With that in mind what about a change on Wed & Saturday to
Wed
blocks to 10 m x 5
flying 30’s x 4 (30m lead in 10 mins rest between)
tire x 80 x 2 walkback recovery
100m x 2 runthroughs, walkback recovery
Rest 15 mins
150m x 1
+
weights
Sat
blocks to 10 m x 5
flying 30’s x 4 (30m lead in 10 mins rest between)
tire x 80 x 2r walkback recovery
100m x 2 runthroughs, walkback recovery
Rest 15 mins
200m
rest 15 mins
200m
+
weights
Sleep
8 1/2 hours
was absolutely stuffed last night 
Med ball
continuous circuit x 3 all for 5r
Chest pass
Overhead throw
Forward scoop
Backwards scoop
Tempo
Rating
7.5
Hello John,
Why would you start any sprint workout by 5 x 10m from blocks? Does this comes from trials and errors and you foudn out it suits you find, or have you tried starts from others technique, like stand, 3 point, 4 point, or more esoteric stuff?
5 x 10m from blocks is 1) a little bit too much volme if the purpose of workout is not blocks, 2) might create a stereotype leading to burn wrong pattern in your computer and/or create plateau.
In any case, this is not a proper warm-up for the workouts you mentioned.
If you need to strat the workout by something short, i would suggest something more progressive (going from short to long in distance and from upright to crouch position and eventually from soft to hard ground). However, all this is useless if the purpose of the workout is max speed (flying 30s) or speed maintenance (80s or 100s) and in this case you’d better enter into it with a more specific warm-up.
If you think your start is not good enough, over emphasis on it won’t help especially if you are a 400m runner. Sometimes, you will notice improvement in doing the opposite.
PJ thanks for the input, never thought Iwould see a post from you in my log…a nice surprise 
I’m not really focussing on starts it is just that I have my first race in 3 weeks and I haven’t done any block work and I think I need to do some before I line up. When I put 10m it may not even be that, more like 2m and basically just a start. Over the last 7 or so weeks I have been doing doing med ball throws onto a mat before my short hill work then ins and outs followed by starts from differing positions (pushup, 3 point, standing).
Max speed is more of a priority so do you think I should do the starts later on? After the max speed work? or even just 1 day a week? I am open to suggestions.
It’s impossible to read all the threads and posts in the forum unfortunately, but sometimes friends point out interesting topics and in our case, it was kitkat 
Since you are close to competition period, why not doing some speed or speed endurance workouts from blocks? The reason for that is i fear than just blocks with 2 steps won’t help and it’s more efficient to see the movements from blocks in relation with the other part of the race, in a global way.
The preparation work you’ve done so far is excellent, so don’t lose too much time in trying to transfer it with starting blocks + 2 steps practice, don’t underestimate your body intelligence which will make the transfer anyway with my above suggestion (using blocks with specific 400m speed).
Ahhhh that explains it, I can just imagine how it went…PJ can you do me a favour and have a look at John’s training log for me? The guy is as slow as a wet week and pesters the shit outta me to help him and I need a break. KK
Hmmm as always good and valid points I will have to think on how to utilise. Thanks.
what about
Wed
flying 30’s x 4 (30m lead in 10 mins rest between)
tire x 80 x 2r walkback recovery
100m x 2 runthroughs @ 90% walkback recovery
Rest 15 mins
150m x 1
+
weights
Thurs
100m into bend finishing at waterjump x 5 with 300m walk recovery
rest 15 mins
200 + 200 (+ = 2 mins rest)
rest 30 mins
200 + 200 (+ = 2 mins rest)
Sat
flying 30’s x 4 (30m lead in 10 mins rest between)
80m from blocks x 3 320m walk recovery
Rest 15 mins
200m
rest 15 mins
200m
+
weights
That is much more like it. Although on the Saturday, the flying 30s are redundant because you will be doing that anyway later in the session as a component of your 3x block 80m.
The other thing I would consider is leaving your Saturday session as a pure speed/power development session, so if you wish to run 2 x 200m they should be rolling start and full recovery, which is surely longer than 15mins. Either that or drop the second 200m at this stage of your preparation.
Ok so we have that sorted as I will stick to 2 x 200m but increase the rest to at least 30 mins.
I now have most of the details of the season thanks to some inside info Turns out first 400m wont be till 21 November as 14th is a funny day but gives me a 300m and a chance to run under my age for it 
another goal is sub 44 sec 300m which I really need to do if I wnt to go sub 60 for 400m.
I’m going to do Masters on Wednesdays and tie that in with training so that will be either a 100m or 200m finsiher. Most Saturdays will be 400m followed by a 200m, 30 or so minutes later.
Main meets are 25 & 26 November, 17 & 18 Feb and 3 & 4 March.
