Saturday 21 March 2009

Need To Work Even Harder

Monday:
Went to the track and was quite impressed with the amount I did. I did 4 x 200m at about 50%, 4 x 100m at 70% and 4 x 50m at 100%.

Tuesday:
Worked on my arms at the gym and I must be getting stronger, as the 2kg weights don’t seem very difficult anymore.

Thursday:
Courtney was ill on Wednesday so couldn’t go to the Pingles. However, Sheila sent the session through and I did it today. 800m warm-up, 4 x 30m strides and then 4 x 4 60m with a 20second rest after each one and a 4 minute rest after every 4. Again, I found it hard work, but feel I should have pushed myself even more.

Friday:
At the gym I did core exercises and they were made a bit more difficult. The plank was increased from 45secs to 50secs per one and I put my feet on the ball to do the crunches.

Saturday:
By this time I always feel a bit tired, but pleased to report I’ve not ached once this week. At the gym I worked on my legs and it felt like all of the weights had been increased to make it that little bit harder. A constructive week I think and only 4 weeks until my first competition.

Monday 16 March 2009

Need to Push myself More

Monday:
Apparently the outside track at Loughborough is closed for refurbishment until May now. So I was forced to use the inside where it was quite busy. I was only able to use 50m, so did 4 x 50m 4 times. Afterwards I did a few 20m drills. I wasn’t overly tired by the end of it, but a steady start to the week.

Tuesday:
Back at the gym and worked on my legs. It all went quite fast and as per usual I felt comfortable, but had a good work out.

Thursday:
There was no training at the Pingles on Wednesday, so I did the set session today. I’d call it a pyramid session, as I had to do 3 x 50m, 2 x 100m, 1 x 150m, 2 x 100m and then 3 x 50m. The weather was lush, so I enjoyed it. I think I started off a bit slow though sprinting wise, so could have pushed myself more.

Friday:
After spending the morning attempting to get Michael Jackson tickets and failing I went to the gym. I worked on my abs, but it was tough as I felt sooo sleepy. My rowing was poor and I was in slow motion on the cross trainer. Better than doing nothing I guess. Went to London later that day, so that was my training for the week. Back to 6 sessions next week.

Sunday 8 March 2009

6 Days in a Row

Monday:
Went to the Loughborough track with Amy for the first time. The aim of the session was just to sort out running in time, as she’d never done guide running before. Unfortunately, it didn’t go the best. Eventually she was ok on the straights, but she was really yanking my arm when we did a full 400m. This was all jogging and she struggled to shorten her stride length, but she’ll have to in order for it to work. Hopefully it’ll go better next time.

Tuesday:
Back at the gym and worked on my legs, which felt good as usual.

Wednesday:
At the Pingles I had a session of 16 x 60m! I did them in sets of 4 and walked around the track after each set as recovery. It was an exhausting session, but I felt my speed was good and my technique of getting out of the blocks improved. However, afterwards my upper left arm swelled up.

Thursday:
My arm wasn’t swollen, but still a little painful. I went to the Loughborough track with Courtney and after a warm up did a couple of 200m outdoors. Since it was cold we came back in and did a session of running 20m x 4, then 30m x 4, followed by 40m x 4 and finally 50m x 4. So I didn’t hurt my arm any further, we didn’t do it with the blocks.

Friday:
Back at the gym and did core work in-between my CV work. I did exercises, such as the plank, stomach crunches and to be honest I don’t know the names of the others. Anyway they really worked my abs, which are still aching today. This will be a regular session along with working my legs and arms.

Saturday:
This was my 6th day of training in a row and I felt quite tired! However, I still managed to go to the gym and work on my arms. Afterwards I was happy to finish, but it had been a very productive week. Only my abs are still aching, but everything else is fine.

Monday 2 March 2009

Slowly Getting There

Tuesday:
Had a good gym session working on my legs. Instead of doing the abductors and adductors I used a new machine. I’m not sure what it’s called, but it flexed my ankles and calves.

Wednesday:
At the Pingles the session included 3 x 50m, 3 x 100m and a further 3 x 50m. Afterwards I did some practice starts with the blocks, which was very useful, as I can feel myself driving more out of them.

Thursday:
At the Loughborough track did 5 x 200m, but not at sprinting pace more jogging. This helped me to understand the distance more. Did a long warm-up and cool-down.

Friday:
This was my first time with Amy and we went to the gym. Ultimately I would like to do my usual CV with her and core stability work, but to give her an idea of what I normally do I worked on my arms. It went ok since it was the first time, but I need to encourage her to give me more time checks now, as I didn’t get one until after 8mins on the cross trainer.

