Yes, a lot of people do it. I suggest doing a few easy sessions to get used to it and make sure you don’t have any problems. It feels quite natural to me.
Haven’t posted in a while.
Thanks for the input Juggler!
Friday 26:
3x6 cmj + 10 x LRLR
snatch 3x40kg 3 x 2 x 45 kg
third squat: 5x4 90 / 100 / 110 / 115 / 120kg
bench: almost died
Was very tired during this workout. Made the biggest fuck up of my lifting career while bench pressing, missed the rack and released. Elbow hurt after that. The rack layout saved me. Conclusion: don’t lift when you are falling asleep during the warm up.
Saturday:
short app jumps
16 x 100m tempo
UNLOADING WEEK
Monday:
1 x 90m progression until 90%
30 x very short approach jumps
Was too cold and windy outside. Jumped in a handball court onto some gymnastics mats. Focused on landing and some postural issues. Jumped from a jog approach.
Today:
[i]
4x4 cmj
5 x LRLRL
squat 2 x 6 x 60 / 70 .-. 2 x 4 x 90 / 100 KG EASY
[/i]
Squatting 100kg felt easy today. Don’t know what’s happening to my body, this month and since the implementation of special endurance (i.e. 2x130 @ 90%) my BW has gone up by 3kg to 76.5kg at 1.85m tall and strength seems to be skyrocketing. Interestingly enough I am equally skinnier as before. So where is the weight gain visible? I have gained 7kg in the past only with intensive tempo, but never 2kg within a month. It might be also that my usual winter weight (Fat) gain adds.
My left achilles is a little bit irritated. Big jumping volume + lifting + running + pressing a pedal constantly in the factory are doing the job. Will skip tomorrows tempo session and do some achilels strengthtening instead.
On saturday I will compete, will run 100m at 13:30pm and LJ at 15:30. Will be interesting since I haven’t run nor jumped as much as I wanted due to weather. Lately I have focused more on plyos and added some SE. This month I have just done:
- 8 max v sessions
- 4 speed endurance sessions (mixed with max v, ie 90m sfs)
- 14 jumping sessions
- 10 lifting sessions
- 7 extensive tempo / circuit sessions
I am aiming for sub 11.20 on saturday.
Today was a wonderful day here in Buenos Aires, warmer than the average, clear, no wind but meet got suspended. Motherfuckers of the government didn’t implement swine flu curfew because of elections one week ago and magically the day after elections they suspend almost every type of activity. Right now I have no facilities where to train at but a park. So no weights for an undetermined period of time. Thoughts on how to replace them are welcome.
I am crazy about this because I am excellent right now, running really fast, relatively unloaded and last year I got fucked up the same way by the gov. They were unable to control forestal fires (shitty landfires for other countries standards) so Buenos Aires got covered by a dense smoke. Meets were suspended, I was in really good shape and after that got injured. So if you are looking for a serious country were to train avoid Argentina.
On top of that some people came from Brazil and Uruguay for this meet, so I am still not taking the worst part of this crap.
Btw on thursday and already knowing meet was going to be suspended:
[i]
short approach lj
all out:
4x30
3x60
1x100
[/i]
Right now I want to see some politician’s heads rolling on the ground.
Well, at least now I can use a rugby field but still no weights and I am feeling the effect of it.
On sunday 5/7:
2x30 uphill
2x30 downhill
3x130 @ 90% unlevel terrain
On tuesday:
4 x 30 + 4 x 60m
Today:
short approach jumps ( best one off 8 step +/- 5.80m)
4x60m
Here are some pictures of my actual facilities. As you can see the pit is a little bit rough (it’s a kids playground) and the surrounding surface is unlevel. I don’t jump off that board much because I skid too much, but the surrounding terrain is very soft with lots of sand and dirt.
Off an historic perspective on the very same pit it was jumped during the 1918 south american championships held in San Isidro, Buenos Aires. The board seen there dates back from those years. The argentinean team of those years also trained there.
The rugby field I am sprinting on has very very long grass, it’s extremelly soft and when you run on it it feels as if you were running on a matt in slow mo.
