that I have found helpful in addressing the leg positioning.

It is to use Charlie Francis', "whip from the hip". This cue describes the powerful force by which the knee is driven forward and up. This acceleration of the swing leg moves the focus from the horizontal force in the drive phase, to a skill that will make it mechanically possible to achieve maximum velocity, vmax , because it is during this transition phase that the greater power is applied because of velocity.

Therefore, the focus changes to the velocity of the swing leg with the end being a different mechanical outcome from the horizontal force above. It is different in that the focus changes from trying to getting the foot under the hip during the drive phase, to the positioning of the swing leg in the transition phase. The leg must be out in front at the right time. If it is, then the leg is in a position and able to deliver optimal ground reaction forces, GRF from the vertical strike.

The swing leg position has the foot at its highest point as the knee blocks. A second cue in the timing of this knee block is called, "strike from the top". The foot is accelerated to the ground with a pop. A reminder of stride rate principles include understanding that frequency results from time in the air, flight time, FT , and GCT. The less time is spent on the ground, the faster the SR can be. So, both a progressive increase in SR and a powerful pop on the ground characterize the effort.

How does an acceleration of the swing leg lead to greater GRF? In referencing physics again, we know that "for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If the swing leg is positioned appropriately, then the strike on the ground will produce the kind of GRF that reduces GCT. The resultant rebound effect from this strike will pop the foot back up under the hip in a coordinated time relative to the swing leg, another equal and opposite principle.

This "pop, pop, pop" is executed properly when there's great posture, and a "hard Z" Vince Anderson's descriptive picture of Seagraves knee up, toe up, heel up , allowing force to be vertically applied.

Weyland's study Weyand , JAP has shown another principle related to the idea of accelerating the swing leg forward. Weyand states, "We conclude that human runners reach faster top speeds not by repositioning their limbs more rapidly in the air, but by applying greater support forces to the ground. Weyand tells coaches to focus on the strike. This is a sprint paradox in that one cannot apply the force Dr. Weyand references unless the swing leg is positioned to strike.

The heel does rebound under the hip, but the leg is not initially in the Anderson "Z". Accomplished sprinters can naturally reposition the leg to deliver a strike, but there are many coaches who have developing sprinters who need cues to help communicate principles that need to be adopted. Would focusing on the strike alone reposition the swing leg? It would create a stretch reflex in the hip flexors pulling the leg up, but would it drive it out?

There must have been some reason that Charlie Francis came up with "whip from the hip" and that Vince Anderson pictured the "hard Z". The following drills are resourcing for coaches. If working the transition zone is new to coaches, the drills will be a good for one's toolbox. There will be a run-in to a transition zone for many of these drills. This run-in simulates the drive zone. Each run-in has two purposes. Use an extended warm-up on transition days. A hurdle plyometric activity is called for to start the session.

As the sprinter springs over the hurdles, have them feel what their heels are doing while passing over the hurdle. Encourage, as part of the pop-off, to pull the heel under the hip. This anticipatory mindset prepares the sprinter for the mechanics used in the following exercises. As the sprinter enters the transition zone, the stride rate SR , should builds through a 25m to 30m practice zone.

There is still maximum force applied to the ground. It is just that the rate by which the force is applied is distributed throughout the zone. This first drill explains that. This rehearses the postponing of vmax. When vmax is reached prematurely, it requires running with full speed longer than is physiologically appropriate. During the competitive season, this modeling drill and the transition zone may be 45m to 50m long.

This would be only 3 to 4 steps per interval, so the change in leg velocity happens fast. Technically, the two-point stances are the slowest of all the stances shown in Image 5 nobody running a yard dash starts in a two-point stance. Never teach stance C. I only include it in this post to point out the foolishness of having athletes in this stance. First of all, look at the position of the feet in C1 in relation to all the others in Image 5. To sprint, the athlete first has to shift his feet in the correct direction.

This problem is either negligible or non-existent in all the other stances. Three-point stances like D, E, and F give the outgoing runner more ability to accelerate but limit their vision. For very elite high school teams, college teams, and professional teams, these stances or their variations can be very beneficial.

The runners can sacrifice the reduced vision for the increased acceleration. The majority of high school teams, however, are better served using a two-point stance shown in A and B.

Regardless of the stance you choose, a great piece of advice for the athletes is to make firm contact to the track with both feet as they get into their stance. Some athletes are jittery and will bounce around a bit, others are more timid and will only have soft contact with the track as the incoming runner approaches.

The ground contact needs to be firm , just as if the athlete was putting pressure on the starting blocks. Firm contact will not only allow the athlete to be faster out of the stance but also will increase consistency. Since the timing of the 4xm relay handoffs is critical, the use of a go mark is essential. The mark offers a visual cue for the outgoing runner to start his acceleration. When using the bang step, the outgoing runner aims to land his first step on the ground at the same time the incoming runner reaches the go mark.

Certain tracks and competitions have rules for what is allowed, so be sure you know going into a meet what marks are available. Most high school meets allow tennis balls or chalk marks, while most college meets allow tape.

The Olympics allows one piece of tape. Image 6. Photo A has one tennis ball, B shows a handoff zone with two tennis balls, and C has the zone marked with two pieces of tape. One decision you have to make is whether to use one mark or two. When using two marks, the athletes look at a zone versus a single mark.

