I Kneel Before Thee to Seek Vengeance

No hamstring tear. No achilles tear. No groin problems, and time results that were decidedly more in line with what my goals and expectations were for LAST weeks sprint workout. That's what following through and running today resulted in, and that's great. Right? Like, you know,....yay.

But. Hold the parade. This is essentially a week later than last week's sprint workout, and it was run with 20+ mph tailwinds throughout. So, it feels like more of a "disaster averted", with a side portion of "way to stack the deck" side eye than it does a major feeling of accomplishment.

Sprints

85m: 9.7

120m: 13.6

70m: 8.4

Big huge rests. Big huge winds. First 70° day of the year. In a vacuum, with just the numbers in my face and no context, I'd argue that maybe this indicates a 10.88/10.86 ability for me. But, in reality, that'd have to be a 10.8ish only with a +5.0mps wind reading. Which is maybe back into 11 second territory in "basic"; perhaps I'm sneaking legitimately into sub 11.10, though.

Then again, I'm running these workouts alone. Off my own training. After years away from this kind of work and so many injuries. I dunno, maybe I just take the 10.88 and call it mine for now; a gift to myself, even if a bit delusional. I just don't want to show up at a meet and be blindsided when I'm two to three tenths slower than I expected. Assuming I can make it to a meet at all, of course.

What Next?

So, the achilles wasn't really all that much different than it's been since I've started running again. That's a notable improvement from the sprint workout just six days ago where it felt like I was really entering a danger zone. The achilles and calf responded well to some self-soft-tissue mashing I do to it before and during runs. Then when I run, nothing really hurts.

What may be of note on this subject is that my achilles and my calf seem to start trying to self sabotage when I explore LONGER (long being subjective) sprints. Multiple 120s and 160s seem to echo negatively through my lower leg, as it were. When I've done workouts with mostly runs under 100 meters (save for the lone 110m or 120m), I tend to have a more positive experience. 

But....I feel like I need to start exploring longer run sessions in TANDEM with my shorter work. So...I'm a bit dubious. It's still currently my intention to start exploring longer styled workouts (200s, 250s, maybe even a 300 depending on what time, health, and progress affords). The plan was to alternate such sessions with shorter focused sessions (like the one I did today) week to week. But if my calf and achilles are just going to implode on such "long" workouts, then clearly I need to reconsider.

It seems to me that the problem I have in my right achilles is related to two issues: a weaker "dominant" left leg (the repaired achilles, which is doing great but I think outsources more work to my right leg than it used to), and a kind of kinetic chain issue with my right calf where it's not firing "properly". Both of these things are funneling more stress through my right achilles than it's "graded" for, which is leading to my current achilles troubles.

I've been trying to address this with some static calf holds in conjuction with some eccentric work, and I thought it was working. Maybe it really is, but multiple reps past 120ish meters pushes too far past my current redline in terms of fatigue.

With that theory in mind, I guess an immediate future that doesn't include a series of "long" sprints is more wise. The current long weather forecast for my area (northeastern Ohio) really supports this idea anyway: my next best running opportunity might mean running inside again. If that's the case, I'd be forced to run a similar workout, albeit even slightly shorter, to what I did in this last sprint session. That should certainly keep my calves and achilles in good shape for the next two-ish weeks. If my ideas on my achilles are correct, maybe after a few more weeks of calf work and supportive running I can reassess the legitimacy of a longer run opportunity. 

Compete?

I had a semi-secret goal of running a 100m dash opener at a track meet in 3.5/4 weeks, and based on current health and results, that possibility still seems to exist. But that idea has a LOT of moving parts that requires probably an unrealistic level of synchronicity. So I shouldn't really bet on it at this stage. It's still kind of a carrot on a stick for me, though. Especially if much of ANY of this hypothetical progress I seem to be building up seems to continue. 

Having said that, I'll probably have a strong wakeup call next week which will sour me on the concept of opening with a 100m so early. It would probably be more reasonable to compete in something in later April or May, anyway. But I'm willing to still leave stuff completely open to possibilities for now. Though I guess I should start conceding that I won't be running a 10.5x in the first weekend of April...

Forks In the Road

 Well. See...I dunno.

The sprint workout I did this last Monday was something of a mixed bag. Any time I sprint HARD and walk away with my hamstrings intact, that's a HUGE win. Huge. And my hamstrings were fine enough after the workout in question that I did a fairly large deadlift (at least for where I'm at now) workout after the runs and supersetted the deads with some nordic curls. No injuries there.

Having said that, I have varied concerns...

I had started getting some pretty lofty goals. I wanted the perceived large gains I'd already had to continue...but it seems clear to me that I was getting a little big for my britches in how "fast" I might really be getting in previous workout estimates. I wanted to do a 10.9 100m dash fitness equivalent workout on this last one (March 9th). I ran I think just about as well as I could...but it was NOT conducive to a 10.9ish 100m dash. Not even particularly close.

In hindsight, ALL my calcs on 100m "equivalents" were probably a bit off, going even a couple weeks back. I DID improve/progress, that still seems pretty clear. But the upward trajectory isn't as steep as I hoped it would be or thought it already was. That, in a sense, was a wake up call in and of itself.

