n…n… …nnnn…!
possibly not… 
Yikes! That sorta time reminds me of a high school zone meet in which most of the teams left before the 4x400m (meet was well behind schedule), but we stayed around. There was only one other team registered for the Senior boys 4x400 (age 17-18), so I threw together a rag-tag team of a 13 year-old Discus/Hammer thrower, a slow 13 year-old sprinter, a decent 16 year-old 1500m runner, and my only 18 year-old guy: a sprinter & jumper who’d hurt an ankle while at the meet.
They had all just eatin obscene amounts of Mcdonalds food (they thought they were finished for the day, and I hadn’t let them eat junk until then), and my instructions were to finish the race even if they have to throw up while jogging :). The 18 year-old with a bad ankle took about 2 minutes to lap the track and it was god awful after that. Two of them almost threw up, and the time was so slow they didn’t even record it.
quite possibly the most common question in track and field: “coach can we scratch the 4x4?”
The guy asking the question is at hand to run! Better to hide in the bathroom till the event’s over in case the coach gets ideas! (Just kidding)
Actually, I remember getting press-ganged into the 4 x 4 and having my buddy on the team cheering me on while falling down laughing. (come to think of it, HE was in the bathroom when I was drafted!)
yeah it’s probably only advisable to ask if you’re already the lead of the relay pool.
the trouble is, that this one event is worth so many points that it can easily be the difference between winning or losing the whole day. in this case, we actually would have won that division anyway, but with the scores not actually being calculated at the time there was no way of knowing that at the time…
the guy asking the question did run too, in case you’re wondering… 
100m: 13.1s, 2nd (ht, -1.5w)
shot put: 7.36m (6kg)
triple jump: 8.89m
hammer: 14.53m (5kg)
was a little stiff in the right quad today, but nothing to worry about too much. took it really easy in the 100m. was tempted to push it for a win over the last 20m but it wasn’t worth the risk of re-injury. missed out on the 4x200m relay due to lack of runners, which was disappointing.
decided to try another triple jump, only this time I did it in flats with much more heel support. I’m sure I can do better than 8.89m when fully fit. shot put was ok but I still need to learn how to do it with a run up. also had a bit of a go at the hammer, which was an adventure, to say the least. with me being a 60kg weakling it wasn’t always obvious if I was swinging the hammer or the hammer was swinging me! 
pb progressions:
100m: 12.80, 12.64
200m: 25.88, 24.7
400m: 71.9s
lj: 4.01m
tj: 8.49m, 8.89m
shot put: 7.90m (5kg), 7.36m (6kg)
discus: 21.41m (1.5kg)
hammer: 14.53m (5kg)
the only running pb that I am at all happy with so far is the 200m. the 100 and 400 are pretty soft, I reckon. shouldn’t take too long for them to go down once I’m fit. as for the field events, I’ve done basically zero training for most of them, so they can only improve, also…
100m: 12.7s 1.6w 3rd
200m: 26.5s 1.1w 4th
LJ: 4.54m
Discus: 21.28 (2kg)
400mR: 4:12.7
felt great all week but on the day I never quite felt right. led the field out to 40m but just didn’t have the confidence in my body to kick on. it’s a shame because I finally had a decent tailwind.
did a 200m, discus and LJ afterwards before being railroaded into starting off the 400m relay. I think I put my back out in the LJ which has led to a subsequent slight aggravation of my strings in the longer races. still not sure if I’ll compete next week. I’ll know more in 24 hours.
wasn’t all that smart on the day. got sunburnt, didn’t put my skins on, and forgot to ice up when I got home (collapsed in front of the TV, instead).
the “Iknow you’re injured but could you run anyway” attitude is starting to wear pretty thin with me. I see it all around me and more and more injuries are popping up everywhere. if the club really had the best interests of its members at heart then they would be ensuring that nobody comes back too soon after injury rather than egging them on and making them feel guilty when they say “no”. it’s not just me, I see it going on everywhere.
I joined this club to run, and run fast. not to piss fart around with events that I have no chance at being competitive at and reducing my performance in my main events and risking injury.
anyway, my season is virtually over, and not because of injury. it looks like I will have to be away for most of the second half. I might look at the possibility of finding somewhere I can compete in sydney, but I don’t hold high hopes.
all in all, a bit of a crappy result… 
200m: 26.98s -1.9w
400m: 69.70s
4x100mR: 49.88s
there were several reasons why I figured my times would be a bit below par for this meet:
- a sleepless night
- not enough food
- two hours on a plane
- minimal training and nothing longer than 100m
- a freezing headwind
I took the first 150m of my 200m pretty easy, just sitting on the heels of the lane to my right, before re-accelerating past him over the last 50m. the result was yet another 2nd place finish and a reasonable time considering the circumstances.
