AM session
300 41.0
8
300 41.0
12
300 41.0
8
300 42.5
PM session
Weighted sled
2x30m. 20kg.
1x20m. 25kg.
1x20m. 30kg.
1x20m. 35kg.
2x20m. 40kg.
2x30m. 30kg.
Weights, jumps and plyo
A good session in the AM considering I was running the first 120 or so meters into a stiff headwind.
All on the same incline which has 220m. but the first 120m. are a medium incline (I’d estimate around 20 degrees) and the last 100m. are a soft incline (I’d estimate around 10 degrees).
~220m. 33.0
6
~220m. 33.0
6
~220m. 33.5
6
~220m. 34.5
8
~140m. 18.5
4
~140m. 19.0
4
~140m. 18.5
4
~140m. 17.5
8
~80m. 10.8
2
~80m. 10.8
2
~80m. 10.7
2
~80m. 10.8
2
~80m. 10.4
2
~80m. 9.6
Excellent session today. I think I could have gone more of the 80’s in the mid 9 - 10 area, I felt absolutely great in that last one. Next week we’ll switch to all shorter and steeper inclines. Tomorrow are the last 500’s, that also switches next week, I assume to a speed endurance day (150’s). We’re as little as 4 weeks away (depends when the coach decides we debut, we’re maximum 6 weeks away from competing) from competitions so intensity will go to 90 or 95% in most work and in 2-3 weeks to 100%. Can’t wait to fly. 
Note : we measured the 80m. since this and the 80 times I gave here were 4-5 meters shorts.
2 August
AM
Weights
PM
500 1:22.5
8
500 1:21.5
8
500 1:24.0
Last 500’s in a while … at last. I hate 500’s.
3 August
Rest
4 August
Inclines
3x4 100m. on moderate incline with 2 mins and 8 mins rest. Horrible work. Times ranged from 14.7-15.3, I didn’t know my shoes (Adidas Supernova’s) were so useless in wet conditions. In dry conditions I should and would have been able to do them in 12.5-13.0. That damn soft blue stuff on the front outter half of the sole makes wet pavement/concrete seem like you’re running on oil. I couldn’t accelerate more then at turtle pace the first 10-20m. without falling. Overall the last three days have been bad in every aspect, had a horrible day yesterday on my rest day. Sigh. Hopefully things turn around before the end of the week. Tomorrow I seems like I won’t be able to go to La Plata and train in the track and that messes the whole week up as I’ll lose a track day. Goddamn. I’m going to have to cancel some stuff and go tomorrow … I can’t lose a track day now that I’m doing well. I didn’t have time to go the gym today and won’t be able to on Monday’s that we go to the hill now that I’m back in classes. My schedule for this semester sucks, my Wednesday is ruined, I have no idea how I’ll do to fit in my gym sessions.
AM
200 26.8
6
200 26.8
6
200 26.3
6
200 26.6
6
200 26.7
6
200 27.3
6
200 26.6
PM
Weights, plyo, jumps
A positive day, I felt great in the 200’s, great form and feeling. I was advancing very nicely, excellent hip position throughout.
August 6
AM
Weights
PM
3x4 60m. with 2 and 6 mins rest, strictly technique work on dirt strip, mid 8’s time.
August 7
Weights, jumps, plyo
3x4 30m. weighted sled with 25kg. with 90secs and 6 mins rest. Focus on technique and staying down.
Excellent work today. I felt great during the jumps and weighted sled. It was weird because I was feeling fatigued in the gym, but once I got into the jumps I had unusual spark and explosivity. I feel I’m finally getting around my technique problems during acceleration. In particular the strength I have now is helping so much. My PB in 100 is history. With the strength and technique improvements I’ve had if I don’t post serious times it’ll just be because of incompetence. I’m surely in a position to do 6.5-6.7 in 60, so if I don’t go under 11 electronic I’d consider this competitive phase a failure. Heh. Now it’s time to post those times on the track … all this training and theoretical times mean nothing if I don’t post them in competition.
300 42.5
8
300 41.5
12
300 42.0
8
300 42.0
Average session. It’s the first time in weeks I do track work on the National Center’s track, man that thing is rock, what a contrast. It seems and sounds like in each step you’re hitting stone. There was a beastly wind in the last 100m. (around 10 m/s I’d say) so it wasn’t a very good day to do 300’s. The wind chill was extreme too. Next week we go from 90% to 95% I believe … I look forward to it.
I think it is better when the track is hard. I don’t like soft tracks they get me angry.
