full warm-up
3xst. john’s hill sprints
3xcircuit 1a
mon Lift
stretch
notes;
-friend at the gym pointed out that on lifts from the ground my knee flexion is very minimal. i will work on squatting down a bit more to activate the lift, I think this will help my pull on heavier weights as itd be a bit more similar to a vertical jump motion. also, the barbell neverr contacts my thighs on the way up, and I think I rush the deadlift portion (I am poor at exercises from the hang position, so maybe my poor pulling form is why). this could explain why once the weight gets heavy, I often will end up not getting under the weight, too much lean forward instead of pulling straight up
-the hills were hard. I’m suppose to run em twice a week so i’m sure I’ll see some big improvements before getting back to school
-suppose to hold breath through 40m power outs in warm-up. this felt pretty uncomfrotable for me
full warm-up
~1 mi run
tues lift
stretch/self-massage
notes:
-hammy doms and a bit of quad soreness
-holding my breath for the power outs still feels funny, i think it might be causing me to tense up because I don’t feel like my legs are moving as fast as they were, and my rom is not any better. I think i may be trying to take in too big a breath before the run, we’ll see if a more naturally sized breath works (run is only for some seconds, so not like I need any more oxygen)
full warm-up
3xcircuit 1b
thurs weight room (only 2 sets each)
5xhillando hill sprints
stretch
notes:
-holding my breath felt crappy during the power outs because I was having some upper body curvature. I strauightened stuff out and it felt much better and hip rotation became more natural. technique is feeling better and better!
-meet on saturday. running the 400m for fun at the baystate games. ran 55 at the qualifiers, and i believe that i am in a bit of better shape and that I definitely have had some technique improvements so i’ll look to see a time drop, hopefully! goals for the race are to not give up on the last 100, good relaxation and good posture
-have been taking ibuprofen in the morning and doing 15’ warm epsom salt soak, 15’ ice on my left ankle/heel since I stopped marking it in my workout
full warm-up
a couple blast outs
400m -> 56.25
15’ ice l. ankle
bowling
notes:
-pretty disappointing time (it got slower?) but nonethless, not like it was unexpected as I’ve rarely run longer races, and my shape as far as endurance goes is horrendous as I can see from my hill runs. cardio isn’t the issue, just muscularlly my legs lose it
-felt great coming down the back straight then really hit a wall at about 250, and really crawled for the last 100m
7.15.12
jog
stretch & self-massage
notes:
-right pec actually pretty sore from bowling night before
full warm-up
2xstanding starts
8xhill runs (~100-150m, walk back rest)
3xcircuit #2
7/16 lift
stretch & self-massage
15’ ice l. ankle
notes:
-acceleration and top speed are feeling more and more comfortable. my goal is to be very set with my technique going into the season since I think my switching around of cueing/mechanics so often has hampered my improvements the last couple years
-cueing right now is “flick the wrist” and “pop” to exit my stance, then “running away” as if somethings going to catch me, but making sure that my body is fully extended or as tall as possible while at top speed
-ability to lift for reps is still pretty horrendous, and going deep on the squats also really lightens up the weight I can put up (though I definitely hit parallel while normally squatting, the higher bar position and hammys to calves of the full squat knock down my the weight I use 50-100 lbs)
-some wheezing was occurrign near the end of my hill runs, I think I will be taking my inhaler before these runs as I assume some sort of allergies are makiong my asthma work up a bit
full warm-up
7/19 lift
1xcircuit#2
30’ jog
stretch/self-massage
15’ ice l.ankle
7.21.12
full warm-up
some starts
3xsteep hill start
3xstair run (concentrate on “driving”)
3x110 yd build up on grass
7/20 lift
7/22/12
(off)
stretch/self-massage
notes:
-significant hammy doms. almost surely a result of the romanian deadlifts (I haven’t done those since last fall). It’s funny, because I didn’t even break 90 lbs and it made me massively sore. many kids on my team are throwing on well over 200 lbs and say they don’t get sore from it at all, I can’t tell if their hammy strength is just that much greater than mine, or if they are doing like what I was doing early in my lifting days (not getting a big enough stretch of the hammys while lowering the weight, so I was throwing on like 250 lbs)
-took some video and I would like to see my arm swing approach the midline a bit more at my start
notes:
-arm swing approached midline much better. I’d still like to see my 2nd step be more of a push (as the higher heel recovery looks to be resulting from applying force less parallel to my body), but I really wanted to cue on arm swing and the wrist flick, and in a day I think it would be unwise to fix more than one thing or concentrate on more than 2. in my warm up power outs for the rest of this week I’ll take tape and try to “push” on that second step better, though once I get in starting blocks, I believe the lower exit angle might just make the issue disappear on its own (body angle is at or slightly above 45* at toe off of this step, so if I am attempting to apply force mostly straight back, then when my body is at a lower angle, the force will be applied closer to parallel to my body)
