my new challenge

[jobo]

, in a recent thread, I got a load of flac for suggesting that people should set challenging objectives and God forbid push themselves to their max. I said tongue in cheek, that I intended to be an elite athlete again, having briefly fallen in to that category in my teens, before discovering women motorbikes and beer.

but that got me thinking, hmm, maybe I actual could !. so I googled the world record 100m for a 60 year old and it's a bit under 12 seconds, which is only 2 seconds slower than Usain bolt, so clearly not that easy.

so find something a bit more achievable in the short term, I Google the world record for an 80 which is 15 seconds and a bit. thats more like it, I must be able to run faster than even the fastest 80 yo.

my current time is a bit hazy, as it's not easy doing your own timing on a mobile phone, but its certain under 20 seconds, so at worst I need to knock 5 seconds of my time which seems very achievable if I actually train sprinting.

there after, my next objective, my sister could run 14 seconds when she was 13, so all I have to do is run faster than a 13 girl to beat that and suddenly I'm fast enough to make the British old mans team and I'm an " elite athelete" again.

so that my challenge for the next couple of years, I may not make it, but it wont be because I'm lacking effort. in which case il hang on till I'm 80 and have that record instead

 

[dvcochran]

, in a recent thread, I got a load of flac for suggesting that people should set challenging objectives and God forbid push themselves to their max. I said tongue in cheek, that I intended to be an elite athlete again, having briefly fallen in to that category in my teens, before discovering women motorbikes and beer.

but that got me thinking, hmm, maybe I actual could !. so I googled the world record 100m for a 60 year old and it's a bit under 12 seconds, which is only 2 seconds slower than Usain bolt, so clearly not that easy.

so find something a bit more achievable in the short term, I Google the world record for an 80 which is 15 seconds and a bit. thats more like it, I must be able to run faster than even the fastest 80 yo.

my current time is a bit hazy, as it's not easy doing your own timing on a mobile phone, but its certain under 20 seconds, so at worst I need to knock 5 seconds of my time which seems very achievable if I actually train sprinting.

there after, my next objective, my sister could run 14 seconds when she was 13, so all I have to do is run faster than a 13 girl to beat that and suddenly I'm fast enough to make the British old mans team and I'm an " elite athelete" again.

so that my challenge for the next couple of years, I may not make it, but it wont be because I'm lacking effort. in which case il hang on till I'm 80 and have that record instead

Best of luck.

 

[seasoned]

Nice post, always good to strive to better our self moving forward.

 

[Buka]

Or if you could just hang on for a little over 38 minutes....not only elite, we're talking world record for you.

71-year-old man, cancer survivor breaks world record for planking

 

[jobo]

so, as I've gone public with my day dream, thought I'd better make a start and get a bench mark,

I measured out 3 lots of a 100m in the ,ocal park, two up reasonably steep hills and the third on the flat, so the first one as a warm up, I ran 28 seconds up hill in to a stiff breeze, then a couple of mins rest to let my heart rate come down, I ran the second equally steep and windy hill 8n 24 secs, which had my heart rate through the roof and me panting for air.

then a halfarm mile walk to the " test track, to let my breathing recover, and then the run, which had a false start, as I set off one way the dog went the other , I then had to chase him for half a mile. got my breath back and pointed him in the right direction. and went for it. I was 8mpressed with the sensation of acceleration which I've not felt since my early 20s, then after 80m I hit a wall and started to decelerate quickly, obviously that the extent of my anaerobic capacity, still 18 seconds, pleased with that.

I hit a top speed of 14 mph and an average of about 12 mph, which shows what I need to work on, as im looking for an average of about 15 for my first objective, which should be achievable if I work on my starts and can extend the bit before running out of " puff"

think il bang the sprint up to 140 m to work on that

 

[Gweilo]

If you are tenacious as some of your posts, you should piss it, best of luck.

 

[jobo]

so yesterday day I jump out of bed early, well 11 am full ipod enthusiasm intending to spend the day doing serious sprint training, but whilst having my 8 cups of coffee, I decided to Google a proper sprint training program rather than just doing random stuff I thought was right.

I found one that " promises" to turn you from a moderate sprinter to an " advanced" sprinter in 52 weeks, which sounds good as that ties nicely with the start of the Athletic season next yea

looking through the program, two things struck me, 1) how close it is to ( my) martial arts training ,it's got a lot of upper body strength and static and dynamic stretching ,which shouldn't really be a surprise as I've selected my training to match my philosophy that fighting is a power event and it's far better to over whelm you opponent with strength and speed in 5 seconds than to mess about jumping around for 5 mins and 2) how easy the training is for the first few months.

