Adarq.org

fwiw, with jumping practice, i've found that even just doing some drop-steps or one-step approaches (as i did last night) can be an okay substitute for real running jumps at the rim. helps to groove the pattern at least, and it's not like you're going to be able to do real max/PR-attempt jumps with all the other volume you're doing.

Still training! Been so busy with run-up to end of year. Going well overall. The sessions have looked like this:

Mon: pool runs+recovery

Tues: re-accelerations over 100m (usually between 4-6) + 200m sprint at the end

Wed: plyos + gym
- weighted plyos (SL and DL bounds x 5-7, LRLR x 40m with 4kg weight vest)
- gym (power pull: 65kgs x 10//squat: 1x7@1130kgs,1x5@140kgs, 1x3@145kgs,1x2@145kgs, 1x5@135kgs//bench: working up to 107.5 kgs x 3)

Thurs: speed endurance

- 3x100m/2x150m/2x100m with 8-12mins between
- [4x220m--2 mins rest--80m+20m fly] with 20mins rest between

Fri: pool runs+recovery

Sat: either competition or block start work + harness pulls

Sun: comp or gym (same as Wednesday but with SVJs after each power pull)

The training has been really hard. I've been pretty durable overall, haven't missed a session in ages now (since my calves were sore awhile ago). I still have a few nagging lower legs issues. Shin splints are still kind of 'there', not really bothering me but during the plyos they get more noticeable. The plyo load is mega intense though so not surprising. My foot is also still there, some weeks don't even notice it, but it definitely is more noticeable after bend sprinting. My feet and arches are really tight. Need to get a proper massage soon, been a long time since I've had a good one. But I'm holding up really well, all the big cylinders (hips, hams, quads, back) are more or less fine. I guess once you start adapting to the training load and do loads of rehab work at night +sleep/nutrition you can get to that nice place where you can train every day and be OK.

I missed updating the last test week. The highlights were:

- improved broad jump by ~2-3cm
- 8.40m+ in both R and L standing triples
- chopped a huge chunk of time off my flying 30m and 60m (0.13 and 0.2 respectively)
- improved my 1200m run by 11 seconds (No idea how this happened as I've barely been doing fitness work. Maybe the pool runs).

Had a few runs at comps:

100m - ran 12.12sec, not bad but was hpoing for better. Good start but faded at the 80-90m, tightened up. Need moar fitness.
200m- 24.78sec (finally into the 24s)...but again, fading dismally. See video (in the white):

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1qPHYmQGjQ" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1qPHYmQGjQ</a>

I was ahead at the 100m, if I could have just strided out and stayed in touch with the winner I'd be running 24.0...easier said than done of course, but it's slowly improving. Not that I'm that fussed about the 200m anyway.

Yesterday I ran a 70m handicap again. I got a little bump to 6m, had a great heat run and ended up making the final. Unfortunately they moved the final up 15mins but I missed the announcement. Had to rush there and didn't run as well, but still got 6th out of 8 and won $10!!!!! I'm rich biatch!! And can now say I'm a professional money-winning athlete   

Have been training as per usual. We had an awesome training camp between 26th-31st of December. Basically twice-a-day training with recovery in-between. I missed the first two sessions but managed to get the last four days in. It was crazy. Ice baths really helped, but the pain during the baths was intense. Being an elite athlete must just be a constant battle with pain.

We're having a mid-season break from gym work as it was closed over training camp, so we've been doing the fitness circuit again instead. Will do that up until end of January, then back to weights. The rest of the schedule is pretty much the same. I got up to 135kgs for 7 and 150kgs for 3 for squat, which works out to be above 2xBW. But this time around it's something I can do twice a week with plyos beforehand etc., rather than a single rested max of 2xBW like last year. Which is cool.

Racing has been really annoying. The people running the amateur competition are absolutely hopeless. I ran a 100m in mid-Dec that felt very fast, probably between 11.8-11.9ish, but the timing malfunctioned! I went back and ran a 12.3 five mins after but I was cooked. The next 100m wasn't until this weekend past. Had a really nice run, again, felt like a mid/high 11s but they fucked up the times again! They gave me a 12.19 later, but apparently when they mix up the times they have been looking back at athletes' previous times and just adjusting for the wind. So I have no idea what I ran. Really disappointing, I only have three 100m left and still haven't officially broke 12sec yet!

I've been doing some SVJs and RVJs when I can. SVJ is around the 34 mark as usual, hasn't improved much lately with no squatting. I was away over Xmas and went down to a school and just messed around. Broad jump is ~2.90m and SVJ is ~34'', did some strating drills as well for fun on the oval. I wanted to do more RVJs but didn't want to jump on concrete too much.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cOnz6ILhbM" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cOnz6ILhbM</a>

Youtube is weird, my default setting for new vids is unlisted...but every time I link it here it changes. Fixed now.

I wouldn't say I'm miles ahead of you or anything. You been jumping really well lately (have been following despite lack of posts), and because you're allocating more training time to court jumps, you'll probably still beat me there. Just haven't been able to fit in much actual RVJ technique work apart from some long jump drills we do occasionally.

