The least important part of this thread is the Title

Gavlor

What's the target for the new training block??

Oregano_State

Gavlor wrote: »

What's the target for the new training block??

Maybe I phrased it badly, but it will just be a slight shift in focus from base-building and general fitness to working more on top speed, with less volume and higher intensity in preparation for the summer.

You probably won't notice much of a difference in terms of what I'm logging, as there's still a good bit of time to go!

Oregano_State

Chivito550 wrote: »

Good stuff with the squats. Just wondering how far do you lower yourself down when doing them?

Thanks, I'm really trying to work on them. 1.5 x BW is the aim for the moment.

I try to go ATG (ass to grass) as much as possible, but when the weight gets heavier, I just about break parallel. Hip and ankle mobility is key!

Oregano_State

Wednesday 12th Feb - AM: Gym w/ Uni club
I was coaxed into attending the club's gym session this week, and I'm glad I did, as it mixed things up a bit. My body is a bit raggedy at the moment after stepping up the training frequency over the past few weeks, but it held up fine for this session.

A1) Front Squats 70kg 5x5
A2) Hyperextensions BW 5x5

B1) DB Row 24kg 3x5
B2) DB Benchpress 24kg 3x5

C) Hangcleans 40kg 5x5
D) Box Jumps roughly hip-height, 5x5

I haven't done hang-cleans in ages, and the weight felt really light, but the trainer wanted me to change my technique and I found that difficult enough so I didn't raise the weight. Despite this, my traps are absolutely killing me today. I'm going to put HC's back into my gym programme for the next while. Should be good for a bit of explosiveness. I'm taking it easy for a few days now, haven't decoded exactly what I'll do. Normal service resumes on Monday. I'm looking forward to seeing the results from the National Indoors this weekend as well.

Oregano_State

Tuesday 18th Feb - Track: 200m, 300m, 2x150m
After almost a week of downtime, where the most I managed was a few pull-ups and core work, this was a strange session to come back to. The British University indoor Championships (BUCS) were on over the weekend, and there were two spots for the 4x200m relay that needed to be decided upon. This was going to be done by a 200m race-off. I wasn't registered for the championships, but I decided to jump into the race anyway, just to see where I was at. All 8 lanes were used, but only 4 people were eligible to compete.
From my point of view, it didn't go too well, I didn't feel smooth at all and probably tensed up too much. I was well off the pace of the lads at the front, and while I know they're faster than me, I'm pretty sure I'm capable of being a lot closer to them than I was on Tuesday. I haven't been doing any max speed work really, so I'll need to start working on that a bit more now. The 'race' wasn't timed, it was just for position, but I don't think I'd like to have seen my time anyway!
The 200m took a fair whack out of pretty much everyone. We were all given about 10-15mins to recover before getting on with the rest of the session. For he 400m runners, i.e. me and two others, this was going to consist of a fast 300m (95% effort), 6mins break, then 2x150m controlled (80%-ish). I didn't time any of the session, but the coach got me at 40.x for the 300m, with the two lads in 38.x pulling away from me over the last 80m. The 150s weren't timed and I ran them in trainers, concentrating on maintaining form.

I'm happy enough with a 40.x 300m in those circumstances. Still plenty of work needed though.

Thursday 20th Feb - Track: 6x150m off 3-4mins
These were meant to be quick, but not all-out, and consistent, with an emphasis on form. No times, but a good session nonetheless. Was a nice change from all the 300m sessions.

Saturday 22nd Feb - AM - Short Hills + Easy Running: 7km total
No steps this week, as the uni group were all in Sheffield having a great time, so I consoled myself with a few hills. I did about 2km as a warm-up, before selecting an 80m-ish incline in the local park to sprint up. It wasn't exactly the most secluded spot, and I got strange looks from a few people, including a couple of builders eating breakfast rolls on a nearby park-bench. Didn't bother me in the slightest. I did 6 reps off 2mins recovery, all in 11-12s, then about 15mins more easy running including a couple of strides before heading home. I then did 50 chins/pull-ups on my new Lidl-bought pull-up bar.

