Back in April of last year, I wrote a post on Deadlifting for Faster Running. A reader commented and asked:
10 months on, how have you progressed?
It has been an interesting 10 months for sure! After the LA Marathon 2011, I found time to concentrate on weightlifting and to try out ASRspeed.com which has worked pretty well. I had to back off ASRspeed and lifting when I managed to get into the NYC Marathon 2011. I raced that and then got back onto ASRspeed and strength development.
I started with a measly deadlift max of 175 lbs and now I’m at 215 lbs. My goal is 2x my body weight which makes my goal 290 lbs for 2 reps. In reading a lot of strength books like Easy Strength by Pavel and Dan John, I have found that if you can deadlift 2x your body weight, then you’re a decent athlete. OK so now I have a goal. Still, I wasn’t a very strong kid and never had any real strength training – only bodybuilding which didn’t do diddly for my ability to generate power for things like running.
In other strength metrics, I regularly practice jumping up to an 18″ plyo bench. Still not too impressive, but for a skinny guy like me it’s pretty good.
The real measure of success was my running. I used the 200m distance as a measure of sprinting speed.
When I started running 200m for time, I did it in 45 seconds.
I then altered my running form which was to adjust my body lean to get my center of gravity forward of my legs. This magically dropped my speed to 39-40 seconds in one session.
Subsequent strength work and using the ASRspeed protocol then slashed my 200m time to 34-36 seconds where it stands now – and that’s even after running 800s in between the 200s in a structured workout.
I am gratified that Barry Ross’s theories have proven true for myself. In the past, I have dabbled in weightlifting for triathlon but was going about it all wrong.
I hope to see even more improvement in speed as I approach my goal of 2x my body weight in the deadlift.