So I’m down in Austin, Texas working with the coach that Ku2u#2 recommended, and I must say he is far more than I ever could have hoped for, he is truly excellent. He is a real stickler for good technique, and is a very positive guy. He is also a real track nut with a constant thirst for more knowledge. What’s extra-fantastic is that he has Physical Therapy and ART designations, and he does his own massage work as well. More than once already he’s dropped me down and done some work mid-workout. I have really struggled all winter with soreness in the Achilles, and “extremely tight” (Waldemar’s own words) calves. The combination of therapy and coaching is really exciting, and so far I’m responding pretty well I think.
Just as a refresher, this season has not been a good one so far. My wind-legal PB’s are 12.54 and 25.15 from last season. My first outdoor race on May 19th I ran a 12.75, which is way off the 12.54 I ran last year. I was feeling sore and tight in the calves and Achilles that day and probably shouldn’t have ran. My next race was an atrocious 26.41 200m with a +0.9 tailwind, the worst time I’ve ever run outdoors! I acted like a rookie in that race. Some guy I usually beat was in lane 5 slightly ahead of me at 100, and I way overdid my “reacceleration” coming off the corner between 100m-110m trying to catch this guy and I blew up at 160 and died a horrible death. The next races were at the Ontario Masters Championships, where I false started in the 100m and popped straight up on the restart, running a very poor 12.82, but not bad considering I had no acceleration. I ran the 200m a little bit easy, finishing in 26.27, another sub-par result.
Here is a brief rundown of my road workouts since I left Toronto on June 30th. I will update the rest of my workouts later.
July 1st: Columbus, OH
CF bike workout: 1x10x45sec + calisthenics in between
1x8x45sec+15sec pool tempo
July 2nd, morning: Kansas City, MO
-stayed at the Westin, gotta love their beds. They had a nice pool and weight room, and there were some very friendly ladies poolside despite my pasty complexion.
Weight workout:
bench- 1x10x135, 1x8x155, 2x6x175, 1x4x180
pulldowns- 1x8x100, 3x8x140
seated rows- 3x10x120
abs
light swim
July 2nd, evening: Fayetteville, AR. I drove from Kansas City to Fayetteville, AR. I spent a couple of summers down here a couple of years back, and I love this little track town. I worked out at Fayetteville High School, my favourite workout track on earth. There are bleachers on both sides of the stadium, the track has only six lanes, and much of it is on lower ground than the surrounding earth.This makes it feel very closed in, so you feel like you’re going much faster than you really are (which helps when you’re pretty slow).
Speed Endurance workout:
regular Canadian warmup (I was sweating my ass off by the end of this, despite it being 10 pm)
4x30m accelerations- a couple of these felt really fantastic, I didn’t rush my acceleration and came up naturally at about 35 metres
2x220m Speed Endurance
220m rep #1: this was more like 190, I haven’t gone past 180m much this season and I deservedly ran out of gas before the 200m finish line.
220m rep #2: this was more like a 210, but it felt terrific. Acceleration was nice and smooth, not much wasted energy, and finished the last 60m nice and strong. Went and chatted to the other people who hopped the fence to play soccer, stretched, then got back in the car and drove some more.
Stayed in McAlester, OK, which is not my favourite town in the world, I’m not going to lie. Should have stayed in Fayetteville so I could have had a vegan breakfast burrito from Ozark Natural Foods. Don’t laugh, they are delicious! More to come…