Alright, let’s talk about the cmc 40 yard dash. I decided to give this a shot a while back, just to see where I was at. No fancy equipment, just me, a marked-off distance, and a stopwatch app on my phone.
First things first, I needed to find a good spot. Ended up using a section of a local park’s open field. Measured out 40 yards as precisely as I could, using a measuring tape I borrowed from my neighbor. Marked the start and finish lines with some bright orange cones I had lying around. Gotta make sure it’s clear, right?
Warm-up is key! Don’t wanna pull a hamstring before I even start. I did some basic stretches – hamstring stretches, quad stretches, calf stretches, the whole shebang. Then, I did some light jogging and high knees for about 5 minutes to get the blood flowing. Felt good, ready to go.
My first attempt was… not great. I kinda just stood there and took off. My start was slow, and I felt like I was shuffling more than sprinting. Clocked in around 5.8 seconds. Definitely room for improvement.
I realized my start was garbage. So, I watched a few YouTube videos on sprinting starts. Saw some tips about getting low, pushing off with your legs, and keeping your arms pumping. Tried to mimic that.
Second attempt, focused on a better start. Got into a crouch position, one leg forward, weight balanced. Tried to explode off the line. Felt much better! My time dropped to about 5.4 seconds. Progress!
But I still felt like I was losing steam towards the end. I remembered something about acceleration and maintaining speed. I focused on driving my knees higher and pushing off the ground harder throughout the entire sprint.
Did a few more tries. Each time, I focused on a specific aspect: the start, the acceleration, maintaining speed. I also took short breaks between each sprint to catch my breath and reset. It’s tiring stuff, you know?
After about an hour of this, I managed to shave off a bit more time. My best run was around 5.1 seconds. Not exactly CMC speed, but I was pretty happy with the improvement.
- Things I learned:
- Warm-up is super important.
- Proper starting technique makes a huge difference.
- Maintaining speed is harder than it looks.
- And most importantly, I’m not as young as I used to be!
What’s Next?
Gonna keep working on my speed. Thinking about adding some plyometrics to my routine to improve my explosiveness. Also, maybe I’ll actually invest in some real sprinting shoes. We’ll see!
