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421

Monday
Went to the track, was nice to see the coach and some old friends, but just kind of felt flat about starting to do anything. Maybe it was the weather (SHIT day). Not too sure if I’ll be starting anything. Looking at my options.

Weights :
Pull ups with 15.8kg. on the weights belt
3x6

Dips with 18.1 kg. on the weights belt
3x6

Arm curls with olympic bar
8x29kg.
8x33.6kg.
8x38kg.

Bench press
6x70.8kg
6x75.4kg
4x83.6kg (PB) :smiley:

Didn’t have a good day Monday (personal problems - bad girl day). Did bench press with a vengeance. New absolute PB, for sure I had never done more then 80kg. Could have done 6 reps with a lot of effort, played it safe. I’ll see if I go 6 reps with the same weight today. I think we might see something in the mid 90’s when I go for the sets of 2 reps in a couple of weeks.

Tuesday
3x42.6kg hang clean
3x51.8kg
3x56.4kg

3x38kg. push press
3x42.6kg. push press
3x51.8kg. push press

6x42.6 squat
6x51.8 squat

Was still sore from Sunday’s leg sessions, took it moderately easy, adding a few reps and a little weight.

422

Weights :
Pull ups with 13.5kg. on the weights belt
3x6

Dips with 20.4 kg. on the weights belt
3x6

Arm curls with olympic bar
8x29kg.
8x33.6kg.
6x38kg.

Bench press
6x70.8kg
6x75.4kg
4x83.6kg (PB)

Couldn’t improve today in bench, barely made it to 4 reps. Moving to 4 rep sets in my next workout. These are the last three weeks of this phase before I begin hypertrophy again. Hopefully I’ll have broken clean through my old mid 70’s sticking point in bench by the end of this phase. I always lingered around there.

Still debating what I’ll do re : track. I’m pretty much directionless at the moment. Feel pretty retired. I think that’s the feeling I had when I was there on Monday, that I’ll never be able to do anything remotely close to what I did before because of time restraints.

423

Nice to read something of you here again. :slight_smile:
Good Luck with training.

424

Comically, went to start training on Tuesday Sept. 16, and they didn’t let me into the track!! LMAO. It was like some type of divine sign telling me “stay retired”. LOL. Pretty funny. I’ve gone into the National Training Center hundreds of times, even without credential and never got stopped, but this time the guards stopped me and checked if I was on the lists and didn’t let me in. I’ll have to tell me old coach to get me on the lists (which are actually a stupid gimmick, since no one on those lists is an elite athlete, just pure beaurocracy).

So, I’ve done only weights the past two weeks. Decided to start a new hypertrophy phase to coincide with my so far failed comeback to the track… and I want to get big for other reasons too. Now I got motivated again to start track. Will quite probably go to the track Tuesday and that will be my first official training session.

What I’ve done in weights :
Mon. Sept. 15
Circuit
2x3x 8 pullups, 8 body weight squat, 15 dips, 20 situps, 20 pushups

Tues. Sept. 16
Rest

Wed. Sept. 17
Circuit
2x3x 8 pullups, 8 body weight squat, 15 dips, 20 situps, 20 pushups

Thurs. Sept. 18
Hang snatch 4x38kg., 4x42.6kg.
Push press 4x38kg., 4x42.6kg.
Back squat 8x38kg., 8x42.6kg.

Fri. Sept. 19
Pushups 2x25
Didn’t have time and only did this

Sat. Sept. 20
Rest. Visited my friends from the other track club I was in before.

Sun. Sept. 21
Rest

Mon. Sept. 22
Pullups with 5kg. 3x8
Dips with 10kg. 3x12
Arm curls 8x20kg., 8x24.6kg., 8x29kg.
Bench 8x33.6kg., 8x38kg., 8x42.6kg.

Tues. Sept. 23
Rest

Wed. Sept. 24
Pullups with 5kg. 3x8
Dips with 10kg. 3x12
Arm curls 8x20kg., 8x24.6kg., 8x29kg.
Bench 8x33.6kg., 8x38kg., 8x42.6kg.

Thurs. Sept. 25
Hang snatch 4x33.6kg, 4x38kg., 4x42.6kg.
Push press 4x33.6kg, 4x38kg., 4x42.6kg.
Front squat 8x38kg., 8x42.6kg.
Back squat 8x38kg., 8x42.6kg.

Fri. Sept. 26
Pullups with 5kg. 3x8
Dips with 10kg. 3x12
Arm curls 8x20kg., 8x24.6kg., 8x29kg.
Bench 8x33.6kg., 8x38kg., 8x42.6kg.