Hmm, that sounds exactly like the training facility at the highschool I coach at, but you forgot to mention being very uneven, and having lots of places to risk wrecking an ankle or knee on.
Yes, but at least this special field has been leveled to an extent with sand. Anyway sprinting there the day after a match is terrible. Not to mention normally the ride feels quite bumpy and you suddenly feel your hips dropping or after hitting a sand spot you kinda either slip or slow down. It’s like flying through turbulence. I am also starting to believe there is a very slight uphill there.
How much faster do your athletes run on a synthetic track?
Was out of town this week. Trained in a village next to the see on sand roads. Did some up and downhill sprinting:
Friday 10/7:
Finally managed to convince the gym guy to let me use the weights.
[i]
3 x LRLRLRLR
5 x LRLR
depth jump 3x5
deep squat 4 x 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 2x 100 4 x 90kg
step up 3x10x 50kg
[/i]
Saturday 11/7:
14x100 tempo
Sunday: 400km travel.
Monday 13/7:
5x60 on hard sand (+/-90%)
some box
beach football
Tuesday 14/7:
16x100m tempo
5x5 depth jumps
15/7:
[i]
distances are guestimates:
6x25 uphill
4 x 25 downhill
2x40 normal
5x5 depth jumps
[/i]
Today 400km drive back and just some abs and pushups, I don’t feel like travelling to do some tempo work.
This is the surface I ran on:
Friday:
easy accels
shot throws
1x5 depth jumps
short approach lj
2 x 140 @ 90%
Almost distroyed my right knee while ljing. Had way too much overrotation, the hang wasn’t enough and dived into the sand pit. My right leg twisted on landing, had a brutal pain in the area but nothing sharp. Pain disappeared almost immediatly, no swelling at all. My gastro and my quad seem to have absorbed the impact since they are a little bit sore.
I am working on completing my take off since I have been rushing it since last year. Off six strides the difference is already brutal: a completed take off gives me arround 19ft, while a rushed one (the one I used this year) just 17ft. I get lots of air with this bettered take off.
Today:
[i]
clean 2 x 2 x 70kg 1 x 75kg
squat 4 x 4 x 80 / 90 / 100 / 100kg
bench press: 3 x 5 x 50 / 55 / 60kg
i bench: 2x10 2x5
2x4 cmj
4x5 depth jumps
[/i]
My right knee was a little bit sore. First time I am doing plyos after weights, felt a little bit weird.
Videos from today:
It’s very cold down here, it even snowed yesterday. I am forced to stay in the gym. Also had a weird and severe cramp in my left calf on tuesday while I was taking a nap.
Yesterday:
6 x cmj
clean 4 x 2 x 70 / 70 / 75 / 75kg
squat 4 x 4 x 80 / 90 / 100 / 100kg
quarter leg press 2 x 10 x 200 / 215 kg
8 x 4 x rebounds (lessened drop height)
Today more strength, some strides and more plyos. I will wait for the temp to rise above 10ºC again to perform serious speed training. Meanwhile I want to do a mini block of eccentric strength development.
Thurs:
[i]
snatch 3x2x 40kg 3x2x 45kg
snatch grip dl 3 x 4 x 90 / 95 / 95kg
quarter leg press: 3 x 10 x 200 / 230 / 230kg
i bench 3x5
4 x 4 double footed rebounds
6 x 100m strides to loosen up
[/i]
Felt great.
Friday:
[i]
jerk 4 x 6 x 40 / 45 / 50 / 50kg
front squat: 3 x 6 x 70kg
step ups: 3 x 5+5 x 60kg
3x100m strides in order to loosen up
[/i]
Felt great.
Saturday:
8x llll rrrr as shown on vids
6x100m strides
Today:
[i]
3x continuous take offs
3x40 3x60
hang clean 3x3x50kg
depth jumps 4x4 as shown on vids
superset:
quarter squat 3 x 4 x 90 / 120 / 120kg
rdl 3 x 8 x 50kg very very fast
rrrr+llll x 4
[/i]
Continuous take offs felt better than ever. For the first time ever I am capable of conciously completing my take off. I get tons of air, the difference is brutal with my take off of one month ago. I just push my self off the penultimate and think about extending, wait until I am fully floating and only then I start with the anti overrotation movements.