To get really into the weeds, I ran an older college styled workout (slightly altered for my old butt) which was a 120m, 160m, and another 120m. These days I take 10+ minutes rest between runs, but in college we used to just get 4.5 minutes. I ran this workout pretty well, frankly. But...not well enough for my wild expectations. I thought I could hammer out my first sub-19 second 160 since early 2019, but I didn't. I was close...but I still didn't.

All in all, I essentially ran a 13.7 for the first 120, a 19 flat for the 160, and a 14.4 for the last 120. For my adjusted "maths", I think this means that the workout essentially represented 11.10/11.15 100m ability on that day. Maybe, I think. Which probably still isn't half bad for early March. But it's not where I wanted to be, addmitedly. Plus, for all I know, 11.1ish is still a wildly optimistic estimate.

A few problems now arise. For one, I made it through the runs without any obvious injury...but I'm three years post-achilles rupture. The repaired achilles actually still feels GREAT,  frankly. But the "good" one....ehhh, I'm growing concerned. This is not a new problem, though. In fact, I was worried about this happening before I even started sprinting. 

I'm pretty clearly dealing with a tendinosis/itis/whatever for my right achilles (the "good" one). BUT, I had been doing some new-ish stuff to address it and between the positive response to that and the way it has handled all the sprinting up to this point, it seemed like I had turned the corner. But this past sprint workout seems to be bringing the issue back to the forefront. Which presents another fork in the road: dial back the sprints....or forge ahead?

As of tonight....I'm planning to use a warm and windy day tomorrow for another sprint workout. I want to seize the weather opportunity, and double down on seeing where my fitness is REALLY at. So, full intensity, perhaps even more intense...but also shorter distances so maybe less strain on the achilles in that sense. The plan is for a 85 meter run, a 120 meter run, and a 70 meter run. In that order. Full rests.

This workout, assuming I do run it and successfully do it without injury, can be a really important data point on where things are going for me. What IS the achilles doing? Does it feel worse after this workout? The same? BETTER (dare to dream)? And how fast AM I possibly improving, if at all? I'm going to be running with a pretty big wind on my back so if I don't have a fairly gaudy result -time wise-, that will be truly telling about how overly optimistic my projections really, really are.

Hold onto your butts. If I tear something, my ghost audience will be the first to know.

Peak

This moment in time, for me, may well end up being my overall peak sprinting/training moment of the entire year. I write that with an awareness of its absurdity, but I also can't deny how close to true it is at risk of becoming. While I am practically guaranteed to become stronger and faster moving forward (barring likely inevitable injury), it's right NOW and in this moment that the possibilities are still nearly limitless. This is because I've actually run and trained enough, been "healthy" enough, and seen enough progressions in my running workouts that I can fantasize about running some fairly ambitious 100m dashes without being ENTIRELY 100% delusional. 

This current point in my work out "schedule" is essentially a nexus point; a crossroads if you will. From here, I either continue an elongated rate of progression more or less in line with what I've seen over the last couple weeks...or the progression comes down to earth relatively quickly as the realities of training again start to settle in. And from where I currently stand, either option is equally as possible. Kind of....to an extent... Perhaps some of the "fast" stuff I'm starting to dream up are already pretty delusional regardless of circumstances. I can admit that. Maybe.

But the fact that I can still ponder some workout and training progressions so ambitously with at least a modicum of credibility means that, from an excitement and fantasy factor, this is probably as good as it's going to get for me. This is peak. And since this is essentially a hobby now, this moment is probably highly notable for its peak "fun". Once my workouts start disproving my wildest projections...then I can't play with them as ideas in my head anymore. Not this year at least..., and now being in my 40s, maybe not any year after.

So, to get down to it...I've got some made up maths for my made up workouts that indicate that I'm theoretically approaching 11.05ish (admittedly a best-case scenario) 100m dash ability from my last sprint workout, which was last Friday. Even that claim seems suspicious, but there seems to be SOME backing to it from my past experiences. That 11.05 is down from a theoretical 11.20ish from a sprint workout prior to it, which had been about eight days before. The workout before THAT indicated around a 11.32/11.37ish ability. That seems like a fairly legitimate trend...assuming the data and theory are accurate (a fairly dubious claim).

If you stretch that trend out to the next running workout I have, which is tentatively set for this Monday if the weather holds out, then that workout should indicate around a 10.9ish 100m ability. That....that's probably asking a lot. But, if I can do that? That's starting to get serious, especially if some version of the progression (even a slower one) continues.

I also recently found some old sprint workout data I thought I lost and scoured through it a bit. Finding it gave me a chance to not only better contextualize some of the current data I've got, but also maybe helped me see with more clarity what I was actually doing and achieving back then (circa 2019).  It would be very interesting if I can keep training this hard and this well, and see if I can get back to the fitness I think I had in 2019. Because at THAT time, I thought I was actually running REALLY well. If I can match those workout sprint results again, and then actually compete and get a true 100m result, then that would be a real barometer of not only my abilities and training methods, but also my ability to judge my fitness at any given moment.

Tonight I've got a depth jump plyo workout planned, and then I'm set to take it pretty easy until Monday for, hopefully, a full intensity sprint workout on an outdoor track with good weather. That's going to be a pretty official test of a bunch of my plans, expectations, and hopes. Depending on how that running workout really goes, I might be prepared to make some plans and decisions on some fairly impending competition options. So...here goes nuthin, I guess.