The 400 Project

Week 10 Summary

2011-03-22T14:40:00.004-04:00

10 weeks in. Right around the halfway point to race #1 on Memorial Day weekend.

Tuesday, March 15th - Off
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Wednesday, March 16th - 12x200m, 26-27 second goal with 5 minute walk recovery

George and I met up at Washington Lee and were pleasantly surprised to find a Kantor there, running 60m sprints. Gorgeous and I got right into the workout, as it was going to be a long one.

1. 200m - 26 to 27 - 26 or 27 (watch malfunction)
2. 200m - 26 to 27 - 26
3. 200m - 26 to 27 - 26
4. 200m - 26 to 27 - 27
5. 200m - 26 to 27 - 28
6. 200m - 26 to 27 - 27
7. 200m - 26 to 27 - 26
8. 200m - 26 to 27 - 26
9. 200m - 26 to 27 - 27
10. 200m - 26 to 27 - 27
11. 200m - 26 to 27 - 27
12. 200m - 26 to 27 - 27 flat

Props to George for doing all 12. Very impressive for someone who hasn't really been doing workouts like these. His times were mostly between 27 and 29 seconds, with a few 30's and one or two 31's in there. George tried to boot a number of times but failed each time*. One of his attempts, however, did manage to cause me to boot.

*the final attempt - post-workout - caused an ab cramp so bad that he had a hard time straightening his torso, haha

This workout got quite tough by the end. Reps 8, 9, and 10 were the toughest. We took a longer 8-minute "halftime" break after #6 which certainly helped us down the back stretch. Also, one of the earlier 26's was actually a 25...I timed a 26 but ran 5 lanes wide to get around a mass of joggers who poured onto the track right as we started. That must have fired me up a bit. At any rate, we both felt awful afterward but rallied and went to Carpool to meet up with all the concrete jungle VAers. Food and water made us both feel 1000 times better. George was bouncing around feeling that runner's high, as was I. Good workout to build on going forward, especially after having experienced some down workouts over the last few weeks.
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Thursday, March 17th - Conditioning mile, then plyos

Green beer (not really)! Party! Birthday! Nothing like a rare morning workout to kick off the b-day. Got up at 7 and started my conditioning mile before 7:30. The pace was not inspired in any way, but I did do 30/30 for push-ups/dips, which is a first this year. I'm hoping for 40/40 by the end of the season. I then went into a power plyos workout: one-legged running/hopping, eccentric calf raises, depth jumps (platform was too short), straight-legged jumps, and lunges (2 sets of 40). I then showered at the gym, which is noteworthy only in that it was the first time I had ever done so (in 4+ years). At work by 9. Boom.
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Friday, March 18th - Off
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Saturday, March 19th - conditioning, then weights

Inspired by Linc's crossfit workouts, Laura and I went to do one of our own for the conditioning portion of our workout. We did 5 rounds of 6x30m shuttles, 5 pull-ups, and ab bicycles (30 reps). Laura did eccentric pull-ups and did all five sets on her own. I was able to get sets of five out for the first three rounds but then only managed 4/1 and 3/2 splits for the last two. Doing pull-ups while breathing hard is a good challenge. We then went into the weight room. We did bench press on an oblong physioball, bicep curls to shoulder press, calves, and squats. Then Laura left to do a bit on the bike before rolling out and I stayed to do regular bench press, standing running arms, triceps, overhead squats, ab/adductors, and hip flexors. For squats, I did sets of 5, 3, and 5 at 255 lbs. I'm being very conservative without a spotter and was happy to get sets of 5 here. I think my body has adjusted to the new weight. Standing and breathing before reps actually helped me again, which was nice. I finish with as many reps as I could at 135 lbs. I stopped at 15 again. I want to get to 20. For overhead squats I did 3x10 at 75 lbs and felt good. Then I showered at the Y (#2!) before heading straight to H Street to watch bball and heckle a Dartmouth pong tournament.
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Sunday, March 20th - 4x450m, 67 second goal with 5 minutes walking rest

This workout was brutal. I pushed really hard at the gym yesterday and knew I was in trouble after the first rep. George, Michelle, and Laura were all out there too, doing different things. Some 400's for Michelle and Laura and 60s/40s for George. We all helped each other. George, in particular, ran the final 200m of each of my reps and helped push me.

1. 450m - 67 - 70
2. 450m - 67 - 71
3. 450m - 67 - 74
4. 450m - 67 - 78

Talk about a breakdown. Wow. That first 70 did not feel easy. That's when I knew it was going to be a grind. My legs just started breaking down by the end. I must have brought too much fatigue in from the previous day. I had leg weakness after #4, similar to how I've felt after races. Crazy. I spoke with Alison on the way home because I was concerned about doing too much the day before hard workouts like these. She felt, though, that while it'd be okay to key it back a little, this period of the program is for strength endurance...I shouldn't really feel fresh and springy going into these workouts. That said, today was rough. My quads felt a little tight and strained later that evening. Good news is I didn't hurt myself and ran a couple 70's to start off. This workout has always been my foil. Haven't run consistent times yet (let alone consistently sub-70).
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Monday, March 21st - conditioning, then weights

Laura and I met up at the Y today. We started with 20 minutes on the bike. My quads were a little strained from the Sat/Sun workouts, so I didn't push too hard. My back was sore on Sunday evening from the pull-ups the day before and was still weak on Monday, so we forewent the pull-ups and went straight into a bench press, calves, and overhead squats circuit. We opted out of heavy squats today to avoid tempting injury. For overhead squats, I did 3x7 @ 75 lbs and did not feel very strong. My body still felt drained from the weekend. Laura went off to do a bit more conditioning before leaving and I did bicep curls to shoulder presses, standing running arms, triceps, rotator cuffs, ab/adductor, and a single set each of leg extensions/hamstring curls. I interspersed one-legged running/hopping, two-legged explosive hops, stiff-legged jumps, and a set of frog jumps in amongst the later exercises. I figured I'd go stronger on the plyo route with my lighter weights.
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Fun Time tonight. I'm leaving for Portland tomorrow and missing this weekend. My workouts next week will be shuffled a bit as a result.

Andrew

Week 9 Summary

2011-03-21T17:04:00.004-04:00

Okay, I need to get these out on time a bit better...

Tuesday, March 8th - Off
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Wednesday, March 9th - 400m, 300m, 200m w/ extra 100m follow-on for each; full recovery

Met Agan, Calvin, and Frankie at the track. Alex joined up later on. They all did a conditioning mile with pull-ups, stadiums, and dips on the bleachers. The runs today were a bit different. I ran each of the distances above but then continue to run/jog for another 100m with whatever I had left. The 100m follow-ons are surprisingly difficult (to just keep moving forward at all) because your body naturally wants to let-up after it crosses the finish line and you hit the stopwatch. To keep moving is really tough for me. It was really just a jog...I thought about keeping my upper body form intact.

1. 400m - sub-60 - 59
2. 300m - 41 - 42 or 43
3. 200m - 26 - low 25

I was not happy with my 400m or 300m times today. These goal times were from last year and I ran a 57sec 400m last week on short rest. So something felt a bit off. It's possible I was still a bit weak from my illness last week. The rest of the guys helped me run the 2nd half of the 200m, which was greatly appreciated.
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Thursday, March 10th - Conditioning mile, then plyos

I was not feeling great at work today...low energy and headache, so I took today off to recover.
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Friday, March 11th - Off
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Saturday, March 12th - conditioning mile or x-training

Laura and I ended up going for a long run today. All told, I ran close to 7 miles in over 65 minutes. Laura ran just under an hour and closer to 6 miles. I can't remember the last time I ran for an hour. By the end I started getting a few interesting pains in my shins but otherwise felt okay. We ran up Rock Creek Park quite a ways and then looped back around past Laura's house (where she stopped) and then down the hill to mine.
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Sunday, March 13th - 10x100m, walk same distance for recovery

My workouts were re-written due to my brief illness/resulting weakness, so this was a conservative workout that worked more on conditioning than speed. In addition, the long run from the day before had done a real number on my hip flexors (which I now think are a bit under-strengthed). My hips were very sore when I walked. So much so that I forewent my spikes and just ran in sneakers. Salmi, George, Laura, and I all ran. I felt awful for the first 3 reps, barely making it in under 15 seconds. Then, something clicked...not sure what it was exactly, but I ran the next 7 in closer to 13 seconds. I guess my hips warmed up enough/I got used to the sneakers. Salmi/George were consistently around 14 seconds. Laura hit 18 seconds for hers. All solid times. We all pushed each other.
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Monday, March 14th - x-train for 30 minutes, then weights

I decided to take it a bit easier this Monday than I did a week ago...my legs were sapped after my impromptu spinning session last Monday. After getting off the bike, Laura and I went straight into pull-ups and abs. Laura is getting very close to her pull-up...she's been doing sets of 10 of eccentric pull-ups (just the lowering motion). We then moved on to squats, bicep curls to shoulder press, and Laura did calves. Then Laura left and I continued with some overhead squats, a set of max reps @ 135 lbs (I got to 15), and bench press, standing running arms, and the hip machines. For the squats, I did sets at 255 lbs again and played it conservative without a true spotter (i.e. a dude who could actually help if I were to fail). I did sets of 4, 3, 4. I could have gotten a 5 or two in there but didn't want to push it. I got out of the gym within just over 2 hours. It felt good to have a bit of extra time. For overhead squats, I moved up to 3x10 @ 75 lbs. Challenging but doable. I think I'm making up some of the gap on my under-strengthed back.
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I'll send out Week 10 Summary within a few days.

Andrew

Week 8 Summary

2011-03-10T16:48:00.003-05:00

Otay...

Tuesday, March 1st - Off
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Wednesday, March 2nd - 10x downhill runs, then plyos

My left patellar ligament has been feeling a bit sore, so I opted against downhill runs on asphalt (the only surface near me with a slight-enough downhill grade), so I just went to the Y and did a good plyo session. I started with two-legged hops for quickness/explosion, and straight-legged jumps before moving on to the high impact exercises: one-legged hopping/running, depth jumps, eccentric calf raises, and lunges. I do lunges to finish these plyo workouts and will be increasing the reps from week to week. I did 2 sets of 30 lunges to close this one out.
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Thursday, March 3rd - 10x200m, 26-27 second goal, 5 minute walking recovery

Washington Lee was closed Wednesday, so I flipped my Wed and Thurs workouts. I met up with Neeley, Frankie, and Ken. Neeley ran a few 200's with me while waiting for the couple. They then ran 40's and did some vertical/quickness drills. Here's what I did:

1. 200m - 26 to 27 - 27.1
2. 200m - 26 to 27 - 26
3. 200m - 26 to 27 - 26
4. 200m - 26 to 27 - 26
5. 200m - 26 to 27 - 28
6. 200m - 26 to 27 - 28
7. 200m - 26 to 27 - 28
8. 200m - 26 to 27 - 29
9. 200m - 26 to 27 - 29
10. 200m - 26 to 27 - 29

Wow. Something felt off today. This was definitely a down workout. After speaking with Alison, we thought that maybe flipping plyos to Wednesday messed me up a bit, but it's hard to lean on that crutch...I ran noticeably faster than this a couple years ago. I got sick just over halfway through the workout, which is rare...I usually get sick before or - as has been the case recently - after. No amount of rest brought down my times for the later reps. Prior to rep 9 I rested 8-9 minutes and still ran a 29. Oh well, let's hope I bounce back.
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Friday, March 4th - Off

So, as it turns out, I came down sick today...head cold/sinus pressure and fatigue. I went home after work and crashed for three hours. Laura got sick as well, so it must have been something Wednesday night. This adds a bit more color to last night's session, though.
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Saturday, March 5th - Off

I took today off from conditioning and weights and rested most of the day.
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Sunday, March 6th - 10x80m, full speed, 4-5 minutes recovery

Met up with Agan, Jesse, and Andrea at Banneker and did some fun reps in the rain, haha. I got lots of throwing in with Agan. The weather reminded me of a day when a team would see a lot of zone, so I worked on short popper throws and quick catch, pivot, and releases. At least it wasn't cold.
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Monday, March 7th - cross-training, weights

In an effort to reduce my Monday sessions to around two hours, Laura and I did a shorter (20 min) but more intense bike session today. I was on a spinning bike and pushed through the pain for the last 8-10 minutes or so. My heart rate was up over 170 afterward. Laura pushed hard on her bike as well...her heart rate was closer to 180. We then moved to a superset of pull-ups and abs. Slowly but surely, Laura is helping improve my pathetic ab strength. I surprised myself with sets of 7, 7, and 4 of wide-grip pull-ups. I'm not that far from 10 in a row now, which was an initial goal. Laura then moved on to a circuit of flies, calf raises, and dumbbell curl to presses (with 20's!). I did bench press and rotator cuff. We then did squats as part of different supersets. I did dumbbell curl to presses with 40 lbs dumbbells and Laura did back, triceps, and a hip flexor stretch. For squats, I did 3x3 @ 255 lbs. I hadn't squatted in a week so wasn't sure what to expect. The 20 lb increase from the week prior shocked me a bit, so I think I can rebound pretty quickly and get sets of 5+ reps at this weight next time. Laura then left and I stayed a bit longer to do overhead squats (3 sets of 10 @ 65 lbs - still does a number on my back), abductors, adductors, and leg press (3 sets of 5 @ 270-280 lbs). I felt decent today, given the recent illness and time away from the gym. I've learned that I need to be in the gym about every 5 days or so to maintain my strength. Any more than that and I start to slip, which sucks.
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Ultimate combine next Saturday the 19th at Washington Lee (late AM)! Book it!

Andrew

Week 7 Summary

2011-03-02T11:37:00.008-05:00

Tuesday, Feb 22nd - Off
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Wednesday, Feb 23rd - Fun Time

Headed to the track today and met up with Frankie, Calvin, and Jesse. We got started a bit late at 7:30 because we were paired up and throwing on opposite sides of the field, each pair not knowing the other was there. Brilliant. The track was clearer and became a barren wasteland at 8pm. So relaxing. I ran some unpleasant 300's. Frankie, Cal, and Jesse ran some full speed 60's and 40's with core work during the 3-4 minute breaks between runs. They also helped me down the homestretch of two of my runs (reps #3 and 4), which was great. I timed them on some 40 yard dashes, although it should be mentioned that they had already run 6 or so full-speed sprints by this point. The 3 reps I timed were 4.9, 5.0, and 5.04. These were from a standing start. For my 6x300m workout, the goal was 43-44 seconds. Rest time was full, so between 8 and 10 minutes.

1. 300m - 43-44 sec - 45
2. 300m - 43-44 sec - 43
3. 300m - 43-44 sec - 43
4. 300m - 43-44 sec - 44
5. 300m - 43-44 sec - 44
6. 300m - 43-44 sec - 44

I paced the first rep to a disappointing 45 flat. I picked it up from there on out but could feel from early on that this workout was going to be a tough one. My legs didn't feel great. Having help on #'s 3 and 4 definitely helped, and I pushed hard for the last two...the last one being a complete all-out effort. I put my coat on shortly after finishing (just like I did last week), which my stomach didn't appreciate (just like last week). Something about the quick temperature change really did me in. Duly noted. Felt a headache on the ride back to DC.
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Thursday, Feb 24th - 12x hill runs, explosive plyos

I went over to the hill under the P street bridge after work and ran these hills in the early evening. I focused on leaning forward more at the start and using my arms to power my legs up the hill. Worked on maintaining a fast cadence as well. After finishing, I jogged to the gym for plyos. I did two-legged hops for quickness/explosion (4x12 of each), one-legged hops/running (3x12 each leg), stiff-legged jumping (3x15), depth jumps (4x7 jumps), lunges (2x28), and eccentric calf raises. I love these plyos and want to add some new ones from the Vertical Jump Bible going forward.
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Friday, Feb 25th - Off
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Saturday, Feb 26th - weights

Today was originally supposed to involve a longer conditioning run, but after a late night at Dan's for the Hambone's going away weekend and a large dim sum meal, Laura and I passed out and awoke with just enough time for a rushed gym session. I did squats, squat to push press (thrusters), bench press, overhead squats, standing running arms, abductors, and adductors. May have missed a couple. For squats, I did sets of 7, 5, 6 @ 235 lbs. It felt like my body needed to get used to the higher weight, but the first set felt quite easy. I hope I can continue to improve. I only just learned that increasing 20 lbs like this and decreasing from 10 to 7 reps shouldn't actually be much harder, if at all.
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Sunday, Feb 27th - Ladder Workout: 100m-200m(28)-300m(46)-400m(61)-300m(48)-200m(28)-100m, 5 minute walking recovery

I went out to Banneker with Laura and Salmi today. Everyone had a really good workout. Everyone pushed and was pushed. It was great. Laura, in her first workout like this of the year, ran a solid 60 sec-80 sec-60 sec split for the difficult 300m-400m-300m part of the ladder. Salmi was equally impressive with his 48 sec-63 sec-48 sec splits, which would have been winning times last year.