-did some of the starts out to 30-40m and I realize I was trying too hard to stay down and was overstriding during that section of the race that is always so weak for me (15-30m), when I let myself come up more naturally I really could be “floating” by 30m and never felt tense or locked up
-upper glute doms next morning. I’m thinking as a result of “speed skates” that are in the circuit. hammys were still a bit sore by workout time
5xhill run (old farm cir. hill, ~100 yards)
stretch & self-massage
ice l. heel
notes:
-major upper glute soreness
-heel recovery was lower, drive phase extended a bit and hip rotation more natural in the starts. in the first couple steps I think my problems may have been caused by pushing out the back too hard and forcing the knees up/driving arms too hard (ironically)
-0-10m - scramble, 10-20m - drive, 20-30m - transition, 30-40m - start to float/upright accel, 40m+ - float and relax
notes:
-still some gluteal soreness
-watched some video of myself and of more skilled sprinters and I think I actually should be seeing my knee get closer to my midline. my knees will tend to flail outwards, which im sure reduces power output, and makes me look stiff if I end up side stepping at all
Re - ankle
Two things i would check,
1 - Forget the ankle, check the Calf muscle and surrounding muscles - look for trigger points, or tight spots. If you cannot remove them, go see someone who can.
2 - I would check for Hip alignment, not just up and down, but twisted also. Eg, if your Left hip is more forward, therefore the right is further back (twisted), then when you run, your left foot will hit the ground before the center line of your body, and your right one will (or should) hit the center line of your body (on ground contact during the stride that is). If this happens, then the left foot will never recover.
You need to find somebody in your area who can 1 - check these, and 2 - fix it.
Note, i’m not saying THIS is your problem - it’s just the 1st thing i would look for. Reason - highly popular
After years of frustration I am finally starting to fully appreciate the fact that where an injury or soreness manifests is generally an indication of where high demand has been placed on the body rather than where the actual cause (and potential solution) actually is…
just a stab in the dark here, but would tight glutes (medial and responsible for external rotation?), along with TFL, possibly contribute to the outwards movement of the knees??
Yes, remember, the tfl is not a muscle, it’s a band, and the muscles that control it are up in the hip. Normally when people feel release in that area, it’s the Lateral head of the thigh. And boy, that can get super tight in runners!
issues normally always happen in clusters. Eg, if the outside hip is tight, the the outside thigh normally gets tight, and the outside calf normally gets tight. You may also have Lats tightness in your back? Depending on issues, the problem can easily swap sides from the upper hip and upwards, eg, right leg but left upper body.
Tfl is hard to stretch out. You have to work the angles a bit. I’ve recently been targeting that area and it is really helping. If I follow the chain of tension it goes all the way from the outside of my left knee, up through the right side of my back (lats, as you just said), through my traps to my neck, and down into my right forearm. Loosening the forearm and shoulder area is helping my hip function/recovery greatly…
full warm-up
5x2 hill runs (xc hill, ~80m, short flat walk in between reps, long walk after set, its a very long hill with a flat section in the middle)
2xcircuit#3
7/26 lift
stretch/self-massage
15’ ice l. heel, right thumb joint, right inner thigh
notes:
-heel pain mostly gone, just I notcied a bit of tightness while walking barefoot on hard surface post workout. right thumb joint has always been an issue with me since I jammed it and temporarily had a ligament move out of place 4 years ago. right inner thigh just felt a bit tight and tender to the touch so I was being proactive
-thought about having everything approach the midline during my warm-up drills, and wow, my ability to have my hips move is awful, haha. I thought itd feel more natural and flowing, but I actually had trouble letting the hips rotate. also tried to let my hips swivel and keep the knees in during power outs. maybe doing all the drills loosened em up a bit, because it was a bit better when i just ran and didnt think, knees not flailing out as much. when trying to go through the motions in a couple reps, I finally saw that type of side to side motion that is “good” in pro sprinters, that I never had, so im thinking its a hip mobility issue for me. I also think that, structurally, I am not built to let my legs have too much movement inwards on the recovery portion, or my knee on the front swing (bolt and powell’s actually cross their midline while behind the body, sometimes) because I am significantly bowlegged so my knees cant swing by too close to one another or I’d clip my calf and trip (powells thighs nearly touch in his accel strides). i definitely see variations in how close the legs are to one another and how much roation is occurring, but going from none to at least some and not letting my legs bend outwards i think would definitely benefit me