On the other hand I couldn’t get on the trance status I am used to while sprinting. I have developed the ability to perform every single rep in the trance status were I am not concious of time. It’s very funny because I remember well when I was a kid (+/- 5 years) had the same feelings while playing games. It triggers when I get my first accels ok but on soft surfaces it doesn’t happen. Don’t know why.
Well a major overhaul at home that left everything dusty, the cold and low air moisture have taken it’s toll.
My nose got extremelly dry. On sat I had some minor bleeding at home, on sunday while lifting moderate bleeding and on tuesday while doing some warmup 30s a blood vessel exploded and didn’t stop bleeding, so had to have it cauterized. Hurt as hell. So no physical activities until saturday.
During this week, even though I didn’t train, I felt extremelly good and more explosive than ever this year. All this after a week of just lifting.
Yesterday (no more bleeding):
[i]
clean 3, 3, 2, 1 x 70 / 70 / 72.5 / 75kg
squat 3 x 4 x 90 / 100 / 100kg
bench press 4 x 2 x 55 / 60 / 65 / 70kg
quarter leg press: 2 x 10 x 210 / 230kg
8 x 4 x depth jumps (double legged)
[/i]
Cleans were extremelly easy. Last week I was doing singles at 70kg. On the other hand squatting felt very hard.
Today:
[i]
jerk 4 x 6 x 40 / 45 / 50 / 50kg
superset:
front squat 2 x 6 x 60 / 70kg
rdl 2 x 8 x 65kg
rdl 1 x 8 x 65kg
3 x 4 single leg depth jumps (rrrrllll)
6x100m strides
[/i]
Tomorrow some LJ (finally!!) from 12 strides. If conditions are ok looking for 6.30m+.
Monday:
10 x 8 step lj
3x30
Very letargic, tired and with head ache. Still managed a pb in the lj, 5.50 from 8. Splits for 30m run:
0-10m: 2.13
10-20m: 1.16 (3.29)
20-25m: 0.56 (3.82)
25-30m: 0.50 (4.32)
Bad accel, cut my stride ridiculously short because of going for frequency, stepped over in the very first steps…
Tuesday:
10x100m extensive tempo
5 x 4 depth jumps
Today:
[i]
3pm:
6 x landing drills
4 x 40m simil runway
7pm:
2 x 3 hang clean 50kg
4 depth jumps
More complex:
Quarter squat 4x110kg + 4 depth jumps (1 min rest)
Q. squat 4x120kg + 4 depth jumps
Q. squat 4x100kg + 4 depth jumps
(very short recovery overall)
[/i]
I believe I am having some troubles with my accel. Spoke with a friend about that, I have to work more on being more gradual. On top of that I have some serious trouble while switching from accel to max v, I float from 15 to 30m and the start picking it up gradually. My hips drop, I believe I am standing up too soon or too fast. I am also “hitting” my max v slightly after the 40m, so I still don’t know its value. I guess on meet situation I could go 0.98 / 0.99 with a gentle tailwind.
Splits:
a) [sub max accels, compare with monday]
0-10: 1.90
10-20: 1.23
20-25: 0.56
25-30: 0.56 / 1.12 / 4.23
30-35: 0.53
35-40: 0.53 / 1.06
b)
0-10: 1.90
10-20: 1.20
20-25: 0.56
25-30: 0.56 / 1.12 / 4.20
30-35: 0.53
35-40: 0.50 / 1.03
a)
b)
Thurs:
nothing
Fri:
circuits at home (felt asleep, missed shake up session)
Today:
meet > withdrew
Fucked up my ankle again, jumping was disastrous, I was affraid of running on the runway, I was affraid of jumping. I had two excellent run throughs during warm up at low speeds, but then I fell completely appart.
I am giving up with long jump competitions until further notice, meanwhile I will just run some 100 and 200. Will still train physically wise as a jumper and start from scratch to get rid off all my issues at once and have a good base for indoors.
Next sunday am: 100
Saturday 22/8: 50m indoors (no spikes).