1. 100m - NA - 14
2. 200m - 28 - 28
3. 300m - 46 - 45
4. 400m - 61 - 57
5. 300m - 48 - 43 or 44
6. 200m - 28 - 28
7. 100m - NA - 13

Again, an encouraging workout all around. I was pleasantly surprised by the 57. Nice to see a time like that for this kind of workout and at this time in the season. Hope I can keep it up.
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Monday, Feb 28th - 45 minutes cross-training, weights

Long workout today. Laura and I met at the gym at 6:40, ran for 20 minutes, biked for 20 minutes, did 10 minutes of abs, and then hit the weights. We did squats together and then I stayed a bit longer and did overhead squats, bench press, bicep to shoulder press, calves, one armed/one legged row, abductors, and adductors. For squats, I did sets of 7, 5 and 5 @ 235 lbs. After Sat and Sun I didn't feel particularly fresh but whatever, it happens. I did 3x10 @ 65 lbs for the overhead squats and they really worked my back. After a few sets of the one-armed rows that followed, I started feeling some back spasms so decided to fore-go my 3rd set. I think that was smart because I woke up Tues morning with a very weak and sore back. I think I got super close to f-ing it up but managed to avoid it. Interestingly, Laura also had an extremely tight back after the Sun/Mon workouts. I ended up working from home Tues morning to ice/take pressure off for the first part of the day. Overhead squats are killer, man. They're killing me, anyway. I also plan to add in some high rep squats...like 15-20 reps @ 135 lbs or something, which I'd fold in towards the end of a workout. I need to work on this kind of strength endurance.
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Fun 80m workout this Sunday. Boom.

Week 6 Summary

2011-02-22T11:43:00.003-05:00

This week marked the first week of Wednesday "Fun Time." With Wednesdays now at the track with larger groups, I've flipped my Wed & Thurs workouts. Wednesdays are now sprinting and Thursdays are conditioning/plyos/weights. In the past, I've always done track sessions the day after a lift or plyo session. Battling through any related fatigue or general flatness on track days seemed to be part of the challenge. I like this switch, however, because it allows me a track day after an off day. My Sunday track days still follow conditioning/plyos, but having a slightly different setup during the week may help Wednesdays become harder sessions and yield some better results.

Tuesday, Feb 15th - Off
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Wednesday, Feb 16th - 8x200m, 26 sec goal, walk 5 minutes recovery (can take more if needed)

I did a 200m workout during Fun Time last week. Kantor, Frankie, Keegan, Ken, Salmi, and Russ joined me for parts of the workout, which was great. Folks also threw and jawed with cantankerous old men jogging around the full track (new start time: 7pm!). Agan did all 8 and worked hard. His times were around 27-28 seconds (in sneakers) with maybe a 29 in there, which beat my times for this workout from previous years. Here are my times:

1. 200m - 26 - 26.5
2. 200m - 26 - 26.4
3. 200m - 26 - 27.0
4. 200m - 26 - 26.6
5. 200m - 26 - 27.4
6. 200m - 26 - 28.0
7. 200m - 26 - 27.2
8. 200m - 26 - 26.4

Last year, I ran this workout in sneakers indoors at Yates. I was horrible. This year, though, due to some encouraging times from Jan/early Feb, I targeted 26's as my goal. I paced the first three reps and felt pretty good, although I had to speed up a bit for reps 2 and 3...the 3rd one not being quite fast enough, which annoyed me. Frankie went out hard for #4, which I appreciated. It helped me stay fast and get a 26. After that, though, my times started to slip a bit. I went on feel/effort instead of time and paid for it. I don't think I was mentally prepared for this workout. Not sure if I'd actually been able to do it anyway, though. After running the 28 flat on #6, we rested a bit longer and pushed hard the last couple reps. For #8, I gave it everything and felt really good until about the 190m point when it started to feel like the wheels were coming off. I was really happy I was able to end on a 26, though. It would have been great to get a couple more 26's in there, but this was an encouraging workout at this early stage in the season.
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Thursday, Feb 17th - half mile jog; stadium step runs (run up, walk down for recovery, run up, 25 minutes total); explosive plyos; weights; finish with a half mile jog

I made up the Monday weight session on Thursday. I jogged from the metro to the gym as my initial half-mile jog and then spent 25 minutes running up and down the stairwell, haha. I made a point to keep me feet moving quickly and feel I need to get better at workouts like these. Then, after a brief rest, I went into a joint plyo/weight session. I've not really combined sessions like this before, but I liked it. I was able to start off with some of the lighter plyos, move into some of the heavier lifts, and then mix in power plyos with some of my lighter circuits. I did two-legged hops for quickness/explosion, squats, bench press, overhead squats, box jumps, rotator cuff, standing running arms, one-legged hops (running), lunges, and ab/adductors. For the squats, I did sets of 8, 8, and 6 @ 215 lbs. I was lifting on my own so was cautious about that last set. For the overhead squats, I did 65 lbs and still feel a little uncomfortable with them...more so because I worry about giving out or losing my balance if I do too many reps and needing to throw down or drop the weight. The Y doesn't have a power lifting area, so the space (and non-rubber plates) is not amenable to throwing weight around...

Friday, Feb 18th - Off
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Saturday, Feb 19th - 50 minute run, weights

Laura and I went on a long run in the morning. Hers was over an hour since she ran down to my place as well. We ran through Rock Creek Park with a nice detour on the way back that led to a barefoot river crossing. Fun times. Laura had worked out Thursday and Friday with long cardio sessions and some weights, so she powered through despite her third long cardio day in a row. After an insane brunch at the Tabard Inn and a mandatory afternoon nap, we raced over to the gym for about 45 minutes before it closed. I obviously wasn't able to get everything done that I wanted to, but I did manage to do squats, deadlifts, pull-ups (I think), standing running arms, and calves. For the squats, I did sets of 10, 7, 7 @ 215 lbs. Laura helped me on the very last rep. It was good having her there to step in; I may have been able to finish on my own but better to be safe.
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Sunday, Feb 20th - 4x150m buildups, 6x40m - full speed, 3 minutes walking recovery.

I took my digital camera and brand new cheapest-they-come tripod to the track on Sunday and filmed Salmi, George, and I run the 40s. I may get to posting these videos at some point, but I have a ton of stuff to improve on. George/Salmi: I checked out some stuff you guys were doing as well; we should chat next time we're at the track. My camera kind of sucks but it's better than nothing. These sprints weren't timed. The 150m buildups are 50m jog-50m stride-50m sprint. They're a nice lead-in to the full speed work. I get most worried about injury during these short distance workouts, so I made a point to warm up well.
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Monday, Feb 21st - 30 minutes cross training, weights/plyos

Went to the gym with Laura and started with 30 minutes on the bike. I did an interval workout which was tough at times but my heart rate stayed below 130, which is rare for me. Laura experienced the same thing (and she worked harder than I did). We then did squats and pull-ups. For the squats, I managed to get 3x10 at 215 lbs, a personal best. My hips felt stronger when at the bottom of the motion, which was nice. Laura folded in a circuit with bench press, calves, and back extensions...and then did squats to push presses and a few overhead squats with low weight as an intro. Laura did 3 sets of squats to push-presses with the 45 lb bar and got 7 push presses out each time before continuing on for 15-20 total squats per set. She worked really hard; the push presses were very impressive. I tried them with 85 lbs and had a tough time getting to 7 reps. I was particularly bad at lowering the weight back onto my shoulders prior to dropping down into my next squat. More often than not it came down rather forcefully and sometimes the landing was not particularly soft. At any rate, I stayed at the gym a bit longer and did dumbbell curls to shoulder press, overhead squats (just a few), calves, shoulder/triceps, standing running arms, two-legged hops for explosion, one-legged running (hopping), and lunges. I've found that combining weights and plyos (which will happen on Mondays) leave me feeling more sapped the next day than I otherwise would be; it's nice to have a day off afterward.
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Looking forward to some 300's on Wednesday. Wham-o!

Runner's High

2011-02-17T11:51:00.006-05:00

Interesting article about runner's high.
New theory is that it's not endorphins but instead endocannabinoid molecules that, you guessed it, cannabis replicate pretty well.

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I got a really good runner's high last week after the 10x100m full speed workout. I got it a bit yesterday after my 8x200m workout (to be recapped once my week is done) but certainly not as much. The 200s were more painful and tougher, and I'm sure that played a part in muting my post-workout euphoria.

Week 5 Summary

2011-02-15T09:59:00.004-05:00

I had a good series of workouts this week. After my satisfactory but not stellar 38 for my 300m time trial, I went out for both speed and endurance work this week.

Tuesday, Feb 8th - Off
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Wednesday, Feb 9th - Conditioning mile, plyos.

I felt sluggish during this conditioning mile. My exercises were 25 push-ups/30 seconds ab (varying exercises), 25 dips, and hopping over a line for quickness. The push-ups/dips were the hardest, naturally, but 25/25 is a step up from my starting point of 20/20 to start the year. Last year my best conditioning mile was 35/35 and I almost died. I want to beat that mark this year. It felt great to do plyos. It's been so long since I've done a good plyo session. I respond well to them and the time saved by doing plyos instead of a full lifting session was welcome. I did two-legged hops for quickness, two-legged hops for explosion, one-legged hopping (running), depth jumps, and straight-legged jumps. I need to get more explosive.
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Thursday, Feb 10th - 10x100m, 12 sec goal, walk 5 minutes recovery

Went to Washington Lee with Kantor and Agan. I could feel a little bit from the plyos but treated this as a good thing. I ran in spikes. Here are my times:

1. 100m - 12 - 12.5
2. 100m - 12 - 12.4
3. 100m - 12 - 12.1
4. 100m - 12 - 12.1
5. 100m - 12 - 12.4
6. 100m - 12 - 12.4
7. 100m - 12 - 12.8
8. 100m - 12 - 12.6
9. 100m - 12 - 12.4
10. 100m - 12 - 12.4

We threw around between reps, although we started focusing more on the runs by the end of the set. Stomachs were an issue for everyone; Kantor ended up running the first 3 reps and then doing a couple more over the course of the rest of the workout. Agan's stomach bothered him as well but he managed all 10, with almost all under 13 seconds in sneakers. Very solid work.
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Friday, Feb 11th - Off
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Saturday, Feb 12th - Cross-training, plyos/weights

I spoke with Alison, the friend who's coaching me from afar, today. Funnily enough, this was the first conversation we've had in 4 years of email/online correspondence. Crazy when I think about it. We went over a few things and talked about workouts/goals/things to focus on. It was great. I then went to the Y and shot some hoops for a while and then jumped on the bike for 10-15 minutes. Then I did squats, overhead squats, bench press, dumbbell curl to press, calves, standing running arms, two-legged hops for quickness/explosion, and one-legged hops (running). I hadn't eaten very well up until this point, so finished up with only two sets of the above plyos instead of three. For squats, though, I managed a personal best of 3x10 @ 205 lbs. I got a little lightheaded by the end but by standing and breathing I was able to finish out these sets pretty easily...except for the last rep of the last set. That one was almost too much. I then tried overhead squats for the first time and did a casual 3x10 @ 45 lbs (just the bar). The shoulder/core work was immediate and my balance was an issue for the first set. I was much more stabilized there on out. I plan to do these on all gym days because they do a nice job of working my shoulders and squatting with low weight...the latter being a nice lead-in to some box jumps or something.
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Sunday, Feb 13th - 4x500m, 90 sec goal, 5 minutes walk recovery (can take a bit longer if needed).

1. 500m - 90 - 90
2. 500m - 90 - 86
3. 500m - 90 - 88
4. 500m - 90 - 86

George and Salmi joined me at Banneker. George had come straight from two hours of basketball, haha. We paced the first rep to 90 to see how it felt. After that I felt I could push a bit harder down the last 200m, so I continued to pace the first 300m at 54-55 seconds and then pushed harder down the last 200m. For the last rep, George, feeling his legs, graciously volunteered to stand at the 300m mark and act as a rabbit for the last 200m. I gave that last one everything I had. It was exhausting. Salmi ran all four reps in very good times of 90-88-93-97(?). George was similar for those first three.
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Monday, Feb 14th - 30-60 minute jog, weights

Plan today was a long workout. But after a poor night's sleep Sunday night and a tough workout the day before, I ended up taking the evening completely off. The modified plan was to rest on my couch and then do a run/exercises in my apt, but I think I needed the rest. I will make up this weight workout on Thursday, which is my new conditioning/plyos/weights day.
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Fired up for the first Fun Time session on Wed. Sounds like 6:30 for now...

Week 4 Summary

2011-02-08T14:06:00.000-05:00

Monday, Jan 31st -
Half Marathon workout at the gym (see below from last week)

Tuesday, Feb 1st -
Off

Wed, Feb 2nd -
45 minutes of cross-training (running/biking/stair-stepper (ha!)), weights. I did squats, squat jumps, pull-ups, bench, biceps to shoulder press, standing running arms with 10 - 12.5 lbs, abs, and calves. For the squats I was on the free rack and did 5 reps @ 225 lbs, 4 reps @ 235 lbs, and 3 reps @ 235 lbs. I was quite cautious due to some hammy tightness but was pleased that the sets at 235 lbs went smoothly. Squat jumps were two set of 10 @ 135 lbs. I think these jumps are slightly stretching/straining a ligament on my right knee. I may skip these altogether for a few weeks and see if that helps. I was doing sets of 5 reps across the board in prep for the Sunday time trial.

Thurs, Feb. 3rd -
Went out for some track action with George, Salmi, and Calvin. We did a tempo speed workout. Rest was to walk the same distance just ran:
50m - 100m - 150m - 200m (30 sec) - 300m (42 sec) - 350m (49 sec)

Everyone ran hard. It was great to have folks out there. Everyone was pretty close to 30 seconds for the 200m. I ran a 31. I was also in spikes. For the 300m, I finished in 43. The rest of the crew ran a solid time in the mid to high-40s. The 300m was not pleasant. I, for one, did not pace well, and slowed incredibly down the last 100m, mostly just due to fatigue and knowing that I had one more left. The 350m was certainly the toughest. It was also set up to be the hardest effort. George got a 53 or a 54, which was great. I managed a 50 in my spikes and Salmi/Calvin were both sub-60. Again, these are all solid times, especially for folks who are used to a different kind of running.

Fri, Feb. 3rd -
Off

Sat, Feb 4th -
10 hill repeats. Ran up, walked back down. Jogged there and back.

Sun, Feb 5th -
Time trial. Thanks to Cal and Tommy for helping me out. We met up at Washington Lee with a bunch of folks looking to play some football. Youth soccer camps stymied that effort, but the track was relatively clear, which was great. I ended up running a 38.7, according to Tommy, the stopwatch extraordinaire.

