Because Stefanie can't stay away =)

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1

Not sure if “soon” is soon enough after 3 months, but here I am =) I really need the input.

Well things were going well last September and October, and for half of November, then I got my shin splints back and some knee issues as well, went to Greece for 5 weeks during my winter break where I did mostly “maintaining” training and also tried acupuncture for my shin(you can read about that experiece in a reply I posted in one of the threads under Injury Clinic that I think is titled “shin splints come again”.

To make a long story short, I’m fine now. I have to stretch my calves a LOT though.

Concentration date: June 3rd.
200m ?? Why not… If all goes well, I qualify for June 15 Nationals (in Greece).

My rough plan:
I have 17 weeks till then.

6 weeks GPP (started last Sunday) > I already have a fairly good base
7-8 weeks SPP
3-4 weeks Pre Competition

so for first 2-3 weeks of GPP…

Su: hills
M: tempo
T: speed
W: tempo
R: hills
F: tempo
Sa: OFF

for the second half of GPP I will probably do 2 speed days and 1 hill.

Comments/ Suggestions??

2

(I could have inclued all of this in the first post, but I didn’t want to drive away any readers :o . This is what I did since last Sunday:

Sunday (Hills):
half hour warm up:
12min jogging
stretching
2x40m butt kicks
2x40m A skips
2x40m high knees
2x40m scissor kicks
3x40m quick leg drills
2x50m strides

Hills: 2x(4x40m) I had planned to do 3 sets, but they didn’t feel as comfortable towards the end of the second set so I stopped. Haven’t done hills in a while anyway (2 months ) … I’ll try to get into them more gradually.

Weights:
Hang clean: 4 sets of 5, up to 95lbs
Squats: 3 sets of 8, up to 145lbs
Reverse hypers: 3 sets of 10
tried bench but I have a wrist issue that might take a few days to feel well
Abs in between, cool down and stretch.

Monday (tempo):
in -15degree Cesius weather. I actually didn’t feel anything, wearing two spandex and pants, and four layers of shirts. And of course hat and gloves…

10min warm up jog on grass
stretching, very few drills
2x (10x80m runs), walk 40m between reps, rest about 4-5min/sets.
These were not too fast, I picked a field with very soft grass for my shin’s sake and it was rather uneven, so I was a bit careful. They were fast striders, I suppose.

Nothing hurt =) (needless to say I was stretching my shins before, during and after the workout)

Went home and did abs and more stretching.

Will post today’s later tonight… I’m not done.

Thank you. :slight_smile:

3

Today (speed)

About 800m warm up, stretching, push ups/sit ups,
Drills:
2x30m butt kicks
30m A skips
30m high knees
30m B skips (the ones where you bring knee up and kick front)
3x55m strides

4x20m sprints starting from floor (belly on ground)
4x20m sprints starting with down start
1xaccelerate for 20m, maintain top speed for 20m, take it easy for 20m, > neither me or my partner definately did not reach top speed :cool: so we didn’t do another one.

Medicine ball stuff: (do these fit here, btw??)
15 chest throws (partner), 30 abs with ball (partner- front and sides)
10 back throws over the head (partner), 20 abs
10 upwards throws (no partner)
10 frog hops

9 hours later, Weights (I know ideally they should be done right after, but is this too bad??)
Deadlift shrugs: 1x5: 135lbs
Deadlifts: 3x5: 135,145,165lbs
SLDL: 3X8: 135,145,155lbs
Back extensions: 3x12 w/ 10lb weight
Incline Press: 2x12: 75lbs both
One arm DB rows: 2x12: 20, 25lb each arm
Upright rows: 2x12, 45lb both

Abs in between and after. Stretching.

4

Welcome back Stefanie. Enjoy your stay.

Rupert
CharlieFrancis.com

5

Thanks

Today did a body circuit instead of tempo >> got home late

set 1:

  • 20 jump squats
  • 15 push ups
  • 30 sit ups
    repeat the 3 ex’s3 times with no breaks, then rest 2minutes
    set 2:
  • 15 burpees
  • 20 floppy fish
  • 8 lunges (8 each leg)
    repeat the 3 ex’s 3 times with no breaks, then rest 2 minutes
    set 3:
  • fast punching on my heavy bag for about 30secs (with my boxing gloves)
  • 30 V-sits
    repeat the 2 ex’s 3 times and drink a lot of water

Stretching.

