Had another league competition today at Milton Keynes.
The 100m was a bit on the slow side considering the 2.0m/s tail wind (11.06), but I’ve realised that my hamstrings are too tight/lacking in flexibility and are limiting my top speed. So I need to add in some exercises to my warmup/training sessions that will correct that.
Having spent about 45 minutes purely warming up/stretching my hamstrings I finished the 200m in 21.58 (1.4m/s) which is okay, 0.19 off my PB, but still quicker than the 21.75 I ran this time last season (first sub 22 of that year) so I’m on the right track.
I then ran second leg in our 4x100m relay team who clocked 41.53 which was a new division, league and club record, so that was a good end to the day.
I now need to rest and try to recover before I compete at the Internationales Pfingstsportfest in Germany on Monday!
Well it was the Oxfordshire County Championships this weekend.
Bit disappointing for me as I was 2nd in both my events which doesn’t happen very often at county level! I’m still recovering from all the competitions I’ve been doing recently and as before, my hamstrings were hindering my top speed again.
I ran 10.88 in the 100m, which while technically a PB was run with a +2.1m/s tailwind so it doesn’t really count.
So having lost the 100m on Saturday I was fairly confident I could win the 200m today, however with my lack of top end speed and the fact the guy who won somehow managed to run a 0.56s PB (probably down to the +2.5m/s tailwind again). My 21.67 wasn’t quite enough. Which is annoying because if there was less wind, or even a headwind, it would have made my top end speed less important and my endurance probably would have pulled me through to 1st. But unfortunately races aren’t won with ‘ifs’
Given the wind assistance in both runs, I should have been faster over both events though, especially the 200m. So I’m just going to concentrate on recovery and trying to regain some of the hamstring flexibility I appear to have lost over the past couple of months in preparation for my next BAL match for Southampton.
I’m not overly bothered though as I’ve never been particularly quick at this stage in the season, I tend to build up to my PBs gradually and have always run my fastest times later in the season at bigger competitions like UK Championships and CAU Championships etc.
I suspect that the fact I got put in lane 1 today, which goes against the normal seeding procedure, was down to the fact I got into an argument with the officials yesterday about them messing up peoples entries and assigning incorrect numbers and then bullying the athletes into them thinking it was their fault.
Back to proper training after giving myself the weekend off, I just felt like all the competitions were catching up with me a bit so I decided to just let myself recover properly and then hit it again hard as of this week.
I don’t know if it’s actually due to the rest or not, but the PNF stretching I’ve been doing seems to be doing wonders for my hamstrings. I felt like I was able to ‘open up’ into my stride a lot more during tonight’s session, which was as follows…
1 lap slow jog
20 minutes dynamic warmup and drills
20 minutes of various drills over a set of 6 hurdles
3 warmup runs/strides
2 sets of 4x80m @ 95-97% (basically just fast but not completely flat out)
3:30 between runs, 12 minutes between sets
So yesterday was my second Division 2 BAL match for Southampton.
First event of the day was a non-scoring 100m, came up far to early out of the blocks and lost some ground at the start. But I managed to make up some of the distance over the remainder of the race to finish in 10.96.
I could really feel my hamstrings tightening on every stride in that race, definitely going to have to go to a physio soon and just get them to check it’s not something else causing the tightness, as I’d really like to get that sorted before we get too far through the season.
I then had about a 4 hour wait until the A string 200m, I did a fairly extended warmup for this after my tightness in the 100m and was feeling much more limber this time. I had caught up the stagger after about 80m and held the lead until the finish clocking 21.69, and while the wind gauge showed a 1.2 tail wind, there was also a strong headwind most of the way round the bend that it didn’t pick up. So the time wasn’t too bad considering.
I can feel that the speed is there, and I’m sure once I get my flexibility issues sorted I’ll be running PB’s in no time, it’s just frustrating that I haven’t been able to get near the 21.45 indoor time I ran yet.
The 4x100m didn’t go too well however, I was running second leg against Adam Gemili, and in my eagerness to keep up with him down the back straight I ended up outrunning the 1st leg runner, which was doubly annoying as our team could easily have beaten the winning time of 42.8 had we got the baton round. But these things happen…
Ran 10.85 into a -1.1 headwind, so I’ve finally managed to break past 10.90!
