Aln's new training journal

Members Area My Training Journal
81

I had a decent tempo session. Actually it was probably a good session, it felt good and like good work was done but I didn’t have my stopwatch and I felt that I might have been going a little slower then usual. I did :
100-100-100-100-100-100 100-100-200-200 200-200-100-100, situps one end and pushups the other, no idea how long I was taking between sets. Probably 3-4 minutes as I went to drink water and wet my head, etc.

Gym :
Hang cleans 2x60kg 2x65kg 2x65kg
Deep squat 3x110kg, 3x115kg
Back extensions 3x8

Again felt like I was losing grip on the hang cleans. Felt strong in the deep squat though. I haven’t lost any or much strength despite only maintaining with one session a week, so I think this next loading phase will be very good in terms of results if I reach it with this strength level.

Just had a nice contrast shower, I’m beginning to not be able to live without contrast showers. They rule! Thank gawd I read CFTS or I would have never bought into this contrast shower stuff.

82

Wednesday I only had a good massage.

Thursday was an interesting day, though there really is not much to say anymore, there next few sessions are my last full out training runs till mid April. Mid next week I start a 10 day taper to the important meet April 10-11. All that is left now is to see what I can post in the competitions, I’m not going to time any more training runs.
I did :
4x30m. block starts
3xflying 120’s, first relaxed but fast, last two full out

Ended the day with hang cleans 2x60kg. 2x70kg. 2x70kg., back extension 3x8. There never are any hot women in the club gym, but today there was this great looking blonde (hockey team?), I went a little out of control with the hang cleans doing two sets at 70. I felt very strong and the bar was flying up. I think with bands I can do 80 at least right now (without them I can’t hold the grip above 70kg, heck I normally can’t even hold the grip on the bar with 70 but the incentive increased my grip strength 5% at least :D). My traps are now paying for the 70kg. The good thing is that I’m maintaining strength very nicely, during the next prep phase with a good GPP I think important gains can be made (hang clean 2RM to 85+, deep squat 3RM to 135+, bench 3RM to 85+). If my start is feeling great at the moment, I can’t even imagine how explosive I’ll be with those numbers.

Friday rested, though I almost did a tempo session.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find a damn competition to go to. There is no competition here in Buenos Aires, in La Plata (an hour and a half away) there are the “National” University Games and since I go to a private university I can’t participate, in Rosario (4 hours and a half away) they have a local games for their athletes and there is only 200 anyway and in Mar del Plata (5 hours and a half away) there is only 200. So I’m going to go to train with my old training group and see if I can get some intense race level session there, that’s the best solution I could find.

Then there is more bad news, next, the inauguration of the new synthetic track in Santa Fe (6 hours away), will only be by invitation as they will only run one direct final, so I evidently won’t be invited to that. Then the big meet in Mar del Plata (first stage Southamerican GP) April 10-11, I might only be able to run the 100 on April 10, the 200 is the GP event and they might not accept me there either. The other big meet I hoped to go to, in Rosario April 14 (second stage of the Southamerican GP) will be very exclusive, with only direct finals and all entries only by invitation, so that’s also discarded. This is all so disappointing. I won’t be able to get many electronic runs in. I think if I can’t post the minimum mark for sub-23 Nationals on April 10 (sub 11.30 I’ll be borderline, with sub 11.20 I don’t think I’ll have problems getting in) I’ll call it a season there. I don’t see any reason to run manual times in cold weather (by late April it’s cold here), I’d have to run in Buenos Aires in that destroyed track with the piss poor organization and bad treatment to get a manual 11.0 to qualify, I rather not run at all. Instead I rather begin to train to make sure I’m never left out of there “exclusive” by invitation meets in the future (what’s a joke is that the level is so poor here that some invitees will only have 10.90). It’s shameful to get left of an “important” meet because I’m not even on par with the mediocre local level at the moment. Then again I’ve barely been sprinting an year and a half, so what more can I ask for. Things take time and hard work to accomplish. What sucks is the time part. I’m anxious to post the type of result I know I’m capable of. I’m sure in one year the story will be different. In two more prep periods if I reach 10.70-10.80 I’ll be a top 10 sprinter at least in this country.

83

On Sunday I did an upper body weight circuit. 2x3(8 pullups, 12 pushups, 25 abs). Felt good.

