I know this is a thread inside a thread, but i thought this would be a good topic dicussion for my journal, as i am faced with this alot of the time.
Basically how do i get that T&F mentality? i know this question is very very strange but bare with me.
The reason why i ask is because some days i feel like a T&F star, and some days i feel like a regular bloke. whenever i feel like a star, my training is alot better, i am happier, confident, more active and i get things done. when i feel like a regular dude my workouts are sluggish, i’m sometimes happy, sometimes not and i’m not full of energy.
I want to keep that T&F star state of mind! how do you guys do that? how do i improve my mind to make me feel like a star 24/7? i know this question is vague and can be seen as going against certain people’s beliefs but this is how i feel atm.
I am suppose to be following this little program popequique has devised for me. don’t get me wrong, it is a excellent program, its not the program that is causing the motivational lost, it is me.
this morning i went out to do 30m, and i couldn’t even be bothered to go 100%. i was suppose to do 3reps x 3sets, but i only did 1 set and 1 rep on the 2nd set and i just went “F**k it!” and walked home.
then just before i was going to start doing SLJ, VJ and RJ i was called over to the house to do housework. then when i started cleaning i had no intentions of going back out.
i think something is wrong, i have a feeling it is stress building up. because just before i went out to do ym 30m sprints, i could not find one of my sprinting socks and i feared the dogs chewed it up, so i was rushing all over the house and backyard and side yard until i found it, curled up and sopping wet. and i knew the dogs did it. and this is the day after i found out the dogs had taken one of my new spikes away. then the dogs went and messed up my home gym by ripping up papers and books (old stuff) and just making a complete mess. and i can’t be bothered cleaning it. then i think the housework was an add on.
i also go back to school tomorrow and i have a lot of homework and assessments due. i should of done these earlier but i decided to be lazy.
i really want to get my motivation back, can anyone help me, please!!
Motivation is a personal issue, especially in track motivation is very important, if you cant go out there and give it your best then there is no point to going out at all.
For me I think of motivation as part of the feedback loop of training. Everytime I go out I go out to do my best, every race even if I’m running against a 10.5 sprinter or 24’ long jumper I still try my best to win. You really need to get that confidence and motivation and for different people it comes from different places. I feel if I go into the weightroom or the track and take it easy then I will be less confident the next time and then motivation goes down, so if I’m havin a bad day or am a little tired I tell myself that it is not acceptable and that if I want to be competitive I cant have that attitude, I’ll visualize one of my competitors training harder and trying to better me. You just got to find that thing to get passionate about when no one else is watching, when its pooring down raining or snowing, you just gotta find that thing in you that makes you want to still get out on that track and give it your best.
Atm i think a big issue is probably confidence. seeing as i am all new to this basically, i don’t know whether i am making steady, noticeable improvements.
I do believe i have lost a little bit of confidence from today’s attempted workouts. it kills me also.
today is turning out to be a slow, stressful and bad day. however, i sent a friend a txt msg and i might be talking to her later on. this will help me relax, open up, get rid of this stress and attitude and just make me feel better.
i sometimes think track and field is for me, you know. then some days i see other people who are way better than me then i lose everything. i then think ‘i just got to work harder’ but sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
i really want to pursue long jump as well as i enjoy it very much, but also i like doing 100m and 200m. but i don’t know if i could continue long jump unless it is aviable round my area for those 18+. this meet coming up will determine atm whether i continue jumping for 1 more meet or it all ends.
i feel i can get passioniate (sp) about T&F. but atm i am not seeing myself as a T&F athlete yet. i really need to start to work on building my confidence and start seeing myself as a T&F athlete.
anyway, thanks popequique for that. it has got me thinking and such.
For the 1/4 Squat, i discovered some pain in my quadricep. possibly only a corkie, so i pushed through this pain. although it did hurt alot.
Weightless lunges were the same as 1/4 Squat. i was still hurting from the corkie in my left quadricep.
Leg raises were good. really felt it good in my abs. on the descend is when they felt the best.