This week:
Sunday:
18x100m extensive tempo
Monday:
med ball throws
4 x 40m
1 x 200 @ 85 - 90% (with trainers, 24.9s)
Experimenting with different cues, 40s were disastrous. After watching videos I was ashamed of my self lol. At least right now I know what I don’t have to try while running. During the 200 coming out of the bend I started leaning backwards, didn’t like the time. Hope to run about 24.9 with decent form next week. First time over 150m this year.
Wed:
[i]
4 x 10m starts from 3-stance
2 x 30m
3 x 60m
squat 5x90kg 6x80kg
step ups 8x50kg 8x60kg
depth jumps 3x4
[/i]
EXCELENT!!! Freakish acceleration, switched cues and now it goes great. I feel really different, I feel the height my hips get. Extremelly pleased with this session. I push for 8-10 stides, then it gets impossible to push and swith to some kind of knee drive cue.
I finally found a definitive solution to my problem. I was blown up for the lifting part thoug, max v is extremelly taxing.
Thurs:
medicine ball throws
8x100m @ 50-60%
jav - basic tech
Pleased with jav, 35m from 3 step and relaxed.
And on Friday, yet another accident. I was on the rugby field, water aspersion system went on and I was standing on it. Was hurried to get out of the field, door of fence didn’t open fully and I hit it with my knee. Lots of pain. Literally smashed my knee sideways against the side of the door.
6x 4 depth jumps
3x30m
Could barely walk friday night, today (monday) it barely hurts while walking down stairs. Yesterday I withdrew from the 100m meet because weather was awfull (stormy, windy, cold) and knee wasnt 100%. Pain concentrated on my upper patella, I have some bruising there. I believe [hope] it won’t affect my training tomorrow.
To be fair I believe it was my best training week ever in terms of physical shape. Monday was disastrous but due bad cuing, but wed was freakish. I was able to get a much better turnover, still with full triple extension. I have finished documentig all possible cues in all different combinations via video / outer feedback / my feelings and have finally found a final solution. On friday I believe I was able to accelerate upright, alla Jonathan Edwards. I just felt great sprinting. I just hope my little eccentric strength doesn’t vanish after dropping heavy weights.
I got my schedule:
22/8 indoor 50m, no spikes allowed
5/9 100m
19/9 200m
Tagets: arround 6.00 flat for 50m, 11.00 and 22.00. The 200 target will be the hardest since I haven’t done much speed endurance work.
19/9 is my last meet in Argentina, season withdrawal there after. I will miss national champs. in early october. I move to Munich on 26/9, since I had a late season start this year and in order to boost my social life in that completely unkown city will start my indoor gpp as soon as possible, probably during the second week of october. Meanwhile lots of walking.
This week I will probably do:
tue: [accel] + se (140-160-180) or just 4 x 60 + lifting + plyos
wed: ext. tempo + javelin work
thu: accel + weights + plyos
fri: full warmup
sat: 50 heat + final, no spikes
I have been sleeping badly lately, arround 5 hours a day due to work. I took some naps prior training and i paid the price with sub par perfomances this week in contrast to the anterior and great week.
Tuesday:
[i]
3x60m
5x10m
squat 2 x 6 x 90kg
bench press 4 x 2 x 55 / 60 / 65 / 70kg
[/i]
I was falling asleep during workout, 60s sucked so started doing some starts, that also sucked.
Thurs:
6x30m
step ups 2 x 6 x 60 / 70kg
depth jumps 4x4
I am very inconsistent with my max v transition, I have huge problems while starting low, I do much better off a standing start.
Friday:
full warm up
6x100m extensive tempo
Today:
indoor meet, no spikes allowed
50m:
heat: 6.37
final: 6.32
Oh crap, I got raped in the start. I knew I had some starting issues but didn’t imagine something like this. I felt good, perhaps a little bit too loose. My max v was great but was obliterated off the blocks. Both in heat and final was completely smoked, even by 12.x runners. RT was bad and when I came upright it was as if hit a second gear and started catching up like crazy, great max v. I even catched up arround a metre from 30-50 a 10.6fat sprinter who smoke me on the start.