You r training looks very consistant, your 200s and 300s it good man.
200 26.0
8
180 22.9
8
150 18.5
8
120 14.6
12
200 24.0
8
180 21.6
8
150 18.6
8
120 15.1
I liked the work today, the 200 and 180 in the first set were a bit slow, I didn’t notice I had to accelerate more. But the 200 and 180 in the second set were excellent, I’m about where I thought I am now that we’re doing more intense work. That 24.0 was a bit more then 90% effort I’d estimate, I felt I could have pushed much harder in all phases, so I’m definitely in position to lower my PB. I should be able to open the season running a PB or right around it … good things can happen when we unload all this volume.
150 18.5
8
150 18.2
8
150 18.1
8
150 18.0
8
150 17.9
8
150 17.8
8
150 17.8
8
150 18.2
No comment. Our best athlete (10.52 PB) and great person almost got killed in a robbery. Who really cares about track.
Weighted sled
2x30m. 30kg.
2x30m. 35kg.
2x30m. 40kg.
2x30m. 45kg.
60 7.9
2
60 7.8
2
60 8.0
8
60 8.3
2
60 8.1
2
60 8.3
8
80 10.7
3
80 9.9
3
80 9.9
3
80 9.8
Very mixed day. The weighted sled was great, I can’t believe how much my strength has improved, just 3-4 months ago I could barely move the weighted sled with 35kg, now I’m accelerating fine with 45kg! unbelievable. In the gym this week we finally have sets of 2 in deep squat, now we’ll see where my max is at the moment. I think I’ll be able to do 150kg. within the next two weeks. In front squat I’m doing the last set of 4 with 110kg fine, so I’ll surely be able to do 130kg right now … my goals are 160kg deep squat and 140kg front squat (in the sets of 2 reps) by when we stop doing them (we’ll be doing low rep set for the next month in our max strength phase and then by sometime in October we’ll cut everything but fast 1/2 and 1/4’s to completely unload and peak).
Then the track work started terrible, I think I didn’t warm up properly and it was very cold, I COULDN’T MOVE in the first two sets, then during the rest before the 80’s I did a whole new warmup and still felt like crap in the first rep, the last 3 cost a ton to finally get moving and do them decently. I should have been doing the 60’s in 7.2-7.5 and the 80’s in the mid 9’s … but I couldn’t friggin’ move. I was so mad about wasting the track work, but I couldn’t do anything about it, I was trying my best but I felt totally stiff and heavy. Geez. I just hope this doesn’t happen again anytime soon, the track session was beyond frustrating.
August 13
300 39.4
10
300 40.2
12
250 32.7
8
250 33.2
12
200 25.2
6
200 25.6
New PB in 300, lol, but that’s actually because I’ve never done a 300
at 100%, during our previous GPP the fastest we did were 4x300 at 42
(~90%). I liked the work today very much. The times weren’t stellar
but what’s beautiful is the capacity to do work I’m developing, at
least by local standards, very few people in this country would be
able to do this, heck guys with a PB a second below mine in 200 would
die in this because of lack of base work. I keep feeling positive
because I’m feeling fast, I’m in control during the work, all the reps
were at 95% or so effort, I could have pushed it much harder in any of
them. I’m also beginning to lose fear of distance and volume. 200’s
now are a joke, whereas before let’s say something like 8x200 in 26.5
sounded very scary, long and tough, and the reps themselves seemed
long, now when I do anything 200 and under I feel like it’s so short.
We started technique work in the blocks today, man I have major
techincal problems there, so I’m not very confident I’ll completely
fix this before competitions so my 100 will suffer, but anyway, my
favorite, my event is the 200, and even with a not so good start there
is no excuse for poor performance there.
120 15.9
2
120 15.7
2
120 15.6
6
120 15.7
2
120 16.1
2
120 15.8
6
120 15.6
2
120 15.8
2
120 15.8
On cinder track. Did 120kg front squat in the last set of 4, I’m stronger then I thought there, I might reach 150kg in the sets of two in the next month. On the track, major acceleration problems, I’m going to have to create a plan and focused work for this. I’m sick of this being an ongoing issue. It seems as if since I screwed up my mechanics I never got the feel for accelerating explosively, in particular the first few steps back, I’m going to have to think of some way to get back to accelerating well or I’ll keep losing .3-.5 secs in the first 10m. (yeah, it’s that bad). For example today one of my partners asked “in what times did you do the 120’s, 14-14.5?” … I thought about it, and since he was seeing me go by him during his rest at around the halfway mark (he was doing 60’s), during the last 100 or so meters I was probably going at 14 pace, but in the first 20 I was losing a second accelerating so slowly … it was terrible.