On Monday I realized I had messed up doing that circuit. My lats and upper back was so tight it affected my running workout a lot. I couldn’t do speed. Compound that with a wrecked track and I felt slow as hell. I ended up doing a submax workout, 4xblock starts, 2 flying 60’s an 80 and a 100, all relaxed and submax. I hope that I just had a bad day and that the upper body tightness was limiting me. Otherwise the signs are worrysome, I might be beginning to burnout. I also haven’t felt very explosive in 2 weeks. I think I reached peak form 2 week ago when I did that 8.9 80m. Now I’ll taper the next two weeks into the big meet, but I don’t know how well form will maintain. I badly need a little accumulation and mini-loading period. Right after the big meet April 10-11 I’ll begin my accumulation week and do a 2-3 week loading phase at that point.

What is exciting me is that I’ll load up with longer runs now and run 200 and 400 in May/June, 200 always having been my favorite event. I’m tired of training short distances, I need a change. I also need new stimulus and I need to work on my endurance and top speed. Although I’ve had good runs lately in training, I just don’t feel as good during top speed as I felt late last year. It’s like things have switched. Last year my start and acceleration was a disaster but my top speed was terrific, this year my start and acceleration is great, but my top speed is just average. I think the missing link have been the jumps and push press. I’ll include all that in my mini-loading and I think I’ll get top speed back where it should be. Of course another factor might have been that last year I loaded up a ton of volume, so when I started tapering I overcompensated more then this year where I virtually loaded no volume to taper, so it’s very probable I reached a higher peak last year, though since I was hurt and my acceleration and start was very poor I was never able to capitalize on it.

Bottom line : not much to do but sit around these next 2 weeks and hope for the best. Maybe I’m just having bad days, or maybe I’m burning out. Nothing I can do about that at this point. Just follow the plan and taper down the little volume I have on my back and see if I can at least maintain current form another couple of weeks.

84

Tuesday I went to the National High Performance Center. I did block starts, around 10, eight 10m., one 20m., one 30m. I felt pretty good and we fixed a technical problem in the blocks. I wasn’t using the blocks properly, I think I got used to that because of the 1950’s blocks I use in my club, which are wooden and have no form of regulation of angles. So I wasn’t planting my foot well and using the block effectively (my back foot was only on the back block by the tip). I talked and trained with my old training group and it seems I might be able to get into both of the big meets next week and go with them. This week’s is impossible though, as it is a political event with the cutting of the tape, etc.

I then did tempo 2x5x150m., pushups one end, abs the other.

Things were good till the end of the day. When I finished I started getting a rash or allergy in my back (I never had an allergic reaction to anything before). And then today I had to go to the doctor, apparently I picked up an infection from doing abs on the ground. Gawd knows what there was where I picked to do my abs. So I’m now on antibiotics for a week and have a couple of painful/itchy spots in my back.

Then later today I went to the gym, did 2x3x70kg bench press, 3x8 pullups and then went to the therapist and he worked on my tendon behind/outside my right knee which is developing some tendinitis.

So apart from the infection I picked up not much going on, just moving ahead with the plan and let’s see what happens. I’ll run in La Plata this weekend, there will be 100 and 200. I’m looking forward to the 200, I wonder what type of shape I’m in.

85

Keep it moving. Your doing things right!

86

GREAT news. I managed to maneuver myself into the invitational meet this weekend (opening of the new synthetic track in the Santa Fe IAAF Regional Development Center). :slight_smile: :wink: :stuck_out_tongue: :cool: Hehehe. This is how things work in this country. Everything is pure politics, and I played politics well. Also helps to be vinculated to the right people. :smiley: So I’ll be running a “B” race they created in the meet. The great thing about this is that this is exactly the type of atmosphere I’ve been needing for so long. I rarely feel adrenaline in meets here because they are so lame. The organization is always piss poor and there are no or few spectators. But this is a political act and there will be plenty of people there, including “important” people (governor, National federation reps, regional reps, IAAF people, etc).

I just have to make sure I have the appropriate dose of hype up but don’t overdue it (I assume getting too hyped up gets an athlete tight in the race). I’ll be leaving at 10:20 AM and the trip takes 5 hours 40 minutes, so I better not waste the trip. I’ll be getting there around 4PM and the race is at 5:50. Needless to say, I’m EXCITED and very hyped up. This is the atmosphere I’m always looking forward to, so it’s going to be a major chance to put numbers up as I’m sure I’ll be able to dig in deeper then normal (which I think will give me an extra .1 or .2 boost).

