RJ's Log: Slow White Boy

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329

bevolution!
May 18, 2009
Lower Body
Mag An-1/Dur An-2[/b]

Current Condition:
Ugh, I had a long day at work and was a little short on sleep. Still, I felt good, if not a little worn down by the time I got to training around 8:30 PM.

Warmup:
Some RW drills

I just shot hoops for a little while

Workout: Rotation Style
Single Leg Approach Jumps
5 x 2 reps, 120-180 sec. rest
Most of them were around 34"

CMJs
1 x 2, N/A rest
Both were ~28"

(out of rotation)

Single-Leg ISO DLs (left)
2 x 20 seconds @ 187 lbs, 180 sec. rest

Single-Leg ISO DLs (right)
2 x 20 seconds @ 187 lbs, 120 sec. rest

OI SL HF Abs (left)
2 x 25 reps @ BW + 10 lbs, 180 sec. rest

OI SL HF Abs (right)
2 x 25 reps @ BW + 10 lbs, 120 sec. rest

Cooldown:
Some light plyo exercises and some general stretching

Notes:
Like I said, I was tired from work and early rising this morning, and I had most of a pizza, some fried rice, and two cobs of corn in my stomach, but I got up well. Last time I tried approach jumps I only managed 33" when I was fresh, so I’m slowly getting used to the movement. Most the jumps were at lower speed, but I took the last couple from a very quick approach and they felt effortless. I had plenty of confidence that my leg was steady. In fact, I was a little too confident.

On my final jump, I got moving at a really good pace, but when I went to plant, my shoe went skidding across the concrete leaving black rubber streaks in its wake and I landed on my back hard. I’m a little cut up, but I’m happy with the jumps.

As for the CMJs, I’ve jumped as high as ~33" before, but I’m not really worried. I’ve been doing mostly unilateral work and it would only make sense that my bilateral jump would suffer. My running jump is now 6" higher than my standing, which is more than it’s ever been, even though both jumps have been inches higher. It’s cool though. Like I posted some months ago, I’m in the process of restructuring my body. I want to shed a lot of quad mass while building up my posterior chain and hip flexors.

In the weight room, things were difficult, but they went smoothly. I was bushed after jumping, especially after hitting the ground, but I had enough energy to finish.

I want to hit some 120s or 150s on Friday or Saturday.

330

bevolution!
May 22, 2009
Lower Body
Rate/Mag An-1[/b]

Current Condition:
I slept in this morning and am feeling fine. My right calf has a line of tightness in it, but it’s nothing major.

Warmup:
Some RW drills

Build Ups

Workout: Rotation Style
VJ to SS ADA
2 x 4, 180 sec. rest

Flying Primetimes
2 x 30M, 240 sec. rest

3-Pt Sprints (on track, in spikes, video timed)
2 x 60M, 360 sec. rest
Times of: 7.23, 7.34

Cooldown:
Some light plyo exercises and some general stretching

Notes:
Dammit. I haven’t run anything under 150M, except for flying sprints, in months, and I’m still stuck at my old PR over 60M. Though I’m no faster than I’ve ever been, things felt smooth today, and the video backed it up. My knees and feet are in line and my external rotation problem is now entirely dealt with. This more efficient action is probably why I recently PRed over 150M, even though my top speed doesn’t look to be any better. Then again, it might be higher because my acceleration is probably down.

Over the last few months I’ve been trying to restructure my body. Namely, I’ve been wanting to lose quad mass while building my hip flexors and extensors. A little while back my legs were 27.5" at their largest, and as of today, they’re 26.375". My hips have stayed steady at around 43". As one might expect with such a drastic loss in muscle mass, my jumping ability is down (my CMJ is only 28", down from ~33" at its peak) and I would bet my early acceleration is suffering as well.

As such, my top speed may actually be better than ever, as indicated by my 150M PRs with no SE, and my having tied my 60M PR (yet again). When I make up for the loss of strength in my quads, it’ll all work itself out, but I don’t know if I’m going to PR by very much this season.