Sat. Sept. 27
Hang snatch 4x38kg., 4x42.6kg., 4x51.6kg.
Push press 4x38kg., 4x42.6kg., 4x51.6kg.
Front squat 8x38kg., 8x42.6kg., 8x51.6kg.
Back squat 8x38kg., 8x42.6kg.

Sun. Sept. 28
Pullups with 5kg. 1x8, 1x10, 1x12
Dips with 10kg. 3x12
Arm curls 8x20kg., 8x24.6kg., 8x29kg.
Bench 8x38kg., 8x42.6kg., 8x51.6kg.

Really got into the rhythm this week. Worked out every day but Tues. which is my set rest day every week, absolutely no way I can do anything that day because of other activities. I’m even beginning to feel my legs back. I have a feeling I’ll have a great week. Feeling real strong in bench, these weights feel like a warmup. 51.6 was flying up like nothing. Let’s see how far I get in this macro. I think a 2rep max of 100kg. is a dooable target considering I did 4x83.6kg. 2 weeks ago without finishing my max strength phase.

425

LMAO! :stuck_out_tongue: OK, this will be my 20th comeback in the past 4 years I think. The latest one, funny as hell to see how constant I was up to THE day, September 27, and then my journal goes dead again. Well, I’m virtually married now. :smiley: Met her September 27th, didn’t touch a weight for 3 months after that. LOL. I guess that’s probably another classic. I un-hypertrophied so badly in these three months I decided it was time to do something about. Haven’t been this thin since like 2002 I think. I’m like at 62kg. So, I begun my latest comeback a week ago. Starting real easy because I’m absolutely out of training. And no this isn’t any new years resolution or anything. Just really feeling like I need to get training again. I’m feeling weak, can really notice the diference. Can’t even go up stairs lately without feeling tired/worked out.

Monday Dec. 29
Pullups 2x4
Dips 2x12
Biceps curls 1x8 20kg.
Bench press 1x8 29kg.

Wednesday Dec. 31
Pullups 3x4
Dips 3x12
Biceps curls 2x12 20kg.
Bench press 2x12 29kg.

Thursday Jan. 01
Hang snatch 2x3 30kg.
Squat 2x8 30kg.

Friday Jan. 02
Pullups 1x4 1x6 1x8
Dips 3x12
Biceps curls 3x12 20kg.
Bench press 3x12 29kg.

Sunday Jan. 04
Pullups 3x8
Dips 3x12
Biceps curls 3x12 20kg.
Bench press 3x12 29kg.

426

After one very chaotic year, things are finally looking up. Started training on Monday. I moved a month ago and now am just 10 minutes away from a track, AND I have plenty of free time in good track hours (3-6 PM). I also solved some economic problems I had for over an year, and am motivated.

So I think that truthfully for the first time since I left track in 2005 everything has come together for me to get back on the track, for real. Which amazingly I haven’t stopped thinking about in all these years, I guess I really love sprinting. All those frustrated comebacks over these years had the same constants - long distance from the track, economic difficulties and time constraints. I don’t think it was lack of motivation or anything, things were just complicated plain and simple.

The slight problem is that the track is being rebuilt right now, but on Monday I went to see it and it’s like 90% done. I think in less then a month it will be reopened. It will be the best cinder track in Buenos Aires from how it looks right now. Meanwhile I’ll start off with some sort of easy GPP. The park where the track is, is huge, there are quite a few nice grassy areas to do some tempo. I’ll start off with tempo and some short sprints on grass 2 or 3 times a week till the track opens.

What I’m already starting full out is weights. Undusted my weights set Wednesday and did my first sessions already.

Monday
Warmup & Stretch
8 pullups
20 pushups

Wednesday
Pullups 1x4, 1x6
Dips 2x8
Biceps curls 2x4 20kg.
Bench press 1x8 20kg. 1x8 29kg.

Thursday
Squat 1x4 1x6 20kg.
I was already feeling supertight after two shorts sets with only the bar!!! I’m out of shape bad!!

Friday
Pullups 1x4, 1x6, 1x8
Dips 1x6, 1x8, 1x10
Biceps curls 1x4 1x6 20kg.
Bench press 1x4 20kg. 1x6 24.5kg. 1x6 29kg.

427

Just set my first goal for the year. Sub 12 100m. and sub 24.5 200m. Heh, yeah I’m getting ambitious. Maybe my goals should just be competing once and the seeing from there. I’m looking forward badly to competing after to many years, can’t wait to get started training. It’s like I see or feel the sensations of competing/sprinting in my mind all the time. It’s gonna sound crazy but all these years, many times when I’m walking fast of something I start seeing myself sprinting and I think about the form and stuff. Lol.