6

Sooo today…
was cOlD. Dressed like a stuffed onion, got to an outdoor track (which has a hill next to it):

4 laps warm up
stretching
push ups/sit ups
A skips, high knees, B skips, caryoke (how on earth do you spell that… )
2x50m strides

Hills:
10x10m hills (walk back recoveries), then rest 2-3min
8x20m hills (same), then rest 2-3 min
6x30m hills (same)

I think I went too hard with the 10s and 20s… was kinda tired w/ those 30s at the end.

Saw a tire on the field and tried to lift it, but there was ice keeping it glued on the ground… I would have picked it up to do resistance training indoors if it snows…

Cool down, and then proceeded to some Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation stretching :smiley: and walked away happy.

4 hours later to the gym for WEIGHTS:
10min elliptical warm up, quick stretch

clean shrugs warm up then
hang cleans: 2x5: up to 95lbs (comfortably)
squats: 2x10: 135lbs (comfortably)
reverse hypers: 3x10
lateral pull downs: 2x12: 70,80lbs
bench press: 1x8 reps @ 95lbs >> wrist issue
front DB presses: 2x12: 60lbs
ABS in between many of these
To some more Proprioceptive Neuromuscular Facilitation stretching :rolleyes:

Home to hot/cold shower. Who came up with this anyway?? … :eek: :mad: :frowning:

7

Tempo day today.
Nice day! Chilly/cold of course, but sunny, no wind… I love global warming…

Jogged 8min on grass to my huge wonderful grass field.
Stretching, some abs. (no striders… not sure why)

10x100m (walk 50m rest), then rest about 5minutes
8x100m (walk 50m rest)
about 100 abs

Jogged back home, on grass and stretched more.

Hardest part of the workout: jogging back oh boy…
Everything else felt good.

8

Ahhhh it snowed all last night :mad:

Today’s “off”.
Shoveled snow for about 40minutes

I
feel
tired

9

My mom officially renounced me Crazy for leaving the house with a shovel to clear a “lane” on my hill. At least she took it quite humorously … Greek rather traditional moms don’t quite understand such things :rolleyes:

Shoveling was not all that hard, but it was still just a bit slippery, and putting on track spikes did absolutely nothing because I forgot to bring long spikes with me, so I just wore my shoes. Not even sure if long spikes would have made a difference, because the snow just got stuck in betwee the spikes and formed a nice thick icey sole underneath where my shoes didn’t do that (so I stayed with those).

Jogged about 8minutes around the field (not bad at all… maybe 2 inches of snow), stretched, very quick drills, and proceeded to the hills (repeated Thursday’s workout one more time):

10x10m (walk back/rep), then rest 2min
8x20m (walk back/rep), then rest 3min
6x30m (walk back/rep), then get in the car
(total 440m)

The first three steps I had to be cautious, because I was trying to do my start rather explosively and “correctly”, but it was slippery at the same time… quite annoying… I’m thinking maybe I would be better off just doing hills on the unshoveled snow (because after shoveling there is that very thin layer of snow that makes you slip, where on 2inches of snow there is more traction ). :confused:

A friend of mine who lives outside of Boston is mailing me and my speed partner a harness for resistance training indoors. How can that be used? Any ideas? I know a good one is pulling a tire, I just have to find a spare one… I need more (practical) options.

Went for weights right after. Had to do these rather quickly because my “purple gym” was closing soon. (All the equipment and walls in there are purple… :rolleyes: )

Hang clean shrugs: 1x5: 85lbs
Hang Cleans: 3x5: 85, 95, 100lbs
Squats: 3x8: 135, 155, 165lbs
Reverse Hypers: 3x12: body weight
Lat Pull Downs: 2x10: 85, 85lbs
Front DB Press: 2x10: 70, 60lbs (my wrist is still bothering me I’m glad I can do hang cleans though…)
Bent Rows: 2x8: 55, 65lbs

Stretching and some abs in between.

