The least important part of this thread is the Title

Chivito550

Oregano_State wrote: »

I'm going to try to get back in the habit of posting here.

2015 was a bit of a write-off for me athletics-wise. I was plagued by a persistent hamstring injury and was never able to string more than a few weeks training together before breaking down. I ended up doing all sorts of stuff, including a 6-week stint playing gaelic football with my old GAA club as they were gearing up for a big championship game.

More recently I got back on the track for a few weeks in October/November but again the hamstring trouble reared its head. On a positive note, even after only a couple of weeks I was getting through some decent sessions.

The situation now is that I've rested and strengthened up the hamstring enough now to start back into some running, which I intend to continue, and work towards first getting into decent shape, then working towards competing in the outdoor season. I've spent a good bit of time over Christmas coming up with a sensible and progressive training schedule, with a 'deload week' every 4th week to mitigate against too much accumulated fatigue and put the kebosh on any more injuries with a bit of luck. I also went back over this log and focused on my last sustained period with no injuries and tried to take some lessons from it.

I have some goals in mind but I'm not going to post them yet until I get at least a month of uninterrupted training behind me.

Anyway, that's me. I'll be back again soon with some training to post.

Welcome back. 2016 will be the year of the revival of sprinting logs!

Oregano_State

I'm still working on strengthening my hamstring. It has not been straightforward.

However, in athletics-related news, I've been coaching juveniles at my home club for the past year and a bit and was recently made head coach (fancy that, eh?). The Munster U14-U19 indoor champs were held this weekend in Nenagh, and our guys cleaned up; winning 14 individual medals with 12 athletes competing, nearly everybody PB-ing, and including 1 championship record for the U14 60m with 7.72s.

If I could do as good a job coaching myself as I seem to be doing with these lads, I'll be in business.

Oregano_State

Finally I have some sprint training to post.

Wednesday I did 7x200m with 200m walk recovery.
This morning (Sunday) I did 2x4x30m accels, then 8x100m at 85-90%.
I also did gym work on Monday, Thursday, and Friday.

I'm really happy with this training week. I haven't run at full pelt in so long, I almost forgot how good it feels. Both track sessions this week were hard, and my calves were tight as a b*stard until yesterday after the 200s on Wed. This morning's accels felt good, although I could feel my legs starting to go on the second set. The 100m reps were much the same; I need a couple weeks before I get that bit of conditioning back to keep my form as I tire.
I won't record times in training for another few weeks; I'll wait until I can hit the times I want to be hitting. For the moment, just being able to lace up the runners or spikes is enough.

Chivito550

Oregano_State wrote: »

Finally I have some sprint training to post.

Wednesday I did 7x200m with 200m walk recovery.
This morning (Sunday) I did 2x4x30m accels, then 8x100m at 85-90%.
I also did gym work on Monday, Thursday, and Friday.

I'm really happy with this training week. I haven't run at full pelt in so long, I almost forgot how good it feels. Both track sessions this week were hard, and my calves were tight as a b*stard until yesterday after the 200s on Wed. This morning's accels felt good, although I could feel my legs starting to go on the second set. The 100m reps were much the same; I need a couple weeks before I get that bit of conditioning back to keep my form as I tire.
I won't record times in training for another few weeks; I'll wait until I can hit the times I want to be hitting. For the moment, just being able to lace up the runners or spikes is enough.

You eyeing a few races over the summer season?

Oregano_State

Chivito550 wrote: »

You eyeing a few races over the summer season?

That's the plan! Gonna open up with the Kerry Seniors in the middle of May.

Would be great to give you a race at the AAI games or another comp.

Oregano_State

I've been tipping away nicely with the training. Was in the UK for work last week and got a few runs in, no track work though.

This week I'm in sunny sunny Tenerife on holidays and again I've gotten through a good bit of training. This morning I did 8x50m hills at 95%, with full recovery (whatever I felt like) then 1 long hill straight after the last short one. Then a hilly jog back to the apartment, after which I did my customary swim cool-down followed by 20 minutes high intensity sunbathing featuring factor 50 suncream as my fair complexion demands.

I also did a 20 minute recovery run followed by more swimming in the PM.

