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One Less Race for Usain Bolt and Elite 100 Meters Sprinters

Posted: 16 Feb 2011 01:30 AM PST

I have to agree with the IAAF decision to cut back the 100 meter rounds for the 2012 London Summer Olympics.

The Daily Mail published the article Spectators will see less of Usain Bolt with controversial bye introduced for 100m in London. The 4×100m and 4×400m Relays are already tough to qualify with only a 2 round, 3 race semi final format, but that's another story.

In my opinion, 3 rounds instead of 4 is really targeting the "tourist athletes".

Honestly, who's going to show up for the Day 1 morning events to watch these races? Other than to watch Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell, Tyson Gay and others?

In the Men's 100 meters at the 2009 Berlin World Championships, there were 20 performances slower than 11 seconds with nine personal bests ranging from 11.00 to 12.29 seconds. (No offence, but a 12.29 doesn't get you to the next round in the WOMEN'S section)

The new format will have the "Classification Round" or "Preliminary Round" at 10am, followed by Round One (or quarter finals) at 12:30pm. In the past, the First Round and Quarter Final races were separated by 7 hours, enough to go back to the Athletes Village for a nap. The Semi-Final and Final are 60 minutes apart, which I like as the sprinters are already warmed up and your CNS is firing on all cylinders.

My guess is the Top 72 ranked athletes will get a "bye" from the "Preliminary Round" or "Classification Round", and the other 20-30 athletes will fight (and qualify) for the final 8 spots in about 5 or 6 heats, making an 80 person "Quarter-Final" or "First Round" of 10 heats. (This is similar to the NCAA basketball tournament where two unknown conference winners play for the final 64th spot and get ranked 16 in the brackets. No 16th ranked team has beaten a number 1 seeded team).

But in the past, these "extra" athletes required a 4th round of races. Why?

81 is the Magic Number

Here are the rules.

For 8 lane events (on a 9 lane track) in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 100mH, 110mH, and 400mH, the magic number is 25 and 81 declared entries.

Up to 80 athletes requires 3 rounds, with a 24 person Semi-Final, and 8 person Final.

Over 81 athletes requires 4 rounds, with a 40 person Quarter-Final, a 16 person Semi-Final, and 8 person Final.

For example,

24 entries = 2 rounds with 3 heats of 8 runners, with the "2P2T" rule (top 2 Places and fastest 2 Times on non-automatic qualifiers) This is the same method for the 16 team 4×100m relay qualification.
25 or more = 3 rounds of 4 heats or 3P4T. Advancing to the Semi-Finals are 16 athletes.
80 entries = 3 rounds of 10 heats or 2P4T. Advancing to the "3 heat" Semi-Final consists of 24 athletes.
81 or more = 4 rounds of 11 heats (or more) or 3P7T. Advancing to the "5 heat" Quarter-Finals consists of 40 athletes.

So in big meets, including the WMA where I compete, 81 is the magic number for 4 rounds.

adidas Brings Personal Coaching to Google’s Android Mobile

Posted: 16 Feb 2011 01:00 AM PST

adidas brings personal coaching to Android at the Mobile World Congress

The adidas miCoach app for Android is being presented at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week in conjunction with Google. The new miCoach app for Android provides a whole new group of smart phone users with the chance to use this free personal and real-time audible training system to become fitter and faster in 2011.

The miCoach app for Android will be free to download from Android Market in late April. Launched in August 2010 for the iPhone and BlackBerry, the miCoach app has had one million downloads so far and was named the Stuff magazine mobile app of the year 2010.

The miCoach app turns an Android phone into a personal coach: pace triggered voice coaching, personalized and sports-specific training plans, workout calendar, and workout feedback are some of the features.

The sports-specific training plans are designed to coach sports and fitness enthusiasts, amateurs and professionals alike. Six specific conditioning programs for basketball, football, running, soccer, and tennis as well as an additional program for staying fit are available on the miCoach app. It uses GPS for active real-time pace-based coaching and location tracking

The miCoach app syncs automatically with the intelligent website www.micoach.com where the training plans are tailored to the users' personal fitness level and goals allowing them to monitor manage and analyze progress over time.

adidas has worked with some of the world’s finest coaches, athletes and teams when developing the miCoach app and the sports-specific training plans including renowned athletic trainer Mark Verstegen, founder and director of the Athletes' Performance Institute (API) training and sport research center. In addition, adidas worked closely with the World Cup Champion Spanish National Soccer Team, FC Bayern Munich, AC Milan as well as athletes like Reggie Bush and Jessica Ennis.

adidas miCoach app highlights:

All-in-one device: your music, coach, workout calendar, and phone
Offers real-time, GPS-triggered voice coaching to color keyed pace zones based on a personal assessment workout
Offers sports-specific workout plans
Fully customizable so athletes of all levels can create personalised conditioning programs to meet fitness level and goals
Instant workout feedback with graphs and maps to review and share
Monitors, manages and analyses progress over time
Syncs wirelessly with micoach.com so all data is safely stored online
Updates continuously with coaching content tailored to your training needs
Shoe tracking and alerts to keep you at your best and avoid injury
Indoor coaching only mode for use in the gym
Available in multiple languages

adidas miCoach.com – intelligent website that is central to the miCoach personal coaching service. miCoach users can select goal-based training plans for various sports. The website allows tracking progress over time, comparing individual statistics and workouts over time as well as sharing results via the online community.

About adidas

adidas is a global designer, developer and marketer of athletic footwear, apparel and accessories with the mission to be the leading sports brand in the world. Brand adidas is part of the adidas Group, a corporation that includes brands such as Reebok, TaylorMade and Rockport.

It is the fashion,it is the world

Wednesday, 16 February 2011