Running Aimlessly Down Under - From 54 to 53 sec 400m

Pisco Sour · 27-10-2012 4:21pm

Things finally clicked today after almost 6 months of hard work! 58.01 seconds for 400m, a big PB by 0.67 seconds. A big thanks to the people over the last week who gave such brutally honest feedback about my stride (personally at the track, and also here). Has made me really focus on improving that aspect of my running and the improvements are dramatic. It's only October time, so onwards and upwards for the rest of a long season now!

Earlier in the day I ran 13.43 for 100m. BUT before we start looking into that too much, I actually ran well, and was only about 4 metres down on a guy with a 11.95 PB, so the wind must have been a pretty strong headwind. Will update when I get the wind reading and then we can analyse properly.

Race report to come tomorrow!

RandyMann · 27-10-2012 6:52pm

Pisco Sour wrote: »

Things finally clicked today after almost 6 months of hard work! 58.01 seconds for 400m, a big PB by 0.67 seconds. A big thanks to the people over the last week who gave such brutally honest feedback about my stride (personally at the track, and also here). Has made me really focus on improving that aspect of my running and the improvements are dramatic. It's only October time, so onwards and upwards for the rest of a long season now!

Earlier in the day I ran 13.43 for 100m. BUT before we start looking into that too much, I actually ran well, and was only about 4 metres down on a guy with a 11.95 PB, so the wind must have been a pretty strong headwind. Will update when I get the wind reading and then we can analyse properly.

Race report to come tomorrow!

Very nice PB Pisco! Well done there, its all coming together now.

Pisco Sour · 28-10-2012 12:03am

RandyMann wrote: »

Very nice PB Pisco! Well done there, its all coming together now.

Thanks RandyMann. Am over the moon with it, even if a 57.99 would have looked that much more presentable.

Still no word on the wind reading for the 100m. Hope it was a very strong headwind as I felt I ran well, and coach told me it looked better, so a bit surprised with the slow time.

EDIT: The wind was a headwind, but only -1.3. So my wind adjusted time is 13.28, which is slower than my wind adjusted time from 2 weeks ago (13.19), so I'm a little disappointed. I was just 0.47 down on a guy who said he has run 11.95 before and who you would have expected to run a mid 12, but his time of 12.96 looks bizarrely slow. Later that day he went and ran a 55.50 for 400m.

Pisco Sour · 28-10-2012 11:41am

Back to Box Hill again, for round 3 of the AV Shield. Like with round 1 at the same venue, the events on he programme which were of interest to me were the 100m and 400m.

After Thursday's training session where I was beginning to make strides (pun intended) with regards my stride, I entered the meet in a mood of quiet confidence. I felt there was going to be a good run to come but didn't shout too loudly about this. I was ridiculously pumped about the race in work on Friday, so much so that it was quite distracting. Saturday was the usual pre-race sort of experience. Wake up in the morning with knots in my stomach, literally forcing food down into my stomach, regular trips to the jacks, oh the fun of getting ready for a race!! Adrenaline was pumping and I wanted to get going!

Conditions were dry, but not warm. A bit cold by Melbourne standards with a nippy breeze, with overcast sky, but never a danger of any rain. Probably in the range of 15-16 degrees.

100m:

With lanes 1, 2 and 3 out of action for the women's 1500m, there were 7 people in my heat. I was in lane 4, with a Collingwood lad beside me who was expecting a mid 12 run, and who has a PB of 11.95 (or so he says!). The rest of the field I knew nothing about, except for a club mate of mine, one of the coaches at the club, who was in lane 9. Usually when I race him over 100m he would be right up on me until half way before I would pull away to win by about 0.3 or so. But on this occasion I didn't see him, but he'd had a nasty fall in the hurdles last week so not much could be taken from this.

Gun went off, and I feel I got away decently. Followed RandyMann's advice by keeping the head down for 20-25m or so. Then when I lisfted the head I strided out, aiming to kick the bum and push the knee forward. I was about 5-6m down on the guy beside me at about 60m, but to my surprise I actually started catching him and only finished about 3-4m down on him. He's a good athlete so I was very pleased with this.

Results didn't go up on the screen at all due to a technical problem they were having, so I had to wait til hours later before I got my result. I bumped into the Collingwood lad later and he told me his Dad had handtimed him at 12.11. Very rough time but I took this as good news with regards what clocking I would end up with.

