2010…the Odyssey Continues

Not a lot to report in the last few weeks.  My training has been going pretty well overall, and I sailed through the holidays without missing many workouts.  My strength and endurance are improving, and my overall health is good.  Both the shoulder and elbow are feeling fine, and the hamstring injury is basically the same as it’s been for the last 15 or 16 months.

Yesterday was sunny and relatively warm (59 degrees) so I headed over to the track.  I threw the shot a few times and then ran some sprints.  This was my first time outside since the Santa Barbara Masters meet 3 months ago, and it felt good to get off the treadmill, open up the throttle, and feel the wind in my face.  I could tell my coordination was a little rusty, so I held things at around 80%.  I ran some build-ups on the turf, then headed over to the starting line to take a little test.

One of the events I thought I might try this year (either alone or as part of a decathlon) is the 400 meters.   Most sprinters hate this event because it is so damn hard…a full lap at close to a full sprint.  But with all the middle distance training I’ve been doing for the 1000 & 1500 meters it doesn’t seem to be quite so daunting.  The All-American standard for my age group is 57.5 seconds, and based on my 200 meter time I should be able to pull it off with a little work.

I didn’t feel like killing myself, so I decided to just run 300 yards at a comfortable pace and see how it felt.  I was hoping for something around 45 seconds, but actually came in closer to 48.  I didn’t push the pace and felt fine when I was done, so there was definitely more left in the tank.  I’m pretty confident that if I focus some attention on it I can get there.  We’ll see.

I tossed the 10# shot about eight times from a standing start.  The throws were inconsistent, but the best one was out to about 42′.  I felt like that was pretty decent considering I hadn’t thrown in 3 months.  That’s much better than I was throwing last year at this time, and only about 3 feet off of my all-time best.  Best of all I’m not suffering any ill-effects today–the elbow and shoulder seem like they’re fine.  I think that once I start throwing more regularly good things are going to happen.

That’s all for now, it’s time to go for my run.

A Brief Setback

Things were a little rough at the beginning of the week, but I was pretty sure I knew why….the long run I took last Sunday.   Leaving my comfy treadmill deck at HealthQuest for the hard streets probably wouldn’t have made that much of a difference if I’d kept it short.  But pushing myself to go for a full hour was overdoing it.  So I took Monday completely off, tried an easy run on Tuesday (still didn’t feel very good) and then gave myself a test on Wednesday.   I was scheduled to run some mile intervals, and decided to push the first one up to 9.7 mph to get a guage as to how close to my November goal (run a sub-6:00 mile) of 10 mph I was. 

I’d run 1.25 miles at 9.5mph a few weeks ago, so this shouldn’t have been that difficult….but it was.  Halfway into it I knew I wasn’t going to make it; I ended up taking short rests on each of the last two laps.  I did not feel good at all, but I finished up the workout as best I could.  I tried to convince myself that the after-effects of the long run were to blame, but it’s always disheartening to have such a poor performance.  Fortunately my next scheduled workout was 400 intervals, and that’s becoming one of my favorites.  So I would have a chance to redeem myself.

I had tweaked this workout a little bit, cutting my rest intervals by 30 seconds (to 2:30) and opting to run for 90 seconds instead of 400 meters.  So at my 11.5 mph pace I would actually be running for about 10 seconds beyond the 400 finish line.  I eased my way into it, running the first at 10.5, the second at 11.0, and then proceeded to finish the workout with six more at 11.5 mph.  The last couple were tough but managable.  That was more like it! 

Today’s workout was four 800s.  When I last did this workout a couple of weeks ago my pace was 10.3, 10.5, 10.2, and 10.0.  I started at 10.5 today, felt good and strong, and was able to maintain that pace on all three of the next intervals.  Again the last two were pretty tough, but I was able to push through and finish them cleanly.  In looking back at my middle distance workouts from last year at this time, I show two different days where I attempted to run just two 800s at 10.5mph, and both times I failed to finish the second one. 