If all goes as scheduled then I will have
100m x 4
200m x 9 or 10 (1 meet not sure of structure)
300m x 2
400m x 8
Raps, if you are reading this I will be at NZ Sec schools to watch in Dec and then see there is a meet in Timaru on 16 Dec I will go to.
Here’s a very early good luck for those meets!!
17&18 of feb are masters champs right? Who is your competition 
?
3&4th of march are national champs correct? In inglewood (im not sure where that is)?
Then whats the 25th/26th of november?
Good that you are comming up for NZSSA, it will be entertaining
Thanks
Raps,
25 & 26 Novemebr are South Island Masters Track & Field in Timaru
17 & 18 Feb are Otago Champs but doubt I will fully peak for them
3 & 4 March are NZ Masters Track & Field in ChCh which are same time as Nationals. Ingelwood is in the middle of the NI and is their equivialnt of Gore 
largest ungated institution in the island :eek:
SS Champs will be all goodl as you will be there winning the 200m and others competing include Yolvin’s son and people from down here I help coach.
Good, so I take it your opinion is that I should just do 200?
The QEII is starting to look respectable, new seats and an artificial hill is being made around the other side of the stadium so It will be good for spectators.
Correct
Wed 27 Sept
Sleep
6 hours
not long but was ok
Track
4 x flying 30m with 30 m lead 8 mins between
rest 10 mins
tyre x 80m x 2 walkback recovery
100m @ approx 90% walkback recovery (15.09 & 15.16)
rest 15 mins
150m @ 22.46
Hang Power clean
2 mins rest
45 x 3, 52 x 3, 57 x 3
Power clean
3 mins rest
62 x 5s x 3r
Squats*
60 sec rest
60 x 2s x 3r
70 x 2s x 3r
77 x 2s x 3r
90 x 1s x 3r
95 x 1s x 3r
Incline db press
90 sec rest
22db x 12, 10, 8
Overhead squat
90 sec rest
35 x 2s x 5r
1 leg GM
90 sec rest
35 x 2s x 5r
Abs
10mins various 30 sec on / 30 sec off
prones x 2mins
Rating
8
all felt good although possibly tried too hard on 150m damn that’s a long session :o
OK, here i am to nitpick: you have just done 8 sets of squats, yet only one set - the last - has been done with a serious load and you did 3 reps. You will (should) have your reasons for toying around with multiple sets at the lower poundages, but perhaps you may consider something like the following: 1 set of 3 to 4 reps, jumping poundage until you get to the top weight (in tonight’s case 95 kg?).
So perhaps you take three sets to properly warmup to get to 95, then when you’re there, given you did 3 reps tonight, let’s make it only 2reps at 95.
But let’s do from 4 to 6 sets of 2reps at your selected top weight. So you get some serious quality and volume (up to 12 reps) at a weight which is going to force the neural system to recruit some of those synergist muscle groups as well as any uncommitted fibre.
You will benefit from doing less reps and you’ll get the additional benefit of working a weight that might make a difference to your sprint performance. I’ve posted something on strength training specifics under Fundamentals, a most interesting thread started by Duxx
Get out of the comfort zone and into the speed-power zone. kk 
Nitpicking I like , in fact my daughter used to call me Captain Pedantic
I can completely understand what and why you have posted what you did however right now IMHO that was appropriate. That exercise is done with a speed emphasis. My next workout on Saturday squats will be first and will be
60% x 3r x 1s, 70% x 3r x 1s, 77.5% x 3r x 1s, 85% x 3r x 5s, then the one on Monday bench
I actually have only 2 more weeks (including this one) where I will be doing weights 3 times pw. From then on I will be dropping it to 2 with a med ball workout one day. I will be changing the weights program then more in line with what you suggested.
It may not look it but trust me I’m not shirking and am busting my ass, I just wish my talent equalled my desire, dedication and enthusiasm :o
KitKat made the comment about getting out of my comfort zone so I thought I would discuss that.
This isn’t a go at him as his was clearly related to my training comfort zone and this ramble relates to my comfort zone in general. It also isn’t a poor me, or a shit I was good although it may appear to be, just think of it as a self indulgent muse :rolleyes:
I am out of my comfort zone every time I go to the track. Most of the time I am the oldest athlete there by nearly 15 years , I am even older than some of the coaches. :eek: To put it in context the next oldest ‘regular’ ran at the Melbourne CWG in the NZ 4 x 100 relay team and was runner up in the 100m at this years nationals. Other members of that squad are the NZ 400m Champ (46.57) and a mid 21 sec 200m runner and here I am a middle aged plodder trying with a goal to run a sub 60 sec 400m. That is one thing and good on them, I enjoy watching them train, shit sometimes my mouth is closed rather than agape at them. But the main thing is that what they (and everyone else) do and what I do are completely different! They appear to follow a short to long progression but IMHO spend far too much time doing block work and there are other things I wonder about, but hey they are coached by one of NZ’s top coaches and have the results!
