2 Lap Tango

happygoose

Long time lurker etc. etc. with aspirations of taking down my 800m PB from its existing 2:05:06. Truth be told I want to break 2 minutes.

38 this year. I got into running 5 years ago, chipped away at it and ran a few decent times in 2014. I ran my 800 PB off purely endurance training in summer 2015. I went fully into training with a sprints group with an excellent coach for the distance in September 2015 however I rightly f*cked myself up injury wise in early 2016. Still shaking off sciatica since.

I’m also playing a bit of GAA this year, nothing too serious. I think a lot of my training with the GAA team I’m with has so far and will continue to have a very useful overlap with what I’m aiming towards.

In terms of an approach I guess it will be periodised somewhat. I have learned a lot from a past coach who himself was a 1:50 guy. I'll be using his sessions and doing them myself.

I’m just back running two weeks after a calf injury and chest infection. I’ll introduce easy sessions twice weekly for four weeks, and after that I’ll do more quality, at which time the graded’s start in Dublin and Drogheda, which I intend doing.

It won’t be a high mileage approach, 30-40 miles a week max, if even. Along with the track sessions I’ll be getting a few easy runs a week.

I’ve been doing a weekly weights session, I might move to two sessions a week as the season progresses. I have also been doing Pilates / HIIT once a week.

Sure we’ll see how it goes. I’m hoping keeping a blog will help me keep my discipline…and put a bit more A in A&R.

Chivito550

How'd you get on over the 400m in the end? I recall you saying it was your focus for awhile. Did you race it much?

Best of luck over 800. Are you doing all your sessions alone or have you a training group?

You'll be doing well to get much A talk on this site. Not much R these days either.

happygoose

Chivito550 wrote: »

How'd you get on over the 400m in the end? I recall you saying it was your focus for awhile. Did you race it much?

Best of luck over 800. Are you doing all your sessions alone or have you a training group?

You'll be doing well to get much A talk on this site. Not much R these days either.

Cheers Cheers.

I didn't get a chance to give a proper 400 a go at all, I got injured the weekend of Munster Senior Indoors where I was going to guest early last year and never got back. I've a 57 but that's from times previous. I'd hope to hit similar in the first Graded with a 400, think it's No.2. I think I need to be around 54 to go for sub 2.

I'm not with a group but it suits me to do my own thing, I'm on Flexi, working and living close to two tracks. When I was with a sprints group I was the only one doing 800's, that's prob part of the reason why I switched down to 400.

happygoose

Two weeks in…

I’ve eased back into training over the past two weeks and feel reasonably fit and ready to start doing light enough sessions for the next four weeks. I’d a weekend in Berlin in there which was a bit of a blow out and not ideal training wise, but you have to live a bit.

Mon 20/02
Weights session

Tues 21/02
4 miles easy 8’ 00” pace

Wed 22/02
Hurling training

Thurs 23/02
5 miles easy 7’50” pace

Fri 24/02
5 miles easy 7’45” pace
6 x 60m strides
Circuits / HIIT

Sat 25/02
Off – in Germany

Sun 26/02
Off – in Germany

Mon 27/02
Off – in Germany

Tues 28/02
Off – couldn’t face a run

Wed 01/03
5 miles easy 7’55” pace

Thurs 02/03
Hurling match

Fri 03/03
5 miles easy 7’45” pace
6 x 60m strides

Sat 04/03
AM – 1RM Testing

Deadlift 115kgs
Bench 70kgs
Front Squat 120kgs
Back Squat 135kgs
Power Clean 60kgs

Happy with these numbers considering I’ve only 4 or 5 weights sessions done this year. They’re at about 85% of what I’ve hit previously. I’ll be logging c. two weights sessions a week going forward. I’ll put up more detail on those sessions in another post.

PM – 5 miles easy 7’45” pace
Headed to Abbotstown to watch the IUAA XC Championships

Sun 05/03
Off – Hungover and down at National Masters Indoors

The plan for the coming week is start back doing sessions, hopefully at this stage the body is up to them. These are 5 x 500m off 3’ and 4 x 350m off 2’. I’ll have two weights sessions, one collectively with my hurling team and one myself. I’ll possibly a circuits / HIIT session. Easy runs filling in and around the above.

The next four weeks will be pretty much the same as the above. I’ll run an 800m TT at the end of March to see where I’m at, hopefully 2:12ish. A month later is the first of the Graded’s, hopefully I’m down around 2:08 at that stage.

Chivito550

Are you doing ass to grass squats, parrallel or above parallel? Squat shouldn't really be heavier than deadlift.

happygoose

Chivito550 wrote: »

Are you doing ass to grass squats, parrallel or above parallel? Squat shouldn't really be heavier than deadlift.