Well his dad must be a rubbish hand timer because he ended up with 12.96 seconds, and my time was a disappointing 13.43 seconds into a -1.3 headwind. Adjusting this to a 0 wind, it is 13.28 seconds, which is 0.09 slower than my wind adjusted time from 2 weeks ago, so I am disappointed with this, particularly given the fact I felt I ran well. My coach had said to me after the race that my stride looked better. Maybe the problem is the lack of experience running such a short powerful distance with the new stride, and maybe the longer reach I am getting is coming at a cost of slower foot speed, but hopefully over time I'll be able to keep my high turnover, but with the longer stride. But it doesn't happen overnight I guess.

I opted out of the 4x100m relay (I never once said I was going to do it in the first place!) to fully focus on my preparations for the 400m, which was the last event on the programme. This didn't go down particularly well with one or two people in the club, but athletics is an individual sport, so one must look after oneself first and foremost. We were last in the relay by a few seconds, so having me there wasn't going to make the blindest bit of difference with regards points.

400m:

I was extremely nervous ahead of this race. Not in a bad way, but in a sort of pumped up way. I just wanted to get going, and the long wait until the very end of the day was a killer. I made sure to be well stretched in the calf this time after what happened 2 weeks ago, and I did some strides closer to my race this time to prevent me from getting cold.

Just as my heat started the sun came out bumping up the temperature a very welcome degree or two. I was in heat 6 of the men's 400m, and was drawn in lane 3. Perfect as far as I was concerned. A great view of the field but not too tight a lane. I knew absolutely nothing about any of my competitors so I had no choice but to focus fully on myself, which is a good thing, although I like to know the expected pace of at least one person outside of me as a gauge of how well I am going.

Gun went off and I got away well. Head down, short sharp steps to get the pace up. After 30m or so I started striding out and then at 60m I went into cruise mode. But I was moving. "Kick the bum, kick the bum" was on repeat in my head. I was focusing fully on forum down the backstraight. After about 130m though the guy in lane 2 came passed me, eating up the 8m stagger and pushing ahead. For the next 50m or so I went into a mini crisis. I was moving quickly and as I came towards 200m to go I felt a little bit of lactic acid build up.

However as I got into the 2nd half of the race I felt much better. The guy in lane 2 wasn't moving any further away from me, and with 150m to go I felt great. My stride was feeling good again after a brief period at the end of the back straight where I lost concentration on it.

As I rounded into the home straight with about 80m to go the guy in lane 2 was 6m ahead of me, with the lad in lane 5 about 9m ahead. I pushed, pushed and pushed. I was catching him. The thought about how I always finish well entered my head. The thought of how I fully believe I am not aerobically lacking when it comes to 400m was there, and now was my time to prove it. With every lengthening stride I was catching the fella in lane 2. He was dust now. All that could save him was the line coming too soon for me, but with about 20m to go I knew I was going to take him, and with about 5m to go I went past and beat him on the dip by 0.18 of a second. The lad in lane 5 beat me by 0.95 so I closed on him a bit in the last 100 also. I finished 6th out of 8 (the guy in lane 1 I never saw in the entire race).

After the race I was greeted by the usual sudden wall of exhaustion, dizziness and breathlessness. All this disappeared in an instant when my coach told me he timed me at 57.7 seconds. Extreme emotion. Relief, delight. It all hit me at once and I had to sit down to take it all in.

My other coach timed me at 57.8 and another lad at 57.5 so I knew that it would be touch and go whether my official result would be a sub 58 or not. I had said to myself privately the day before that I was going to hit a 57 on this occasion so when the official result of 58.01 seconds came out I was momentarily disappointed, until I realised that one can never be disappointed with taking 0.67 seconds off a PB. I was seriously pumped about the result and truth be told I don't really care about the 0.02. The 57 will come soon. That previous PB was one I achieved at the very end of last season, in the biggest race of the year, in perfect conditions on a state of the art brand new track, and here in October, at the start of a long season, I hadn't just beaten it, I had smashed it! So screw the 0.02, I am f**king delighted!

It was also the very first time ever at an AV Shield meet where none of the female 400m runners ran faster than me. Usually there will be anything from 3-5 faster than me out of the 50-60 women who take part, but on this occasion there were none. Things like that are a good barometer of improvement.

The next 400m race is in 3 weeks time in Doncaster for AV Shield round 5, which isn't as quick a track as Box Hill, as it consists of long straights, and tight short bends. There is the option of competing the next day instead at the Albert Park track, the best one in the business here, at the High Velocity Club meet, but the standard at that would be far too high for me. It's too early in the season to be racing out of my depth. There will be plenty of time for that come championship season in the new year, by which time I am hoping the gap between them and me won't be nearly as big as it currently is.

Next up however is round 4 next week at Doncaster where the 200m and 800m will again take centre stage, followed by a welcome weekend off the following weekend. Yesterday was a great day and confidence is soaring now.

