1. PAGES 1-35 - Texas Track & Field Coaches Association

Peak velocity was noted for each athlete, each trial, and the
compilation of these peak velocities graphed. See Graphs 1 & 2 .
It is important to note that before the data of any trial was
used it was screened for any obvious error. The primary error,
albeit one that rarely occurred, happened during the pole carry
trials. The athlete would drop the pole and prematurely trip the
photo gate. That determination was made on observing the
trail itself and any obvious peak/drop in velocity on the data
sheet. Occasionally a passerby would accidentally bump a tripod
that the photo gate rested upon and trigger a false trip. All
of those trials were eliminated from the data set.
DISCUSSION
The cumulative average velocities, within each segment of
the trial runs, is displayed in Table 1 for both boys and girls
groups, with and without pole carry. Review of Table 1 (which
visually supported in Graph 1) shows that both groups accelerate
rapidly to 90% of their top speed whether carrying a pole or
not. The average of all groups showed an excess of 90% of top
speed within Segment 3. This third five meter segment measurement
accounted for the time taken to run between 13 and
18 meters, or for familiarity, between roughly 42’ and 59’. All
athletes (with the exception of one girl’s trial without carrying a
pole) were still accelerating at this point and, therefore, the
actual 90% of top speed mark likely occurred somewhere
between 50-55’. For the jumper, whether it be long, triple, or
pole vault, that would translate to roughly a 10 step approach
(e.g. 5 lefts). On average, it took the athletes three more segments,
15 meters (about 50’), to accelerate the remaining 10%
to top speed. That path did not necessarily follow a smooth
pattern either as evidenced by , for example, the girls’ runs with
the pole.
The length of run needed to bring these athletes to top speed
is presented in Table 2 and corresponding Graph 2. When running
without a pole, 67% of the boys and 78% of the girls were
at their top speed in this test by the 6th segment or likely somewhere
around 100’. While carrying a pole, 60% of the boys
showed their peak speed by the 6th segment whereas 88% of
the girls were their fastest by this point. This may have been
due to pole length and weight or the skill carrying a pole.
Everyone ran slower when they carried a pole (which only
makes sense) and within these two groups, on average, the
“cost to top speed” of carrying the pole was 4.6% and 5.7% for
girls and boys respectively. Notably, the girls ran faster carrying
AUGUST 2011 techniques 11