HS Short Sprinter's Training Journal

i try to do 3 high intensity days, 3 low intensity days and one day completely off. i do tempo on low intensity days but not every time, sometimes ill do a recovery circuit or something else with a similar affect as tempo

just make your own sled, thats what i did. i just used stuff i already had. i used a bag (dont use something you care about it started ripping after two or three sessions), duck tape, string, weights and a belt. its not pretty but it works

EFE is when you do a run typically its split up into 3 20m sections and you do a sub max build up for 20m then you start running pretty hard and then you coast, hence the name you go easy fast then easy.

dont worry i dont mind the questions, i always like discussing training.

July 24

Weights
DB Military Press 3x8
Chin Ups 3x8
Weight Circuit 2x10
abs- 300 reps

Today i was going to do something temp- like and MB accels but i walked around a lot today so i dropped that stuff cause i didnt want to overdue it.

Hey Jordan,

I had made a response to this last night but it didnt post and i lost it.

Thats cool, do you use deload weeks?

Your right! Thats tomorrows project! i actually used to fill a duffel bag with sacks of sand and drag it but that was for a conditioning circuit well before i was training for speed. Haha no it wont be pretty! you should see my med ball, i made it out of a basketball, sand and duct tape.

Ah yeah that makes sense! I’ll give them a go!

Do you use the 10% rule when using the weighted sled?

I do deload. For GPP that made it a little interesting since its 10 weeks so i couldn’t do the usual 3+1, So i am doing 3+1+4+2

I use the 10% rule roughly, i dont exactly figure out what 10% is but i just use a weight that doesn’t alter form which is the purpose of the 10% rule. I am using 15 pounds as my sled, but i am a small guy 140-145lbs.

July 25

Sled
2x5x30m
R: 3’, 6’

Weights + Plyos
Clean 18x1x85% R: 60"
Squat 3x8x72.5%
SLJ 2x5
Stair Jump 2x5
abs- 200 reps

only one more sled session to go, i am very happy about this

July 26

MB Throws
6x BLFT
6x OHB
6x Squat Throws
6x 1 Hop
6x 2 Hop

“The Circuit” x2

Weights
Bench Press 3x8
Lat Pulldown 3x8
Weight Circuit 1x10
abs- + 150 reps

I found the circuit i used today here: http://www.elitetrack.com/forums/viewthread/3674/P0/. I really liked it and will be using it again.

Do you like the MB Hop accels?

Are you getting sick of the sled work? Maybe you should have gone sled work Mon/Fri and Int tempo Wed.

QUOTE=123456asdf;220459]July 25

Sled
2x5x30m
R: 3’, 6’

Weights + Plyos
Clean 18x1x85% R: 60"
Squat 3x8x72.5%
SLJ 2x5
Stair Jump 2x5
abs- 200 reps

only one more sled session to go, i am very happy about this[/QUOTE]

I dont do the accels after throws. I dont have the GPP Video, i have only read Speed Trap and then everything else i have learned through forum posts. i didnt even realize there was accels after these, are they just run outs after the throw?

Yes for about 5-10m.

Maybe, that is a possibility but i have been on an intensive tempo program since December of 2008 and i didnt improve in my opinion. But i think that could be due to the overwhelming amount of it. But now looking back since i got sick of doing nearly the same thing everyday so i am considering putting in “controlled speed” into my SPP plan to add some variety. I am going to plan it out soon, do you have any suggestions? i want to do S-L and have a 12 week SPP to prepare mainly for 55m and secondly for the 4x200m relay.

is it an accel similar to med ball accels that i do with the squat throw accels or different?

How’s the weather in your location, do you have access to a indoor track?

i live in Massachusettes, so the weather is iffy but my SPP will be SEP-NOV so i was thinking of doing it very speed oriented in the beginning while the weather is warm enough. Yes i have access to an indoor track but its tiny, only 150m and the surface is one that spikes cant be worn on. so i think that once i am stuck indoors i will do repeats on the straights and stay away form the tight turns as much as possible.

July 27

Off

Okay, so right now i am pretty sure about what i want to do for SPP and am going to make a first draft template very soon but would like to hear peoples comments on these two things before i write up the draft:

  1. Instead of doing EFE and FEF runs over 60m, i would do them over 51m. The reason for this is because i am a lower level athlete i wont need as much room to accel and therefore would probably hit MaxV in the F of an EFE and definitely hit it in the second F in a FEF. So by shortening the zones i would make it a little less likely that i hit MaxV and also if i do 51m i can use the 100mH lines which would be very convenient for me.

