Senior Olympian Sprinter

I had a chance to experiment tonight on one of my favorite tracks--Muscle Shoals High School-- home of the Trojans.  Their synthetic track is one of the few that is actually laid out symmetrically, the start and finish of the 100 meters is midway in each endzone, so you can figure out very accurately where you are at all times.     I worked on some 50 m at 95 % speed and compared curve times with straight away times.  All my tests were with a 25 m running start, so the poor starts can be discounted.  The curve 50 m averaged 6.6 sec and the straight aways were 6.4 seconds.  I ran all the curves in lane 1.  I then compared lane 1 to lane 4 curves and there was little difference.  The curves must be run with a long stride to be fast regardless of lane.   Today was the first day in several days that my legs actually had some energy.  They were loose and stretched out quickly, and that was from two days of real rest....

I ran yesterday in the evening at Ravenwood High School.  There was at least a dozen people getting the field ready for the football season opener today.   The band was practicing in the parking lot, the soccer team had a game going on, it was time to get football going.   I worked out for over an hour and the field crew was at it the entire time, getting the end zones painted.   I get to work out at various tracks all over the US and my suggestion would be buy a plastic field.   They never need watered, lined, painted, mowed, replanted, new drainage added....    They appear to last at least 10 years and I think the labor and water costs have to be a huge saving.  I saw a field in Tulsa, OK and it was pristine at 5 years old.   Plus, they always look perfect.    If it was raining yesterday they would have been screwed on having the field ready. I rested the previous day-- I was real sore. ...

I had a chance to get into the weight room today and get some heavy leg work.  I have been thinking about doing power cleans and finally found a youtube video that showed the technique.  So, today I did some power cleans with 3 sets of 135 pounds.  Felt pretty good, but my back will hurt tomorrow. I also did the front sqauats with knee wraps.  I also worked on a deeper squat, in the past I did not go down to 90 degree knee bend.  Today, I on went up to 205 pounds max and got a little deeper.  The next two days will let me know how it went.   Also, in the mix was the kicks and some kettle bell hammies.  I was gassed after this work out.  I am in Florence, AL tonight watching some football on HD TV-- HD is a real plus when traveling.   The Comfort Suites delivers on HD.   And there is more....NFL Network is also in HD!!!  OMG!!  Linda is in Florida and she looked really good when she left this morning, ...

I made it back to the track today.  Linda did some walking with her fancy new knee brace-- it is tiger stripe patterned and as cool as these kinds of things can be.  So I had some company.   Yesterday morning I had my massage and Geoff indicated that I was quite tight and he worked very hard to loosen up my quads--it hurt like hell--he can inflict some pain.   But he was able to tell that I have been easing off a little on the training and stretching, so I got busted and need to get back with the program.   The quads the quickest muscle in the body to atrophy and shrink-- you gotta work em.    I looked up power cleans on youtube and will add power cleans to my front squat routine that I do weekly.       Last night we went to the movies and saw 'Hope Springs' with Tommy Lee Jones as the old worn out husband and Meryl Strep as the frustrated wife whose marriage is deader than the preverbial ...

I had planned on some track work tonight after I finished in the tissue mill, but it was pouring rain for a couple of hours and that plan was dead.  So I did the next best thing--I took a nap.  After the nap, it was still too wet and I did treadmill runs.  I ran a 800, 2--600 's and 2 --300's to get some endurance work in.   The treadmill work cause extreme sweating because you have no wind blowing past to cool you.  Believe it not, running on a track is a little cooler and much drier. One of great things about being "out East" is the diner.  I had dinner at a local 24 hour diner.  They have pastry, hot food, liquor, carryout beer and breakfast anytime.  They are like going to friend's house to eat.  Always comfortable and unhurried.    The menu are generally 8 pages of laminated plastic.  No exception at the "Arena".  The pork chop diner was very good. Linda send me a link to a new song from one of...