Oh yeah I forgot about the pro races. I've done about four now, just doing the 70m (although my handicap seems to have settled on 6m, so I'm actually running 64m). I just missed out on a final at the last one I went in by a few hundreds. I'm running about ~7.9-8.0sec, and realistically to win a 70m event you'd need around ~7.7 or lower (last years Stawell 70m was won in ~7.3 I think). So to win I'll need to drop down a bit more or get a boost to maybe 7m. But yeah it is fun, good for working on explosiveness/power.

sucks about stalling, man. i know the frustration. believe me.

also, somehow only just now saw your vid from january. why does your SVJ clip look like someone was spying on you? 

Bi-monthly update lol. I should update more often, just been fairly busy with life and training. Didn't end up running anything amazing unfortunately. 12.15s at the State Champs into a -1.4w...but still not very good. Also ran at Stawell in the 70m but nothing remarkable, someone false started, and then I was a bit tentative in the restart and didn't get away that well.

It's frustrating because I really haven't missed major time with injuries. My training attendance was probably 95% over the full year of training but...didn't improve as much as I'd like in the actual comps. I always ran a better time in training than in comp, so maybe it's still a mental thing. The other possibility is that I trained too much and wasn't fresh but...I don't know. I felt well enough, didn't seem to have any major issues. Hard to say. It takes awhile to fully get back into it, I guess a years worth of training ins't much when you haven't been active in a sport for 5-6 years.

Having a little break until April 27th. Haven't done much, just played some basketball with some of the guys in the group last week. I really miss playing. I forgot how much fun it is just playing 4v4 half-court. Then I remembered why I stopped doing it after we played some rough dudes and I nearly got my knee taken out a few times!  I got a bit of hayfever though a couple of days before so my vertical wasn't much. I don't really know where it's at. I need to focus on it more. I'm still thinking along the lines of the previous post. Train about 4 days per week with a dedicated RVJ session for awhile, while the training is light. I want to get this dunking thing DONE. Can't be the last out of me, LBSS and scooby to jam! Hehe.

MEGA UPDATE!

No I haven't been falsely accused of murder, still alive, still running and jumping. Pretty much doing the same training as last winter, but no basketball court session, and the club hasn't been able to get into the gym due to various financial issues - but we only got delayed a month or so.

May - Two track, one hills session and one fitness circuit/long run (1200m) day

June - Two track, one sleds session and two fitness circuit/longer run (1600m) session

July - Two track, one sleds session and two fitness circuit/longer run (2000m) session

August - Two track, one hills session, one fitness circuit/longer run (2400m) and one gym session

September - Two track, one hills session, one or two gym (not sure), pool session

(Probably made >90% of sessions).

Testing results of note

30sec run - 247m (big improvement on last years 236 or something) --> a 250m/30sec is ~23.5sec 200m (approx because some people die faster over the last 50m than others).

60sec run (only done it once) - 415m

Broad jump - a shitty 2.80m with no pop (I blame this on lack of gym/squatting!)

LRLRLRLRLR bounding - PRed, but can't remember what and can't be bothered looking it up, something like 28m --> probably lighter BW has helped

1200m run - 4m11s - PR (I think)

Pullups and ring chinups - both 23

It has mostly been pretty cold and wet and uninteresting! Which is why I haven't journalled much. But I have gotten fitter I guess. My power has probably dipped a bit because I have slowly dropped down to about 75-76kgs from ~78-79 at season's end. Mostly UB mass, hams/glutes/calves are still there but may have just lost a bit of quad muscle/power. My best broad jump was when I was squatting a lot, quad-dominant AF and was around ~81kgs. It's been pretty easy to just cut out some carbs here and there in lunch and dinner and eat most cals just before bed. Seems to work, but then I've always had good genes for BF% so who knows. Some stupid $1500+ digital bf% scales in the Uni gym measured me at 3.8%! But I'm not that low (probably around 5%). I think this has helped me stay mostly injury-free all winter to date (jinx alert). The previous issues I've had (foot, shin splints) have gone. Right tib-fib joint still flares up a bit ---> I'm sure a lot of people would get this and it's probably differences in ankle mobility (R is less mobile than L)......but it's never quite severe enough for me to do much about it.

My thinking is to continue with the training all the way through to the end of summer (~end of March) this season and then re-evaluate. If I'm making minimal progress then I'm gonna go back to solo training and do my own thing. As much as I've enjoyed the group training thing and have learnt a lot, starting to tire of the inflexibility and being (in the nicest way possible) bossed around by adults like freaking high school. Also, rigid training times make doing a science PhD a bitch sometimes. The thing that could swing this is the professional running for $$. If I win $$ this season I might stick with it longer. But if not, I can't be bothered throwing entry fees away for whole seasons to improve my handicap (which is all politics/who-you-know bullshit). CBFed with that shit. Must be getting older!

Based on testing and timed hill sprints, good goals are probably 11.6sec (again lol), <24sec for 200m. Last season I felt I probably peaked in January. I don't know if I handled the volume well despite not really getting 'hurt'. Possibly overtrained. For better or worse, the coach is hardcore old-school so I will try and monitor it myself better and not feel compelled to kill myself every day. But if that happens again or I'm hitting 12.0-11.9 again with no massive improvement in RVJ then I think it's time to move on, join a crossfit gym (I know, but they're the best gyms here) that I can do OLs in/bits and pieces of sprint training and try to dunk on or before March 2017 or commit athletic harakiri.