Tuesday, 9 September 2008

Track training so far

The first Saturday, we sprinted 30m then walked back, next 40m walked back and so on adding 10m each time until we reached 100m

The second Saturday, we:
  1. Practised starts running only 10m after each start;
  2. Did six by 100m sprints (walking back to the start after each one). Each sprint was started slow and accelerated to full speed by the end. This was then repeated with three by 50m sprints.

Last Saturday, we:
  1. Relocated from QE II stadium to Queensland University's track because our track was in use for a meet.
  2. Practised starts running only 10m after each start;
  3. Sprinted 120m twice, 110m twice, and so on until we reached 60m. We walked back to the start & had a standing recovery after each sprint.

I wonder what we will do next Saturday.

Track Training

As of three weeks ago I am back doing track training for the first time since the 1970's. My first involvement in athletics was running the cross-country at high school in 1963. I enjoyed the experience so much I've been running cross-countries, with Queensland Athletics, ever since.

The cross-country season is only in winter. In summer, because of the heat, athletes focus on track events which involve much shorter distances than cross-country races.

I had a grueling workout at the track two weeks ago. After the warm ups they said change into your spikes... I didn't have any so I decided to buy a new pair. As I still have my spikes from 1963 I took a comparison photo for a laugh:

There are two main differences between the old and new spikes: the old ones had fixed spikes 1.5cm long and were made from real leather. The new ones have removable spikes of 5mm to 7mm length and the shoes are definitely not leather -- thought they are very light.