10

Had to do my tempo indoors in the late evening:

  1. I forgot I had class in the morning (new schedule) and morning Monday tempos get cancelled now, and
  2. It was 5 degrees Fahrenheit all day today (felt like 0 actually), and I don’t even know if I would have been able to breathe outside, sooo

Late evening alternative tempo inside:

15min EFX warm up

stretching (especially calves), some abs

Treadmill: (while being cautious for any shin reaction and keeping in mind to use more of my foot other than just my toes )
(1min fast - 2min slow) x 6, and then did a 7th fast one for 2minutes at the end
the slow ones were at 5.5-6mph
the fast ones went like this: 8, 8.5, 8.5, 9, 9, 9, 9 mph

Abs with the large ball, stretched my calves more

Bike: (I’d go on the treamill again, but thought I’d play it safe)
(1min fast - 30sec slow) x 10
the slow ones were at lowest resistance
the fast ones were with resistance, at around 130 rpm

More abs with med ball, good stretch.

Everything feld good.

11

I want to move to Florida or the west coast Actually Greece would do it too
…way too cold over here.

Couldn’t get to the track today so I did hills outside (brrrrrr )

Half hour “warming up” in snow and wind, with jogging and all kinds of skips.
Stretching for a while.

Then with spikes (this worked out well this time, because I had longer spikes and I wasn’t slipping):
2x(5x30m)
2x(3x40m)
[total: 540m] I couldn’t rest for too long between these, it was too cold. They all felt good though! But I do need to relax a bit, maybe it was the cold…

Weights:
Deadlift shrugs: 1x5: 135lbs
Deadlifts: 3x5: 160, 165, 165lbs
SLDL: 3X8: 3x135lbs
Back extensions: 3x15,20,10 reps w/ 10lbs weight
Incline press: 3x10: 3x75lbs
1-arm DB Rows: 3x10: 50, 60, 60lbs (total)
Upright Rows: 2x10: 2x45lbs

Abs and stretching in between, and thorough stretching at the end.

p.s. I can tell when I’m training carefully > all this took a WHILE to complete (3 hours).

p.s.2: my shin is doing very well so far =) (thanks to my stretching :slight_smile: )

12

Today was like a “cool down/recovery” day>> went to the pool, and after I warmed up, I did something like this:

  • [ 50m kickoard - 50m kickboard back - 30 hip flexors - 35m running in deep water (about 50seconds) - 15m running in shallow water - 10 wall push ups - 15m running in shallow water back - 35m running in deep water (another 50seconds) - 30more hip flexors ] x 3

  • 3 more laps kickboarding (each lap is 2x50m)

I tried to figure out how to do ab exercises in the pool and was not quite successful…any ideas in case I go there again?

Then I went to the sauna

13

about 25min warming up in the freezing cold, with wind, on the snow, jogged, did various skips, stretched, did more skips, did 4x60m striders, I wasn’t sure if I was warm yet or not, but couldn’t possibly spend more time trying, so proceeded to my hills

So hills were like Tuesday’s:
2x(5x30m)
2x(3x40m)
with spikes. I think I can finally tell what “dropping of the hips” means, because today I didn’t do it (for the most part)

Weights:
Hang clean shrugs: 1x5: 95lbs
Hang cleans: 2x5: 95, 100lbs
Squats: 1x4 warm up, 135lbs
2x8: 2x165lbs
Reverse hypers: 3x12: body weight
Lat. pull downs: 2x10: 80, 85lbs
Front DB press: 2x10: 2x30lbs
Bent rows: 3x8: 65, 75lbs
Bench press: 2x8: 75, 85lbs
"pfeeeewwww… "

Abs and stretching between and after, plus thorough stretching after (good stretching feels GOOD afterwards ).

Contrast shower :mad:

14

Did I mention that it is cold out??

Last night my legs felt tired,and had a good night’s sleep =) Speaking of…
I’ve been doing VERY well with my sleeping patterns this year. I have been averaging 9 hours/night since the beginning of the semester and my shortest night was 7 hours, only once, where last semester I had 2 and 3 hour nights at least twice/week.

I bravely decided to do my tempo outside today. It took two pairs of gloves.

jogged about 8minutes to my snowy fields (which I REALLY own now, since all the 1000s of shoesteps on there belong to ME.
Stretched, drilled, did a few abs (on a frozen bench)

7x150m easy runs (about 70%? hard to tell I was evening running into a frozen headwing at times…), walk 60m/rep
6x150m the same way as above.

jog back for about 8minutes, did more abs and stretched.

I feel good. :cool:

15

Have you done anything differently or has something changed in your life? I’m like this as well, I cannot sleep much at all.

