You can only hope he is patient enough to stick around…
Before I get to the bonehead move, our GPP rest and test week went as follows:
After the six week GPP, keeping everything on the grass or turf with minimal turn work, he ran a standing start 300m in 34.60 and the 150m in 16.31, both hand timed. They were run outdoors in 4C to 6C weather.
We were both slightly disappointed with his times (I don’t know why I was disappointed, he had been doing zero training prior!), but hugely encouraged by his increasing fitness. Prior to the GPP, he would not have been able to run a flat out 300m and walk away as if it was no big deal, then run a 150 about 20 minutes later.
I asked him to run the 300m smoothly, as he usually goes out like a kamikaze and drags ass home, so that may not have helped. But realistically, I knew speed came easy to him. With an appropriate base, I figured it would come just as easy, but it would come much SAFER!
After the rest/test, I transitioned him for about 10 days into some shorter speed work (accels, a couple of 50’s), and we booked a trip to a southern meet with a fantastic track, excellent weather, and an appropriate level of competition. Charlie’s advice from the taper DVD was ringing in my head, “go to the conditions if they wont come to you!”
He had lane 5, +1.7 wind, 25C weather with some humidity, and a bunch of guys running 21-22 to mix it up with. Unfortunately, he strained his groin in his run-out just prior to his race! Shit! “Now we know why you don’t race coming right out of the GPP” was ESTI’s deadpan response when I told him the result. I told the athlete that it was my fault for pushing into racing too quickly. At the time, I was very disappointed, and hoped I hadn’t discouraged him too much mentally, because we still have a lot of work to do, and it was totally a coaching blunder on my part to throw him into a 200 off just a GPP. My coach (who is extremely wise), warned me that it seemed too early before we left for the meet, and he was totally right.
Recovery from the strain took about 7 days. If I would have looked carefully at info on how to recover from muscle strains and and saw the info on DMSO with Traumeel, it might have sped recovery somewhat, but I didn’t really think of researching how to speed recovery, which in retrospect sounds pretty dumb. We kept training pretty light for the week, and substituted some work on the bike and did some added lifting and EMS.
After the 200m mistake in the south, we moved carefully into KitKat transition phase. Initially, I had thought we would race some 200’s before running 400’s, but the lesson from our too-early 200m suggested the 200m races can wait until we are done with the transition (as KitKat has always stated). The velocity in a 200 was clearly too risky, when the 400 is clearly the race we are focusing on.
I have to be careful with speed, as though he responds very well to speed work from an improvement standpoint, it seems his coaching in the past has revolved around coaches who want to be “home run hitters.” For example, do minimal base, and get him to blast a few super quick 150’s leading to a season ending injury. Usually he runs a fast 150 or 200 in practice for two or three weeks in a row, gets everyone excited, and ends up with stress fractures in his shins or foot issues. I suspect a lot of this stemmed from running the turn indoors, which is suicidal at 6’5 with some decent 150 speed (he’s run consistently in the mid-high 15’s in practice in the past).
Fitness is also a major concern, so I consulted with ESTI and we thought that keeping the 5x200 in once a week would be wise instead of going with 2x2x200 right at the beginning of transition. This only lasted one workouts, as it seemed too much for him, so ESTI suggested going to 4x200 or 2x (200+200) instead, and this was the perfect call.
Also, instead of getting through all the 300-250-180-150-120 workouts in the transition, he also needed to race a few times. The races were crucial, as he needed to develop a reasonable and repeatable race model…
And thennnn?
And then and then and then?
No & Then!
Here comes the “…and then”…
After the strained hip flexor incident down south, it was obviously time to pick up the Batphone and call the master of recovery and regeneration, Waldemar. We had a quick discussion about timing, and he was kind enough to book us in over the May 21st weekend. Saturday evening was an initial assessment. I took as many notes as possible on my Blackberry. He always complains about my constant typing during his sessions. I tell him I’m that I’m only trying to write down everything he says- he still finds it irritating, but we’ve developed a bit of a rapport over the past few years so he lets it slide. (There are no great Polish bakeries in Ottawa and I happen to work in the Polish neighborhood in Toronto, so I make sure to pick up some of his favorites before I leave!)