My plan this year was to increase my running volume over last year and not to worry as much about increasing speed.  This is the first time that I’ve had distance and speed match up so that I can compare my progress.  Obviously I’m much stronger, so it will be interesting to see if I will be able to convert that into more speed as I get closer to my next competition. 

My workouts in the weight room this week all went reasonably well and I was happy with the quality of the work I put in.  The split squats I do at the end of my leg day are killers.  They target the hamstring like nothing I’ve ever done before.  My elbow rehab seems to be working; I threw the 8# ball again with no ill effects.  The shoulder has been a little touchy, but I’ve been pushing on it pretty hard.  The biggest news is that I think I finally found an exercise I can do to help my upper body strength for shot put.  Strangely enough it’s done on my favorite lower body machine.  I will try and post some video of this special adaptation later this week.

I do feel a little more “beat up” than I would like.  It’s from a combination of factors, but mostly from adding the new exercises and ramping up the intensity.  The low back and both hamstrings are still stiff and sore, and the feet, knees, and shoulder will pronnounce their displeasure on occasion.  It’s all part of the package when you’re seeking your fame and fortune as a masters track & field athlete.  Hopefully by next week I will have grown accustomed to the new routine and will be feeling a little more comfortable,

Tread Dread

I started getting serious about my middle distance training routine in August.  That gave me about 30 weeks to prepare the big masters indoor track & field meets that will be held early next spring.  I have my interval running workouts broken down into five 6-week segments.  Tonight I started on phase three, which means I am approaching the half-way point.

I toyed with the idea of running on the track this afternoon, as the weather forecast predicted highs of almost 80 degrees in Napa.  But it never felt like it got that warm, and with daylight savings over and it cooling down rapidly, I opted for the treadmill at HealthQuest instead.

I can understand why distance runners shy away from the “dreadmill”.  If the weather’s good, running outside is definitely a little more mentally stimulating.  But for my purposes (running  relatively short, specific distances at pre-determined speeds), the treadmill is the way to go.  I never have to check my pace and worry about running too fast or too slow.

I didn’t make any big changes to the workouts I’ve been doing.  I’ve been happy with my progress, so I just tweaked the existing intervals, speeding them up, extending distances, or cutting recovery times.  I did change to five different workouts instead of six.  I’ve been needing an extra recovery day here and there, and this will give me a little more flexibility.  So I dropped my hill sprint workout.   It had the shortest work period, so I don’t think it will be missed.  I can always add it back later if I feel the need.

 Today’s plan called for four fast (for me) 800 meter intervals, with 3-5 minutes of recovery in-between.    I’m pushing myself hard on these runs, and they can get pretty uncomfortable.  So I tend to psych myself out a little bit more than I probably should.  Part of the problem is that I always want to show improvement over my previous effort, so I will set a higher goal.  Last year if I finished them all at 10 mph, I would start at 10.5 mph the next time I did the workout.  I think I pushed myself too hard and ended up suffering from a bout of overtraining.  I’m trying to be smarter this time around, but old habits die hard.  I just always feel better when I’m achieving new goals, so it’s push, push, push.

I felt more of that “dread” than usual creeping into my thoughts as I was lacing up my shoes.  That’s not a good sign, especially since I had just taken a recovery day yesterday.  So I made a compromise with myself.  I would run the first 800 at a tough but manageable pace, and adjust the remaining three as I went.   So I knocked the first one out at 10 mph and felt pretty good.  Number two I bumped up to 10.5…definitely tougher!  Didn’t feel up to that again so it was 10.3 on the third and 10.1 on the fourth.  My 30 minute ride through hell was over!

That seemed like a good way to tackle it.  I bettered my previous effort (hurrah!), but I was able to ease into it and didn’t try to tackle more than my body was able to withstand.  It was still a very tough workout that made me push hard.  I caught the woman on the treadmill next to me giving me that “what in the hell are you doing?” look.  I couldn’t answer, I was still hunched over gasping for breath.