ali
Level 7 Valued Member
5 weeks ago I ran in a 110m sprint. It was a fast heat and ran well but tweaked a hamstring in the last 10 metres. Nothing major but enough to miss my next 2 race meetings. I did a session of swings some light get ups and then had a holiday. A couple days of some gtg of hlr's, airborne lunges and Hindu push ups by a pool and some swimming.
Returning last weekend I did one light sprint, to test out the old leg ahead of today's sprint and thought I'd go for it. Going into today I'd entered 2, a 110 and a vets 90, both handicapped, the same mark that I've had and treated it as training as the old leg wasn't totally ok, so I curbed it. Ended up winning my heat, running well in a semi but not making the final. I came 2nd in the 90, literally losing to a head nod at the finish. All in all, 3 sprints, the best I've done this season.
I came away confused. There's peaking for performance and then there's competing with rest induced by injury that seems to be quite effective!
The psychology of competition and physiology of performance doesn't make any sense.
I reasoned that I had less anxiety perhaps. I ran more relaxed. Maybe I focused more on form and technique rather than power, maybe everyone else had off days. Whatever the reason, it was totally unexpected and a lesson perhaps about the importance of rest and recovery.
Returning last weekend I did one light sprint, to test out the old leg ahead of today's sprint and thought I'd go for it. Going into today I'd entered 2, a 110 and a vets 90, both handicapped, the same mark that I've had and treated it as training as the old leg wasn't totally ok, so I curbed it. Ended up winning my heat, running well in a semi but not making the final. I came 2nd in the 90, literally losing to a head nod at the finish. All in all, 3 sprints, the best I've done this season.
I came away confused. There's peaking for performance and then there's competing with rest induced by injury that seems to be quite effective!
The psychology of competition and physiology of performance doesn't make any sense.
I reasoned that I had less anxiety perhaps. I ran more relaxed. Maybe I focused more on form and technique rather than power, maybe everyone else had off days. Whatever the reason, it was totally unexpected and a lesson perhaps about the importance of rest and recovery.
One of them even said that he had gotten so sick of people getting injured or sick during training, only to return to a personal best after the lay off, that he modified his program to a minimalist program to keep his kids fresh and sharp. Acceleration work and top end speed only (it's partly what I base my modest sprint play around). He referenced to me some articles by a coach named Tony Holler, who has a saying that may remind people of something I've heard tossed around these parts, that one should "sprint as fast as possible, as often as possible, while staying as fresh as possible." Stay fresh, stay fast, and love what you are doing. Sounds like a great philosophy.