Sunday 23rd Feb - Gym
I'm not going to make a habit of going to that gym on Sunday afternoons, it was mobbed. Got my session done anyway. Warm up was the jog there + 20mins foam rolling and mobility. Hip flexors were very tight.
Back Squat
90kg x 5
95kg x 5
100kg x 5
105kg x 5
75kg x 10
Romanian Deadlift: 80kg 3x10
Rear Leg Kick Back: 100kg 3x10 e/s
Dips: BW+8kg 5x8 w/ last 3 sets supersetted w/ Front Plate Raise: 10kg 3x20
Circuit: Toe-Touch, Russian Twist w/ 16kg kettlebell, Single Leg Squats, Swiss-Ball Knee-Tucks, Mountain-Climbers. Did 2 sets.

That was a rough one. I was aiming for 110kg x 5 on the squats, but didn't have it in me last night. Next week. The legs are sore enough this morning. Overall, a decent-ish week.

Oregano_State

Tuesday 25th Feb - Track: 2x250m, 2x240m, 2x200m
The legs were still pretty stiff after the weights on Sunday, but I'd given them a good seeing to on Monday night with a foam roller and tennis ball, and repeated that during my warm up at the track. I left the spikes at home and stuck with the racing flats. I only had one partner for the session, back at it after a 51 flat performance to make the semis at the indoor BUCS over the weekend.

The other guy we usually train with had decided to take a few days off/easy, and I'm not surprised as guy 1 was a bit worse for wear after the weekend's competition, as I was ahead of him for most of the session. My legs loosened out pretty well during the warm up, and I felt pretty good heading into the first rep. The plan was walk-back rest between reps, and 5mins between the three sets.

Times: 35.9, 35.7, 33.8, 35.8, 28.8, 28.5

The average paces (s/400m) from each of the sets are 57.3, 58.0, 57.3, so pretty consistent. I was hurting on the second 240m, and faded badly towards the end of it. The 200ms felt good, although I'd have liked to have felt like I could finish quicker, but I didn't have any gears left. All in all, my most consistently-paced session in a long time.

Cleanman

Nice going OS. You seem to be coming back into a bit more consistent training generally. Any problems/niggles from the hamstrings at all? Are you doing anything different to strenghten or protect them this season?

Chivito550

Nice session. What were the recoveries?

Oregano_State

Cleanman wrote: »

Nice going OS. You seem to be coming back into a bit more consistent training generally. Any problems/niggles from the hamstrings at all? Are you doing anything different to strengthen or protect them this season?

Thanks, I'm happy enough with how things are going at the moment.

Every now and again I get a dull pain in the place where the injury was, usually after a session or if I'm stiff in the morning. It serves as a reminder.

The main thing I'm doing to be honest is trying to gauge how my body is doing as I increase the training, and backing off a bit if I think I need it. I've started adding in hamstring and glute-focused exercises like romanian deadlifts in the past few weeks, but up until then I was just using running to regain strength.

I've also been doing more foam-rolling and rolling with a tennis-ball (not too motivated to move up to a hockey ball; the pain!) than I did before the injury.

I think I was a bit too gung-ho last year. Trying to be a bit more sensible in general this time around!

Oregano_State

Chivito550 wrote: »

Nice session. What were the recoveries?

Cheers. Walk-back (2:30-ish) between reps, 5 mins between sets.

pconn062

Great session man. Can I ask, when you injured your hamstring, where was the injury localised to? Near the knee, or in the belly of the muscle, or up near the top? (near your butt cheek basically ) I'm struggling with something similar myself, looking at a month or so with regards the recovery. Anything in particular you found useful? (without spilling over into medical advice, I have plenty of that!). Icing, particular stretches/strength work?

Oregano_State

pconn062 wrote: »

Great session man. Can I ask, when you injured your hamstring, where was the injury localised to? Near the knee, or in the belly of the muscle, or up near the top? (near your butt cheek basically ) I'm struggling with something similar myself, looking at a month or so with regards the recovery. Anything in particular you found useful? (without spilling over into medical advice, I have plenty of that!). Icing, particular stretches/strength work?

Thanks, sorry to hear you're injured.

Mine was right at the insertion point at the top, so pretty much under the point where the curve of one's ass meets the rest of the leg.