Yesterday I did 6x150m hills at 85% pace plus ~3.5km hilly jogging there and back. Plus swimming.

I can feel my work capacity and form start to come back so I'm feeling positive about what's possible for me this outdoor season if I keep myself healthy.

In more good news, the athletes I coach again did themselves proud at the juvenile indoor champs last weekend. We had one championship record in the boys u14 LJ (5.68m) and the same guy was 0.05 off the record for his second gold medal in the 60m.
My cousin won the girls u19 60m and pb'd in the 200m and 400m finals. I've only just started to convert her to 400m and she's going to do serious damage over 200m and 400m when I get her speed endurance where it needs to be. We also had a silver medal plus PB in the girls u19 LJ, and a couple other PBs in the sprints.
It's really rewarding coaching such a talented and committed bunch of young people; it's spurring me on with my own training as well so that I can be a good role model for them.

Chivito550

Oregano_State wrote: »

That's the plan! Gonna open up with the Kerry Seniors in the middle of May.

Would be great to give you a race at the AAI games or another comp.

I'm actually over in Paris for Roland Garros the weekend of AAI Games (all part of my new approach to have more balance, I used to deprive myself of this stuff for fear of missing a race). Would be great to have a race but I'm not training for 400 this year so maybe a 100 and 200 combo at one of the IMC meets?

Oregano_State

Chivito550 wrote: »

I'm actually over in Paris for Roland Garros the weekend of AAI Games (all part of my new approach to have more balance, I used to deprive myself of this stuff for fear of missing a race). Would be great to have a race but I'm not training for 400 this year so maybe a 100 and 200 combo at one of the IMC meets?

Sounds good. Are the IMC meets scheduled already?

Chivito550

Oregano_State wrote: »

Sounds good. Are the IMC meets scheduled already?

Their website appears to be down but here are the fixtures:

http://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057562933/1/#post98781309

Oregano_State

17/03/16 - 27/03/16
Another decent enough period of training. I continued on training hard the last few days of my holiday with 2 decent interval sessions. Last weekend was mostly spent Travelling home so I didn't get a huge amount of training done. Monday of this week I did a gym session where I did some:
1) Box jumps, up to 42 inches (107cm),
2) Squats: 100kg x5, 85kg 3x8
3) Pull Ups: 4x7
4) Dips: 4x15
5) Core

Tuesday my legs were in bits after the squats but I did a warm-up and some strides on the grass before coaching, just to loosen out.
Wednesday was a track session. Huge long warmup, then 5x80m at full pelt. I had an electronic timing system on for the first one and last one. 10.13 & 10.26 while still very tight from Monday's DOMS is not too bad considering I'm only back sprinting a couple weeks after a far too long layoff. I'm told the 80m to 100m conversion is 80m time = 82% of 100m time, so I was in the 12.3-12.5s range which is ok for the moment I suppose.
Thursday & Friday I didn't get anything done due to a combination of work and persistent DOMS after Monday & Wednesday.
Saturday I did a gym session with:
1)Bench: 70kg 2x6, 1x10, 60kg 1x12
2)DB Press: 15kg 2x10, 17.5kg 1x10, 20kg 2x10
3)Lu Raises: 5kg 3x10
4)Lateral Raises 7kg 2x10
5)Single Leg Squat w/ 4kg Med Ball: 3x10 e/s
6)Single Leg Hamstring Curls: 10kg 2x6 e/s with slow eccentric
7)Nordics: 2x6 w/ slow eccentric
8) Side Bends: 10kg 1x12 e/s, 15kg 2x12 e/s

This morning then, Easter Sunday 2016: I did a track session consisting of 2x5x150m with walk-back rest between reps and 6mins between the two sets. I did these with two of the older athletes I coach and we were absolutely pelted with wind, rain and hail. Nevertheless it was a good session and I was glad to grind out the last 3-4 reps as my form started to fade as working through fatigue to hold form was the goal. No times for this session. I would imagine all were done in 19-22s based on how they felt.