I have followed KK’s template for the winter and am pleased how it has gone. I will continue with it next year but will alter it slightly as I need to stay closer to max speed work. I will go something like 6 weeks GPP, 3 weeks transition, 1 week rest and test including a 400m. I will probably do that 2x. Now if you are talented and different you can take comfort that what you are doing is revolutionary and gives you the edge, however, when you are different and slow you need to trust that what you are doing is right (which I do) and even though you may look like a dorky wannabe… at least I don’t have a gold chain and drive a sports car.
Hopefully when the season starts I won’t be as conspicuously last as I was nearly every race last year. Apart from the Masters specific events the only time I wasn’t last was when I got put in the women’s races. In the male ‘B’ grade ones I was generally 10-15m behind the 13 year old kids I help coach. :o
I am out of my comfort zone keeping this training log, I know I’m weaker, slower, older, fatter than every other person that keeps one.
If I wanted to be in my comfort zone I would play golf like I used to waaay back when in my mid 20’s but I gave that up because I hate comfort zones, Everyone told me I was nuts flagging it away but I had been there done that. I have this innate desire to almost embarrass myself by taking on things that are challenging and frankly I’m not that good at. How good was I at golf? My lowest round was 64 which was 9 under par (12 pars, 4 birdies, 1 eagle, 1 double eagle). I have also 2 hole in ones was a regular in regional teams, and played 2x for NZ age group teams. A couple of years ago I decide to play serious again and within 6 months was down to a 2 handicap and had shot a round of 3 under even though my equipment was 20 years old, I even have a wood that is made of wood! But again I got bored with it and it was like I was regressing back to dare I say it comfort. That isn’t to say I find golf easy or comforting, far from it as damn it I get mad as hell and frustrated that I can’t play how I used to straight off. :mad:
What I want is to progress as a person. I’m currently pretty happy with my lot. I have a fantastic wife and children, good job and health. I still have a long way to go as a person; at times I can be quite blunt and appear arrogant cold and distant. I’m not an adrenaline junkie and will never bungee jump but that doesn’t mean I can’t and do new and exciting things, challenge the norms and me but most importantly never ever ever get into a comfort zone for too long.
That was pretty cool. I can attest just from reading that you probably have more dedication and committment to what you’re doing than most people on this forum. Keep it up!
I agree with all that has been said. Great effort. I’m just trying to light a little bonfire under you to get more return for the obvious time and effort you put in, John.
So this is what I have taken from your reply: there is always effort and energy expended in anything we do. We just have to find the most efficient use of it. That’s all I meant by my jibe about getting out of the comfort zone. (and I do take on board that you have a lot of variations in your lifting programs).
I remember talking to Randy Huntington about Mike Powell’s squat routine on the Keiser pneumatic equipment and he remarked that although the movement of the bar was slow, the effort against the heavy load was huge. He argued development of power was neural and could not be judged by speed of the bar, but rather by percentage effort against a heavy resistance.
Charlie would question the so-called “transition” phase in weightlifting which goes something like: “reduce the load and quicken the movement”.
Charlie points out the specificity of movement speed in the gym as compared to on the track is something in the order of 10 % give or take a couple of points, which is virtually irrelevant to sprint performance.
So why even bother with doing speed lifts at lower weights. Do speed lifts at significant loads and you get the kind of neural recruitment and power development Huntington was on about.
I would add that whenever you squat, the drop should be slow and controlled, the return to triple extension should be rapid and controlled.
Ditto in the running phase. The effort is there even though the elapsed time up a 360m hill may look slow. Hence speed/power development is being encouraged all the way through the GPP, otherwise why bother doing it?!
kk
Thanks guys your feedback and encouragement is always appreciated.
KK,
again I completely understand and take on board what you put, however, one of the benefits I personally find with DE method is that it gives me a break muscularly while still doing the exercise. Unlike younger ‘better’ athletes I find muscular fatigue from weights more of an issue than the CNS stress. Historically I have been guilty of being too weight room obsessed (as you can see from my stunning numbers hahahahahahaaha ) to the detriment of running. I have been determined not to let that happen this winter and believe I have achieved that goal. Now you could argue that I should possibly have cut the number of days back to 2, and done what KK suggests certainly I will possibly do that next winter and as I put in a couple of weeks what I do will be extremely close (if not exactly the same as) that.
The other thing regarding a DE day is (and we are getting a bit controversial here ) is that in my view they are beneficial to me in that they do get me moving fast. Let’s face it people do Olympic movements because they are strength / speed but they have no magical powers and many exercises could be substituted for them. I do variations of them because I enjoy them,. pure and simple. I need to train my body to move fast, it is something it isn’t used to so any and every opportunity to do so will be taken. To paraphrase Monty Python, my body needs to vroom and the only other alternative is to 50,000 volts through it :eek: