I’ve been a very infrequent poster here for the last year or so, and decided it’s time to start tracking my training progress and hopefully get some feedback from you folks who are a lot more knowledgeable than myself.

I was a DIII sprinter who graduated in 2003, and used to compete at nationals against ET’s own Danny Tutskey.  I am mostly a 200m runner who dabbles in the 400m from time to time.

After school I got sucked into a job which required an awful lot of traveling, and the track training had to go.  I kept in shape, but not in sprinting shape.  In the summer of 2008, I decided to train again to see if I still had it.  The results were encouraging.

My PR’s are 21.05 in the 200m, and 48.5 in the 400m.  Last season I finished up with SB’s of 21.97 in the 200m, and 49.81 in the 400m.  Seeing as I had been out of the game for 6 years and tweaked my hamstring in March, I feel pretty good about those times, and would like to see them both drop this year.

I’m working with a USATF Level II coach in planning my training.  I have one significant hurdle to deal with: my job. I still travel frequently, but thanks to the information here and my coach, some flexibility has been built into my training in the form of plyometrics and body-weight circuits I can do practically anywhere.

GPP is wrapping up.  The fun stuff starts tomorrow.

Thank you all for the great information you’ve made available here.  I look forward to talking with you all as the season progresses.

Age: 18
Height: 5 foot 9
Weight: 150ish
Im full filipino

PRs
100: 11.54
200: 23.68
400: 53 (handtimed)

Im pretty sure I can run faster because during highschool I ran on a dirt track and was never able to get any real quality work (my highschool coach was one of those people who just made us run and run, pretty much mindless laps).  During the summer I was able to run at a real track and able to drop my times from 11.90 to 11.54 and 24.06 to 23.68 in about 2 weeks.

Currently a freshman at San Jose state University.  Practice starts next week but im gonna be out of the country till Tuesday so I wont start practicing till Wednesday.  Currently its a no cut policy for the team because its a club.

Goals this year
100: sub 11
200: sub 22.5
400: sub 50

I have yet to fully grasp the scientific side of track and field so please bear with me if I may seem uneducated on this part..

Male
Age: 17 (just turned 17 two days ago) - grade 11
Body weight : 148 pounds
Height: 5’9

Sprint Personal Bests

60m - 7.31 (2010 indoor)
100m - 11.34 (0.0 wind) - 2009 outdoor
200m - 23.11 (1.4m/s tailwind)- 2009 outdoor
400m - 56.2 - 2009 early outdoor
4x100m - 43.75

Lifting Stats

Bench Press - high 200s - 300 (1RM)
Below Parallel Squat - 305x4 (just below parallel, not ATG)
Above Parallel Squat - 365x3
Power Clean - 190x1
Deadlift -  385-405x1
Push ups (burnout) - 65
Pull ups (burnout) - 15

Goals

100m - 10.99 and faster
200m - 22.59 and faster

2009-2010 Indoor Season

Opener in December : 7.46
Previous Personal Best from previous year : 7.48
New Personal Best : 7.31

Previous 100m PBs

Freshman (2008 outdoor season) : 11.95 (1.5m/s tailwind)
Sophomore (2009 outdoor season) : 11.34 (0.0 wind)

Previous 200m PBs

Freshman (2008 outdoor season) : 24.57
Sophomore (2009 outdoor season) : 23.11

Indoor 60m/200m Progression

Freshman: 7.79/25.3
Sophomore: 7.48/24.74
Senior year 1: 7.31/24.2

2010 Outdoor Season

First meet on march 31st likely, it will be in a indoor track that is outdoor sized. The next meet, and maybe even the one after that will also be at this track. Will run another prep outdoor meet in start of May, and then district qualifiers middle of May. Regional Qualifiers end of May, and Provincial Championships start of June. After that school season will be over, and summer season will begin.

My age group: As a senior this year (grade 11), I will have to face people who are grade 12, and grade 13 (5th years in high school), making the competition much more difficulty of course.

Well i really enjoy reading the other journals and feel like they can be a good learning place for other athletes so i decided i would try and offer my own experiences over the next few months.

Event 400m:

PR: 48.06i 2009
  22.38i 2009

Goals for 2010: Average of 5 best times - 47.7. One off target of 47.3.
          Do not blow up with 100m to go.
          Execute races with more consitency ( This should help the second goal too)

So a quick recap. I had a fairly successfull indoor season in 2009 peaking with 48.0 in February. I had hoped this was the start of things to come but following a few injuries my outdoor season was cut short and i failed to beat the time from indoors.

I took the decision in September 2009 to leave my coach of 3 years to design my own programs focussing heavily on speed development ( the majority of my research for this was influenced by Mike, charlie francis and Dan Pfaff.) Well to cut a long story short i got hurt, then had minimal improvements in my speed but lost what has always been a strength of mine, the endurance side. Following this unsuccessful period i have returned to my original training ( lots of volume, lower intensity). My thoughts on why the speed focussed 400m plan didnt work: 1. I havent got the innate abilities to develop my speed much further and the minimal gain would never outweigh my loss in endurance. 2. I didn’t give it enough time. 3. I lacked the experience to sufficently write a program. 4. A mix of them all.

