John, Iām glad to hear your achilles issues seem to be clearing up. If you do decide youāre finished racing for this season though, Iād 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. Itās now four years later and Iām not sure youāre able to replicate either feat. I donāt mean to sound like Iām 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. Iād 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 donāt mean to sound like Iām dogging you, but your strength levels are very low, and if you want to break 13, youāll 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 donāt 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 ābeforeā @ a current weight of about 76.5kgs (168lbs) @ 5ā7.5" (171cm) tall, a heap āfitterā 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 didnāt have races in the mix that wouldnāt be an issue either really.
My Achilles isnāt THAT bad just not right and I donāt want to make it a major. Iām sure a few weeks focus and management will see it come right.
It is 99% certain I wonāt race again this season and Iām thinking Iāll change things a bit and do a 13 week āblockā 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. Iāll probably do some longer SE sessions on hills for time rather than distance as hills seem to help with my leg issues. Iāll probably do a few different things like 30 min (or longer runs) and Iāll 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 ānormalā I need to get used to that.[/i]
The last few years Iāve used Joe Kennās Tier as the basis of my weights (gee thatās 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 Iāll give 1 time a go and see how that works.
Once again thanks for the effort you went to, it is appreciated. In closing Iāll 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 canāt !
Haha, so it seems you were already looking to restart. Still though, I wouldnāt use 5,3,1. Thereās not enough volume for someone with low strength levels. Clean singles probably arenāt 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 arenāt going to make you faster if you donāt get more powerful through the hips. Similarly, youāre 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 isnāt working.
Iād 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 youād be golden. Tempo too, if you want, but donāt go overboard.
You really need to slap some muscle on you if you intend to go any faster, and to do that, youāll need more volume.
Sorry a couple of points I wasnāt clear on. The clean singles would only be on the leg day and on the other 2 days Iāll do triples as I agree 100%, singles arenāt cutting the mustard and to some extent I wasnāt 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 Iāll 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 ā¦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
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.
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.
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
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.
Weeks 4, 8 & 12 are lower volume recovery weeks while Week 13 is a total rest and recovery week with no training.
The weights still follow Joe Kennās 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
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.
Iāve uploaded the spreadsheet to Google Documents at
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
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 hadnāt 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 ā¦actually a lot. I hear a collective OMG he actually does listen after all
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.
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
Its a pretty safe bet that things will improve and regardless I really appreciate it and wonāt 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 āour beachā This is under 5minutes walk from sitting upstairs at home.
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
Iām down with the kids yo! donāt 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, Iām coolā¦I know what to sayā¦'sup my g?*ā¦the teens literally LOLā¦and one said ā¦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 ā¦I dread to think
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, thatās a ton of volume. Itās 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.
Volume ok so far but it is early days and Iām going at the higher end while I can hopefully it carries on. Iām also aware that Iām just getting back into squats again after over a month off so thngs should be ramping up quite quickly.
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
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