I was tempted to jump straight to week 17 were 8t starts to look a bit challenging, but then maybe I'm missing some under lying principal, if I neglect the early training. though it seems counter intuitive to do less to go faster ??

the first week consists of,,,,, Monday, a 25 min light fartlek run over undulating ground. which I had to look up, and it turns out to be a run round the woods with a dog that keeps stopping for a sniff, which is what I had been doing as a recovery exercise

Tues, stretching.
weds 12 mins of mostly upper body cir uit training
thur, more stretching,

Friday, rest day, really you need a rest after that little exercise

sat some actual sprinting,

sun ANOTHER rest day

that a 1 hour work out spread over 7 days

so I've decided to follow it for the first month to see what happens and stick some isometric in there and maybe a couple of work outs on the rest days to keep my strength up

 

[Deleted member 39746]

I tell you whats a good challenge, if U.S fire departments set up recruitment events with mock entry tests, you could try one of them and see how you do.

I generally exercise in a restricted space so my running is based on how many times i go up and down a segment of my property rather than distance. (when i do it anyway, which does actually help)

 

[jobo]

is t

I tell you whats a good challenge, if U.S fire departments set up recruitment events with mock entry tests, you could try one of them and see how you do.

I generally exercise in a restricted space so my running is based on how many times i go up and down a segment of my property rather than distance. (when i do it anyway, which does actually help)

is that a long way of saying you run up the stairs ? running up stairs is good exercise , but unless you have a lot of stairs it quickly become very unchallenging just doing 2 / 3 second bursts. find some where with hundreds of them and practise running up those. but that probably more difficult than just taking three steps outside and actually running.

for a while I lived on the 18th floor, running up those stairs used to get my heart thumping, but running down was a lit more difficult as it needed really good co ordination not to end up in a heap

 

[Deleted member 39746]

is t

is that a long way of saying you run up the stairs ? running up stairs is good exercise , but unless you have a lot of stairs it quickly become very unchallenging just doing 2 / 3 second bursts. find some where with hundreds of them and practise running up those. but that probably more difficult than just taking three steps outside and actually running.

for a while I lived on the 18th floor, running up those stairs used to get my heart thumping, but running down was a lit more difficult as it needed really good co ordination not to end up in a heap

i dont run up stairs as a exercise, neither does the fire fighter requirements do that, they do a step up test at some stage i believe though.

I meant i run around a restricted space, not like around a town or something.

(good exercise anyway, only if you dont fall down them)

 

[dvcochran]

so yesterday day I jump out of bed early, well 11 am full ipod enthusiasm intending to spend the day doing serious sprint training, but whilst having my 8 cups of coffee, I decided to Google a proper sprint training program rather than just doing random stuff I thought was right.

I found one that " promises" to turn you from a moderate sprinter to an " advanced" sprinter in 52 weeks, which sounds good as that ties nicely with the start of the Athletic season next yea

looking through the program, two things struck me, 1) how close it is to ( my) martial arts training ,it's got a lot of upper body strength and static and dynamic stretching ,which shouldn't really be a surprise as I've selected my training to match my philosophy that fighting is a power event and it's far better to over whelm you opponent with strength and speed in 5 seconds than to mess about jumping around for 5 mins and 2) how easy the training is for the first few months.

I was tempted to jump straight to week 17 were 8t starts to look a bit challenging, but then maybe I'm missing some under lying principal, if I neglect the early training. though it seems counter intuitive to do less to go faster ??

the first week consists of,,,,, Monday, a 25 min light fartlek run over undulating ground. which I had to look up, and it turns out to be a run round the woods with a dog that keeps stopping for a sniff, which is what I had been doing as a recovery exercise

Tues, stretching.
weds 12 mins of mostly upper body cir uit training
thur, more stretching,

Friday, rest day, really you need a rest after that little exercise

sat some actual sprinting,

sun ANOTHER rest day

that a 1 hour work out spread over 7 days

so I've decided to follow it for the first month to see what happens and stick some isometric in there and maybe a couple of work outs on the rest days to keep my strength up

Best of luck.

 

[jobo]

i dont run up stairs as a exercise, neither does the fire fighter requirements do that, they do a step up test at some stage i believe though.

I meant i run around a restricted space, not like around a town or something.

