So, after many chaotic years of my life, I’ve finally pulled things together and am on a solid comeback pace. For the first time in I can’t remember how long, I have genuine motivation, I’m not running just “to do something” or “for old times sake”. I’ve gotten back with my old athletics friends, with my old coach. Just feels great to be back.
I’ve been doing hills for 8 weeks now. Next week I’ll be starting track work. Still not doing that many sessions a week, I guess I’ll keep it at 3 a week for now, don’t want to do too much too soon. My idea is to have a light prep and compete from mid September to mid December (which is summer here).
My main goal is to compete a lot this year, I just feel like running a lot. I’m not overall worried about times. But I guess I’m aiming for something like my 2002 season, when I started track after 3 years doing nothing, I went from 13.3 to 11.7 and 23.5 in three months of competitions. I’ll just be aiming to improve in every competition.
Everything keeps looking good, I keep adding training sessions, when I’m training nearly daily I’ll start keeping track of my daily workouts in my journal, till then I don’t think it’s worth noting down any of my scrappy training, which has been mosly acc. dev. I’m beginning to see clear progress the last two weeks. When I started the hills 9 weeks ago, even then girls in the training group were beating me, now only the best three men in the training group are accelerating faster then me (I’m not competing against anyone or anything like that, I’ve been doing the hills at a constant 95% effort since week 1). This obviously has to do with how out of shape I was, so I guess it’s expected to see such quick progress after such a long layoff. I estimate 9 weeks ago I couldn’t even run 13.0, now I’m probably closing in on 12.0 range, in a good full month or two of speed I’ll surely be in at least decent shape.
Next week will probably be the last week on the hills. Knowing my old coach, I assume they’ll be doing special endurance or speed endurance on Saturdays on the track, probably 120s and 150s reps in the intensive tempo range right now and then getting faster in a couple of weeks (yeah I know not ideal, but it’s the price of having people to train with, no one even knows CFTS here in Argentina), so I’ll move short speed/acc. dev. to a week day and add a third speed day with longer speed (60’s 80’s). I’ll only do longer special endurance like quick 120s and 150s very near or when I’m competing, and might add some 200’s if I feel good in the 200, otherwise I’ll focus only on 100 this season and traing with 200 in mind for the February season.
Just got my new insoles today, a pair for my normal shoes and a pair for my spikes. They are custom made by the best orthopedist in Argentina, they gave me a printout of all their studies, which included video and feedback from a machine that records pressure and it appears on a computer, and you can see exactly how much pressure each part of the foot applies. The guy works with all the main soccer clubs and national teams here, and I got good recs on him. I hope this solves my feet problems. My feet have been painful and bothersome for like two years now (without training!).
In the past few weeks I’ve also undusted all my spikes, including my comp spikes and my competition uniform. I guess all signs are there I’m pretty serious and excited about coming back. Now just need to keep ratcheting the training up. Track tomorrow, BW circuit Thursday and hills on Saturday. Next week I’ll add a 3rd speed session for the week and another weights session.
Gonna start tracking my training after all. Today :
2x60m. 2x50m.
Wow I’m so outta shape for track work. After 1 60m. my legs were dead. It was a real good 60 though. I’m not feeling slow at all. Hopefully I’ll be able to ratchet up the track work in the short term. I should be doing at least 6x60m. or something like that. Also forgot my new stopwatch today, guess I’ll have to wait a couple of days now to use it. I’m no longer able to time my pauses precisely without a stopwatch, so I definitely need it. Today I ended up timing my 6min breaks with my cell phone.
OMG, now I can see how disconnected from track I’ve been the past few years. Didn’t know Charlie had passed. RIP and my sincerest condolences to Angela. A great man and certainly the best mind ever in athletics IMO, he will be missed. This is really sad news for me, I deeply appreciate the feedback he gave me years ago when I was active in the forums. I can’t imagine a better tribute from my part then to train seriously with CFTS and get some lifetime PBs in this comeback. I have been reviewing my old bompa templates etc. all night before finding out about this news, now I’m even more motivated. Will be posting soon on a more concrete plan on for my comeback.
