The following information was taken from an article written by Henk Kraaijenhof in the Dutch coaching magazine Sportgericht, published in 1989 or 1990.
Henk was Merlene’s coach at the time.
I had promised Pierrejean a long time ago to send him this article, but I lost my copy. Fortunately it turned up today while I was browsing through a drawer. I though I might as well translate it for the rest of the board. Here it is:
Merlene Ottey – Analysis 1989 Season
Analysis season 1989
Number of indoor competition days: 12
Number of indoor competitions: 23
60m 11x (8 won), bp 7.10, sub 7.15 5x
200m 8x (8 won), bp 22.35, sub 22.80 4x
400m 4x (4 won), bp 52.21
Number of outdoor competition days: 22
Number of indoor competitions: 31
100m 22x (22 won), bp 10.95, sub 11.10:13x
200m 9x (9 won), bp 22.21, sub 22.40:6x
Total number of days: 233
Total number of competition days: 34
Total number of competitions: 54
Total number of travel days: 51
Total number of rest days: 54
Total number of training days: 95
- strength training 31
- start and acceleration 20
- maximum speed 9
- supramaximal speed 5
- speed endurance 66
- adaptation and regeneration 7
Note the very high number of competitions, which could only be handled by optimum training and adequate regeneration.
Every run longer than 80m is counted as speed endurance training sessions.
Examples of training sessions
Week 6 1989
Monday February 6th
Indoor facility
- warmup, stretch
- 5x60 supramax with pulley-system
- 1x150 from blocks 17.42 [10min recovery], 4x120 from blocks 12.93/12.99/13.11/13.25 [8min recovery] (in different lanes)
Tuesday February 7th
Indoor facility
- warmup, stretch
- 4x30m from blocks, electronic timing, -/4.40/4.36/4.37
- 500/400/300/300m standing start [12-15min recovery] 73.6/57.5/41.1/39.9
Wednesday February 8th
Indoor facility
- warmup, stretch
- reaction drills
- 6x80m acceleration runs
- strength: 3x8x50kg deep squat, 2x10x20kg snatch from standing position, 3x12x?? toe raises on machine, lot of ab work
Thursday February 9th:
Travel
Friday February 10th:
Competition San Sebastian
200m 22.79 (first place)
Saturday February 11th:
Competition Stuttgart
60m 7.26 (2nd place)
200m 22.86 (1st place)
Week 22 Formia, Italy
Tuesday May 30th
- warmup, stretch
- elementary running drills
- 4x80m technique run (1 on grass, 2 on soft track, 1 on hard track)
- 3x105m on hard track: 35m 100%, 35m 95%, 35m 100%
Wednesday May 31st
- warmup, stretch
- jumps on box: 6x 1.00m high
- skipping with resistance 3x20m
- 4x30m standing start, 6x30m block starts
- 2x150m standing start 16.68/16.74 [20min recovery]
Thursday June 1st
- warmup, stretch
- Bosco-ergojump test
- 4x80m: 60m downhill + 20m flat, standing start [8min recovery]
- 2x120m standing start 13.21/13.32 [15min recovery]
Afterwards sauna and hydromassage
Friday June 2nd
Rest
Saturday June 3rd
Morning:
- warmup, stretch
- 300/250/200/150m standing start 36.50/29.88/23.05/16.99 [20-25min recovery]
Afternoon: - strength training
2x10x40kg l+r one-legged squat
4x15x120kg toe extensions
3x3x65kg bench press
3x30 crunches
2x10 l+r side abs
Sunday June 4th
- warmup, stretch
- 3x3x150m standing start [30sec and 9 min recovery] 20.6/24.2/22.4-20.4/21.9/23.8-20.8/22.2/24.6 (on running shoes)
Monday June 5th
Rest (collecting visa in Rome)
Tuesday June 6th
- warmup, stretch
- “Speedlabtest” 6x50m block starts, on command [8-10min recovery]
(Note Martijn: In this test speed, stride length and frequency are measured)
Wednesday June 7th
- warmup, stretch
- 150/120/100/80m standing start [10-15min recovery], 16.95/13.45/11.33/8.99
Thursday June 8th
Travel Rome – Madrid
Friday June 9th
Competition Madrid
100m series 11.69 (1st)
100m final 11.49 (1st), wind -3.0m/s
Saturday June 10th
- warmup, stretch
- on grass, on shoes, 3x5x100m with 100m jog recovery between reps and 5 min between sets
Sunday June 11th
- warmup, stretch
- 2x250m standing start [30min recovery] 28.85/28.84
Here’s one for old times sake…
have a good evening, gotstagonow