Nov 19 2009

Decent progress over last week. Took a rest day from running yesterday and just did sprint "machine". I guess I have to come up with a name for that drill. Tues did 1mile fast warmup, 4x200, some weights, shot practice, then in evening did vault strength workout and sled push. Very tired afterwards. Day before that I ran 5miles on track in 36min, then did 4x100 strides to loosen up. Threw discus ok. Sunday did 10 min warmup run, then hurdles, vaulting, sled push. Saturday did 5x430 on MAC indoor track and weights. Pretty good workout. Friday did same as Sunday, but with faster 14min run as warmup.

After all the injuries last season I had no hopes of getting close to the world record for M45, but I feel so good now I'm starting to look at it. The challenge now is to not over do the training because I feel good. Basically if I can stay injury free the WR is realistic because it's a bit soft. The injuries take so much out of the training momentum at my age that any one serious injury at the wrong time could mean the end again though. I'm working with a new message guy who's very good and that will help.

These marks will get me there:

12.10 100m

20-7 LJ

37-4 SP

5-10 HJ

54.80 400m

16.20 HH

128-0 Discus

12-10 PV

128-0 Jav

5:00 1500m

If I stay healthy, some of these marks will be easy, and I've done most of them in meets or practice in the past couple years. Putting it all together is always the test. When I look at them, I just laugh at how easy they would be for a younger guy. A good decathlete could do these in one hour literally without breaking a sweat, and throwing from a stand, etc. When I was 20 I jumped 21-0 in a long jump practice session with a 5 step approach. That's 5 steps, LRLRL, not 10 steps. Oh well, the years are not kind. These numbers may change up or down after a winter of training, but there's not a large range of performance that we older athletes can expect. I'm not going to accidentally bust out a 23 foot long jump, or throw the shot only 30 feet. The pole vault and javelin will always be the wild cards I suppose because of the nature of the vault, and my shoulder in the jav. If I regained full use of my shoulder, I could conceivably throw a lot farther than 128'

Dr. Heel Good

Full-bore training is underway and it's going pretty well. I think my heel bruise is gone, I only feel some sensitivity at times, but not enough to slow me down. I also continue to have soreness and tightness in my lower abs and groin, but it goes away with warmup, and regular workouts should get rid of it entirely. I've had three good workouts in a row. Sunday I ran 32 minutes, Monday I ran 4x600m in 1:58, 1:56, 2:03, 2:08. Not real fast, but have to start somewhere. I'll have to be able to knock those out in 1:45 by March 2 for the indoor pentathlon 1000m. Also on Monday I lifted arms a bit, did row, and step mill. Yesterday I did 4x100m fast stride + 1.5miles during the day, then we met at Rick's and did some throw practice and other misc. Our new track club, Oregon Multi-Event Track Club, will be meeting there tue, fri, and Sun.

I'll be trying to hurdle just as much as I can, and hopefully I'll be able to start practicing long and high jumps in December. I'm waiting as long as possible before doing that because of the heel.

My big thing lately is realizing that I need to alter my running stride by moving my footstrike back while sprinting. I've been running with a form that causes my foot strike to brake or block my forward progress with every step which is sudden death, so to change my form and improve my drive I built a frame that holds me off the ground, then allows me to attach a band to my heel and simulate the sprinting motion by pawing backwards. I've noticed a difference already, and think it has potential to really help my sprint times. Barring injury.