Hills with my training group. They changed plans, apparentely they’ll keep doing hills for two or three more weeks. Today :
2x3x70m. 3/6min.
I actually planned to do 40 or 60m., they were doing 80m., so I went out on the first rep and mid way decided to go further, I felt in weirdly great form … when I got to 70m. I started feeling the fatigue and decided to cut my reps at that distance instead of going the 80m. with the rest of the group. I guess this type of improptu work isn’t the best option, but it’s certainly 100 times better then nothing. The extreme cold (like 0ºC) during the workout was also a factor in why I decided to do longer reps, I didn’t feel too good in the warmup, so doing shorter more intense hills work didn’t seem like the best option.
I’ve got no idea if this is true, but I felt very well technically, like I was running with great ease and in great running position.
90-95% effort
Monday is a holiday here. I’ll be training with them again for the first training session of next week … depending on what I do that session I’ll decide on what I do on my session. I assume I’ll be doing short speed Wednesday or Thursday … they’ll almost surely be doing something in the int. tempo range on monday. 8x200 3x4x150 or that type of stuff I’d guess.
The slightly bad news is I got another minor quads strain, same thing happened last Saturday during the hills. I thought it had completely healed since I didn’t feel anything on the track on Thursday. Will have to monitor this. My guess is it has to do with lack of quads strength … quads flexibility is good. I’ve always kept doing quads, hamstring and achilles stretches daily throughout all these years doing no activity … for some reason if I don’t stretch those muscles every day I feel rigid like a robot I think that is psychological.
The week flew away and I didn’t add a new session. Only trained today. Next week I’ll move up to 3 sessions for sure. A cold front, probably the last one this winter hit on the weekend, I just didn’t feel like braving the cold one last time this winter. Today was already 10ºC hotter then Monday. Today :
60 7.8
4
50 6.6
4
40 5.4
4
30 3.9 (my wife timed this one, it’s obviously wrong, it was more likely in the 4.2-4.4 range.
Obviously the 60 time is a major disappointment, but not unexpected. With that 60 time I can’t even run sub 12. And, not surprisingly, max speed and speed endurance is seriously lacking at this moment, if my 40 and 50 time are right. But then again, not that bad for being absolutely out of training and on 10 weeks of training, and only the last 3 weeks with 2 sessions a week, and zero weights yet. Also, in 2002, I was in 13.3 shape on around the same date on august and got to 11.7/23.5 in just two months of three sessions of track a week (with no weights, tempo or jumps). I’m optimistic that I’ll be able to replicate that progression getting serious with training right now.
Didn’t train this weekend, weather didn’t cooperate and it was too cold to tough out the rain. But this week I’m training three times for sure. Also starting with body weight circuits two days. Today :
6x40m. with 3 mins rest. Untimed. 95%+ effort.
Can’t adjust to using my new chronometer, I feel weird having to carry it in my hand. I guess I’ll have to buy a watch like I had before. I rather run comfortably then know my times.
OK, so I finally sat down to make some sort of template, and kinda found out I’m totally out of time for training for the upcoming comps. Plus the competition schedule is really screwy, competitions last basically from early October to early December. Too long for one comp period and little short for two peaks. Anyway. It’s ridiculous how fast time flies. So forget any GPPish type training. I’ve got no other option then to enter a crash SPP. Fortunately I’m at some sort of point after a scrappy GPPish phase, where at least I’m able to somewhat train and do speed without getting hurt or anything. Haha, this all sounds so unpromising for my comp results, doesn’t it? But who really cares, I’m happy with this. Just being back and the prospects of semiseriously or seriously training is a delight in itself after so many years of inactivity, so the result really doesn’t worry me (haha I want to see if I still think the same if I can’t run sub 12/24 before the end of the year).
Comps I HAVE to compete on are on October 1-2 and November 5-6.
Weights I don’t think I can classify into max strength or maintenance. I’ll be working low volume and low reps from now till the end of comps and moving up in weight as I regain strength, but not planning to really push it.
Focus on these 5 weeks will be max speed and acceleration almost equally, leaning towards more max speed from week 3 onwards. Speed endurance or special endurance I won’t do anything unless I go train on a Saturday with my training group any they’re doing SE or SpE.