So that’s that. Now rewinding to yesterday. I did only 3x150m. First one was very relaxed, 18.3. It felt like I was jogging, and form was EXCELLENT. My hip was so high I felt I was 2 meters tall running. Arm action and relaxation was at its best too. I took a 15 minute break and blasted 16.7 (ties PB I did on a synthetic track!). 15 minutes again, and the last one I relaxed a bit more, 17.4. I felt solid in the longer distance. I think I can post a solid surprise 200 next weekend. I did no blocks, but at the end the coach wanted me to show the set position and start to a new girl. That start was absolute explosion out of the blocks. Full extension achieved. I guess this happened because I wasn’t thinking at all about the start, I just did it and it was impecable. I hope to reproduce that start in the meet tomorrow.

I did 2x3x60kg. very explosive hang cleans and 3x8 back extensions to end the day.

Then there was some slightly bad news, today there was a surprise subway strike and I couldn’t go to get a massage and final adjustments. I’ll take a 10min. hot bath now to loosen up, my calfs and quads are a little tight from yesterday. Not much else I can do recoverywise.

Hoping for the best tomorrow. I’ll run like I’m being chased by mad dogs … or faster :smiley: :smiley: .

87

Good luck!!

88

Thanks! I’m watching the Seul videos for motivation now. Whew, I love watching all of Ben’s and Flojo’s races.

89

Forget the mad dogs- just run like you did the day before- NOTHING MORE!

90

:frowning: :frowning: :frowning: Sigh. That sums it all up. The race was a disaster. The only positive thing I got out of this weekend was a cool IAAF regional development center shirt and bought some good videos.

I ran 11.90 (+0.3) and got 6th in the B race (out of 8). My start was horrible and it was over for me 20m. into the race. The problems started before the shot went. I felt good in the warmup and during the accels (a bit bouncy though). But the blocks were terrible, it was too difficult to adjust block angle, so I left them as they were. When I got into the blocks I couldn’t feel comfortable and I couldn’t plant my feet firmly. I went sideways at the start and almost ran into the lane next to me, I had to decelerate not to run into the guy in the other lane and stay in my lane. I lost my balance I ran like 10m. trying to get my balance and without able to accelerate. By 40m. I was like 10m. back from first and 3 or 4 meters behind the pack. Nothing I could do at that point. I probably got tight and couldn’t do shit from this point forward, though my coach said I picked up in the second half of the race.

The only minor consolation is that poor times were run throughout. The track was very bouncy and non-conducent to good times. The two 10.4x guys that got 1st and 2nd ran 10.68 and 10.81, the rest of the A race which all have PB’s between 10.80 and 10.90 from the last 6 months couldn’t manage to run under 11, they all ran between 11.01 and 11.25. In the women we saw the same trend. All times were around .30 off PB’s. So even if I had run very well it’s doubtful I would have run better then 11.30-11.40 on that track.

To add insult to injury, for some weird reason they gave very nice medals to the top 3 in the B race (although not even the first had a better time then the last in the A race). 3rd was 11.68. Absofu–inglutely embarrasing and disappointing. I could have taken a medal home with 11.6x and I FAILED.

Conclusion : It wasn’t a race for PB’s because of the track conditions, but experience was gained. And I guess I had to have a bad race sometime. I’m pretty happy with having run 3 good races in a row before this one. Now I have to pick up the pieces and put things back together for next week. Next week is the REAL deal. We’re going to the fast track. So weather conditions permitting, that’s where the fastest times of the season will probably be run.

A modification I’m going to make this training week is to only do blocks in the National high performance center, where the blocks are the same that will be used in Mar del Plata this next weekend. I think doing blocks with those piss poor wooden blocks which can’t be adjusted is affecting my start mechanics.

91

Just a few thoughts. When you have block problems, it’s usually more of a problem if the block face is too high rather than too low. If it’s too high and you can’t adjust, keep the ball of your foot on the track and the heel against the block to compensate.
When the track is too soft, it’s critical that you relax on the surface and let the natural frequency of the track dictate the rythem for you, rather than fight against it, otherwise you’ll be pulling your foot off the track surface before all the energy you put into the track is returned to you.