Oregano_State

Monday: Off
Tuesday: 20min easy jog - legs very sore
Wednesday: Track Session - 5x250m off 6mins rest
This was pretty tough on the last two reps. Came in at 36.x for the first 2, then 37, 38, & 36 on the last. Pretty decent session. My legs still had the 150s from Sunday in them, I was considering pulling the plug on the session after 2 becuase I was worried about my hamstring, but I did a couple of strides and it felt OK, so I persevered.
Thursday: Off
Friday: Gym - power session with a guest coach. Lots of plyometric exercises (jumping) and olympic lift techniue work. It was a very good, tough session.
Saturday: Gym - lots of foam rolling & stretching after the previous day's exertions. Then mainly upper body. Bench 75kg 2x6, x10, single-leg press 120kg 3x6 e/s Weighted dips: 2x8 with +20kg. Hyperextensions w/ 10kg 3x15. Some other stuff too.
Sunday: Track - 8x30m fly with electronic gate timing, then after those I did a 200m & a 150m flat out:
For the flys, in the first one there was an extra gate for the last 10m split of the 30m, and the second one recorded the first 10 split of the 30m. The series went as follows:
3.46 (1.11)
3.35 (1.09)
3.46
3.37
3.43
3.50
3.49
3.54

Then the 200m was 25 high/26 low, and the 150m was 19.1s. I'm really happy with this session as I felt a huge improvement compared to my last speed session on the Wednesday before Easter Sunday. In that session I got absolutely creamed over 80m by one of the lads I coach who is a 16 year old with a 24.3s 200m, 7.4x 60m & 6.34m LJ in Nenagh this season. Today I did the first two flys with him and I was much much closer to him. I'm knew I was heading in the right direction but evidence like that is very comforting. As you can see by the times I started to tire over the last few, but a 3.35 isn't too shabby. Hopefully next time I can get under the 3.3s mark.
On the 200m, I was going really well but it felt like I hit a wall with 50m to go. The 150m was OK, I held on a bit better.

One thing I'm still waiting on to improve is my recovery after hard sessions, which isn't yet where it needs to be, but hopefully it should start to return to normal levels now that I've had a few weeks of training under my belt.

Oregano_State

Not quite a full week since my last post but I've a few minutes to spare so...

Monday: - OFF
Tuesday: Grass Track, ET - 2x10x100m off 1min, 6min breaks. All done in 15/16s felt strong. Next time I'll cut the rest to 45s.
Wednesday: - home circuit session with lots of core. Hit 40 strict pushups for the first time in ages too.
Thursday: 15 minute mini-fartlek run, plus Gym
A)Back Squat: worked up to 100kg 1x3
B1) Front Squat: 80kg x3, 70kg 3x5
B2) Straight-Leg Trap-Bar DL: 73kg 1x10, 83kg 3x10
Then 90 minutes coaching my athletes through their gym session, it always involves a lot of demonstration.
Friday: Track Session: 1x80m @ 100%, then SE 3x300m, 2x200m off 8mins.
Times 43.8s, 43.3s, 47.9s (yikes :eek:), 29.6s, 29.1s

The aim for this session was 5x300m in 42-43s but after my third rep which I never really got up to speed in, and fell apart the last 30m, I knew there was no point continuing as the pace would just have kept dropping. So I shortened the reps to allow the pace to come back to where I wanted it. This is where my lack of a winter behind me is showing; I'll just have to keep at it because I'm not going to get the time back. Hopefully I've enough time to build my aerobic base up over the next couple of months.

Saturday: Gym
A) Incline Bench: 65kg 5x5
B1) Seated DB Press: 17.5kg 1x8, 1x10, 1x11
B2) Hypers: +15kg 3x10
C) Core: Hanging leg-raises 1x8 (controlled), Opposite arm/leg-thing 3x20, russian twists w/ 4kg med ball 1x30, crunches 3x30


The general plan I have at the moment is based around 3 main running sessions, plus one mini tempo-style run before a gym session. I also do another 2 gym sessions, one of which is a long gym session, the second is shorter, and really little more than a bit of an extended warmup and flexibility/mobility routine before Sunday's track session.

