Relentless Ambition

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 :slight_smile: 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?

Saturday 28 April.

Regional Championships.

did 100 & 200m: 11.34 (w +0,3) - 22.61 (w + 1,1)

I felt fast towards the end of the 100m and I knew i’d run a fast 200, to my surprise I ran 22.61 which means I equaled my PB.

I’m happy with that time since it’s early season. I’m still not completely injury free; ankle is still hurting sometimes, but i’ve bought a wobble board and hopefully that will strengthen them.

I’ll keep working hard but smart, focusing on my strengths. Overall this was a really good day.

By the way, if my 200m time is below 2x my 100m time, does that mean speed endurance is my strength?

Nice work! You took something off your 100, and way to go equaling your 200 PB in April! If you run within + or - .20 of your 200time then your speed endurance is decent. Keep training carefully and take care of your body! Congrats!

Monday 30 April.

warm up, 2x50m strides etc.

2x(3x30m) - full rest

3x60m - full rest

Felt good on all of them, I could really feel myself sprinting, hips weren’t as low as before, it just felt good. Looking forward to next session

Wednesday 2 May.

Speed Endurance

Pyramid: 80 - 120 - 150 - 120 - 80

Full rest for all runs. Didn’t get timed on the first 3 runs, last 120 13.72 and 80 9.23.

Im starting to feel better when I run, better placement, I run alot taller than before, which saves me a lot of energy I noticed.

Weights

Squats 60% 1RM, 3x10 - 1, 2 , 3 then explode up
Leg curl 2x8 (injury prevention for hamstrings)
Glute kickback 1x10

stretching, sauna, hot/cold shower

Friday 4 April.

Block starts

3x10
3x15
3x20

explosive out of the blocks, but not on the other steps. Coach said I don’t really push, I just put my foot down.

Sunday 6 April.

Competition

100m: 11.45 (w -0,7) , stumbled on the first steps it caused me to fall down almost. My hips were too low in the starting blocks. Rushed the acceleration, I just popped out without driving.
200m: 22.60 (w +0,5) ran a nice turn, accelerated on the straight away but had no slingshot effect like I had last week. The last 30m are a pain in the ass, that’s when I focus on knee lift and pumping arms harder but I slow down considerably. Is that a speed endurance issue, conditioning, strength?

Anyway I beat my previous 200m PB by 0.01. It frustrates me that whenever I make a PB it’s by 0.01 - 0.05, not that I’m not happy with the pb but that shows no real progress.

Wednesday 9 May.

Special - Speed Endurance

250m at 95% intensity - 90 seconds rest - 150m at same intensity - 12 mins rest

150m - 6 min rest

2x80m - 3 min rest between reps (ran just 1)

1x60m - didnt run

That was a really special session

Reason why I didn’t finish the session is because I felt really sick with all that lactic acid build up, felt like throwing up (ate an apple 30 mins before training). I was really exhausted, if I did finish the session however I would have ended in the hospital.
My nutrition and sleep have been really off lately, need to work on my sport’s hygiene off the track.

Hey there,

That is a tough sounding session! You did the right thing by stopping. I remember the first time I did one of KitKat’s 300-250-180-150-120 workouts. I ran a PB in the 300, ran a lactate-filled 250, and promptly vomited after the 180. End of session!

Now I’m a lot slower than you, but take a look at my indoor training journal. Some of my struggles with the 200 are detailed there. Charlie said it best- it is a rhythm race! You cannot “kill it” or you will die. I had the exact same experience indoors which is detailed in my journal- running well to 180 then totally dying. When I got it right, I ran a massive indoor PB!

My approach for the 200m is the following:

  1. Run hard for 40-50m
  2. Float till 85-90m and that’s where I pump arms faster to get that slingshot effect off the turn.
  3. I feel faster till I hit 150m and that’s when I start to slow down. ( I’m noticeable running faster from the 90 to 150m mark )

Should I approach it in a different way? I just read through your journal, you mentioned that you ran a PB when running ‘loose’ without trying. That’s what I do from 40 to 90m.
I can’t see myself running loose during the whole race aka let your body do the sprinting

I just read Clyde’s Hart 200m training: http://www.usatf.org/groups/Coaches/library/2007/Sprint Training/Clyde_Hart2.pdf
He advises running all out to 50m then float till 150. Maybe I should give that a try next meet