Collin's Training Journal

Saturday
Hurdles
5x1H
3x2H-spaced in 2 feet
5x3H-spaced in 2 feet
1x4H-spaced in 2 feet

Speed Work
-3xEFE, 3xFEF
-4x30m starts
-1x50m(20m+)
-4 stadiums(i did these after my plyos)

Plyos
-3x standing leg triple jump(at least 10 yards e/)
-3x10 calf jumps
-10 box jumps to shoulder height box, then
depth drop off of it

*after i did my plyos and ran 4 stadiums, i wanted to do some more hurdles, so i did 10 times through 5 hurdles 5 stepping.

Core

Notes- I feel like I need to work harder. My lead leg is a bit too straight. my trail leg is a little wide and doesnt come through completely before I bring it down. I’m working on my lead arm which I have a tendency to carry too high. And I also am working on not ducking my head going over the hurdle. When I don’t duck my head I feel like my snapdown isn’t as powerful, but maybe I just need to become accustomed to it as it is most likely all in my head.

do you guys think i should drop weights on friday, as i am beginning SE? this Wednesday my lower body strength wasn’t there. How and when should I structure my weights to let my SE begin to progress?

Sunday
Rest

Monday
Hurdles
-Drills
-5x1H
5x2H (spaced in 2 feet)
5x3H (spaced in 2 feet)

Speed Work
-Starts, 3x EFE, 3x FEF
-4x30m (raced my friend who is usually faster than me, gave him 2 to 3 yards on every one)
-4x60m (raced my friend on the first two, gave him 3+ meters on them. on the 4th one i started one meter and a half behind the the start line, we had the finish line about a meter and a half past 60 meters, he stopped it a little late off a 3 count command, and i ran 7.6. so that was really like a 63m dash @ the end of the workout
-4xstadiums (after plyos)

Plyos
-3x standing double leg triple jump
-3x10 calf jumps
-3x10 depth jumps

Weights
-Back Squats(parallel)-4x4@405-4 squat jumps after each set
-Bench Press-4x4@290-4 clap pushups after each set (i missed 4th rep on set 1 and 2, missed 3rd on 3 and 4)

-RDL-3x6@325
-Leg Extensions-3x6@180
-Poor mans GHR-3x6@ BW

-Lat Pulldowns(Front)-2x6@225
-Seated Rows-2x6@180
-Military Press-3x6@155

Core
20 Captains Char
30 12lb. medball situps +3 negatives
Ad/Ab-3x10
3x15 second seated running
3x15 second run in place
calf raises/toe raises-3x10
“ledge stepdowns”-3x10
10 lunges

Notes- the temp outside @ the track was mid 40’s.
Bridgesx15 seconds each way
Glute activation exercise-10 each leg
superman
10 glute locks
stretch

I haven’t done one of my school coaches workouts since before the christmas holiday break. I have been milking an injury that has long healed. i skip practice @ school and go home to train. I have done this the whole new year. I know it helps because my friend that I was training with today is a 15"6 pole vaulter, 2 time state champ, and is normally faster than me. I was burning him today. All he does is my coach’s workouts. I skip my coach’s practices because my coach makes us do long distance aerobic runs, or Speed Endurance runs every day, never short speed. He forbids me to lift weights, which i do anyway. I get injured when I follow his advice. We have done “speed work” only about 3 times since August. I have been considering quitting school track, training myself, and competing unattatched. Any thoughts? How do colleges look upon this?

I’m actually doing this right now. I first recomend taking a serious look as to whether you have the ability to manage your own schedule (maybe find an outside coach). Then I would contact all the colleges you are thinking about running at and ask them their opinion, in most cases it is fine especially if you state that you coach was getting you injured. Then make sure that their will be unattached competitions in your area, there are quite a few in mine so I am lucky. If you have any questions feel free to post on my log or pm me. Good Luck!

Tuesday
Tempo
100,100,100
100,200,100,100
100,100,200,200
100,200,100,100
100,100,100

Core
Bridges x 15 seconds each way
(5 hurdles)-3 times through walkovers ea/ leg
3xthrough each leg(5 hurdles)- one step drill
supermans
glute lock-10
glute activation exercise-10
hurdle lead leg/trail leg fence drill x 10 ea/ leg
ab wheel-10 reps
stretch

Wednesday
Hurdles
1x8x6hurdles@ 6 yard spacing

Speed Endurance
3x250m-(during first one i felt my right hamstring tighten up a lot. i almost stopped but decided to finish. i kind of hobbled the last 100 meters and hobbled across in 32.4. My hammy now hurts just walking around the house. I scrapped the other two 250’s because jogging wasn’t exactly painless.