Here’s the play-by-play of the opening few minutes:
Waldemar started with a full body check standing in front of the mirror. He immediately found the two spots on the athlete’s back that bother him.
“How fast did you grow?”
My athlete stated that he grew 5 or 6 inches in just a few months. Waldemar narrowed the problem to a disc in the upper spinal column.
“Are you left or right handed?”, as he examined his spine. The lower back displayed an imbalance in muscle development with the left side noticeably less developed in the erector spinae. Waldemar displayed a simple method of addressing this by modifying reverse hypers to target the weakened side. I will try to post a picture with brief explanation of how this is done.
-He must strengthen the right foot as the muscles and tendons are weak. Left foot is OK. He will continue to injure the right foot (especially on grass) if left untreated. This was very interesting, as the athlete always complains about feeling unstable on grass, but I thought he was just complaining excessively. I never mentioned anything to Waldemar about it previously. This is the reason I make a 460km drive to see this man! His 42 years experience at the world-class level means he knows things before you say a word.
-In addition, his hip flexors are too tight, causing low back tightness, Waldemar suggested that there is too much rotation in his running; keep in mind that Waldemar had never seen him run, but was totally accurate.
Going through the rest of the athlete’s physical ailments both great and small, I had never seen Waldemar scratch his head so often. He finally blurted out, “You’ve got a lotta problems, man!” All in all, the initial assessment took two hours. The next day was set aside for therapy, but of course with the litany of issues, we had to narrow it down to a couple. I noticed that after Waldemar had worked on the upper back problem, there was far less complaining about it for the rest of the season, even though it was only one treatment.
We had began the Transition phase slightly late due to the hip flexor strain, and saw Waldemar about 10 days into the 4 week transition phase. There were only about five and a half to six weeks until Olympic Trials, so even though KitKat counsels against taking the risk of racing during the transition phase, it was going to have to happen. He hadn’t run an outdoor 400m race since high school five years ago- clearly, developing a race model was an urgent requirement. His first race occurred in a town about 4 hours away, not too far from ESTI’s neck of the woods. I was unable to make it to the race, and unfortunately didn’t get to see it as nobody was able to record it.
I got the general idea from eyewitness accounts, as the result was NOT subtle, but nothing about this athlete is subtle. He had told me beforehand that he was going to take it out hard and see what happens. Well, he took it out HARD, even causing the veteran announcer to get a little excited when he hit the 300m split in a hand-timed PB of 33.8- unfortunately he was introduced to the 400m rudely when a bear jumped on his back at the 320m mark. He dragged his ass across the line in 48.63 seconds for a crudely run but very educational PB. He is a fast learner, and after this race he understood instantly that his race model was not the most effective use of his energy. I’m glad I shut up and let him learn this experientially- it truly is the best teacher, and we had enough races before nationals to attempt to qualify and refine a bit of a decent race model. He was going to have to run under 48.30 to qualify.
The next race was in approximately 10 days. We followed up with 40-20-20 EFE work the next week, and his rocking back and forth looked like a complex problem that would take time to solve. I asked my coach to take a look at his technique, and he cued him to “stop moving your head, keep your head still.” BAM! Instantly 90% of the rocking disappeared. This reiterated to me how psychologically sound Charlie’s cues are. When you watch his technical cues, on the surface they seem absurdly simple, but they allow the athlete to focus on ONE thing, which they are then able to improve. The difference was not subtle between the first and subsequent reps.
As an aside, there were really only three major mechanical cues used all season;
-“maintain a neutral spine” during the acceleration phase, as his head was excessively hunched forward
-the above mentioned “keep your head still” at maximum velocity
-turn mechanics cues from the “Turn Mechanics” download- GET THIS PRODUCT! I used Charlie’s approach, and it made an enormous difference. His cues again, are deceptively simple- an absolute clinic in artful minimalist coaching. They WORK!