428

Saturday Jan 20
1x4 20kg. 1x4 24.5kg. 1x4 29kg. hang snatch
1x4 1x6 1x8 back squat 20kg. Felt real stiff during the squats, kept the weight down there.

Monday Jan 22
Pullups 1x4, 1x6, 1x8
Dips 1x8, 1x10, 1x12
Biceps curls 1x4 1x6 1x8 20kg.
Bench press 1x4 20kg. 1x6 24.5kg. 1x8 29kg.

Tuesday Jan 23
Tempo 5x 60m.
3x10m. submax

First time I’ve moved in over an year. Tried to do some tempo, wasn’t too successful. Due to mud, I had to do 30m. turn around 30m. to barely do 60m. Was really not ideal. The park I’m going to doesn’t really have any long, straight, flat places without obstacles or trees. After the session I did kind of figure out a circuit for next time, around the place I did the session today, but doing a circular path around some trees I can do a 100m. lap or so. So I’ll have to settle with that till the track opens and I can use the tracks’ infield. Mixed in a couple of 95% 10m. sprints at the end to test myself out. Surprisingly I’ve still got some jump. I’m nowhere near as rusty as I thought I’d be. I’d even risk saying I felt light and quick.

Weights after the tempo
3x4 hang snatch 20kg.
1x4 1x6 1x8 back squat 20kg.

Felt really tired for weights after the tempo, kept the weights real easy.

Began taking BCAA’s after weights on Saturday, some I had left from years ago (they’re not expired yet). Need to go buy a multivit in the next week. Have creatine left too which should be enough for this phase, but won’t start taking it till at least another week when I have no more adaptation pains. Don’t want to be cramping up.

429

Been reading my 2004 posts on the journal. It’s amazing how into athletics I was at that time. I think I should make a note to self : work on top speed. That should be my focus, lots of flying runs, 60’s 80’s etc. I definitely failed in the top speed department in those long gone seasons. Something I’m noticing is that for the first time in 5 years I actually feel like competing. I can’t wait to compete. During all those failed comebacks the past 5 years I never even really thought about competing, it wasn’t a goal. So I’m pretty sure the comeback is for real now.

430

Wednesday Jan 20
Pullups 1x4, 1x6, 1x8
Dips 3x12
Biceps curls 1x8 1x10 1x12 20kg.
Bench press 1x12 20kg. 1x12 24.5kg. 1x12 29kg.

Thursday Jan 21
1x4 20kg. 1x4 24.5kg. 1x4 29kg. hang snatch
1x6 1x8 back squat 20kg. 1x8 24.5kg.

Now that I’m sure I’m past the adaptation risk I’m going to start pushing the weights. Felt great and easy and not even tight in these last sessions.

431

Friday Jan 24
Off day

Saturday Jan 25
4x10m.
6x30m.

First speed session in years. Since the park close to my work isn’t really ideal, I’ve decided to switch some sessions over to one closer to my current home. I’ll hopefully be training every Saturday and Sunday over there till the track reopens. The grass is perfect, although the terrain is slightly inclined.

432

Sunday Jan 24
Tempo 2x4x100m.

Felt good, and the grass is real nice in this park. Pretty much died toward the end of the last rep, so I estimated well how much volume I could do this first session.

So, this is a great start and I’m on my way. There is a meet on February 6th. Just two weeks away. These early season meets normally have 60 or 80m. and that would be ideal, to fit in with my current stage. If the comp is 100 or 200 I’ll have to think about it. I’m not sure the injury risk is worth it.

Physically I’m feeling fine. My left ankle has been hurting after each of the last two sessions (only after). I think a hole I stepped in yesterday on one of my reps, tweaked my ankle a bit. Today I felt like that mild strain in the upper quads one always feels when unrusting after a layoff. I’m sure it’s nothing and besides I won’t be doing anything runningwise till Thursday or next Saturday I think, so that will be plenty of time to recover. Regardless I’m really feeling well. I think I’ll have no problem into jumping right into some track sessions when the track is available.

433

Monday Jan 25
Pullups 1x4, 1x6, 1x8
Dips 3x12
Biceps curls 1x8 1x10 1x12 20kg.
Bench press 1x12 20kg. 1x12 24.5kg. 1x12 29kg.