Mon, Feb 6th -
Went on a 30-minute run with Laura, then did a lift. We started with pull-ups (Laura is quite close to her goal of doing one on her own) and then did a machine circuit: bench, biceps, shoulders, triceps. I then continued with squats, squat jumps, standing running arms with 10-12.5 lbs each hand, rotator cuff, straight-legged hops, leg press, hip ab/adductors.

For the squats, I was on my own and did 4 reps @ 225 lbs, 5 reps @ 225, and then 3 reps @ 225. A dude spotted me on the 2nd set. I didn't feel as strong as I did last week. I did two sets of squat jumps @ 115. 7 reps or so. But my I started feeling something in my knee again so I skipped the 3rd set. For the leg press, I did sets of 5 at 235, 245, and 255 or something like that.

Today -
Off

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I've decided that my right knee needs to heal some ligaments...I feel slight tenderness when twisting on my knee, so I'm going to stop the squat jumps for the next few weeks. I might move to only the leg press if the squats start to irritate it.

As for this week, Wednesday will be conditioning mile and plyos. Thursday will be speed work (10x100m w/ 5 minutes rest). Anyone interested in either or both?

Location flexible. Peace.

Week 3 Summary

2011-02-01T14:10:00.000-05:00

Here's what I did last week:

Monday, Jan 24th -
Off

Tuesday, Jan 25th -
20 minute jog, followed by weights. I did not get a ton done in this weight session...only managed to get in pull-up, squats, squat jumps, bench, and some arm exercises before leaving at my 9:30pm stopping point. Squats were 3 sets of 8 or so at 195 lb. and squat jumps were 3 sets of 10 at 105 lbs. I'm still shitty at pull-ups.

Wednesday, Jan 26th -
6x200m with 50m walk/50m jog recovery. I ran this on the 90+m indoor track at the Y. Not a great track for this kind of workout, but whatever. Goal was sub-30 and I ended up running 31s and 32s. Given Sunday's performance below, running in a group would have helped.

Thursday, Jan 27th -
The Marathon. Due to the snow, etc., I was able to leave work early and get to the gym by 5. I'm pretty sure I've dreamed about this before and it's certainly one of my favorites. I changed and used the foam roller for 15 minutes. I then lay around for 30 minutes to decompress. I got started at 6 with 20 minutes of 1-minute runs on the indoor track. 1 minute on, 1 minute off. Pace is as fast as you can maintain. These are not sprints. By my estimates, I ran about 330m on average in each minute...maybe a bit further. I'll pace it off tomorrow. I was happy with this distance. My goal is to run a 350m average by the end of the track season. I then pulled out my snacks and had a brief halftime recuperation before going downstairs for a full lift. I had tons of time so I managed to do everything: squats, squat jumps, standing running arms w/ weights, bench, bicep to shoulder press, shoulder/triceps, calves, leg press (one set only...I was dead), hamstrings, quads, ab/adductors. It was awesome. For the squats I did 4 sets of 6-7 at 205 lbs. Squat jumps I moved up as well to 115 lbs. 3 sets of 10.

Friday, Jan 28th -
Off

Saturday, Jan 29th -
Off (for Cornell alumni leadership conference, hey-yo!)

Sunday, Jan 30th -
8x400m with 200m walk recovery (about 2 minutes). First off, props to Jammin for showing up. I don't any of us was anticipating how hard this workout ended up being. I knew after the 1st one but didn't let on a ton. Last year, my goal time for this workout was 80 seconds per rep. It was pretty easy...the last few were the only ones that really required much effort. So I went into this workout shooting for 78's in my mind as a good starting point. But there goes George "rocket pants" Strange, to lead the first lap in a 72. Way to go, king kong. Salmi followed with a 73 or so and Agan with a 72. By this point our fate was sealed but I paced to a 75 for #4. #'s 5 through 7 were all around 72 to 73 seconds and George led a 70 to finish it out. Everyone was gassed. I don't think it was the intro workout we were expecting, but I'm really happy it turned out the way it did. Everyone pushed really hard. My coach was impressed, haha. Some of the future workouts will be a bit modified I think.

Monday, Jan 31st -
Half Marathon. Laura was my partner in crime. Started with a 20 minute jog and some stretching. Then did squats, squat jumps, bench, bicep curl to shoulder press, shoulder/triceps, standing running arms, quads, hamstrings, rotator cuffs, and one set of box jumps. Laura did a modified routine with more circuits and cardio and worked hard. We were both a bit glassy-eyed afterwards. It was hard to motivate to eat. Waking up this morning I felt like a dead weight. Crazy. Does anyone else get this way at all?

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300m time trial this Sunday, babies! We should get together to run/throw. Peace.

Week 2 Summary

2011-01-24T14:15:00.001-05:00

Second true track workout of the year is gonna be on Wednesday this week due to a little rescheduling. I'm happy to do DC or VA depending on interest. Workout is 6x200m, each under 30 seconds. Just getting back into it. Nothing crazy.

Wednesday, Jan 19th -
Last Wed I did a conditioning mile and then a full weights workout with Laura (props!). On Thursday I did a 50-100-150-200-300-350m interval workout. I walked the same distance just ran. These were run at a tempo pace, not a sprint. The 300m was at 50-51 seconds and the 350m was at 57 seconds...right about the pace I wanted.

Saturday, Jan 22nd -
On Saturday, I played two hours of football and then went to the gym for a full lift. I ended up cutting it a bit short...3-4 hours is a bit much this time of year, it seems. I did squat jumps on the rack @ 95 lbs but moved to the leg press for the heavier stuff. I also did an upper body circuit and pull-ups. Laura represented with a gusty gym effort of her own.

Sunday, Jan 23rd -
On Sunday, Agan and I braved the rapidly sinking temperatures for a 3x500m workout with 300m walking recovery. This was certainly miserable. The goal was to pass the 400m mark at 70 seconds...we were a bit over that pace and then faded down the last 100m each time. It was great having Agan there. We then threw for about 30 minutes (another 100 throws closer to Agan's goal!). Then the sun went down and it got freezing and homeward we went.

Heading to the gym for weights tomorrow. Track, again, on Wed. Then 20 minutes of 1-minute runs followed by weights on Thursday. Hey-yo!

Winter Break Update

2011-01-04T14:20:00.000-05:00

Here's my update from over Christmas break:

Monday, Dec 27th -
I hit my 12 rep squat goal the week before (175/185/185), so I continued with my program. 3 sets of 8 at 10 lbs higher: 185/195/195. This was fairly easy, obviously, since the reps decreased so much, but I hope this kind of structure will allow for rests and then peaks. I went with my younger brother and also did pull-ups and squat jumps in addition to throwing and shooting around.

Wednesday, Dec 29th -
Threw and ran around with my friend Will. I wore my new webbed toe shoes (whatever they're called) in the absence of cleats. I'm hoping these new shoes will let me do some good toe strengthening and will add another dimension to my training. We ended with a four-minute tabata.

Thursday, Dec 30th -
Woke up early and went to the gym on my own prior to a road trip down to Savannah. Did 3x8 at 195/205/205. My lower back was still a little sore from rolling a 500 lb snowball (no joke) over the previous weekend, so I was a tad apprehensive but did fine. I got through the first two sets without a break but then on the third set, I got through five reps without a break but then took three big breathes at the top of the motion before going into each successive rep. I would either have failed or would have had a very tough time finishing without taking these breaths. What do you guys think about this? Is this cheating? Or is it okay to stand and breathe before going back down and up? At any rate, I then did 3x8 squat jumps (did 10 reps on the 3rd set) at 75 lbs or so. My legs definitely felt weak. I then did pull-ups and popped onto the seated leg press for a set. I ended with some abs.

Friday, Dec 31st -
Went for a three plus mile run with a friend and his girlfriend. They picked up the pace for the last few blocks and I struggled to keep up. My legs were probably still tired from the day before, but I really need to get better endurance speed. I ended with a nice 5/10/15 AMRAP. Those squats burned...

Monday, Jan 3rd -
Went to the gym with Laura to do a fat-burning conditioning mile. We slowed the pace down a bit so our heart rates were more around 120-130...this level of efforts targets more fat than glucose. Exercises were back-lying ab/adductors (legs start vertically up in the air above the hips, then split them out to the sides into a V and then back to vertical), abs, dips, and back exercises similar to supermans but smaller and faster movements (I was not good at these).

Planning a squat session today. May do something else and move squats to Wednesday if I don't feel strong. Savage 7 tournament this weekend (and if you aren't going, you suck). Then training starts in earnest. Booyah, bitches!

Mid December Recap

2010-12-23T14:28:00.001-05:00

Eating well has been tough at work. Shit. Cookies and fudge and shit every day. Man. Here's what I've done since the Tuesday, Dec 7th workout with George (in which I failed - quite spectacularly - to lift 3x12 at 175/185/185.

Saturday, December 11th -
Went to the Y with Laura. I wasn't feeling particularly strong...I did 3 sets of 8-10 squats at 175 lb or so. We also did pull-ups, core, and some weight circuits.

Sunday, December 12th -
Went to the Y with Laura and Agan. Went over what I knew about squat form with Agan. Did some squats, dead lifts, jump squats, abductors, adductors, and glute extensions. I didn't go for my squat goals, obviously, having worked out the day before. It was a good workout, though. My legs were a little tired the next day.

Tuesday, December 14th -
Went to the Y with Laura. I tried to rack 175 lbs for the squat but my legs felt weak from the get-go. I barely managed sets of 8, unaided. We did our pull-ups and core as well. We ended with a lower-body focused mini conditioning mile, except we ran 400m each time and only ran that 3 times. My legs were clearly a bit overworked at this stage, so I planned to take 4-5 days off from squat attempts

Sunday, December 19th -
Went on a 35 minute interval run with Laura. We jogged for 4 minutes, then strided out for 1 minute...doing the circuit 7 times. I have done a longer run like this in a while and my legs were feeling it by the end. Laura was pretty much done. We also hadn't really eaten anything and it was already 3pm. The plan was to then go and lift, but we were useless at the Y so we called it.

Tuesday, December 22nd -
Went to the Y with Laura. It'd been a week since I lifted (and, per above, I haven't been eating particularly well), so I wasn't sure what to expect. I started at 175 lbs and did a set of 12. The last one was a bit tougher but I felt good enough to go for my 3x12 175/185/185...which I got. I was very happy, especially since I had not come close two weeks prior. We also did the requisite pull-ups and weight circuits. Laura is seeing some returns from the gym trips too, so she's encouraged as well.

Which brings me to today. Now that I finally got my 175/185/185 workout, I plan to continue as I had originally designed and will increase weight while bringing reps down from 12 to 8...my next workout will be on Saturday and will be 3 sets of 8 reps at 185/195/195. Then onward and upward from session to session. I'm looking forward to jumping into the sprint season with a stronger leg base than in past years. I want to continue to increase my leg strength over the next 5 months and think it will be the difference maker. Also high on my priority list - athletically - is to get more serious longer interval runs in...and do some of the running-type crossfit workouts that seem to challenge folks well. Now is the time to do that, so I'm looking to you, George and Jammin, to lead the running effort, babies! I need to have a better strength endurance base.

On a related note, one of my sports-academic goals over the next month or so is to do some technically-savvy note taking on the athletic books I bought early this year. One thing I just brushed up on, though, and that I thought I'd share, is the difference between strength and power and how/when additional strength yields decreasing returns...

Strength is force exerted...which is closely estimated by a 1RM (maximal force is actually exerted when you exert against a weight heavy enough such that velocity is 0...imagine dropping into a squat and then being unable to move upwards but also not collapsing). Power, though, is actually quite different from strength. Power is force*velocity, and it is power, not strength, that is more highly correlated with athletic performance. Elite strength levels for squats is around 2.5 to 3x body weight. For someone my weight, this translates to 412 to 495 lbs for a 1RM. By my current estimates, I'm somewhere in the high 200s right now, so I clearly have a long way to go. As I increase up to this elite level, strength gains will translate into power gains. I will see both effects (adding stuff like jump-squats, which are more power-oriented, certainly helps). But, the interesting thing is that once you *get* to this elite level, lifting high weight actually doesn't help your power nearly as much as lifting more moderate weight in an explosive manner. Yes, it's true that all the great athletes can squat a shitload. *But that is an end of rather than a means to greatness.* I would bet you a ton of money that even in the average NFL weight room, you'd see explosive, moderate lifts by the runners on the team. You would also see jump squats and plyos...and this is for a strength/power-focused sport, unlike ultimate...as-in, football is at the very high-end of the spectrum. The average foot contact with the ground is less than a second when running. Why would an elite athlete rack 600 lbs and spend 4 seconds on a rep when they can rack 350 and spend 2 seconds...or 300 and do a jump squat? Kantor, it seems like you're the only one on this group who is at or close to this elite strength level. I'd bet that you'd see vast gains in speed and power if you starting squatting more consistently in the high 200 lb range with high reps...and doing jump squats in the mid to high 100s (for starters). That's what I'd do if I were as strong as you, anyway, and there seems to be a lot of evidence for it. I'd still mix in some high-weight days, but I bet those lower-weight lifts are where the gold is.

Have a great break, laddies. See you in the new year.

Squat Strength Strategy and Early December Recap

2010-12-09T14:29:00.002-05:00

I just got everyone one of these:
http://www.flexcart.com/members/elitefts/default.asp?m=PD&pid=1422

$300 by check or paypal is fine. Going for the powerlifting world record, baby.

Also, check out the video at the bottom of this page:
http://www.flexcart.com/members/elitefts/default.asp?m=PD&pid=1448

Those dudes look so ridiculous and are squatting 900 lbs. Hahaha.
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Anyhoo, George and I did a lifting session on Tuesday at Georgetown. I also did one on Saturday evening approx 1 hour before the bar run, haha.

Saturday, Dec 4th -
squat - 3x12 @ 165, 175, 175. Again, felt hard but could finish. Last reps were in 3 seconds or so, so still a bit of room on the speed front. I didn't do much else besides pull-ups.

Tuesday, Dec 7th -
With George!
squat - 12 reps @ 175, 10 reps @ 185, 4 or 5 reps @ 185
pull-ups - I actually did a set of 5, which surprised me
abs - physioball crunches, torso stabilization, reverse crunches
plyos - overhead medicine ball exercise involving throwing, jumping, turning, and running
leg extensions
hamstring curls
hip ad/abductors

So my 10 lb increase each session finally saw its breaking point...only a matter of time, by design. 175, 185, 185 was too much for me. My plan is to get strong enough to do the 3x12 at this weight and then move up in weight as I bring reps down to 8 for the next phase of my workout, i.e:

1. try 3x12 @ 175, 185, 185 until I can complete it, then...
2. at my next session move to 3x8 @ 185, 195, 195
3. continue 10 lb increases from session to session until I can't complete the workout...
4. repeat 1 at this new rep/weight combo and continue

Structuring it like this will give me a few lighter sessions at 8 reps before moving up in difficulty. I find this progression appealing and am planning to move from 8 reps to 5 in the same manner. Any thoughts on this?

George lifted well...he was up around 265 and 8 reps or so at the end, I think. Agan, I'm busy Saturday but could meet up Sunday morning if you want. Peace.

December Kickoff

2010-12-01T14:37:00.000-05:00

Got back in the gym last night after a week absence due to Turkey Day and a mild illness. I was short on time, so I started with some crunches over a physioball while holding a 25 lb plate behind my head. I did 10 reps with the weight, then dropped it and did 20 or so more crunches, varying between going straight up and across my body to work my lateral core. I did two sets. I then moved to the squat rack and did 3x12 of 155, 165, 165. So far I've kept with my 10 lb increase from session to session while keeping reps constant at 12, but it was definitely harder this week. I was certainly slower on the way up than I was in previous weeks. I will try an increase again on Saturday, but will go with Laura and have her clock my rep time. If I'm taking more than 4 seconds then I'll need to make my first shift down in reps. One thing I noticed yesterday, though, was that I could continue even though my less strong muscles were clearly out of gas...namely, my quads. Engaging those glutes at the bottom were enough to carry me through the last set. I'm a little weak today but not sore.

