My quest for 6.7

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314

Yup Hand timed. From time to time I get some gates but that is rare.

My timing method:

Hold the stop watch in hand. Stand at whatever distance I’m running (100, 150 ect…). Timing is started first and then the run starts. Almost like a reaction to the beep of the stopwatch but since I know its coming the reaction isnt very long.

Once in a while a friend times me and I tell them to get first step instead just because it makes it more consistent when comparing to other times.

Not sure how accurate this method is (probably not very), but I have found that hand timing fly’s are not too bad.

315

Ok. That’s how I’m used to do it too. I just thought maybe it’s not HT because you declared hundredths too, it’s not that precise for sure. However the timing method is not so important as long as you keep using the same method, in that way marks are fairly well comparable at distances 100+.

316

Today: 8 Celcius/50 F and pouring rain

It wasnt completely shitty when I got there. Just spitting a little so I did my 230m then it started to pour and figured I was already half way through and might as well finish.

230m- 26.5s
150m- 16.43s

Ran with a training partner and he pulled up after 50m of the 230m, so I kept looking back while running to see what was up. He saw a football flying towards him and stalled and tweaked his hamstring in the process.

Gym:
Squats 1x10 @ 225lbs, 1x10 @ 295, 1x10 @315
Weight hip thrusts 3x10 @ 205lbs
Bench Press 2x8 @ 245lbs
Pull ups 2x10

Hit my seasonal goal for squats for reps of 10. Next goal is 5x405lbs and I’m not too far off from that.

I just found out that the bobsleigh tryouts are coming to my town and was asked to come and tryout. I figured I would seeing as its mostly running stuff and that it will be a good opportunity to get some some stuff electrically timed. The tests are

30m/30m fly- separately timed in a 60m
5 double leg bounds
Power clean
Front squat

I’ll take the lifts pretty easy, wont try to push anything. Probably go 225lbs for cleans and will attempt 315 on the Front squat.

317

My buddy was at the track today sporting his fancy electric timing gates and camera. Couldn’t pass up that opportunity seeing as I havent been timed for real in months.

4x20m blocks
3xflying 30m (2.96,2.96,2.93) from about a 25-30m run in.

Fastest flying 30’s Ive done in a real long time. Indoors I was having a tough time staying under that 3s mark but today it was no problem. With a little more training I think I can hit the 2.8s, which is completely uncharted territory for me.

My groin was bothering me slightly because I had just gone to see the chiro and he did some pretty deep ART on it. Usually I dont schedule in that close to practice, or even on a practice day, but its all he had.

10x over head shot throws

3x5 depth jumps

2x5 squats @ 365

318

3x120m (12.94,13.00,12.93)
4x20m blocks
6x10 Bounds
15xhop and throw 8kg medball
5x4 power cleans @ 205

319

2x210m (23.5, 24.2)

Not sure if the last one was me dying off or a gusting headwind. Probably a combination of the two.

2x10 squats @ 295, 1x10 @315
3x10 weighted hip thrust @ 225
3x10 bench press @ 225
2x10 pull ups

320

What’s going on with all the 10’s on the squats?

321

I started 10s a couple months back, on my lower CNS day. I never stopped doing them because I didnt stop making gains. I was initially going to switch exercises on that day and make it more of an assistance day, leg curls, weighted hip thrusts, ect… But the squats kept improving and I figured why switch them out.

I like 10s on my special endurance day to lower the CNS stress overall but still get a major lift in. I’ve been doing 10s on tuesdays and 5s on thursday. Its worked pretty well so far. I’ll admit, its weird to have this set up, but I dont see how it could be bad.

322

First day that my groin hasnt bothered me during the runs. It was holding back my acceleration the past week.

1x60m
3x120m (12.75,13.05,12.83)
After the first run I mistakenly took 8 minutes rest. Typically I’d take between 10-15 on 120m. So on the next one I took the full 15 and the quality was much better.
4x30m block starts

6x10 bounds
15x hop and throw 8kg medball
2x5 squats @ 365, 1x5 @ 375

323

Are you still doing tempo?

324

Yeah for sure.

Somedays 20x100m barefoot on turf. Somedays 10x100m indoors when its raining. I tried some 200s and 300s and those werent for me. I left feeling loaded instead of fresh and recovered. The 100s barefoot are magic.

325

How many days are you doing the 20x100?? With the amount of SE work you are doing, you may not need long tempo runs.

326

Just 1. I do pretty random tempo workouts based on how I feel. They are purely for recovery. Not fast at all, just a slow stride. They feel great.

327

So one session of 20x100, what are you doing on the other sessions? About how fast are the runs - 17-18sec??

328

yeah, I dont really count the runs either. I just go out, do them based on how I feel. I dont time them, but they’re certainly not quick. Slow strides, thats all it is, just to flush things out, get a sweat and get winded.

329

If that works then keep using it. I found instead of doing a shit ton of sloppy reps, decrease the vol and increase speed slightly.

330

Felt pretty crappy today. My legs were stiff and sore. I went out with some friends last night and had a little too much to drink. What was I thinking. Anyway, training went alright considering how crappy my legs felt.

