No surprise: Kim Collins crushes M40 world record for 100 meters
Kim Collins faded to sixth Saturday in the 100 at a Jamaican invitational. No matter. His was the story of the race as he clocked 10.09 seconds to become the World’s Fastest Human Over 40. The four-time Olympian beat the listed M40 WR of 10.29 by Holland’s Troy Douglas in 2003. Here’s how the IAAF described the race: “For the men’s event, the wind had turned into a breeze and St Kitts’ evergreen Kim Collins, who turned 40 recently (April 5), captured the crowd’s early attention with his trademark burst of speed over the first 60 metres. However, the field caught up with Collins at that point and Jamaica’s Julian Forte seized the moment and was on the verge of a major upset before Kemar Bailey-Cole and USA’s Mike Rodgers ran him down.” Wind was a legal 1.0 meters per second. Sub-10 is looking possible for a geezer! Watch Lane 3:
Formal results:
07 MAY 2016 WIND +1.0
POS ATHLETE COUNTRY MARK REACTION TIME
1 Kemar BAILEY-COLE JAM JAM 10.01
2 Mike RODGERS USA USA 10.03
3 Julian FORTE JAM JAM 10.06
4 Andrew FISHER JAM JAM 10.07
5 Tyson GAY USA USA 10.08
6 Kim COLLINS SKN SKN 10.09
7 Oshane BAILEY JAM JAM 10.13
8 Emre Zafer BARNES TUR TUR 10.28
Here’s Kim talking smack before IAAF Portland indoor worlds, where he was eighth in the 60 (in 6.56).
“They’re going to have to beat me and make me quit,” joked Collins, who will compete in the 60 meters Friday at world indoors against a field that includes six teenagers. “I’m looking to take the world title this year and then ask me if you think I should quit.”
“I have been in track and field for so long, the body remembers,” Collins said. “I always tell the young athlete who wants to get fast, first, try to get fit. Once you get fit first, it’s easy for your body to last as long as mine.”
5 Responses
10.09 is pretty fast this early in the season. Last year at age 39, Kim Collins ran 9.98 which ranked him # 23 in the world. Would be very interested in finding out how he trains, does he do anything special to offset aging and the increased potential for injury.
I’m sure he does.
To break such a strong WR with 0,20 sec is amazing!
Kim Collins is a very intelligent and natural guy.
I never get tired of reading interviews with him, and always learn something new from them.
With apologies for the long post, here are some excerpts from interviews with him between 2003 and 2015 (chronologically listed):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/breakfast_with_frost/3107632.stm (14 September, 2003)
DAVID FROST: .. you don’t like using weights
KIM COLLINS: No.
DAVID FROST: No weights?
KIM COLLINS: No weights. I think weights are over-rated. I’m not trying to be a body-builder. I’m a sprinter.
it’s key to be relaxed in any situation because the minute you go, you show fear, you try to put pressure on yourself you lost the race totally before it even began
…….
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2004/jul/26/athensolympics2004.olympicgames (26 July 2004)
He avoids pumping iron – “it’s too boring” – and if he wakes up feeling tired or simply lazy, he’ll skip training. A little light partying, with the odd drink and plenty of dancing, often seems a much more sensible way of spending a day in St Kitts.
….
http://www.nevispages.com/kim-collins-now-a-world-record-holder/ (July 5, 2013)
Collins announced .. at 37 he is training smarter and more efficient thanks to his wife and Coach Paula Surgeon-Collins.
….
http://www.visitscotland.com/blog/scotland/60-seconds-with-kim-collins/ (January 23, 2014)
How many hours a day do you train and what do you do when you’re not training?
KC: These days I train for about an hour and a half. When I’m not training I’m with my kids, just being an average father and husband.
Has training and keeping your body in shape become more difficult as you’ve got older?
KC: Training has actually become a lot easier, I have learnt a lot and made a lot of changes. Each race and each season, it still amazes me to see how much I’ve learnt over the years.
…….
http://www.sknvibes.com/news/newsdetails.cfm/85818 (26 February, 2014)
Aside from the obvious rigorous training regime and healthy lifestyle, in 2012 Collins claimed Black Spicy Caribbean Sauce was one of the factors behind his speed. .. I travel with this sauce wherever I go – it always goes on my food when I am away running. It’s a hot pepper sauce but more flavoury than the normal burn-your-mouth hot sauce. If you find the food tasteless abroad, it makes it more enjoyable. It’s deadly to drink but basically gives my food a proper taste. I can’t say for sure that it actually helps me run faster – but it’s never done me any harm.
.. There is a 10,000 hour rule that once the body trains for a task and you prepare for a certain amount of time it gets better.”