(good exercise anyway, only if you dont fall down them)

confused have you given up on signing up for ma and decided to be a fire fighter now ?

firefighter have a good level of fitness, but I'm not sure it's better for ma than ma training. or maybe it is if you need to fight in a burning building and then carry your attacker out down a ladder,

 

[JR 137]

confused have you given up on signing up for ma and decided to be a fire fighter now ?

firefighter have a good level of fitness, but I'm not sure it's better for ma than ma training. or maybe it is if you need to fight in a burning building and then carry your attacker out down a ladder,

Just throw him out the window instead. And re-stomp the groin.

 

[Deleted member 39746]

confused have you given up on signing up for ma and decided to be a fire fighter now ?

firefighter have a good level of fitness, but I'm not sure it's better for ma than ma training. or maybe it is if you need to fight in a burning building and then carry your attacker out down a ladder,

The entry tests vary from area to area, i was just suggesting it as a goal to work towards. So you can meet the entry standards, you could supplement it with entry standards for the police, military etc.

I also wouldn't say fire fighter and martial artist are mutually exclusive given the amount of people who do that sort of thing for fitness as a main goal. Also the need for self defence skills is omni present for everyone.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

so yesterday day I jump out of bed early, well 11 am full ipod enthusiasm intending to spend the day doing serious sprint training, but whilst having my 8 cups of coffee, I decided to Google a proper sprint training program rather than just doing random stuff I thought was right.

I found one that " promises" to turn you from a moderate sprinter to an " advanced" sprinter in 52 weeks, which sounds good as that ties nicely with the start of the Athletic season next yea

looking through the program, two things struck me, 1) how close it is to ( my) martial arts training ,it's got a lot of upper body strength and static and dynamic stretching ,which shouldn't really be a surprise as I've selected my training to match my philosophy that fighting is a power event and it's far better to over whelm you opponent with strength and speed in 5 seconds than to mess about jumping around for 5 mins and 2) how easy the training is for the first few months.

I was tempted to jump straight to week 17 were 8t starts to look a bit challenging, but then maybe I'm missing some under lying principal, if I neglect the early training. though it seems counter intuitive to do less to go faster ??

the first week consists of,,,,, Monday, a 25 min light fartlek run over undulating ground. which I had to look up, and it turns out to be a run round the woods with a dog that keeps stopping for a sniff, which is what I had been doing as a recovery exercise

Tues, stretching.
weds 12 mins of mostly upper body cir uit training
thur, more stretching,

Friday, rest day, really you need a rest after that little exercise

sat some actual sprinting,

sun ANOTHER rest day

that a 1 hour work out spread over 7 days

so I've decided to follow it for the first month to see what happens and stick some isometric in there and maybe a couple of work outs on the rest days to keep my strength up

So, you found a guide that suggested a softer start to training (most likely to avoid injury) and you suddenly thought that might actually be a good idea. Go figure.

Seriously, good on you for taking this on. I think we too often don't pick an ambitious goal to work toward. You're in decent shape (probably better than me at the moment) so if I was to bet, I'd bet on you making this.

 

[jobo]

So, you found a guide that suggested a softer start to training (most likely to avoid injury) and you suddenly thought that might actually be a good idea. Go figure.

Seriously, good on you for taking this on. I think we too often don't pick an ambitious goal to work toward. You're in decent shape (probably better than me at the moment) so if I was to bet, I'd bet on you making this.

it's a difficult one to figure, to be honest, its isn't that its easy, so much as it's less intense in the early stage than I do now, its aimed at 20 to who are already atheleteI, so there not very fit athletes, but then it's meant to start in Nov, when presumably 5hey have had two or three months off,since the season finished, so starting perhaps from a lower base

it's also timed to reach an intial peak for the start of the athletic season. in April, theres a different methodology to reaching peakish fitness for a pre designated time, than theres is for being as close to peak fitness as you can all the time.

that said I tried but I couldn't do it, I feel like I'm cheating when 8 go home still able to walk, I really miss that burning sensation in the muscles,so 8m following the running protocol and 5he rest days,but have actually upped the strength training( conditioning) from m6 usual. but do it less often, I need to be fully recovered vir my timed runs on a Saturday, which isn't something I've had to worry about before

 

[Gerry Seymour]

it's a difficult one to figure, to be honest, its isn't that its easy, so much as it's less intense in the early stage than I do now, its aimed at 20 to who are already atheleteI, so there not very fit athletes, but then it's meant to start in Nov, when presumably 5hey have had two or three months off,since the season finished, so starting perhaps from a lower base

it's also timed to reach an intial peak for the start of the athletic season. in April, theres a different methodology to reaching peakish fitness for a pre designated time, than theres is for being as close to peak fitness as you can all the time.

that said I tried but I couldn't do it, I feel like I'm cheating when 8 go home still able to walk, I really miss that burning sensation in the muscles,so 8m following the running protocol and 5he rest days,but have actually upped the strength training( conditioning) from m6 usual. but do it less often, I need to be fully recovered vir my timed runs on a Saturday, which isn't something I've had to worry about before

A reasonable approach. If it's easier than what you're already doing, the only reason to back off would be if the regular routine somehow interferes with this progression. Offhand, I can't think how it would.

