Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Events 12 and 13 and a big catch up
A big catch up, and some exciting developments, so bear with me.
Although Monday 3rd was a public holiday, I had arranged to hook up with a throws coach at Narabeen, and duly headed over in the afternoon. Spent about 45 minutes working with the discus, and although I am still crap, managed one throw out about 25 meters - a distinct improvement on my 17.8 meter existing PB. Threw a monster throw which got Des very excited, until I told him it was a 1kg discus (2kg is competition weight). Lots of work needed on technique and strength, but I was happy to see that even some basic technical advice was able to yield improvements. My goal is to get over 30m (500 points), which I thought was a bit of a pipe dream, but now think is achievable. However, the real trick will be to consistently throw legally in this range, as you only have three throws in competition (I don't think I managed to get half my throws to land legally!). Still - 136 extra points from one afternoon as pretty pleasing.
I have decided to put off getting into hammer throw till next year, as this requires the greatest strength, and so a few months of weights will help. Also, by improving my discus technique I should be better equipped to get my head around the hammer throw technique. And as hammer throw is not part of a standard decathlon, I don't need to get up to speed in time for the State champs in January (see below). Shot put is the least technique-oriented of the four throws, and requires the least training, so javelin will be my next focus, along with discus.
Just as an aside - how expensive is throwing equipment! A basic package of the four throwing implements is nearly $500, and you can spend nearly $2000 on a javelin if you are keen (I am not!). Add a pole vault pole ($500) and some practise hurdles ($250), and I may aswell just become a triathlete! Then there are the various shoes (all $150-200 - if you are keen you could get a separate pair for spints, mid-distance, distance, long jump, high jump, javelin and the circle throws - another $1000!). Still - no one is making me do this...
After the discus session, a did a set of 5x400 in 72 with a 200 jog recovery. Was planning to do eight, but the third one was in 69 seconds, which left me a bit lactic, and so I decided not to push it. Instead I did 5x200, aiming for around 32 seconds. Hovered around the 30-31 second mark for all of them, except the 4th one, which I decided to push a bit, and ran 26.7. Although nowhere near my PB of 23.86, this was very encouraging, and I think I can go close to sub-25 right now, as this wasn't an all-out effort (and was preceeded by 2.6km of pretty fast running!). All in all, a very encouraging session on the track.
Tuesday 4th I decided to give my new Nike Frees a workout, and did an easy 8km to follow the three previous hard days. Shoes felt fantastic, and dipped down to 4min/km very easily, before easing back to finish the workout in 35:10.
Headed off to Young Carers Camp on Wednesday, with a few doubts as to how much running I would get in. Managed an easy 13km or so on Thursday in just under an hour - ran with one of the other leaders - a 92 minute half marathon runner, who appeared to be keeping up, but upon arrival home confessed he was running almost flat out. Friday morning I got up early and did 4x1km on the road. Unfortunately, I choose a fairly hilly section, so the splits were way out - 3:34/3:13/3:33/3:13. Still very happy to be running so quickly in a comfortable fashion. Unfortunately, some minor rib bruising I incurred in a trampoline mishap on Wednesday (don't ask) was flaired up in an incident involving crawling around on the floor like a cat (don't ask). This prevented me from running on Saturday (I lasted 400m), and meant I didn't bother on Sunday.
The camp itself was a great experience - I came back feeling good about myself, knowing I had done something really worthwhile. Not great epiphanys - no desire to pack in my day job and become a social worker, but definitely something I will stay involved with in the future. Got a scary crystal ball look at what Louis may be like in 7 years! The Owl's blog has some more details, as well as a few embarassing stories about yours truly.
Monday 10th, as well as being my 6th wedding anniversay, saw me back into the swing of things, and hammered out 12km in just over 48 minutes, with the middle 10km in about 39 minutes. Threw in a hill at 5-6km, which made the rest of the session tougher than I would have liked. Need to either slow down the pace, or stick to the flat, as I tend to use this session as a bit of a rythym/running economy session, which I can't do if I am working the hills. Once again ran in the Frees - these are the most comfortable shoes I have ever run in.
Tuesday 11th saw me back at Narabeen, but no throwing due to ongoing rib soreness. Was planning a session of 2x3 km in 10:00, to give myself a bit of a kick, but had been suffering with a sore throat, and turned it into a 3x2km in 6:40. The first one was tough (hence why I dropped the last km), but as I am finding with these longer interval sesssions, the next two were far more comfortable. Managed 6:36, 6:38, 6:37, so pretty pleased with that, although still quite a way to go. My plan is to have a 4 week cycle of long intervals that looks a bit like this:
Week 1 - 6x1km @ 3000m pace (current target 3:10/km)
Week 2 - 4x1500m @ 5000m pace (current target 3:15/km)
Week 3 - 3x2km @ 5000m pace (current target 3:15/km)
Week 4 - 2x3km @ 10000m pace (current target 3:20)
By early next year I would like to have the 1km reps down below 3 minutes, and the 3km reps around 9:40. However, reducing recovery (currently a 200-400m walk) times will be a greater priority than reducing interval times. Ideally down to a 200m jog in about 60 seconds.
Finished the session with 4 fast 200s in about 28 seconds, which felt pretty good, although the last 20m or so was a bit tough in the last few.
The discus session has given my double decathlon focus a real boost, and put it at the forefront of my mind. This week I will DEFINITELY be hooking up with a Pole Vault coach (although with my ribs, it will probably be next week before I can do a training session), which is the major short-coming at the moment. Planning to make my track racing debut on the 22nd at ES Marks, where I plan to go in the 200m, 400m, shot put, long jump and 5000m. The 800m is also on the program, but I am still scared of that event, so I will delay tackling it at the moment (I am not at the point where I can run an 800 and 5000 in the one afternoon). Given that I suffered no will effects from going public with my 10km goal, here are my targets:
200m - sub 25 seconds
400m - sub 55 seconds
5000m - sub 16:30
Long jump - 5.50m
Shot put - 8.00m
This meet should give me some benchmarks as to where my fitness is at, and allow me to plot my progress over the next few months. I will be doing the next three meets to play with a variety of events, and then targetting a PB for 3000m at the State Champs on the 12th November. After this, my plan is to compete in the State decathlon championships (ironically in Melbourne) in January, where I have set a big private goal, depending on how my Pole Vault is going. Then I will be focusing on the State and National Masters Champs in April, doing as many meets as I can in between. The State Champs I plan to enter EVERYTHING, but what events I will target at the Nationals I won't decide until March.
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Gosh you have been busy!!!
Glad you enjoyed the carers camp..... Come on join the dark side of the force :) though the pay is not as good! (social worker if you hadn't picked!)
Glad you enjoyed the carers camp..... Come on join the dark side of the force :) though the pay is not as good! (social worker if you hadn't picked!)
I'm glad you enjoyed the discus session. Getting the technique will be hard work but sounds like it is paying off already. Hope the ribs settle down soon - i'm looking forward to the pole vault escapades.
TA
TA
I was competing in a weight pentathlon last August and a competitor tells me he's a double-decathlon man. He started to list the events and I got tired about half-way through.
Discus can be tricky, but I'm finding javelin to be a complete mystery.
http://takeitfromjake.blogspot.com/
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Discus can be tricky, but I'm finding javelin to be a complete mystery.
http://takeitfromjake.blogspot.com/
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