The only thing that helped me was complete rest, i.e. no exercise for about a month! Plus a bit of stretching once it had healed a bit. Initially I tried to promote quick healing by doing a bit of light jogging, but I hadn't waited long enough for the basic healing to take place so I only made things worse.

My advice would be to take twice as much rest as you think you need. A good physio should be able to guage progress along the way also.

Best of luck with it, it's a frustrating process!

Oregano_State

Thursday 27th Feb - Track: 3x2x200m
This was a good session. I was feeling fresh and I liked the look of the workout. We had 3-4mins between reps and 7mins between sets, so it was at a fairly quick pace.
The times I got were: 27.8, 27.3, 28.9, ??, 27.9, 28.6. I messed up the time for the 4th rep. Average pace was 56.2 400m pace. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll be able to get this type of session down to consistent 27.5s.

Monday 3rd March - Mobility + Circuits
After a hectic weekend travelling home in which I didn't manage to fit in any training, I was desperate to get something done on Monday evening. I started off with a good half hour of foam rolling, stretching and general mobility stuff. This was badly needed, as my hip flexors (along with the rest of me) have a tendency to seize up if I neglect them for a couple of days.

I then started a circuit of chin-ups, core, and ham+glute work. I did 50 chins altogether, and didn't really keep track of the rest of it. I did a lot of single and double-leg glute-bridges and raises though, using the foam roller as elevation to make it harder for the single leg raises. I found this really good, and will add these in regularly now.

Tuesday 4th March - Track: 2x3x300m: Lactic City!
Another session of 300s. It's funny how playing with the breaks and set make-up can completely change a session. The plan was 90s between reps and 7mins between the two sets, although the 90s was pushed out closer to two mins for most of them, as the 100m walk from the finish to the starting point became progressively more slow and painful!
Yet again, I completely messed up my pacing for the first rep which effectively sentenced me to a painful second half of the session. In fairness there were two of us doing the session, taking turns to lead, and the other guy did the first one.

Here's how they went, keeping in mind that mentally I was aiming for consistent 45s: 42/43, 45.7, 47.3, 45.5, 47.3, 49.9 average time was 46.4 for 61.9s 400m pace.

I messed up the timing for the first one, but was just behind my training partner who got himself at 42.x. This felt handy and relaxed. The second was marginally more difficult, and I paced it out properly. The third was a struggle, although I consoled myself with the promise of a tasty 7min break afterwards. I had considerable lactic build-up during the break, and had to keep moving to stop myself seizing up. The 4th was fine, but 200m into the 5th rep I was really struggling. The last one felt like a crawl, and was surprised to see that I'd made it home in under 50s. A tear ran down my face with about 100m to go in the last rep. It was unclear whether this was due to the not-insignificant pain I was in, or the cold wind in my face.
Moral of the story: Pace sessions properly.

Wednesday 5th March - Gym
Went along to the club's gym session this morning so that I'd have the evening free to hopefully get some work done (watch football...:o). Kept it short and sweet. The legs were in bits after the 300s last night so I spent a bit of time foam rolling. The hips, yet again, were the worst offenders. Felt generally ok after a few minutes of that.

A1) Front Squat: 60kg 1x5, 75kg 5x5
A2 Hyperextensions: BW+10kg 5x5
B1 DB Bent-Over Row: 28kg 3x5
B2 DB Bench: 28kg 3x5
C Hang Clean 40kg 5x3
D Box Jumps 3x5

Left it at that as I was in a rush to get to a meeting. The HC's were better than last time, although I'm still getting used to the change in technique that the coach wants. The box jumps were pretty high, roughly the height of my hip, which I just checked is about 41" or 105cm. I'd like to see what I could do for a max rep.
There's been talk of doing 3x300m off ten minutes at training tomorrow evening. I think I'll do this if it goes ahead. Shooting for sub-40s.

Chivito550

That 6 x 300 session sounds horrendous!

Oregano_State

Chivito550 wrote: »

That 6 x 300 session sounds horrendous!

Yeah 300m reps with short recoveries are pretty horrendous, although being more sensible wrt pacing would make it much more manageable.

They're very good preparation for the back end of a 400m race though, 800m too. Lactic threshold and all that jazz.

