June 11
KB Swings
2 x 15 x 18.5kg
Back Squat
5 x 110kg
5 x 120kg
4 x 135kg
Ab Circuit, 3 x 3 mins
Did acceleration runs today and my right quad was aching quite a bit so I didn’t attempt a 5th rep. I’m still a few days from being back to normal, can’t wait to get back into my routine.
June 13
Track Work
3 x 200, 2 x 200m - 25.1, 26.0, 26.2 25.6, 26.7
After last week I didn’t want to run a slow first rep so I hit the bend and held strong to the line. Was not expecting 25.1!! My endurance held up so well, on another day I could easily have run 27’s for the rest of them after a time like that. I hit the 4th rep with the intention of scraping a 26 low on the last rep but my technique went and I shuffled through the line.
Next target is all sub 26 which I could’ve done today with a bit of consistency.
June 14
Deadlift
5 x 111kg
3 x 126kg
5 x 141kg
Bird Dogs
2 x 20
Weighted Ab Circuit
Didn’t push it, they were five very comfortable reps and my lower back was nice and straight.
June 15
Alternate Bench Press (1)
3 x 12 x 36kg
Explosive Pushups (1)
3 x 8
Dumbbell Rows
3 x 8 x 45kg
Thought i’d change it up a bit as my bench is getting kind of stale. I feel like i’m on the edge of a training breakthrough and I think after the easy week in deadlift my times are going to drop off.
June 17
KB Swings
2 x 15 x 18.5kg
Back Squat
5 x 115kg
5 x 125kg
5 x 140kg
Ab Bridges
3 x 3 mins
Very comfortable squats, took my stance a little wider and didn’t even call for a spotter on the heavy set. Pleased to get my strength back and should be able to maintain from now until August while increasing my deadlift.
June 19
Track Work
80, 100, 120m falling. 9.48, 11.51, 13.94.
SLRDL
2 x 5 x 118.5kg
Ab Bridges
3 x 3 mins
Really hit and miss technique with the flat out runs, with the middle one being almost spot on. Lowered the weight in SLRDL and went through full RoM and felt very strong.
June 21
Track Work
3 x 200m, 2 x 200m - 25.8, 26.1, 26.6 25.4, 25.6
Had really heavy legs in the thrid rep and could barely make the line. Much stronger on the final two reps and pushed the last one so hard I threw up a bit at the side of the track. Haven’t pushed it that much in over a year.
June 22
Deadlift
5 x 76kg
5 x 88.5kg
5 x 103.5kg
Bird Dogs
2 x 20
Abs, 3 sets
No problems.
June 23
Alternate Bench Press (1)
3 x 14 x 36kg
Explosive Pushups (1)
3 x 8
Dumbbell Rows
3 x 8 x 45kg
Was looking at going back to benching twice a week so will be trying to slot the power matrix in either at the weekend or early next week.
June 24
Track Work
3 x 120m. Last 80m times - 8.60, 8.55, 8.64
It was 40m build up and 80m fast so I timed the flying runs and was pretty pleased with those, as always i’ll look to lower that time over the next month or so.
June 25
KB Swings
2 x 15 x 18.5kg
Back Squat
5 x 120kg
5 x 130kg
5 x 140kg
Ab Circuit, 2 x 3 mins
This is an easy week but I didn’t want to do less today as i’ve only just got back to 140kg squats.
June 27
Track Work
80, 100, 120m falling start. 9.26 =PB, 11.44 PB, 13.72
SLRDL
2 x 5 x 118.5kg
Ab Bridges, 3 x 3 mins
Nice set of times today, everything was smooth from start to finish and the only improvement would be if I was fresher.
Have you seen any correlation between what you run in the 100m in a race and what you can do in practice. I didn’t run many 100m in practice but for the short time that I did it seemed that what I ran in practice was equivalent to a handtimed 100m in a meet.
I haven’t read your entire log, do you have a coach writing your workouts? I was just wondering, your workouts seem consistent with what I’ve done just a little less volume.