331

bevolution!
May 30, 2009
Lower Body
Dur/Mag An-1[/b]

Current Condition:
I feel really good. I haven’t been able to train for a while and I kind of enjoyed the rest.

Warmup:
Some RW drills

Light Plyos

Workout: Rotation Style
19" RA Jumps
3 x 3, 180 sec. rest
Best Jumps of: 29"

(out or rotation

Single-Leg ISO DLs (left)
1 x 10 seconds @ 192 lbs, 180 sec. rest
1 x 10 seconds @ 202 lbs, 180 sec. rest

Single-Leg ISO DLs (right)
1 x 10 seconds @ 192 lbs, 180 sec. rest
1 x 10 seconds @ 202 lbs, 180 sec. rest

OI SL HF Abs (left)
2 x 25 reps @ BW + 10 lbs, 180 sec. rest

OI SL HF Abs (right)
2 x 25 reps @ BW + 10 lbs, 120 sec. rest

Cooldown:
Some light plyo exercises

Notes:
Well, I blazed a trail through thick forest up a mountain last weekend and it really tore me up. I got a pretty bad cut across my right achilles and I haven’t been able to train for a week for fear of splitting it back open. I finally judged it was fine today though.

Oh, and I haven’t really been weighing myself recently, nor have I been making a concentrated effort to lose weight, but I have been eating healthier and it’s really starting to show. My weight was 200.0 lbs straight out of bed this morning, down from 210.0 only a couple months ago. I both look and feel better. Maybe 197-198 isn’t out of the question before my season is over.

As for today’s workout, I switched to 10 second ISO holds because sweaty hands were giving me a problem holding on to the bar. I’m pretty happy because I used more than bodyweight.

I’ve got a meet this upcoming Thursday. I don’t know if I’ll run great. I mean, I’m around 60M PR form, so I should do fine, but I know it’ll take me a few races to get into form. It’s cool though, because there are 5 meets this year and they’re all two weeks apart. It’s like the perfect setup.

332

bevolution!
May 30, 2009
Lower Body
Dur/Mag An-1[/b]

Current Condition:
After sitting at a desk all day at work my lower back was a little tight, but it went away after I warmed up.

Warmup:
Some RW drills

Light Plyos

Workout: Rotation Style
RA Toe Pops
2 x 8, 180 sec. rest

(out or rotation

Single-Leg ISO DLs (left)
2 x 10 seconds @ 163 lbs, 180 sec. rest

Single-Leg ISO DLs (right)
2 x 10 seconds @ 163 lbs, 180 sec. rest

OI HF Abs
2 x 25 reps @ BW + 10 lbs, 180 sec. rest

Cooldown:
Some light plyo exercises

Notes:
Nothing to note really. I backed off the weight to 80% of last session and it went just fine. I have a meet in three days. I’ll be ready. I think I’ll be running the 200M and then the 50M.

333

I thought it would be okay to note it here, but my buddy Andrew Darqui and I have opened up a website. I know quite a few people follow this log and I’d be grateful if you checked it out.

www.pure-dedication.com

Come help us get started.

And for an entry with more content, my glutes and lower back are a little bit tired after yesterday’s session. I’m at work right now and I know sitting in a chair all day won’t help. I need to get up and move around more throughout the day.

334

Well, I had a meet today. I went 24.70 in the 200M with no wind (indoors on a 400M track). This is .14 behind my PR. I’m not too disappointed though.

I blew through the curve and even held it until about 120 or so, but at that point I absolutely fell apart. And I do mean fell apart. It was ugly.

From the race, I can tell that my speed is in place as it’s ever been (my initial accel is still lagging because of the atrophy I’ve been trying to induce in my quads), but my conditioning is somehow worse than I’ve seen it. I was physically sick and dry heaving after a 200M. There’s no excuse for that. Still though, I’ve gone over 60M like three times in the last several months and not at all within the last month. It’s a wonder I’m able to make it through the curve at all.