My Tuesday session is extensive tempo, so emphasis on the aerobic system. Friday's track session is lactic, speed-endurance, or special endurance. Sunday's track session is acceleration or speed work, with a little special endurance at the end.

I'm debating opening up at the Leevale open sports on May 7th, but I don't know if I'll be ready in time - will play this by ear, certainly I don't feel ready for a 400m right now after dying horribly after 2 modestly-paced 300m reps... I'm definitely doing the Kerry Champs the following weekend though. I might do the 100m and 200m at Leevale, aiming for PBs. I'm happy enough with how my speed is coming along.

Oregano_State

1. Gym: Lots of foam rolling and mobility, plus some single-leg DLs & BW Dips
2. Track: 4x2x200m off 1min, 5min

This is usually a speed session, and I'd wanted to practice blocks today, but the weather was absolutely atrocious so standing around resting between full-effort reps was never going to work. Instead, I decided to work on the endurance side of things, which, judging by Friday's showing, was well needed.

I did a short warm-up inside, although I was still mostly warmed-up from the gym beforehand. The first two 200m reps were done in my trainers, I switched to spikes for the rest of them. Times went as follows:
31.4s, 1:00
32.6s, 5:20
30.2s, 1:03
31.8s, 5:09
30.2s, 1:07
32.2s, 7:04
29.5s, 3:10
28.0s

Because of the short rest every second 200m was into the wind, which was reflected in the times. As a mental reward I allowed myself longer breaks for the last set, and both were done with the wind. I'm very happy with this session as the times were solid (avg 30.7s), I felt pretty strong throughout, and each successive rep was effectively done with a bit of weight added as my clothes got progressively more sodden with the torrential rain. :rolleyes:

I will try to work some accel/speed reps into the other sessions this week to make up for not getting it done today.

Oregano_State

I'm getting back into the swing of posting...

The weather was gorgeous this evening, so I headed down to the grass track and got my speed session in. Usually I wouldn't do a session like this the day after a track session, but my legs felt pretty good and it was going to be on grass so I went with it. The session went as follows:
A)Warm-up, including sprint drills
B)2x (10m, 20m, 30m, 40m, 50m, 60m) with 1min, 2min, 3min, 4min, 5min 6mins rest, all at full pelt.
C) 1x300m flat out
D) 1km cool-down jog

The weather was brilliant this evening, but the ground was little a bit soft after the torrential rain over the weekend. I did the session in sprint spikes, from either 3 or 4 point starts, but I still managed to slip a couple of times as I accelerated. Everything felt pretty good, although I could feel fatigue creeping in on the last couple of sprints. I don't have times for anything, but I recorded a lot of the session on my gopro so I can review my form and starts.

The 300m was a bit of a disaster, I definitely felt the 200m reps from yesterday in my legs, and even my core was screaming out at me with 100m to go. I'm still a few weeks away yet from being in race shape.

I've been wearing a fitbit since Christmas, and find it pretty good for tracking activity levels and sleep. It also does heart-rate, and while I don't think it's very accurate at tracking HR when exercising, it's fairly spot-on for RHR. Mine has been coming down steadily from 58/59 bpm at Christmas, to 51-53 the last two weeks. I'm aiming to get it down to <48 over the next month or so.

I won't run tomorrow. Will do a little bit Wed & Thurs, then a hard track session Friday.

Oregano_State

Tuesday: Just an extended warm-up with hurdle drills and a few strides as I was feeling fairly knackered after two sessions on consecutive days.
Wednesday: Gym
Squat up to 100kg x4
Concentric Squat from 44inch rack height -100kg x5, 120kg x3, 140kg x1, 100kg x5
Bench 80kg 3x6
Nordics BW x6 (as slow as possible)
SL hamstring curls - 5kg x10, 10kg x8 e/s
Pullups - BW 2x10
Core - Russian Twists w/ 15kg x30, then some crunches and butterfly kicks x2
Thursday: Was coaching a gym session and did a bit of a warm-up and some core stuff
Friday: - Track session: 2x(300m, 250m, 200m) off 4min, 15min rest
Times 44s, 38s, 29s, 48s, 38s, 30s

This was a cold, windy evening and I didn't enjoy this session at all. I recently changed the spikes in the spikes I wore for this session and I have found them pretty uncomfortable since. It really started to bother me on the second set but I stuck it out. The first set was actually harder as I attacked the 300m more. Mixed feelings overall, I'm a little bothered by the terrible times but the conditions were awful so I won't worry too much about it.

