Adarq.org

interesting how weak Mo looks with weights. I mean, no matter how light I get, I don't think i'd ever be able to get "weak" again using weights, it's kind of like riding a bike if you've pushed yourself really hard, and figured out how to lift/handle free weights/handle that tension.

Thing is, I was crazy weak when I first started lifting.. I mean, 20 lb db bench press was hard, 85 lb barbell bench press wasn't happening, 95 lb half squat was brutal.. etc.. So I know what it's like to be very thin/light and not be able to handle weights. That's why it's a bit odd, that he's so weak. Unless, you look at it from the perspective of s&c coaches getting him to do some lifts, but rarely pushing him or not requiring him to really push himself, so lifting is done just to help maintain some lean mass AND it's used as a ritual to help give an athlete more confidence.

From that video, I don't expect that he's ever doing anything "advanced" in the weight room to further his running abilities. I guess that's what i'm getting at. I didn't expect he has btw. EDIT: and IMHO that's a good thing.. no super secret fancy stuff, just lots of mileage using better programming. Mo has often talked about lifting really helping him, attributing alot of his success to it. I just don't see that to really be the case, I mean I just doubt it. Probably has more to do with his diet, training programming, training partners, mindset, experience etc.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91TZh72MnZI" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91TZh72MnZI</a>



good half squat form





Still, cool footage & he's putting out lots of videos to try and help, so that's awesome. Also you can tell he's lean af.

This might be a good example.

Many people attribute an additional "component of success" for Kenyan distance runners & Jamaican sprinters (I use them alot because they are often thought of as genetically special), to running & sprinting barefoot as children and even young adults. Add to that, the fact that there are cultures around running in these countries, and that is alot of barefoot running from a very young age. In addition, you usually hear them talk about running to and from school, barefoot. There is a study which shows that Kenyan runners use better "barefoot mechanics" while in shoes, than other runners.

Now think about what the rest of the world tries to do by emulating that .. As grown adults, we become obsessed with running barefoot and try to incorporate it into our training, even creating "shoes" for it (lmfao).

Many in Kenya & Jamaica do it out of necessity. People in America (and probably China) have more access to appropriate footwear for running. Or, instead of wearing something more appropriate, they do what I did growing up, and ran in big heavy basketball shoes..

Finally, in America & China, if you do have parents who are aware of the potential benefits of learning proper mechanics through barefoot running/sprinting at a young age, they may try and utilize this as a training effect for their child. However, it's not distributed across an entire population like Kenya or Jamaica. So even though you try to give your child an advantage, he or she may simply not respond as good as another child in another village/city.

Alot of athletes from less developed countries who perform so well, are often lumped into "the genetics pool". Well beyond genetics, there's culture AND many of them do it for survival, to try and make a living, become successful, and there's so much competition around them at every age & level of their development etc.

And to add to all of that, for Kenyans, they also run at altitude their entire life. lmao. Want to get way faster, go live in Kenya and run there for years, surrounded by hundreds of people who run 2x/day, like Jake Robertson: instagram.com/jakehtbz/

Imagine if you had to jump 35" to survive. Imagine if everyone around you made a decent living if they jumped 35" from an SVJ, and you saw this from a young age. You really think you'd be jumping < 35"?

TEAM - Together Everyone Achieves More

That's a slogan lots of sports teams use .. that's exactly what happens when something is cultural.

nice!

https://assets-chicagomarathon-com.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Athlete-Roster-100217.pdf

Kimetto makes his return!

For US folks, I think it will be on NBC @ 7 AM ET.

Ah, awesome! Thanks for the feedback 

I felt really good at the end of the intervals! Jogging home wasn't much fun, but I could have kept going forever, had to force myself to walk for cooldown. Was actually a pretty easy workout.

I like the long run formula you did today, haha, was going to comment to say as much in your thread.

hah cool!

