I don’t understand why when an athlete is good at both sprints and longer stuff, the coach tends to favor the “longer” side of him/her…
Which is very frustrating for the athlete who would most logically want to do the “shorter” stuff.
There is beauty in speed from the very start. With distance running, you have to learn to love it, I think.
That was just a random thought for the day in response to your comment… :o
Stefanie, et. al.
Yeah, I was and still am very strange with my “hybrid” approach to events. It’s like I can adapt to whatever event I need to do well in. There is no rhyme or reason to it; I’ve always been fast and could always jump out of the gym and had to learn endurance. Like you said, you really do have to learn to love distance, which I don’t. I’m really not built like your prototypical distance runner. I’m more of a football player/weight lifter build but at the same time I can go for a long time. Now, after several years of endurance I’m trying un-do that and re-program for more speed. It’s very hard. When I’m running a few 200’s, I look at my watch and say, “how in the world did I used to run 22 seconds for this?”
The disagreement with the coach (this was my undergrad days at Uni. of Kentucky) maybe was based on the type of training that I was doing at the time, which was putting in many miles. I would have been content with 400/800—not mile/2 mile. I even won our state long jump and he didn’t even want me to do that event, so I just left it at that.
It’s all good now, though, no big regrets.
I’m a little sore in the butt, lower back, hamstrings, and calves so no workouts today other than some odd grip stuff. You gotta keep the hands strong. I can easily close the ironmind #2 gripper, which is 200 lbs. of pressure, and am beginning to work on the #3.
I can sympathize- the speed stuff you really have to maintain. When doing 200’s at the beginning of the season, 31s for reps feels like the fastest I can possibly go, but by the end of the season, its like repeats at 27 and 28 are a breeze! just give some time 
I have always tended to do lots of longer runs and trail runs in the summers and I am still doing longer stuff now- I think if you’re on the adaptable side as an athlete this can change things up a bit and provide some strength. even if it’s not AS applicable to sprinting it is still mental training in your head!
That is how I am looking at the “distance” work I’m doing. I look at it as putting money in the bank for savings. I believe that a good base is always helpful to draw on, especially for 400/800 and if you can work on speed and endurance concurrently, then do it.
The hill work I do really roughs me up, sometimes to the point where I start hallucinating when I finally reach the top. Sometimes, when I run hard up the hill, I’m so out of commission that makes me nautious and dizzy that I start seeing things that aren’t there and conversating with the pine trees. The stray doggs will only chase me halfway up the hill, then they give up and just watch me lose it. These are not the steepest hills in the world, but they are kinda long and steady. I love it though because it is helping me to progress quickly, especially for a life-long flat lander like me .
There are so many theories out there on how to workout/train the right way, but I tend to just do my own thing and have always had problems with coaches and pre-planned schedules of training. For some reason, I do well on un-structured training. I was always the guy could perform well on little training. Same thing for weightlifting. My best lifts were after I did nothing for two weeks but hang out on the beach. Rest days are more important as time goes on. Pretty soon, though, I am gonna narrow the focus and really try to apply myself. In the end it’s just all in fun for me.
Now, time to dig into my halloween candy!!
Back to the track today:
–800m warm up
–9x100m
Within 5 of those 100’s, I added some flying 30’s or whatever they’re called.
–1x200m medium/hard effort
–Ended with an easy 500m followed by lots of stretching.
I think I’m finally BEGINNING to make some inroads into my CNS. The first few 100’s found me easily cruising across the line rather than huffing, puffing, and cramping. My body may just be learning to un-do the “distance mode” and to return to speed again.
Later
I am one of those folks who enjoys taking off their shoes and getting some sand between your toes. Well, today is that type of day. Clear blue skies, green, green grass and the perfect temperature. I love fall weather and its cooler temps, lower humidity, and the fact that I don’t have to deal with chiggers, no-see-ums, giant mosquitos, or biting flies when I run.
Often times, it gets so hot down here the black top melts so you end up with tar between your toes. Not today, this is one to get out and enjoy. Perfect day for anything outdoors in the South-land.
