We all know where we were and what we were doing when Usain Bolt once again smashed the 100m men’s world record. I was in London, probably raiding the kitchen in an attempt to find out where my little brother hides his bourbon biscuits (they are 40p a pack, no need for the greed). But the event got me thinking, at time of writing, I am the fastest person I know – and that is only in part to not knowing many people. Yet it makes me the fastest person in my world, which is hardly an achievement for my CV but it’s got me excited, can a 21 year old suddenly decide to take on the world and have a chance of succeeding?

The peak age for the 100m is apparently 28, which gives me a good 7 years to collect my excuses should I fail. Athletics also seems to have the lowest barriers to entry of any field – after all, there is no interview, no portfolio to demonstrate, no previous work experience required. If you can show Mr ‘UK Athletics Official Body’ that you can go the distance in a shorter time than any other UK resident – surely they’ll give you a water bottle, pocket money for your expenses and do there best to squeeze what they can out of you till the event comes?

So what proof do I have of being fast? What is my current best time? I have been recorded, yet without a stop watch, my little brother seems confident that I have managed 9.3 seconds, he counted while tapping his foot for consistency, and if I can’t trust him, then who do I have in this world? I haven’t missed the bus in years – and when I did, I continued to run a good mile down the road to look as if it was my intention to run it.

Training for the 100m

Thankfully the training involved for becoming the worlds fastest man is inline with my other fitness goals – my ideal physique would be exactly that of a 100m runner and my goal of being able to do the splits will only result in less chance of injury and the chance for an extravagant celebration once I do get gold in 2012.

The goal of any 100m training programme is to reach your top speed as soon as possible and maintain it for the full distance. Other factors include the amount of strides you take and the length of each stride – the former you have little control over, but the latter can be worked on and the trick is to find the optimum length. Too short and you are not making the most of each stride, too long and it’ll limit your speed.

So I’m going to incorporate 100m training into my exercise schedule and see where it takes me. Do I expect to become the worlds greatest? No. But then, as my father says: “If you reach for the stars, at least if you miss you’ll land on the clouds”. Everyone else says it too, but it means more coming from a relative, he’s a lovely chap. I’m going to record my current time and keep you all updated, next week will be a post detailing my current training programme along with the 100m training resources I come across.

Alright, gotta dash….

Genius.

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