Monday on the track dodging puddles ... and wild weight fluctuations

After a huge dinner Sunday night, Monday I felt tight, heavy, and sluggish. My weight fluctuations have been wild. Before a track meet, I eat light, sort of purging and fueling with low residual Hammer Gel, caffeine and sugar. After Saturday's meet, my weight was 135.2. After a huge meal on Sunday night, by 3:30 am (Mon) bedtime I was 144.2! This late morning, after bathroom, I started my workout at 140.4 and now afterward, am 138.6. What this means is that the bowels can hold several lbs of water and food. Wow. 9 lb fluctuation in less than 30 hrs.

After a rain, the sun came out on the track and it was steamy, literally. I decided I need work on my second 200 in the 400m so I did 3 x 400 with negative splits. What it seemed like was first 200 at about 75% effort and the last 200 at about 90-95% effort.

3 x 400m with negative splits:

400m - 63 sec (33, 30)

5 min rest

400m - 64 sec (33, 31)

5 min rest

400m - 66 sec (34, 32)

5 min rest

200m from blocks at 90% effort - 27.5 sec

What amazed me is that I could not bring one single last 200 home in less than 30 sec. That sucks. I need to work on that.

Unfortunately, I slightly strained my right quad again in the last 200m run. I should have quit after the three 400s. I thought about running the 100 and 400 in the Chattanooga Senior Games this Thurs but it looks like I'll just stick with the 400m. Tomorrow I do resistance and I'll get that quad fixed. These high rep exercises with foot cuffs and bands have worked miracles to bring back my hams and quads from strains. I think I have a pretty good regime.

Memphis Invitational - my first 400m/200m double

A decent performance but short of my goals. 56.64 for the 400m was a new personal record but only by .07 sec.

I felt weak before the 200m and was a bit nervous that I might strain something. My 25.57 time was disappointing, but still 5th ranked in the USA M50 Masters Rankings and .13 faster than the TN Senior Games State Record. I'm fairly confident that I may be able to break 25 when I'm fresh, and I'll just have to train harder!

I think my 200 split in the 400m race was pretty close to my 200m race time.

I haven't done much power work to get ready for the 100m and 200m, but I expect to run both in Huntsville on 5/21... my next opportunity for an FAT time. (...that's Fully Automatic electronic Time, as opposed to 'hand timed').

The best news is that I am healthy, strong, no strains, and I can up the quality of my workouts and hopefully make some improvement.

I was hoping to go under 56 in the 400m and 25 in the 200m. Close but no cigar. My 200m time missed the All-American Standard by just 0.07 sec. Next time!

I am astonishingly light: 135.2 lbs. That puts me at 9% body fat. Now, to build some muscle.

I'll be able to get one good hard workout on Mon before running in the Chattanooga District Senior Games on Thurs. This meet will essentially be just a time trial for me. There will be no competition which will make it hard to run a good time. It will be hand timed so nothing super official but, the Masters Rankings do accept hand times for rankings in races 400m and up.

Running in lane one for the 400m is not so good. Maybe Thurs I'll try a middle lane.

I'm pretty sure I was the only Masters racer (old guy) there, probably the only competitor over 23. I had some fun conversations with other athletes, they always addressed me as "sir." Good kids, very polite, respectful and encouraging. I could be 10 years older than most of their parents. I consoled a girl who was crying her eyes out after a disappointing performance. I told her it's a gift to be healthy and to participate. She smiled.

Pre race day 4/29/11

Looks like I better get used to running the 400m in lane one when running in college track meets. That's where they put the slow seed times. I'm in lane one (...again) in the 400m at the Memphis Invitational tomorrow. I'm also signed up to run the 200m but we'll see if I feel up to it after the 400. There are 2 hours in between events, plenty of time.

Today, a light work out with one main goal, run a 400m with a negative split about 80% effort. Harder than I expected. Went out relaxed and easy ... 31 at 200m, then I brought it home in 30 to run a 61 sec 400. I'd say the first 200 felt like 75% effort while the last 200 felt like 85-90% effort, even though the times were about the same.

Here it is:

800m jog and sprinter school warmup

spikes on

400m - 61 sec (31,30) 75-85%

200m - 26.5 sec - 85-90%

2x100m curve - 13.5 sec 85-90%

3x50m block starts on the curve

spikes off

1 mile jog - warm down

light stretches in the hot tub

Body weight is excellent: 135.8 (about what I weighed at age 15)

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I still am trying to define myself as an athlete. I enjoy running the shorter sprints and need to get timed again in the 100m to see where I stand. If I run the Masters Nationals, because of the schedule, it seems as if I will need to choose between the 400 and the 100. If I run the 200m tomorrow, it won't be as fast as I'm capable of, after running the 400.