For these 5 weeks :
Speed day 1 - Speed day 2 - Speed day 3
Week 1 : Short speed 40’s - Speed and accel. 60’s and 30’s - Speed 60-50-40-30’s
Week 2 : Short speed 40’s - Speed and accel. 60’s and 30’s - Speed 70-60-50-40’s
Week 3 : Speed 60’s - Flying 20’s - Speed 80-70-60-50’s
Week 4 : Speed 60’s - Flying 20’s - Speed 80’s and 120’s
Week 5 : Flying 20’s - Speed 60’s - COMPETITION! Saturday 100m. and 4x100m. Sunday 200m. (decrease volume/unload during week)
I still don’t know the full competition schedule during October, so I can’t plan that out yet.
Was planning to do 2 sets of 70-60-50-40, but I started feeling a slight adductor strain in the 2nd 70 and decided to cut things there. Moved day 3 speed to day 2, since I assume I’ll be doing longer work on Saturday with my training group. Obviously the times are quite disappointing, if not horrendous. I’m probably around 12.5 manual territory, 12.70-12.80 electronic. Yikes. I’m considering dropping timing altogether. Although it hasn’t gotten to me yet, if these times don’t improve in the next three weeks it’s going to be a tough battle against dismotivation.
Although we didn’t see Bolt blast the field away in the 100m., it’s been an enjoyable World Champs. Lemaitre and Pearson bringing some hope to white people in sprinting.
Today, strangely the session my old training group fit my training plan nicely, they did exactly the session I dropped this week :
Hills
3x30m. w 2 min rest
5
3x30m. w 2 min rest
6
3x60m. w 3 min rest
8
3x60m. w 3 min rest
Untimed. Actually felt a bit sloppy, in particular in the acceleration phase. It’s really weird but I’m having major inconsistency in my sessions, and even within individual sessions. I assume it’s just rust, lack of preparedness for the volumes, etc. and that these hicups will go ironing out after some weeks of regular training.
My position during these runs pretty much confirms my times from training, I was running slightly faster then women who are running in the mid 12’s and slightly behind men that have been running high 11’s. Surely with some regularity in my training I’ll be trimming these times down quickly.
Ergometric test. ECG. I guess that counts as some sort of aerobic workout, 15 minutes running on that treadmill.
Today :
6x40m. w 3 min rest
Poor quality workout I was destroyed, I guess from the treadmill test yesterday. I was going to do 8 reps, but got a slight quads strain on the 6th rep and cut the workout there. I’m still trying to figure out how to introduce weights into my workouts. I end so mowed down after every session I can’t even consider doing weights. I think I’ll start with very light workouts on non sprinting days … although that might affect recovery.
Wednesday September 07
Weights :
3x12 bench press with bar only
3x6 pullups without weight
3x12 dips without weight
3x12 squats without weight
3x15 abs
Wow, really all the signs of a REAL comeback are there. I haven’t felt this type of motivation in at least 7 years, you know that bug one feels all the time, wishing it’s the next training session to improve more, to push it a little farther. I’m OFFICIALLY back.
Dropped today’s session. Major soreness in my hamstrings and abs … seemed like a perfect recipe for injury, in particular considering I have been getting quads and groins pulls almost once a week. I’ll go rested to Saturday’s hills, which I think are the last hills this year.
Other great news, the National Cup of Clubs, was moved two weeks back to October 15 and 16. This is excellent news for me. My SPP can now be 2 weeks longer, which will be a major help, I’ll have to reformulate my plan.