After the squats, I did a set of abductor/adductor and called it quits. No dead lifts this time. I did them last week and noticeably weakened the backside of my shoulders...to the point that I noticed increased joint movement in my loose right shoulder (the one I subluxed 18 months ago). Have any of you experienced this kind of weakness? It's a little disconcerting for someone who sleeps on that shoulder a lot.

Next squat session is Saturday. I might do some core today and pull-ups tomorrow.

Pre-Thanksgiving Fun!

2010-11-24T14:38:00.001-05:00

Sunday, November 21st -
I went in on Sunday and did 3x12 at 135, 145, 145. The last few reps of the last set were slower and tougher than the rest. I then did my inaugural dead lift workout: 3x8 at 135.

Tuesday, November 23rd -
I then went in on Tuesday and did 3x12 of squats at 145, 155, 155 and 3x8 of dead lifts at 145. I'm not gonna lie, my legs felt it after those squats. Once again, it was the last few reps of the last set that took a little more time and effort.

I currently plan is to increase by 10 lbs from session to session while keeping my 3x12 structure. Then, once I can't finish, I move to sets of 8 and repeat. I'm not sure if this is a great strategy, but it seems appealing. If I can get 3 sets of 12 out of 210 lbs, that means I have the strength to squat 300+. By keeping the weight down (for now), I feel I can work on my form as well as my strength and avoid some of the heavy weight injuries that can happen when racking huge weight. Thoughts? I'm gonna ask my track coach too.

p.s. George the one rep max calculator says that if you can do 12 reps at 245 then you have the strength to squat 350. My guess is that you're already there if you can do a set of 8 at the end of a workout... Give it a shot!

Pre-season Kickoff - Squats! Pull-ups! Core!

2010-11-18T14:43:00.002-05:00

Wednesday, Nov 18th -
I went to the gym last night for Day 1 of my squat/pull-up/core pre-season workout. Couldn't do any upper body because my wrist is still hurt, but I finally got on the squat rack after a nice wait. Didn't use the bar pad this time...wanted to see what it's like to go raw, baby!

3 sets of 12 full squats @ a spritely 135 lbs. Down and up within 4 seconds. It was definitely the first day back: my legs are a little sore today and I was getting a little bit of a sweat going. Told you my legs aren't that strong (yet)!

Weight circuit:

Almost 2 circuits (before my self-imposed time limit ran out) of:

standing glute extension (looks like a horse kick) - 150 lbs, abductors - 220lbs, adductors - 220lbs.

Sets of 12.

My groin isn't quite 100% yet. Hamstring felt fine. My initial goal is to squat 1.5x my body weight, which would be 250 lbs or so. I've never bothered to lift 250 lbs before but I've done an equivalent for sure:
http://www.timinvermont.com/fitness/orm.htm

This is an initial and achievable goal I expect to attain within a few weeks. Second tier goal is 300+. Again, I'll be doing largely high rep weight to start. Don't forget to intersperse some unweighted squat jumps between sets...and weighted squat jumps are a money exercise to close out a gym visit. George, you could go as high as 90 lbs total at this point, so it should be nice and light. See one of those workout emails if you forgot the form.

I want to add deadlifts too. Next time.

Race #2

2010-06-14T23:01:00.005-04:00

Well, this was my 2nd official race. Two Sundays ago was my first official race, the video of which you see below. My second "race" was at Truck tryouts, and I do not have a video for it. I got clocked at another 51, though, so going into this past weekend I was excited for another improvement.

On Saturday I had a 4-hour tryout with the Truck that ended up being hot and humid with little down time. I ran hard and played pretty well but the heat started to get to me a little by the end: I developed a headache and some slight dizziness. I spent the whole afternoon relaxing in my recovery suit (haha) on my couch, watching the US luck their way into a tie against England and eating lots of carbs. I went out for a few hours with Laura that evening to a birthday party but my head started hurting a bit and I felt slightly nauseated, so I crashed early.

Laura and I got up early the next morning, though, and headed out to the track. It was hot, and I nearly missed the 1st (i.e. fast) heat because I had taken a page from an earlier competitor's book and was relaxing in the one cool area in the vicinity: under the bleachers. I swear they never made a loudspeaker annoucement for the 4, but whatever. I ran over and got in.

The 400 Project - All-Comers Race - 400m - 6/13/2010 from The 400 Project on Vimeo.

I ran a 51, which was another PR, albeit by a few tenths. While it's encouraging to know I can still run pretty fast after a long, exhausting practice the day before, I was a little disappointed because I know I have the speed and strength to run a good deal faster. I'll have to wait til July.

Race #1

2010-06-07T22:01:00.004-04:00

Hey everyone, so last Sunday, the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, I went out to the track with Laura and ran my first race. With much thanks to my glorious camerawoman, here it is:

The 400 Project - All-Comers Race - 400m - 5/30/2010 from The 400 Project on Vimeo.

I ran a 51, which, while not being as fast as my goal time, was a personal record by a full second. So that is at least a silver lining.

Funnily enough, exactly a week later, just this past Sunday, I ran another 400m race as part of a tryout for the Truck and ran a 51.5, a few tenths faster than the time from the week prior. This was an encouraging time since it was at the beginning of a long practice. I'm confident my next race will be another improvement. Excited to get out there!

Racing Tomorrow!

2010-05-29T11:44:00.003-04:00

So yes, despite falling off the face of blogger earth, I am alive, well, and have been training for the last 4 months. Sometimes certain areas slip when one gets busy and for me, it was this blog. Oh well.

Regardless, training has been going well. I've been managing a slightly tight right hamstring but feel fast and prepared for my race tomorrow. Last Sunday I ran two full speed 350m in 48.5 seconds and followed that up with 3x200m this past Thursday in 24.5, 23.9, 23.9. I've been fortunate enough to have folks joining me for my workouts. The crew really helped me push myself for my last two reps. My body felt achy and spent afterward in a really good way. A perfect way to finish my last workout.

Today, I'm heading to the track with Laura to do some 150m buildups and a cooldown...follow by a *light* stretching session. I've become a little paranoid about staying healthy for my race, so I'm very hesitant about stressing my hamstring at all, haha. But, I know a light session will be good for me.

Excited about the race tomorrow. There will be video!

Andrew

Week 9 - Day 3

2010-03-14T21:22:00.004-04:00

Only yesterday did I stop feeling sore from last Monday's workout. Man. My legs were absolutely shot. I'm guessing it had to be doing the hard sprints beforehand. Yes, I hadn't free squatted in years, but my legs are pretty strong and 135 lbs is a light weight. Regardless, I was more sore than they've been in years. I had pain going up/down stairs. Even walking around. It was crazy. I'm actually interested in pairing weights after sprints now, haha, but in a smart way. It's incredibly effective at getting my very sore, which is hard to do.

Anyway, I worked a ton on Wednesday and Thursday and was unable to workout at all. So, I did Wednesday's workout yesterday - Saturday - and Thurday's workout today with Laura at Roosevelt. Here's what we did.

Rest: 5 minutes
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 400m* - sub-60 - 57.6
2 - 300m* - 41 - 41.1
3 - 200m* - 26 - 27.3

*for each of these reps, we ran an additional 100m with everything we had left after crossing the finish line.
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I was happy with all these times except for the 200m. I really wanted to get 26 or below. I liked that 57, though, and I'm confident I can get a faster time than the 56 I ran in training last year. Laura did well as well, running the 400m in 85 seconds, the 300m in 65 seconds, and the 200m in 37 seconds. I gave her head starts and we generally came through the finish within a few seconds of each other. I'm sure having her there helped me run faster, so a shout out to her for joining me.

I hope I can stick to my schedule this week. I may be traveling next week, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Week 8 - Day 6

2010-03-08T21:28:00.002-05:00

I ran this workout after work on Monday the 8th after missing it the weekend before. Here's what I did:

Rest: 5 minutes
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 80m - NA - NA
2 - 80m - NA - NA
3 - 80m - NA - NA
4 - 80m - NA - NA
5 - 80m - NA - NA
6 - 80m - NA - NA
7 - 80m - NA - NA
8 - 80m - NA - NA
9 - 80m - NA - NA
10 - 80m - NA - NA
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I didn't have my watch with me because I'd thought I was running 40s or 60s and didn't bother. I would have liked to time these, though. I ran in spikes and was tired by the end. I was behind in my workouts, though, so after quickly calling into a Cornell class council teleconference while on the metro, haha, I popped into the gym for a 30 minutes workout (I had hoped to get there earlier so I could spend more time). Anyway, I decided to do some squats since I have made a resolution to do them this year. No more machines. Free squats all the way. My legs were sapped, so I just did 3x10 reps of 135 lbs. Further, I waited 2 minutes after the first two sets and then did 1 set of 5 jump squats with just my body weight. I then waited 2-3 more minutes and squatted again. My legs were certainly working hard, but I was able to do all the reps without much difficulty. Going down the steps after the workout, though, I felt a soreness/weakness that I hadn't felt in a long, long time. I'm just hoping I can recover in enough time to do my Wednesday and Thursday workouts.

Week 8 - Day 5

2010-03-06T17:59:00.003-05:00

Laura and I went to Cardozo track today. I did a full plyo workout on Thursday (essentially my first good long one of the season) and still feel the effects today...in a good way. Here's the workout:

Rest: 5 minutes
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 200m - 28 - 28.7
2 - 200m - 28 - 27.2
3 - 200m - 28 - 28.3
4 - 200m - 28 - 28.2
5 - 200m - 28 - 28.8
6 - 200m - 28 - 28
7 - 200m - 28 - 28
8 - 200m - 28 - 29.0
9 - 200m - 28 - 28.3
10 - 200m - 28 - 28.7
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I didn't get good times for reps 6 and 7 but they were probably high 28s. After the first rep, Laura went out 10 seconds before me and we pushed each other as we crossed the finish line. Her best today was a 38, and that was on a bad stomach and no training. Not a bad start!

I felt okay about the workout today. On the one hand I was consistent with my times and the season hasn't really kicked in yet. On the other hand, though, I feel like I should be running faster for these. 5 minutes rest should be enough for me to run a second or two faster, I feel, so maybe that form will come soon as I get into better shape. I also ran in running shoes today. I've decided that one of my mistakes last year was that I ran in my spikes too often. Alison set my time goals assuming I'd wear spikes only for the full speed reps. So, running in spikes for this kind of workout, like I did last year, makes it easier. My times last year for this exact workout were a little faster...high 27s on average, but my effort was probably not as hard. So, one of my changes this year, in addition to working harder on my conditioning runs, is to run in spikes only when I'm running my fastest. It'll be easier on my calves and will make me that much faster when I do strap them on if I hit my goal times with slower footwear.

I've also been reading about joint stiffness (actually a good thing...it's not what it sounds like) and how it increases speed and some of the exercises I've read about are done barefoot. I think this type of training will be really helpful, so I'm looking forward to folding in some new things this season.

Week 8 - Day 1

2010-03-02T21:55:00.004-05:00

I was unable to do Week 7 - Day 6's sprint ladder, so I switched my workouts around and ran that workout today. Ken came out with me in the light rain/wintry mix, but with no wind, it was surprising fine.

Rest: 5 minutes
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s) - heartrate (bpm)

1 - 100m - NA - 14
2 - 200m - 28 - 28
3 - 300m - 46 - 45
4 - 400m - 61 - 65
5 - 300m - 48 - 48
6 - 200m - 28 - 30
7 - 100m - NA - 13
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Out of these times, I'm only disappointed with the 400m one. I felt like I was working hard enough to get my time, but when I checked at the 200m mark, I was already just over 30 seconds. I was unable to make up that time down the back stretch and didn't get the 61. I feel like continued work on my sprinting endurance will help with my 400m reps over the next few months. I'm taking my cross-training and 30 minute runs more seriously and am trying to push the pace...definitely a change from last year when I stuck to the bike and did intervals. Now I'm hitting the street. I'm starting to get my legs under me. I've also decided to take a 4-6 week break from drinking - with a one-day exception for my birthday... - and really want to buckle down and get the most out of each session...and then recover as intelligently as I can afterward. I've been reading some great materials on training and recovery. I'll share some info when I have some time.

Week 7 - Day 3

2010-02-25T21:26:00.003-05:00

What a difference four days makes. Today was my hardest workout to date, and it was a good improvement from Sunday.

Rest: full walking (8-10 minutes)
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 300m - 44 - 44.4
2 - 300m - 44 - 44.1
3 - 300m - 44 - 44.9
4 - 300m - 44 - 44.8
5 - 300m - 44 - 43.7
6 - 300m - 44 - 43.3
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I ran in spikes today indoors at Yates. I was by myself. My strategy for the first section of the workout was to run these reps like a 400m: out fast for the first 80m, hit a stride down the second 100m, and then kick it up down the backstretch. I eased up a bit too much in the first rep, though, and had to kick it up a bit more than I was expecting to hit my time. I started to feel the strain on my calves after the third or fourth rep but took advantage of the materials nearby and rolled out my calves and hips with a foam roller in-between reps. After the 4th rep, I ran full-bore the whole distance and brought in faster times. This was an encouraging workout. Looking forward to getting back outside, although there are certain perks at Yates...namely, blocks! I haven't used them yet but am excited to get back in later this season to work on my starts.

Week 6 - Day 6

2010-02-21T21:18:00.002-05:00

I had an awful workout today. I didn't eat well and felt out of sync. Laura came with me to Yates and I ran 8x200m.

Rest: 5 minutes
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s) - heartrate (bpm)

1 - 200m - 28 - 29
2 - 200m - 28 - 29
3 - 200m - 28 - 28
4 - 200m - 28 - 30
5 - 200m - 28 - 30
6 - 200m - 28 - 30
7 - 200m - 28 - 30
8 - 200m - 28 - 30
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I felt bad today. I really need to eat better, but I'm still stymied by these times. I did not run in spikes, but still. Given the rest I was taking, I expected much better times than these. I'd be surprised if my time trial yesterday played a part in my performance today...can a single hard rep really affect someone like this the day after? I'm not sure, but at least there's tons of room for improvement.

Week 6 - Day 5 (Time Trial #1)

2010-02-20T21:07:00.001-05:00

After a month of blizzard-induced (and yes, laziness-induced) silence, I've made a vow to start posting after workouts just like I did last year. Without further ado...

I did my first time trial today...finally. With the help of my friend Alisha (and later George), I obtained some guest passes to the indoor Georgetown facility, Yates Field House, which is complete with the nicest indoor track in the city. It's 200m and also has a nice 80+m straightaway, which is rare for indoor tracks. After consulting with a savvy track guy there running the masters circuit of the same meets I compete in, I lined up and had my new friend time me. His watch didn't have as accurate time as my stop watch, but he timed me at 39 seconds. He also explained that I'd have been up to .75 seconds faster had I run outside (and unimpeded...I had to slow slightly once), since you have to do nearly 3 full turns to do a 300m on an indoor track, while you only run a single wider turn outside. Regardless, not a bad start to the season, especially considering how the blizzard affected my schedule.

Excited I'm back into it! Looking forward to tracking my progress against last year.

Season 3 - Week 2 Workouts

2010-01-20T22:55:00.002-05:00

Here are my workouts for this week:

Wednesday (1/20) - 20 minutes of one-minute runs

Thursday - Track @ Washington Lee - Tempo intervals. 50‑100‑150‑200‑300‑350, walk same distance for recovery; will follow this up with some pickup

Friday - Off

Saturday - cross train 30 minutes, weights

Sunday - Track - Tempo intervals. 3x500, 300 meter walk recovery in-between. Moderate pace, come through the 400 in around 70 seconds.
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I just got back from my Wednesday workout and man, it was a long one. 20 minutes for the runs...about 20 minutes recuperating/massaging...about 90 minutes lifting. I feel good, though. One thing I want to figure out is how best to fuel myself for long workouts like these. I've started reading my book on the importance of recovery, and being fueled/hydrated prior to workouts is essential. But, on long days like these, I think I should take something small with me to the gym to take during "halftime," as it were.