1x60m
3x120m (12.94,12.81,12.84)

I was surprised because my legs were really tight I had terrible ROM when I was accelerating and felt like I had nothing in my legs. But at the end the times were close to my PB so it wasnt too bad.

4x30m blocks on the 200m start

Started to feel drained, my legs were sore as hell at this point
4x10 bounds
10x hop and throw shot put

3x5 light cleans

It was the hottest day this year and I’m not quite used to it. Tough workout to get through.

331

Yesterday must have been 30 Celsius and today felt like around 5. What a drop in temp.

2x210m (23.78,23.73)

I have a tendency to not run the curve hard or run it bad on the outside of the curve. In the first set I did that. On the second I focused on running a good bend and sticking to the inside of the lane. Seems to have payed off.

Last weeks workout had a huge drop off of .8s. So my goal for this week was to get two quality runs in. Me not running the bend so hard on the first made it possible to run the next one slightly faster. Goal for next week is to run the first with a good bend and break 23.5.

3x10 squats @ 295
3x10 weighted hip thursts @ 225
4x5 bench press @ 245

332

Cold, rain and headwinds were there to meet me at the track today.

1x60m
2x120m (13.03, 13.04)
1x160m (17.3)

4x30m blocks

6x10 bounds

3x3 squats at an easy weight

Bobsled tryouts on Sunday, treating it as a pre meet sort of deal.

333

Bobseld Talent ID camp today

Interesting day today with the tryouts being held at 930am this morning. I tossed and turned all night finally getting to sleep at 3am. Have been sleeping late and it was tough to get up for this one.

Get there and its raining outside. They set up the gates and the plan is to time 15m,30m and 45m while running a 45m. They take the flying 30m from 15-45m. Unfortunately the rain crapped out the timing system so we had to go to the indoor facility and only had enough straight to run a 30m. They do the 30m with a 1m run in zone and you have to have 1 foot in the zone and 1 outside of the zone. We did the 5 double leg jumps outside before we went indoors.

5 double leg jump: 15.7m, 15.95m, 15.90m

Had the second furthest there. My friend that ran a 6.79s (but hasnt trained in a while) jumped 16.1m on his first and shut it down there.

We go indoors for 30m, standing start (2 point)

30m: 3.71,3.71, 3.65

Fastest there. 2nd fastest was my friend and he went 3.71s. Other then that no one else broke 2.8s.

Next we went back to the other facility to do the lifts. The power clean was first. The way it works is that you get 3 chances at any weight you choose for them to count it regardless of if you make it or not. You can warm up with any weight you like and make as many tries you want, but as soon as you get the officials attention for an attempt you have 3 tries period.

I warmed up and did an easy 225 and stopped there. That was my plan. I would have max done 245 and in terms of bobseld standards it wouldnt have mattered if I did it, 225 is in the same category as 245. So I figured I didnt want to struggle and waste energy, when I knew I could put up a decent front squat. Couple guys over 225, with the best being 295. There were some ugly ass cleans going on. Very dangerous.

Power clean: 225

Front squat went quick for me, I warmed up with 135, 225 and jumped right to 315. It felt comfortable. I had done 335 before in training so I knew I had that. So I loaded 335
and got the officials attention for an attempt. They check for depth at parallel and tell you when you can come up. If you dont hit depth it doesnt count. 335 went easy. Waited around for others to make attempts at various weights. Lots more nasty ass lifts and fails. Next I went for 355lbs, uncharted territory for me. This is the weight that I thought I’d max out at. Went down, got the ok to come up and finished it. A little slow at the bottom but otherwise not bad. Waited around again for others to try various weights. A lot of 225-295s, a lot of fails and bad depth that didnt count. Next we discuss what weight I should try next (remember you only get 3 attempts at any weight, so this is my last). The standards are in kilos so we try converting and end up going with 385 which is roughly 170kg. Get the bar up, feels heavy as shit. Go down, and its tough, I hear the ok to come back up and I start pushing hard. I didnt think I was going to make it, but I came up and finished it off. Quite a bit heavier then I thought I would get. Second best is 365 by the football player that hit 295 clean, he calls for 405, his third and last attempt after failing his first 365 and getting his 2nd. Mind you the second one he got away with terrible depth and the official jumped the gun on the ok to come up because he was struggling so much. Anyway, 405 collapses down without a pause straight to the rack. So I hit the best front squat of the day.

Front squat: 335, 365, 385

Overall I had a highly successful tryout for bobsled, weighing in at 200.5lbs this morning. The next step is invitations to the national camp in july out in Calgary. My friend who is on the bobsled team is 100% confident that they will ask me down. This friend of mine had tried out last year. He put up similar 30m times but only front squatted 250 and the recruiters were flipping for him (@ a body weight of 170). So someone like me who is 200lbs, big front squat and 30m should be an interesting recruit for them.

Heres the catch though. I’m not going to go to the camp if they ask me. First issue is that I have no cash for the flight ( apparently you pay your way and they feed and pay your hotel). Second, its right in the middle of track season for me, and I would really like to focus a bit on that before switching to bobsled. I’ve got one more year of school and varsity track. When I’m done, I’d be willing to try out some bobsledding.