Stephen Francis notes from OZ

I can tell you that in 3-4 years of training at 6AM, I have not once come close to PB levels.

They have to be doing it for facility or weather reasons.

I figure that for a guy like Powell, it doesn’t have to be a major thing. His job is to run, he doesn’t have to do anything else. So with that in mind, he can live by whatever clock he likes… 5AM might as well be 3PM for him, depending on how long he’s been up, what his meal schedules are, or whatever.

maybe if he get up at 1 or 2am he may be ready for the workout.

Training starts at 6am and is completed by 9am and then 5hrs later they will lift. This is shifted to 5am during summer. Six days per week, while weights are performed Mon, Wed and Fri. and are a total body approach. There can be up to 50 athletes at training at one time which results in some athletes getting very little attention. He feels, however that the group dynamics and the fact that athletes push each other, more than makes up for this.

Maybe its the other way around. Weights at 6am , track 5 hours later.

eating on an empty stomach in my experience did not affect performance, in some sessions i felt faster and seemed to have improved. Speed endurance sessions are a different story though.

If the athletes have been awake for a while, had a quick bite to eat, something to drink, and then spent the first part taking their time, getting ready, then the warm up - it may well be they have been wide awake for nearly 3 hours by the time they actually do the genuine speed part of the program.

Do it on a regular basis and the body clock adapts to it.

I agree it’s not ideal, but there must be reasons for it such as availability of facilities.

Testosterone levels are higher early in morning.

or then again, the notes on Franno might be correct. In fact, in a telephone conversation he said they do track in the morning and weights later on.

The AM running work is corroborated in several articles, by the Observer Magazine as well as L’Equipe.

Running before weights is standard proceedure and has become more so since Charlie made public his coaching principles.

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The reason given for such early starts was not so much to avoid the heat of the Caribbean sun, but simply to impose a discipline on his athletes.

Running before weights is standard proceedure and has become more so since Charlie made public his coaching principles.

The question isn’t running before weights. It’s if these claims are true that Asafa does his track work at 5am in the morning. It’s possible that Francis threw a curve ball. Telephone conversations can be like hearsay, its not definitive proof. If you see it than it’s real. Anyone here seen Asafa train 5am in the morning?

When he was in OZ. Team Francis would of booked the Homebush track. Seems odd because you can’t book the track at 5am. For insurance purposes SOPAC staff need to on the premises when athletes are training. The rangers are on the SOPAC facility at 5am, but there are no staff at the athletics facility at that time.

Maybe Team Francis train at 5am when their based in Jamaica. And when their traveling they change their training times.

It is now well documented that Franno’s group train at 5pm. Or do you think they invite journalist only when they train at 5pm?
In Oz, the group once came early in the morning and the stadium door was closed. Also, the journalist who followed Asafa during the camp claims that he train only 3 times there + 1 competition.

PJ, with respect en Anglais PM means in the afternoon. I think you mean AM (which means in the morning):slight_smile:

ooops thanks KK what’s wrong with me

Nothing at all PJ . . . :slight_smile:

They run at 5am in Jamaica. Not hearsay or folklore. I know somebody (an American) that has seen them train numerous times.

They don’t do that abroad or during the competition phase (or pre-comp), from what I recall.

They do that because the heat in Kingston is excruciating later in the AM through till late afternoon.

That makes sense. The track facilities in Oz are not open that early. When you consider comp phase (12 weeks??) pre-comp (8 weeks) that’s at least 20 weeks of training year when they’re not training at 5am. Unlike the sheep who say how high. This questioning has led us to more balanced understanding of when coach Francis has their squad training 5am in the morning.

I remember a story in Osaka when Asafa went out in a disco and didn’t slept to make it for trainign in the morning.

:smiley: :smiley:

Seriously man, disco dancing went out in the early 1980s. Asafa more likely to go clubbing to some R&B or dance beats.

Sharmer…

Here we have an elite-level coach making superb contributions to this forum, and you’re making fun of him for the fact that English isn’t his first language.

Or what is the name of that dance when they simulate fights? I forgot the name. You have all the carribbians athletes of every sex all together, that’s usually the moment the coaches chose to leave the post-meeting dinings.