Why is that?
If you haven’t already I suggest you read
[i]my stunning form continues. So far this season versus last, which wasn’t very good, my best is over 0.5 slower in 100m (today’s 0.81 slower) and nearly 1.5 sec in 200m (today’s 2.34 sec slower).
I doubt I could have been tighter in the 100m and probably shouldn’t have run the 200m as Achilles was quite sore but right now I actually don’t really even give a shit if I get badly injured. I’m past frustrated and really don’t care. This is not a good sign!!! My blaséness carried through to my weights where my last set of bench should have been 70…oh well.[/i]
In any context that is f&*(%d up. Not really caring in general about results is one thing but whether or not I get seriously injured takes it to a whole new level.
Pre Christmas I was able to find some reasoning that I was still training hard with a high volume, although similar to other seasons, and at least was progressing following my 2 ½ month injury hassle till late October. I trained REALLY well while away on holiday and felt really good only to pick up this Achilles niggle the first day back. With careful management such as training in flats on grass it got a bit, and at times a lot better, then regressed. After my warmup on Saturday I wasn’t even 100% sure I should do the 100m and it was quite sore after that so doing the 200m was downright stupid. There is nothing pointing to a vast improvement over the next few weeks that would make the season anything resembling mediocre so why bother. I think I’m better to cut my losses and just train, which I do enjoy, and give myself an opportunity to come right and hopefully actually improve next season.
Got it! I hope that article and the strap help you!
Auto Reg rating
+2
Hills
2 x 250m @ 56.03 & 56.26 30 min rec
Power clean
60 sec rec
2s x 1r x 60, 62, 2 x 67
Standing DB press
3 min rec
17dbs x 5, 19dbs x 3, 24 x 0 :o 22db x 2
S/set with 60 sec between reps
Chins 5s x 8r
Dips 5s x 8r
stretch & abs
Rating
9
refer to http://www.charliefrancis.com/community/showthread.php?t=17467
Been doing some rehab work the last few days and I bought one of those achilles supports today and whether it was that, the hills or a combination of any or all I don’t care as achilles felt the best it has for weeks afterwards. I realise one swallow doesn’t make a summer and I will see how it goes over the next while but at least it was a start. I am still 99% sure I will not race again this season but at least if I can get my achilles right then things may hopefully start improving… well one lives in hope :rolleyes:
Auto Reg rating
+2
Conditioning
L + S tempo
abs & stretch
Rating
8
Achilles a bit sore on first set (100+100+100) but all good after that 
John, I’m glad to hear your achilles issues seem to be clearing up. If you do decide you’re finished racing for this season though, I’d like to make a suggestion.
I was looking in your old logs and in 2006 you power cleaned 75kg for a single and were doing multiple sets of 3 with 65kg. It’s now four years later and I’m not sure you’re able to replicate either feat. I don’t mean to sound like I’m putting you down, I just think that you should put some time towards getting your strength up and building a little bit of extra muscle.
Rather than doing a low volume of singles and doubles, I would suggest you shoot for higher reps and at least moderate volume. I’d put my focus on RDL variations and back squats. A little extra muscle in your glutes and hamstrings would really help you out when you start running again. Again, I don’t mean to sound like I’m dogging you, but your strength levels are very low, and if you want to break 13, you’ll likely need to be stronger.
rj thanks for your interest and input it is much appreciated and not in any way taken as a put down especially as there is a lot of justification to what you put. Funny you mention the cleans as I was thinking (lamenting) just yesterday about how I was consistently cleaning 75kg (all my weights are in shown kg) x 3 a few years ago, probably not long before I started my journals here. And you are right where I am now is a hell of a way from that although I don’t recall squatting 3s x 5r x 110 before as I was pre Christmas. There are a few factors that have influenced things, I am now about 8.5kg (nearly 19lbs) lighter than ‘before’ @ a current weight of about 76.5kgs (168lbs) @ 5’7.5" (171cm) tall, a heap ‘fitter’ and by extension a lot healthier which at 47 is an important consideration.
Below is an excerpt I sent a friend in an email yesterday
[i]Apart from training things are actually going pretty well and if I didn’t have races in the mix that wouldn’t be an issue either really.
My Achilles isn’t THAT bad just not right and I don’t want to make it a major. I’m sure a few weeks focus and management will see it come right.
