I typically respond poorly to tempo. I think its my aerobic physiology. I think low intensity work is very important to balance out the high intensity stuff. This will sound funny to most people, but I’ve been going for walks as low intensity stimulus. It works great for me, to relax, move, and provide a great low intensity stimulus. I go for 20-30min walks through the park, with some music and zone out.
I started pretty good with volumes, conservative, and spread out what I would usually do on 3 days, over 4. Its not the volume that is challenging, its the density, so you must allow the density to challenge your body, and not the volume. This is a really important concept. I’ve been doing 4 high days for 5 months now. And the results have been quite remarkable. Going from never breaking my flying 25m personal best in 3 years of very consistent and hard training, to smashing it after 2 months of training this way.
I’ve done it with weights, but kept it very low on volume too. 2x5 split squats, 4 days per week, or 4x2 jump squats. Very manageable.
I was one of those athlete before that you wouldnt think could handle much volume at all. But pushing the limits slowly, you build up a capacity for recovery and work. As long as its very specific and conservative. A person jumping in to 4 days per week might get crushed easily. But if you start at 2, get some gains, plateau, go to 3, get some gains, plateau, go to 4, ect… It seems to work well for throwers. Even though I understand that these events are different, the physiology of adaptation must be similar, and they work up to 10 sessions a week with lifting included. If you think thats totally different than sprinting recovery wise, I would say try jumping in to 10 workouts a week like that and tell me you arent completely ruined. Theres an element of building up and resistance to work that needs to be in place.
That’s interesting stuff about the tempo. I know those who don’t respond well to tempo usually respond well to a 20 minute jog. It sounds like you ramped up your workload carefully, and really, the volume is very conservative so it sounds like you figured out your body. Really clever!
How has your diet evolved over time? What do you find yourself sticking with? I’ve got an athlete that is progressing very nicely this year, but his diet is frightful. Not nearly enough quality greens, and excessive processed content overall. I’m curious what you’d recommend.
When you say you don’t respond well to tempo what do you mean exactly?
I used to think tempo beat my body up but I started pulling out other things and keeping tempo in and figured out it was some of the more esoteric core circuits that aggravated areas of my low back or knees. Another contributor was too many high intensity plyos. As long as I do tempo on good grass or the track in well cushioned shoes, no problem.
I just find tempo to be more of a workout for me and doesnt help me recover. I’ve heard from other people too that they get more benefit out of a 20 min run. I think it all depends on how you feel. If you feel better after tempo, jogging, or walking, then its probably helping. I would always feel more tired after tempo instead of refreshed, but I’ve heard of people feeling refreshed after tempo or jogging.
My diet is pretty good. Low processed foods, low sugar, lots of protein, fish oils, anti oxidants. I feel as though its been an important factor in recovery.
Good post. RE: proper surface…not all grass is the same ime. I prefer slower, longer rep, tempo on a track as opposed to running on shitty, potholed grass. I develop issues running tempo on a practice football field where the coach runs redzone plays repeatedly on the same field, in the same endzone, from the hash marks.
I would prefer tempo on the track any day over shitty grass - I have seen everything from (ankle/foot/hip/lower back issues) the next morning after running tempo on shitty surfaces.
Ex: Below you can see what I like to use when training on shitty surfaces…
Session 1: Grass tempo
Long warmup (this will develop general fitness)
6-12x100 @ 60-65%
Abs
Session 2: Track tempo
Shorter warmup
8x150 @ 70-75%
Abs