As mentioned a little bit earlier, due to the shortened prep period there was a fear that he would lack fitness, so we tried 5x200 during the first week of Transition- don’t do this, it’s too much for the athlete. He was dead. We switched to the workout prescribed by KitKat, 2x(2x200) and that worked much better (no surprises there!).
The next race was the polar opposite. Lots of people entered with fantastical seed times, and he was stuck in Lane 2. I stood at the 200m split and he took it out in a pedestrian 23 flat. When he hit 250, he looked so slow that I thought he might be hurt- but alas he was simply fearing the reaper that attacked him at 320m in the first race. He had a strong final 120m and finished with a big PB in 48.09, a big psychological boost. It became instantly clear to him that energy management is important. Now we were getting somewhere!
One of the things that became more apparent as we progressed through the transition was that the races themselves are a big enough stimulus- there is no need to lay a ton of work down on top of quality races. In a compressed season like ours you need to pick your poison- quality workouts or quality races. We needed races, so the work took a back seat. This meant cancelling workouts on occasion, or cutting back on volume based on either the feeling of the athlete or his immediate form. I can say that the planned 350-300-250-180-150-120 workouts usually looked more like 300-250-180, and once 350-300-250 as the athlete felt he needed to go out to 350 at least once during the prep period.
The next meet was again in ESTI’s neck of the woods, so we invited him to the race. It was great to have his eyes on the scene and to get his take on the race. This was a national standards qualifier meet, but ironically it was so windy that over the entire two day meet, not a single sprint race had legal wind, with most races the wind blowing in the +2.5 to +4.0 range. Obviously, this meant the 400 would be tough. He got a pretty good start and ran a fast 150 before getting hit with some wind. He seemed to sag between 150 and 250, which KitKat explains is to be expected when still in the transition phase. He came around to finish in 47.98 for another PB and his first time under 48 seconds, another nice psychological boost. He was under the impression that he would be running the 200m race the following day, but there was zero reason to risk hitting those kinds of velocities with only a couple of weeks to Trials, especially since the wind was ridiculous and times wouldn’t count. ESTI and I broke it to him at lunch. He was disappointed at first, but understood that there were bigger fish to fry.
After this race, we had accomplished goal #1- run a time that would auto-qualify for the semifinals at Trials. He now wouldn’t have to run a qualifying heat. The next goal was to get a few quality pieces of work in and taper for nationals.
We would follow a hybrid of KitKat and CF’s taper model. The key idea would be to keep away from heavy lactic work in the taper period, yet . With this done, it was time to start the taper. A final workout of 300-250-150 was scheduled. I wanted to be absolutely safe, so I asked him to run off a three step walkup, which he ran in 33.40, with a 250 in 27.40, followed by a 150 off a three step walkup in 15.72, which was a big boost. He was about .60 faster than in his standing start 150 during the GPP test week in late April. My suspicion that the speed would come back easy was thus correct! It’s a real rush watching someone really start to fly on the track. Now it’s time to head into the taper, and also time for the next blunder…
Fantastic read. How much would I love to have access to your notes!?
agreed lots of good info.
Agree with the above. Brilliant read
Wow! Thanks for sharing this.
I’m enjoying this too T-Slow: especially now I’ve dusted off my antique stopwatch to personally coach an athlete for the first time since the Atlanta Olympics. I have to start taking your advice - particularly paying respect to the risk factors which are inherent in racing too soon out of GPP. My other issue at the moment is the young woman I’m working with has never run 400m - not even on a relay. And she mostly has run just the 100m. But I will probably do a training commentary with pix in due course.
In the meanwhile I am a keen reader and thanks for posting on the forum and keeping this place both a sanctuary sheltered from stupidity and also a reservoir of relevant information and knowledge. kk
exciting stuff!