I was curious as to how much recovery you’ve been taking in your 200m workouts, especially these workouts that you’re running 25.X-26.X. I’m curious because these times are 90-95% of your race-pace and if you’re still taking 2.5 min I’m wondering if you’re running too hard.
I think because of the difference it makes when I rest up before a race I can’t predict with much accuracy, but i’ve found roughly a hand timed from falling start in training + 0.3 secs is what i’d run in a race.
I use the template of my previous coach and implement my own and other coaches ideas to personalise it. My coach was very keen to keep us healthy so the volume is lower than other groups.
The target for the 200 session is two seconds off your 200m pb, which is what we’d run the first 200 of a 400m race in. For me that’s 25.8 and i’m near enough there so will be speaking to my old coach about how to move the sessions on to keep it working for me. Today was 2.5 mins between reps, 3x200, 2x200 with 9 mins between sets.
Thanks for your comments.
June 29
Track Work
3 x 200m, 2 x 200m - 26.0, 26.3, 26.1 26.2, 25.5
No wind today, compared to tailwinds on the last two occasions, which means those times were pretty fast and consistent. Had a lot left over for the final rep. Cut the middle recovery by a minute and coped well, will speak to coach to see if my fitness is where it needs to be and if I can start doing something like 2 x 150m flat out with full recovery instead.
[quote]Fezz wrote:
I think because of the difference it makes when I rest up before a race I can’t predict with much accuracy, but i’ve found roughly a hand timed from falling start in training + 0.3 secs is what i’d run in a race.[/quote]
Are you’re races hand timed or fully auto? When I started doing 100m flys I was doing them in ~11.1 secs and I would run 11.3-11.4 fully auto. I got my 100m flys down to 10.6 but I never got a chance to test out my 100m in a race because it was during the summer, so I’ve been wondering if that would translate to a 10.8-10.9 race.
I guess my concern about your 200m workouts is just based on the system that I’ve used and my experience. I’ve run workouts very similar to yours (3-5 x 200m)x2, 2-3 min recovery, 25.0-26.5 second pace, but I was also a mid 47 sec 400m runner at that time. So I just had some concern that you’re going to hard in practice and it’s hindering your races. It may not be, not everyone responds to training the same way.
I get so wound up by incorrect hand times that I only enter electronic meets now.
Spoke to my coach and he said i’ve got the most out of that particular session and I can switch to a split 400 session, so next week will be something like 250m (1.5 min) 150m (25 mins) 300m (1.5 mins) 100m at 13 sec/100m pace. I find I respond well to longer stuff as I trained for a decathlon a few summers ago and the 400m work indirectly took my 100m time down whereas most people see a 200m improvement and maybe lose a bit of acceleration for the 100m.
June 30
Deadlift
5 x 101kg
5 x 116kg
10 x 131kg PB
Bird Dogs
2 x 20
Weighted Abs, 3 sets
Alt DB Bench
3 x 14 x 36kg
Explosive Pushups
3 x 8
DB Rows
3 x 8 x 45kg
Could’ve done more deadlifts but stopped at ten, very pleased with that. Upper body session was meant to be tomorrow but this girl i’ve been seeing for a few weeks told me she’s giving her cheating ex another chance so I had a little rage to use up. Next race on the 13th July.
Have intermittent internet access in the next 15 days as it’s being shut off at home, so updates might be bunched.
Right… think i’ll split this into a week at a time.
July 2
KB Swings
2 x 15 x 18.5kg
Power Cleans
1 x 81kg
1 x 86kg
1 x 88.5kg
1 x 91kg
1 x 93.5kg
1 x 96kg
Couldn’t get to the track today as it shut early so did power cleans.
July 4
Track Work
80, 100, 120m falling. 9.36, 11.47, 13.86
Bench Press
8 x 75kg
5 x 85kg
3 x 90kg
3 x 1 x 102.5kg
5 x 87.5kg
Third run was really tense and a mess. Power matrix in bench.