Saturday:
I went to Walsall for the AGM goalball tournament. It was a friendly so everyone was mixed up. I was put with this short kid who I had last year too and an Albino from New College Worcester. Considering I hadn’t played for a couple of months I didn’t do too badly and my team ended up winning the development section.

Monday 23 February 2009

Going Well

Tuesday:
I went to the gym and worked mainly on my legs. Can’t really remember much about the session now, so must have gone well!

Wednesday:
I went to the Pingles and did a clock work session, I think it’s called. Basically, I did a 60m sprint increased by 10m each time up until 100m and then decreased each sprint by 10m until I was back at 60m. I did all of the sprints from starting blocks, which was good practice. It felt good and my final one was especially fast compared to the others, so it was nice to know I had a little energy left at the end. However, the warm down was exhausting.

Thursday:
I went up to the Loughborough track and did a long session of walking and running. It varied from 100m running up to 300m running. It all felt comfortable. To finish off I did 3 lots of 50m sprints and was pleased with my speed. Shame I didn’t have the stopwatch though.

Friday:
Back at the gym to work on my arms. I struggled a little on the chest press, but all in all a good work out. I’d been aching since Wednesday, but this didn’t affect me when exercising.

Other:
Amy is coming tomorrow to discuss her availability and so from next week I should hopefully be training 6 times per week. I’m thinking 3 gym sessions and 3 track sessions, but 1 may be replaced by swimming now and then.

I’ve also contacted Charnwood Athletics Club who train up at Loughborough on a Monday and Wednesday night. They said they haven’t had a disabled track athlete before, but have field. Apparently they have 3 sprint coaches and the head coach is going to talk to them about me tonight and get back to me.

Sunday 15 February 2009

Sleepy

Tuesday:
I was really tired and didn’t feel like doing anything, but had to go to the gym with Courtney as it’s pre-booked a month in advance. I was working on my arms, which I find more difficult anyway, so was struggling. To be honest I didn’t break out into a sweat on the cross trainer, which just goes to show I wasn’t pushing myself. After that I felt a bit livelier though and managed to get to the end of the session. I must have yawned over 50 times whilst there though!

Wednesday:
Courtney said she had a trip in the afternoon, so wouldn’t be able to take me to the Pingles. However, she text me late on Tuesday night to say it had been cancelled, but I had already told Sheila we weren’t coming and I wasn’t sure it would be on because of the weather. So we ended up going to the gym. I worked on my legs and felt back to my usual self and not over tired. I’ve found I’m averaging 220m on the rower now, which is an improvement. I was much faster on the cross trainer compared to yesterday and thought it was a good session.

Thursday:
It was threatening to snow yet again and it did start about 4pm. The plan was to go to Loughborough track, but to avoid getting stuck in the snow we went to the gym yet again. Instead of the usual session I did a more CV focussed one. I spent 5mins on the bike, 10mins on the cross trainer, normal interval rowing, 10mins on the recliner bike and 5mins on the stepper. In-between the CV equipment I did arm weights, but only one type. These included bicep curls, triceps dips, shoulder press and chest press. I found the recliner bike the hardest, as I’d never used the machine before and it really worked my legs.

Saturday:
Courtney booked the day off, as it was Valentine’s Day. Instead my mum offered to take me to the gym. Again I was feeling lethargic. I did a 5min warm-up on the bike and then 15mins on the cross trainer. I managed to run just over 1 and a half miles in the time and was quite pleased with that. Next I did some bicep curls and shoulder press with the 2kg weights and to round off spent 5mins on the stepper.

I have now invested in Lucazade and a Goodness shake, so hopefully I won’t be so tired!

Other:
On a separate note Direct Payments have allocated me some extra money. This will allow me to train 6 times per week instead of the current 4. Due to Courtney’s football commitments she won’t be able to do the extra hours. However, I have contacted Amy who I interviewed at the same time as Courtney.

Amy has provisionally agreed to become my second PA/guide runner. She is a qualified personal trainer and lifeguard. At present she works part-time at a gym and her main sport is judo that she competes in competitively. Hopefully she’ll start on March 9th, as long as I can get all of the paper work sorted.

Sunday 8 February 2009

A Real Snow Stopper

Tuesday:
With all this stupid snow we’ve been having Courtney cancelled on me, as she said it was too dangerous to drive. Thankfully, my mum took me to the gym in the evening, as I was having withdrawal symptoms since not having done anything since the Saturday!