Re cues -- the only thing I ever use for myself, other than relax as you say, is to just pay attention to my glutes. Feel like I go a fair bit faster at the same effort when I'm actively using them.

is it sustainable though? or do you want to sustain it - manually active for longer distances? that's the only thing that has me questioning it. i've messed with stuff like that and, I end up discarding it, because it's not something *I* have found to be sustainable for many miles, or at peak performance / competition setting. So, instead of cueing that, i'd probably go the activation route pre-running, or utilize different drills where I focus on that - ie stiff leg shuffling/stiff leg bounds. But then, i'd just let my body do what it does when running.

btw do you know if you go faster or not? in my experience, I actually go slower. I've experimented with it, and when I force extension, my stride frequency ends up dropping slightly and I don't get as much of a stride length increase to compensate/over compensate for it, so my pace ends up actually getting slower, especially as the run goes on.

i'd just verify it with your watch etc, maybe experimenting with some longer intervals of using it vs not using it (~400m), but maybe in separate sessions, not sure.

one of the things you don't want to end up doing is getting a bit more "artificial float" which slows you down, more time in the air without it being beneficial .. ie picture someone next to you who doesn't float, who gets their foot down as you're coming down. So that's just the caution with "forcing something" vs natural mechanics.

i find that "manually activating" pretty much anything messes *me* up.. even manually pumping arms harder, literally. I've gone through manually activating glutes, arms, calves, dorsiflexion, upper back, arch in back, hamstrings, leg swing, recovery leg, knee drive etc.. and i've thrown it all away.. lmfao!

but ya regardless, if it's working that's good.. just make sure it's really working AND it's sustainable for longer distances etc.

peace!

btw, "relax" is basically the only cue I use anymore.. rarely i'll use "get off the ground faster" and occasionally i'll use this new one I learned from some Kenyan coaching instagram "rear wheel drive" (if I find myself forcing my knees up, prior to that i'd just say "stop forcing your knees up!!") .. but "relax" has been the best cue for me, no matter what i'm doing, if it's slow light runs, fast intervals, fast runs, "relax relax relax.." is always the thing that loosens me up in the midst of it.

06-10-17

Morning BW: 73.4kg

Workout

Jog to park - 1mi in 9:57

Sprint 3 x 15-20m

Jumps - 5 max effort SVJs and 5 max effort RVJs
SVJs felt weak, not surprising given I pushed a heavy squat set yesterday. RVJs felt fucking excellent, though, getting to wrist on backboard. This stumpy unreactive goof should be touching the rim (~31") by the end of the cut+with more jump practice.

Fartleks? Tempo? Idk what you want to call the cardio part of this workout, but here's what I did:

Jog 400m / Run 100m
Jog 300m / Run 100m
Jog 200m / Run 100m
Jog 100m / Run 100m
Jog 100m / Run 100m
Jog 200m / Run 100m
Jog 300m / Run 100m
Jog 400m / Run 100m

Jogs were ~9:30 mile pace, 100s were in 19-21s (so ~5:20-30 mile pace). Slower for the first few reps, faster for the last few.

Jog .75mi home in 8:21, walk the rest.

Notes

I really enjoyed that interval workout. Jogging for the rests is way more fun than walking. I kind of wanted to do a longer run for the workout today, but decided to get to the park and jump first. Came up with the interval thing on the fly and had a lot of fun with it. Adarqui, what do you think of it?

even before you asked what i think, i was going to comment, "good sh*t!!". solid session. I really like it, you hit some good paces on the 100's then backed off and just got in some light running, that's a good formula for where you are at right now.. you could definitely go harder right now, but there's more risk of just getting crazy sore/overdoing it.. so I like that workout alot.

how were you by the end of the interval workout?

as for long runs, you can do something similar to what I did today, maybe once a week for now just to see how you like it.. relaxed pace until drop off. So, you AREG it. For you that looks like you'd be hitting those 9:30-9:45's very light, just relaxing, and keeping the same pace until your body says "no mas" -> you get slower at the same effort level. It's interesting to see how you become slower without any noticeable change in form, effort, etc. This is probably a "safer" technique for getting in some distance work, since you're not "overcoming the fatigue" to maintain your pace, instead you're just maintaining effort and letting the pace become whatever, stopping once a mile/km split becomes outlier slow. IMHO it's really enjoyable too.

