Run Up Speed

[OzJav]

Hello fellow Javeliners,

Firstly I have been searching sites to provide me some latest and useful information for my own personal training. In Australia, we have a few good throwers however access to coaches on site has always been a challenge. Hence having access to such resources online can be very beneficial. So well done to whoever created this site as it is really rich with information especially for off season work (as it is winter now).

My question stems on the issue of how speed plays a factor in the Javelin. A lot of what you have mentioned in your forum focus on power, strength, flexibility and fitness but little (unless I have missed it) how speed plays an important role.

Therefore Im wondering whether there has been any research into how fast the thorwers are coming into their run up especially during the last fixe strides. On TV or watching vidoes it is hard to dtermine the speed of these throwers prior to planting. Most run ups have a certain length in which us throwers have to work with but I feel there is about 15-20m of actual 'track' that is to be capitalised and hence would assume that speed should play a certain factor here.

For eg: is the speed any different to a 60m, 70m or 80 thrower. If so by how much?

Look forward to your reply

Regards OzJav

[beepee]

Hi Ozjav and welcome to the forum. Firstly if you go to :- javuk.150m.com address and go to the "technique" section you will find a Bio mechanical article that covers all aspects of the javelin throw including run up speeds of various throwers that you requested, this is an in depth study and needs some digesting but is worth the read and will provide the answers that you are looking for. Speed of release in the javelin throw isTHE most important factor in the throw but speed on the runway is a seperate issue and I would use the term "rhythm" rather than speed but saying that then obviously the greater the speed on the runway the better it is as long as it is under control and this is the key. Throwers such as Raty had very little momentum in their run up but managed to throw huge distances so do not get hung up on this aspect of the throw as being essential., as said before what is essential is a co ordinated rhythm to get you into the required throwing position as quickly as possible without loss of forward momentum. Find this and you will have found an important part of the puzzle.