Parallel. My old sprints coach said that for sprinters they shouldn't go beyond parallel. He's a BSc. S&C graduate out of Setanta College, knows his stuff.

My DL has always been lower for some reason, I assumed it was the same for everyone, DL PB 130 v 150 in the Back Squat.

Our club football teams 1RM's for all the lifts are posted in our Club gym where I'll be training tonight, I must check the relationship / ratio between their DL's and Back Squats.

Chivito550

happygoose wrote: »

Parallel. My old sprints coach said that for sprinters they shouldn't go beyond parallel. He's a BSc. S&C graduate out of Setanta College, knows his stuff.

My DL has always been lower for some reason, I assumed it was the same for everyone, DL PB 130 v 150 in the Back Squat.

Our club football teams 1RM's for all the lifts are posted in our Club gym where I'll be training tonight, I must check the relationship / ratio between their DL's and Back Squats.

Interesting. My old S&C coach who is a sprinter always said that it is better to go deeper on the squats.

happygoose

Chivito550 wrote: »

Interesting. My old S&C coach who is a sprinter always said that it is better to go deeper on the squats.

The Internet seems divided too! Obviously my squats not going to be as good in a deep squat. My GAA team's S&C coach is a graduate of the same degree - I'll ask him what his thoughts are around squat depths when I see him tonight at training.

happygoose

A reasonable start to the week with training from Monday to Thursday. I’d two unplanned days off then - I was down the country on Friday and Saturday. I missed a session and a circuits /HIIT class on these days. My first track session was on Sunday, which was a right shock to the system.

Mon 06/03
5 miles easy 7’ 45” pace
and
Weights session

This is a collective weights session with my GAA team.

4 sets, 6 reps of:

Front Squat to Bench
Chin Up
Ankle Mobility

Romanian Deadlifts
DB Bench Press
Leg Lower with Band / Mobility / Core Activation

Single Leg Squat
DB Row
Shoulder Sweep Mobility

Plank
Pallof Press
Single Arm DB Carry

Didn’t take note of weights lifted, they’re laid out for us.

Tues 07/03
5 miles easy 7’ 50” pace

Wed 08/03
Hurling training @ Abbotstown
I thought about getting in 4 x 350m @ 80% 400m pace off 2’ after this in the NIA give I was up there, but I was empty.

Thurs 09/03
Weights Session

Back Squat 3 x 8 80kgs
Seated DB Press 3 x 8 12.5kgs each hand
Russian Twist 3 x 8 10kg weight
Deadlift 3 x 7 70kgs
DB Flys 3 x 8 12.5kgs each hand
Bulgarian Split Squat 3 x 6 L/R 10kgs each hand
Bicep Curls 3 x 6 L/R 12.5kgs each hand
Hip Thrusts 3 x 8 15kg weight


Fri 10/03
Off – down the sticks

Sat 11/03
Off – down the sticks

Sun 12/03
5 x 500m
As I said, a shock to the system. This were all just under 1’40”. I gorged a bit when I was away, I don’t think this helped. One positive was getting through a session in a pair of flats with no calf issues.

The next weeks training will probably look much the same as I’ve a couple of matches scheduled for in/around Paddy’s Day and Saturday could easily become a bit of a write off.

happygoose

4 weeks completed - I think...

Mon 13/03
Evening
Weights - collective weights session with my GAA team. Weights listed this time.

4 sets, 6 reps of:
Front Squat to Bench 70kg-80kg-90kg-100kg
Chin Up
Ankle Mobility

Romanian Deadlifts 70kg-80kg-80kg-80kg
DB Bench Press 20kg DB each hand
Leg Lower with Band / Mobility / Core Activation

Single Leg Squat to bench with 10kg weight
DB Row 25kg DB
Shoulder Sweep Mobility

Plank
Pallof Press
Single Arm DB Carry with 25kg DB

Followed by a heavy legged 5 miles at 7’ 50” pace

Tues 14/03
Lunchtime
5 miles easy 7’ 50” pace

Wed 15/03
Lunchtime
4 x 350m (or so) off 2’ @ 80% 400m pace
Beautiful day for a session on the Polo Grounds. I hadn’t an exact distance so went with the length of the rails plus 50. A Club mate who used to run for DCH told me previously that the rails were 300m. I’ll get the trundle wheel to it soon enough. I’m not overly concerned with times at this stage, its mostly about getting used to reps again and effort for these four weeks. I threw on the spikes and had no pain or discomfort during the session and in terms of effort it wasn’t the torture fest last Sunday was. In saying that it was just 4’ worth of work. Plan is do my 5 x 500’s here too this week, and in another couple of weeks move to a track to time both sessions. A slow lap of the Polo Grounds to warm up and cool down.