At any rate, I pushed hard during my one-minute runs. I'm taking my conditioning more seriously this year, per my outline last week. I ran this on the indoor track, but my distances ranged from 315m to about 350m for each of my minutes. I'm determined to raise the level of my conditioning this year; I'm confident this will really help me down the final 100m of my races...and will certainly translate well to the ultimate field.

In the weight room, I did a full lift and added a new exercise: weighted jump squats. I've decided to do these instead of doing cleans with poor form. I've heard the physical benefits are very similar. I used two 25's today and did 3 sets of 10 jumps. I really enjoyed these and am looking forward to adding more dynamic exercises like these to my routine. My legs are feeling decently strong and my upper body is starting to come around. Looking forward to that first time trial in a few weeks...

Season 3 - Week 1 Workouts

2010-01-19T22:40:00.002-05:00

So this is an after the fact summary. Going forward, I'll be using these types of posts as a preview to the upcoming week and will be providing a post for each track workout, at least. At any rate, here were my Week 1 workouts, which began last Wednesday, the 13th:

Wednesday - conditioning mile, weights

Thursday - 6x hill repeats; jog there and back; do rhythm plyos if possible

Friday - Off

Saturday - 30 min cross training, moderate pace; weights

Sunday - 6x150m buildups; sprint portion should not be all-out yet

Monday - 15 min light jog, weights
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I started the week with a tough conditioning mile: I used 25 push-ups, 2x30 sec abs, 20 dips, and 2x30 sec hops as my four stations. It was brutal. Let's just say my push-up form was less than stellar down the home stretch... I managed a decent lower body lift but struggled with a full upper body routine. I certainly kept things in perspective, this being my first workout of the season, but I was still a little disappointed.

I pushed my Thursday workout back to Friday morning due to a holiday party (quite fun, but in January??) and then played winter league ultimate and lifted on Saturday. I hit a back-to-back hiccup after that, though, when Sunday turned into a 24 hour hibernation of sorts and I didn't leave the office on Monday until 11:45pm. Turns out the gym would have been closed anyway due to MLK. At any rate, I decided to skip the Monday workout entirely (instead of making it up today, Tuesday, which is an off day), since tomorrow's workout is very similar.

All in all, not a bad week...I'll be hitting my stride soon.

Season 3

2010-01-13T23:51:00.003-05:00

This week is the first week of my third track season in as many years. I'm very excited to get out there and improve. I've keyed in on a few things I want to do differently this season:

1. Take my conditioning (especially effort while cross training and doing 20-30 minute runs) more seriously.

2. Make more of an effort to eat smarter

and

3. Organize my schedule around playing a little more ultimate
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#1 includes things like going out for runs instead of getting on the stationary bike, incorporating stuff like crossfit workouts, and generally taking my conditioning as seriously as my speed work.

#2 includes stuff like eating out a little less and being more balanced with my nutrition.

#3 is less of a major shift and more of a minor one. I'm more interested in heading out to winter pickup this year, so I'm going to stay at WL after my Thursday workouts and play a little more. I'm also going to attend more winter league games than last year.
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My goals this year are the same as last: run the 400m in under 50 seconds. It's ambitious, but I've got a feeling this is the year. Last year I ran a 53 in insane wind. I was told it would've been about a 51 in good conditions. So, I'm hoping that staying healthy enough to attend more races and improving my conditioning to help me down the backstretch will help me this year. I know I have the speed to run a fast 400m...now I need to maintain it for a little longer.

I'm interested to see what my limits are this year. It's going to be fun.

I'm Back!

2009-08-26T23:04:00.002-04:00

I can't believe it's been 3 months. Wow. A shoulder injury and a hip pointer injury later, I'm finally feeling better and faster. I'm also organizing my ultimate team's workouts, which has been great. We did some full speed work and plyos today. We started off with a 200m, which I ran in 23.7 seconds. I was certainly pleased, as this is a PR for me. Having other folks to run with really helps. The crazy thing is I haven't been working out as much recently, so once I get back into that, I expect to feel even better. We took a sufficient break (actually a little longer than we wanted) and then ran a 450m. I came through in 45.5 seconds and then paced off the beginning distance to check. Turns out we ran closer to 340m, but that's still around 47 seconds. It's encouraging to know I still have my speed. My legs haven't felt particularly good in most of our practices thus far, so I'm going to think about returning to a more sprint season type schedule now that I have done some conditioning in July and August. I'll use Chesapeake this weekend as a gauge. I certainly want to get in the gym more.

At any rate, while I sincerely doubt anyone is really checking this after such a long silence, I thought I'd poke my head up. I'll be posting more and am looking forward to continued sprinting work this fall and beyond. My injuries stymied my racing this summer, so the sub-50 goal is still out there. I know I can do it, but it certainly won't be easy. I will say that I ran in full-health on May 17th and even if ther hadn't been wind, Alison thinks I'd have been around a 51. So, the wind was not the deciding factor. I'm confident I'll be even faster going forward.

I'm excited to line up out there this weekend. I'm itching for some monster plays...

Yeah 200m PR!

Andrew

Race #1 - Video

2009-05-20T12:30:00.001-04:00

First off, a big thanks to Laura for coming and making this entire multimedia post possible! I appreciated her cheering, taping, and interview-conducting skills.

First off, the race. I'm running in lane 2 with the white top and black shorts. I forgot to explain how to zoom in video mode, so things get a little distant down the backstretch but I am in 4th (from the camera's perspective) for much of that stretch. Enjoy!

The 400 Project - All-Comers Race - 400m - 05/17/2009 from The 400 Project on Vimeo.

You can see how tired I was approaching the finish line. I was also disappointed because I knew I wasn't going to hit my time. It also looks like my form suffered a little. If you look, you can also see me stutter-step a little bit in my first few steps. I also moved my back leg right before the gun went off; I need to pick a starting position and stick with it.

Post-race thoughts to follow...

Videos Forthcoming...

2009-05-19T18:58:00.002-04:00

I tried to upload them last night but the files are too big... We'll see what I can manage.

Andrew

Week 19 - Day 6 (Race Day #1)

2009-05-17T22:02:00.004-04:00

Wow. So much to talk about but the lengthy post will go up tomorrow.

The short version:

It was very gusty today but cool and nice. I warmed up well and felt primed to go. I was put in lane 2. I stumbled ever so slightly out of the blocks but ran a fast 100m. I ran well down the backstretch and entered the final curve with slight fatigue in my legs, which is what I wanted to feel. At the 200m mark, I turned it on 100% and powered through the curve. I entered the homestretch in 1st place. Then, the guy in lane 1 cruised up next to me and we were neck and neck with about 80m to go. A guy in the outer lanes was also in play. The wind kicked up hard in our faces down this backstretch and my legs started to fall off. I pumped my arms as hard as I could but lane 1 pulled ahead and my legs couldn't kick any more. I looked up and watched the clock...48, 49...50, 51, 52 and then I crossed. I ended up finished in at or just under 53 seconds (official time to be posted on Tuesday). I honestly don't remember the wind factor, but everyone else was complaining about it. It was right in our faces coming home. That said, it could have kicked up down the backstretch too and helped out there. I dunno.

I have a video of the race, as well as some post-race interviews, haha, which I will post tomorrow. I checked my splits on the race and my 100m, 200m, and 300m times were all fast. It's hard to pin them down, but they were between 11+/23+/36+ and 12/25/37. I dunno it's really hard to tell. This much I know: my last 100m was awful. I felt terrible and I was slow. The wind certainly hurt, but it's possible I went out a tad strong...my legs felt where they should be at the 200m mark, though. Anyway, from looking at my 53, I know in my heart that I can run much faster than that...it was slower than the 52.6 I ran last year. But, my legs wouldn't have believed you. I was spent.

May 30th is my next shot. Oh, and are you ready for this? I partially dislocated my shoulder this afternoon on a defensive bid at pre-season pickup/practice. (And no, I didn't get it.) So, today could have gone better in many ways, but I'm not sure there was a ton I would have done differently. I shall consult Alison on my race strategy/pacing and see if it was sound. The video will be invaluable. Until tomorrow,

Andrew

Week 19 - Day 5

2009-05-17T08:43:00.003-04:00

Race day! I'm about ready to roll out this morning. Not much else to say. I'm excited to get out there. It rained overnight but things have cleared up, so I think I'll be in good shape. I won't be back around to post anything on my race until early this evening, but, I hope to have some video for you... Peace.

Andrew

Week 19 - Day 3

2009-05-14T22:39:00.004-04:00

Today was the last hard workout before my race on Sunday...and I wanted to make it count. I took half a caffeine pill, went out to Cardozo and ran during a slight drizzle, which was very refreshing. I banged my knee pretty hard at pickup last Sunday night, so I treated today as a test to see how my speed was affected, if at all. Here's how I did:

Rest: full (8-9 minutes)
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 100m - sub-12 - 12 flat
2 - 100m - sub-12 - 12.1
3 - 100m - sub-12 - 11.8
4 - 100m - sub-12 - 12.1
5 - 100m - sub-12 - 11.9
6 - 100m - sub-12 - 11.9
7 - 100m - sub-12 - 11.9
8 - 100m - sub-12 - 11.7
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I'm happy with my results today. I focused on coming out hard each time and on pumping my arms as hard as I could - especially on the last 4-5 reps. My legs were a little sore from my plyos yesterday, which was a nice change. In the past, my legs have felt depleted after a plyo session but not sore. The fact that they were sore today tells me I had a good, hard plyo workout yesterday. At any rate, today I felt my glutes, in particular, get more and more sore as my workout went on. Again, I saw this as a good thing. I was pushing hard. My left calf also started to tighten up a little, but that's nothing new. I iced when I got home and feel good and prepared for Sunday.

My physical prep is over, but my mental prep is still ongoing. I'll be doing focusing and visualization over the next few days and will be trying out some meditation on Saturday. My priorities over the next 72 hours are to eat well, rest well, and stay healthy. I'm excited!

Andrew

Week 19 Workouts

2009-05-12T19:23:00.003-04:00

Race week! I still need to sign up for my race, but here's my schedule:

Tuesday - Off

Wednesday - Conditioning mile, explosive plyos.

Thursday - Track - 8x100 meters, full recovery, aim for sub-12

Friday - Off

Saturday - Warm up and practice curve starts

Sunday - Race

Monday - Off
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Week 18 - Day 6

2009-05-11T11:33:00.003-04:00

I went to Cardozo on Saturday for some full speed work. I went out a little harder than I'd anticipated the night before, so I struggled to get to the track in time to do the full workout prior to my 2pm spring league game. It was also hot out. I warmed up well and then got into the workout.

Rest: full
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 100m - full speed - 11.5
2 - 200m - full speed - 24.7
3 - 300m - full speed - ~39.5
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My workout called for another 200m and 100m, but due to heat/ultimate game, I decided to end after the 300. I was happy with my 100m time, which is a personal best. I was pretty upset about my 200m time, though, and I didn't get an accurate time on my 300m because I stopped my watch on the wrong line; it wasn't a particularly fast time, though.

I was annoyed with my 200m time because I ran in the high 23s/low 24s last year in a full-speed workout just a few days before my race; I wanted to get mid 23s this time around. Anyway, I have one more full-speed workout on Thursday before my Sunday race. On the slate: full-speed 100s. I'm going to visualize/focus in the days leading up to this last workout so I can get the most out of it.

Week 18 Workouts

2009-05-07T23:42:00.002-04:00

My schedule looks a little different this week...and will from here on out. I've moved my tough weekend workout to Saturdays to keep me fresher for pickup on Sundays. This led to a similar flip during the week. Anyway, less than two weeks until May 17th, race day #1. Staying healthy and being smart are my top priorities from here on out. That said, my Saturday workout left my left calf a little tight. Monitor monitor monitor.

Monday - Off

Tuesday - Track - 6x150 meters, 5 minutes recovery.

Wednesday - cross-train 40 minutes, moderate pace, weights

Thursday - Warm up, 10xuphill repeats, explosive plyos

Friday - Off

Saturday - Track - 100, 200 (26 sec), 300 (38 sec.), 200, 100, full recovery.

Sunday - Track - 8x30 meters, rolling start.
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I'm really eyeing Saturday's workout. I haven't done a full speed 100m or 200m yet this season... My Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday workouts have left me depleted but I know I'll be primed for Saturday morning. Everything's lining up. I want some good times.

Andrew

Week 17 - Day 5

2009-05-02T15:37:00.004-04:00

Wow. Today's workout was absolutely exhausting. I decided to move my Sunday workout up a day so I could go to pickup tomorrow and not have to worry about fitting in a tough workout. Also, after speaking with Alison, I changed my goal time from 27-28 per 200m to 25-26 per. I went to Cardozo and ran by myself again. Here's how I did:

Rest: 5 - 5 1/2 minutes
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 200m - 25 to 26 - 26.2
2 - 200m - 25 to 26 - 25.5
3 - 200m - 25 to 26 - 26.3
4 - 200m - 25 to 26 - 26.6
5 - 200m - 25 to 26 - 26.1
6 - 200m - 25 to 26 - 26.9
7 - 200m - 25 to 26 - 26.5
8 - 200m - 25 to 26 - 26.8
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My legs were very tired after this workout but I am very happy with the results; I was annoyed when I poked over 27 the last time I was supposed to run 26s, so I really wanted to work hard today. I also got sick, which was surprising just because I made a point of running before I'd eaten anything today. I'm absolutely spent. I ended up resting closer to 5:30 prior to the last two reps, but I made a point of staying faithful to the prescribed 5 minutes. Right when I was about to run rep #2, one of the dudes who was playing soccer decided to run a lap for fun; merely chasing him made a huge difference...I ran an "easy" 25.5. Right before rep #5, some soccer players asked me how fast I was running and complimented me on my times; this was enough to pump me up for that rep and I ran a 26.1...noticeably faster than the times around it. Examples like these make me think that had I had someone helping me down the homestretch (or pumping me up), I'm sure I wouldn't have killed myself today (and, in addition, would have run faster). But, as it were, I had to get myself up for the challenge. There was music playing for a soccer tournament on the field, so that helped. I also did some visualization and occasionally some *light* face slapping to stop me from dipping in-between runs (perhaps that's weird, I dunno). After running my last rep, I made it back to my stuff, but could hardly keep on my feet. I sat down and kind of sagged there. I had to help my feet off the ground to change out of my spikes and had a little water (which would come back to haunt me). I then pulled myself up and tried some halfhearted stretching but then my stomach started feeling bad. My friend Erik, who had been playing in the soccer tournament (and who had spoken with me briefly earlier in my workout), then came over to see how things had ended up, but I felt awful at this point and had to cut things a little short. After a quick visit to a nice spot behind the bleachers, I got on my bike and rolled home.

2-3 more tough workouts and then it's game time. I hope all this work will lead to a good result.

Andrew

Week 17 - Day 3

2009-04-30T21:50:00.004-04:00

Today was my first full speed "distance" sprints in a while...but I almost didn't even make it out there. I went home early yesterday because of mild cold symptoms (can't be taking risks these days...) and missed my Wednesday plyo workout. When I woke up this morning, my sore throat and congestion wasn't better, so I worked from home. By the end of the day, I started feeling better but, still tired, took a nap at 4:30. I woke up at 6:30 and felt *very* sluggish. I could barely roll out of bed, let alone conceive of heading to the track... But, an hour later, after half a caffeine pill and a quick bike ride, I was pumped up and ready to go. So ready to go that some food I'd had 3 hours earlier decided it didn't want to stay in my stomach...this has become something of a trend. Anyway, due to my weekend off and how long it had been since I'd run a good distance, I was unsure where I'd be today. I treated my goal times today as more of a guess from Alison of where I'd be...not something to pace to. I also ran completely on my own today; this is noteworthy simply because I've been lucky enough to have others run with me on many occasions in the past and I'm sure the extra bodies helped.