16

Oh I actually have no problem sleeping… it’s just that my workload last semester was much greater, and I was staying up late to finish work… On top of that I was overwhelming myself with martial arts practices 4times/week on top of my 3 hour daily track training… Now I’m also not taking painting classes this semester, which took a good 15hrs/week…

CLASS TRIP TODAY, definately a non-training day… I ate pizza :smiley: (the best in Connecticut, by the way>> Pepe’s at New Haven!!) and ice cream afterwards… and yes, it is still -12C outside :frowning:

I came to the conclusion that the only reason why I am not sick, is because I run outside and the freezing cold air most likely kills all of the bacteria that are probably trying very hard to infect me. And the reason I say this is because most of my classmates , my coworkes, my students… are currently recovering from or going through the stomach flu… I am holding strong :cool:

17

Today:
35minute warm up including:
jogging on my snowy field (which is melting down, by the way, but more snow comes on Wednesday… )
stretching
drills: 2x 50m A skips
2x50m high knees
1x50m butt kicks
3x 70m strides

Hills:
3x( 5x40m), 2.5-3min rest/rep, 6min rest/set , with spikes
Conditions: some head wind, cold, but a little sunny, 5 layers of shirts/sweaters!!!
I actually timed these!!! (my right hand had to sacrifice with the cold)

  1. 6.4, 6.4, 6.4, 6.3, 6.5
  2. 6.5, 6.4, 6.5, 6.5, 6.6
  3. 6.5, 6.6, 6.5, 6.4, 6.5

Ehhhh not sure if the meters are accurate, the slope must have been around 10-15 degrees. I was a little disappointed I was doing these in the fall under 6.4, down to even 5.9s (meters might be different, but they might also be the same, who knows). But I shouldn’t worry too much, because

  1. it’s freezing out
  2. I have wind to deal with
  3. I’m carrying extra pounds of clothing on me

((( I had to put that down for my own good )))

at the gym for some WeIgHtS:
Hang clean shrugs: 1x5: 95lbs
Hang cleans: 3x5: 95, 105, 110lbs (time to look for my straps)
Squats: 4x6: 165, 175, 185lbs
Reverse Hypers: 3x12 (are these done with straight legs, or bent legs, btw?? I believe bent legs are Reverse Raises, and that’s what i’ve been doing all this time. What is better anyway?)
Lat Pull Down: 2x10: 85, 90lbs
Front DB Press: 2x10: 60,70lbs
Bench Press: 3x6: 85, 95, 105lbs

Abs and stretching in between and after > thorough stretching at the end.

Contrast shower (I must be very determined…)

Everything feels fine

18

nice session stef especially in the cold. i know what thats like.
a question or two. why use straps on hang cleans? I much prefer just chalk and hook grip.
i dont really know about reverse hypers but i know charlie demo’s bent leg reverse hypers on the gpp dvd. I prefer strict snatch dls, good mornings, glute hams for hamstring work. You really need a partner or expensive machine to reverse hypers well

19

I have a weak grip… I’ve dropped the bar in the past several times not using anything, which I don’t mind, but my gym is a “no drop weights zone”!!! (no grunting either :rolleyes: ) Chalk doesn’t do it for me… tried that (it’s not that it slips, it’s my grip that’s weak). Hook grip>>> OUCH (tried that as well, was uncomfortable).

I suppose I could borrow a partner, although I’m uneasy doing that since I don’t really know anyone in there, and it’s my butt they’d be looking at :cool: (I get enough stares as it is…they’re not used to muscle-defined girls it seems…) In the past I’ve held a DB with my feet, which seems to work fine…

20

Longish day today… woke up early to do some reading, class 9-11, class 12-1:30, studio 1:30-6:30, then off to the gym :slight_smile:

Tempo Day:
10min EFX warm up, quick stretch
Treadmill:
3min warm up
10x(1min fast-2min slow), where slows were always at 5.5mph, and fasts went like this: 8, 8.5, 8.5, 8.5, 9, 9, 9, 9.5, 9.5, 9.5 mph
3min cool down (total 33 minutes)

Abs and stretching before, inbetween and after the following weights:

  • Incline Press: 3x8: 85, 75, 75lbs (went down because my right shoulder bothered me… mabye cause I didn’t stretch it? who knows… )
  • 1-arm DB Rows: 3x8: 60, 70, 70lbs (total)
  • Upright Rows: 2x8: 45, 45lbs (light and quick)

More abs at the end, and a few hip strengthening ex’s with the rubber band, good stretch, and off home to some warm soup!!