I felt pretty tired and lead-footed since Monday's session; maybe two relatively hard sessions on consecutive days wasn't the best idea. I'll head to the gym this afternoon and do a bit of bike work and some lifting. Sunday morning will be a speed session. Onwards.

Oregano_State

Saturday: Bike Session at Gym
Rollin' n' stretchin'
5min easy bike warmup
5x60s/60s
3min easy
5x45s/45s
3min easy
5x30s/30s
3min easy
5x10s/10s
*Blurgh*

This was not at all easy, and took about 36 minutes altogether. I think I need to work on my aerobic system more, but I don't think my legs can handle an extra running session at the moment. My legs felt like rubber when I came off the bike, but had recovered well by today. I'll try to get one of these in every week from now on.

Sunday: Gym + Block work on the track
Gym: Long Warmup, then some power cleans, up to 75kg which I think is a PB. Failed twice at 80kg. Needs more work.
Track: Usual track warm-up followed by lots of block-starts, maybe 15 altogether, ranging from 20-50m in distance ran per rep. Some felt better than others but none felt good. I recorded most of the session on my gopro and have spent a while today reviewing in slow-mo. The good news is that I've learned loads from watching the footage. The bad news is that my start sucks balls. I will be working hard over the next while to improve off the blocks; I've never been good at it but at least now I can see why.

Oregano_State

Monday 18th April - Gym: Lower body + Core
Squat - 100kg x5, 90kg 1x6, 1x10
BSS 20kg DBs 1x8 e/s, 22.5kg 2x8 e/s
SL Hypers BW 3x10 e/s
Core: Russian twist w/ 20kg plate 1x30, Plate-to-toes w/ 20kg x 20, Opposite-Toe-touch x12 e/s, Plank 45s

Tuesday: Grass Track Sesh: 2x10x100m off 45s, 5mins. All done in 15-16s
Legs very stiff after the gym session on Monday

Wednesday - Off. Well-needed rest day

Thursday - 15min fartlek + gym
Power-Cleans 60kg 5x4
Squats 100kg x5, 110kg 2x1
Wide-Grip Pull-ups 3x10

Friday - Track session: technique runs, 300m TT, then 2x500m
I wasn't overly happy with this session, I came in at 41.1s for the 300m which is way off where I need to be. I'll keep working away regardless. The 500s were ok, took 4mins between them and ran at about 70s/400m pace

Saturday - Off
Sunday - Off

Monday - Grass Track 4x40m, then 6x120m
I was away for the weekend and didn't manage to get any training in, so despite being fairly tired on Monday I got a quick nap in after work and was back out in the fading sun at 7pm to train. Everything felt pretty good. I'm heading in the right direction.

Tuesday - Grass Track
1) 500m, 300m, 400m, 200m off 2mins
5mins
2) 3x300m off 2:15
5mins
3) 1x 200m

Times here were nothing special but fairly consistent which was the goal.
1) 1:37 (~75s/400m pace), 50s, 73s, 35s
2) 48s, 50s, 49s
3) 31s

Tough enough session overall, but well needed. I was falling apart on the last couple of 300s on what was a fairly windy evening, and maybe shouldn't have bothered trying the 200m given that I ran so slowly (effort was basically 100%). Even so, my pace actually picked up as the session went on so that's a positive. I feel like I'm getting a bit of strength back, but there is still a way to go yet.
I'll hit the Gym this evening for some much needed foam-rolling, with a few power cleans, hamstring work, and core thrown in for good measure. Fairly happy/10 with my training at the moment.

Oregano_State

Wednesday - Off
Thursday - 15 min fartlek + Gym
Stuck the fartlek in to keep knocking away at a bit of aerobic work whenever I can, to try and make up for the lack of any winter training (and a lot of spring too).
Power Cleans: 40kg x5, 60kg x1 , 65kg 5x4 (PB I think)
Deadlift: 100kg x5, 120kg, 3x5
This was my first time ever lifting this heavy with double overhand, my grip strength has obviously improved a lot.
Lots of glute/ham work, plus pull-ups and chins. Also core.