I traveled to Newark, NJ today for work.  I was scheduled for arrival around noon with a trip thru Baltimore.  But the plane broke,  and would take 4 hours to fix.  Southwest did the usual great job of rescheduling  me thru MDW--Midway and I got here with just an hour delay.  But I did get the center seat on each trip and on the first leg, I sat next to a guy that was big, he was 58 Short jacket size.  So I spent that leg twisted so I could actually breathe.   The next leg I had a better opportunity to find two women to sit with, they were normal size and I had a lot of room.   Whew!! I am staying where I can see the new Liberty Tower from my hotel room.  It has its final height, they are just getting the siding on.  It is definitely the tallest building on Manhattan.  I hope it turns out to be a real showplace.  I ran some slower strides today, 8 cycles of 100 m on a sport turf feild...

The athletics as it is called by the British or track and field as called by us is the "New World"  was wonderful with some really fast runners and  great wins by the US.  The Bahamas sprinters were basically untouchable, but it was great theatre and I loved it.    I did learn that Usain takes 4 to 5 (41 total) less strides than the competition during the 100 m.   I have a long stride that I use at the end of races sometimes.   I think I need to spend some time developing this longer stride and see it it is faster for me.   I do have very long legs for a 5' 11" man,  very 'long femurs' as my envious wife claims.  So, we need to get out the camera and clock and do some experimenting.   That may have been my advantage in high school, and I now to exploit this advantage.  I won a lot or races my senior year in high school. Yesterday was a travel day so I rested.  I got up at 4:00 AM and ge...

Usain Bolt is really fast,  I just watched the 200 m finals and he handed out  another  really bad beating.  That must feel good to have that ability.    He is one of the alltime greats. Enough about him, how about me??  I have been in OK this week and have been working out on a really nice high school track in Catoosa.  The Catoosa Indians, home of "The Tribe".   I ran the other night on the synthetic track and ran four 200 m sets around 30 seconds.  That was without spikes, which makes these 200's around 90% and the last on was 29.5.    I finished up with some other speed work and felt great for 6:00 am.  The sprinklers were on and that felt good when I ran thru them at the finish.   This track was quite busy with several people getting work outs.  I was glad to see some other healthy folks.     This afternoon I returned an...

Well as I guessed, it is quite hot in the Sooner state, 105 today.   I baby sitted a tissue machine all day and may get some energy to do some running.  I need to find a track--I think that is why google maps was created.   But, I can also take a day off, which is part of the program--resting.  I was thinking of some different subjects for my blog.  I have some high school pictures on my long jumping and in my track uniform. I was 5 ' 11" and 168 pounds, depending on how close to feeding time.  I am still 5'11", but the weight is 197 and going down slowly.  I am moving muscle from the upper body to the lower.  Linda is not a fan of this, she likes upper body muscles--her toys.  But speed comes from the hips and thighs and that is what is growing and getting the most weight work.   So that should be a  fun subject. Another subject is gear.   I have always been curious about the new stuff and I got it...

Humidity is measured as percent, with 100% being the maximum.  Yesterday was a day that the old scale really did not reflect how much water was in the air.   I did some road work on the local streets and managed to completely soak every item of clothing on my body.  Then Linda and I went to see "Train" at an outdoor venue after some rain, with more on the way.  The humidity was incredible.   You just sit there and dehydrate.  Train put on a great show in 55 minutes, played a lot of hits and threw beach balls and T shirts into the crowd.   They also took pictures with cell phones that were tossed up on the stage.    Times do change.   But they had a lot of fun.. so did we.  I would like to see them again in a full 2 hour show.   This "rain or shine" event was shortened because a storm was coming--lightning and wind scares the insurance people when you have a portable stage.  Back to humi...

Have you ever been one year away from somthing that you really wanted to do?  I am there for the second time in my senior olympian running career.  I was ready to compete in the 2011 senior nations in Houston, Tx......but I got hurt and had to cancel out.  It sucked.   You only get a chance every 2 years.   How it must change your life to fail to get in the real olympics--every 4 years.    I like to plan ahead--many surprises in the athletic world are not the type of events that I like.  so, I like to find any advantage I have and try to exploit it.    I am qualified for 4 events in Cleveland, Ohio--where the senior nations will be held in late  July 2013.   I am reviewing the running schedule and like my chances in the 50 m and 400 m races.   The 400 m is usually the weakest competition because it hurts the most and really knocks you out of any other sprints.  It is the event that...