Inclines on medium slope.
100 13.8
2
100 13.8
2
100 13.9
2
100 13.8
6
100 13.7
2
100 13.9
2
100 13.7
2
100 13.8
8
100 13.7
2
100 13.7
2
100 13.6
2
100 13.9
Normal work today, nothing bad or exceptional or to take note of. I think they could have been done in about half a second less average time, but oh well, at least it didn’t rain and I was able to do them decently.
200 24.2
8
180 21.2
8
150 17.6
8
120 14.6
12
200 24.5
8
180 21.6 (I accidentally decelerated 10m. before the end as it was too
dark to see the line and I got lost … probably was on pace for ~21.3).
8
150 18.0 (stumbled when accelerating)
8
120 14.4
Another excellent session. I felt like I was in cruise control at these speeds, I could have gone much faster in any of the reps, so
I was doing them in around 90-95%. The two 180’s were great, I
accelerated great in both of them, so that’s why they were
proportionally better then the other reps. The whole first set was
great, then in the second one I had trouble warming up as it got very
cold. The second set was done in total darkness, hehe, for everyone to have a laugh, they don’t turn the lights on in the “High performance” centers’ track on Saturdays.
Now that I’ve done some higher intensity work I’m getting a good
idea of where I’m at, 22.0-22.5 is the goal before the end of the year.
Lowering 22.5 is definitely the minimum in reach, how much lower is the
question. New PB in 180 - 21.2, although that’s just because I’ve never done a 180 at 100%. Hmmm… I had an idea … all my PB’s from training distances :
This GPP/pre-comp | Summer GPP/pre-comp
500 1:21.5 very low % | 1:19.3 very low % - volume work
400 1:08.3 very low % | 1:03.2 very low % - volume work
300 39.4 @ ~92.5% | 41.1 @ ~95%
250 32.7 @ ~ 90% | 31.1 @ ~ 100% (haha died in that one)
200 24.0 @ ~ 90% | 23.0 (t. trial w/ blocks) 23.6 (without blocks)
180 21.2 @ ~92.5% | 22.7 @ ~95%
150 17.6 @ ~92.5% | 17.2 @ 100%
120 14.4 @ ~90% | 13.8 @ 100%
100 ? | ?
80 ? no intense 80’s yet | 9.2 @ 100%
60 ? no intense 60’s yet | 6.9 @ 100%
Now that I look at it straight forward there have been very important improvements in work capacity and maximal marks in the medium distances. I’m doing 300’s in almost 2 seconds less at a lesser perceived effort then 5 months ago, then the 180, 150 and 120 is a major improvements too, I’m close to my marks at 100% going at a much lower percentage. Mostly I think the major factor here are the great improvements in mechanics and strength, because I’m not accelerating well, I’m just much more efficient.
150 18.0
8
150 17.8
8
150 18.1
8
150 18.0
8
150 18.6
8
150 18.1
8 (actually did 5mins)
150 18.0
8 (actually did 6mins)
150 18.0
Finally a day with good weather, but I felt like crap. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t accelerate. I felt stiff and everything hurts. Just awful. The positive part is that the work was decent despite how slow and stiff I was feeling. 150’s in 18 are jogging pace for me now, I wasn’t accelerating anything and I still felt very smooth, most surprisingly my turnover was so slow, I was like going in slow motion, yet at the end I would look at the stopwatch and I was doing ~18 in all of them … so I guess that’s positive. I felt like I was going at less then 90% perceived effort. Really weird, becuase that would mean 100% is around 16 … which I don’t think is possible right now, I’m probably good for mid 16 at 100%. The last two reps I did with less rest time then I was supposed to go with some of my training partners who were doing a slightly different work … but I was feeling so down, I wouldn’t have been able to accelerate alone. I’m worried about the pains, I can’t understand why I’m feeling destroyed after a rest day, in particular the hip pain returned. Hopefully I’m fine tomorrow. Last Monday I felt similarly lowsy on the track. What I’m thinking is that I’ll experiment with an active rest day next Sunday (5-10 min jog and stretching), maybe being totally unactive is affecting me adversely.