Rest: full
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 300m - 41 - 38.9
2 - 400m - 58 - 57.4
3 - 500m - 74 - 78.7
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I was happy with my 300 and 400 times today but wish I'd had a little more for my 500. When I was running my 300, I checked my watch about halfway down the homestretch and saw it at 31. Not wanting to push so hard as to ruin my later reps (see this workout), I didn't go into overdrive for my last 50m. I was pushing hard but I felt controlled. For the 400, I went out full speed for the first 100m, throttled back down the backstretch, and then cranked it up at the 200m mark. I pushed all the way through and while I felt fatigued, I still had some spring in my legs and was solidly up on the balls of my feet. For the 500, I went out hard for the first 100, throttled back for the next 200, and then gave it everything I had for the last 200. I was disappointed with my time and definitely felt my legs respond less from the get-go. Also, my rest today was quite long. There were soccer players milling about on the track, so I had to wait longer than I wanted to run. My average rest was around 25 minutes...impressive, I know.

At any rate, I feel pretty good about where I am and am excited about getting out to race in just two and a half weeks! I need to buy more spikes for my shoes...I seem to have lost a couple over the last few months.

Week 17 Workouts

2009-04-30T21:47:00.002-04:00

Tuesday - Off

Wednesday - Warm up, 8x downhill runs, explosive plyos. Cool-down with a half-mile jog.

Thursday - Track - 300 (41), 400 (58), 500 (74). Full speed, full recovery.

Friday - Off

Saturday - Track - 5x60 meters, standing start.

Sunday - Track - 8x200 meters, 5 minutes recovery. 27-28 sec.

Monday - cross-train 40 minutes, moderate pace, weights
-----

I just came off a fun but tiring weekend in Philly and New Jersey and I'm ready to get back in the swing of things. I feel like I haven't done a "real" running workout in a while and I have one this week on Thursday. I'm looking forward to it.

Week 16 - Day 3

2009-04-30T21:43:00.002-04:00

I ran at Cardozo High School for this workout. I had had a good plyo workout the day before and was ready for some speed work.

Rest: 3 minutes
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 30m (rolling start) - NA - NA
2 - 30m (rolling start) - NA - NA
3 - 30m (rolling start) - NA - NA
4 - 30m (rolling start) - NA - NA
5 - 30m (rolling start) - NA - NA
6 - 30m (rolling start) - NA - NA
7 - 30m (rolling start) - NA - NA
8 - 30m (rolling start) - NA - NA
9 - 30m (rolling start) - NA - NA
10 - 30m (rolling start) - NA - NA
-----

I felt good during this workout. I focused on getting out fast for the first 15m and then really pushing for 30m all the way through. I started in a crouch today, since I wasn't using my watch. I'm eager to do a full speed 100 or 200 to see where my speed is.

Andrew

Week 16 Workouts

2009-04-21T15:16:00.003-04:00

Tuesday - Off

Wednesday - Conditioning mile, explosive plyos.

Thursday - Track - 10x30 meters, rolling start. 3 minutes recovery.

Friday - Thirty minutes of 1-minute runs

Saturday - Out of town - Off

Sunday - Out of town - Off

Monday - Conditioning mile, weights
-----

Less than a month until my first race! That kind of snuck up on me. Exciting! May is going to be a busy month, in general, but I'm pumped to get out there and see what I have.
Biggest priority: take care of myself and stay healthy.
2nd biggest priority: binge drink until I pass out 5 nights a week; I've earned it!

That was a joke.

Peace.

Andrew

(I'm shooting for 4 nights)

Week 15 - Day 5

2009-04-21T15:03:00.004-04:00

So, I ended up going to a tournament over the weekend with some friends. I hadn't planned doing so when I laid out my schedule back in January, but there you go. Saturday's workout was 5x60m with a standing start. So, when I got to the fields, I warmed up and did my workout during the first half of our first game. I pushed hard and focused on each one and took 3-5 minutes between each one. By the end of the workout, the bellies of my muscles felt untaxed, but I felt strangely fatigued/stressed around my knee and hip joints. I hung out for a bit, ate some food, and played a little, but didn't feel comfortable making full-effort changes in direction; I felt injury-prone. I did an "ultimate" warmup before the second game and did some pivoting/throwing but still felt a little weird. I split my time standing and sitting and then, by the middle of our second game, I felt fine. The sensation was gone and I went out and ran hard and felt great. I'm interested in what my body was going through there...perhaps it was getting over the impact of running that hard, except that I ran on grass and didn't run *that* much faster than I do when I cut deep in a game. Anyway, interesting.

Sunday's workout was a 100 (12) - 200 (26) - 300 (42) - 200 - 100 ladder, but I decided to forego it and run hard in my games instead. I had hopes of getting this in on Monday, but I think I was wise to just do a light jog and a lift. I'll try to make it up soon, though.

Week 15 - Day 3

2009-04-16T22:42:00.002-04:00

The weather was amazing today. I had meant to do this track workout yesterday since Washington Lee was booked today, but it turns out it was booked yesterday as well, so I went ahead and did the plyo workout that day as scheduled. So, today I was very eager to get this workout in because it was going to be a good yardstick for me. I did the exact same workout around this time last year. But, I had to find a track first... After forgetting my keys at work and dealing figuring that out, I finally started a tour of DC to find a spot. My first stop was Cardozo...my old stomping grounds. Success! The facilities there are so nice now...beautiful turf field and nice new rubber track. I was so happy. Here's what I did.

Rest: 5 minutes
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s) - heartrate (bpm)

1 - 200m - 26 - 25.7 - 160
2 - 200m - 26 - 25.5 - 160
3 - 200m - 26 - 26.5 - 168
4 - 200m - 26 - 26.8 - 168
5 - 200m - 26 - 26.5 - 172
6 - 200m - 26 - 27.2 - 172
7 - 200m - 26 - 27.5 - 176
-----

This workout was supposed to be 9x200m, which was what I intended to do, but the soccer dudes cleared off the field promptly at 8pm and said they had to lock the gate behind them. Tough. So, I decided to run an 8th rep right then to end things out, even though I'd only rested for around 3 minutes by that point. Let me tell you, those extra 2 minutes really matter... I ended up running a 28.3 but didn't report it above - it was more of a spontaneous test to see what would happen. My legs were sapped down the homestretch and I felt like I jogged through the finish. I'm confident that had I run my last two with correct rest, I would have logged times in the low 27s/maybe high 26s. I got upset after running that 27.5 and wanted to get that one back. Anyway, I really wanted to get slightly more consistent times today, but this performance was a dramatic improvement from last year's. I really struggled with the 5 minutes rest and while I started out in the 26s, I slipped quickly and was running just over 30 by rep 6 or so. There were other factors at play last year, but still...it's always nice to see concrete improvement. I can't wait to run some full speed 200s. I really dialed it back during the first two reps today; I feel like I'll be able to hit some aggressive times going forward. Up up up!

Andrew

Week 15 Workouts

2009-04-16T10:59:00.002-04:00

The end of Week 14 was the first time since my injury that I lifted hard with my quads. My right quad now feels close to 100%. I still need to be smart about foam rolling/heating/icing, but I'll be giving it a full load from here on out. Here are this week's workouts.

Tuesday - Off

Wednesday - Warm up, 8x downhill runs, explosive plyos. Cool-down with a half-mile jog.

Thursday - Track - 9x200 meters, 5 minutes recovery. Aim for 26 sec. each one.

Friday - Off

Saturday - Track - 5x60 meters, standing start.

Sunday - Track - 100 (12 sec), 200 (26 sec), 300 (42 sec.), 200, 100, full recovery. cross-train 40 minutes, moderate pace, weights
-----

Week 14 - Day 6

2009-04-12T17:19:00.004-04:00

I went out to Banneker High this fine Easter afternoon with my roommate, Jon. The weather was spectacular. I ran on this track last summer for ultimate and had a miserable time...the track was circular (around a baseball field), gravel, and uneven. During the fall, though, it went through a massive renovation and now it's a top-notch track. The rubber is softer and nicer than Washington Lee and there's plush grass for stretching/lounging. I loved it. The only downside is the atypical track shape; while I'd be a little concerned if I ran on this track exclusively, since I run on an oval most of the time, I feel fine about hitting this circular one every week or so. Anyway, here's my workout.

Rest: 10 minutes
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 450m - 67 - 65.9
2 - 450m - 67 - 69.1
3 - 450m - 67 - 68.1
-----

I was very happy with this workout. Jon was kind enough to both time and help me down the last 50m of each rep. I ended up resting closer to 12-13 minutes in-between each rep, but I really focused on giving a full effort each time out. After running the 69, I made my goal to keep my third time under 70. During my break before I ran, I spent time visualizing my lap...how hard I'd be running at different parts of the track...and mentally preparing for the last 200m; I was going to leave absolutely everything on the track. I went out well and felt good down the backstretch. I was happy to find that I had a kick at the 250m mark and gave it everything I had left. I was really pushing by the time I came through the finish, and Jon was happy to tell me my time: 68. 450s are not my favorites by a long shot, but I do recognize how important they are for building 400m speed, and I have noticed my improvement in running them. I'm already looking ahead to my 200m workout on Wednesday - full effort, full rest. I want to see what kind of times I can muster. Up from here.

Andrew

Week 14 - Day 3

2009-04-09T22:27:00.003-04:00

I went out to Washington Lee today after work. The weather was phenomenal. I misread the workout and did 30m with a flying start and not 40m. Oh well. For the flying starts, I marked off 15m from the starting line and 45m from the starting line. For the reps, I accelerated as fast as I could to get as close to full speed as possible by the 15m mark and then maintained that through the 45m mark. This was full effort.

Rest: 3 minutes
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 30m flying start - NA - NA
2 - 30m flying start - NA - NA
3 - 30m flying start - NA - NA
4 - 30m flying start - NA - NA
5 - 30m flying start - NA - NA
6 - 30m flying start - NA - NA
7 - 30m flying start - NA - NA
8 - 30m flying start - NA - NA
-----

Despite the short distance and the only moderate number of reps, I felt this workout. I could feel the impact afterwards; it's not soreness...it's more like what I feel after a plyo workout. Back in high school and college, I would finish a workout like this and would feel like I'd wasted my time; I wouldn't feel anything. Now I definitely do. Perhaps it's an advantage of being in my late 20s...you know, some muscular development to offset the mental degradation that starts around this age. Good times.

Andrew

Week 14 Workouts

2009-04-09T22:14:00.003-04:00

Coming off an encouraging tournament where my quad held up and my legs felt good, I'm back on track and ready to rock.

Tuesday - Off

Wednesday - Conditioning mile, then explosive plyos

Thursday - 8x40m, rolling start, 3 minutes rest

Friday - Off

Saturday - Cross-training 40 minutes, moderate pace; weights

Sunday - 3x450m, 10 minutes rest

Week 13 - Day 2 (Time Trial #2)

2009-04-01T18:29:00.003-04:00

So, I finally got out to the track to run today. I hadn't done a track workout since Week 11 - Day 5...eleven days ago. I did do some jogging and some upper body weights over this period of inactivity, but I was still nervous about where I'd be today. I also read this article earlier this week. So...now I've decided to take caffeine before workouts and races. I'm not a big coffee/caffeine guy, but I'm gonna give it a shot!

Anyway, today I drank 3/4 of a cup of coffee and then went out to Washington Lee with Ken from work. I gave it a good warm-up and felt a little bit of tightness in my quad, but it was of the dull variety, so I went for it. I was amped for this time trial. I really wanted to pick up where I left off. I came out well and my heart was already racing from the caffeine/adrenaline - I noticed that. Ken picked me up down the last 100m and I came through in 38.1. That's a new personal best and improvement from Time Trial #1, which was a 38.9. That said, I felt like I'd made good strides over the past few months and I really wanted to get into the 37s here. Oh well. At least I didn't hurt myself, haha. And at least I didn't regress. I'm moving into the speed phase of my plan now. Booyah!

Andrew

The Letup, Part I

2009-03-26T23:03:00.009-04:00

I don't recover well. In general. Sure, I can stay up all night - for whatever reason - but it takes me a couple days to get back into sorts. I can give a big effort - at the office, at the bars, what have you - but I've got to crawl out of that hole eventually. I have to let up, and it takes longer for me than it does for most. At least, it does currently. It's something I hope I can learn to have some say in...at least a little.

The funny thing is, I've found this same trend in my running. In hindsight it's not surprising, really, but the same themes that flit through my professional and personal life also appear in my athletic one. I didn't start to realize this, though, until I started to realize what it meant to run hard. To really push. And that happened about a year ago.

I have no track background, so I was never exposed to pure sprint workouts before last year. My only experience doing "track workouts" was in training for ultimate. I still remember a workout my freshman year in college where we were told to run 8x200m, each in under 30 seconds. I was flabbergasted at such a workout. How could I ever do it! How could we ever do it? 30 seconds is a fast 200. How was I going to run 8 in a row? I don't remember exactly how much we rested - knowing that team...too little - but I do remember that we struggled to complete the workout. And for good reason. It was a tough workout, for ultimate. For that kind of training.

Fast forward to last year. I'd started my program and was enjoying it. I spent the first half of the program training indoors where it was tough to know exactly how fast I was running. By the end of March, I was running outdoors and my 200 times were still close to that 3os mark; I had never broken the 27-28 barrier (and those times were clocked indoors). Because that was fast. Then one day, in the midst of a full-rest, full-effort 200m workout that I hadn't felt particularly good going in to, I ran a 29 on my second rep, and then for whatever reason, I got fired up. I timed my next rep to coincide with a jogger circling the track and ran a 28. Two reps later, a 27.2. Then a 26.7, followed by a 26.1 and a 26.2. Here's what I wrote after that workout:

April 2, 2008:
"After the 29, I timed my run to coincide with a jogger so I could at least run by someone. That helped kick up my competitiveness, I think, and even though I was the only one on the track from that point on, I was able to fire myself up before running. Once I broke the 28 barrier, I went for the 27 barrier and then the 26 barrier. I definitely felt a lot faster once the passion kicked in, but I've definitely got to get my blood up to run around a 26. I got sick after the 5th rep and just before the 7th rep but finished out just fine. I was pretty exhausted, both mentally and physically, after this workout. At least I know now that I'm capable of running much faster than a 27-28 in training. I think breaking that mental hurdle was a good step, even if I'm not able to train at that speed on a consistent basis."

The thing I hadn't realized then was that I was running sprint workouts as an ultimate player. Not as a sprinter. I didn't actually know what fast was for me. In fact, I had no idea. Through ultimate, I simply had in my mind what fast was, so a couple seconds faster than that was really fast. Any faster than that was out of my league. But slowly I started to understand. No, there are different fasts. On the track, since you're not worried about field position or locating the disc, or when/what you're going to do next, you can focus on other things. Things that will make you faster, like pumping your arms. Arms lead your stride. The harder you pump, the faster you'll go. Like bringing your hips underneath you when you run. They call this "running tall." It brings your center of gravity forward and centers your weight over your stride. Like relaxing all unnecessary muscles. Watch world class sprinters run and you'll see their cheeks bouncing all over the place. To quote Alison (the brains, remember), this is partly because they're running so fast. But it's also because they have relaxed all muscles they don't need for the task at hand. Like dorsiflexion*. By keeping your feet flexed so they make about a 90 degree angle with your shin at all times, you activate your calves to get the most work out of them.

Over the past year, I've slowly gotten better at doing all these things. It's not rocket science. The same things that made me faster would make you faster. My guess is, if the athletes reading this post all did my same workouts, I'd be right about in the middle of the pack. Maybe slightly above average, but not by much. Most of us would be in the same ballpark; some of you would be a level above. I have no doubt about that. For those of you who don't play ultimate or don't care about sprinting, I'm sure you could achieve a similar degree of improvement in some other arena. I just feel like we sell ourselves short too often. I think we could surprise ourselves.