Oregano_State

Thursday 6th March - Track: 3x300m
I was looking forward to this session since I heard talk of it at the track on Tuesday. 3x300m off 10-12mins. Fast 300s are a decent indicator of 400m race fitness, so seeing as I haven't done any indoors it would serve as a rough indicator of my current state of affairs. I was going to use the word "progress", just there, but I think that would be too presumptuous. We'll save that one for later.

It was almost a perfect evening for running; relatively mild and dry, but with a nasty headwind on the home straight. I was also pretty stiff after the gym session yesterday, with my whole back particularly sore. I took my time foam-rolling and doing drills, but as I did my usual preparatory strides at the end of the warm-up, my legs felt bit dead and unresponsive, even with spikes on.

The times went as follows: 41.8, 40.2, 41.x

The first rep was the only one I managed to time myself, and it was terrible. For the other two I had to guesstimate. The two others I was doing the session with (my usual training partner and a 100m/200m guy who's very quick but not got great speed endurance) immediately opened a 3-4m lead on me and I couldn't get closer to them no matter what I did. The wind on the home straight didn't help, but it was just generally bad running on my part. I didn't even feel that tired afterwards, with the 12min break feeling a bit unnecessary.
We moved to bend-straight-bend for the 2nd rep, taking most of the evil wind out of the equation. I lined up just behind the other two but really drove out of the start this time, and actually had to chop my stride to stop me running into one of the lads. I felt much better on this one, although with 150m to go my training partner put the boot down and blasted home to a 37.9 (in trainers!!), while I crossed at the exact same time as the 100/200 guy, and so was able to take his split. I reckon this was actually a 39s run from me, as I started behind the other guy, had to chop my stride, and ran in lane two for about 40m around the last bend. I won't count it as sub-40s until I see it on the watch myself though.
On the third rep we stayed with the bend-straight-bend format. I had to chop my stride again about 30m in, but felt pretty decent throughout, certainly not nearing the type of discomfort I experienced on Tuesday. I'm guessing it was low 41s as I was a few metres back on my training partner who ran a 39.x.

All in all, a pretty consistent session, although I'm annoyed I messed up the first rep and missed out on the sub-40s. My all-time best in training is 38.x at around the time I set my PB, so hopefully I can get a bit closer to that over the next couple of months.

Oregano_State

Over the Weekend
I was feeling pretty tired on Friday after the week's training and my legs tightened up so I took it easy over the weekend. I did a lot of foam rolling and stretching, as well as some pull-ups and core work, and I went for a 20min jog on Sunday, but I mainly wanted to rest the legs a bit.


Tuesday 11th March - Track: 5x250m
I gave my legs a good foam roll about an hour before training just to see how they were, and suprisingly they were still pretty stiff, although improved from the few days off. Once I'd arrived at the track and warmed up, I felt really good though. I was doing this one by myself, which didn't bother me a huge amount as last year I did most of my training on my own. So, 5x250m was on the menu with pretty generous 5min breaks. My main aim was to keep these consistent, and I ran them in flats. Conditions were decent enough, a little nippy but no crazy winds.

The times were: 35.3, 34.5, 34.8, 35.8, 35.2 which is 56s average 400m pace.

I think I'll do Thursday's session with the short sprinters, which is going to be 60m reps. I'd be doing the 400m session by myself otherwise, and I need to really start working on speed now.

Oregano_State

Wed 12th March - Gym
Hit the gym this morning with the club, and it was a really good session. The routine changed up a bit compared to the last couple of times I've gone. I did some foam rolling, BW squats and various stretches as a warm up before getting down to business:

A1) Front Squat: 80kg 5x3
A2) Hyperextensions: 10kg 5x8

B1) Weighted Chins: 15kg 3x5
B2) Weighted Dips: 15kg 3x5

C) Cleans: 50kg 5x3
D) Single leg box jumps: 5x5 each leg
E) Hurdle hops (two feet): 5x6
F) Ab Rollouts (from knees): 3x12

G)Bench Press: 85kg x 1, 90kg x 1, 100kg x 0

Very good session overall, I felt solid throughout. The benching was added on at the end for the craic, I was SO close to getting the 100kg, despite not having benched in a few weeks. I thought I had it, but it stopped about half-way up and wouldn't budge. I reckon I'm only a benching session or two away from it. The reason we did the benching in the first place was because there's a competition on in the university on Friday week with some pretty decent cash prizes. The events are Bench, Leg Press, The Beep Test, and something called the Illinois Agility Test. Apparently last year a 1500m runner won it, so I'd be confident enough of doing ok. I used to be pretty decent at the beep test, always getting the highest score in my year of 140 students when I was secondary school. Bit of fun anyway, and I think a few from the track club are having a go so I'll have a bash at it.