Calf raises were alright. but i did however mix the rep ranges up. nevermind, will mix this if i ever do these again.
Overall, not a bad workout. I am coming out of lack of motivation, so i was not fully motivated, but nor was i dreading the workout. i am positive i will be getting my motivation back over the next couple days.
–Side Note–
I mixed the two days up. Today was meant to be 10 Full Throughs and Bounding, but i mixed the dates up and did tomorrow’s workout today.
To fix things, i will today’s meant-to-be workout tomorrow to even things out.
Should i do this? this shouldn’t affect Thursday’s training hey? anyway i need the practice of long jumping, so these Full Throughs will be more important than any workout.
4 Full Sucessful Jumps
-4.50m
-4.63m
-4.56m
-4.65m
2 Near-Sucessful Jumps
4 Fouls
Several Other Jumps were Unsucessful
—Notes—
Practice was dissappointing. for the only four good jumps i made, they did not even go over 5m :mad:
The near-successful jumps was when i jumped before the board.
I fouled a few times which made me angry.
I did alot of other jumps but i did not follow through as my run-up was off and i wasnt going to hit the board right.
Overall, not the best practice out there.
–Side Notes–
My main problem was speed and hitting the board at top speed. i would either over-step or jump too early. this problem i need to address otherwise if i go to Riverina and over-step or under-step, it is going to be a waste of time!!
My run-up seems to be a bother also. i need to find the right length and such.
I did not even worry about in-air technique cos i was barely in the air to worry or practice.
I need work on hitting the board everytime at 100% top speed and maintain that and have control to focus on technique.
I think i should be focusing more on the pits, so i may add in more sessions at the pits as this is bringing me down…
Thursday Planned Long Jump Practice w/o Jump Actual Rest Day
Seeing as i mixed up the days earlier it seemed to throw my whole week out of whack. today was meant to be 10 Full Throughs w/o Jumps, but once again i mixed up dates and it ended up being a rest as i did not know what to do.
But everything will be back on track (no pun intended) tomorrow where i have a mate who we are gunna do a workout at school during lunch time about twice a week.
Do not try to hit the board at 100% speed, not seeing you workout I have seen that be the problem with a lot of jumpers, myself included at the beginning.
The key is to find a speed slightly, below max where you feel comfortable with the control you have over your body, especially during takeoff and during your time in air. What is probably happening, and this is just a guess is that you are focusing on bringing all your speed, tightening up, jumping from more of a hunched or bent over position and nose diving into the pit.
What you should be doing is keep your self relaxed, focus on bringing speed but not killing yourself to do it, and make sure you get your body upright before takeoff and explode off the board.
On the part of runway you may want to mark a few steps into your approach on a jump that you hit board on so you have a marker, most flucuation takes place the first few steps.
thanks for that, that could be the problem. i will for sure take your advice and try it out next time i hit the pits then i will let you know how i go.
thanks again, you have been very helpful, thankyou popequique
Good, very good today. my 10m technique and form has improved alot since i first started.
30m were good except i felt i didn’t quite go 100%, maybe 95% or something like that.
Overall, very good.
–Side Notes–
I had other training set out today but somehow i didn’t quite get around to it.
Keep in mind, i have no fully regained my full confidence and motivation and such from earlier this week. hopefully after tomorrow i will as i am playing a game of Aussie Rules footy for my main club.
Today i decided to have a game of football with my mates. We ended up winning, so i feel pretty good.
Downside, i have pain in my quad, i assume its only a corked muscle, but i think it is going to need some rest and stretching to overcome.
Do not know how long i will be out for, hopefully a couple days. Tomorrow is a pure rest day so that will be very helpful in getting over this.
The main thing i want to avoid is rushing back into training only to further damage and take me out of the meet coming up. So main objective, get it well before the meet.
Injury Update - My left quadricep is feeling better. i can walk on it with a lot less limp than yesterday. However, i still need maybe a day or two extra rest to make sure it is fully recovered.