I was pretty much shot today. Couldn’t push it at all in weights. My quads were like jello, I almost fell down the subway stairs this morning unknowingly going down as normal, as soon as I tried to take the first step, man my quads were like all wobbly lol. I guess that’s good. Means the work was effective.

The schedule of the first comp of the season has been posted. 100m. @ 5:10 PM. Saturday Feb 6. I’ll be running there. Already decided, and I already got into contact with my old coach and told him to enter me into the comp.

Gawd I hope I make it to the finish line, 100m. is long for right now!!! I’ll have to do a pair of 60’s or 80’s this weekend to be sure I can make it. Sub 13 would probably be good for this comp. But really the only goal is to know where I am.

I’m dropping Creatine, or rather I won’t even begin taking it. I definitely don’t want to cramp up or get injured with all this crash speed work + the stiffness of taking creatine.

434

Wednesday Jan 27

Pullups 1x4, 1x6, 1x8
Dips 3x12
Biceps curls 1x8 1x10 1x12 20kg.
Bench press 1x12 24.5kg. 1x12 29kg. 1x12 33.5kg.

Really hard, long day, I barely had the energy to pull myself into the session. Did feel better towards the end slightly increased bench press weight.

Bought my multivit yesterday and took it today for the first time. So I’m good with supplementation for now, multivit once a day, and BCAA’s after workouts. Laying off creatine for now.

Legs were still sore today, my quads were still like jelly going down stairs, but towards the end of the day I finally started recovering. I think I can do a legs session tomorrow.

435

Thursday Jan 28
Warmup
2x20m. speed
6x110m. tempo

Tried to do a speed session, but my quads are still wrecked, after doing just two short accel reps my upper quads were super tight and sore, so I decided to change the session to tempo. Did the round circuit I saw the other day, the terrain is complicated and the turns are tight. I think I’m going to drop training in this park till the track opens. The spaces are decisively not usable. I was worried all the time about stepping into a hole and twisting my ankle in particular considering I was having to do tight turns. There is also dog shit EVERYWHERE :eek::frowning: in the park, I don’t know how I didn’t step into any.

Was so wrecked and tired afterwards I couldn’t get myself to do lower body weights.

436

Wow, I can’t believe I’ve reached 1,000 posts. I hope I’ve contributed something useful to the community in some of my posts.

Friday Jan 29
Pullups 3x8
Dips 3x12 2.25kg.
Biceps curls 3x12 20kg.
Bench press 1x12 29kg. 1x12 33.5kg. 1x12 38kg.

Felt great today. Felt real strong, finally moved up a but in weights. I hope I feel this good for speed tomorrow.

I have a dilemma, either go to the park I went to last weekend, go to baseball practice and do track before baseball, or go to hills with my old training group. I’m leaning towards the hills because they’d be the work I need the most right now.

Oh, I had been forgetting, yeah I’ve been playing baseball the last year. It’s a pretty hilarous and informal team of american players here in the argentine league. We really never practice and just go to the games, then play poker, etc. So although it’s nothing serious I think that contributed to me not being in as bad shape as I thought I was before starting track.

437

Saturday Jan 30
Hills
6x40m.
2x170m.

EXCELLENT workout, and felt good. Not very fast, but good, with good form, maintaining form. Let’s see what I can do next week. Sub 13 at least.

My ex-training group actually did 8x170m., but I decided to do only two, more would have been too much volume, thought I felt like I could have done 2 more at least. I was running next to someone that did 26secs. the 170m. Not sure what that translates to on a flat surface.

438

Tuesday Feb 2

Pullups 3x8
Dips 3x12 2.25kg.
Biceps curls 3x12 20kg.
Bench press 1x12 29kg. 1x12 33.5kg. 1x12 38kg.

Ready to go up in weight a bit next session.

I’ve struggled yesterday and today to make some time to train at the tartan track, in particular starts, but it was impossible. I’ll have to settle for some type of session tomorrow at the rundown park close to me. Damnit I really need that track to open.

439

Wednesday Feb 3
3x4 24.5kg. hang snatch
1x8 20kg. 1x8 24.5kg. back squat

Rained all day today, that ruled going to the park out. Gonna try to go the tartan track tomorrow … no guarantees though. I also found the government doesn’t plan to reopen the track where I want to train till at least March, because they want to make a political act of it. FU-- THAT.

440

Thursday Feb 4

Pullups 3x8
Dips 3x12 4.5kg.
Biceps curls 3x12 20kg.
Bench press 1x12 33.5kg. 1x12 38kg. 1x12 42.5kg.

Well, couldn’t get any track in this week. But I feel good for Saturday. Can’t wait to know exactly where I am.