also, speed play/fartlek's etc are very solid because to me, it's approaching running more as a skill than some scientific endeavor. To run good, one has to be efficient across a wide variety of paces/distances/rest intervals/etc.. so speed play workouts and such are really effective. As you get better, they just naturally get a bit longer/more intense. These elites do like 20-25km of fartlek's etc hah. Kenyan training is huge on fartlek's, they do them alot, 30s on/30s off, 2 minutes on/30s off etc, in huge groups with people trying to take the lead.. but they dial it back on the rest periods afaik. Same with what I read of Mo Farah's training @ Oregon project, alot of times you see they do like 25 x 200m with 100m jog rest, but that 100m is like the slowest jog you've ever seen. So many different techniques, the key in the end becomes being good at lots of different protocols & really focusing on staying loose & relaxed, even for the speed segments. That's the most impressive thing to me with these elite middle/long distance runners, how relaxed they are while hitting insane paces.

2cents

pc!

light recovery day.


10/06/2017

bw = 145
bw before bed = 147
soreness = none
aches/injuries = left calf a little tight
morning quad flexibility = loose
morning hamstring flexibility = loose
feel = great

wakeup = 6 AM

diet:
06:00 AM: black coffee
06:30 AM: very light stretch
07:00 AM: workout: very light run + bw
- 3-sec paused dead hang ng pullups: BW x 9
- full dips: BW x 10
09:30 AM: 2% milk, coconut water
10:00 AM: watermelon juice
12:00 PM: 3 eggs sunny side up, 2 x san fran sourdough, avocado, banana, water w/ lemon, watermelon juice
02:30 PM: peanut butter bar at whole foods
04:00 PM: really good, pink coconut water
05:15 PM: workout: bw:
- 3-sec paused dead hang pullups: BW x 6
- full dips: BW x 10
06:00 PM: another whole foods bar
- the one with chocolate chips makes my stomach a bit funny though... was so damn good.
08:00 PM: workout: light running
09:40 PM: 2% milk, coconut water
10:30 PM: chicken skewer, quarter watermelon, avocado, 2 x 2% milk



stretch:
- 06:30 AM: everything (except hips), very light
- 10:30 AM: soleus during dishes
- 11:30 AM: lots of calf, some quad
-- need to be careful with the calf stuff but they were very tight, so tried loosening them up, hope I don't regret it.
- 05:00 PM: hamstring walks, these felt amazing .. just staying bent over touching fingers/knuckles to ground, feet at various angles, and only stretching for one second, then walking forward a step and going into another stretch. might do this more often, felt amazing afterwards. so probably got in like, 50 or so little mini stretches.
- 
- 06:30 PM: some quad stretches while walking dogs
- 11:20 PM: soleus during dishes
- 11:30 PM: everything before bed


workout: fasted+coffee: very light recovery run, same effort, run until drop off: ~4 miles @ ~8:45 mm, 2 miles @ 9+ (drop off)
- 7 AM

just ran until my "same effort" dropped off considerably, that happened to be mile 6 basically. Couldn't even go slower than ~8:4X early on, then that same effort became 9:05 and finally 9:1X, so enough of a drop to quit.

going to do the same thing again tonight. interested to see how having food in me affects it.



 

141 after run... lmao



workout: light recovery #2: 1 mile walk, 3.5 mile light run @ {7:27,7:23,7:39,7:44}, *stopped because stomach went nuts*, 0.5 mi walk, 3 mile light run @ {7:24,7:55,8:05}, 0.5 mi walk, 2 mile cool down
- https://www.strava.com/activities/1218411839/overview

damn my stomach went nuts.. i think i know what did it. anyway, wanted to actually hit ~10 miles or so at < 8 min/mi, which seemed like it was possible if my stomach didn't go crazy - by mile 3 I could hear it while running. eek.





right ankle bugging a little, probably from the calf stretching earlier.. lame.. not messing with it though, hopefully tomorrow it's gone.