Pisco Sour · 29-10-2012 11:39am

After the highs of Saturday it was back to the gym this evening. I arrived too late to learn deadlifts today as the gym expert was gone by the time I arrived so that will have to wait for another day.

Today I did the following exercises (changes from the last day in brackets):

Goodmornings x 3
Box Squats x 3
Bench Press x 4 (70%, 75%, 80% and 85%, with the heaviest weight being 122.5lbs today)
Leg Press x 3 (109kg now, up from 104.5kg)
Pull-ups x 2
Crunches x 2
Body twists x 2
Heel raises x 1
Side sit-ups x 1

The pull-ups are starting to hurt my fourth finger on my right hand now. Staying down for longer and extending the full way down is putting extra strain on the hands and one of my fingers becomes sore for a few minutes after each time I do them.

Pisco Sour · 30-10-2012 11:30am

Murder of a session today. Out of absolutely nowhere the weather has shot up to 30 today with a warm breeze coming from the north to add insult to injury. Only last week it was gloomy and nippy. Mental!

Today the coach had 6x200m on the menu with decreasing breaks between each (5 mins, 4, 3, 2 and finally 1 minute). He told us to run them like we would the first 200 of a 400m race.

Before the start he announced to us an interesting fact which led to some light hearted dialogue between himself and me:

Coach: Cathryn Freeman ran this very session in 25s.
Me: Ah but she was an Olympic Champion ya know!
Coach: But she's a chick!!
Me: A chick with a PB of 48.6 though!!!
Coach: Nah, fast track!

Anyway the session was an enjoyable one, despite the horrific conditions, which weren't a problem during the reps, but horribly painful during recovery, which as the session went on, particularly with the decreasing recoveries, it started to take it's toll. I messed up the timing of the first rep and didn't do the final rep. Times were:

? - 28.6 - 29 - 30 - 30

I guess when he said at the start of the session that the last recovery was just one minute I mentally made up my mind I was only doing 5 reps (I've never done more than 4x200 in my life as it is so 5 felt like I was pushing it). I shouldn't have thought like this, but the heat was whispering seductive messages in my ear about stopping. The 2 minute break after the 4th rep was a killer, and at that stage I made up my mind that the 5th would be my last. I was toast at the end of it.

Coach said that I should have done the last one, but never mind, I'll get the full 6 done the next day. Other coach said the last one is more of a mental one, good to get through it even if I end up running way slower than the other ones. They are right, and to be honest, if the weather was like what it had been up to now I probably would have finished. Bit annoyed with myself now but hindsight is a great thing. At the time I had nothing left in the tank.

Besides this the session went great I feel. One of the guys who was beating me all the time through the winter and up to very recently was now becoming a target for me. I was only just behind him during the first 3, and beat him easily on the next 2. On all occasions it would be the same - he, in lane 1, would eat up the stagger on me quickly and push ahead, and in the straight I would reel him in once the stride got going. I also easily beat in all 5 reps our 2:13 female 800m, who ran another 59 at the weekend. These type of things are good ways of gauging progress.

Coach said to me that my time will come down dramatically if I can get consistent in training. By that he means always training with the rest of the group. Of course it isn't by choice that I don't do this sometimes. Some days I just dont make it out to the track quickly enough from work and end up training on my own.

However I have noticed a big change today, since my 58.01 at the weekend. The coach has taken a much bigger interest in me now. Not that he wasn't interested before, but in the past he would tell me to join the others once I am finished my warm up, but today he delayed the start of the session. He wanted me running with them, and was screaming at me to come on and that I'm holding the others up! A nice compliment. Of course it helps that our new recruit who started with us recently ran a cracking debut 400m on Saturday of 56.02 and he too has the same problem as me getting out quickly from work, so maybe the tide is turning a bit with regards the early starts to training.

Finally I said to the coach that my 100m time on Saturday wasn't what I would have hoped. He rhetorically asked me do I want to me a 100 runner or a 400 runner. I said that I still needed to get my 100 speed up to help my 400 and he said have patience, it will come.

Very good session today. One of my best I think. 95% happy with it, 5% disappointed for skipping the last rep.

Oregano_State · 30-10-2012 1:10pm

Well done on the session, sounds like a tough one alright. I hate that feeling when you wuss out of something in training because you think you'll die, but regret it later!

Pisco Sour · 30-10-2012 1:17pm

Oregano_State wrote: »

Well done on the session, sounds like a tough one alright. I hate that feeling when you wuss out of something in training because you think you'll die, but regret it later!