-planned to do 4 stadiums, did 1

Weights
planned to do some incline and maybe some lower body accessory stuff. i was pissed about my hamstring and i decided i wanted some high intensity stimulus as i have decided to wait until monday to resume training. i maxed out on bench nearly got 325. got it half way up and then stalled. i will now do tempo thurs-sat. then rest monday. what do yall think about this plan?

i was surprised that i nearly hit 325 today because i benched on monday, 290 for 4 sets (3,3,2,2)reps. ill re-max on monday when i come back, and im sure i will do more than 325

Rest- I am resting my hamstring

10x100m easy tempo

1-24-09
Saturday
Back and forth workout
set of 2, set of 4, quit in the middle of a set of 6 because my hamstring was tight

1-25-09
Sunday
Rest

1-26-09
Monday
Hamstring still too tight to do my regular speed and hurdle work. i did 2x400 and 3x200 at school practice. i just strided it though. after that i went out to the track where i do my speed and hurdle work. after i warmed up i tried to do a short acceleration. i felt tightness in my right ham and decided to skip the rest of the session. then i went to the gym. i think my strength has plateaud off of the 4x4 training, so i’ve decided to do a short cycle of lower weights and work my way back up, my weights today looked like this.

Squat-3x10@315, 3 min rest btw/ sets
Bench-3x10@225, 3 min rest btw/ sets

Hamstring Curls(up 2 legs, down 1)-3x5@ 90 pounds

Lat Pulldowns(front)-3x10@140
Seated Rows-3x10@120
Military Press-3x10@115

hurdle lead leg/trail leg drills

-I’m going to do 3x10 for 2 weeks, 3x8 for 2 weeks, 3x6 for 2 weeks, then 3x4 for 2 weeks
-I’m kind of frustrated that ive had a disruption in my training because i was going to compete this saturday. now that ive missed several of my speed and hurdle sessions i think that it is in my best interest to withhold myself from the competition.

1-27-09
Tuesday
Our coach at school made us do 6x200, then 10 hills(the hills are about 60-90 meters ea/ by my estimate)

Monday
Hurdles/Speed
-warmup/drills
-2x10x5H@6 yard spacing
-3xEFE before hurdles, 3xFEF in between hurdles sets
-1x50m (20m+) after hurdles

Weights
Back Squat-2x3@405
Bench Press-2x3@275, 1x320

Goodmornings-2x6@185, explode onto toes

Lat Pulldowns(Front)-2x6@195
Seated Rows-2x6@150
Behind the Neck Military-2x6@135

20 captains chair-straight and bent leg
30 12 pound medball situps +3 negatives
Bridges all ways
Glute activation exercises
10x Glute locks
stretch

Notes- I woke up @ 1AM because i couldn’t sleep. I went to the track at 3,30AM. i was @ the gym by 5,30AM. i kinda like it and im going to do this more often. i haven’t posted in a while because i didnt work out since last wednesday because i was planning to run in a meet on saturday. i ended up not running. its a long story, basically i got into trouble. I think i have been overworking myself a little bit. from now on i am going to lean on the side of doing a little less than i should than a little more. i may not progress as rapidly, but i won’t have to sit out for injury and will progress more consistently over time.

I haven’t been keeping up with this lately. I have been training. I just log it in my notebook at home.

I am at a breaking point as far as school track goes. I have considered and talked about quitting my school team. I need advice because I am at a crossroads and need to make an important decision. Every single day we do a 1 mile warmup and a 1 mile cool-down. we do distance 2 days a week (4laps, 3 laps, 2 laps, 1 lap) or “whistle runs” of 12 minutes alternating 30 seconds run, 30 seconds jog. All the distance makes me stiff, makes my speed work not productive, and gets me injured.
About 2 weeks ago my coach yelled at me during one of the many miles we run during practice because I was far behind the “lead group” during the first 100 meters of the mile. Angered because I am a sprinter running long distance every single day, I said “im fuckin sprinting” and I took off in a dead sprint for 150 meters until I caught the “lead group”. As I like to say “I didn’t sign up for cross country” and “i wanted to go fast”. Long story short, he made us restart because of me. That stunt pissed him off. All the distance makes me very tight and stiff when I am normally a normally limber person. Last Friday I had a cramp during a warmup 100 strider after we ran a mile. I didn’t feel okay to run until today. When I went over to run hurdles, he pulled me from the group because “I’m not ready to run hurdles” and I have to “condition” because i get injured because i’m not “in shape”. Here is what today looked like.