Speed day 1 - Speed day 2 - Speed day 3
Week 1 (Aug 29-Sept 4): Short speed 40’s - Speed and accel. 60’s and 30’s - Speed 80’s and 120’s
Week 2 : Short speed 40’s - Speed and accel. 60’s and 30’s - Speed 80’s and 120’s
Week 3 : Speed 60’s 30’s - Flying 20’s - Speed 80’s and 120’s
Week 4 : Speed 60’s 30’s - Flying 20’s - Speed 80’s and 120’s (unloading week, lower volume)
Week 5 : Speed 60’s - Flying 20’s - Speed 80’s and 120’s
Week 6 : Speed 60’s - Flying 20’s - Speed 80’s and 120’s
Week 7 : Speed 60’s - Flying 20’s - COMPETITION! Saturday 100m. and 4x100m. Sunday 200m. (decrease volume/unload during week)
Week 8 : Speed 60’s 80’s - 120’s 150’s - Maybe competition (don’t know if there is one this weekend yet)
Week 9 : Speed 60’s 80’s - 120’s 150’s - COMPETITION! Saturday 100m. and 4x100m. Sunday 200m. (decrease volume/unload during week)
This is my new tentative plan. Gonna keep short work (30’s) in for two more weeks now, and week 4 is the unloading week, so this new time frame is perfect for fitting in a 7 week SPP. On day 3 I just put in 80’s and 120’s, but in reality don’t know what I’ll be doing. I’ll be training with my old training group most Saturdays, so I assume that will mean SEish or SpEish type of work (120’s or 150’s or 200’s). If I end up training alone I’ll lean towards 80-120 till week 4 or 5 and then 120-150 weeks 5-7. On one of the flying 20’s workouts I might do ins and outs.
Full out. The 80m. rep killed me (the rest of the group then did a 60 and then a 100 and then 40’s, where I rejoined). I got a ton of lactic acid from one 80m. rep! Although I expect to have poor speed endurance, I wasn’t really expecting to get acid lactic doing 80m. … I’ll definitely work some special endurance after week 10, my goal is to run a decent 200m. before the end of the year … and that in turn will drop my 100m. time more towards the end of the year I expect.
I felt great during the warmup, but then not that fast during the workout.
Weights :
2x12 bench press with bar only
2x6 pullups without weight
2x12 dips without weight
2x8 squats without weight
1x4 snatch without weight
Really had a conservative weights session. In the last snatch set, when I reached down for the bar, my adductor almost cramped, so I cut the workout there, and cut down all exercises to just two sets.
On the track, a very consistent series of 60’s, finally with a considerable improvement in times! I can live with 7.5, running 7.8 the previous weeks was just horrible. Respectable times, like 7.3 or better seem to be just a couple of weeks or sessions away. In the 30’s excellent first rep, but then I was burned out, I went submax the other three reps, focusing on being super explosive on the first 5 steps. I’d guess I’m in 12.0 (manual) shape right now, I’ll have no problem getting to sub 12.00 (electronic) shape by the first comp, would be kinda nice not to have any 12.xx associated to my name this year!
I’m heavily leaning towards adding a session of tempo a week at this point, I’m pretty sure it will be Sunday. That would make 4 training days a week.
I keep dealing with a lot of minor twinges and pulls, it seems that when I reach the 300m. mark of speed work, everything kinda falls apart. That is my fitness limit at this moment. I’ll have to stay vigilant and keep being extra careful about not getting injured as I keep adapting to speed work. I think next weeks’ unloading week, plus adding some tempo will give me that little conditioning and rest I’m missing to put some higher quality and quantity speed work in the last 3 weeks of my SPP.
Missed an entire week of training. No weights this week. Too much work, I’m really low on energy for training. Planned to do 5 60’s, but felt some tightness in my left achilles on the 4th rep and cut the workout there.
Below is the same post I posted on the video section for analysis. Reposting it here in my journal for easy reference and in case anyone that reads my journal sees it here. Overall I’m actually pleased with my form, I thought I’d have major disadjustments after a long layoff. I think I’m seeing nowhere near everything I used to see when analysis track videos, but 4 things caught my attention : 1) rounded back on the start 2) I’m achieving good triple extension from step 9 onwards, but maybe pushing too much “out of the back” 3) arm angles open up to much in the first 8 steps of my accelaration? 4) arm swing in front is always insufficient (doesn’t even reach my jaw). Anyone see these flaws? Are they flaws? Do there need to be corrected? What should I correct?
Anyway, below my post from the videos section :
First video I have taken in 7 years. I think I’ve lost a bit of my analytical eye after this long layoff. Any analysis on running form, etc. will be appreciated.