I think the heat played a big part. There was no time to acclimatise to it. No gradual buildup in temperature. One day it was 15 with a chilly breeze and overcast skies. Couple of days later it's 30, with a hot hair dryer in your face for a breeze.

Pisco Sour · 31-10-2012 11:44am

Weekly massage, followed by gym session. Increased the weight in several exercises this evening. The session was:

1) Goodmornings: 3 sets of 3x5 at 55lbs (up from 45lbs) assuming the bar is 15lbs
2) Box squats: 3 sets of 2x10 at 55lbs (up from 45lbs) assuming the bar is 15lbs
3) Bench Press: 4 sets of 8 at 75%, 80%, 85% and 90% of max (145lbs). Highest weight was 130lbs, which I could only manage 7 reps of.
4) Leg Press: 3 sets of 8 at 114kg, up from 109kg
5) Pull-ups: 1 set of 10
6) Body twists: 2 sets of 20 at 10kg
7) Heel rises: 1 set of 10 with 11lbs dunbells in each hand
8) Side sit-ups: 1 set of 40 (20 on each side)
9) Crunches: 1 set of 50

Our gym expert will show me deadlifts on Monday.

When I started my gym work back in May I could only manage 65lbs bench press, barely managing 5 reps. Now I am lifting double that 7 times, at the end of a session. Scary when you stop to think about it.

Pisco Sour · 01-11-2012 2:46pm

Horrific session this evening. Again the sprinters and middle distance runners were together which was good. The session was 9x200, with 30 secs between each rep, but with 5 min after the 3rd and 6th reps. For me and one of the other sprinters we were to do 6x200m doing the first and third reps of each sets of 3. So basically 200m, 1.5 minute break, 200m, 5 minute break, 200m, 1.5 minute break...and so on.

First rep was 28.3 seconds which from a standing start, in flats on that particular track, not quite going 100% was pretty encouraging. The second rep was around 29 but I messed up the timing. The 3rd rep I didn't press the watch properly and got no time. However towards the very end of the rep I got a muscle spasm in my left calf and eased off the last 20m. My stride felt very long at this point so maybe that had something to do with it, but to be honest this isn't a new issue and is more than likely due to poor warm up. I had to rush the warm up so I would be able to start with the others. The weather was nippy tonight which didn't go well with the quick-ish warm-up. The 4th rep then I was afraid to go full out and only ran 31. I was struggling at this point and half way during a poor 5th rep the spasm came again and I stopped.

Tough session. I don't enjoy the short recoveries, and with 90 seconds I had barely enough time to walk through the infield to get back to the 200m start line. Much prefer the flat out sessions with long recovery, but I guess these type of sessions need to be done.

Rest up now ahead of Saturday. Coach reckons I'll go well on Saturday in the 200.

RandyMann · 01-11-2012 10:25pm

Pisco Sour wrote: »

Horrific session this evening. Again the sprinters and middle distance runners were together which was good. The session was 9x200, with 30 secs between each rep, but with 5 min after the 3rd and 6th reps. For me and one of the other sprinters we were to do 6x200m doing the first and third reps of each sets of 3. So basically 200m, 1.5 minute break, 200m, 5 minute break, 200m, 1.5 minute break...and so on.

First rep was 28.3 seconds which from a standing start, in flats on that particular track, not quite going 100% was pretty encouraging. The second rep was around 29 but I messed up the timing. The 3rd rep I didn't press the watch properly and got no time. However towards the very end of the rep I got a muscle spasm in my left calf and eased off the last 20m. My stride felt very long at this point so maybe that had something to do with it, but to be honest this isn't a new issue and is more than likely due to poor warm up. I had to rush the warm up so I would be able to start with the others. The weather was nippy tonight which didn't go well with the quick-ish warm-up. The 4th rep then I was afraid to go full out and only ran 31. I was struggling at this point and half way during a poor 5th rep the spasm came again and I stopped.

Tough session. I don't enjoy the short recoveries, and with 90 seconds I had barely enough time to walk through the infield to get back to the 200m start line. Much prefer the flat out sessions with long recovery, but I guess these type of sessions need to be done.

Rest up now ahead of Saturday. Coach reckons I'll go well on Saturday in the 200.

I'm liking those 200 times, you are def getting stronger...

Pisco Sour · 02-11-2012 9:29am

RandyMann wrote: »

I'm liking those 200 times, you are def getting stronger...

Yeh I'm definitely pleased with the progress. Legs feeling a bit jaded today though. Some serious R&R this evening ahead of tomorrow needed.