 

lol. 213 overall (so far) in the october distance challenge on strava.





saturday = rest
sunday = morning race, evening = light recovery

---

Monthly Tracker: October 2017

October (10) 2017

TODO:
- 10/3
- 10/4

Bodyweight: [(01,147),(02,146),(03,146),(04,145),(05,146),(06,145)]
- FORMAT: (day, weight in lbs)

Total Jumps per leg: []
- FORMAT: (day, # of jumps per leg)
- per leg total: 190

Max SLRVJ Touch: []
- FORMAT: (day, touch height in ft'inches")
- L-SLRVJ:
- R-SLRVJ:

Total miles walked: [(2,5.5)]
- FORMAT: (day, miles walked)
- total: 5.5

Total walk time: [(2,01h:30m:00s]
- FORMAT: (day, total walking time in hh:mm:ss)
- total: 01h:30m:00s

Total speed interval distance: [(05,4000m),(05,8400m)]
- FORMAT: (day, total speed interval distance in meters)
- total: 8800m

Max run speed (mph)/pace (min/mi): [(05,11.9,5:03),(05,11.9,5:05)]
- FORMAT: (day, mph max, pace max in minutes per mile)

Total jump rope time: []
- FORMAT: (day, minutes)
- total:

Total jump rope messups: []
- FORMAT: (day, # of mess ups)
- total:

Resting HR: [(2,20,40,35)]
- FORMAT: (day, minutes for this test, average hr, minimum hr)

PR's: []

Races: []

Soreness: [(1,"slightly","calfs slightly - left more so"),(2,"slightly","calfs moderate, quads slightly"),(05,"none"),(06,"none")]
- FORMAT: (day, overall soreness, specifics)

Aches/Injuries: [(1,"left calf a bit tight"),(2,"none"),(05,"none"),(06,"left calf a little tight")]
- FORMAT: (day, specifics)

Morning Quad Flexibility: [(1,"stiff"),(2,"loose"),(05,"loose"),(06,"loose")]
- FORMAT: (day, general flexibility)

Morning Hamstring Flexibility:[ [(1,"stiff"),(2,"loose),(05,"loose"),(06,"loose")]
- FORMAT: (day, general flexibility)

Wakeup: [(1,6:15AM,7), (2,10:00AM,9),(05,9:00AM,10),(06,6:00AM,7)]
- FORMAT: (day, wakeup time, hours slept)

BW: 87.1kg
Activity: 86.7kg
Misc:
Diet Compliance: 1/1

Training upper body and recovery lower body.

---

Recovery BS 2x6x105 (+2.5kg from last week)
Paused BP 3x5x82.5(+1.5kg from last week)
Weighted Dips 3x5x111 (PR, 21kg; 10kg vest + 10kg kb + chain) 
Jump rope
IDBBP 3x12x20
Curls 3x5x45 (PR)
Tempo sprints 3x(100m run, 100m jog back) (PR; new ex)

Notes:
I thought about doing more sets of bench but fuck bench press. Piece of shit lift has been a total waste of time, im done with giving it any more attention than it deserves. On to dips and they were rally challenging for the first time -- i wanted to use a 9kg kettlebell but there wasnt one between 8kg (from last week) and 10kg so went with 10kg. It also prob didnt help that i only did 3x5 last time instaed of more sets (i reduced volume intentionally on upper body lifts to priotise squats) but i will add more volume now that i know bench press is gna be reduced volume from here on.

ya F bench, dips > bench.

Tempo sprints i actually came home and was gna get out of the car and thought nah i better do it, dont wanna waste acoles time. So went back literally was done in 5 minutes and back home. I started conseratively. At first i thought this is kinda silly but by the 2nd round i felt a nice pump in the hamstrings and realised this could actually benefit me more than i realised in terms of recovery. So exciting stuff, first straight sprints ive done in months (only did hill ones). Nice.

right, it's definitely not a waste of time: not everything has to hurt, be all out, etc.. nice relaxed speed intervals = good for the CNS.