Intervals in the Park

JJ and I headed to Grady yesterday to run the 4x90/90s. Unfortunately, and somewhat suprisingly, it turns out that Grady High School sometimes actually uses their field for school athletic events. Is it normal to have women's soccer in the spring?

Not wanting to pay to get in and then have people watch me loafing pitifully, I suggested we move across the street to Piedmont Park.

We did a 10 minute warm up jog, followed by stretching, followed by Really Ugly Running (Sometimes Uphill), by Kathleen Quinlen. And Jenn ran intervals.

Just kidding- we both ran them, but I couldn't believe a) how slow I was actually running by the third interval and b) how looooong 90 seconds became by the third interval. We found a pretty flat area to run them on, but it was a little hilly, so I am looking forward to running these on an actual track.

Needless to say, I did succeed in being totally exhausted by the end, so I guess that counts for something.

On that note- Ned? Can you post directions to Phoenix Park here?

I am one step closer to awesomeness!

Air Alert Update: 2 months later

Yesterday I played basketball at the gym for 3 hours. My jumping height is still at the same point it was 1 week after finishing the program (where they say you will achieve your maximum height).

I have not done week 8 as a maintenance program. Not once. However, every once in a while, usually about once or twice a day or so (and sometimes at work in my office), i will do a full-out jump. I guess it's working, because I can still touch the same spot on the rim that I could 2 months ago.

Still at 27" (+10" increase)

My notes on Intervals

This past college season, with SPSU, we had only 13 players, 6 of which were wet-behind-the-ears rookies. I knew endurance was going to be a huge factor for us this year, so I decided our track workouts were going to consist mainly of high intensity intervals. We started out doing 4 sets of 90/90s, 90 seconds running, 90 seconds walking. The goal is to run as fast as you are able to maintain for 90 seconds (I've talked about it here before, but hopefully we've got some new Rival eyes coming who want to get in shape for the season). After a few weeks of 4x90/90s, we moved to 5x60/50s, then 6x45/30s, 7x30/20s, 8x20/10s and finally 10x20/10s. We did these 2-3 times a week, usually running them after practice.

I can safely say, I'm in the best shape of my life. At Sectionals I played almost every point (all but one point on Sunday), and still felt fairly fresh afterwards. I would be dog tired by the end of a point, but I easily recovered in time for the next point. Hopefully Fox will reply with how effective he thought the program was. (Also, Edelman is on the 60/50s and has been happy, hopefully he won't post though).

For Rival, I'd like to continue the intervals. Maybe let people work at their own pace moving through the different intervals, so Fox and I could keep running 20/10s while everyone else would be able to start the 90/90s whenever and move along every couple of weeks. The nice thing is that the intervals don't take very long, about 5 minutes of actual running. It's also ok to be tired when you start, so you can do other stuff before hand. My basic plan for our track workouts is going to be:

warmup
running form stuff
plyos/speedwork
intervals

We'll probably substitute some conventional long distance running (400s, 800s, etc.) for the intervals now and then. I'm also hopeful that Rivalers will be able to run intervals once a week outside of the track workouts (after summer league games maybe, or at the weekend practices).

Lastly, thanks to Lean and Hungry Fitness for finding this article that talks about interval training. Some quotes:

In the overall scheme of training for athletes participating in stop and go power sports (e.g., football, basketball, ice hockey and gymnastics) short-intense interval work has a major role to play in maximizing performance.

By maintaining the high level of training over a 5 or 6 week period one would expect a significant increase in the ratio of lean body mass to fat.

Getting back on the horse

Ned and I are going to start having track workouts for anyone who is interested. If you wanna try to get into shape before tryouts or the season, or before track workouts start for real, you should come out. We're meeting at a track near Ned's this Sunday at 11am (I'll post directions later). We'll be working on a variety of things besides endurance. If there is something specific you would like to work on, just lemme know.

I'm meeting Fox and Sando for a workout at the Cobb County Civic Center Thursday at 6pm. I know that's not too close for most of you, but you're welcome to join us. Here is what we're going to be doing (Sunday's workout will be similar).

Warmup
2x15 knee tuck jump
10 falling starts (10 yards)
60 second arm swings
5 starts (15 yards)
2x5 Standing Broad Jump
2x5 Toss-Squat-Jump-Throw
10x20/10 intervals

Fatty McFatterton

So since I'm the only girl posting (but certainly not reading, right ladies?), I won't bore all the men with my sob story about how I don't fit into my clothes and yet nice people insist that I shouldn't be dieting because we now give skinny people are harder time than we do morbidly obese people. Or that I've never even been within 10 pounds of the weight I'm currently carrying in my entire life until very recently. Cause that's girl talk.

What I am trying to find are the following:

1) Good core strengthening exercises. This would be a lot of ab work, but more than just situps. I know some pilates, and that's good stuff, but I'm wondering what else people have found that works best. I have access to a medicine ball, free weights, and one a' them big fitness ball things.

2) Good quad/hammy/and glute strengthening . . . plyos, I guess. I quit my gym membership, so I'm working out of my condo fitness room now, and we have a dearth of leg machines. I'm not too torn up about it, but I don't want to waste my time on lunges if they're not really worth the time. Etc.

Even book recommendations would be welcome. I know Evil mentioned the Verstegen book- what was the final verdict? Is there something folks would recommend more highly?

And just so we're clear- my current BMI is 23.6. Underweight? Not even close.