RandyMann · 02-11-2012 9:37am

Pisco Sour wrote: »

Yeh I'm definitely pleased with the progress. Legs feeling a bit jaded today though. Some serious R&R this evening ahead of tomorrow needed.

Good luck tomorrow, I am kind of envious, wish I had a race but have to wait till January....:(

Pisco Sour · 02-11-2012 9:44am

RandyMann wrote: »

Good luck tomorrow, I am kind of envious, wish I had a race but have to wait till January....:(

Yeh but you'll get to run indoors.

Australia doesn't have a single indoor track in that vast empty country (not that it really needs one mind you).

RandyMann · 02-11-2012 9:50am

Pisco Sour wrote: »

Yeh but you'll get to run indoors. Australia doesn't have a single indoor track in that vast empty country (not that it really needs one mind you).

Didnt know that! We should have Athlone open for Jan which will be nice...
Must be great training in that warm weather now Pisco. I know it was uncomfortable the other day for you but 5 degrees last night in the wind and wet at my track was cruel to say the least. I could do with some warm weather training...;)

Pisco Sour · 03-11-2012 8:12am

Big PB of 26.51 seconds for 200m today with a 0.0 m/s wind. A huge improvement from my previous best of 26.92 back in January which was assisted by a 2.2 m/s tailwind. Coach said my first 50m was absolutely horrible so hopefully a lot more to come.

My shins were hurting today and through my warm up and took a fair while before they eased (thankfully in time for my race) so I opted out of the 800m. Body is a bit tired from all the heavy training and from 5 consecutive weeks of racing so didn't feel like there was much to be gained by running it. Looking forward to having next weekend off racing. Much needed.

Race report to come tomorrow.

RandyMann · 03-11-2012 10:51am

Congrats Pisco. Your training is really paying off now!

Pisco Sour · 04-11-2012 1:04pm

Round 4 of the AV Shield took us back to Doncaster where the 200m and 800m were the planned event on the programme of interest to me.

200m:

After a hard week's training my shins felt pretty sore. After a day of complete rest on Friday I was hoping they would feel better on Saturday but at the start of my warm up they felt horrible. It took a fair bit of time before the discomfort subsided briefly, but after a lot of effort I felt loosened up enough to put in a good effort which would do me justice over the half lap distance.

I got into the same heat as the Collingwood guy who beat me by 0.47 in the 100m last week. This I felt was good as it would give me somebody a bit ahead of me to pace off. He told me that he ran 25.30 two week previously and was one lane inside me so he would be an ideal pacemaker. I nabbed lane 7 due to the fact Doncaster has quite tight bends with a 100m straight. Of the other 4 guys in my heat there was one decathlon specialist with a 23.2 PB who had clearly ended up in the wrong heat, another lad who I knew nothing about, and an athlete outside me in lane 8 who was unattached to any club who was hoping for a 26.

Gun went off and I felt a small bit slow but nothing major. About 5 seconds of short sharp strides and then lifted the head to find the Collingwood lad eat up the stagger on me with remarkable ease. At this point I strided out and got more into the groove and as I hit the straight I felt better. My focus was on the guy in lane 6 and I focused on not letting his lead on me get any greater. He was moving fast and being honest I felt his gap over me was a bit more than I expected but once I got to 60m to go he never increased that lead and if anything I pulled a bit back on him. I was so focused on this one guy inside me that I never noticed the guys in lane 3 and 4. Lane 5 was way behind, however lane 8 was only just ahead of me. I didn't look at him all race, but as I got to closing stages I was eating huge ground into him and ended up pipping him at the finish line by 0.02 to come 4th of 6.

At first I felt I ran an average race. It felt a bit untidy and the gap behind the Collingwood guy felt huge, but I guess the reality was that it was less than I thought as when I saw the official result a few minutes later I was over the moon. A massive PB of 26.51 seconds with a 0.0 wind. My previous best from January was 26.92 with a +2.2 m/s wind, so the reality is that I improved my best by over half a second which is huge, and so I am absolutely delighted.

Coach said afterwards that my first 50m was so very horrible, and that if I can run what I did with such a bad start just think what I will manage when I sort that out. He said I was so slow out and my stride was so ridiculously short for the first 50m. I was told before to run the start with short fast strides, but he doesnt agree and says the stride should be lengthened from the start and not just after 30m. Will need to work on it, but good to know I am hitting 26.51 with lots of technical faults. It means there is lots more potential there. Genuinely optimistic about a sub 26 now after this run.

800m:

After the hassle with my shins I decided to give the 800m a miss, something which my coach was 100% in agreement with. I didn't see anything to be gained by doing it and as my body is clearly a bit jaded I was more than happy to pull out of the event. Felt a bit bad for the club but we had enough people doing the event that it didn't end up costing us too many points. So sorry lads, no 800m on this occasion to chew over.

