Great pics KK and good to see Darren involved, I am sure everyone will benefit from having him there. You must be working them pretty hard as not a lot of fat to be seen 
Kk many years and conversations have passed since you posted details regarding your GPP and transition, have you reviewed your set up and changed anything?
What would your thoughts be now on this development?
On a more selfish note, what would you set as reasonable targets on the second run through of GPP for an athlete hoping to better and improve on a 47.3 pb? I understand this may not be appropriate to do
A-J not much has changed. I spoke to Charlie about John Smith’s belief that runs of 40sec at race-pace were required and it was Charlie’s belief that there was no need to go beyond the 320m mark as I was using (mostly post GPP & Transition period) because the split runs would cover that area. The main difference now is that I sometimes vary the depletion sets away from always using a long rep (200 to 300m) to build a little acidosis in the blood and tap into muscle glycogen fuel stores before than asking for a back-up rep of relatively high quality. Such as tempo 300m, 30sec rest, 100% 150m sprint. Instead I’ve attacked the opposite end of the fuel route by exhausting the phosphates stores and then asking for a longer rep to complete the set. For example 4-6x80m at moderate pace on 30-45sec recoveries (mostly 30sec is requested) with a 30sec “rest” before sprinting 200m to 300m at 100 %. The 400m sprinters who have done this set says the 200m feels exactly like the second half of a 400m race. Other than that, not much has changed. The results achieved by those who followed the original programme have stood the test of time fairly well, with Darren Clark’s 44.38 and Maree Holland’s 50.24 both in or near medal contention in 2011. But of course elite athletes do a lot more to get themselves ready than follow a programme. They did so much rehab and regeneration work, as much as they could afford (ie, massage, physiotherapy) and they were both meticulous with diet and drink. Over the years I coached Maree she brought her bodyweight down from about 60kg in 1984 to 54kg or just under in 1988. She did not “diet” she was just sensible avoiding fatty foods, sugary items and alcohol etc. Darren’s wife peeled the skin off the chicken she cookede and he ate a lot of balanced salads during 1988.
a-j
I’m not going to be much use to you here. I just tried to get more quality into the second cycle of GPP. The times were recommendations for those particular athletes chasing 50flat and 44-flat objectives. So you need to water those target-times down a notch or three. I found performance improvements came automatically on the second cycle, perhaps becauser it was by now familiar territory and the fear factor had been eliminated to some degree. I mean, you know it’s going to hurt but you also know you’ll walk away and be fine at the end of the week so long as you adhere to the general philosophy of Rest, High Intensity (fastest or toughest session), and on the third day Low Intensity (cardio-vascular development mostly).
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Chirosports chiropractor Jacqui Johnson is seen here at Rotary Field, Sydney, treating James Grimm before training yesterday
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This is Harry Scouller from the NSW south coast near Jervis Bay. He turned 17 this month, he’s more an 800m prospect but comes to our group to develop his 400m. He is now 2nd at NSW all-schools in both 400 and 800. His 400 PB is down from 51 to 49.5.
Wow. Elbow running along the t band… that can not be fun.
Great pictures KitKat.
thanks for posting them.
Haha yeah the elbow gotta hurt massively lol
Kk thanks, I understand the original program has proved it’s place.
I like the idea of the phosphate depletion prior to the SE rep, very good. Would you perhaps multi set that? Repeating the sequence after full recover? In GPP or spp?
Again thank you
Multi-set 6x80m off 30sec into 200m. Why not? Certainly. Just make sure the ambulance has arrived and is parked trackside before you proceed please…
Lol sure! I can imagine the session would a killer
I remember reading back in the early pages about adaptation, it was stated I think by yourself that being in a ‘speed zone’ for 2 weeks at perhaps 2sessions each week, would give enough adaptation to last a further 4 weeks if that zone wasn’t touched upon again in that time. But being in that zone for 4 weeks would give adaptation upto 6 months without revisiting.
Would it be worth then to have a block of very high intensity special end lasting 4 weeks prior to the season Before purely working on the speed and speed endurance end?
I have tried to find your transition phase but it seems lost in the pages lol would a 4 week period be sufficient lactate adaptation if used as the transition?
Please differentiate between v
“very high intensity special endurance” and “speed and speed endurance”. I’m not being a dick, just trying to know what you mean by those terms.
The Transition phase was always to ease into Racing and all that Competing entails. Perhaps you might be at less risk if you did the Transition phase first, then your “very high intensity special endurance” phase - or incorporate some of your races into your “very high intensity special endurance” cycle.
Last weekend James Grimm ran his first (non-relay) race of the new Oz domestic season.
Third in last season’s NSW State Open 200m final, James opened with a 0.4sec PB of 21.20 (+1.8m/ps, perfect weather) at Blacktown track.
This Saturday (10 December 2011) James will have his first-ever (non-relay, again) 400m off the blocks at an interclub comp at Bankstown track.
He will be up against Kevin Moore who, like James, another member of the NSW Institute of Sport’s 400m Fast Track program. Kevin has a PB of 46.1sec and is the current NSW State Champ. He ran a great leg of Australia’s 4x400m gold medal winning team at last year’s Commonwealth Games in India.
I wish them both the best and right now would find it too perilous to dare a prediction.
James certainly has the edge over Kevin on speed, but whether he knows how to take advantage of that in a 400m race is one of the big questions to answered tomorrow afternoon.
Kevin ran a very low-key 200m on the NSW Central Coast (near Gosford) two or three weeks ago in a hand-timed 21.5 with no serious opposition.
James, 20, hopefully will provide that stimulus to Kevin, 21, and vice versa. That is because Kevin is usually a tremendous finisher. So it’s on: Speed vs Strength.
Darren Clark (who ran the Oz record of 44.38 which has stood since 1988) and I will try to take splits. Clarky will walk the track with Grimmy beforehand. Kevin will only take advice after the race. Both Kev and James are great young guys, as are their respective personal coaches Larry Spencer and Stuart Miller.
KK, what stage in their training phases are they currently in?
Everyone has just emerged in the last week from the Transition Phase. Normally I’d counsel against racing during the T-phase, but we took the risk and competed anyway this time.
1 Kev Moore 46.82
2 James Grimm 47.37
3 James Gurr 48.01 (x-Seton Hall, more 800m these days)
4 Paul Cummings 48.06
5 Joshua Ralph 48.52
6 Danny Brandwood 48.58
7 Matt Mooney 49.18
James and Kev splits:
100 11.23. ???
200 22.36. 21.97
100-200=11.13. ???
300 34.4. 33.91
200-300=12.04. 11.94
400 47.37. 46.82
300-400=12.97. 12.91
200+200
22.36+25.01; 21.07+24.84
Differential:
2.65sec. 2.88sec.
Conclusion:
Given Kev is unlikely to have run significantly faster or slower in the first 100m (no split for Kev available), it is clear that Kev won the race on the backstretch into a headwind of around 1.5m/ps to 2pms including a headwind in the opening 100m around the bend.! James ran from lane 6, Kev from lane 3. I’m very pleased with the way both guys approached their race and with the way they executed their race plan, although James may have been a bit too cautious on the back straight (entering and exiting). This is Kev’s second fastest start to a domestic season. He opened slightly faster last summer but that was in February and yesterday’s race was on December 10.
So those guys would be looking at doing 6 x 200 with 200m jog recovery in sub 26?