Andrew

-----
*quick demo: stand up with your arms down at your sides; now, keeping your elbow against your body, lift your lower arm so it's pointing forward and parallel to the floor..."walking like an Egyptian" for the SNL fans; start by keeping your hand flat out in front of you like it's on a tabletop and notice your bicep; it's very loose with no muscles activated; now simply rotate your wrist so that you thumb points skyward; you should notice you bicep respond, and tighten somewhat...ready for work, after this simple motion; this is the same concept as dorsiflexion

Week 12 Workouts - Adjusted

2009-03-26T21:20:00.003-04:00

When I was jogging on Wednesday, I felt some very slight tenderness deep in my right quad. So, I skipped my weights workout, went home, and iced/foam rolled. Today, though, I didn't feel 100% and Alison, the brains behind this operation, suggested I take the next few days off. So, my adjusted week is below.

Tuesday - Off

Wednesday - 20 minute light jog

Thursday - Off

Friday - Off

Saturday - Off

Sunday - 300m time trial

Monday - 30 minute run (pick up the pace), weights

-----
Well, I made it through 11 weeks essentially problem-free, but I was bound to hit a road bump at some point, I guess. It's still frustrating, though. The injury is still very minor, but the last thing I want is to turn a small problem into a big one. We'll see how I feel by Sunday. Wish me luck.

Andrew

Week 12 Workouts

2009-03-26T21:06:00.002-04:00

Tuesday - Off

Wednesday - 20 minute light jog, weights - rest up for time trial

Thursday - 300m time trial

Friday - Off

Saturday - Conditioning mile, explosive plyos

Sunday - 4x350m @ 52s with full recovery

Monday - 30 minute run (pick up the pace), weights

-----

Week 11 - Day 5

2009-03-22T22:53:00.005-04:00

I went out to Washington Lee with Ken late Saturday morning to do a ladder workout with lower rest. Of late, I've been doing more conditioning work than speed work, which has been a good way to mix things up.

Rest: Walk same distance you just ran
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 300m - 45 - 43.0
2 - 200m - 29 - 29.5
3 - 100m - 13 - 13.1
4 - 100m - 13 - 13.6
5 - 200m - 28 - 28.1
6 - 300m - 44 - 42.6
-----
I hate it when I f-ing go out too fast! It drives me crazy! It has the potential to ruin workouts (see: Week 10 - Day 6...), so I really need to get better about managing my opening speed. The funny thing was, I started to pull up after the 250m mark or so on the opening 300. I slowed markedly and still ran a 43. If I hadn't checked in with my watch, I would have run a 41 or so. For reps 2-5, I closely monitored my time and stuck to the goals. I would go out at full speed and then shut it down as I got closer to the finish. For the 200s, I eased up for the last 40-50m. For the 100s, the last 20-30m. For the 100s in particular, I crossed the finish line at a tempo pace, at best. Is this the right way to approach these reps? Or should I not go out at full speed and try to keep a more constant pace? My gut says the latter approach is better, but something can be said about practicing full-speed starts.

While I found the first five reps rather easy, rep 6 was different. I ran hard the entire time and wanted to beat my opening 43, which I did and was happy about. My heart rate was up during this entire workout which, again, was a good change of pace. I have time trial #2 this upcoming Thursday and over the next few days will look to bribe/incentivize folks (if necessary) to join me, haha.

Andrew

Week 11 - Day 2

2009-03-21T01:26:00.003-04:00

I did Thursday's Day 3 workout on Wednesday this week due to track constraints. I went out to Washington Lee with Ken and Jarid from work and did 5 laps sprinting the straightaways and jogging the curves for 10 100m sprints total. I shot for 13 seconds on each sprint, but this workout was more about conditioning than speed. I didn't keep a time log for this workout, but I went out a little slow with a 14 and sped up to the high 12s by the end. True to form, I found jogging immediately after the sprints the hardest part. I naturally wanted to walk for a few seconds and then break into a jog. I felt like my heart was going to explode when I made a point of jogging immediately after the last rep. It was so much harder to do that than it was to run that last rep at a good speed. I really want to get better at keeping my legs moving after high effort work. Time trial on Thursday!

Andrew

One-minute Runs

2009-03-17T11:47:00.001-04:00

These are run at a pace similar to crosscountry or 3k training; they are not sprints. Run a minute, walk a minute, run a minute, walk a minute, and so on. This is for aerobic work.

Week 11 Workouts

2009-03-17T11:41:00.003-04:00

Due to track and weekend constraints, I've shifted this week's days around a little:

Tuesday - Off

Wednesday - Track - 5 laps...sprint 100 meter straightaway, jog the 100 meter curves (10 sprints total). Aim for 13 seconds, more about conditioning than speed.

Thursday - Thirty minutes of 1-minute runs (so that's 15 minutes of running), weights

Friday - Off

Saturday - Track - Ladder workout: 300, 200, 100, 100, 200, 300. For recovery, walk/jog the same distance you just ran.

Sunday - One-day ultimate tournament

Monday - Cross-train 30 minutes, moderate pace, weights

Week 10 - Day 6

2009-03-15T20:03:00.006-04:00

Well, this was the toughest workout I've done to date. I went out this morning at 9 to run with my friend Ken from work. To mark off the 450m distance, I paced it off so I started 50m behind the finish line and lined up in lane 3 (my favorite). Here's what I did (there are some complications here, so bear with me).

Rest: 5 minutes (can take more if needed)
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 450m - 67 - 67.1

I found this rep exhausting, which was a little confusing, because my time was about consistent with a 60 second 400m, but anyway...

2 - 450m - 67 - 76.3

Wow. Talk about a slip. I didn't have much of a kick and the backstretch was painful. After seeing my time, I decided it was reason enough to adjust the rest schedule; about a minute later, though, I said screw it and thought it would be more informative to run on the rest prescribed.

3 - 450m - 67 - 79.1

I felt terrible about this time. At least I hadn't slipped another huge amount, but still. I was confused. And then...it hit me. I'm an idiot! By running from 50m behind the finish line in lane 3, I'd been running too far. I had forgotten to adjust for the lane 3 stagger. Looking back to my times, I felt better about what had happened, because I'd burned it out in the first rep. I'd paced to a 67 but had actually run much faster. Anyway, I'll post my complete "adjusted" times now and then talk about how I adjusted them (I ran the 4th rep in lane 1):

1 - 450m - 67 - 64.1 to 64.9
2 - 450m - 67 - 73.3 to 73.8
3 - 450m - 67 - 76.1 to 76.5
4 - 450m - 67 - 73.4
------
While not great, these times at least make more sense. Here's how I adjusted my times. I measured the lane 3 stagger at around 15m. I'd actually been running 465m instead of 450m. So, on the lower end, I subtracted 3 seconds from each time, which comes to a 20 second 100m pace at the end of each rep. This may be a bit much (track people, please weigh in with opinions!), but I reasoned that the extra distance did little to affect my speed/approach for the first half of the race. For the upper limit, I calculated my average pace for each 465m rep and then applied that pace to a 450m distance. This seems conservative to me, for the reasons given above. Finally, for a sanity check on my 15m adjustment estimate, I used this formula (the difference in circumference between two concentric circles) to approximate the extra distance ran from having run in lane 3,

2*Pi*W*(L-1),

where W is the width of each lane (I used W = 42 inches) and L is the lane number you ran in (L = 3). This came out to 13.4 meters, so my 15m estimated passed the sniff test.

Anyway, that got a little technical, but here are the takeaways: I think I could have run faster average times if I hadn't burned out on my first rep. Also, working out last night was probably a mistake. I should have done so yesterday morning, although I have no idea how this would have changed things. All this said, I couldn't have hit 67s today...I'm disappointed, but I'll be over it soon and ready to move forward and get better.

Week 10 - Day 3

2009-03-12T21:48:00.003-04:00

Well, the arrival of March has come with high school soccer and lacrosse games at my beloved Washington Lee stadium...yesterday Ken, Kenny, Jarid and I did plyos in a school yard, and today I was forced to run indoors for the first time in months. I was looking forward to getting accurate times today, so I was disappointed to go to the Y. The track at the Y is above a full-length basketball court and is 18 laps to a mile in the outside lane. So, I paced out 2 and a quarter laps for my 200s but don't know exactly how far I was running. Further, since each lap is so short, the curves are very tight (and ramped). I was also not able to run in spikes. That said, here's my workout:

Rest: 5 minutes (can take longer if needed)
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 200m - 27.5 - 28.3
2 - 200m - 27.5 -28.0
3 - 200m - 27.5 -27.9
4 - 200m - 27.5 -27.6
5 - 200m - 27.5 -28.0
6 - 200m - 27.5 -27.8
7 - 200m - 27.5 -28.3
8 - 200m - 27.5 -28.6
9 - 200m - 27.5 -27.1
10 - 200m - 27.5 -27.1
11 - 200m - 27.5 -27.7
12 - 200m - 27.5 -28 flat
-----
It's hard to interpret these times, for the reasons described above. One thing I definitely noticed, though, is that the curves definitely slowed me down. They were also ramped, though, so they made it easier to explode into the (very short) straightaways. I monitored my heart rate this evening, and I was right in the 165-170 range for the entire workout, so I was definitely working hard. I also felt slight soreness from yesterday's plyos throughout my workout today; I will definitely feel depleted tomorrow. Big workout coming up on Sunday.

Andrew

Conditioning Mile

2009-03-11T20:11:00.003-04:00

A conditioning mile is the following:

Do this 4 times (ideally around a track...for 4 laps total):

-Run 100m
-Do station #1 exercise
-Run 100m
-Do station #2 exercise
-Run 100m
-Do station #3 exercise
-Run 100m
-Do station #4 exercise

Examples of station exercises: pushups (10-20), ab planks (2x30s), dips (10-20), jump rope (2x30s), hops over a line (2x30s), etc.

Also, the 100m runs are not sprints. They're run at tempo speed, or what I call striding out...like a cross country race pace. I find the combination of cardio and strength work very taxing. There is no resting in these workouts; as soon as you get to a station, you move immediately to the exercise in question. Your heart rate should be elevated the whole time. Enjoy!

Andrew

Week 10 Workouts

2009-03-11T19:54:00.003-04:00

This is a preview I'll be sending around at the beginning of each week. My workout week starts Tuesday and ends Monday. Without further ado:

Tues - Off

Wed - Conditioning mile, then plyometrics

Thurs - 12x200m @ 27.5s with 5 minutes rest (can take more if needed)

Fri - Off

Sat - Cross train 45 minutes (moderate pace), weights

Sun - 4x450m @ 67s with 5 minutes rest (can take more if needed)

Mon - Easy 30 minute run, weights

----------
I'll explain what a conditioning mile is in a separate post and tag it.

Week 9 - Day 6

2009-03-08T17:07:00.004-04:00

So, I was out until 5am last night (thank you daylight savings) and didn't exactly feel spry when I finally got up at 2pm...but I finally got my act together and went out to Washington Lee to do some 100s, mild headache and all.

Rest: 5 minutes
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 100m - 13 - 12.2
2 - 100m - 13 - 12.6
3 - 100m - 13 - 12.3
4 - 100m - 13 - 12.4
5 - 100m - 13 - 12.2
6 - 100m - 13 - 12.4
7 - 100m - 13 - 11.9
8 - 100m - 13 - 11.8
-------
I must say I was surprised by some of these times. I didn't feel particularly good today. I was tired and a little hungover but I managed some good times. Instead of pacing for 13s each rep, I decided to just run full-effort and reign it back if my times started to slip. I was surprised, though, that I broke 12 today. Ever since I ran a 12.2 last year in flopping cross trainers, I knew I was going to break 12 this year (the spikes alone would do it), but I was not expecting to do so today. Like the sub-60 400m, the sub-12 100m became one of my incremental goals, so I was happy to achieve that. Over the last 3-4 reps today, I felt like I was doing a good job leading my stride with my arms; this year, I've focused even more on strengthening my shoulders, so maybe that's starting to pay off. I'm excited for the full-speed, full-rest 100m workouts that come in the latter stages of my workout plan...it would be great to break 11.5 for starters.

I'm also going to put something up about the Week 9 - Day 3 workout. One thing I didn't mention was how horrible I was at the "follow-on" 100m runs after my full-speed reps. I was pathetic...I couldn't keep my form...it felt like I was jogging...it required so much mental concentration and focus, and I just wasn't prepared for that. I'm intrigued that what I perceived as the "easy" portion of each rep ended up being by far the hardest; it was much harder to will myself for those extra 100m (at whatever pace) than it was to run full-speed for the first portion. I found this fascinating.

Week 9 - Day 3

2009-03-05T19:59:00.004-05:00

I had a good workout today! I missed my Monday weights workout, so instead of taking Tuesday off, I ended up going Tues - Wed - Thurs with weights - plyo - track workouts. I did a light workout on Wednesday (including a few makeshift harness runs...to be explained later) but my legs were sore both last night and today, which I was a little concerned about. The workout today was 500m-400m-300m...with a catch: the time it took to run the full distance of each rep was not that important. Instead, I was supposed to key in on running a full speed 400m-300m-200m and just keep my legs moving for another 100m after each. I didn't even track the time for the full distance. I only cared about the full speed part.

Rest: full recovery (>10 minutes)
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 400m (+untimed 100m) - 58 - 56.4*^
2 - 300m (+untimed 100m) - 41 - 41 flat
3 - 200m (+untimed 100m) - 26 - 26.5
-----
I was very happy with these times. As you can see, though, the 400m time had a couple caveats:
*I was so focused on running a fast 400m that I completely forgot to run out the following 100m. My forgetfulness may have been partly due to:

^extreme anger at the high school lacrosse players who decided to start warming up across half the track as I came down the backstretch; I said "Track!" at around the 350m mark, which I think they heard, but they were very slow getting out of the way. I then said "Clear the lane," but one dude decided to go renegade and made only a minimal effort to move. I ended up having to both slow down a little and turn my shoulders completely sideways to get around this dude and finish out the last 20m. I'd be lying if I didn't say I briefly thought about completely bowling him over. All this is to say: I lost some time and I was very unhappy about it. My guess is this time should have been at, or just under, a 56 flat, but shoulda-coulda-woulda...it's a 56.4.

My friend Ken from work joined me today, and Ken, Kenny, and Brooke all joined me yesterday. I must say it's very nice working out with other folks. Ken and I staggered our starts today and helped each other down the backstretches. He really helped me down the last 100m of my opening 400 in particular. I would have been much closer to 60s without his help, so thanks to him.

Today was a good day. One of the goals I laid out for myself last year was to break 60s running a 400m in training and I never got there. Running in spikes this year has definitely helped (I barely used spikes last year), but I'm still excited to have broken that personal barrier...with a little help from my friends.

The 400 Project

2009-02-27T01:57:00.001-05:00

Hey folks, welcome to my blog (I never thought I'd say those words!). More of these background/context posts will follow in the coming days, but I decided it was time to get my act together and put something up. In short, starting last year, I decided to build 400m speed as off-season training for ultimate. I saw it as a good physical challenge for me because I've always hated/been terrible at the 400 and considered this shortcoming a gap in my athleticism, so to speak. So, I contacted a friend of a friend who was gracious enough to build a 16 week program for me and got to work. The program consisted of plyometric exercises, sprinting, weights, cross-training, recovery runs, and thing like downhill running and intervals. In general, the sprinting was higher speed and longer rest, which I learned my body really responds well to. Eventually, I was convinced to race a 400, which I did last June. I ran a 52.6, which I was happy with for my first try. This is roughly considered an average high school time. Some 12 year-old kid beat my time (not kidding), but we weren't in the same heat, so no worries. The guy who won the men's division at my meet ran a 48.8, for reference, and last year, the qualifying time for the NCAA Outdoor Championships was a 47.3. The current World Record is a trim 43.18. Last week, I trained at that speed...for some 300's...

