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
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*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
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Week 12 Workouts - Adjusted
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
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
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
-----
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
-----
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Week 11 - Day 5
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
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
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Week 11 - Day 2
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
Andrew
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
One-minute Runs
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
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
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
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Week 10 - Day 6
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.
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.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Week 10 - Day 3
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
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
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Conditioning Mile
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
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
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.
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.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Week 9 - Day 6
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
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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.
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
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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.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Week 9 - Day 3
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.
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.
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