Wed 15/03
Evening
Hurling training @ Abbotstown

Thurs 16/03
Evening
Weights Session

Power Clean 3 x 8 40kgs
Bench Press 3 x 7 50kgs
Plank C/L/C/R/C 30 sec each x 2
Front Squat 3 x 8 75kg
Barbell Row 3 x 8 30kg
These were instead of pull ups in the absence of a pull up bar
Single Leg Bridge 3 x 7 L/R
Tricep Curls 3 x 7 20kg
SDL’s 3 x 8 5kg each hand

No running. An overdue rest for the legs today ahead of Friday morning’s session. Generally tired by the time Thursday comes around every week.

Fri 17/03
Lunchtime
5 x 500m (or so) off 3’
Up to a cold and windy Polo Grounds for these/ Reps were half way around so 490m’s, or so, completed in an average of 1:32, maybe throw on another two seconds for the extra 10m, 1:34, times I’m still happy enough with, and effort levels weren’t brutal altogether. Legs were fresh. A slow lap of the Polo Grounds to warm up and cool down.

Sat 18/03
Hurling match

Sun 19/03
An ill-nourished slightly hungover 5 easy miles at 7’45” pace

Happy enough with the weeks work and feel fresh going into this week. I will follow a similar structure in the upcoming week and next week is a testing week, 1RM’s and an 800m TT the latter I don’t think I’m ready for at all, but I’ll have a go.

RayCun

If you're trying to build muscle bulk, do the run before the weights session, not after

happygoose

5th week in....

Mon 20/03
Lunchtime
4 x 350m (or so) off 2’ @ 80% 400m pace
Session on a windy Polo Grounds. 4’ worth of work, tough enough

Tues 21/03
Lunchtime
5 miles easy 7’ 45” pace

Tues 21/03
Evening
Back Squat 3 x 9 95kgs (70% 1RM)
Seated DB Press 3 x 10 12.5kgs each hand
Russian Twist 3 x 12 5kg med ball
Deadlift 3 x 8 85kgs (75% 1RM)
DB Flys 3 x 10 12.5kgs each hand
Bulgarian Split Squat 3 x 8 L/R 10kgs each hand
Bicep Curls 3 x 10 L/R 12.5kgs each hand
Hip Thrusts 3 x 10 15kg weight

Wed 22/03
Lunchtime
5 wet sloppy heavy legged miles, no Garmin, I’d say they were around 8’ 15” pace

Thurs 23/03
Evening
5 x 500m off 3’
Up to Abbotstown for this session. The Polo Grounds were a swamp plus I’d never been able to use the NIA until now and I was interested to see where I was actually at on a measured track. The only other people on the track happened to be our own Clubs juveniles doing some work ahead of Nationals. My legs were still feeling heavy but this pretty much went following a decent warm up. I got through the reps in 1:30; 1:29; 1:29; 1:31; 1:30. These splits look even enough but I went through 200 in anything from 31-36 seconds during reps. My calves weren’t thankful afterwards, I think I’ll have to ease off earing lightweight spikes with no support on track sessions, stick to grass or wear flats. Enjoyable session and it gives me confidence now ahead of an 800TT next week, almost looking forward to it!

Fri 24/03
Evening
Pilates / Circuits / HIIT
Great session I do when I do it, which isn’t every week. The class is part of our GAA pre-season and unfortunately they’ll wrap up soon enough.

Sat 25/03
Lunchtime
5 miles easy, no idea what pace, my two Garmin’s have bit the bullet so it the €10 Casio all the way now.

Sun 26/03
Off

Good aul weeks training. Somewhat of a back week coming up, including some 1RM testing and an 800TT.

happygoose

Mon 27/03
Evening
Hurling training – including 2 x 6 x 150m on grass off 30”/3’ at the end. The calf issue I had last Thursday raised its head during the reps, it’s not going away, so I booked into physio on Friday. Peeved enough.

Tues 28/03
Off. Hobbling around.

Wed 29/03
Off.

Thurs 30/03
Off.

Friday 31/03
Physio.

Sat 01/04
Somewhat foolish of me to attempt some 250’s on the track – seem to have put myself back in trouble with the calf / soleus strain again. I should’ve been more patient.

Sun 02/04
Hurling match. Stuck in goals so I got away with playing.

All in all a bit of a b!tch of a week, things had been going well. Soleus feels reasonable right now. I think I will be able to get in a mixture of easy running and two weights sessions this week as well as doing some work on the injury. Hopefully I can get back to sessions soon enough.