92

I’m over the shock and depression of running 12. :stuck_out_tongue: I didn’t train yesterday thinking what I’d do these next few weeks and even thought about starting a short loading phase now … but that was just stupid thinking. Today I had a very good training session. Went to the synthetic track in the National High Performance Center and did a speed session there.

I did 6x60m. with 5 or 6 minutes rest, but I did a progression. I started doing the first one at 85-90% or so, smooth start and then relax and I added some intensity in each. The focus was on relaxing and getting my acceleration phase down and right again after the problem this weekend. I think I might have been getting a bit tight and losing good form because I had been doing speed all this time in the dirt track. The session was excellent, every single 60 was very relaxed and I felt great and very smooth in every single acceleration phase. The last one which wasn’t full out, but was probably high 90’s% intensity was timed 6.78 by my coach. I felt excellent. The track is destroyed and has very little grip, but is the same one (but destroyed) as the one I’ll be competing in this weekend. With the extra grip I’ll be able to accelerate even better. I’m very optimistic again after this session. Luck permitting good things can happen this weekend. I’ll probably do a tempo session Thursday and that’s it before the meet. I’ll decide tonight or Wednesday night. This IS IT. This is the real thing. What I’ve been preparing for all these months. If I can accelerate relaxed and powerfully as I was doing today and I have no accidents in the start I’m in for something around 11, no doubt about it. I’m glad I kept my head in this and in particular I think I couldn’t have chosen a better session to do today. I feel back on track. :cool:

A note of importance was that I was scared that touching that hard track would flare my psoas up, but fortunately nothing happened. In fact I think it hit me less then the sessions in the dirt track. I think now the situation has reversed, the dirt track is probably straining my psoas more then the hard track because the grip is so poor and I slip a lot.

Another piece of news is that I’ll have a full schedule next week. I’ll probably ALSO go to Uruguay next weekend and run in the 3rd stage of the GP there too. So it’s an awesome schedule and I’ll have plenty of chances to get a good race in. It’s impossible I don’t get a very good race in, it would be VERY bad luck. I’ll be running (well probably not the finals unless a miracle happens and I run below 10.90 or 21.50 for the grand prix 200m.) :smiley: :stuck_out_tongue: :

Mar del Plata, Argentina - 1st Stage Southamerican Grand Prix 2004
Saturday April 10 - 9:30 AM - 100m. heats
Saturday April 10 - 4:00 PM - 100m. final
Sunday April 11 - 10:00 AM - 200m. heats
Sunday April 11 - 4:00 PM - 200m. grand prix final

Rosario, Argentina - 2nd Stage Southamerican Grand Prix 2004
Wednesday April 14 - 8:50 PM - 100m. direct finals

Montevideo, Uruguay - 3rd Stage Southamerican Grand Prix 2004
Saturday April 17 - 10:30 AM - 100m. heats
Saturday April 17 - 2:10 PM - 100m. finals
Saturday April 17 - 5:50 PM - 4x100m.
Sunday April 18 - 10:30 AM - 200m. heats
Sunday April 18 - 2:50 PM - 200m. grand prix final
Sunday April 18 - 5:40 PM - 4x400m.

I don’t think we’ll have enough people to run any of the relays in Uruguay, but it would be very cool if we would.

93

I would think that a synthetic track would be easier on the psoas, as you won’t have the slip that naturally occurs on a dirt track- though you have to judge that for yourself.

94

First the numbers, then the story. I think the thumbs down in the title gives a good indication of how things went :frowning:

Wednesday April 7
Hang cleans 3x3 50kg light and explosive
Deep squat 3x3 90kg light and explosive

Thursday April 8
2x40m. relaxed starts
1x150m. untimed (around 17 I’d estimate)

Saturday April 10
100m. heats
11.79 (+0.4) – 6h2 - lane 2

Sunday April 11
200m. heats
23.91 (+1.3) – 8h1 - lane 8

Wednesday April 14
100m. direct finals
11.92 (+0.7) - 5h1 - lane 2

Needless to say I’m very disappointed with the horrible results. What really sucked is that the conditions were very bad, and I ran poorly Saturday and normal on Wednesday. The conditions were very poor, cold and probably barometric conditions were poor too, because there is no other way to explain why all results were so poor. Saturday everyone ran around .2 slower then their PB’s and Wednesday the winning time was 11.06, with all the 10.80-10.90 guys running 11.10-11.37. So if these guys couldn’t get good times I certainly wasn’t going to get a good time.

