Today I did speed stuff, but had no planned workout beforehand. I just spontaneously did stuff…
I did two laps warmup, some static stretching, then jogged the curves and did my drills on the straightaways (high knees, buttkicks, A-B skips etc.).
Then I did some plyos: 10 standing long jumps into the sand pit
10 standing triple jumps into the sand pit
3*50m bounding (I enjoyed those ones )
Then I did some sprints. I’m not sure if this is exactly what I did, but I think I did:
8 * 25m (I started doing them on the track but then moved to the grass) with walk back.
5 * 50m (these were on the track cause I almost stepped on some poop on my last 25m and got pissed…)
I realize this might be a lot for a speed day, but I wasn’t getting tired. So to finish off I did 8*50m sprints with 50m jog in between. So basically I went around the track twice doing that.
Then I did my Wednesday weights and finally went on the elliptical machine for 30 min for an overall cool down.
Well, I don’t like to criticize but I think you said you were a beginner.
If I could go back, I think I would have spent more time getting adapted to running gradually instead of doing what I did and quitting.
The crappy thing about being a beginner in a track team is your coach won’t necessarilly have you do a gradual buildup for the first few months. And you don’t have the option of telling your coach to do things differently.
The odd thing that happens in running is when someone gets a little slow due to fatigue, some push harder. Then they get injured. My cousin tore both hamstrings. And one of my former competitors tore both Achilles tendons.
I’d like to be very positive about competitive sport, but I don’t know what to say. I mean, I’ve even heard of one runner in the track team who was told by her coach not to run for a month because he suspected she was burning out. He may have been smart but she wasn’t. She ended up in the hospital after not eating for a month.
I’m getting back into it slowly and being criticized on the runnersworld forums because they say I’m not doing enough mileage. They don’t get the point. I just want to get fit. I’m doing about 10 to 12 miles a week now and aiming for 19 miles a week this summer. Then I might aim for 25 to 35 next winter but that’s it. I mean, my limit will probably be about 40 miles a week.
But for anyone getting into it seriously, I can only hope you won’t get obsessed and take it easy when you start showing real signs of fatigue.
Thanks for your concern. (and i like good criticism)
Don’t think that I just jumped into these workouts from nowhere. I kinda did that last spring, when I ran track for the first time and hurt my foot and was on pain killers for the whole spring season. Then I rested for about a month, and gradually started training again last June, building up for the indoor season that starts this January (my foot has been fine ever since). The whole summer I was building a base, and in the end of September I was all ready for the harder workouts with the team. Except from common soreness the day after hard workouts and occasional shin splints, I’ve been injury-free so far this year and even when I feel fatigue, a weekend off is more than enough for recovery.
I trained for the 1500m where my typical workout was 2x400m in 70 seconds with 4 minutes rest and 8x200m in 30 seconds with 2 minutes rest.
Oddly enough, I was better at the 3000m. People who passed me in the 1500m couldn’t catch up to me in the 3000m. It wasn’t even something I was proud of (strangely enough).
I kind of had a secret dream of being a sprinter. I came here wondering what type of workouts I should do to work on speed. Well, it appears maybe doing something like 2 sets of 4x30m might be helpful.
I kind of wonder how effective it would be to combine 1500m training with some sprint training. I’m not an exercise physiologist so I don’t know.
But, it’s just an evolving experiment for now. I’m just kind of feeling my way back in with a “trial and error approach” where I’ll decide as I go along what I might be more comfortable doing. That sounds odd doesn’t it?
Well, that’s the beauty in a way of starting fresh and not having a coach. I feel like this might become one of the most fun time in my life (at least on the track). hehehe
It’s kind of odd too how cool you feel when you buy a new track suit. I can’t get over it. I saw some after x-mas sales and couldn’t resist. LOL, I love my new Nike track suit. Very sweet. And I got one of those ACG Therma-Fit sweatpants. OMG! Is that ever a soft and stretchy material. Like futuristic! I got a sweatshirt like it too.
It’s kind of odd too how cool you feel when you buy a new track suit. I can’t get over it. I saw some after x-mas sales and couldn’t resist. LOL, I love my new Nike track suit. Very sweet. And I got one of those ACG Therma-Fit sweatpants. OMG! Is that ever a soft and stretchy material. Like futuristic! I got a sweatshirt like it too.
It was snowing this morning, so couldn’t go outsite. I was still sore anyways, so I took it easy and went on the treadmill for 15 minutes and then on the elliptical for 30min. I was gonna do just treadmill for 30min, but I felt too tight while running, so moved to elliptical and killed some time while reading the latest news on the tennis magazine…
Then I had weights. I wansn’t tired from any hard workout, so I moved up to squatting 175lbs from 165lbs of last week, and I felt I could do more too. Next week…
Monday:
7*300s with 200m walk between. Didn’t time myself, was trying to concentrate on form, cause I tend to lean back when I run anything above 100m.
Then weights. Did a lot of abbs, cause I figure if I get those stronger, then it will be easier to lean forward…right?
Today:
10*200m with 200m jog between. Those felt really good. I wan’t going too hard, again concentrating on form.