Friday - Track:2x300m, 2x250m, 2x200m
Rest periods were 8mins before a 300m, 7mins before a 250m, & 6mins before both the 200m reps.
Times were, 42.5s, 42.8s, 35.3s, 36.5s, 28.6s, 27.6s

I'm really, really pleased with this session. I've come along a huge way in the past few weeks. The 300s felt so much more relaxed than the 300m TT I did last week, yet the time difference was not massive. I would have buckled completely after the 3rd rep if I'd tried this session 3 weeks ago, yet this evening I held pace through to the end and was even able to pick it up. The times are OK-ish, at 56s/400m pace, but I'll need to crank it up another notch over the next few weeks to get towards where I want to be and should be. Onwards I go.

On the coaching side of things, all of my crew are steadily improving, most of them are PB-ing at every competition. A few of them will be doing the Munster Juniors on Monday, I'm expecting some big performances if the conditions are OK.

Oregano_State

Saturday 30th April - Grass Track
Easy 120s: 6x120m off 2mins
This was just an easy leg-loosener really, the first rep was little more than a stride-out but I picked the pace up a little on each one. I can feel my stride mechanics are improving all the time, and this was another satisfying session.

Sunday - off

I'm heading to Templemore to watch my guys compete tomorrow, I'm planning on arriving early and getting some speed work done on the track if possible.

Oregano_State

Monday 2nd May: Blocks & 120s in Templemore
I largely kept to the plan and arrived early at Templemore to get a bit of training in before the Junior & U23 Munster Champs got underway. I did:
1) 2x (30m, 40m, 50m)
2) 3x 120m

The first 30m was from a 3-point start, then the 40m was 4 point with no blocks, the 50m, and the whole next set were from blocks. I felt a bit more comfortable than the last time I practiced blocks but it's very much still a work in progress.
The 120s felt very good.

That good training session was let down a little by a competition that really dragged on; there was not a huge amount of athletes competing today, yet there were a good few events left to run when I left after 4pm, with the day having gotten underway at 09:30. Really, if they had been clever about it, it could all have been wrapped up by half past 1. Also, being stuck out in the constant wind and on/off showers didn't help matters. Despite all this, my guys had a pretty good day considering the conditions, all of them were at least 1 year underage for Junior, and even though the fields were small; the athletes that did turn up were of a high standard.

Oregano_State

I felt pretty good today. I think my legs have found their rhythm with recovering from training at the rate needed. It was a fine, sunny evening in Tralee - if a little breezy - but other than that there was no major cause for complaint.

The warm-up consisted of the standard lap jog, various dynamic warm-up drills and stretches, then some hurdle mobility drills, and finally some plyometric hurdle-hops to get the legs really firing.

I then did 5 x 200m, 100m (1min, 5min rest)
The times were: 29.2s, 15.0s (44.2s), 29.7s, 14.6s (44.3s), 30.5s, 15.2s (45.7s), 30.1s, 15.2s (45.3), 28.3s, 14.2s (42.5s)

Fairly happy with this now, as it was on grass and there was a heavy enough headwind for the second half of each 200m. The start was also a bit soft underfoot and my foot slipped taking off for the 200m on at least 3 of the reps. The fact that I held pace throughout and picked it up on the last rep is good, although I'd like to see the times move down towards 41/42s for a session like this over the next 6-8 weeks.

Oregano_State

Wednesday Gym: Upper Body + Core
Legs were feeling a bit battered today so I gave them a rest. I've been doing a lot less gym work recently as I've stepped up the running frequency but I think I need to strike a better balance as I should be getting 2 decent weights sessions in per week at a minimum.