Definitely starting to feel like I’m getting into better form now, hamstrings felt a bit more relaxed during the runs today. Still didn’t get the best start, but I was able to make up for it more in the last half of the race this time.
I then ran 21.57 in the 200m. Wind indicator wasn’t working for my race but the one before was -1.7 and the one after was -2.1, so definitely a headwind again. Eased off with about 5 metres to go so certainly would have been a seasons best if I’d run through the line, probably not enough for a PB though.
But again, it felt like by far the easiest 200m I’ve had all season. Didn’t feel tired or like I was losing form at all coming off the bend. So given better conditions I’m sure I could have run a decent PB.
Typically I peak later in the season anyway, so this all fits with my performances from previous years. Still more to come before the end of the season!
Monday 19th August
3 lap slow jog
30 minutes warm-up
2 x acceleration runs
6 x 30m weight sledge runs (25kg) 3 minute rest between runs
6 x 150m @ 95% with 5 minutes between runs
Monday 26th August
3 lap slow jog
30 minutes warm-up
15 minutes drills over 7 hurdles
3 x acceleration runs
3 sets of 4 x 80m @ 90-95% (3 minutes between runs, 10 minutes between sets)
Tuesday 27th August
1 lap slow jog
30 minutes circuit exercises (press ups, speed drills over aerobic step boxes etc.)
4 sets of 200m, 150m, 100m @ 85-90% (3 minutes between runs, 8 minutes between sets)
Thursday 29th August
1 lap slow jog
30 minutes resistance exercises, press ups, dips, medball etc.
1st set @ 85%: 100m, 150m, 200m, 250m (rest: slow walk equal to distance just run)
10 minute break
2nd set @ 85%: 300m, 250m, 150m, 50m (rest: slow walk equal to distance just run)
Saturday 31st August
3 lap slow jog
30 minutes warm-up and sprint drills
3 x acceleration runs
5 x 30m block starts @ 100% (about 4 minutes between runs)
3 x 180m @ 20.60s, 20.45s, 20.80s (12 minutes between runs)
Monday 2nd September
1 lap slow jog
30 minutes warm-up and drills over hurdles
2 x acceleration runs
3 x 120m 40/40/40 = fast/relaxed/fast (10 minutes between runs)
2 x 120m 40/40/40 = relaxed/fast/relaxed (10 minutes between runs)
Wednesday 4th September
1 lap slow jog
30 minutes warm-up and sprint drills
2 x acceleration runs
3 x flying 50m @ 95% (5 minutes between runs)
2 x 220m @ 95% (15 minutes between runs)
Saturday 6th September
3 lap slow jog
30 minutes warm-up and sprint drills
2 x acceleration runs
5 x block starts at 90% (4 minutes between runs) Slightly lower than normal speed to concentrate on foot placement and technique over first 5-10m.
3 x 150m @ 95% (12 minutes rest between runs)
Notes:
Today’s block session had much more emphasis on technique than speed. We had markers set out at intervals measured from the first block, which were my calculated foot strike distances (assuming a 100m time of 10.6, which is what I should be aiming for next season)
What we noted was that my first foot strike was fine, but the second two were coming up short by almost a foot of the desired position. I then made a conscious effort during the last three runs to just slow myself down a bit, and concentrate more on really swinging my arms and driving the legs forward (while keeping the foot low) almost mimicking an ice skating motion.
These 3 runs looked much more technically sound, and in addition to bringing my whole block setup forward about an inch, and also placing my hands closer together on the track (almost under my shoulders a la Usain Bolt) it made for a much more effective first 5m.
So I’ll be very interested to see if come winter season, this brings my 60m and later in the season, my 100m, into line with my 200m time.
Wednesday 9th September
1 lap slow jog
30 minutes warm-up and sprint drills
2 x acceleration runs
2 sets of 3 x 90m @ 100% to 60m, relax/maintain last 30m
5 minutes between runs, 15 minutes between sets
The first couple of times I tried it was a struggle, not because I couldn’t physically reach them, but because mentally I was so used to my normal shorter strides.
The next couple of runs felt easier and less like I was ‘reaching’ for the marks, and just putting my feet there because that’s where they should be.
Honestly I’m not sure, my coach put the markers out for me. But I’m sure I can find out if you’d like to know?