I had a trot through a 400m in what turned out to be a pb time (:rolleyes: ). I was just starting to feel it a bit at 300m when I turned for the home straight. the headwind hit me like a wave and I felt like I was running on the spot.
I took the start of the 100m relay and I nailed it. unfortunately we botched the handover and had to slow down to avoid passing out of the zone. in the end we crossed the line .02s behind the clubs other relay team in that heat. when the third team finished with 50.05s we all high 5ed because the aim was to balance the teams to get the fastest possible 3rd best time.
I flew back from sydney a day early to run at this meet because we had to win that round of division 3 to secure a clean sweep. as it turned out we won the night by 12 points and I contributed 39 points plus the relay, so I’m pretty happy about that.
two more meets to go…
100m: 12.73s, -3.1, first :rolleyes:
200mR: 1:43.1s, 5th
I was really keen to run a pb today, especially with selections for finals coming up. I’ve been unlucky with wind and hand timed results, so my ranking is much lower than it should be. there are several people ranked above me with hand timed season best times that I have beaten every time I have raced them. six, in fact.
unfortunately, my heat had the strongest headwind for the day and I ran .14 short of a time that would get me several places higher in the rankings. I also didn’t help my own cause by doing too much speed work on wednesday which meant that my left hamstring (always super slow to recover) was still tight. I went out very easy at the beginning and started to run hard at 50m which was when the wind really picked up.
strangely enough, after the race my hamstring felt really loose, so I guess I just ran it back into shape.
I did OK starting off the 200m relay in the second team. in fact, I know I beat the first runner of our first team because I had already handed off when I heard their baton clatter on the track.
anyway, the state finals are on in two weeks and I guess I just have to cross my fingers and hope that the selection works out in my favour. though it looks like I’ll be running in a division that is well too slow for me, so maybe I’ll at least have a chance of snagging a win. top div 4 times today were 13.36, 13.74, 14.09, etc…
So you’ll probably be in Div 4? 
There is a HUGE difference between your times and those others.
Are you tapering for States? If so what do you have planned? If not why not?
Looking at that pic see how your L arm has straightened? Try and maintain the angle more …I know…easier said than done. 
you mean my R arm on the L of the picture?
I would have thought that it was pretty common for the arm to open up as it drives back?
as far as prep goes for the finals, I’m pretty inexperienced with peaking. I have something in mind along the lines of:
mon upper weights
tue extended core
wed light tempo/core
thurs moderate tempo/core
fri moderate tempo/core
sat upper weights
sun 3x30m @ 80% (5.5s)
mon extended core
tues 4x60m @ 80% (10s)
wed-comp rest
of course, I have no idea what I’m doing. this is just the sort of training that has led me to perform fairly well in the past. obviously I am extremely open to suggestions.
in regards to selection, I have a very limited understanding of how the selection all works. this is my first time through all this, so I’m learning as I go. I was looking at the rankings and the hand timed results and I think I should be about 6th rather than 10th. oh well, nothing I can do about it now…
Yes I did sorry. :rolleyes: It is common but it should never be concious and only due to force, you should be trying to maintain hte angle. Also you should be pulling DOWN not driving back. Re the peak, so your comp is on the Wed?
yeah, I realise that about the arms. I do try and maintain a 90degree angle, and I was actually surprised to see how straight my arm was in the picture.
no, the comp is on saturday. I wrote “wed-comp”, meaning “wednesday until the competition”. I don’t want to make the same mistake I made last week when I trained at 100% effort too close to the day. I don’t want to take any chances of having a tight hammy…
Get rid of the tights- go the regular short tight version, tuck your shirt in, shave down (the legs) and get a real short haircut…
heh heh!
and get a real job?
it’s funny you should say that. getting half skins is on my list of things to do this week, plus, you’re not the first person this week to suggest that I should shave my legs. should I shave my head as well??
Whatever you think will make you go faster probably will!
Probbly not the head, but the goaty could go…
it will. work goes back soon.
any advice as to how to approach my training over the next two weeks?? :rolleyes:
You have had a few injuries this season and this your first season of any training.
Dont waste your most anticipated race of the year by trying to do too much in this next week. What is done is already done!
Keep it light in volume but any higher intensity work would need to be done earlier than later- especially if you think you might pull up a bit sore.
You will be fine. Perhaps a walk in the salt water at the beach might add to a relaxed feeling in the days before your big one.
All the best anyway.