Anyway, I enjoyed the program immensely, so this year I decided to extend the 4-month program out to around 6 months. In the past, I trained 4-5 times (10-15 hours) a week in the off-season anyway, so why not do it with a purpose? I'll be in "pre-season" through the end of May and then racing in June and July. I hope to attend 5 races this year, all at local USATF all-comers meets. My goal is to get under that magic 50 second barrier. It's so alluring, and I'm curious to see how close I can get.

The bigger-picture motivation behind this whole endeavor, however, is much greater than just me seeing if I can shave a few seconds off a 400m time. What I'm actually interested in are the general concepts of potential and limits. Simply put: how far could someone like you or me get if we were to really focus on something? What separates us from the pros of the world? People from professional writers to artists, athletes to scholars. What are people like you and me actually capable of? I'm about to turn 27, so I decided to pursue an athletic goal this spring. Male athleticism peaks at around 30, so I might as well test my limits physical limits now.

Finally, a word on balance. I love sprinting. I find it very freeing and pure...and running fast is incredibly fun. Run in spikes and you'll see. But, I also love many, many other things. I just don't blog about those things. This blog is just a window into a part of what I currently find meaningful.

That's the "quick" intro. Sorry about the length. Other, hopefully shorter, posts will follow to provide some more details, especially around the "greater" project, as it were. So please follow this blog/make comments/put this site into your RSS readers if you're interested. We can all help push each other, whatever your projects may be. In the meantime, feel free to peruse my startlingly plain layout/check out some earlier posts...I've been posting since the beginning of January. Peace.

Andrew

Week 8 - Day 3

2009-02-27T00:26:00.004-05:00

I almost didn't make it out for this one...I was up until 3 last night and was exhausted all day today. All I wanted to do was sleep when work ended. To lessen my eagerness even still, my legs were noticeably flat today after a tough downhill run/plyo workout yesterday with my friends Ken and Kenny. Even still, I went downstairs, changed, and then did the ol' tried-and-true half-sleep on the locker room changing bench. I zoned in and out for about 30 minutes, got up, and finally made my way out to Washington Lee. Here's my workout:

Rest: 5 minutes (can take longer if needed)
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 200m - 28 - 27.5
2 - 200m - 28 -27.9
3 - 200m - 28 -27 flat
4 - 200m - 28 -27.5
5 - 200m - 28 -28.3
6 - 200m - 28 -28.1
7 - 200m - 28 -27.5
8 - 200m - 28 -28.1
9 - 200m - 28 -28.2
10 - 200m - 28 - 27.1
------
I was pleasantly surprised by my times today. For the first half of the workout, I took 5:30 rest, on average. For the second, more like 6:00. I monitored my heartrate today for the first time this year...I've decided to rely on it (as I did last year) to determine when I need to take more rest. I was pretty steady at 170 bpm all the way through rep 9, after which I crossed into 180+ territory, which is a warning sign for me. So, I took 7 minutes or so and then ran the last rep with everything I had left. I'm expecting both the plyos from Wednesday and the sprinting tonight to hit me tomorrow...just in time for my 48 hour jaunt through Mexico City. Booyah! My first intro post goes out tonight. I've put the hammer down.

Week 7 - Day 6

2009-02-22T20:46:00.003-05:00

I wasn't very happy with my workout today. I did a ladder out at Washington Lee.

Rest: 5 minutes walking
Format: rep - distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1 - 100m - 14 - 13.6
2 - 200m - 29 - 29.1
3 - 300m - 46 - 48.6
4 - 400m - 63 - 65.7
5 - 300m - 48 - 46.2
6 - 200m - 29 - 30.9
7 - 100m - 14 - 13.1
--------
Reps 1 and 2 were very easy. I monitored my stopwatch to make sure I didn't go out too fast this time. For the first 300m, I had it in my head I needed to run a 48 (which was the time for the 2nd 300m), so I ran the 46 on the way back down the ladder. The times I was upset with was the 400m and the 2nd 200m. For the 400m, my plan was to go out strong, not push too hard between 100m and 200m and then kick to the finish. The problem was that I was already more tired than I realized and when I checked my watch at the 300m mark, I was over the 50 sec mark and that was all she wrote. My legs died down the backstretch and I came through in 65; looking back, I think part of my problem today was that I thought it was going to be an easy workout. After the Day 3 workout, I had a bit of a let-up today. I looked at the times and they seemed easy, but I didn't factor in how only 5 minutes of rest would affect my performance during the longer sprints. So, I didn't come in with the right mindset, so that hurt me. For the 2nd 200m, my plan was just to run "hard" and get a good time...27-28. Again, I went too much on feel here and even though it felt like a 28 or so, I was stunned to see I ran close to a 31. So, in addition to not mailing it in, I also need to be better about adjusting for fatigue at the end of my workouts. Looking forward to warmer, less windy weather...

Week 7 -Day 3

2009-02-19T21:00:00.003-05:00

Tough workout today. 5x300m with full rest. My friend Ken from work joined me tonight, which was the first time I've ever had someone participate in an entire workout with me, which I was very appreciative for. Big day! It was cold and gusty this evening. I'm not sure how the wind affected my times, but it was definitely noticeable.

Rest: full (8-10 minutes)
Format: rep - distance - target time - actual time

1 - 300m - 43 to 44 - 42.9
2 - 300m - 43 to 44 - 44.7
3 - 300m - 43 to 44 - 44.2
4 - 300m - 43 to 44 - 43.9
5 - 300m - 43 to 44 - 44.1
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The first rep was very easy. I crossed the 100m around the 12 second mark and the 200m mark around the 26 second mark. I pulled up quite a bit down the homestretch so I could try to keep my time variance lower. I came in right when I wanted to. For my 2nd rep, though, I went too much on feel. My 100m and 200m splits were similar to those of my 1st rep but I went by how my legs felt down the back side. I could easily have run much faster here and wish I had done so...at least a little. That said, I ran much harder for my remaining reps, with my 4th and 5th done at full effort. The final backstretch was very tough. This was also the first workout where my hamstring tightened up even the slightest bit, so that's something I'll need to monitor. My calves were surprisingly fine and I feel good, so I'm excited to build from here. I'm a little disappointed my average time wasn't closer to 43 but it's all good. Oh, and I forgot to take my stopwatch to work, so I had to dole out $30 for the only model carried at a sports store near my work. Uggh. But, it has some pretty cool features so at least I'll have those, haha.

Week 6 - Day 6

2009-02-15T20:23:00.003-05:00

I went to the Y today. My workout was for speed work, so it was pretty short/easy. The next few workouts are light in preparation for my tough Thursday workout (5x300m in 43s). I started today with some 150m buildups, which are a 50m jog - 50m stride - 50m sprint, followed by a 50m walk before starting the next one. I also didn't use my stopwatch today, due to the nature of the sprints and the fact that I ran indoors.

Format: rep - distance - target time - actual time

1 - 150m buildup - none - none
2 - 150m buildup - none - none
3 - 150m buildup - none - none
4 - 150m buildup - none - none
5 - 40m - full speed - none
6 - 40m - full speed - none
7 - 40m - full speed - none
8 - 40m - full speed - none
9 - 40m - full speed - none
10 - 40m - full speed - none
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The workout aside, which was straightforward, I've made it a daily mission to stretch/ice/foam roll my calves as much as possible. After playing pickup on Thursday, I was concerned I wouldn't be able to walk without a limp the next morning. But, to my surprise (and delight), the day-after recovery was very good. Finally, and totally unrelated, I am determined to finish War and Peace tonight. Wish me luck.

Week 6 - Day 3

2009-02-12T23:50:00.002-05:00

I went to Washington Lee again today. I passed out for about 30 minutes in the locker room at work, so I got there a little later than scheduled... My legs felt a little taxed after the plyos yesterday, but I was pleasantly surprised that I actually had some spring...at least at the outset. My workout was 8x200m. The log is below:

Rest: 3-5 minutes (can take longer if needed)
Format: rep - distance - target time - actual time

1 - 200m - 27 to 28 - ~26 (I accidentally hit the wrong button on my stopwatch so I didn't get a time here, but based on how I felt and my subsequent times, I'm pretty confident I ran around a 26)
2 - 200m - 27 to 28 - 26.0
3 - 200m - 27 to 28 - 26.9
4 - 200m - 27 to 28 - 28.2
5 - 200m - 27 to 28 - 28.5
6 - 200m - 27 to 28 - 28.4
7 - 200m - 27 to 28 - 27.5
8 - 200m - 27 to 28 - 27.5
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I was upset about the 28s in the middle there. I felt so good after my first two that I shortened my rest from 5+ minutes down to 3+. I still ran a 26.9 and felt great, but after waiting 5+ minutes and then running #4, I felt a huge difference in my legs down the backstretch. I'd say the majority of my time deterioration occurred over the last 50-75m. I couldn't lengthen my stride as much and I died towards the finish line. My calves also got much tighter as I moved into the middle stages of this workout, so that could have played a role as well. I had to pump myself up to get under 28 for my last two, which was something, at least, but I took 8+ minutes of rest before each so I could muster up a little more endurance. I'm encouraged by my early times, but I need to work on consistency. I definitely could not have repeated at 26s today and probably should have known that, but I felt good enough that I actually thought I could do it. You live and learn.

Week 5 - Day 6

2009-02-08T21:31:00.002-05:00

I went up to Philly yesterday for a conference, so I missed a cross training/weights workout. I got back this afternoon, though, and went out to Washington Lee, since the DC public schools suck and close their tracks on the weekends. The day off was good for my calf, which felt a little tighter after the 100s on Thursday. I've got a feeling this is going to be an ongoing battle. I need a more serious ice pack for home. Anyway, the workout:

recovery: walk same distance
format: distance - target time (s) - actual time (s)

1. 50m - none - 6
2. 100m - none - 14
3. 150m - none - 22
4. 200m - 30 - 32
5. 300m - 45 - 45
6. 350m - 55 - 52
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The first four sprints were very easy. Judging by the target times at the end of the workout but not at the beginning, I assumed the earlier reps were at a similar pace. My workouts haven't included anything full speed yet (except the time trial), so I felt okay about taking it easy for the first few. I was a little too complacent during the 200m...I got to the 100m point at 15s but then thought I was ahead of time so I pulled up a little. Oops. The 300m and 350m were much better, though. In a strategic sense, I decided to run these as if I were running a 400m: fast out for the 1st 100m - dial it back a little for the 2nd 100m - and then kick it up starting with the 3rd 100m. For the 350m, though, I went out faster at the start and ran absolutely all out after the 200m mark. My legs got quite fatigued down the last 150m or so. My quads, in particular, started hurting. But, as happened last year, I was able to keep up a decent speed by focusing on pulling my legs back with my glutes. I'm interested to see how my form changes (or doesn't) when I'm conscious of this, so I'm going film my form one of these days. If it doesn't look absolutely terrible, you may see it up here. In fact, you may see it regardless, since I could find out what I was doing wrong and then talk about what not to do, haha.

Week 5 - Day 3

2009-02-06T12:13:00.006-05:00

I went over the Washington Lee yesterday for my workout. The temperature was in the low 20s/high teens. I felt it most in my toes; that breathable mesh has its downsides... My left calf was feeling a little tight, so I opted for my running shoes instead of my spikes. Had I been running in spikes, the times below would have been at least a few tenths faster. Here is my workout:

Rest: 5 minutes between reps
Format: distance - target time (s) -actual time (s)

100m - 13 - 13.8 (hit the watch late on this one)
100m - 13 - 13.4
100m - 13 - 13.2
100m - 13 - 12.9
100m - 13 - 12.9
100m - 13 - 13.0
100m - 13 - 12.6
100m - 13 - 12.8
100m - 13 - 12.7
100m - 13 - 13.2

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I was pretty annoyed with ending on a 13.2. My calf was feeling tighter than it was earlier, so I played only a few minutes of pickup ultimate and then went home to ice.

p.s. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to show my workouts/times, etc. Suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

Week 4 - Day 6 (Time Trial #1)

2009-02-01T23:23:00.000-05:00

I went out to Washington Lee High School today for my 300m time trial. The weather was phenomenal. My friend Noah came with me and ran the last 100m, which was very helpful. Thanks, man. The track was busy but the universe aligned when I started running and I somehow ran the whole distance undisturbed. I'm still not quite sure how that happened. Anyway, I ran the 300 in 38.9, which I am very happy with. That's a good start! Having Noah there down the stretch really helped, so thanks again to him. This was my first workout in spikes this year, and I was a little concerned about aggravating the calf tightness I've been nursing over the last week, but so far so good on that front. My foam roller has been getting a lot of attention lately. Oh yeah.

I'm looking forward to some speed work this week.

Week 4 - Day 5

2009-01-31T13:53:00.000-05:00

The 1st time trial is tomorrow. My workout today was tempo intervals, which are not sprints. They are more middle-distance training, which will set me up for speedwork later on in the program. I ran a 600, a 500, a 400, and a 300, each with a progressively faster effort. I ran on my indoor track and my times were as follows: 600 (115s), 500 (93s), 400 (68s), 300 (48s). Sometimes I get caught up with saving myself for my time trials, i.e. not wanting to feel any muscle fatigue the day before, but some of my best speed workouts have come after light/moderate work the day before, so I try to just run a day at a time. That said, I'm still trying to feel out exactly how fast tempo training should be. I felt like my 400 and 300 times were about right today, but this was also on my fast track. I'm looking forward to getting outside tomorrow.

Week 3 - Day 7 (sort of)

2009-01-26T23:27:00.000-05:00

It's Monday and I'm back from Vegas. My flight back was non-stop but stopped in St. Louis. I'm already composing my letter to American Airlines in my head. But I digress. The Vegas tourney, while fun, was not your typical full-slate event. This was due to a couple factors: a) it was very windy, and b) we only had 3 rounds on Saturday. Being as I only played a round and a half on Sunday in some of the fiercest wind I have yet to experience, my legs, while sore, seemed up for a real workout. So, as part of my effort to make up some of the week 2 workouts I missed due to illness and the Inauguration, I decided to add Week 2's tougher track workout to my light schedule today. So, I went to the indoor track and did a light upper body lift and then ran 3x500m with a 300m walk recovery. The goal time for each rep was 85s and I got through them in around 88s. Quick qualifier: my indoor track does not have distances marked. To further complicate things, it's a convenient 18 laps to a mile, which comes out to a round 88 and 8/9 meters per lap. So, the fact that I have to pace/estimate starting points and the impressive ramping around the curves doesn't exactly lend my times much credibility. I can say I ran about 500m in 88s on what seems to me to be a pretty fast track, but I can say no more than that. For this reason, as much as possible of the timed track work will be done outside, including the 300m time trial slated for Sunday. I feel under prepared for it right now, but I want to stick to my schedule, so I'll just give it my best shot and go from there. Now if I can just find someone to run it with me, I'll be golden...

Back on the Horse

2009-01-22T22:10:00.000-05:00

After completing my first week of workouts on January 12th, I stumbled sick through a couple lighter workouts and then got slammed by Inauguration. So, I essentially lost all of week 2. But, I'm back now and I hope to make up some of the lost workouts over the next week or so. Regardless, it felt really good to get back in the gym today. I ran 6x200m - each under 30s - with 100m walk rest in between. This was the second workout in week 3. I'm off tomorrow and then in Vegas for a tournament over the weekend.

As a quick aside, one thing I have yet to really figure out is how much/little to run or lift when I'm sick with "above the neck" symptoms. I've read that you should keep you heart rate reserve at 60% of capacity (don't quote me on that), but I always feel I get myself into trouble by trying to lift, in particular, when I'm even just a little sick. I guess that means I shouldn't do it at all, but I feel like there's a balance there... I'll post more extensively on this later on, but I currently find this frustrating.

Project overview coming. I promise.

Let the Project Begin

2009-01-08T20:39:00.000-05:00

Today was my first workout for The 400 Project. I did a conditioning mile and lifted. It's been a couple weeks since I've been to the gym, so I just eased back in. I'll throw a post up soon about this project...why I'm doing it and what it is, but I thought I should mark the beginning of this effort.