Shins still hurting to be honest. Really glad that next weekend is a weekend off competing due to the Vic Schools Champs as I feel I need that time to recharge the batteries. My cousin is in Melbourne for a couple of months and we'll probably be doing some touring next weekend somewhere in Victoria. Will be nice to get away from the city and have a weekend off athletics. Won't even train over the weekend. The body needs a full weekend off. Before then I have 4 days of hard training ahead of me. I am currently icing the shins in preparation for it.

Finally, for the 4th week in a row Richmond finished 2nd in division 2. We now have a huge gap over 3rd place in the standings and are in commanding position to qualify for the grand final, but with 8 rounds left there is still a long way to go and with the just the top 2 qualifying we can't let our guard down.

Pisco Sour · 05-11-2012 11:36am

So back to the grind after another successful weekend on the track. Session a little shorter this evening but no less intense:

1) 3 x Goodmornings
2) 3 x Box Squats
3) 4 x Bench Press (max lift was 85% today, will be 90% again on Wednesday)
4) 3 x Leg Press (up to 120.9kg now, getting close to twice my body weight)
5) 2 x Body twists
6) 1 x Crunches
7) 1 x Side sit-ups
8) 1 x heel rises

I was the only dedicated soul in the gym this evening (though maybe some were there before I arrived). It's a public holiday tomorrow for Melbourne Cup so not a lot of people around it seems. So deadlifts will have to wait until Wednesday now.

As tomorrow is Cup Day and we have the day off work our track session is taking place at the ungodly hour of 9.30am. No doubt he'll have some nasty surprises in store. Probably something involving 30 second recoveries!!

Pisco Sour · 06-11-2012 2:09am

6x150m this morning with 5 minute breaks. Didn't time myself. Just focused on running hard and getting the technique right. Coach said I went well. At the end I was on the ground in a heap and he said that that is exactly how he wants to see me. He then made a point to the middle distance guys before their last 400m rep of their session that this is exactly how he wants to see them at the end of it, pointing over to me lying on the floor in another world completely!:)

It was painful but felt I ran well and feel great now that it's done. The last 5 minute break between rep 5 and 6 was the toughest.

Now I'm free for the rest of the day. Some beers for the Melbourne Cup are in store.

Pisco Sour · 07-11-2012 12:08pm

Weekly massage followed by gym session. Did the exact same session as Monday except the following:

1) Bench Press 4x8 (@75%, 80%, 85% and 90%). The 90% was at 130lbs and I managed the full 8 (just about) so delighted with that.

2) Leg Press 3x8 at 125.5kg (276lbs). Almost up to twice my bodyweight now for this session. The next day I'll hit that magic 130kg.

3) Threw in one set of 8 pull-ups. Did this at the very end of the session. Big mistake. Was knackered and struggled badly. Need to do this at the start of the session.

Pisco Sour · 08-11-2012 11:21am

Coach had a little surprise in store for us this evening, which he didn't disclose until we were all finished our warm up. For myself and one of the other sprinters we had 2x400m flat out with a full 20 minute recovery between each. Our 50 second runner and all the others who were all middle distance runners had the great pleasure and joy of 2x600m flat out with 20 mins recovery.

I asked the coach how should I keep warm during such a crazy long recovery and should I warm up again before the second rep. He laughed saying that I won't go cold after a hard 400m. So I took his word for it and thought no more of it.

So for the first 400m he tells me to stand in lane 2, but starting right back where lane 1 starts, the idea being to move into lane 1 ASAP. He informed me that I will be running this rep in 57 seconds. How very kind of you.

If only were it that easy! I informed him in a light hearted manner that he was mad, that there was no hope I would run 57 on THIS track, in THESE racing flats, without any real race adrenaline. He said I will run a PB in this rep.

I started from a 3 point start and as we took off the lad who was beside me rubbed shoulders with me for the first couple of seconds. That bumping and barging couldn't have helped my time. Once I got ahead of him and had a clear track ahead of me though I was fine. Not surprisingly due to only doing 400m I was up in the top 3, with the other sprinter being a small bit ahead of me. I ran well and hard and the gap between me and him didn't grow after the first 150m. The 50 second runner crossed in a freakish 55 with still another 200m to go. I really felt the lactic acid build up in the last 80m but I pushed on. The other sprinter crossed in 57 and I made it across the line just before the coach shouted out "59", so a high 58 second run.

