Finally back on the wagon

Since I have started trying to get back to fitness, it has become abundantly clear that I started this blog off at a premature stage. I knew that trying to return to running 400m would be very difficult but I think I underestimated just what a bad state I had let my body get into. To give you an idea, it is basically the same as this picture (apart from the fact that I was never near as buff as in the left picture and I actually looked worse than the right but anyway...)

 

When I wrote my last blog post, I had fully intended to get off the road and back onto the track within a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, in a couple of 'jumpers for goalposts' footy matches I managed to tweak my hamstring not once but twice which meant that I couldn't even begin to entertain the idea of sprinting. Sprinting was beginning to look like an utopian dream - an abstract concept and something that my body was rejecting. This was slightly concerning as it was hamstring pulls that basically put my sprinting 'career' to the sword. However, I also knew that it was poor conditioning and asking too much of my body too soon which usually caused the pulls. Therefore, I took the decision to take things easy and not rush things and this partly explains the reason why I haven't written much about it. The other reason is that I'm the worst 'I'll do it tomorrow' person in the entire history of the human race. I make Hamlet look like Alexander the Great.

Anyway, exciting news dear reader. I have now completed two weeks of three running sessions a week. They have been baby steps but it definitely involved going down to the running track, putting on my spikes and running up and down a bit. Which is definitely progress. To be more specific I have decided to follow a short to long training programme which very simply involves doing short and intensive sprints early on in the off season and building up to longer runs throughout winter and beyond. For those reading who are not 400m geeks, this could be seen as unusual as the accepted wisdom for quarter miler training is to start off doing longer runs to build up stamina (or aerobic capacity) and then move to short, more intense runs to build speed, speed endurance and something called special endurance as training progresses towards the season. My logic for going against the grain is threefold:

Firstly - I am quite simply not fit enough to do 'proper' longer 400m sessions at the moment. I am therefore building up my stamina (aerobic fitness) through other activities such as exercise bikes/slow runs. By doing shorter runs, I should be able to run myself fit so that going into September 2013, I am ready to start training 'properly'.

Secondly - I have lost most of the speed I once had (which for those that know me, wasn't much to begin with). Whilst a lot of the 400m demands special and speed endurance, having decent speed is vital. After all, it is a sprint. This is something that I feel I need to work on and if I get it right, it will help me to produce better sessions when I start to do 'longer' runs later on in the year.

Thirdly - I followed a similar programme in my last year of university with Coach Martyn Jones, someone who and whose ideas I have a lot of respect for. I don't think short to long programmes are quite for me and I fully intend to revert back to long to short in 2013/14 but I did get some very decent immediate results from  Coach Jones' training that year. In that December I was probably the fittest I have ever been and I remember running a 300m in 34.9 and then a 600m in 1.23 ten minutes after (indoors).

So my sessions so far have involved doing 2x4 60m runs with 1 minute between the reps and 4 minutes between the sets. This has felt pretty weird to be honest. I've definitely lost the ability to run quick and in some ways it feels like somebody has transplanted my head onto a slow and overweight person's body. Unfortunately, that is now just my slow and overweight body.

I have also been going down to a small wood back in Ormskirk called 'Ruff Wood'. This is a great place to take drugs and have outdoor sex but it also a great place to train as it has a 1km path which follows the circumference of the wood. This can be occasionally boggy but on the whole its a good solid surface to run on (if you can dodge the dog walkers). I used to be able to do a lap of the wood in 2m 56 secs and I would usually knock out 3x1 laps (5 mins rest) in an average of 3m 10 secs. The first time I went down I managed two laps in a 4min 10 sec average and today I've been again and managed two laps in a 3 min 50sec average which was very pleasing. As I've said this is very much baby steps but I am definitely going in the right direction and very much back on the 400m wagon.

In terms of going forward, I fully intend to continue with a short to long programme but I will lengthen the turnaround distances from 60m incrementally to 100m over the next few weeks. I'm also debating whether I should join a training group in the next couple of months. Going down to train on my own is easy at the moment as the sun is shining and its nice and warm - I'm fully aware that this will not be the case for much longer. Being part of a group will probably aid my motivation but it will also reduce my autonomy in picking sessions. Will keep people posted on that one.