Oregano_State

Thursday 13th March - Track: 6x60m, 1x300m
I had another good track session last night, where I joined in with the short sprinters for some acceleration and speed work. I was pretty stiff warming up, but a solid does of le foam roller seemed to do the trick pretty well. Yesterday was a lovely day in Leeds, borderline t-shirt weather, with the heat lasting a little after sunset to make the conditions pretty decent for sprinting while we were at the track.

I was doing the 60m reps with some pretty fast guys, and so was expecting to get mauled, but I wasn't as far down as I thought I'd be. Rest was walk-back.

We took a ten minute rest after the 6 reps,after which the others did a few 40m reps, and I did one 300m at 90%. I timed this and got myself at 40.7 which is decent enough, 54.3 400m pace. It wasn't all out so I think I'll get that sub-40 pretty soon.

ecoli

Oregano_State wrote: »

Thursday 13th March - Track: 6x60m, 1x300m
I had another good track session last night, where I joined in with the short sprinters for some acceleration and speed work. I was pretty stiff warming up, but a solid does of le foam roller seemed to do the trick pretty well. Yesterday was a lovely day in Leeds, borderline t-shirt weather, with the heat lasting a little after sunset to make the conditions pretty decent for sprinting while we were at the track.

I was doing the 60m reps with some pretty fast guys, and so was expecting to get mauled, but I wasn't as far down as I thought I'd be. Rest was walk-back.

We took a ten minute rest after the 6 reps,after which the others did a few 40m reps, and I did one 300m at 90%. I timed this and got myself at 40.7 which is decent enough, 54.3 400m pace. It wasn't all out so I think I'll get that sub-40 pretty soon.

All this talk of the sub 40, I am starting to wonder if you remember you are planning to race 400s not 3

Oregano_State

ecoli wrote: »

All this talk of the sub 40, I am starting to wonder if you remember you are planning to race 400s not 3

Haha, it's just a benchmark I'm using to gauge progress as I've no races in the immediate future. I think it's a pretty good indicator for potential 400m performance. Maybe I should stop going on about it though!

ecoli

Oregano_State wrote: »

Haha, it's just a benchmark I'm using to gauge progress as I've no races in the immediate future. I think it's a pretty good indicator for potential 400m performance. Maybe I should stop going on about it though!

Ah I dunno, you have built suspense to the point that I am interested to see when you hit it (only a matter of time IMO)

I suppose with sprint workouts being closer to maximal effort coupled with lack of short term races in mind it does make sense to keep the focus without negatively affecting training

Oregano_State

ecoli wrote: »

Ah I dunno, you have built suspense to the point that I am interested to see when you hit it (only a matter of time IMO)

I suppose with sprint workouts being closer to maximal effort coupled with lack of short term races in mind it does make sense to keep the focus without negatively affecting training

You're right in that it can be dangerous to fixate on training times too much. There are various factors at play that change day to day that can affect training performance, I do realise this. Even though I have been posting about the 'sub 40 300m', I'm not too worried about it and I know it's going to happen pretty soon without me having to stretch for it. I can tell myself that I'm getting stronger and quicker every week, as the lactic response gets less intense most weeks, and I'm finishing my sessions more consistently.

Chivito550

I did a 300m rep in a hand timed 40.3 on a Sunday morning in racing flats, on a crap track, using 2 bends rather than 2 straights, off 4 hours sleep, after 7 hours of constant walking and standing the night before. I really don't think sub 40 should be much of a barrier for you given you are faster than me.

Oregano_State

Friday 14th March - Gym
Not a huge amount to report from this, apart from going heavy on the leg press in advance of the fitness comp I'm (hopefully) doing next Friday. I started at 100kg and worked my way up in 40kg increments to 240kg doing 5 reps in each. I reckon I'd have 300kg for one rep, although I suppose I'll find out.