I took the opportunity to do a long session on the treadmill, as it didn’t look likely I’d be able to go running outdoors this week. After a 5min warm-up on the bike, I went on to the treadmill. I walked for a minute and then ran on 11.8 for a minute, back to walking for a minute then increased the speed by 02 to 12. I repeated this until I reached the speed of 13, which was 7 reps. I did it all on a 2% incline. I hope it will help towards my stamina and speed. I was definitely shattered.

Next I did some bicep curls and shoulder presses with the 2kg free weights and to finish off did 5mins on the stepper. My legs were dead by this point, so a good work out.

Friday:
More snow preventing me from doing anything on the Wednesday or Thursday. Not happy! Though I was able to go to the gym with Courtney and worked on my arms. I found it incredibly difficult throughout and it just goes to show a couple of days break can set you right back.

Saturday:
I was so achy from the day before and really didn’t want to go to the gym, but knew I had to in order to get back into it. Working on my legs was tough, as they shook so much on the weights. Again absolutely shattered once I’d finished, but worth it I guess!

Sunday:
Today I didn’t drag myself out of bed until 11am, which is really rare for me, as I’m an early riser. I must have needed my sleep though and pleased my body isn’t too achy this morning. Not doing any training until Tuesday now and I’m hoping it’ll be easier.

Saturday 31 January 2009

How Fast?!

I went to the gym this morning and worked on my legs. I never feel as tired when I concentrate on my legs compared to my arms. Whilst there one of the trainers randomly offered me a t-shirt. Its quite good quality, but he gave me a medium. Seriously, do I look like a medium?! I guess it’s the thought that counts.

In the afternoon I watched the UK Indoor Athletics Match on BBC. It’s always great to watch the professionals in action and I’m always surprised how fast they can run. A highlight for me was watching the women’s 800m. Never mind the 2 Brits that came first and second, but a 110m hurdler from Germany was a last minute replacement and they said she jogged around. It reminded me of me! The poor woman was probably running her heart out and still got lapped!

Just now I’ve been on the BBC athletics website and found an interesting article about the timings in the Olympics finals last year. I can’t believe the pace these people go at in long distance races! Approximately 14 to 15seconds for a 5000m race per 100m! I can’t even run 100m that quickly! I’ve got a lot of work to do.

If you want to view the full article then copy and paste the web address below into your browser. Sorry I’m not smart enough to know how to create links!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/7854443.stm

Friday 30 January 2009

More Training

Saturday:
Worked on my legs again at the gym. All felt fine and an overall good work out.

Tuesday:
Back to the gym and worked on my arms. I’m using the 2kg free weights for the bicep curls and shoulder press consistently now and not finding it too difficult. Although I worked on my arms mainly, my quads were killing on Wednesday, but I did get a new PB on the rower, 224m in 1min, on the final set of my interval training.

Thursday:
Went to the Loughborough track where they’re still resurfacing and doing god knows what. 4 lanes were free to use though and we had the track to ourselves. I did an 800m warm-up and then I discussed with Courtney what work I could do to build my stamina. At first we walked 100m, jogged 100m, walked 100m and then ran 500m to complete 2 laps. After we did a longer more continuous session where I ran 100m, then walked 100m for 1 lap, the 2nd lap was walking 100m, jogging 200m and then walking another 100m, and then the 3rd lap was walking 100m and jogging the final 300m. It didn’t feel too difficult, which is always a good sign. Next we did 3 x 100m and they felt comfortable.

Thursday 22 January 2009

The Stopwatch Must Be Broken!

Tuesday:
I went to the gym where I worked mainly on my arms. Used 2kg weights for both bicep curls and shoulder press. Other arm exercises included lap raises, triceps dips and triceps pulls. Again same CV, but I noticed I was unable to row as far on the rower. Only managed 206m on the last row and normally do about 215m.

Wednesday:
I was at the Pingles and did a warm-up of running 200m then walking 100m until I had completed 3 laps. The session was based on speed work. I had to do 4 x 150m where I accelerated on the middle 50m. After the forth one I did feel shattered. We were going to do some drills, but it started raining and so did a cool-down similar to the warm-up. Not one single part of my body was aching today.

Thursday:
I’ve just got back from the track at Loughborough. They seem to be digging it up and repainting it. It is fairly nice weather today, but I think I had too many layers on. I did a 400m warm-up and on reflection should have done another lap.

I brought the stopwatch to time how fast/slow I am these days. I did 2 x 100m first and was very disappointed that I could only manage 17secs. My PB is 15.9secs and 17secs was what I used to run when I very first started about 4 years ago. My quads did hurt whilst running, which is why I thought I should have warmed-up more.