TSlow missed his calling as an author! We are on edge of our seats! I know the story and can’t wait. TSlow, TFast your notes to the forum!!!
As an aside, might I also say that almost nobody does this style of program in Toronto, so people were totally making fun of us for the weird workouts. The lack of traditional over-distance was disconcerting for the Long to Short volume monster type coaches, and the delayed addition of true speed work was disconcerting for the Short to Long guys. Some of them shut their pieholes when he broke 48 in only his third outdoor 400m race since high school off of like 10 weeks of prep though!
After the 47.98 race, ESTI send a copy of the race to KitKat, who commented on the sag between 150 and 250, as well as my athlete having weakness and lack of flexibility in the hip flexors and adductors, which was absolutely spot on. I still don’t understand how he knew this simply from watching a race, but that’s why you ask the master coaches for their feedback! KitKat was very generous in sending key pieces of feedback and advice over the span of the season that added to the advice that ESTI, Waldemar, Angela, and my coach generously provided.
The hip flexor strain that he picked up trying to race the 200 down south was still an issue. There were regular complaints of tightness in the area, and we had some treatments of acupuncture with micro-current to reset the tonus of the muscle. This was done by a chiropractor- and as you will see later, we learned a BIG lesson about trusting chiropractors with your athletes, as their egos sometimes get in the way of good treatment practice- despite the fact they may know their stuff and be very good people.
OK back to the story- after the race and our unwillingness to let him run a windy 200 the next day, we headed back to Toronto and got back to work. We were able to get through another 40-20-20 EFE day, and we focused on having him drive out of the blocks with full extension in his first 10 metres during the 30’s, 40’s, and 60’s that followed. Things were definitely improving.
It was closing in on about 12 days out from Trials, and it was getting close to time to start tapering. I had him run a final 300m from a three step walk up, and he nailed it in 33.40, a pretty significant improvement on the standing start 34.60 run in the GPP test week.
We had a 200+200 workout scheduled for that day. Now, my athlete is one of my BBM contacts, and he added me to one of his BBM friend groups that discusses track. I noticed that he was making comments at 8:15 am, which is way earlier than he is usually awake. I asked him what he was doing up so early. “I’m going to Wonderland!” he stated happily (a local amusement park). “What? You’re going to an amusement park 10 days out from Trials to walk around in the sun all day, dehydrate yourself and you think you’re going to come out and complete a workout this evening at 5 pm?” I asked. I could almost predict the reply; “Yeah- I’m a beast!”
I told him to forget the workout and take the day off. We got together the next day to attempt a workout near his parents home in the other end of the city. It was comical- this was a public high school track, so some stupid 3 year old kept moving my cones, another dipshit kid was riding his bike on the track, and an older group of recreational runners were doing extremely slow 300m intervals. It ended up not mattering, because when he warmed up and started doing a few strides, he looked just atrocious- I have never seen such awful form from him. He tried to do a few accels, and I was so taken aback by his horrendous form that I just had him cool down- didn’t even think of substituting tempo instead!
Interestingly enough, Tony Sharpe was out at the other end of the track coaching (one of Charlie’s athletes, 10.17 / 20.21 PB’s, 100m finalist in LA 1984) and we were both happy he didn’t see my athlete looking so piss-poor. It was absolutely shocking to see the level of fatigue he was displaying from his amusement park visit- he couldn’t believe how awful he felt, and I couldn’t believe how awful he looked. We didn’t need any more setbacks. I went home and re-watched the “10 Day Taper” video three times that weekend just to make sure I understood the big concepts and wasn’t forgetting anything.
I gave him the next day off, and we got back at it on Sunday. It was a totally different guy that showed up. We ran 3x30 along with 40, 50, 60, 80 and a single 150.
