Thursday, January 12, 2006
(not very) high jumping
Thursday 12th January 2006
Headed down to Lane Cove this afternoon for a track session, followed by a pole vault run-up session, and then hopefully my debut high jump session. However, Jim was a no-show, which actually worked well as I was running late, and with the proper warm-up thing, it was 4:30 before I was finished on the track.
Still on the tail-end of the the throat/chest thing from the weekend, so decided that a hard anaerobic workout wasn't the ticket. Instead, decided that my 400m needed a kick in the arse, so did a session of 3x200, 3x150, 3x100 with 2 minutes recoveries and 5 minutes between sets. Aiming for 400m pace, and felt relaxed and comfortable, although the last rep of each set was a bit of a struggle. Did the 200s in 27.1-27.4, the 150s in 20.0-20.3 and the 100s in 13.0-13.3. Could have done more, but didn't want to knacker myself for the other training sessions. Did 2km warm-up and 2km cool-down.
With Jim absent, I approached someone I remembered from Saturday, and asked if there was a high jump coach around. Turns out he (Ron) was it. After the matter of fees had been negotiated (a legitimate, but unexpected issue), we set up the bags and uprights and got into it. Very impressed with Ron - started with some technical aspects and drills, rather than just letting me throw myself at the bar. Did some back-ups from a standing start (standing with your back to the bag and throwing yourself over the bar) then some straddles over 1.40m (scissor kicking over the bar so you land on your feet on the bag). So far so good - a much more auspicious start than discus.
Then we came to an actual jump (Fosbury Flop - they've had 35 years to come up with a less daggy term). The 11 year gap since I last jumped became quite apparent. However, with some practice and feedback, I was soon clearing 1.60m (actually a bit less, as we were using a rope that sagged a bit in the middle) pretty regularly (although there were some shockers in there). In terms of improvement, the key thing for me was that this was all done off a five step run-up - increased proficiency should allow a longer run-up, which ideally will translate to more height.
Ron impressed me by making me take breaks when he thought I was trying too hard or losing focus. He showed me some simple drills to help me get my head round a few concepts, when things came unstuck. And he also offered some excellent encouragement with a few statements: "you're still doing a hell of a lot of things right", "I've never seen someone get that right first time" and my favourite "I don't see any reason why you can't clear 170 soon - probably more". All-in-all I came away feeling pretty positive, although getting out the bags and putting them away was reminiscient of 'Karate Kid' ("bag out, bag in"). A long way to go, but nice to know I am not starting from further back.
Tomorrow is supposed to be yesterday's hurdles session, but my legs are a bit ginger from today's session, so I will probably just do an easy hour or so at 4:30/km and head to the gym, doing the hurdles Saturday morning.
I have decided to abandon triple jump and hammer throw until winter - triple should benefit from long jump training, and hammer will just have to wait. Will focus for the next couple of months on training like a decathlete (primarily working on technique), with some longer runs to keep my aerobic strength in place. Over winter I will train much more like a distance runner, building a solid winter base before launching into a 2.5 month middle-distance peaking phase for the World Champs. This will be backed by technique work on hurdles and field events, and ongoing weight training.
Apologies if I ramble on sometimes, or get too detailed - I am finding putting my entries together is very helpful in analysing my training, particulaly given the lack of interested third-parties at home...
Headed down to Lane Cove this afternoon for a track session, followed by a pole vault run-up session, and then hopefully my debut high jump session. However, Jim was a no-show, which actually worked well as I was running late, and with the proper warm-up thing, it was 4:30 before I was finished on the track.
Still on the tail-end of the the throat/chest thing from the weekend, so decided that a hard anaerobic workout wasn't the ticket. Instead, decided that my 400m needed a kick in the arse, so did a session of 3x200, 3x150, 3x100 with 2 minutes recoveries and 5 minutes between sets. Aiming for 400m pace, and felt relaxed and comfortable, although the last rep of each set was a bit of a struggle. Did the 200s in 27.1-27.4, the 150s in 20.0-20.3 and the 100s in 13.0-13.3. Could have done more, but didn't want to knacker myself for the other training sessions. Did 2km warm-up and 2km cool-down.
With Jim absent, I approached someone I remembered from Saturday, and asked if there was a high jump coach around. Turns out he (Ron) was it. After the matter of fees had been negotiated (a legitimate, but unexpected issue), we set up the bags and uprights and got into it. Very impressed with Ron - started with some technical aspects and drills, rather than just letting me throw myself at the bar. Did some back-ups from a standing start (standing with your back to the bag and throwing yourself over the bar) then some straddles over 1.40m (scissor kicking over the bar so you land on your feet on the bag). So far so good - a much more auspicious start than discus.
Then we came to an actual jump (Fosbury Flop - they've had 35 years to come up with a less daggy term). The 11 year gap since I last jumped became quite apparent. However, with some practice and feedback, I was soon clearing 1.60m (actually a bit less, as we were using a rope that sagged a bit in the middle) pretty regularly (although there were some shockers in there). In terms of improvement, the key thing for me was that this was all done off a five step run-up - increased proficiency should allow a longer run-up, which ideally will translate to more height.
Ron impressed me by making me take breaks when he thought I was trying too hard or losing focus. He showed me some simple drills to help me get my head round a few concepts, when things came unstuck. And he also offered some excellent encouragement with a few statements: "you're still doing a hell of a lot of things right", "I've never seen someone get that right first time" and my favourite "I don't see any reason why you can't clear 170 soon - probably more". All-in-all I came away feeling pretty positive, although getting out the bags and putting them away was reminiscient of 'Karate Kid' ("bag out, bag in"). A long way to go, but nice to know I am not starting from further back.
Tomorrow is supposed to be yesterday's hurdles session, but my legs are a bit ginger from today's session, so I will probably just do an easy hour or so at 4:30/km and head to the gym, doing the hurdles Saturday morning.
I have decided to abandon triple jump and hammer throw until winter - triple should benefit from long jump training, and hammer will just have to wait. Will focus for the next couple of months on training like a decathlete (primarily working on technique), with some longer runs to keep my aerobic strength in place. Over winter I will train much more like a distance runner, building a solid winter base before launching into a 2.5 month middle-distance peaking phase for the World Champs. This will be backed by technique work on hurdles and field events, and ongoing weight training.
Apologies if I ramble on sometimes, or get too detailed - I am finding putting my entries together is very helpful in analysing my training, particulaly given the lack of interested third-parties at home...