Generally, this zone is between steps long. When using a zone, the outgoing runner goes when the incoming runner steps in the zone. As you can see in Image 6, the zone is significantly easier to see when using tape than when using tennis balls.

As a coach, I have my athletes use one mark because that gives the outgoing athlete only one object to focus on instead of two. If you choose to use tennis balls for your go marks, keep plenty on hand at all times. Cut them in half, draw your team logo on them with a marker, and keep at least two dozen on hand at practice. Give one to the athletes who consistently need them at meets, and keep plenty in your coaching bag for meets.

An athlete scampering around before a race trying to find a tennis ball is not in the state of mind you want heading into a very technical event. Since 4xm handoffs are blind, the outgoing runner needs to know when to throw their hand back to receive the baton. Some coaches like verbal commands, while others prefer silent exchanges. Both options have their positives and negatives.

For a verbal command, the incoming runner will yell out Stick! Your athletes can yell out whatever they want, but Stick! The timing of this command is critical, as many beginners yell too late when a little anticipation is needed.

The meter exchange zone made silent exchanges rather easy to execute. The outgoing runner would throw their hand back as soon as they entered the exchange zone.

This eliminated the need for them to say anything at all and virtually guaranteed a team would not get disqualified for handing off too early. Now that the entire meter zone will be one big exchange zone, coaches who use silent exchanges will have to vary their strategy. Until the tracks are repainted, the old zone marks will remain, but the need to throw the hand back at that mark has been eliminated. Coaches who use silent exchanges will now have to find a reason behind the timing of their outgoing athlete throwing their hand back.

Several coaches I talked to who use silent exchanges gave a few possible adjustments they will make to the new zones. There are positives and negatives to both the verbal and silent exchanges. What type of command is best for your team? I choose to teach the verbal command because the main complaint against the verbal command—that your teammate will not hear the command—has never happened to my athletes. On an exchange late in the zone, athletes using the silent exchange run with their arm thrown back for about 15 meters.

The same athletes using a verbal command use both arms to accelerate in the 15 meters. Adjustments could be made for the outgoing athlete to throw their hand back later in the zone, but what happens if the incoming runner is ready to hand off earlier? If the outgoing runner went out way too early, or the outgoing runner is almost at the end of the zone, the incoming runner should yell, Stop!

Some coaches teach their outgoing runners to peek over their shoulder if they hear the command to slow or stop so they can gauge where their teammate is and execute a better exchange. While this certainly helps in many situations, one main problem is that athletes who peek over their shoulder almost certainly move their target hand.

Again, you should practice this. You can have the fastest athletes who follow lane discipline and take off at the right time, but that could be all for naught without proper hand placement. Regardless of which hand placement you pick, the main priority is to keep a steady target. Image 7 shows a variety of different hand placements. Image 7. The photos show five blind hand positions: the stop sign A , flat hand B , underhand C , stop sign to the side D , and stop sign with lean E.

The stop sign method A is the most desirable because of the large target it presents. Many athletes with lower joint flexibility may need to flex their elbow more than the athlete in Image 7.

Variations of the stop sign include D and E. In , the second leg on our 4xm relay was about five inches taller than our third leg, who was also hampered by poor shoulder flexibility. By using position E, our third leg gave a better, higher target, which allowed for significantly better handoffs.

We qualified for the State Championships by 0. Position B shows a flat hand, which feels more natural to most athletes than the stop sign. Image 8. This is a great example of a stop sign and candlestick baton pass.

The outgoing runner, Brandon Stryganek, gives a high, steady target using the stop sign Image 6, Position A while the incoming runner, Austin McIlvaine, uses the candlestick to push the baton into his hand the first technique in Video 4.

This handoff is a continuation of the action seen in Image 1. Image 7, position C shows underhand or upsweep passing. The benefit is that it most closely mimics proper sprint form. There are two negatives to this handoff style, however. First, the handoff is given lower, so you lose a few feet of space on each handoff because the athletes have to be closer to each other to make a proper exchange.

Even if you only lose a total of one meter during the three handoffs, it probably equates to a tenth of a second or more. While this may seem—and should be—incredibly simple, a great many botched handoffs occur exactly at this point.

Video 3. Carly Fehler and Brad Fortney demonstrate four reach techniques for the sprint relays, including the push, flat, above, and swing techniques. With very few exceptions, athletes should use the push technique also called candlestick. In no instances should any athlete use the above or swing techniques. Many inexperienced athletes begin their reach before giving the Stick! Athletes should yell Stick! To eliminate these issues, the incoming runner should not begin the reach until the outgoing runner has already thrown their hand.

Only when athletes become very familiar with one another should the incoming runner begin the reach before the outgoing runner throws their hand. Another important note is that the incoming runner needs to keep running at top speed until they have handed off the baton.

The art of the 4xm relay comes into play when picking your lineup. While there are some general guidelines behind lineup orders, the ultimate decision rests with the relay coach. A standard guideline is to put your best starter on lead-off, a left-handed athlete on second leg, a great curve runner on third leg, and your fastest athlete on anchor leg. You can find a more detailed article on using time trials to select relay legs here.

Well, you can make the second leg the longest leg if you want, but you can also make it the shortest leg. Due to the meter exchange zones, you can manipulate the exchanges to have any leg be the longest or shortest leg, though there is more flexibility with the two middle legs.

With very few exceptions, however, each athlete will end up running between meters.