.. once you train the body you get better with age.”
……….
http://spikes.iaaf.org/post/kim-collins-spikes-exclusive (24 SEP 2014)
I try to preserve my body. I think injuries are preventable. Sometimes I’ll race and I feel something, I just have to chill.
Both volume and intensity cannot be the same, but for some athletes it is – and it’s too high.
“One guy told me he was running 20 x 100 metres all out in a training session. I would never do more than 3 x 100 metres at high intensity.
Very rarely, you go all out in training, and I think that’s the mistake most people make. They come to training every day and want to break a personal record or world record
You come to train Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday – and then you compete on Saturday. And you wonder why you’re running slower in competition than in training. It’s a vicious cycle.”
a lot of sprinters overdo it in training. …
I start out slow, probably running 17-18 seconds for the 100m. You get your body accustomed to that. It’s low intensity, but high in volume. You look for form, you look for technique.
When your body gets accustomed to that, you take it down a notch, and you go a little bit faster. As you get faster, you do fewer amounts of reps. What that does, it teaches your body to run 100 metres. It teaches you to run. And then you get faster, and faster and faster.
People want to go on top of the top. We call it ‘top-a-top’. It doesn’t exist. If you’re on top, there’s no top on top of that top.
You’re trying to ask for something that’s not there, and that is when your body begins to break down.
When did you learn all this?
“Trial and error. Back in high school, you’d come to training and do 10 x 200 metres all out. For me, that’s not good. I was in pain for days
Even when you go the gym and see the guys that live there, you cannot lift like them. But still people attempt to do it. When it comes to listening to your body, a lot of the time you feel a little tweak and instead of getting treatment, you want to push further and still wants to compete
Do you go the gym much?
For no more than an hour a day, about three to four times a week. A lot of people forget we are human beings. We’re not indestructible. There are days when you’re in bed and not feeling well. You say, ‘how do you feel?’ There are days when we have to say we’re not up to it. We’ll stay in.
I used to hate the gym. My wife [Paula Collins], being a fitness trainer first, she said ‘no, don’t worry, I got you. This is my thing, I know what I’m doing
I resisted for a while. We started to squat with a broomstick, as light as possible. The idea was to get the proper form and get the proper technique to squat properly.
“You get some guys who come into the gym and start at their max. It’s not gonna work.
“If I don’t warm up properly with the empty bar, I’m going to hurt myself. There are days I didn’t, and I had to stop. Most people want to push themselves, but if my body is not up to it, I don’t do it.”
A lot of people can do a lot better. But the thing is: fear kills them. You must understand that anger overrides fear. Most people come and instead of trying to win, they just want to be there
one of the big problems with the whole world is that nobody wants to be themselves. … you need to be yourself.
When I wanted to retire [in 2009], my wife and I took the IAAF Coaching course, did the level two, and we learned a lot. We understood a lot.
Even though things are trial and error, you have to understand how you work as a person. I’ve trained a lot less over the last few years.”
………..
http://spikes.iaaf.org/post/kim-collins-words-of-wisdom (01 APR 2015)
Training hard does not work
“Too many athletes train far too hard daily. The problem with this is that the body does not have any or enough time to recover.
It is very rare that I train at 90-95 per cent in training. Very rare.
“Training effectively has been the key to my longevity in the sport. My body is not burnt out. ”
… some athletes who enter the sport today have an ‘I want it now’ mentality. Some athletes do not want to take time and be patient to reach the top. An impatient attitude often does not work in the real world.
I’m naturally patient and that has stood me in good stead through life. I’m not too worried about young athletes and their impatience.”
I believe in a fair fight. I’m clean and I expect to race people who are clean too.
“Sadly, every top, middle or bottom athlete has been or will be accused of cheating. It is just the way it is, but to me that is a misconception.”
….
http://www.sknvibes.com/news/newsdetails.cfm/91553 (10 April, 2015)
what is Collins’ secret to his longevity?
there is no secret. .. It comes down to love; I still love what I do! The secret is, there is no secret. Every day we learn something new and different and I try to explain to people if you are in school you are not going to study Maths, English and Science at the same time, you study one subject at a time.
“Track and field is the same thing! If you are doing starts, that’s all you do. If you are doing speed work, that’s all you do and your body remembers that.”
.. problems occur when one is doing too much in a short space of time.
“When you try to combine everything in one day or one session that is where the problem comes in.”
……
The training discussion was interesting and actually pretty sensible. Haven’t tried the hot sauce though.
Kim is officially set for Rio Games:
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/02/sport/kim-collins-40-year-old-sprinter-olympics/
He announced this July 19:
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