At least I got filmed and got to see myself run for the first time, so I can offer a complete and accurate analysis of what happened, not just what I felt.

On Saturday’s 100 I fall asleep in the blocks. What happened is that two idiots set their blocks in the wrong lanes (the guy that was supposed to go in 7 set then in 8 and the guy that was supposed to go on 8 set them in 7). The judge had already given the order to take your warmup clothes off and we were standing waiting for the in your marks, and in this moment of absolute concentration suddenly one of the idiots says “judge I’m in the wrong lane”, everyone wanted to kick these morons asses. This destroyed my concentration and knocked me out of the game. I went into the blocks and slept badly. I accelerated poorly, then couldn’t hit top and only in the last 10m. I am able to turn it up a notch. In the video you see me fall back a ridiculous 3 meters in the first 10, by 30 or 40 I’m like 10 meters back from the leaders. It was ridiculous to see myself in the video performing so pathetically. Then at around 90m. I have a noticeable boost, which is when I finally reacted. So I guess 11.79 isn’t that bad for such a poor race, I could have run 12 and that would have been REALLY depressing!

Sunday was the big day, it made it worth my weekend. Though the final result wasn’t good (23.91), I left everything on the table. I just couldn’t have possibly run any faster at 200 at this moment because I have no endurance, I ran the best I possibly could and felt great … at least for 80m. :wink: . I ran the best curve of my life. I came out of the curve on par with all the guys that ran 22.00-22.40.

It was also an awesome heat overall, the guys in my heat killed each other for a place in the final - we had 4 guys run sub 22.40 and only the first two made the final, so it was a fight that produced the best times of all heats, while the other heats had 2 guys who clearly dominated.

Seeing myself on the video was awesome, to see myself running that well really made me happy. At 50m. I’m clearly about a meter ahead of the field flying around the curve, at 80m. I’m still on par and what’s neatest is that the top 5 guys in the heat and me are almost in a straight line at this point neck to neck. Heh - but here we ran into problems. The “gas tank low” light suddenly turned on :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: and I died like a dog. In the video it looks as if I hit a wall - lol and that’s how it felt, I tried to stay relaxed and advance as I could but I just had nothing left in the tanks. In a span of 10 meters or so I suddenly go from 22 pace to 26 pace. In just 30 or 40m. I’m suddenly from on par to 10 meters back. I die like a damn dog and I end up losing by over 15m. and to add insult to injury a guy that was 5 meters behind me coming out of the bend passes me at the end I finish last in the heat.

But lessons and observations were obtained from these two races. In particular what I noticed is that before the 100’s I’m calculating and speculating way too much. On the 200 my attitude was completely different, I went to run. I didn’t even think about the competitors or how I’d run going into the blocks. It was like my mind was blank, just programmed to follow the instructions on how to run that are already in there. I went into the blocks and just ran around that bend like a son of a bitch. It also renewed my confidence, I know I can be up there with the best, I just need to put things together.

Then Wednesday is not really even worth talking about. The conditions were horrible, drizzle, very cold. Everyone ran shit times. And I didn’t run well here either. My start was OK, but not good, I lose about 1 meter and half to the leaders in the first 10m. … at least much better then on Saturday but I shouldn’t be losing that meter and a half. After that I’m fine till around 60m., but in the last 40m. I die badly. I lose 4 meters of ground in those last 40m. The only explanation can be poor endurance, I didn’t feel tight or anything.

An important sidenote is that Wednesday’s “light” weights workout kicked my ass. I was stiff and tired till Friday. I’m not sure if it affected my performance. I might have made a big screw up with that workout. I should have just gone with some bench press.

After this I cancelled my participation in Saturday’s meet. Although I didn’t run a good 100m. I’m satisfied with what I did and the experience I gained. I can also conclude two things, which I already knew anyway 1) I already peaked about a month ago and I’m feeling pretty burnt out and 2) my speed endurance is terrible, but there is nothing I can do about that, it couldn’t have been different because I couldn’t do long work earlier in the year because it would flare my psoas up.

What I’m going to do about this? Forecasting I wouldn’t have very good results, last week I already planned out my next training block : see next post.

95

Arggghhhh… :mad: goddamnit I can’t find my plan now. I’ll edit the post and add the exact plan by day when I find it.