Clean: 60kg 5x3
Bench: 80kg 2x2, 1x6
Close Grip Bench: 60kg 2x15, 1x10 #pumpcity
Leg Press: 100kg --> 240kg in 40kg increments, x 5 each
Single Leg Kickback: 100kg 1x10, 120kg 3x10 each side
Upright Row: 30kg 3x10

I was basically just arsing around during this session, felt tired enough. I left out core stuff because it had been sore since the rollouts on Wednesday.

Saturday 15th March - Steps
I can't believe it's half way through March already. I have far too many deadlines approaching. Training may suffer in the upcoming weeks because of that, but I'm making hay now at least. This was another "running up steps" session. 3 sets of 3 reps up the pretty long stairs, although no single-leg hops this week. I seemed to find it easier than pretty much everyone else there, although I was the only 400m runner this time. Feeling good now.

COME ON IRELAND

Oregano_State

Sunday 16th March - Gym
Did this with a few lads from the club. They're very dedicated trainers and stronger than me so I knew it was going to be a tough session. I arrived a little after they'd started, so I warmed up quickly, did the squats I'd planned to do, then joined in with the rest of their session. My abs are killing me now after the core stuff at the end.

Back Squat: 105kg 5x5 PB
Wide Grip Pull-Up: 1x10 PB
High-Knee Drive: 3x6 each leg with increasing weight (I didn't look at the weight, and I'm not really sure if that's the right name for the exercise.)
Nordic Hamstring Curls: BW 3x8
Core Circuit: [(exercise I don't know the name of w/ 5kg plate) x 12, Russian Twist w/ 8kg med-ball x 30, Plank 1min] x 3

Great week's training. Feeling good at the moment.

Oregano_State

Monday - Off

Tuesday 19th March - Track: 2x250m, 2x200m, 2x150m, 2x100m
This was a very intense session. I had two 100/200m guys doing it with me, both of whom are very good athletes (well under 11s for 100m!). The plan was walk-back between reps and ten minutes between sets, so roughly 85-90% effort. I figured I'd just try to hang on to the two lads and keep as close as I could to them. There was a nasty swirling wind to deal with as well.

My times were: 33.6, 36.0, 26.6, 27.6, 20.5, 20.3, 13.4, 13.1

The wind on the second 250m was crazy, although I think I may have pushed the first rep a little. Apart from that, I was really happy with the session. The 100m reps were meant to be relaxed, at less effort than the rest of the session so to end up with low 13s each time was pretty good to see.

Average pace for the session was 54.6s per 400m, ranging from 52.x-57.x. Given the conditions and that it was done in flats, and I'll take that. FWIW, the two lads were well ahead of me for most of the session, generally pulling away from me on the straight. I seemed to tire less than them though, and I beat both of them on the first of the 100m reps.

I was supposed to have a gym session with the club this morning, but the legs were feeling battered last night and this morning so I decided against it. Will do some foam rolling and mobility stuff later on, as well as a few pull ups.

Oregano_State

Following from that very intense Tuesday session on the 19th, I didn't feel my legs had recovered well enough to do another track session on Thursday, so I did some foam rolling and core instead. I did a steps session on the Saturday morning with the group from college. It felt good at the time, although later on in the day I noticed the side of my shin, just above my ankle was really sore for some reason, as if I'd banged it or someone had kicked me. It was completely out of the blue, no niggle or warning in the lead-up. It was bad enough to give me a limp for about 3 days afterwards, and I could feel it while walking for most of last week, although it was less noticeable every day. As a result, training last week was mostly a write-off, although I did do a lot of stretching, foam-rolling, and some core, push-ups, and chins; basically anything I could do at home. I was trying to stay off my feet as much as possible, so that ruled out the mile and a half trip to the gym. By the weekend, it was feeling much better, but I gave it a couple of extra days without running to be sure.

