Monday march 21
Temp cool 50f
100/200
3x300, 1x200
boys 45-50 sec
girls 50-60 sec
400m
allwere sore still. Did big circuit after a 15 min jog. Felt looser afterwards. Tomorrow will be cold. Would like to feet one moreSE workout in tomorrow if possible.
Tue march 22
temp 35f winter weather advisory begins in a few hours
100/200
1+2+2+1++ x 3
400m
Girls 2 x 4 x150
Boys 3 x 4x150
Wed March 23
Temp: 32 and icy snow
Practice indoors today plus team pictures
400m
30 minute bike ride, most were able to get about 10miles in
100/200
2x4 resisted sprints x 20m
Boys did 1x60 time trial.
Both boys and girls did baton exchanges at full speed with the assistant coach.
D, mentioned in my other journal, ran a 7.17 from movement from a 3 point. Not bad for indoors and in flats.
I had 4 other athletes between 7.50 and 7.65. There is a battle on for the 3 other 4x100 spots now! The kids are loving the challenge.
We are scheduled for ameet Friday, however, the tracks are iced over and it doesn’t look to melt in the next day. I anticipate a cancellation, which I embrace. If moved to next week, I would be happy.
Next Thursday is the county indoor championship. I plan on running D in the 60m. I do not think he will have any trouble at it, but who knows who didn’t run indoor.
Thurs. March 24
temp 30 f
100/200
12 x 110 very easy due to cold
400
10x110
5x200
All easy
Meet tomorrow canceled due to cold and snowy track.
Tomorrow plan is 60 and 80 m time trials indoors.
Fri mar 25
Indoors today…temp was 32 F
100/200
2 x30 time trial
2 x 60 time trials
Overall great results. I think ill have more girls talent than I thought. The boys team is loaded with short sprinters.
D ran a 7.07 60 from 3 point. By far fastest training time this year.
400m
300+4 x 60
250 + 3 x 60
200+ 2 x 60
150+ 1 x60
Liked this workout alot. The first 60 was always rough. The second was alot faster.
Mon march 28
100/200
Blocks 4x10 m
2 x 300 @ 85-90%
1 x 150
Many guys had just lifted heavy in gym class. I wasn’t hhappy about it. Coach would let kids lift after practice.
400 m
2 athletes felt poor. Did 9 x 300 tempo easy
3 did 2x 300+150
They did better than first time. Finishing rep is still a struggle.
Update: May 10
Temp: 65, slight wind.
Today was the last dual meet. Going into this meet, we were co-champs, and would win division outright with victory. We won huge on the boys side. The girls team is young and ended up 2-3. There is upside in the next year, which I hope to post more about soon.
Everyone ran well overall. I was very pleased. Relays ran SB’s or close to them. Many people ran SB or PRs today. Many field events set or equaled PRs as well.
I hope to re type some of the deleted posted from the server issue to fill in blanks for month of April.
Next up is Saturday weekend invitational meet, then regionals 6 days after that.
Friday may 20
regional meet
Boys took second overall. Nearly everyone set season best or pr times/ distances.
6 kids made state finals to be run june 4.
Overall very pleased.
League meet is Tues and Thurs is counties.
Hey ESTI,
Congrats on getting so many kids into the state finals! They must be super-excited. I thought of you last week when we had brutal weather and our kids had to work indoors. It really sucks sometimes!
How did your girls come along in the 100 and 200? Are you happy with the way your 400m runners are finishing races this year as compared to last?
The girls did well overall. Their times didn’t improve much in the 100&200. 400 times dropped a ton. The two who started using KKs template are so strong in finishing.
I am debating on using it for all during outdoors next year. Spend the winter working up to 60 m then outdoors on finishing.
The boys won the division meet! Alot if good performances. My 400 guy ran a 22.3 200…a school record. He later ran a 50.3. The first 200 was into stiff wind.
Thursday was the county meet. Weather was awful. Low 50s and pouring rain. 400 guy ran anchor in 4 x 800 in 1:58 split. About four later ran 59.5 with another stiff wind. Came in at 200 in 25. I was at 200 mark instead of across track. Given he is usually 24-26 splits…I think he can go low 48 s. State best time is 47.7. Low 48 should be top 8 finish based on years past.
State finals are in 1 week
Today was last practice at the school. Tomorrow we travel to the site of state finals. Kids got therapy daily for the past weedk. They feel good and are running well this week. Our goal is school records in the 4 x 800 and 4 x 400 and my 400 m kid place top 8 and break 48.5. I will report back Saturday night
I’m not sure if posts were lost. My runner took 8th in the 400m state finals and is now running at Harvard.
My boy sprinters were all seniors leaving a big whole for next year.
Once the school year ended two weeks after the season, I had 3 freshman train with me all summer 3 days a week. We followed KK’s 6 week GPP cycle and then a 4 week transition period. School then started back up. One girl took 2 months off, while the boys continued to train. We went to more s-l GPP in sept and october 2 days a week with tires, box jumps, throws etc.
One boy is playing basketball now leaving the remaining boy from the summer. He is 15, a sophomore (grade 10). He has made tremendous improvement since last march. At the end of summer, he ran a 39.0 300, and 7.35 60 (all HT).
He hasn’t missed a workout since march and has been looking good lately. in the middle of his SPP right now, he ran 2 60’s (50 hard, maintain 10) in 7.30, 7.38 with walk back rest in flats. Very excited to see where the year will take him.
The girls are back training after some time off. With the success of a modified KK progression, and seeing the improvement in distances from 60-400 in different kids, I am going to use this as the main program for my team. I feel it trains enough qualities to run a variety of events, and multiple runs in a given meet. I have used a few modifications.