I can tell you that his 30m accelerations at the end of GPP were at 3.70, by mid-transition they were 3.65, and at this point in the early taper I timed each one at 3.58, 3.58, 3.58- things were coming down nicely. The 60 was in 6.40, and the “smooth” 80 was a PB of 8.49- he lined up for the 150 and ran it smoothly from a standing start in 15.71, a hundredth faster than his three step walkup 150 from a couple of weeks earlier. Nice! I think we made the right call of letting him run at faster than 95% for these runs, as he needed a confidence boosting time heading into Trials. However, as explained by Charlie on the Taper DVD, if an athlete runs really fast in the taper, you risk tightness rearing its head, often with a couple of days delay. Of course, he was spot on.
Monday was an easy bike day, and Tuesday he went in to get some therapy, but I hadn’t arrived at the track yet. As predicted he was feeling tight from the Sunday speed work. I usually like to be present for therapy sessions, as even though these therapists are well regarded, they work for me- they aren’t going to be doing things I’m not comfortable with. This particular clinic has a big Active Release Technique bias, and I’m not sure how I feel about ART. I’ve felt it be helpful before, but as someone who follows Waldemar’s approach, I’m suspicious of the stress it puts on the musculature and I’m not sure how close I’d like it done to a race.
About this specific session, my athlete went in and started the session without me, and the Chiropractor did acupuncture with micro-current on his hip flexors. This is a fairly aggressive treatment to be doing 8 days out from a major competition and these are some seriously small muscles and the margin for error is therefore I suspect much smaller, so I was not pleased. But here’s the kicker- once the current was turned on, the chiropractor left the room for 15 MINUTES and left the athlete ALONE while being stimmed- I’ve seen this done reapeatedly by almost every chiropractor- it’s as if they are too important to stay and monitor the athlete during treatment. I do not understand this behavior at all- what other professional charges you upwards of $80 per session and leaves you unattended in the room for over half of it?
In contrast, Waldemar would NEVER leave an athlete alone during an acupuncture treatment. He is always conversing and verbally and visually checking for signs of discomfort or changes in response.
Of course in this case, everything that could go wrong did: the current was cranked too high and since the chiro had left the room there was nobody there for my athlete to tell. He ended up with sore, hypertonic hip flexors eight days from Trials and had to pay for the privilege. I was pissed!
This thread should be moved from My Training Journal to coaching, fundamentals or somewhere else and made a sticky. The above post alonehas such a wealth of information and summarises so many elements of here. T-Slow you need to give yourself more credit!
Below are the bits that really stood out for me.
As an aside, might I also say that almost nobody does this style of program in Toronto, so people were totally making fun of us for the weird workouts. The lack of traditional over-distance was disconcerting for the Long to Short volume monster type coaches, and the delayed addition of true speed work was disconcerting for the Short to Long guys. Some of them shut their pieholes when he broke 48 in only his third outdoor 400m race since high school off of like 10 weeks of prep though! Yet again the info here is different from ‘normal’ and pays dividends.
After the 47.98 race, ESTI send a copy of the race to KitKat, who commented on the sag between 150 and 250, as well as my athlete having weakness and lack of flexibility in the hip flexors and adductors, which was absolutely spot on. I still don’t understand how he knew this simply from watching a race, but that’s why you ask the master coaches for their feedback! KitKat was very generous sending in sending key pieces of feedback and advice over the span of the season that added to the advice that ESTI, Waldemar, Angela, and my coach generously provided. Look at all the quality people providing support.
[b]We had a 200+200 workout scheduled for that day. Now, my athlete is one of my BBM contacts, and he added me to one of his BBM friend groups that discusses track. I noticed that he was making comments at 8:15 am, which is way earlier than he is usually awake. I asked him what he was doing up so early. “I’m going to Wonderland!” he stated happily (a local amusement park). “What? You’re going to an amusement park 10 days out from Trials to walk around in the sun all day, dehydrate yourself and you think you’re going to come out and complete a workout this evening at 5 pm?” I asked. I could almost predict the reply; “Yeah- I’m a beast!”