A definite setback but we learn and move on. So i started back into training a week ago and here is how it looked:

Monday: Hurdle w/o 1 3x (20m sled, 20m accel, 20m Sled) + Upper body weight lifting circuit

Tuesday:  Hurdle w/o 2 + 5x250m hill with 5min30 rest. + Weight circuit -lower body

Weds: 10min jog to gym + General strength circuit + squat walks and ankle conditioning

Thurs: Drills + Hurdle w/o + 10x200m with 90secs rest @ >30s. Weightlifting circuit upper and lower

Fri: Ad lib warm up + 5x600m with 3mins rest.

Sat: Drills + Hurdle w/o + 5x20m Hill + 4x75secs,60s,45s with 1min between reps and 5 between sets. Weight lifting circuits.

Sun: Rest.

So a bit more emphasis on volume rather than intensity. I’m sure to anyone just looking over this journal the training will seem very haphazard but hopefully over time there will be some logic to why each session is done. But the general pattern is for volume to decrease and speed of sessions to increase as we approach the season. I have also kept the one speed day as i no ultimately 400m success will come down to how fast u can run over the 200m etc. Why so much long stuff? Purely because i now know what my body does and doesnt take well too. Even the very best training program would not suit everybody.

Well enough from me, if anyone wants more info on what i plan to do the next few months or what i have done in the past. then get posting. Let’s do this!

———————————————-
McKenzie:
Naturally gifted short sprinter. With little training she runs around 13.0 in the 100m, 25.85 in the 200m, and 57.19 in the 400m. She splits out a 12.1 in the 4x100m, low 25s in the 4x200m, and a 56.7 in the 4x400m. She has very little weight room training and has had to deal with very bad asthma her entire life. Also, she has something wrong with the arch of her foot so that she needs to have it taped every day. She is a true competitor and it is amazing to watch her reel people in on the 4x400m relay. Last year her season ended short due to an illness the day of the league meet. This year she made it to state and placed 2nd in the 400m and 5th on a 3:58 4x400m relay. When she ran 57.19, her last 100m was around 15.4 so she didn’t die terribly.

Bench: 65 lbs.
Power Clean: 75 lbs.
Back Squat: 145 lbs.

Goals:
100m: 12.3
200m: 24.2
400m: 54
Bench: 115 lbs.
Power Clean: 115 lbs.
Back Squat: 235 lbs.

———————————————-
April:
Mediocre at sprinting but worked hard on weights this past year. Over the last year we worked on her speed and she went from 14.0 to 13.2, 29.1 to 26.3, 61.49 to 60.06 in the 100m, 200m, and 400m respectively. She ran the 800m twice with her best being a 2:25.5. She beats herself up mentally because her 60.06 happened in her first 400m race of the year and she never improved in a meet—she ran 58.7 in practice with no pressure. Never had any serious injuries except for a grade 1 turf toe incident to finish out this year. She consistently runs 18 or 19 seconds for the last 100m of the 400m; she comes out too fast and really hits the wall.

Bench: 90 lbs.
Power Clean: 110 lbs.
Back Squat: 165 lbs.

Goals:
100m: 12.7
200m: 25.5
400m: 57.0
800m: 2:10
Bench: 115 lbs.
Power Clean: 135 lbs.
Back Squat: 245 lbs.

———————————————-
I am going to be training April for a 400m/800m double and McKenzie for the 1/2/4. I haven’t ever trained an athlete for the 800m, so be kind! It will be a speed-based 800m training routine.

Summer training starts next week and here is the general setup for the running:
Monday: Acc. Development
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: MaxV for McKenzie, Lactic-type work for April
Thursday: Extensive tempo for April
Friday: MaxV
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off

For the weights I derived a program based heavily from Tudor Bompa’s book.
M, W, F
Primary Lifts: Bench Press, Power Clean, Back Squat
Other Lifts: RDL, Military Press, Upright Rows, Push-ups, Pull-ups

The overall idea is to keep it simple for these high schoolers. We had great success last year following a similar program so I won’t be changing it up too much.

My idea with this journal is to post a week’s worth of workouts at a time and if there is any advice or questions to address them before the workouts happen. I will post next week’s workout soon! Then, as the workouts happen, I will post results and other thoughts.

Would any more information on the athletes be beneficial? Did I forget anything that would help you all help me?

My goals this year:
1) Make the 100m squad for the European Championships
2) Be in the 4x100m final squad at the European Championships
3) Make the Commonwealth 100m Team

To do the above, I believe I will have to run sub-10.10, possibly quicker. I also intend to do a few 200s, and would like to go sub-20.80.

I have a week off now to recover, then hitting training hard! 12 weeks until first outdoor race!