The good points from this race were my fantastic (for me) curve and the fact that my glutes were on fire after the race, meaning I’m recruiting the right muscles. The bad point was my total lack of conditioning and the sickened state it left me in after the race. From here, I know what I need to do.

As the season progresses, my SE will fall into place. After that though, I still need to get my hip strength up. I’m calling it here, and there’s no backing out. I will stick with single-leg DL ISOs until I can do 1.5x bodyweight with the correct form and activation patterns.

Next meet is in two weeks. I’ll be doing the 100M and either the 400M or the LJ.

335

Keep working, I think 3-4 weeks of longer ext tempo would help your times a ton.

336

Agreed. I don’t think more static strength above where you are will help with SE. IMHO tempo and especially SE runs are the keys to progress for you.

337

You’re both absolutely right. I’ll be incorporating more SE1 and tempo over the coming weeks.

And I think I’m actually going to be able to improve this year too, as the schedule is much better. Last year I only had 4 meets that were all one week apart. This year I’ve got 5 meets and they’re all separated by 2 weeks. This will give me a chance to get my SE down.

Thanks for the advice. Now I just need to follow it.

338

I agree that you will improve this summer but I am afraid that you will not have enough time to peak your SE. I found this season that it takes about 8 weeks to peak SE, this is why it’s important to keep all elements (speed, tempo etc) in your program year round

339

I’ve got about 8 weeks until my season ends. So that’s perfect. I know how quickly conditioning can pick up, so I’m looking forward to seeing how well I can do. I can PR, it’s just a matter of by how much.

I’m hoping the purposeful atrophying of my quads doesn’t hurt too much. My vertical leap is down like 5" from its peak, but with all the quad mass I lost my running is so much smoother and more economical. I just need to build everything back up in proportion now.

340

I haven’t been following RJ’s log religiously but I would consider what he calls speed work to actually be SE. From what I have seen he runs a lot of 150’s, 120’s and 80’s. I haven’t seen much from RJ in the form of pure acceleration or even MaxV work.

341

You’re right, Tom. Most of my sprint work this year has come from overspeed flying 30s and flat 80s and 150s. I get accel in my warmups, but not as much as if I trained it specifically.

From here on out, I think my scedule will look something like this

Thursday: Meet - counts as SE1 day
Friday: Tempo - 200s in mid 30s w/2 minute rest
Monday: Weights, Depth Jumps, Tempo
Thursday: 60-80M sprints @ 95-100%
Friday: Tempo
Monday: Weights, Depth Jumps, Tempo - less volume
Thursday - Meet - counts as SE1 day.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

342

Sprints the day after weights and depth jumps? I’d rather see sprints Monday with depth jumps after. I would actually suggest bagging weights for the next 8 weeks but I know that’s not going to happen, so at least do speed first.

343

Also, is there reason to suspect all these static holds are inhibiting elastic reactivity?

344

Sprints are three days after weights and depth jumps. Plenty of time to recover and see the potentiation effect from the small volume of plyos.

And if anything, the ISOs are helping elastic response. Research has shown the isometrics result in higher increases in tendon stiffness than any other training method.

I’m still depth jumping a couple inches higher than my CMJ, so the reactivity is there, I’m just kind of weak right now since I’ve been trying to make my body better proportioned for the sprints.

345

Damn, somehow I read Thursday as Tuesday.

I still think Monday should be running if you can.

346

Maybe I’ll trade the depth jumps for accel work on the track and a few odd plyos then. The weights will have to come afterwards.

347

I’m curious as to why you would prioritize depth jumps to acceleration work? Surely you aren’t concerned about improving your vertical at this stage of the game?

348

I hope I don’t come off as picky, but why accels? Why not max speed? As CF said somewhere, hundreths saved at the start can cost you tenths later in the race. He was referring to race strategy but it’s a training strategy as well. You are already strong, quick and explosive. Speed work will retain these qualities (for 8 weeks anyway) and allow you to hone your form which can’t be as smooth as it could be after the long Winter. You probably won’t get much faster in the first 40 meters in the time available but you can improve your SE enough to PR big.