-1 mile warmup
-3 laps in 4:30
-100 yards of (20yard lunge,10yard inch worms)
-10 “pickups” across the field, couldnt come close to a sprint because i was too tight and stiff from distance running
-3 laps in 4:30
-100 yards of (20yard lunge, 10yard inchworm)
-1 mile cooldown(i skipped it and luckily wasn’t caught)

To top it all off my school athletic trainer accuses me of being on steroids, and I am going to miss at least the first couple meets because my coach doesn’t like my “effort”, and I have a low grade in a class. Even if I pull up the grade my coach says I still haven’t “put in the training” to race. He tells me " I know you do work on your own, stop doing everything your doing because it isn’t working". I keep getting injured this year, but it is always during his workouts. Long distance made my calves and achilles swell and ache until I got achilles tendonitis. Long distance running tired me so when I tried to sprint I messed up my hamstring.

My question is should I continue with this absurdity? Since December I have improved on hurdles so much that I think breaking 14 is a serious possibility if I don't let my coaches backwards training hamper me. My Bench max has gone from 265ish to 325. My squat has gone from roughly 365 to 500 all the while maintaining a BW of 185. Speed has improved immensely. I don't want to throw all this away. All my improvements are from my own work. I don't know what to do, I feel like I've worked so incredibly hard, and it may all be for nothing. I don't know when my coach may let me race, and if I listen to him I may lose my improvements. It is my senior year, I've worked harder the past 4 months on improving than I have worked on anything in my entire life and it all seems to be going to shit. What should I do? Help me, please. Any advice will be appreciated.

And I thought my HS coaches were bad… But it sounds like you really don’t have any way around this. I don’t know of what the rules are in Alabama, but I’d look into seeing if you could run unattatched or possibly find a way to choose your own meets while still competing for your school. We had a great pole vaulter that was able to get away with that because our coaches didn’t know jack about coaching pole vault. Hopefully you can find your way around the politics and poor lack of judgement by your coaches and find yourself competing at a high level.

On Saturday I did 4 sets of 8 back and forths. 5 hurdles down 5 hurdles back spaced at 12 yards, 5 step. Basically 320 hurdles broken into sets of 80 hurdles.

Today, Tuesday I was planning on 5 hurdles down 5 hurdles back, shuttle style. Regular spacing minus one foot. Before I ran hurdles I did 3xEFE, then 3xFEF. On the third FEF i felt a pop in my right hamstring. I laid down on the turf in complete exasperation.

Then i went to the gym, as i usually do when im pissed off, and decided to try to max out on bench. short story short, i missed 325. I did some pull-ups then went home. I feel all my hard work going to crap. Injury after injury keeps me from training. I am rendered incapable of sprinting from improper training. Something must change.

there is no bruising in my hamstring this morning, but there is significantly less ROM, tenderness, and pain and difficulty squatting down, bending over etc. I don’t think I feel any rift in the muscle, but it will not flex up like the other one. It does hurt a little bit to sit down. What do you guys think happened. Is it possible to hear a pop and have no sort of rupture in the muscle?

I did not keep my log updated as I said I would. After March I had to quit doing any workouts outside of school track just to salvage the last half of the season. I missed the first 5 of our 10ish meets. I ran a 14.598 at the State Championships to get third. First place was 14.587. I am a little disappointed that I did not run faster this season, but considering my setbacks (6 injuries) I think that I am lucky to have competed at all. I had a PR of 39.52, which surprised me because I have done almost nothing to increase my 400 meter capabilities. I think my increased hurdling ability allowed me to run a faster time even though I was a better 400 runner last year. I am going to walk on to Louisiana Tech University’s track team in the fall.

New Stats (best)

Bench Max-335
Squat-430x6

110H-14.598
300H-39.52