Tuesday 1st April - Track: 2 x [250m, 200m, 150m] 4min, 12min
So, back to business as usual with a track session on Tuesday. Thanks to the hour going forward, this was the first time I'd trained on this track with the sun still shining, and it was a lovely mild evening. I stuck with the racing flats for this one, and by limiting the recoveries between sets to 4min, somwhat of a cap was put on the intensity considering I hadn't run in about ten days. The 12min recovery between the two sets allowed me to do them at a decent pace, and hopefully still have consistency between the two sets.

The times went: 32.9, 26.2, 19.1, [12min] 34.0, 27.6, 20.4

There was clearly a drop-off between the sets, although the first set felt really good and relaxed, and was noticeably quicker than the similar session from two weeks previous, even though I felt I'd pushed harder on the other session. Average pace was 52.1 400m pace for the first set, and 54.7 for the second set.

Wednesday 2nd April - Gym
Front Squat: 80kg 5x3
Clean: 60kg 2x3, 62.5kg 1x3, 65kg 1x3
Neutral-Grip Chins: BW+15kg 3x5
Dips: BW+15kg 3x6
Ab Rollouts + Single-leg hip thrusts w/ med-ball supersets: RO 3x12, SLHT 3x12

Ankle was a bit iffy after the gym. Undecided on whether to do the track session later on.
Edit: Not going to do it, better safe than sorry. Also have large assignment due up tomorrow that I'd like to finish this evening.

Oregano_State

Chivito550 wrote: »

I did a 300m rep in a hand timed 40.3 on a Sunday morning in racing flats, on a crap track, using 2 bends rather than 2 straights, off 4 hours sleep, after 7 hours of constant walking and standing the night before. I really don't think sub 40 should be much of a barrier for you given you are faster than me.

I wouldn't think there's a whole lot in it now with the improvements you've made. No guarantees I'm in 54s shape at the moment either.

Oregano_State

Saturday 5th April - Steps
9 runs up the set of steps. 3 with a foot on each step, 3 skipping a step, and 3 all out. Ankle was ok.

Sunday 6th April - Gym
Clean 60kg 5 x 3
Deadlift 110kg 3x3
Neutral-Grip Chins BW+15kg 3x5, BW 2x5
Dips BW+15kg 5x8
Ab rollouts 3x12
Russian Twists 10kg 3x30

Also did some box jumps, not really organised. There's a box in the gym (roughly 40-42" in height, not sure how wide) that we were aiming to clear with a box jump. It's sort of a right of passage in the gym, and you get to write your name on the box if you do it. After a few attempts I just about managed to get it. I was pretty pleased with myself, as it's fairly daunting at first if you don't get your head right.

Monday 7th April - Gym
DOMS
Squat 60kg 1x10, 70kg 1x8, 80kg 1x5, 90kg 1x5
RDL w/ deficit 70kg 1x10, 75kg 3x10
DB Row 32kg 2x8, 36kg 1x8
DB Bench 28kg 3x5
Core 3 rounds of 45s plank, then 12 aleknas w/ 5kg plate

Tough going with the core at the end.

Tuesday 8th April - Track: 2x150m, 3x120m, 4x80m
Didn't feel great at all for this session, I had quite a bit of DOMS from the gym sessions the previous couple of days. I did the session in flats. Rest was walk-back between reps, and 5 mins between sets, there was a fairly strong headwind to contend with, although it wasn't cold or wet.

Times: 150s in 19.4, 20.1, 120s in 15.x, 16.1, 15.x. I didn't time the 80s.

I was the only one doing the track session, so the coach was able to take a good look at me. He told me that I was overstriding when running at full speed, and gave me a couple of pointers for correcting it. I found it difficult to change what I'm used to at first, but I noticed the last couple of 80m runs were much better than the rest of the session in terms of turnover. I'm going to keep doing what he's told me and hopefully see some improvements. My ankle problem has almost completely disappeared now. Hopefully this is the last time I'll mention it here.

Wed 9th April - Gym
Back Squat 110kg 1x2 PB, 100kg 3x6 PB
Bench Press 70kg 1x5, 75kg 2x5, 1x10
Barbell Hip Thrust 60kg 1x10, 100kg 3x10
DB Pullovers 28kg 1x3, 32kg 2x3, 26kg 3x8

That was a decent few days' training. Training may suffer over the next week or so as I'm travelling, but I'll fit it in where I can.