Essentially the plan consists of a 1/2 week accumulation and 3 full weeks of loading with a mini max strength phase. Sounds doable?

Day 1 will be a SE2 day (250’s and 300’s), day 2 will be an SE1 day (150’s) and day 3 will be a speed day (accels and 60’s).

In the gym I’ll be doing 75-80% accumulation week, 90% week 1, 95% week 2, 100% week 3. Working with 3 sets of 3 always in the main lifts.

In additions I’ll do hurdles mobility every speed day and one tempo session accum week, two on week 1 and three weeks 2 and 3. I’ll do jumps twice a week (hurdle hops and slj’s), 16 foot contacts accum week, 32 foot contacts per day the next sessions.

The goal is to run a good 200m. (sub 23) and a decent 400m. (sub 53) in late May or early June.

First competition will be a 400m. on May 8, last competition will probably be June 5 or 12 and there I’ll start a real GPP aiming for a late October peak.

96

I started with the new plan for today. Doing a mix of GPP type stuff and SPP style SE. For what remains of this week I’m doing an accumulation type week.

Hurdles mobility
250 33.0
8
250 34.0
8
250 33.6

Hang snatch 3x3 40kg
Push press 3x3 40kg
Deep squat 3x3 100kg
Back extensions 3x8
Abs 2x40

Mobility kicked my ass. I felt so stiff, in particular my flexors. It left my calfs like rocks too, but on the other hand this shows how badly I needed to start doing mobility again. I know these mobility will help me a lot.

The 250’s felt great, 33-34 felt like a jog. I maintained an even pace throughout and felt very strong and in great position. My arm action has also significantly improved since I last did any long work. My arms are really helping and give and overall sense of smoothness to my running. My core is also MUCH stronger, one straight had a strong headwind and of course a strong wind in favor on the other and I felt no stability problems like in January where the wind would cause me to throw my torso forward. I felt so good I almost added another 250 at the end, but then convinced myself to follow my plan and stick with the planned (low) volume in this accumulation week. Next week I move on to 3x300 with 8 mins or 2x2x300m. in 40-42 with 8 mins and 12 mins.

This was a great start to this mini loading phase. A good 200 might be in the works for late May.

In the gym I also felt very strong. The weights were flying up … which they were supposed to do since I’m working at 75-80%.

97

Very nice workout today. I’m extending the range of my tempo sessions to better suit the distances I’ll be running these next few months. I did :

8x200m. 2mins rest 32-34s.

Run in flooded grass and cold. I felt great though, I had no problems advancing. I see I really needed some loading, not surprising I was totally stale running these past two weeks I was declining badly from the peak form I reached 4 weeks ago. I really like that now I’m finally beginning to get a sense of the impact of each training component and session. I’m beginning to know how I’ll feel when I do each session and thus plan better. I’m sure there is a lot to learn, but my plan should be pretty solid by next year after a full year of tweaking and experience. Right now it’s just all a very interesting experiment.

Physically I’m feeling much better then when I started loading in January. During long tempo runs and SE runs my core feels solid now, I don’t feel the instability I had 3-4 months ago. I’m also feeling very powerful, I’m definitely generating more power with each stride, during all work I feel like each contact lets me move forward easier and more distance with less effort. I’ll just have to be patient and results will come. I was a bit anxious for results during the past two weeks, I think I learned that lesson well. I put way too much expectation on results and not on having fun and running my ass out. Now I’m looking forward just to run because I have fun running during my next competitions.

Tomorrow I’ll do some long jump runups before my 150’s and I’ll compete in the long jump next weekend (with no technical training or knowledge about the event apart from what I’ll learn tomorrow!). I always wanted to long jump, I don’t know why, I guess it’s because I liked basketball so much and I had a great vertical leap there, so I was jumping and flying all the time to get rebounds, etc. Most importantly, I’ve relaxed now. I’m having fun again, I got a little too caught up with the pressure of running a mark these last few weeks.