Today’s exercise:
–Half mile warm up, including one run up “The Hill.” A little stretching to go along with it.
–Power cleans --four sets of three reps.
–One arm snatch-- four sets of four R/L
–Clean pulls. four sets of three
–abs, core, abs, core. As I am progressing, I am learning just how important a strong core is for the events and the training we put ourselves through.
–A few jumps onto my 41" ledge.
It’s really cool how my body is responding to the weight workouts. After a little layoff, I am very rapidly regaining strength and will soon be back up to my previous levels of power. I may start adding in some heavy deadlifts soon. The deadlift was one of my two “must do” exercises along with overhead squats. Those two moves will work nearly everything in your body and make you cry for mercy. My right rotator cuff is still bumming, so anything that involves the shoulder hurts. So, until that improves, I’ll have to just wait on the military presses. The doctor prescribed exercises just haven’t done the trick, so I’m going back to the doctor to see what we can do.
Until next time…peace
I woke up this morning before the roosters and I’ve been up kinda late the last couple of nights so, since I’m sorta tired and not really totally recovered, I thought I would just do a general fitness type of plan today, you know what I’m sayin??
–A little bit of jump rope–a few sets of 50 jumps.
–A little bit of kettlebelling–four sets of 20
swings.
–abs, core, abs, core…
–a 25 minute interval run with some walking, jogging, and hard runnin up that big ole hill.
–I’ve been doing Stefanie’s heel walks to help strengthen my shins and I’ve got to say, it’s starting to work. I can already feel a difference. Thanks for the tip, Stef
With the way my body recovers, it seems like every fourth workout is REALLY good, and the next few are just OK to mediocre. Part of this is not getting enough rest and part of it is diet related, which I’ll get into on another day 
"…don’t call my name out your window when I’m a leavin’, I won’t even turn my head. Don’t send your kinfolk to give me no talkin’, I’ll be gone like I said…
Yo, I ain’t doing jack today as far working out is concerned, nada. My legs need the day off. I just had a great lunch of pork bar-b-que, collard greens and fried okra. Oh, and don’t forget the cornbread.
Do ya’ll like fried okra? I can’t live without it. The very best thing about this time of year is eating from a garden and sitting on the back porch shooting at the telephone line.
Any time 
Question: what is kettlebelling? 
Stefanie,
A kettlebell is an iron ball with a thick handle that comes in various weights ranging from 20 lbs. all the way up to 100. I guess the main purpose of this thang is to perform one arm snatches and clean/jerks. Some folks compete in “girevoy” which is Russian for “kettlebell sport” competition–where the athletes try to do as many snatches and cleans/jerks in a set time limit. These two moves will make you bust a gut, however there are many, many other exercies such as military press, bent press, windmills, the Turkish get-up, 1 leg deadlifts and more. The competition lifts and supplementary exercises make kettlebell lifting a superb strength-and-conditioning routine for athletes. In fact, the Olympic lifts, the “Snatch,” and “Clean and Jerk” are two of the most productive exercises anyone can do. They involve more muscles of the body than any other exercise, and due to the explosive nature of the lifts, the workloads are incredibly high. I guess you could look at working out with kettlebells as a “poor man’s olympic lifts”, however, due to the technical nature of these lifts with a barbell, high repetition sets are not recommended, but with a Kettlebell, the lifts are less technical so one’s form does not deteriorate, making high reps much much safer and it allows for the strength-endurance element. Many people suppose that one could get the same benefits from training with dumb-bells. While the total mechanics of why kettlebells are superior to dumb-bells is difficult to explain, here are a few basics.
The kettlebell has a very thick handle. Which makes it more difficult to handle and builds better grip strength.
As a dumb-bell is lifted higher (such as in a curl) the center of gravity remains in line with the hand and forearm, and tension/force dissipates. The kettlebell, on the other hand, is constantly pulling against the force applied due to it’s “offset” center of gravity, which also works the stabilizing muscles much harder. I use it in combination with my barbell work.