I have ordered them from SportsPower and she said they will cost around $100, which is an alright price for sprinting spikes. She is going to give me a call when they arrive.
Also, for those who didn’t catch my thread about spikes, my dog got hold onto one of my spikes and took it away somewhere and i am unable to find them. I have looked everywhere, so he has either chewed them up or buried them. and lets say i was very pissed off at the time when i found out i lost one. i still got one of them.
I decided to also rest today to let my leg heal alot quicker and better. and i think it was a good decision. as it has gotten better throughout the day.
shouldn’t be too long till i am slowly back on track (no pun intended).
Today was leg was feeling alot better. so i decided to do an ‘active recovery’ session and play a little game of basketball. nothing hard or serious. just enough to get my legs moving. and to be honest, my leg pulled up good. no after-game pain or anything.
i also just remembered i have a school football game tomorrow. so we’ll see how i pull up afterwards. hope its all good. eager to get back to training and sprinting…
Today i played horrible. but i don’t really care. i did not push myself or go in hard at the packs in the fear of risking an injury 1 week before my meet.
i did nearly suffer an ankle injury where i got tackled and hit my ankle hard on the ground. limped for 3 minutes but all good after that.
my leg where i suffered a corkie feels good. there is miminal to no pain at all. when i contract it and squeeze it, i can just feel something. and while running today, it felt good. no pain at all while running.
so i feel good know my leg is 99.98% good to go, maybe even 99.99%.
Good to be back. Lunge jumps were good. Really got my legs going.
Rocket Jumps were like lunges, good to feel some jumping movement.
Dumbbell swings were different. i started off with just dumbbell with no extra weight. and instead of doing 1min, i did 60reps instead.
Overall, a good workout. even though short, it is good to be in it again.
–Side Notes–
I was meant to do run throughs today but i am in a different time zone to others here. so when i recieved the PM with my workouts, the chance to do some pit work was too late.
I will try and do some pit work tomorrow to make up for today.
The four fouls done was of the slightest bit. my toe was just over the board. But this didn’t drain my confidence.
The 6 Good Jumps were near perfect on the board. maybe a tiny bit earlier on 1 or 2, but other than that, really good on hitting it.
Overall, good. Today was set out on just hitting the board consistentaly (sp) and not worrying bout how far. I took some advice and didn’t aim to hit full speed. and this helped alot on hitting the board. I also measured out how long the run-up, and it was about 30 steps i think. will re-check this come monday.
–Side Notes–
Today was merely a day to boost confidence. and i did, my confidence is really good. while i was putting my spikes up in the Yr12 Study, some girls were asking about it, so this got my mind in a good mood. and when i return, one girl was asking how i went, how far. so this really made me feel good, as a form of extrinsic (sp) motivation, which isn’t all bad.
Also, planned were sprints and some lifting. but i thought to myself ‘nah, no need for these, instead i might head down to the pits Monday for a last bit of jumping before the day’ I will talk to popequique about this and see what he says. Better yet, popequique, if you are following this journal still, would it be ok if i did some pit practice on Monday, if so, what should i focus on? thanks
You dont mean your approach is 30 steps I hope? Is 30 steps what you are using to measure the runway? If so you need more accurate measures, tape measure?
Just for a frame of reference, granted I wouldnt bother changing it now if your meet is Wednesday, but my runway is 88’ with 14 strides, my old teammates is I believe 98’ with 18 strides his first 2 steps are just walkin though where mine are almost like bounds.
I probably wouldn’t do anything on the pit especially if this is your big meet for the year, maybe some tempo or something of the sort, I am not one to talk however as instead of taper the last 10 days from a big meet I rest.
Richo you have to understand that in order for programs to workout as they are suppose to you have to follow them as set out there are reasons for doing things, I understand that its not always easy to stick to a plan but in the two weeks planned there were a decent amount of times where you did not follow the program as planned. Granted the improvement you will see in two weeks will probably be limited, but in the larger scale of things you have to become dedicated to a program and understand both short term and long term goals.