Next I did 2 x 200m. I’ve never ran 200m in competition or timed conditions, but was hoping for 35secs and if not at least sub 40secs. I managed about 41secs both times. Typical!

I’m a little confused why I’m not very fast though. It was a little windy, but more of a cross wind. I’m training at the gym and track at least 4 times per week so I should be better than this.

Sunday 18 January 2009

More Gym

Friday:
At the gym I worked mainly on my arms again. I did bicep curls with a 2kg weight now, triceps dips, sitting chest press, as I couldn’t lift the bar lying down, shoulder press and triceps pulls. Usual CV. My shoulder blades are still aching today.

Saturday:
Worked on my legs and did abductors, adductors, lifts, curls and press along with the CV work out. All felt very good and not overly difficult.

Thursday 15 January 2009

Freezing Pingles

It was absolutely freezing yesterday evening, but I still went to the pingles for training. Better than rain I think anyway.

I did a 400m warm-up, stretched out indoors and then did 3 x 200m. I’ve never really ran 200m in training or ever in a race and thought I would just collapse halfway round, but the first one seemed to take forever, but the other 2 felt better. I did a long cool-down and was aiming for 3 and a half laps, but think I quit after about 3. Good session though.

Sheila gave Courtney some more tips on guide running, which is always useful and I asked about competitions this year. Hopefully I can enter 5 or 6, but will wait and see. It’s a shame that the lack of VI people in athletics and sport in general, which reduces the amount of competitions.

Courtney gave me her new timetable for college that actually means I can train 5 times per week now instead of 4. I’ve devised the timetable for now so that I’ll be on the track twice a week and in the gym 3 times.

Tuesday 13 January 2009

Flying 50s, but dying 100s

Yesterday I went to the track at Loughborough and put on 6 layers on top and 3 on the bottom only to find out it was raining when I stepped outside. It wasn’t overly heavy, so I was still going to run in it, but when I got to the track for the first time ever there was nobody around indoors. Well there were a couple of girls, but that’s it. They amazed me how fast they were sprinting and just kept coming back and doing the same again, chatting casually!

I stripped a few layers off and did a 400m warm-up. I felt that was reasonable since it was unlikely my muscles would get too cold. I then did 6 x 100m and 6 x 50m. My speed wasn’t very impressive for the 100ms and I could hear how flat footed I was. I wasn’t sure of my posture and general technique. However, when I did my 50ms I felt quite powerful. I could really do a low drive at the start and gradually lift my body up and power forward.

I think I was worried I’d set off too fast for my 100ms and then die before the end unlike my 50ms I gave it everything. I still would benefit from a coach’s advice on the technical stuff and even that would increase my speed.

I did a cool-down of jogging and walking and to be honest felt absolutely shattered! I am a little achy today, but I’ll survive! Back on the track tomorrow.

Saturday 10 January 2009

Gym Fit

Whoops I see I forgot to write about Monday’s gym session. Can’t really remember it now, but I’m fairly certain I worked mainly on my legs. I then went up to Hartlepool for a friend’s birthday and got back yesterday.

I’ve dived straight back in though and went to the gym this morning. Worked on my legs again, as I have a bad memory and could have sworn I did my arms last time, but on reflection know I didn’t. The leg press, curls, lifts, abductors and adductors didn’t seem to strain me. Again I’m feeling very fit at the gym, but hope it shows on the track on Monday.

Sunday 4 January 2009

Gym/Track

Friday:
I went to the gym and worked on my arms. Did usual CV stuff and then bicep curls, triceps pulls, shoulder press, low row and chest press. I’ve never done the chest press before and found it really tough. On Saturday morning around my shoulders were aching and still do today.

Saturday:
I need to go to the track more than I do. It doesn’t seem to matter what I do at the gym, but when I’m on the track it’s 100 times more difficult. I did 3 sets of 400m, 3 sets of 50m sprints and 3 sets of 100m sprints. Then had a cool down of jogging and walking. It’s nowhere near enough though, but I was seriously dying. Running in freezing temperatures is commitment though; I think it was minus 2degrees!

Thursday 1 January 2009

Feeling Fitter

I’m a bit late at writing my blog entry yet again. On Tuesday I went to the gym again and mainly worked on my legs. I did the usual CV and leg curls, lifts, press, but also did abductors and adductors. I felt it was a good work out and I feel fit. Going to the gym again tomorrow, but the ultimate test will be on Saturday, as I’m going to the track and that’s where I realise how unfit or fit I am.