I just need to work with somebody spot on on my inicial accel. I am just so inconsistent with it. One day it’s great and another it sucks. Today it sucked. It sucks even more to be destroyed there by much slower people. Right after the start the two guys in my adjacent lanes were already over a metre in front of me.
At least the LJ important part is there (max v). I hope to get a video by tomorrow or on monday.
Sunday:
12 x 100 tempo
Monday:
lots of very short block starts
3 x 8 step lj
jav work
Felt tired today, yet productive session. I was missing the detail of pushing with both feet of the blocks, having an extra foot to push with feels awesome. I even felt some “floating” after “jumping forwards” off the blocks. I still have very slow turnover during the initial accel though.
PBd yet again in the 8 step lj (+35cm), all three jumps between 5.70 and 5.85, and that with some trouble. Gave up with jumping because the runway is toooo hard, very old track that was already hard from the beginning in late 80s and that was painted with normal paint some years ago, never had mantainance done. Running in my hard asics spikes is painful, let alone jumping. I feel as if my whole leg was hammered and was affraid of jumping with full power. Now my knees are in slight pain.
So from may I have gained 0.5m in my 8-step LJ.
Today:
6 x 20m blocks
8 x 10 step lj [best 6.15]
Starts are much better, today I managed not to overstride in my first step for the first time. Rythm in the LJ sucks, landings could be better, no board avaible. My knees are very very sore due to the extremelly hard track, I won’t ever step on it again. No wonder why the track team that trains there has a shitload of injuries.
Monday vids:
(huge improv. from saturday)
Wed:
6 x 20m blocks
8x 10 step lj (best 6.15)
Had trouble finishing take off, started very well but switched focus to landings and started rushing them. Difference is huge, arround 2 foot less. At least was able to get projected lower out of the blocks.
THurs:
4 x 50m (+50m easing down)
squat 2 x 6 x 90kg
3 x 4 depth jumps
Felt extremelly great, about 35º C mid winter.
Sat:
16x100m extensive tempo
Sun and monday off.
Tues 1/9: yet another hamstring twinge / light pull due to being tight, pushing it too hard and very cold weather. Today temp was under 10ºC. Again the pull happened while accelerating.
I am also much heavier than usual, my BW is having some weird spikes, arround 78kg right now. I am eating a lot of meat and salted things so that may make me retain liquids.
So saturdays meet 100m is out of question right now, I had another two meets scheduled for 12 and 19. I could run a 100/lj on 12th and a kamikaze lj/200 on 19th if I my hammy is ok, but I am considering giving up for this season and rest until germany. Other option is to give up high cns activities right now and use this as a two week taper and compete on the 19. My speed should be peaked by then, I would just repeat last year’s forced taper due to a pulled groin that worked very well.
I am somehow cursed by 100m runs, I have never ever been able to run a serious one. Always ended up either injured the week before, meet got suspended or weather was awful. I might end up never running one. I can run 60 / 90 / 99.99 / 120 / 150s on training but always something happens before a 100m.
After 19 I will definitely quit until early october.
Wed:
6 x 20m blocks
8x 10 step lj (best 6.15)
Had trouble finishing take off, started very well but switched focus to landings and started rushing them. Difference is huge, arround 2 foot less. At least was able to get projected lower out of the blocks.
THurs:
4 x 50m (+50m easing down)
squat 2 x 6 x 90kg
3 x 4 depth jumps
Felt extremelly great, about 35º C mid winter.
Sat:
16x100m extensive tempo
Sun and monday off.
Tues 1/9: yet another hamstring twinge / light pull due to being tight, pushing it too hard and very cold weather. Today temp was under 10ºC. Again the pull happened while accelerating.
I am also much heavier than usual, my BW is having some weird spikes, arround 78kg right now. I am eating a lot of meat and salted things so that may make me retain liquids.
So saturdays meet 100m is out of question right now, I had another two meets scheduled for 12 and 19. I could run a 100/lj on 12th and a kamikaze lj/200 on 19th if I my hammy is ok, but I am considering giving up for this season and rest until germany. Other option is to give up high cns activities right now and use this as a two week taper and compete on the 19. My speed should be peaked by then, I would just repeat last year’s forced taper due to a pulled groin that worked very well.