 

[jobo]

thought I'd do a quick update at two weeks in!

well first I've lost a load of weight, not sure how much as I dont own any scales, but two inches of my waist, so I'm back to an easy 34 in waist, which wasnt really in the plan, as il have to buy a load of new pants,so I've upped my intake by two bacon s0andwiches and a pint of full cream milk a day to compensate.

2nd, I'm finding the long duration low intensity training harder than I thought I would, as I've been doing short and brutal, which is why I took up sprinting in the first place.

and
I'm struggling with following instructions, a problem I have generally and the idea of being fully recovered by a certain day of the week and I keep throwing random exercises in when I should be resting, coz I feel like it

and the dog wont co operate with my distance runs, so it's all stop, start then quickly stop again. another reason I started sprinting

at the end of my first week, I felt like death warmed up, as I'd trained on the Friday when I should have been resting and I had my timed runs to do, so I spent an hour doing exercise and stretching to try and work up the enthusiasm, then to 5he park

my first hill srint was 20 seconds, down from 28, my s03cond hill sprint was 18 seconds down from 24, so off for my run on the flat, where the dog turn awkward and it took me 20 mins to walk the half mile, I prob3bly should have warmed up again, but I didn't, set off, as soon as 8 hit max speed my right quad went, I decided to 8gnore it and limped up the track, 20 seconds, dam, slower than last week and slower than my hill run.

so the following week, i top ended the training, so i had two full days recovery,

first hill at 80 % 20 secs, 2nd hill fla9t out 18 seconds, my flat run, set off, hit full speed and both quads went, 8gnored both of them ,,,,15 seconds really pleased with that, that puts me within 3 and a half seconds of the world record and 8ve only trained for two weeks, now if I can just sort my quadriceps out !

today was extra quad training

 

[drop bear]

I do know a decent hundred meter guy by the way. I could prove him for advice if you like.

He is doing his first MMA fight this weekend.

 

[dvcochran]

thought I'd do a quick update at two weeks in!

well first I've lost a load of weight, not sure how much as I dont own any scales, but two inches of my waist, so I'm back to an easy 34 in waist, which wasnt really in the plan, as il have to buy a load of new pants,so I've upped my intake by two bacon s0andwiches and a pint of full cream milk a day to compensate.

2nd, I'm finding the long duration low intensity training harder than I thought I would, as I've been doing short and brutal, which is why I took up sprinting in the first place.

and
I'm struggling with following instructions, a problem I have generally and the idea of being fully recovered by a certain day of the week and I keep throwing random exercises in when I should be resting, coz I feel like it

and the dog wont co operate with my distance runs, so it's all stop, start then quickly stop again. another reason I started sprinting

at the end of my first week, I felt like death warmed up, as I'd trained on the Friday when I should have been resting and I had my timed runs to do, so I spent an hour doing exercise and stretching to try and work up the enthusiasm, then to 5he park

my first hill srint was 20 seconds, down from 28, my s03cond hill sprint was 18 seconds down from 24, so off for my run on the flat, where the dog turn awkward and it took me 20 mins to walk the half mile, I prob3bly should have warmed up again, but I didn't, set off, as soon as 8 hit max speed my right quad went, I decided to 8gnore it and limped up the track, 20 seconds, dam, slower than last week and slower than my hill run.

so the following week, i top ended the training, so i had two full days recovery,

first hill at 80 % 20 secs, 2nd hill fla9t out 18 seconds, my flat run, set off, hit full speed and both quads went, 8gnored both of them ,,,,15 seconds really pleased with that, that puts me within 3 and a half seconds of the world record and 8ve only trained for two weeks, now if I can just sort my quadriceps out !

today was extra quad training

I am guessing you are timing yourself with a stop watch? Do it with laser timers and you may find different results. My son was clocked at a published 4.375; it got him a lot of looks from some schools we did not expect. When he went to Indianapolis to be Nike times he clocked at 4.4 average. Several offers left the table after that. He still got into the school he wanted though. I was clocked in the 4.3-4.4 range by stopwatch in high school/college. Always wondered what I would have clocked on the laser.