Finally, tomorrow practice indoors with coach and a couple of teammates. Running alone outside with such cold is tough stuff…
Thanks Herb,
this is my second year running track (started December 2002) and I’m hoping for lots of improvement since last year. My 400m last year was 61.46. I’m expecting to be below 60sec this year, and go as far as running 56 or 57 sec. Sounds like a huge jump, but I think I can do it .
But indoors, I’m mostly doing the 500m (for the first time) and I’m hoping to be in the top 3 spots in our Conference (America East). My 200m time last year was very mediocre (high 27). I don’t know what my expectations are for the 200, just anything better than what I did last year and keep improving.
I’m also going to do long jump for the first time. I just want to do well enough to be competitive in our conference and hopefully score some points for my team. I’m very new at long jumping…so we’ll see
But my main focus is going to be the 400.
Today’s workout was 4*(300-200-100m). Breaks were pretty short (about 2 minutes). The 300s ranged from 48 to 52 seconds. 200s were about 31-32sec and 100s were 16sec.
I did yesterday’s weights today right after track, but went lighter than usual because I was tired and didn’t quite feel like it.
Hey, does that mean you were doing a 300m then 2 minutes later, a 200m, then 2 minutes later a 100m? Then you did that four times? The 300-200-100 would be one set right? Is there still two minutes between the sets?
(I always wondered whether it would be a cool idea for me to train as a sprinter for a season. I’m just trying to get ready to get back into it again. Like two weeks ago, I ran a 100m in 16.6 seconds then did 3x60m. A week later, I decided to aim for 17 or 18 seconds for the two 100m I wanted to run since I only recovered from the last workout the day before. LOL, I ran both 100m in 15.7 seconds when I was aiming for 17 or 18. Hahahaha!!!)
Yeah, that’s pretty much what we did. Maybe between the sets we had 3minutes or something, but they all seemed the same to me…
I say go for it and train as a sprinter, especially if it’s more fun for you. If you’re trying to get back into it, you should do it in a fun and enjoyable way, and sprinting is the way to go!
The workouts I do also give me the endurance of a middle distance runner (I might run the 800 a couple of times this year on a relay or something), so it could work for you both ways as well. For example, 200m repeats is a great workout for the 800m and it’s also a good tempo workout for sprinters.
4*400s, between 70 and 73 seconds. Rest was about 4 minutes.
I’ll do weights later in the day, unless my right foot doesnt’ stop hurting.
I was stupid enough not to run with my orthotics the last two days, and now I’m paying for it
You know, I read an article on three different types of 800m runners and thought I might fall into the distance category where these types of runners benefit more from tempo runs, easy long runs and have more difficulty to recover from track work.
(Boy, I should start my own training thread and stop interrupting yours.)
Anyway, today, I was very glad with the fact I ran a 200m in 32.1 and 100m in 15.1. I want to have at least one of these sessions every week though. (I’ll build up to 2x200m and 2x60m then 3x200m and 1x60m then 4x200m then maybe in five weeks I’ll do 1x300m and 3x200m so on and so forth until I get to 4x400m. My dream would be to be hitting under 60 seconds for each 400m by March or April then do another VO2Max.)
(Boy, I should start my own training thread and stop interrupting yours.)
Noooo problem… . It cuts off the monotony of my own posts.
Today was 6*165m (that’s how big the track is).
And I ran them ALL in 25seconds (talk about consistency…).
I did try to run the last one harder, but I guess I didn’t have it :o
I’ve been having trouble with my foot though last year’s inflammation is back, and I’m going to the foot doctor next Monday (he’s on vacation now). The trainer just gave me drugs and told me to go in the pool for the next three days. I hope I listen…
The workout was 4*330m with 2min rests. I was supposed not to run on my hurt foot, but I only listened after the 3rd 330m and stopped and went to the pool a little bit. Tomorrow I’m taking off, and Thursday I think I’m going to the pool again, Friday I’ll see. I’m waiting till I visit my podiatrist next Monday; see what he has to say about it.
This sucks…three weeks before my first meet, and my stupid foot is acting up again… Hate it, hate it, hate it…
If you had to, could you change your workouts, or do you get them from your coach and that is that? There is no use in my suggesting other types of workouts if you aren’t able to do them anyways.
Stephanie, I have a suggestion that may help (don’t know to what degree). I’m just guessing here, but it sounds like you’re running in the first lane. Try going in the last lane if you can. The turns aren’t so sharp. Also, I found a pair of Adidas Hyperspeed (hard to find, don’t know why) that has a torsion bar or whatever they call it built inside. You could always check websites like runningtimes.com and look at the shoe section to find out which Adidas shoe has the torsion thing in it. I find this shoes gives EXCELLENT support for forefoot running.
I know what you mean by nagging kinks. My knees felt a little tender after my 36 minute jog. But, I couldn’t really do the quad exercise I do to get rid of the pain since I had some pain in my quads from last Sunday. Only worked upper body with weights after my jog today. At least I was brave enough to “listen to my body”. It takes guts to back off like that.
)
and even when I feel fatigue, a weekend off is more than enough for recovery.