I am somehow cursed by 100m runs, I have never ever been able to run a serious one. Always ended up either injured the week before, meet got suspended or weather was awful. I might end up never running one. I can run 60 / 90 / 99.99 / 120 / 150s on training but always something happens before a 100m.
After 19 I will definitely quit until early october.
on sat:
lots of pnf stretching
8 x 100 tempo
8 x 4 depth jumps
Hammy was extremelly tight, pnf did wonders, strain disappeared in about 80%.
Today:
lots of 5m starts
In the first two vids I used a higher foot placement for my right one in order to fix some weird mechanics, I kinda overstrided or stood up too soon. I used to collapse after my first step.
(am I limping here?)
compare with last week catastrophe:
Season over for me, hamstring rehurt but ain’t serious.
Starts on wed:
Jog on friday, showed up for meet on sat. Rehurt my hammy during warmup accels, ran anyway. With limited arm rom from the very start, accelerating and decelrating twice on the run, under 90% and slower than my SE runs still managed 11.6x fat, ran as the opening 100 of a 300/400. Definitely if fit under 11s.
To be fair my speed development this year has been huge, I just need to learn to accel properly, this means, using my quads. I use my hammys to do all the work. The only day I managed to use my quads for accel hit my max v much much quicker, had crazy soreness the day after.
I am in crazy shape, yet don’t know how to sprint properly, this greatly hampers me. At least this year I discarded all cues that don’t work properly with my, I believe within a month (and with help of someone and my camera) will be able to discern which cues stick with for ever ever.
Shape wise I am extremelly pleased with my speed results this year, LJ wise I sucked (actual SB -40cm from last year) but my ankle issues, lack of facilities, lack of technical training (just 4 sessions in july and 4 in august), lack of coaching and lack of preparation time explain it.
I just need someone to tape me all the time to be able to experiment with different cues and do proper LJ work. 2010 will be a better year.
Yearly balance:
1.85 tall (=), 76kg heavy (+4kg)
cmj 85cm +28cm (from 57cm august 08)
slj 3.00m +25cm (from 275cm june 08)
full squat 6x100 easy +30kg? (from very heavy 5x85kg jul 08)
power clean 1x80kg +5kg (from 1x70kg sep 07 after no training & 75kg apr 08)
snatch 2x50kg (did 10x45 in 2008 after l-s and long stuffs)
40yd 4.76s video timed (my 18 step app 36.75m, incl. penultimate and take off)
8-step LJ: 5.85 +61cm (from 5.24 apr 09)
18-step LJ: 6.64 + 1cm (from 6.63 sept 08, and non legal -40cm at least from nov 08 lol)
Injuries:
2 ankle sprains
3 hammy slight pulls/strains (due to sprinting in cold climate and bad mechanics)
Things that I will work on this and next year:
- fix my accel and use my quads
All my hamstring issues were during accel phases, no pull at max v. After seeing my vids and experimentation I realized I use my hammys from step 1, when I push harder on my first steps I have a very low heel recovery and my hammys are responsible for this. My hammys are being overloaded. The only day I managed to use my quads I had a massive accel and next day had crazy sore quads. I was all year round in good shape but wasn’t able to use it because I didn’t now how to.
- increase my quad eccentric strength
My front squat sucks, while doing sets of full back squats easily at 6x100kg I could barely finish one set of 6x70kg at medium height. I can also full squat more than my half squat.
- increase my rfd / clean / snatch
I see other jumpers full squat the same they clean, when I did 6x100 my clean 1 rm wasn’t much higher than 85kg. And my clean development has been clearly defficient.
- more lj tech work and at least regain 2008 tech ability, hang
- more longer sprints (60m and above) / SE
- maintain acceleration development all year round
I have noted that there is a clear relationship between my OLs / jumping power and SE, don’t know why. In part it was a mistake to drop it, but I favoured the more difficult max v development.
One thing I demonstrated is short to long works well with tall and shlanky people if volumes are managed accordingly.
Will do some rehab (ultrasound, heat, massage) for my hammy during next two weeks until I move to Munich. Hopefully I will be ok for the second week of october, so I can start my gpp and use track to restart my social life from scratch there.