When Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt saw that he was dominating the men’s 100-meter dash at the 2008 Summer Olympics, he began celebrating with about 20 meters left in the race.

Without that showboating, Bolt’s time could have been even faster.

Thanks to developments in running training, someone could break his current record of 9.58 seconds in the event.

And then maybe they’ll be the ones showboating.

“We’re not even remotely close to how fast humans can run,” says veteran strength training coach Barry Ross, who coached Santa Clarita Valley resident and two-time U.S. Olympian Allyson Felix at Los Angeles Baptist High School.

Traditional methods of speed training include running hills, which build power through resistance, and ladder drills, which require athletes to take quick steps to build agility.

Ross, however, believes that a combination of scientific analysis and weight training is the best way to build speed. Ultimately, his system examines how a runner’s feet strike the ground and applies that information to maintaining the runner’s fastest pace once he or she reaches it.

Bolt provides a good example. When he won the gold medal in the 100, he didn’t get out of the blocks particularly fast, but he was able to maintain his peak speed the longest. As a result, he overtook the rest of the field by a considerable margin.

Weight training is also a key part of Ross’ system, as specific lifting exercises help the runner slow down at a slower rate.

“The two things we’re looking at, you want to make the athlete as strong as you possibly can without adding a lot of body weight,” he says.

In general, weight training is starting to become more prevalent in running training, particularly over the shorter distances.

“It’s always been there, but no one’s given that acknowledgement,” says Valencia High sprints coach Darryl De La Vega, who coached Aly Drake to a CIF state title in the 800 in 2009.

At this past June’s state championships, Covina High speedster Remontay McClain won titles in both the 100 and 200.
He says that weight training was a big reason for his accomplishments.

“I did legwork, squats, power cleans for quickness off the blocks, lunges with the dumbbell,” he says. “That’s what I did throughout the year.”

Apart from weightlifting, technology has also been seeping its way into running training.

De La Vega says that video study is also becoming more and more popular among athletes and coaches.

“They’re already getting down to seeing on video how your feet plant, this is where you’re going to get most of your power, this is how you have to propel yourself,” he says.

But Ross cautions against over-emphasizing technique.

“There’s almost no technique at all,” he says. “Running is natural for every running animal, whether four-legged or two-legged.”

Running has always come naturally to Canyon High graduate and former University of California, Berkeley standout Alysia Johnson.

Representing the United States, Johnson posted the fastest time in the 800 this year with a mark of 1 minute, 57.34 seconds last week in Monaco.

Johnson says that as an athlete, overall improvement is more important than any single training technique.

“I just think with any athlete, you have a goal, and the whole goal is progression,” she says. “With any of the runners, you do your training so you progress at specific meets.”

Another piece of technology always seems to be progressing is the shoe itself.

Running shoes develop everything from the material to the cut of the spikes on the bottom in an effort to boost speed.

But McClain says that athletes shouldn’t get too caught up in the apparel.

“To me, it’s not the shoes, it’s the runner,” he says. “The shoes are there for you.”

Johnson agrees.

“I think all the extra stuff these days is a placebo,” she says.

Either way, new technology and methods of analysis are taking hold of running training.

In some cases, they’re even trickling down from the top. Bolt uses a specific weight-training regimen, as a lot of professional sprinters do, and those methods are being used more and more by amateur runners.

The impact of new training methods, however, might not be apparent so quickly at the lower levels.

“Ultimately, the older generations like myself who were stuck on books written in the ’70s and ’80s, that has to disappear,” Ross says. “Until that weans itself out, things aren’t going to change dramatically.”

But once they do, the improvements could be staggering.

“I could tell you in the 100, they will break the nine-second barrier,” De La Vega says. “It’ll be in the high eights, but it’ll be below nine seconds. In the 200, when (American sprinter) Michael Johnson broke the record, he was in the low 19s. Now it’s common. It’s going to go up to 18 seconds.”