July 6
Track Work
250m (90 secs) 150m 33.4, 19.9 total 53.3 secs
300m (90 secs) 100m 39.6, 12.9 total 52.5 secs
Pacing was hard and I could’ve hit 52 flat as I intended to do. This replaces my 5x200m session and recovery will be cut followed by distance and then intensity upped.
July 7
Deadlift
3 x 108.5kg
3 x 123.5kg
7 x 138.5kg
Bird Dogs
2 x 20
Weighted Ab circuit, 295 reps & bridges
July 8
Alternate DB Bench
2 x 16 x 36kg
1 x 12 x 36kg
Explosive Pushups
3 x 8
DB Rows
3 x 8 x 45kg
Race on the 13th so not many weights before then
July 11
3 x 200m, 2 x 200m all in around 27 flat.
July 12
SL Calf Raises
1 x 12 x 10kg
1 x 12 x 20kg
Plantar Flexor Res. Band pull
2 x 12
I was at a biomechanics lecture the day before and direct calf work came up and these were discussed - I had a race the next day but wanted to see what they were like.
July 13
100m - 12.04 (-2.4)
Quite a strong headwind. Had the best first 40m of my life and was over a metre ahead and thought it was wrapped up but I hadn’t done a top speed session in a while and it showed when I was a little short of the pace and I ended up getting pipped by a few hundredths.
200m - 24.28 (-0.8)
This was almost 10pm at night as there were loads of 1500m races that dragged on. Again my acceleration was excellent and other than easing up a little at about 80m I ran how I wanted to, with good form on the straight but again a little lacking in top speed.
Times are meh but the last races have been a really nice tailwind so can’t make a direct comparison.
July 14
Deadlift
5 x 116kg
3 x 131kg
1 x 146kg PB
1 x 156kg PB
Hyper Extensions
2 x 20
SL Calf Raises
3 x 12 x 21kg
Plantar Flexor Res. Band pull
2 x 12
Weighted Ab circuit, 295 reps & bridges
This was my last bit of deadlit for the summer and I wanted a quick test of my 1RM. My back started rounding when I tried 161kg so I stopped, but 156kg is pretty good considering I weigh about 69kg at the moment.
My old housemate owned half the weights and has taken his share so until I can acquire some new ones I will be doing slightly different exercises and hopefully using the track gym.
July 15
Weighted Dips (1)
1 x 12 x 10kg
2 x 12 x 12.5kg
Explosive Pushups (1)
3 x 8
DB Rows
3 x 8 x 41kg
Have been lazy with explosive pushups for a while and the difference when I do them as high as possible is really noticeable. I don’t have a belt so I hung a backpack of weights off my front for dips and was happy with the effort level needed to finish those sets.
Hi Fezzmeister,
Ive been following your training with intrigue.
I have one sprint training session on Thursdays. At the moment Im doing 5 sets of 350m runs(for stamina) followed by about 10 reps of 15m hill sprints.
If you only had one day to practice your sprinting, and your aim was to be generally faster including 15m and 100m, what type of workout would you recommend??
My training is logged in detail in “The Bird Cage”.
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If it were me I would do maybe 8 x 15-25m accelerations with varying recovery (simulates game situations where you might have 4-5 mins between chasing a player or twice in a minute), and i’d do them first because you need to be quite fresh for maximal effort running. I’d follow that with 3 x 70m runs because you aren’t likely to run more than box to box in a game. Do those on grass in your boots rather than on a track. Have you considered shuttle runs or suicides? They mimic changing direction and accelerating away and are used a lot. A fast 350m is an odd choice but if it is a tempo pace (16-18 secs per 100m) with a few minutes between each run then that’d build a good base of fitness. Hope you can take something from all that scribbling.
July 16
Track Work
2 x Flying 80m - 8.40, 8.50
Damn I felt good today, I think the hip flexor stretching i’ve done recently has improved my glute activation as it feels like i’m using them more at top speed. Only did two runs as i’m still recovering from the races on wednesday.
Hyper Extensions
2 x 20
Ab Bridges, 2 x 4 mins