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.
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.
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.
Keep working, I think 3-4 weeks of longer ext tempo would help your times a ton.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Also, is there reason to suspect all these static holds are inhibiting elastic reactivity?
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.
Damn, somehow I read Thursday as Tuesday.
I still think Monday should be running if you can.
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.
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?
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.
He’s been doing strictly SE for months in what he terms “speed work.” He mentioned that his acceleration was down because of a loss of quad mass.
To be quite honest I don’t know what exactly to recommend now that his season has started. What I do know is that a few top sprint programs have some form of acceleration work at least 2x a week.
I don’t see any SE in the past month. There’s no reason for us to go back and forth on details. We agree he ought to focus on running instead of emphasizing plyos or whatever.
bevolution!
June 5, 2009
Lower Body
Submax Rate An-2[/b]
Current Condition:
Since I only ran one race last night I was feeling pretty good today. My right glute was tight, but it went away in the warmup.
Warmup:
Some RW drills
Workout:
Tempo Runs
4 x 200M @ easy pace, 120 sec. rest
Times of: 30.0, 32.7, 32.4, 34.7
Cooldown:
Some RW exercises
Notes:
Well, my second tempo session ever went about as planned. I wanted to do 5 reps for an equal kilometer, but my lungs got the better of me.
Each lap was just an attempt to get the right pace down and I think I did okay. I know they’re all supposed to be the same speed, but I’m not used to running under 95% so pacing is hard.
Anyways, as embarassing as it is to admit, the workout was challenging. 8 more weeks of this crap should help me out though. Before the season is over I’d like to be able to hit 5 of these runs in under 30 seconds without being ready to hack up a lung.
Okay guys, you’re actually both right. I did focus on SE earlier in the year, but life has kept me away from the track for the last month and my endurance is dragging. Like Juggler said, I’ve been on the track once in the last month, and that was doing 60s. My SE was in place a month and a half ago, but it’s not now. I’m not worried as it will jump back quickly.
Tom, you’re right in that accel should be present often. I know I need to sprint more. I would like to point out that every time I do a sprint rep I do have to accelerate to top speed, and I also get accel work in my warmups. You’re also right in that I should be doing accel over DJ work. I just like the potentiation effect depth jumps can have. They provide a good strength stimulus too.
Juggler, you’re right here too. I probably should be emphasizing top speed runs. I’ll likely alternate between those and SE.