It is 99% certain I won’t race again this season and I’m thinking I’ll change things a bit and do a 13 week ‘block’ that will incorporate GPP & SPP over 12 weeks with week 13 being a recovery week as per CF recovery & rest DVD.
I think in the past I have got too far away from things over GPP and am playing catch up rather than adding to what is established. I’ll probably do some longer SE sessions on hills for time rather than distance as hills seem to help with my leg issues. I’ll probably do a few different things like 30 min (or longer runs) and I’ll reintroduce squats but probably only once per week and keep all weights at a low volume.
Part of me actually wonders if my Achilles issues may have been influenced by me getting fixed by the Chiro. Apparently I have been out of whack for a long time so naturally I would have adapted to things and now it is closer to ‘normal’ I need to get used to that.[/i]
The last few years I’ve used Joe Kenn’s Tier as the basis of my weights (gee that’s worked a treat :rolleyes: ) but the past few weeks was using Jim Wendlers 5/3/1
which was a nice change. I have a recovery week next week but was going to put a leg day back in from then on and thought of doing cleans singles as now, squats (as ME) then SLDL and lunges as accessory work. Not squatting for a while has highlighted just how tired my legs were from 3 or even 2 times pw so I’ll give 1 time a go and see how that works.
Once again thanks for the effort you went to, it is appreciated. In closing I’ll add the first line to that email I sent
I understand it is pretty hard to keep up with some of my thought processes, even I can’t !
Haha, so it seems you were already looking to restart. Still though, I wouldn’t use 5,3,1. There’s not enough volume for someone with low strength levels. Clean singles probably aren’t a good idea either. Honestly, neither is trying to build muscle mass or get stronger while doing long tempo and SE.
Like I said, your strength levels are probably in line with your sprint times. All the hill runs and tempo in the world aren’t going to make you faster if you don’t get more powerful through the hips. Similarly, you’re not going to get more powerful by doing clean singles and squatting once per week while heaping on lots of fitness work. This approach just isn’t working.
I’d have you doing something as simple as this:
Back Squat, 20-40 total reps (not including warm up)
RDL, 20-40 total reps (not including warm up)
Ab Work
Do that twice per week, maybe preceded by 200-300M of short sprints, and you’d be golden. Tempo too, if you want, but don’t go overboard.
You really need to slap some muscle on you if you intend to go any faster, and to do that, you’ll need more volume.
Sorry a couple of points I wasn’t clear on. The clean singles would only be on the leg day and on the other 2 days I’ll do triples as I agree 100%, singles aren’t cutting the mustard and to some extent I wasn’t expecting them to. They were an experiment pre Christmas to try and see how they would work now which was when my season was really meant to crack into gear. :rolleyes:
On reflection I think I did far too many EFE & FEF and split SE reps this last 8 or so months. They have a place but I ended up doing lots of sub maximal reps.
What you suggest has merit and I’ll definitely consider it (like I need more things going round in my brain right now :p) One of the advantages of stopping racing now is that it gives me about 9 months till the next season as we have no indoor. With 13 week blocks that is just over 3 blocks to try and get things right.
I hate it when I am awake from 2.30am …but at least I figured things out.
RJ you (we) are right re my strength and power being well down but perhaps we have it round the wrong way, certainly CF would argue that weights are an expression of speed / power / strength not necessarily vice versa. You certainly got me thinking though and as a result have significantly altered what I had planned and will now do something a lot closer to what you suggested.
Key points
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My Achilles is improved but still nowhere near right. Getting that sorted and staying injury free are my main priorities. For this reason I will not race again this season.
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I find hills help with my calf & Achilles so have retained those to a significant level. Weeks 1-4 there are 2 days pw with hills and Weeks 5-8 there is 1.
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The plan has 3 speed days, 2 conditioning (tempo @ approx 2200m, rowing or biking) and 2 recovery structured as High, Low, Recovery, High, Low, High, Recovery
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As stated earlier I feel I have often got too far away from where I need to be in GPP and as a result play catch up rather than adding to what is there. In this plan I will actually integrate both GPP and SPP over 12 weeks.
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Weeks 4, 8 & 12 are lower volume recovery weeks while Week 13 is a total rest and recovery week with no training.
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The weights still follow Joe Kenn’s Tier template and are 3x pw with alternative lower, upper and total body emphasis. It will have plenty of strength and volume without being detrimental
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The speed portions cover all elements with the accel and max V day being a constant non hill day for all 12 weeks as I see this being the most critical element to rectify.
