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 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.