Also, I've entertained the idea of long jumping. I was astonished to see how little competition in my age group there is in that event. The National Champion M50 only jumped 18' 7" last year. 16' 8" is the best jump so far this year for M50. It's a stressful and injury prone event but I may at some point drag out the tape and see what I can do. I jumped 21' in high school, which is actually the American record for M50 age group. The thing about that event is that if your steps are on, all it takes it one jump.

Wed. 4/27 - training in the eye of the storm

During a break in the severe storms this morning, I was able to get in a workout. Felt like running in the eye of a hurricane.

Today, more reps, a tad slower with less rest between reps.

Felt a little bleary after getting up with the tornado siren at 5:30 am, barely getting back to sleep before getting up again at 8:30 and on the track by 9:15.

Thankful for a break in the storms, I hit it:

800m warmup and sprinter school drills

spikes on

4 x 200m - 31, 30, 31, 30

strict 90 sec. rest in between

5 min rest between sets

4 x 200m - 31, 32, 31, 32

strict 90 sec. rest in between

5 min rest

400m - 69

Felt good. Experimenting with stride I found that increasing turnover with shorter steps is more effort and less efficient than striding big, even though it may add a slight bit more speed. Maybe ok for a 10om but nothing longer.

Hoping to see my name on the heat list for Memphis tomorrow.

Monday evening 4/25 - on the track

After a good experience at the Vandy Invite, I've pretty much convinced myself to run the 400m and 200m at the Memphis Invitational this coming weekend 4/30. This is something I hadn't planned on ... but ... I'll be on VACATION!!!! Just 3 more days of school.

After a great Easter meal with Iska and her parents - salmon and broccoli , with chocolate mousse cake with whipped cream and strawberries for dessert, I'm happy to still weigh 137.4 lbs after today's workout.

I didn't take the day off Sunday, did core and upper body.

So.... back to the track this evening!

800m warmup and sprinter school drills

spikes on

long sprints at 85% effort:

2 x 300m - 43, 46

3 min rest in between

5 x 200m - 29, 30, 29, 28, 30

3-4 min rest in between

The 3rd and 4th 200 felt easier than the first.

Thanks to Mark Carver, I got an invitation from the Greater Philadelphia Track Club to participate in some masters relay teams at the Masters Nationals in July.

We'll see. Because of the schedule, I will have to choose between running the 100m and the 400m at the Masters Nationals. I much prefer the 100m and I haven't been timed but once in that event. I am 5lbs lighter and stronger now, so we'll see what I can do. Next opportunity for an FAT 100m time will be May 21 in Huntsville, AL. I'm going to stick with the long sprints for this weekend and next week begin a transition to more power work.

Tomorrow, resistance. Good thing, looks like a stormy day.

56.71 - 400m: Vanderbilt Invitational 4/23/11

Not too bad for the first outdoor 400m race of my life.

56.71 is the 3rd fastest 400m in the USA so far this year for men 50-54 and exceeds the TN Senior Games Record by 0.29 and qualifies for the All-American Masters Standard for Excellence in the event for my age group.

A good start. Maybe I should take this event more seriously? I was really doing the long sprints just to recover from my hamstring injury. I think I'll keep doing them. I've definitely recovered from my strain.

Running from lane one, I stayed with the pack for the first 200m and really was hurtin' down the home stretch... I estimate my splits at somewhere about 25, 31 ish.

Painful race, but the pain is short lived. I feel great and encouraged. No strains or injury... and that in and of itself is a win. Maybe I'll do better when I get rid of this chest cold.

Pre race day

SHIT.... I'm in lane one tomorrow for the 400m at the Vanderbilt Invitational. Lane one feels like a slow lane, it feels longer, more turn to run and a tighter curve. One study said:

Physics indicate that the runners in the outer lanes have an advantage over the runners in the inner lanes because of the wider curves. ... The curve produces a biomechanical disadvantage due to centrifugal force -- the force caused by changing direction from a straight line to a curved path. The centrifugal force causes the runners to expand extra energy in thrusting outward to get around a curve.

Whatevah....

Glad I found out I had lane one before my workout today so I could practice some block starts in lane one and run that curve. Here's what I did today.

400m warmup
sprinter school drills

Adidas spikes on.

@ 75% effort
400m - 66 sec

block starts from lane one running the curve:
@ 85-90% effort
2 x 50m
2 x 100m 13.5, 14

Spikes off, Spira training shoes on

@ 80% effort
2 x 200m - 30, 29

1 mile warmdown jog

I don't want to set too high of an expectation but I'd certainly like to go under 59. That should be well doable.

My target body weight has been achieved!! I was 136.2 after the workout and will eat a good protein low residual diet today and should be 136 by race time. I am about 9.7% body fat at race weight.

A great pre race day meal is a Vanilla Spiru-tein protein shake with cinnamon, apple flavored Hammer Gel, stevia sweetener, water and ice. Delicious. I can't emphasize enough that just because I've lost 23-24 lbs since the first of the year, I am NOT hungry. Intelligently knowing how to feed myself is a great thing ... very advantageous to health and athletic performance.