I ended the day with a upper body weight circuit :
I did 2x(8 pullups, 12 pushups, 40 abs), 3 mins between sets
In the last set I increased pullups to 10 and pushups to 15 because I was feeling very strong, I almost died, I barely made it in the last pullups and pushups. Great workout! :smiley:

98

Hurdles mobility
150 17.4
8
150 18.3
8
150 18.5
8
150 18.7

Hang snatch 3x3x40kg
Push press 3x3x40kg
Front squat 3x3x80kg
Back extensions 3x10
Abs 3x50

Felt great in the 150’s. The track was in perfect shape because of the rain the previous night, the day was beautiful and the conditions were perfect. PERFECT meet weather, gawd I wish I was in peak form now and there had been a race, because it was the best day I’ve seen to run in a while. Goal was 18 on all 150’s, but I made a minor screwup measuring and I later realized I did around 4 meters less each time (ie the first one I timed myself 17.0, the next two 17.9 and 18.1 so I thought I was doing perfect pace). The first one was still surprising, even if it was 17.4 and not 17.0 as I originally thought. Extremely smooth and great sprint position, I was just flying above the ground with no effort. My coach agreed I looked excellent during that run. Felt like I was running at 90%. Next week I increase the 150’s to 6 reps with the same rest. Front squat felt weird. I don’t know if I’ve lost quads strength or simply unadapted to the exercise. But I think I might have done a screw up during my unloading, I should have kept front squats in once a week. This might be part of the reason I was not feeling as explosive and strong accelerating these last few weeks, I might have lost some quads strength. Overall I was fried today, my muscles weren’t recovered from the previous weights session and the track session was intense, the bar certiainly wasn’t flying up like on Thursday, despite I was doing the same “light” weights. At least now I’ll know for next time.

99

Hurdles mobility circuit
300 39.8
9
300 40.6
11
300 41.1

Hell of a session. It was freezing and terrible conditions, so it was a tough psychologically to get my ass warmed up and in gear for martyrdom. I went over the 8 mins rest I had planned both times. I couldn’t get myself enabled to run quick enough! These 300’s kicked my ass! :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :slight_smile: :smiley: After the 3rd one I had so much lactic acid it took over 10 minutes of walking the duck walk for the LA to begin to disappear. Form felt smooth and I keep confirming the improvement in arm action, as I was tiring I was able to stay loose at the shoulders and working the arms without getting tense in the shoulders and upper body. Certainly a big breakthrough compared to how I remember I was running and using the arms as little as 4 months ago. Next session I’ll try to stretch it to 4 reps, unless the weather is horrible again.

Hang snatch 3x3 42.5kg
Push press 3x3 45kg
Deep squat 2x3 110kg

I had to do hang snatch and the first set of push press with a crummy barbell because all olympic bars were occupied. What a difference a good olympic bar makes. When I grabbed the olympic bar with the same weight in the push press it flew up easily. I ran out of time in the deep squat and missed a set, the two sets I did felt great though. 110kg was a piece of cake, so I haven’t missed a step, I maintained strength very well.

Had a good hot bath and contrast shower at the end before eating. That put me back into commission. Tomorrow tempo and some LJ run ups and Thursday I can’t wait to give 6x150 @ 18secs with 8 mins rest a shot. I’m on my way to a great 200 in late May if I can keep this level of training up.

100

Had a great tempo session today. Felt so easy. I did 9x200 in 30.5-32.5 except for the first one in 33.5, 2 mins rest between each run. Average time 31.5. What surprised me is that the perceived effort is so low. I probably can do them another second or two faster and still finish like I started. What is fact is that I’ve definitely gained aerobic capacity in the last few months. Last year 10x200 in 32-34 on a hard track were challenging, today even the ones I did at 30.5 felt very easy. What is strange about this is that my PB at 200 at the moment is 23.7 from last week - 65% would be 36secs and 75% would be 32secs., so either my PB is wrong or I’ve gained an inordinate amount of aerobic capacity for my current speed.

At the end of the day I did some practice runups in preparation for the LJ this weekend. I did about 8 soft accels and measured for the first time ever about where I’ll be running up from. What surprised me is that I didn’t feel weird or out of form during these practice jumps. Anything can happen this weekend. I suppose either I’ll not be able to jump even 5 meters (ROFLMAO!) or I’ll jump 6 meters something out of nowhere. I also made my decision on the rest of the competition. If there is electronic timing I’ll run the 100 on that crummy track, as a training run. What I’m already laughing about is that since I’ll go with no pressure and just run knowing I’ll be fatigued from the 6x150 Thursday and tempo Friday I’ll surely run better then the 11.79 I ran in the competitions where I was supposed to be ready to run at my best.