I hope I explained it ok for you. I don’t do the competitions, but on day when I can’t get to the track or get out of the house, I’ll go down to the garage and do some one arm snatches or swings with my 53 lbs. bell and, afterwards, my body is begging for mercy. They’ll put a hurtin on you and will leave you gasping for breath. Here’s a good website to give you an idea www.russiankettlebells.com/.
Saturday
I couldn’t make it out to the track today for my scheduled tempo workout, so I decided to just hit the weights instead. Those few of you who actually read this foolishness that I post on here already know the drill.
–kettlebell one arm snatches–4x4
–power cleans–180 lbs–4 sets of 3
–clean pulls–220 lbs–4 sets of 3
–abs, core, abs, core, abs, core.
–Please don’t make fun of the light weights on the cleans.
Days like today make me glad that I have my own full set of olympic bars, plates, squat rack, etc. at home, where I can workout and watch football at the same time.
This kettleball thing looks interesting. Is the ball solid, or filled with sand? Can you do med ball type exercises with as well?
There are some kettlebells that are plastic coated and filled with sand, but the one I have is a solid 53 lb. iron ball. I have to very careful with it and allow for some room just in case it were to slip. It’s a very versatile tool. You can do everything with that you can with dumbells, but this thing is harder to control and works the grip/hands/forearms better. I’m not really familiar with the medicine ball stuff, so I don’t know how that would apply with kettlebells. It’s not the end-all/be-all exercise like the website claims, but it is a great tool to have in addition to all your other weights. If you do a search, you’ll find several companies that make these things in several different versions, and some even have plate-loaded kettlebells where you can add plates as you increase strength.
"…don’t call my name out your window when I’m a leavin’, I won’t even turn my head. Don’t send your kinfolk to give me no talkin’, I’ll be gone like I said…
One more thang I forgot to add in case yall are interested. I’m making my favorite meal tonight–rice and tomato gravy.
This is an old Florida recipe:
–cook you some rice
–chop you some onions
–fry the bacon in a skillet–save the grease though, that’s very important.
–once the bacon is crispy, take it out and leave some of the grease in the pan.
–take your diced onion, and brown it up in the bacon grease, till the oninon starts to caramelize.
–mix in some flour with the grease and onions, then take a couple cans of diced tomato and put in the grease mix. Simmer for 20 minutes or until it’s like a gravy consistency.
–after 20 minutes, take your bacon and crumble it over the tomato gravy.
–pour the gravy over the rice.
Now, it’s time to watch the football game…
Today is another off day, that is unless you count doing laundry all day and going up/down stairs cleaning the house; that makes two out of the last three days as rest days. Fortunately, I can get away with this without losing anything. You know, I may take tomorrow off too if I feel like it. I’m a believer in doing speed sessions while coming off rest days in order to be totally restored for quality work. If I try to do speed work the day following weights or longer runs, I’ll have a piss-poor effort for speed, and we just can’t have that, you know what I’m saying?
Oh, and more other thing. What is this “rep power-19” that’s in the corner of my screen?
I had the same question once, and I’m not sure if I competely understand…something with people giving you reputation points or something like that, depending on whether they like your posts or not…
There is an icon on the upper right of each post (next to the post number) that says “add to reputation”, I think if you click on that, you can add to someone’s reputation power.
As I was eating my grits and eggs this morning I got to thinking about why it seems to take so long to get back into shape after a long layoff from training. As we get older with more responsibilities, it’s just tougher to be active–at least for many it is. When I was in college and even in graduate school, I worked physical jobs in the summers. Building fences, picking cotton, hanging tobacco in barns and a couple of other things that worked you over. Then, after that hard work, I would still go out and do my running or weight workouts. I was a beast. Now, instead of being on my feet all day and constantly lifting and throwing stuff, I work in a white collar job where I don’t break a sweat, so vigorous activity (of the workout variety) is more limited. Fortunately, I’ve got a metabolism that burns hotter than a furnace, but, it ain’t always a gonna be that way, so, in order to fight this, I’m lifting heavier and making my workouts more intense. I’m also keeping my portions in check with the food. It’s all working, too, because I can feel it with each passing day. My lifting poundages are approaching previous highs, my bodyweight is constant, my bodyfat is dropping fast (it’s around 10%) and I’m not getting winded as easy as I used to at the start of this whole experiment.
