few strides, bike

Tuesday was the nicest day of the week mid 50ºs and sunny, hit the track for the first time in 2 weeks.  Didn't do much, just testing the water a bit.  Just a warmup, some exercises and drills, and bike top half of Roark's cove road.

Stretches, drills, lunges

4 x 50m - high knee runs on turf

2 x 50m strides on turf

1.5 mile bike climb

Still not ready to resume any track training.  Who knows if I ever will be.  2 days later, a bit stiff and slight pain.  Sure, I could probably tolerate running with a few days of soreness and stiffness, but that won't work for the long term if it's not improving.  May need a longer reset.  In the meantime, I'll stick with the bike, rower, gym, and do the knee strengthening exercises ... while resisting the temptation to run for a while.

Have maintained a healthy weight.  Generally in the 141-143.5 range.  

More important is just staying alive and staying on top of health issues.  In addition to giving up caffeine and drinking lots of water, I'm also quitting eating almonds and almond butter, a high oxalate food that I had been eating daily.  (Can cause kidney issues and inflammation).  

It's going to be really a tough February with faculty senate, 3 audition days, and some medical appointments. Instead of my usual 2 half days a full day, first week I'll have only Friday and Sunday completely off.  I capped my Sewanee teaching at 4 hrs a week, don't want any more.  I'm full again this semester.  But looking forward to my sabbatical next year, where I'll be able to just go in one day/ week for the entire academic yr in most weeks.  

Been making the shed my practice home at night, it's going to be a test tonight to see if it stays warm enough, it's uninsulated but 2 x 1500w space heaters have been able to keep it toasty.  

What really sucks is that my main working laptop went down (black screen) less than a week before the semester starts, so I'm thankful this 14 yr old Macbook is still working.  Drove 75 miles to Huntsville Apple Store and they couldn't fix it because MTSU had an admin code they wouldn't give me.  Made the trip for nothing.   

Bike climb, workout schedule, countdown to Poland

Fair weather today and I couldn't bear to sit around and do nothing, and I didn't think it wise to do 2 running workouts on consecutive days, so I did a bike climb.  Low 50ºs and breezy, hazy sun.  

Bike climb up Roark's Cove - 22 min

The first half, the steep part I did in PR time of 10 min, but then backed off a bit and finished in 22 flat.  Actually a decent time.  There were cascades of ice-sickles clinging to the wall of bluff, an indication of how cold it has been past few days. Unusual for late March.   

Tomorrow the weather doesn't look good.  70%+ chance of rain (not showers, rain)... so I will probably move my last workout to Thursday morning.  Forecast: partly cloudy, windy, and 70º.  

I work Thurs and will be home by 8pm.  I'll be leaving the next morning at 9am, flying Chattanooga-Atlanta-Amsterdam-Gdansk.  If on time, I will arrive in Gdansk by noon, and hopefully at Torun registration by ~ 2:00pm.  I just got the text that allowed me to declare on line, so that is good and I won't have to be pressed to make it to the venue by 6pm, but I should easily anyway.   I purchased underground parking at the venue.  Was only $15 for the whole week.   

I just saw the detailed schedule and all my 400m races will be in the late afternoon and evening, which is great.  I much prefer racing in the evening instead of morning.  The 200m semis and finals are on the same day, Friday 3/31.  Semis 11:20am and Final 8:55pm local time.  Saturday is relay day.  There are 4x200 relays and new for this year 4x200 mixed relays.  If I'm ok I could do both.  They are 2.5 hrs apart.  They're paying $100 to relay members who win a medal (any color).  Prizes for individual events are $400, 200, $100.  

Anyway, it's getting real.  

Still pretty light, 137.8 lbs after bike ride.  

Bike - weights - progress

Made a little progress and dropped a few lbs with good activity and very light eating past few days.  Dropped from 154 lbs to 151 lbs, still a long way to go.  I figure, with the loss of muscle mass, my lean weight should be in the low 140s.  Both Monday and Tues I did my usual mountain bike circuit of 6.5 miles with some hill climbs.  It took me about 37 minutes to complete the ride.  I'll start timing it precisely and try to do it faster next time.  I also did the sprint interval workout on the stationary bike Sunday and Monday night - a 20 min regime that is 16 x 15 sec standup sprints with 45 sec rest in between.  On the last sprint I push it to 30 seconds.  It gets my heart rate over 140 for several minutes, peak to 160.  I also did weights Mon and Tues night.  And... drills - A marches and A skips - while looking at my reflection in a window to work on my running form.  No running for at least 12+ weeks but this is a good way to work on form.

Next workout will probably be Fri evening.  Looking forward to a warm weekend and more biking.  

speed, starts, technique

An easier workout today, low volume but still hard on the feet.  53º, dark, moist, and misty in Sewanee.  Emphasis on acceleration, and mechanics.

Hoka trainers on  

400m warmup, stretches, drills and more drills 

3 x 50m accelerations 

Puma spikes on 

starts from 400m start: 

2 x 50m from blocks  

2 x 100m from blocks - 13.3, 13 

Hoka trainers on 

3 x 100m w/ 30 sec rest - 14, 14.5, 15.5

Today was specifically to work on mechanics.  I've not done enough work on form.  Drills are like any technique study, they require repetition to become integrated in running.  I realized I was doing my B skip drill wrong by forward stepping.

I put spikes on and did 2 full speed starts, then two 100s with a beep start command at 400m race pace.  I try to hit it around 13, the issue is how long do I put up full power before I switch to the 'float pace'.   My second one was faster but it seemed like a lot of effort, close to 200m race pace.

My feet were hurting after 4 full speed blasts so I put the trainers on and did one short conditioning set of 100s.  145 lbs after workout.  Eating very clean.  Basically, fish and greens.  Some berries, nuts.

I found some decent sprint drill videos from a high school coach on form and mechanics, acceleration, and max velocity  Here they are:

https://youtu.be/5F71gzoZErQ

https://youtu.be/Z1IQEK07p_4

https://youtu.be/cHRj3HxtGHE

Two good sprint drill videos

1) Drills

2) Plyometrics

Sprinter School - warmup routines

These are some good dynamic warmup exercises for the sprinter:

Video 1 - muscular warmup and coordination

Video 2 - flexibility

Video 3 - basic dynamic warmup