My boys 4x400 team is going to be exciting to see this year. We lost our best member, but still have 5-6 who can run sub 54, if not all faster. Last year we took 16th in states with a 3:27. I think this group can challenge for a state medal for top 8 this year. with 3 runners PB’s near 52 last season, I think I may get 3-4 runners near 50 seconds. I have a 11th grade transfer who ran 51 on his relay team last year and runs 300H in 39.X
I will update during the winter indoor meets some of the runners will participate in.
Thanks for the update. Did you alter much / anything from KK’s plan?
Thanks for this update Esti.
You are working hard for these athletes and making your own way with your experience.
I was wondering if we might get coaching feedback from Darren Clark who KK tells me has started to coach again.
Aside from the numerous Darren Clark stories what I remember most about this very talented athlete was Charlie performing cross friction massage on his hamstring to break up heaps of scar tissue not long before his performance in Seoul.
In the summer we did 2 days of the split runs and one day of short runs with tires out to 30. It was a M W F set up, but followed a similar progression in the GPP. I’ll dig up my notes and post them when I get a minute to look for them.
Thanks Ang!
It would be very interesting to hear from Darren. Maybe a KK and Darren interview! Recall stories they both remember. It might be interesting discussion for sure, as the coach’s viewpoint is very different from the athlete’s.
feb 25, 2012
Today is our indoor state finals. I have a runner doing the 200, and 800. Also, the 4x800 and 4x400 relay qualified.
2 weeks ago, my 200 runner went 23.22 FAT from lane 6 on flat track. Anything sub 23 would be great today. He went through a 6 week GPP KK-style.
My 800m runner went 2:05, 3 seconds from his outdoor PR last season. He went through 12 weeks of KK’s GPP.
2 of the other relay runners have also went through 12 weeks of GPP. They have only run 1 400m race, the 4x400 qualifier they ran. Their 400m times are 2 seconds from last season’s bests.
I think both relays have potential to be outdoor top 8 in the state. I’ll update on results later today!
What a day!
My 200m runner was so nervous when he was picked up from his house, he walked out with the TV remote control still in his hand!
Out of the 5 athletes who qualified for the meet, I have trained 4 of them all winter so far (using KK’s template). our 4x800 team ran awful overall. 2 runners, brothers, had made a 2 day drive from Miami to Detroit and arrived Thursday evening. They both ran awful. They ran on pace for about 500m and then faded. The other two runners, who stayed home over this mid winter break, ran season PB’s, which I was happy about. They ended up 7th and getting a medal. Had they run near their potential, we’d have placed about 5th. So although they ran poor, it was nice to get on the podium.
Next up was the 200m. My athlete realized he forgot his racing number as his heat was called. He sprinted to his bag and got back just as the starter was calling on your marks! He got the pins on and ran 23.34, 0.05 from a medal! His heat was a dead heat with another runner. He was slightly disappointed since he ran 23.22 a week before. Maybe if the racing number was on, he might have run that again!
In the open 800, one of the brothers, ran another ragged race.
In the 4x400, it was just awful. The brothers ran 58/59s when they have run 52/54 a few weeks ago. That travel just kicked their butt. The other two did fine considering my mistake in putting the brothers first. We were about 100m behind by the third leg.
It was a great experience overall.
In other events, the boys 60m was won in 6.85, announced as the 6th fastest time by HS kid in US this year. The girls 60m was won in 7.71 by an 8th grader! The girls 400 was won in 57 by another 8th grader! The girls 200m was won in 24.43, 4th fastest time in US this year. In the girls 60m Hurdles, Tiffani (Porter) Ofili’s sister beat her high school best 60m indoor time and won.
We start track practice officially march 12. That is when all 50+ kids come out and chaos begins! Hopefully the weather stays warm as it has been upper 30s and into the 50s all winter so far with only 3-4 light snow falls that have melted within a day afterwards.
For some runners, the next meet will be March 30 for our indoor county meet, which will be a 1-2 event meet for those guys and serves as a time trial. The first outdoor meet will be April 21.
Based on the indoor 200m time, I think our school record from last year of 22.3 HT will be broken this year given good conditions. our 4x800 team should be a top 8 team in the state, as they missed top 8 last season by 0.5 and took 10th. The team is back, minus one runner, but the times so far indicate equal potential, if not better.
This week started out outdoor season! All week the weather was above 60F, reaching near 80 mid week.
Monday, I had over 60 boys and girls sprinters, much higher than the group last year. After teaching the warm-up, I did a 60m test and a 200m test. With group sizes so large, I felt the need to get kids in groups based on ability.
Tuesday was acceleration themed day. With 1 other coach, we did wall runs for posture and leg drive, tire sprints. We finished with tempo 6x150 with 250m walk.
Wednesday was planned recovery day. We did 10x100 tempo and the 30 sec/30 sec ab circuit from Jane Project DVD
Thursday: Speed day focus, which turned into chaos when a coach was called into work. Circuits were tire sprints, wall posture drills, and 10 yd power sprints (focus on getting to 10 in 6 steps with proper leg drive). I had a station for getting kids into blocks and with 60 kid, I should have kept it simple but decided to make it more difficult than it had to be. Cool down was 3 laps of baton passes.
Friday: 5x200 intensive tempo, based on Monday’s times. The times were set at 85-90% of their 200m effort. Most were able to finish the workout at pace.
The mid distance group from indoors did Long hills on Sunday, a distance run Monday, they all complained about leg and back pain, which is odd since they have been great all winter. Tuesday and Wednesday was all distance recovery runs. Thursday was 300+200 (42 sec +100%), 300+150 (42 sec +100%), 300+100 (42+100%), 300 (100%).
Friday they did 5-6x20. Two runners made 5 200s in 26 with 2 min rest, one made all 6. Promising sign for this upcoming year.