Have to say I was in shock with that. The track is like concrete, I wasn't wearing spikes (unlike the two lads ahead of me), I didn't have blocks, and had a bit of a messy start bumping into that guy and having to cut into lane 1, therefore probably running a few more than 400m. Coach was probably just trying to motivate me with that 57 jibba-jabba, but I was delighted with that run.

The 20 minute recovery was hell though. It sounds all lovely on paper. Sure you could go for a cup of tea during that time. However the reality is quite the opposite. The tiredness actually gets worse as the rest goes on and about half way through the recovery I was feeling a small bit lightheaded. In addition the pure fear of knowing that there is another flat out 400m to come makes the 20 minutes pure mental pain. A part of you would rather just a 5 minute recovery and get it over with.

Alas, my 20 minutes of fear was all in vain. Despite constantly walking to keep the muscles warm, literally 1 secon into the second 400m rep, not one, but both my calves had a spasm. Stopped immediately and was raging!! So much for what the coach said about staying warm not being a problem. Of course this didn't happen to anybody else, and we all did the same thing during our recovery! Extremely frustrating.

Coach said to do 3 or 4 150s instead, so I warmed up again with a few strides and then did 4x150m off a 3 and a half minute recovery. I was probably going at 90%. Messed up the timing of the first rep but the other 3 were all 21.5 to 21.7. Happy that I managed to salvage the session after what happened in that second rep.

Overall though, far more positives than negatives to take from that session that's for sure.

No race this weekend, as the Vic Schools Champs are on, and I am taking a full weekend off training. The body needs a small rest. I'm heading off with my cousin for a weekend of hiking in the Grampians National Park instead.

Pisco Sour · 11-11-2012 1:55pm

So much for my weekend off running being easy. Spent the last 2 days doing several hikes around the Grampians National Park. Sensational scenery and great hiking. Absolutely wrecked from it now. No doubt there are lots of strength based benefits I will get from it. All that steep hiking meant the calves got a great workout. I just hope I pull up ok from it tomorrow. Going downhill is a bit of a nightmare on the knees and in general I was very tired at the end of it, with blisters all over my feet. It's been quite a long while since I have done that sort of exercise.

Pisco Sour · 12-11-2012 11:41am

Back training this evening after a great weekend of hiking. Did the same gym session as last Wednesday with the following exceptions:

1) Bench Press - Toughest session to date. 80%, 85%, 90% and 95%, each set 8 times. I could only manage the 95% (137lbs) 7 times. Delighted with that.

2) Leg Press - 3 x 8 @ 130kg (286lbs). I am now officially doing these reps at twice my bodyweight.

3) Deadlifts - I can never seem to get to the gym when our gym expert is there so I asked one other guy who seems to know his stuff how to do them. So I did 2 sets of around 7 or 8 with 45lbs just to get the technique. Definitely not heavy enough but happy for the moment to just get confident doing them. Will leave it til next week after my 400m race til I attempt some heavier weights. Pain in the balls that we only have one Olympic bar in the gym meaning I will have to take off the heavy weights and put on light ones every time I want to do deadlifts! Annoying and energy consuming!

Oregano_State · 12-11-2012 12:11pm

You'll be surprised with how quickly your DL will shoot up. You should be able to lift a good bit more than you can squat once you get the hang of it.

It's really not that difficult to get the technique right, as long as you keep your back straight and get your hips low before you lift.

Youtube is very helpful for all that type of stuff.

Pisco Sour · 13-11-2012 12:14pm

Session was originally planned at 2 sets of (2x200m), with 2 mins between 200m reps and 15 mins between each set, but he decided to change it to 2x150m for the second set as one of my training partners was playing in the final of some competition is some other sport afterwards and he didn't want to ruin it for him by having him in a heap for it.

First rep was 27 something. Don't know the exact time as I just glanced at the watch rather than stop it, but it was probably a mid 27. It felt good after a slowish start. My fastest ever 200 in training. Second rep was 29.1 which I was pleased with, given just 2 minute recovery.

Then the same oul crap struck. After last Thursday I anticipated the same thing might happen due to the long rest, so after 12 mins of the 15 mins I decided to try keep warm with a few light strides, but it was already too late and spasm hit immediately. This is extremely frustrating. My body can't cope with the very long recoveries. It needs to keep warm. 5 minute recoveries are perfect for me really.

Coach said to try warm up again and then if after doing some strides that I am feeling fine then do the 2x150m to finish the session. So I basically warmed up fully again as if it was a different session. The good news is that I was fine again once warmed up and completed both reps (on my own) in 21 mid, with 2 mins between each. But it's frustrating as I didn't get the full benefit from this session given the fact it was probably about 30 mins between both sets in the end.