Today it’s sunny and 80 degrees so it’s outside to the track for some fast runnin:
–800m warm up
–7x100m–75% effort
–2x200m–75% effort
–500m at medium pace
–tons of stretching. I can almost do the splits again.
–a few jumps onto my 41" inch ledge. Does that count as plyometrics?
I’m in about my 8th week of general prep stuff and am thinking about extending gpp further, maybe out till January. I’ve got to lay a good foundation and I don’t want to peak until July. What do ya’ll think about an extended gpp?
“Them boys are trapped like two foxes in a hen house with a sack fulla eggs.”
11-8-05
I was up very late last night and only got about 3-4 hours of sleep, so I’m draggin my feet today and I almost fell asleep in a looonnnggg meeting I had this morning at work. We got one little break when a woman’s cell phone went off during the meeting. I’m one of those guys who doesn’t really care for cell phones but I have to admit, they have bailed me out on occasion. On a side note, my employer has a rule. When we are in a meeting, if your cell phone goes off, you buy pizza for everyone in the building. We have a 3 floor building where we have our meetings so it can get expensive. The rule is enforced and about once every month or so one goes off. I like mine with sausage and pepperoni and we don’t buy pizza hut, either .
Today, my legs feel like lead. I was going along fine yesterday in my workout, until I ran those 200’s back to back with about 2 minutes rest in between. I probably need to work on that don’t I?
This afternoon:
–Weights, but not as heavy today since I’m not totally recovered.
–half mile warm up
–stretching
–power cleans
–Kettlebell one arm snatches
–overhead squats!!!
–abs, core, abs, core, abs.
–some plyo jumps
Again, I am fortunate to have a full olympic weight set at home with all the plates and bars you could ever need. I also have a nice squat rack. If I had to drive to a gym somewhere, I probably wouldn’t be very consistent with strength training. I love lifting at home and you all are welcome to come down and workout with me anytime.
“…I’ve been to Georgia on a fast train honey…I wudn’t born no yesterday…Got a good Christian raisin’ and an eighth grade educashun…ain’t no need in y’all a treatin’ me this way…”
Another late night last night!! I’ve got to get some more rest if I expect to recover properly; easier said than done though, ain’t it? I felt strong yesterday with my weight workout and feel like I’m progressing well in that area.
It’s sunny and 84 degrees today, so it’s outside for some general fitness stuff:
–kettlebell swings–a few sets of 20 reps
–25 minute run, intervals to be exact. Run hard for about 100m, jog or walk, repeat. I’m also running at a good pace up that 350m hill, the one that wares me out and makes me hallucinate by the time I get to the top.
–As always, lots of stretching.
–abs, abs, abs, then when I’m done…some more abs.
–cool down with some walkin and a cold drink. It was sorta hot today but hot is good. I like my weather hot, my woman hot, and my coffee hot
“…I’ve been to Georgia on a fast train, honey…I wudn’t born no yesterday…Got a good Christian raisin’ and an eighth grade educashun…ain’t no need in y’all a treatin’ me this way…”
Have ya’ll ever experienced a stabbing headache while eating ice cream or getting a piece of ice stuck in the back of your throat while sipping on a coke? I understand about 1/3 of us have this condition and, believe you me, it will bring you to your knees for about 5 or 10 seconds.
It is preventative by eating ice cream slow and taking small bites. But when you get in a hurry and gulp it down nothing on earth compares to the split second pain you get in the front of your head. It is a migraine to end all migraines for that brief moment.
Know what I’m talking about?
Anyway, Thursday was an off day for me but, as usual, I didn’t get enough rest and I don’t feel very fresh today, but, since it’s such a nice day, I had to go ahead with the workout.
–800m warm up jog to raise my body temp.
–6x100m-75%
–2x200m-75%
–1x150m-75%
–imbedded within the 100m reps, were some flying 30’s or whatever they’re called when you briefly run at top speed–then coast the rest of the way.
–500m–medium pace, maybe 60% effort.
–Stretch for a little while.
–A few jumps onto my 41" ledge