Anyway, today I did:
5min bike warmup
Foam Rolling + Stretching + Mobility stuff
Bench Press: 87.5kg x2, 77.5kg 2x6, 67.5kg x10
Incline Bench: 50kg 3x8
Bicep Curls: 15kg x10, 17.5kg 2x10 e/s
Tricep Extensions: 12.5kg 3x10 e/s
Lu Raises: 7kg DBs 3x12
Core: lots

My first race will be the Kerry Seniors on Sunday week. Funnily enough, there might actually be a chance I could win the 400m, but I'll mainly be concentrating on putting in a solid performance and getting my season off to a good start.

Chivito550

You running Ton na Gaoithe in Waterford Sat 14 May? The big sprint only tailwind meet.

Oregano_State

Chivito550 wrote: »

You running Ton na Gaoithe in Waterford Sat 14 May? The big sprint only tailwind meet.

No, I won't be there. It's come a little early in the season for me, plus the Kerry county champs are on the following day. I'll be running in Waterford at the Munster Seniors at the end of July though.

Chivito550

Oregano_State wrote: »

No, I won't be there. It's come a little early in the season for me, plus the Kerry county champs are on the following day. I'll be running in Waterford at the Munster Seniors at the end of July though.

I had bookmarked Munsters to be the final race of my season, but the Beer Mile World Classic is in London this year on that very day. Can't be giving up an opportunity like that now can I.

Oregano_State

Shortish warmup, then:
Power Cleans: 65kg 5x4
Deadlift: 100kg x 5, 130kg 3x3
SL Hamstring Curls: 5kg 1x10, 10kg 3x8 e/s

My upper body, especially chest was and still is very sore after Wednesday's gym work, so I didn't do any extra yesterday. The power cleans felt easier at the same weight than last week, my technique is coming along. I'm lucky in that the best weightlifter in Ireland (by a distance) trains at the same gym as me, he was there yesterday and gave me a few pointers on my power-clean form.

Track session this evening, the weather looks perfect for it. I'm going to be working on some block starts and will try to get some fast 200s (for me) in.

Oregano_State

Friday's track session didn't go as originally planned. I warmed up and did one block start but my right hamstring (the most recently injured one) didn't feel the best so I decided to pull the plug on the session. I would have liked to change it up and do something less intense but I was coaching at the same time so I just did that and a couple light strides which felt fine.

Saturday
Today I decided against running as the hamstring still doesn't feel right, and instead opted for a bike session at the gym. The last time I did one of these bike sessions I found it brilliant, and today was no different. I did:
5 mins warmup
5 x 2mins on, 2mins easy
2mins easy
5 x 1 min on, 1 min easy
6 mins warm-down

I then did some core work and a bit of stretching. I was a ball of sweat by the end of the bike work, but I felt brilliant. My aerobic strength has come on leaps and bounds in the past week. I had my yearly health checkup through work this Wednesday and my RHR was measured at 48 which ain't too shabby.

With the hamstring, I reckon the strength work I did on Thursday was probably a bit too much for it, and it still isn't as strong as I'd like it to be so I'm going to have to be clever with how I manage it. I think it will be fine to run on in a day or two but obviously given my terrible hamstring injury history I'm going to be cautious with it. At this point I'm 95% I'll be able to train properly this week and race next weekend, but I'm not going to run tomorrow. I hope to do a tempo session on Tuesday evening and I might to a little bit of running on Monday; failing that I'll do some bike stuff.

Oregano_State

Sunday
I was at the Kerry juvenile + junior champs today officiating and watching my athletes compete. We had some great performances, particularly from my cousin and 400m protégée with pbs in the 200m & 400m. She ran 25.61s in the 2, which did not surprise me as I think she can go sub 25. In her 400m though, she absolutely knocked it out of the park going sub-60 for the first time with a huge pb of 58.77s. If she keeps going the way she's going I think she'll be the top junior over 400m in Ireland next year. The fact she's doing so well off basically the same training I'm doing gives me a lot confidence, I just need to be patient.

Anyway, I also did some training today at the gym, after the comp was over:
Bike
Warmup 5mins
6 x 30s on, 60s off
2mins warm-down
Back Squat: 100kg x5, 90kg 3x6
BSS: 15kg, 17.5kg, 20kg DBs, 1x8 e/s each

Left it at that. Don't train hard, train smart.