I’ve uploaded the spreadsheet to Google Documents at
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AlOXrvTXMLp1dDFyZkRUY3liV0xnaHRQS1ZhT25oblE&hl=en
Auto Reg rating
+2
Conditioning
Bike 62 mins
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/new-zealand/-dunedin/104125762541019953
abs & stretch
Rating
8
a stunning warm evening This was my first ride in about 8 weeks since I fell on my head so was pleasantly surprised how good it was although i was pretty apprehensive on the downhills :o
Auto Reg rating
+2
Med Ball Throws
Backwards x 10
Hills
6 x 40m rec 2 / 4 min
5 x 40m rec 2 / 4min
4 x 40m rec 2 min
Squats
3 min rec
warmup 5r x 80
work 90 x 5s x 5r
SLDL
3 min rec
65 x 12r, 15r
70 x 10r
stretch & abs
Rating
7
Pre and post workout Achilles was great with absolutely no pain it was good for most of warmup but sore doing drills and really sore on strideouts. No issue at all on hills
Was conscious (and it showed) I hadn’t squatted in about 5 weeks!
well well well how things can change. After considerable discussion with RJ and after much thought I have changed things a fair bit …actually a lot. I hear a collective OMG he actually does listen after all
The new plan can be seen at
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AlOXrvTXMLp1dFlPVm1HVGFIYURMbUx5bm11Znlpa2c&hl=en
as you can see the volume is way down and the weights (at the bottom of the sheet) are significantly different and are based on RJs article
http://www.singularitysportstraining.com/2040%20Method.htm
It will be interesting to see how it goes. Regardless of what happens I want to acknowledge the input and time of RJ. Thanks a lot, it is really appreciated.
Auto Reg rating
+2
S/set with 2 mins between reps
Chins BW x 8, 8, 6, 5, 5 = 32
Dips BW + 5kg x 8, 9, 8, 7, 7 = 39
abs
Conditioning
Bike 62 mins
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/new-zealand/-dunedin/104125762541019953
Rating
9
a bit sore from yesterday but not as bad as I thought it may have been. The other nights when I was down at our beach I spied a great swimming area so went and had a dip straight after ride
Haha, thanks John. This new setup will work just fine, I promise (gee, I hope that doesn’t come back and bite me in the ass 
)
Keep up the good work, buddy.
Its a pretty safe bet that things will improve and regardless I really appreciate it and won’t hold you accountable. Ultimately it was me who decided to give it a go.
Here is a vid of L with his Welsh Pony at ‘our beach’ This is under 5minutes walk from sitting upstairs at home.
The Welsh Pony seems to enjoy that! 
I could be best friends with your kids 
Yes indeed that is part of why I posted it. The pony (Sam) got out and was cavorting and frolicking like a dog. In fact he follows L around like a dog when he is in the paddock.
Stef,
all in all they are pretty good and we have HEAPS of laughs and fun. For some reason though they get upset, L in particular, when I have them on by saying say things like
I’m down with the kids yo!
don’t be a hater Dude
but the classic was last week when my wife was at work and was talking to a group of young teens and she said
oh, oh, I’m cool…I know what to say…'sup my g?*…the teens literally LOL…and one said …wassup Lady
- this was a phrase neither C or I had heard till we were on holiday and the first time both thought it was suck my g :eek: whatever g stands for …I dread to think
Auto Reg rating
+4
Med Ball Throws
Backwards x 10
Hills
1 x 10m walkback rec
1 x 20m 2 min rec
1 x 30m 3 min rec
5s x 15 sec 5 min rec
Squats
3 min rec
warmup 5r x 70
work 90 x 6s x 6r
SLDL
3 min rec
75 x 10, 10, 8, 8
stretch & abs
Rating
9.5
Achilles progressing really well. Did warmup and drills barefoot and at most there was an awareness, stride outs there was some discomfort no real issues on hills.
Beautiful hot evening so after weights went for a quick swim and then stood in the cold sea for approx 5 mins.
RJ, you wanted some more volume in the weight room, how about that?
Haha, that’s a ton of volume. It’s good for you though. A little while of that and your strength levels will jump. I went through a phase of RDLs and step ups for 50 reps a piece per session a while back and it did wonders to kick off my squat strength.