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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
lol…
Having a successful tryout, I bet they offer to pay for your flights.
I reckon losing some lbs would see some good time gains, especially in the 60m?. Or do you disagree i.e (Good 30m time 3.71) at tryouts?. Could have been better weighing less?. That 3.71sec first 30 should result in a sub 6.7?.
Sorry I havent read all of your journal, what’s your short term and long term goal/s?
When are you done training for the year?
and why so much emphasis (at least in the last couple pages ive seen) on the longer sprints (out to 200m range)?
My goal for the year is to pb in the 200m. In the past I’ve run some ok 200m but have never really trained for it. I would like to go low 21.x this year (22.14 current pb). Thats why I have been emphasizing the longer runs.
Long term, I would like to run a 10.5-.4 in the 100m (10.79 current pb). I feel this is realistic and within my potential. Once I run times like this, I know I probably wont get much faster or make any national teams, so I’d like to switch to Bobsled. Next year will be an interesting time because I’m finishing my college degree and college track career. So I’ll make the major decision then.
My first comp will be at the end of june where I’ll run the 100 and 200m.
The 30m time I ran (3.65) at the tryouts put me in their World cup Elite standard range which is the highest level. Losing weight would definitely help me run faster times in the 60m (especially my top speed). I’ve been trying to lose a few pounds lately. My competition weight will probably be around 195. I’m a big guy in general so thats as low as I can go.
The way the 30m is timed is a little deceiving. The 1m fly zone makes a difference when compared to a touch pad type of start. I know that someone that ran 3.52s (the record for bobsled) for the 30m has run a 6.6 in the 60m and 10.3 in the 100m officially.
If I were to go full out for bobsled there is a couple things I would change in my training. Sled sprinting would be a larger part of the training and Max V would be secondary. Weight lifting would also take a larger part of the training and I would probably gain more weight (220lbs). Because with bobsled, the sled must equal a certain weight, so its better to have a bunch of big guys pushing a light sled then light guys pushing a heavy sled, regardless of how powerful they may be, its tough to push it.
I’m guessing the sled would also drop down the mountain quicker with heavier guys in it.
If your getting out to 30m time in (3.65), boy that bodyweight must be causing damage in the 2nd half.
I remember once hearing one of the reasons that Jason Gardener (75kg/165lbs) opted/preferred the 60m over the 100m was because of his low bodyweight, but he referred to low bodyweight helping his acceleration in that interview not top end.
You lose 30lbs, maintain strength, you will should get the 6.7 I’m sure, but if its an issue going that low, then…
sucks.
Sounds good but I don’t think it’s that easy.
I wish I could drop 30 lbs and keep this strength, lol, that would be insane. I’m a big guy naturally. I’ve weighed as much as 240lbs (Fat+muscle) in my first couple of years of college. Strength is so much easier to be had when you weigh that much. I’m stuck in the 189-200lbs range for track. This morning I was 198, and at the end of my comp season in March I was 189. I definitely put on a couple lbs of muscle on my legs since then, so if I can get back to 193 I’d be good.
In track thats a disadvantage, but in bobsled its an advantage. All I can do is the best I can with this bodyweight. Get as fast as possible.
Specially when you scarf two big bowls of ice cream.
Mans a pig.
It has protein…
Sounds good, and some good goals there. What are you going to do with the weights and plyos when you’re gonna be racing? Just limit them to once a week?
Have you ever thought about doing contrast training? It’s fairly proven to be highly a highly effective stimulus to taper off from, which always leads to very nice PBs.
And im wondering, why do you think you wont get faster than 10.4-10.5?
What is contrast training?
Resisted sprints, followed by overspeed + one flat sprint (maybe) with tailwind
So an example can be
3-4x25m w/ a sled pulling about 10% BW into a headwind
3x flying 30m on a slight downhill w/ tailwind
1x 60m or flying 30m on the track w/ tailwind
I’ve only did it once, and got good results from it. I did 3x30m sled, 3x flying 30m (very strong tailwind) on the track, and 1x60m with the same tailwind.
So If you got a really strong tailwind, it’ll probably be a good idea to do it on that day.
How many days from your comp?
Mine was 7 days out from the first competition, and 14 days from my second one. I got the better PBs after 14 days, but bad weather, soft track, headwind was likely the reason I didnt get it after 7 days.
When it was talked about on this forum, most people mentioned this was a good workout to use before doing a 10 day taper. If you’re someone running mid 10s, or even high 10s/11.0 it’s practically a must that everything be completely sub max after this workout for 7-10 days.