Oregano_State

My legs were fairly battered today after the past couple days training; split squats always make a heap of my glutes when I haven't done them in a while. Despite the DOMS, my hamstring felt much improved so I was itching to get out and do some running on what turned out to be a warm, clammy evening after a fine day that I'd spent in the office sweating and wishing I was outside.

My original plan was 10-12x100m off 45s, but when I was warming up I noticed there was actually quite a stiff breeze which I would have had to run into every second rep if I'd done that session. I didn't fancy that prospect on stiff legs. Instead, I decided to do 5x200m off 2mins with the wind mostly at my back, I didn't have a target time in mind, but would have been happy enough with 30-31s.

My actual times were: 29.4s, 29.5s, 28.6s, 29.5s, 28.3s, with every break 2 minutes on the button. Average rep time 29.1s.

I'm very happy with this, especially considering how stiff and sore my legs were (still are) and that it was on grass instead of a proper track. I'm definitely heading in the right direction. Looking forward to my opening race on Sunday now.

Oregano_State

In fantastic conditions for athletics, with plenty of sun and not too much in the way of wind in Castleisland, I came away with a huge PB in the 200m & possible a PW (personal worst) in the 400m, albeit on tired legs. Takeaway feeling is 80% happy, 20% sad.

I felt pretty good today waking up. Calves were fairly tight surprisingly given the relatively light week's training I've had (I'll get to that in a minute), but nothing that a little foam rolling couldn't put right. I wasn't sure what to expect from today, but I was determined to put in a good effort having felt like my training has been on an upward trend the past 3 weeks or so. I knew (know) that I'm still a way off my best, but I thought a good rust-buster at this stage of the season could only be a good thing, having not competed since the Munster Indoors in 2015, which I'm pretty sure was in January.

Standing behind my blocks for the 200m, the familiar pre-race nerves that had come on strong during my warm-up faded, and I felt ready to perform. I had drawn lane 4, and with 5 other fairly quality sprinters in the race I was focusing purely on myself. The start felt OK, I drove out well and held my own with the lad outside me (a 23.3 man), I was passed by lane 3 after about 60m, but I knew he was a very fast starter and it didn't affect my concentration. From 60m-140m I think I had my best part of the race, I actually closed a metre or so on the two lads in lane 5 & 6 (who finished 2nd & 1st in 23.3xs & 23.18s respectively), but from 140m on the wheels came off slightly and I lost a lot of ground on the leaders. I finished 5th of 6 in 24.21s, which I believe is 0.54s PB. I was fairly surprised when I heard my time, as I've plenty to improve upon, but I certainly won't turn up my nose at a PB.

There was about 45 minutes between the 200m & 400m, which is an OK amount of time to recover, but in hindsight, having not run faster than 27-high over 200m at any stage in training in recent memory, my body must have been a bit fried. I ran in lane 3, with the guy who was in the lane outside me in the 200m in lane 4. There was one more guy in lane 5, so I was guaranteed a medal (;)), but both these guys are sub 52s runners this season so I knew I'd have my work cut out for me. My plan was to get out hard and commit over the first 200m and see what was left for 'Part 2: Revenge Of The Lactic', but to be honest that never materialised. I didn't commit and never got within touching distance of the lads outside me. There was a sneaky little headwind on the back straight, but nothing that I shouldn't be able to deal with. I put the boot down with 130m or so to go and actually sped up - which should never happen - but it was a short-lived boost and I struggled home from 80m out, finishing in an absolutely shocking 56.02s.

Speaking to one of the coaches in the club afterwards, she said I looked all over the place from the get go: sluggish out of the blocks, poor turnover, and over-striding on the back straight. Not a recipe conducive to an efficient performance. I'll put it down to race-rust and degree of sub-optimal race conditioning. Still, I won a Championship medal (*cough* by default *cough* *cough*) which hasn't happened in about 5 years, and I'm back on the track racing and injury free which are huge achievements in themselves. A solid day all in all.


About 20 minutes after my 400m, with the track events finished, I did 2x2x200m with 1min, 5min rest.
I knocked them out in 28.9s, 28.2s, 28.9s, 28.9s, with the last one being hosted in lactic-city from 100m out.