I told him to forget the workout and take the day off.[/b] you took control and made the tough call, well done, it isn’t your fault it was ignored.
We got together the next day to attempt a workout near his parents home in the other end of the city. It was comical- this was a public high school track, so some stupid 3 year old kept moving my cones, another dipshit kid was riding his bike on the track, and an older group of recreational runners were doing extremely slow 300m intervals. It ended up not mattering, because when he warmed up and started doing a few strides, he looked just atrocious- I have never seen such awful form from him. He tried to do a few accels, and I was so taken aback by his horrendous form that I just had him cool down- didn’t even think of substituting tempo instead! you adjusted to the situation and didn’t stick to ‘the plan’ easy to say tough to do especially given the time frames involved.
I went home and re-watched the “10 Day Taper” video three times that weekend just to make sure I understood the big concepts and wasn’t forgetting anything. Drawing on available quality resources and putting in the the time to learn and implement.
I gave him the next day off, and we got back at it on Sunday. It was a totally different guy that showed up. We ran 3x30 along with 40, 50, 60, 80 and a single 150. vidence you made the right call.
[b]I usually like to be present for therapy sessions, as even though these therapists are well regarded, they work for me- they aren’t going to be doing things I’m not comfortable with. This particular clinic has a big Active Release Technique bias, and I’m not sure how I feel about ART. I’ve felt it be helpful before, but as someone who follows Waldemar’s approach, I’m suspicious of the stress it puts on the musculature and I’m not sure how close I’d like it done to a race.
About this specific session, my athlete went in and started the session without me, and the Chiropractor did acupuncture with micro-current on his hip flexors. This is a fairly aggressive treatment to be doing 8 days out from a major competition, so I was not pleased. But here’s the kicker- once the current was turned on, the chiropractor left the room for 15 minutes and left the athlete alone while being stimmed- I’ve seen this done reapeatedly by almost every chiropractor, as if they are too important to stay and monitor the athlete during treatment. In contrast, Waldemar would NEVER leave an athlete alone during an acupuncture treatment. He is always conversing and verbally and visually checking for signs of discomfort or changes in response. [/b] T Slow you know your stuff so follow your instincts and trust your judgement.
Is it possible to share the 47.98 race?
Had to chuckle about your comments re the public high school track session given your employment.
50 shades of T-Slow for the title of the book?
As an adjunct, hoping that is the right word, is anyone else excited that KK is back in the personal coaching game?
As an Australian, I am, I think I may know who this female athlete is as I have seen photos of this athlete doing the KK hills 
T Slow knows more than he feels. He is very humble. Time will prove his skills as a coach.
The comment about Waldemar’s acupuncture sessions, once W turns it on, he sits and stares at the needles for the time the athlete is connected to the stim. It’s constant supervision in his office. Maybe Ange could comment on how he was when a group of athletes were being treated in her race days.
T Slow,
Is there a generalized outline of how you approached things somewhere on the site?
How hard is it to get in to see Waldemar?Great reading. One thing you learn if you coach long enough,is this. Young athletes (I coach 18-24 yrs) Rarely understand how there actions away from the track affect there performance. They will do things that drive coaches crazy. I have to constantly talk to our athletes about rest,diet,stretching,etc etc…
Thanks everyone for the comments! I’m so glad people are enjoying it. I think it shows how much we are able to learn from Charlie’s principles and from members here who’ve been sharing information over the years.
I will continue later this evening hopefully.
I wanted to make a suggestion for those of you trying to log workouts or keep notes. Check out the Evernote app. It’s free (there’s a paid version if you use a ton of memory) and it works across every platform- PC, Mac, iOS, Android, Blackberry, so your notes can always be uploaded and are always accessible. I have a lot of trouble keeping organized, so Evernote has really helped ensure I log everything. I’ve logged workouts, notes from conversations I’ve had with people regarding the season, schedules, etc. It might be helpful for some so check it out!