  2. I know in the Vancouver S-L Graphs that M+F is SE and W is speed but i was considering making it M+F speed and W is SE since i am a lower level sprinter therefore i can handle more speed as it is less stressful, is this correct?

any comments are appreciated
thanks

  1. I would still keep them over 60m. If you are doing your runs relaxed, it will still probably take at least 20m or so to hit top speed if you are <13sec 100m person and the second portion will give you a chance to hold the speed for a bit. Plus, if you’re that slow… you’re still going to need to be ready to run the 100m anyway so you better get working on the SE.

If you really want to use the 100mH lines and want to shorten the distance (no reason why you can’t just walk out the approximate distance since you shouldn’t be timing these anyway):

21.5m F / 17.0m E / 17.0m F = 55.5m

  1. If you aren’t getting therapy, don’t have a coach to guide you, and are going on the track, I would question whether 3x a week (esp if you are attempting even 2/3 of the volumes laid out on those graphs) is right for you. 2x a week may be better. In my experience, while at a lower level you will not tax your CNS as much, your body (tendons, ligaments, bones, and other connective tissues) will be plenty stressed and this is a much greater limiter IMO for the lower level athlete than the CNS. While the CNS is what limits peak performance, the health of those tissues is going to affect training a lot more and is a lot more prone to injury and problems, in my experience.

I would consider M-Speed T/W-Tempo or some sort of general fitness work Th-SE/Split Runs (with some accel before) F/S-tempo/general fitness Sun-Rest. You may even take Sat and Sun to rest.

thank you for your response

your argument for #1 makes sense so i think i will stick with 60m for speed change drills which there are marks on the track i can use to get a very close estimate

i understand your argument for 2x a week and it makes a lot of sense but i am a little stubborn about doing it 3x a week for a few reasons:

  1. i did 3x a week last year and i managed to stay injury free as well as progress pretty well. i dropped an estimated .4-.6 in the 55m after 3 months of S-L and then switched to tempo program at my high school where my results halted
  2. im doing 3x per week during GPP and im handling it well
  3. i like doing speed work way more than tempo
    and this is as much about as having fun during track as it is improving for me, i know im not going to be elite so i want to have fun while doing it. So i would much rather have 3 lower volume HI days than 2 medium volume HI days

also i do have access to some limited recovery such as foam rollers and i could do contrast showers too

Addressing your points:

  1. A tempo program doesn’t have much relevance to what 2x versus 3x a week means. If you handled it well, then continue, but you are proposing something that is much different from what it appears you did before, which is why I would be cautious.

  2. Then continue. I would just be quite cautious.

  3. That is irrelevant. Tempo and speed have their own roles entirely. You should not be dismissing tempo work in favor of speed for any reason. Even if you don’t want to do running tempo, it can and should be done in other forms. Except for in the comp period, I see no reason to significantly drop this work and have personally seen results decline when this is done.

I am not really going to judge or comment on doing 3x a week because it is more fun than 2x a week… that doesn’t really factor into any logical organization I would use or is a very minor point.

Foam rolling and contrast showers should be a given. Trust me, they are nothing compared to consistent therapy. Continue to do them. I would just be cautious with the plan you have laid out. I would also not ditch the tempo work. I am much faster than you and have seen significant improvement still from its inclusion after putting it on the backburner (not enough importance) in the past. Even if you are just doing a thorough warm-up and 6-8x100 on grass with walkback rest, it should help you significantly once you adapt.

after i made my last post i thought about it, what you said and what i have read and i am now leaning more towards 2x a week than 3x

right now i am doing lower weights 3x a week along with my 3x per week speed work, if i move into spp doing 2x hi days should i also drop weights to 2x?

in your last post before this one you gave a weekly set up of what days to do tempo vs speed and i agree with it. how would you set it up with weights,MB and plyos included?
would you recommend all high stuff on speed days or maybe doing weights and tempo the day after speed so its like this:

M: speed
Tu: weights +tempo
W: tempo
TH: SE
F: tempo + weights
sat + sun: off

thanks for you help and input, its greatly appreciated

EDIT:I forgot to address something
this is relatively unimportant since im almost positive that im switching to 2x per week but there was a misunderstanding. Last year in the fall when i could do what i wanted so i did do a S-L with 3 HI days, it was later in the year that i switched to tempo based and i did not do well with the tempo program but i did improve with the S-L in the fall. But i looked back at my training logs and the weekly volume was much lower than i am attempting to do this year and i t was on grass