A few people have suggested I get compression socks which they say may stop this. Maybe an idea for sessions with long recoveries. Another option is to keep warm during long recoveries by doing strides.

Also today I encountered an exercise in Grade A stupidity, so completely mad that if I didn't see it I wouldn't believe it. The track was busy tonight and while I was warming up there was a coaching session in lanes 3-6 in the homestraight for the kids. Some absolute moron took this as an opportunity to watch his kids train from lane 1, the lane that a 50 second 400 was using. However it was worse than this, he and his wife were pushing a f*cking pram, while walking slowly down the lane! WTF is wrong with some people. Granted I should have approached it in a calmer manner, but in my defence I can't tolerate such stupidity and dangerous incompetence, and I proceeded to order the clown off the track in a pretty harsh tone. He didn't take kindly to this, and stated his rights as the father of a paying member that he should have every right to walk around the track! I told him it is extremely dangerous to have a baby on the inside lane of a track which was packed with sprinters and middle distance runners, and he said it would be dangerous for his kids if he wasn't there (as if he was going to be able to intercept an 11 second runner just before he runs into his kid!!). I'm still shocked that somebody could be lacking in such common sense!

Pisco Sour · 14-11-2012 12:09pm

Had my weekly massage this evening. He said that my muscles were pretty tight, which he said was no doubt a result of doing all that hiking in the Grampians.

Afterwards I did my gym session which was the same as Monday except that I didn't do any pull-ups and my bench press maxed at 90% as opposed to 95% on Monday (as instructed by my bench press programme I am on). I also did some more goodmornings to get the technique but won't worry too much about them until next week.

About 30 minutes after my gym session however my left calf felt very tight. Unusually tight, and when I touch it, it's a bit achey, and when I push into it, it's sore! I called the guy who gives me the massage and he said that more than likely the hiking did something to my calf, and that combined with the massage he did to fix it would probably be the reason it is feeling tight now. He said to see how I go tomorrow and that hopefully it should loosen up during the day before I get to the track. I'm a bit worried now. I've been gearing myself up for a strong 57 run on Saturday and I'd be gutted it I can't run (I'm a very impatient person). He said in all likelihood I will be fine for Saturday but said I'll have to see how tomorrow goes.

So stupid to do all that hiking now in hindsight.

RacoonQueen · 14-11-2012 1:46pm

Bad timing, possibly just a bit of DOMS?

Pisco Sour · 15-11-2012 2:57pm

So it seems that my calf soreness is just a false alarm, and most likely because of the extra tough massage yesterday. Had a track session this evening and got through it fine. Did a big long warm up and the calf loosened up nicely. The group were doing 6x160m with 5 minute recovery, but because of the issue with my calf the coach told me to only do 3 of them. For the rest of the time he gave me a 1 on 1 tutorial on how to start properly. He said that I need to lift my legs more right from the off and that so many people don't do this.

For my 3x160m session I didn't bother timing it but it went fine. The first one I cruised too much the first 60m, but the other 2 I tried to go hard from the start. In the last 2 reps I was only about 4m down on one of the guys who is always ahead of me. Coming into the straight I'd be about 7m down but would always pull some of that back in the second half. Lot of work needed on my start. Probably the reason why I have more success over 400m than the shorter sprints.

Bit of a frustrating week of training really but the main thing is I should be good to race on Saturday now. Calf still tight when resting but much better than it was last night.

Pisco Sour · 17-11-2012 9:29am

‎58.17 seconds for 400m today, just 0.16 off my PB which I ran 3 weeks ago. Good run, and would have been over the moon had I run that 3 weeks ago, but a bit disappointed as I feel I've trained well the last few weeks and I was well on for a PB today but died pretty badly in the last 100m, but I suppose better to go off too hard than too easy. Also they initially got my time wrong and had given me 57.39 so I was obviously over the moon thinking I had run a big PB, so bit of a come down to see my real time when they fixed it. Not unhappy but feel I am in solid 57 shape but for whatever reason it didn't quite happen today. Soon.

Earlier in the day I ran 13.19 for 100m with a +1.0, which is a legal wind PB, but not a wind adjusted PB. The form is so much better now as has been mentioned by quite a few, but the leg speed has obviously slowed a bit since I've improved my stride. I'm sure it will eventually come together.

I also ran my very first 4x100m relay. For once we assembled a pretty decent team so I decided to take part. We ran 50.69 and I was told by my coach that my changeover was among the worst he had seen in 30+ years of watching athletics.

Race report to follow.

Running Aimlessly Down Under - From 54 to 53 sec 400m

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