80 11.3 (yikes) 
90secs
70 9.0
90secs
60 7.8
90secs
50 6.5
6
80 10.3
90secs
70 8.9
90secs
60 7.7
90secs
50 6.3
6
80 9.8
90secs
70 8.6
90secs
60 7.6
90secs
50 6.6
Another mixed day. In the gym I was an animal. New PB’s in front squat and deep squat, 130kg in the last set of front squat, 140kg in the last set of deep squat both without problems, I could have done my season goal (140 and 150kg right now) so I don’t think there is much more one can ask for in terms of strength at the moment. I was then fried when doing 1/2 squat (only did 180kg in the last set) … heh … that’s the main reason why I won’t do 140 and 150 now, I’ll be dead during the rest of the session … my strength levels are beyond what anyone expected … so it’s time to cool off and consolidate the gains. I’m cutting gym from 6 days a week to 3 days a week (I was doing Monday, Wednesday and Friday inverted press, leg extensions, leg curls and deep squat and on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, cleans, snatches, etc, front squat, 1/2 squat, double 1/2 squat, 1/2 squat with jump, etc). Now I’ll only do Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, eliminating inverted press, leg extension and leg curl … lol … I’m doing track not weight lifting, so that’s no longer necesary. The important improvements have occurred … from 30kg front squat and 40kg deep squat to 140 and 150 in 9 months. During summer when we go into a loading phase again then we can see if we go to the high 100’s, but now it’s time to get fast and see if we can use the gains achieved on the track.
The track work was a disaster today, I felt bad and slow again … and this crappy cinder track makes it even worse, I can’t move in this track. If tomorrow I have another bad session I’ll have to begin to get worried and see what’s going on. The hip pain continues … every time I get lazy with the abs it returns … goddamn looks like I can’t get lazy on them anymore or this happens. I have no idea what’s happening, because the weird thing is that once I’m moving I’m cruising effortlessly, but it’s costing a ton to accelarate, in particular in the first reps.
300 39.7
10
300 40.2
12
250 33.3
8
250 33.5
12
200 25.6
6
200 25.6
I thought I wouldn’t even be able to train today. I really messed up yesterday with the weights, doing heavy front squat, deep squat and 1/2 squat in the same day is no joke, and this was my first time doing that. I couldn’t walk this morning, my quads are still destroyed, I’ve never been this destroyed. So given these conditions the track session went very well … I first thought I wouldn’t do anything today, but once I was on the track warming up it’s impossible to hold me back from going out and doing the work. We also did blocks (technique), and I felt good in the blocks, my form is improving. Overall a positive day I’d say, given the conditions.
60 7.8
2
60 7.4
2
60 7.3
6
60 7.3
2
60 7.2
2
60 7.3
6
80 10.2
3
80 9.4
3
80 9.7
3
80 9.5
A positive day. It was beyond tough to get moving, but I posted a decent workout. I hate doing speed in this cinder track (and we currently do our two speed days - Tuesday and Thursday there), I have a very hard time moving and feel like I lose a massive amount of energy. My hip position suffers a lot, the same stride rate I was running with today is worth 7.1 and 9.2 on a synthetic track just because of a much better hip height. My hip and groin always ends hurting when I do speed on the cinder track too … the waste of energy must be extreme. Given all the complications, the times are a positive indication as I was going at around 95% I’d estimate.
Inclines on moderate slope.
6x30 with 90secs rest (didn’t bother to time them, I think it’s ridiculous to hand time yourself over such a short distance, it’s so unaccurate)
6
80 11.0
2
80 11.1
2
80 11.2
6
80 11.0
2
80 11.1
2
80 11.1
6
80 11.1
2
80 11.0
2
80 11.4
Nothing noteworthy was a normal session. Extremely cold temperature. I had trouble warming up, but the 30’s helped to complete the warmup for the 80’s. Hip and groin pain continues. Hmmm… now that I remember when we started getting towards 95-100% intensity last year the same thing happened, maybe once we get to 100% the pain goes away. Maybe I’m running using too much force or something as I adapt to the intensity.
180 22.8 (but I did it into a mighty headwind … lol I hadn’t noticed there was so much headwind for 150m… the rest were done in favor)
4
150 18.3
4
120 14.3
8
180 22.5
4
150 19.0
4
120 14.4
8
180 23.8 (major technical breakdown, I went into frequency, so my turnover was the same as the previous reps but I didn’t move forward)
4
120 14.2
Overall an interesting day, very irregular, but overall I did faster then the target times (~22.5, ~18.5, ~14.6), and died in the last set (skipped the 150), having a major technical breakdown in the 180, the good thing is I know exactly what happened.
Men’s 100 begins tomorrow. My prediction : 1) Chambers, 2) Greene, 3) Collins. For the women : 1) White, 2) Block, 3) Sturrup