This stuff makes me cringe.
3 speed workouts, 2 intensive tempo workouts, 1 ext. tempo workout of 3800m in the last 4 days or
5 speed workouts, 2 intensive tempo workouts, 1 weights session, 1 ext. tempo workout of 3800m in the last 6 days
And you’re barely a year in the sport.
No wonder your body is protesting.
I hope you can find a more competent coach or this journal could end very abruptly.
Hi Neseinc,
I’m curious- what was the rationale for all the volume this past week?
You mentioned this was a training camp- do you usually do this much speed work in a week, or was the volume / number of sessions this week unusually high? Do you sometimes do two-a-days normallly, or was this only because it was a training camp?
If this is normal training for you, yikes. Recovery is just as important as the workouts! If you aren’t recovered, you can’t improve.
I usually don’t do this much speed work, I never train twice a day, it’s because of the training camp
Usually we train 3x a week with 2 weights sessions
It’s funny- I remember Charlie mentioning that during training camps, instead of going nuts on speed work, they would take advantage of the grass and good weather and do a lot of tempo / recovery work. Your training camp sounds like a recipe for injury. Trying to cram things in because it’s a training camp can cause more problems than it solves.
Two-a-days can be a good idea, but it sounds like they went a little crazy with the speed work. How are you feeling now?
I’m feeling ok today; but Saturday I was really drained (slept 6 out of 12 hours on the ride home and had a long night sleep afterwards), sunday a bit of fatigue aswell, but today it’s all fine.
Forgot to mention that half the sprinting team had to go see the physiotherapist to get their quads and/or hamstrings massaged, myself included.
I’ve seen several long jumpers with a tape on their legs aswell, so I assume the training camp was a recipe for injury like you say
My coach says training camp is more mental than physical preparations. You forget about your boring everyday life, just enjoy nice weather and sleep a lot 
Wednesday 11 March.
Bus strike so I couldn’t go to my track club, coach didn’t give the team a program so I went to do my own thing. ( looked at CTFS for a reference )
warm up , 2x50m strides
2x30m relaxed
4x30m - 3.87 / 3.88 / 3.90 / 3.90
4x60m - 6.97 / didn’t use stopwatch to focus on arm mechanics (shoulders went too far back on the first 60) / 6.84 / 6.88
very low depth jumps: 3x5 (someone tell me if it’s better to remove them from my training, please)
I felt good on the 30’s but not on the 60’s. My hips were low and I didn’t feel like sprinting
Hey there,
As of about a week ago, you said your foot was not fully recovered. Can you post a picture of where the pain is in your foot? Did you get a proper diagnosis from the physio other than you have “sensitive” feet, whatever that means?
How low are very low depth jumps? From what I recall, you have never done rudiment jumps / hops in your warmups or workouts in the past, so just moving into depth jumps with minimal preparatory work is not worth the risk in my opinion, especially with a foot issue! Your priority is to heal the foot- I think you need to forget the depth jumps entirely. If you get hurt, you can’t train. It’s pretty hard to get faster sitting on the bench!
I didn’t get a diagnosis other than that of the physio, since then I’m back to training and I’m not injured anymore. However, my ankle/foot feels weak and I feel pain after series of bounding. I might want to add some strength exercises for them.
Here’s a picture: http://i.imgur.com/HbHCn.png
Depth jumps are very low, like 20cm (as opposed to 60-70cm 2 months ago). The reason I did them is because of my foot, when I do plyo such as hurdle jumps or 3-5 bounds into sandpit my foot hurts a little after.
Friday 14 April.
Coach wasn’t there yet again and didn’t leave a program so I had to do my own thing …
3x80m full rest
2x120m full rest (did only 1 set as it was raining really bad and the previous 120 wasn’t good)
Overall, bad session. I didn’t feel good on any of them, my knees wouldn’t go up and I didn’t have that ‘pawning of the foot’ effect while running, that effect I had while on training camp.
Why are you still doing bounding and depth jumps if they are clearly causing you pain? Surely they are non-essential exercises and could be replaced in your program by something that is not causing such stress to your foot??
At the training camp I had to do a 3 bound and 5 bounds test and they caused pain to my foot, that’s why I do low depth jumps once a week (they cause no pain) but I don’t see a lot of positive things regarding depth jumps so I might stop doing them
Sunday 15 April.
Warm up , 2x50m strides
4x30m full rest
2x60m full rest
4x60m at controlled speed, rest = walk distance back to starting line
Overall good session, but I still feel my hips are not high enough when sprinting.
Wednesday 18 April.
Warm up, 2x50 strides
5x block starts over 20m
1x150m at 95% intensity
I felt strong in the blocks, coach said I’m explosive out of the blocks but I lack that same strength on the 2nd 3rd and 4th step.
I’ve had the opposite said about me. one forum user that I used to train with would always comment that he would be in front after two steps but then I would take off and disappear on the third…
How are you feeling today? It’s been a couple of days since the starts and the 150. Is there any major soreness or tightness in your muscles right now? How is your foot feeling?
Friday 20 April.
My feet is alright, also no soreness/tightness in my muscles, I’ve been stretching and doing more dynamic warm ups lately and I don’t feel as tight as couple weeks ago.
Today was my season opener, 100m. Did a 11.40 (w 0,0) a time I’m not really pleased with, as I expected a way better time (I always tend to expect great things lol, too optimistic before a race)
During the warm up I really felt good, my block starts were explosive and I thought I’d run a fast time. Anyway my reaction time was really bad, which caused me to rush my acceleration as I saw the rest ahead of me the first 5m.
Once upright I could feel my hips being low, my knees wouldn’t go up… Gonna post a video as soon as I can, feedback would be appreciated
EDIT: Video here -> http://vimeo.com/40750448 (im the one wearing blue)
That is a very good first result- 11.40 is nothing to complain about for a first race with a PB of 11.25- lately you’ve eliminated the dangerous plyos, your muscles are feeling better, and your foot feels good. That will allow you to train without interruption- and uninterrupted training will make you faster.
You look just fine technically- you really are a fine looking sprinter. I’d like to see a front view at some point. Keep training smart. I suspect if you keep it simple, you will have some nice improvement this season. Sub-11 is a distinct possibility, just keep on training and don’t try to force improvements, that’s how you got hurt last time.
Remember, it’s only April and you just ran 11.40- there’s a long way to go! Congrats, and keep us posted!
hey T-Slow thank you for your motivational words I’m looking forward to that sub-11, especially since that’s a barrier I thought i’d break last year.
Sunday 22 April.
warm up, 3x50m strides
60 - 80 - 120 - 80 - 60m ( full rest for each )
6.97 - 8.96 - 13.40 - 9.23 - 7.10
Average session, hips were very low during the last 20-30m of the 120. I was quite exhausted after the session, i’m guessing i haven’t fully recovered from the 100m of friday.
Wednesday 25 April.
warm up, wobble board for my ankles, strides etc
3x (80 - 120) at 95 % intensity.
Bad session, knees aren’t going up, could feel my heels touching my butt almost, hips are very low. All these technical faults weren’t there or were minimized at the training camp, I could easily run fast times there without trying.
Should I stretch more? I’ve gotten lazy with stretching lately but I don’t feel like that is the issue. Anyway I don’t know what’s going on, it’s not temporary cause I was doing really good technical wise at the training camp, since then I’ve only had average to bad sessions.
Maybe someone has an idea?
