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Fri Sep 11, 2009 4:24 pm

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Senior Masters Athlete
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 2:29 pm
Posts: 18

Last month in Lahti I witnessed a fascinating conversation between Ken Stone, Tom Hartshorne and Dr. Steve Peters, England's 55 year old sprint champion. See Ken's July 31 blog about this, and a longer article about Dr. Peters from Ken's 2007 blog.

Having just wrapped up a disappointing season running the 800, I was ready to try something new, so the day after I got back to Arizona I started training with the "Peters Method", as I understood it. It's now a month afterward, and I'm quite pleased with my results thus far. In the interest of science I am posting my results, and will update them each week for the next month or two for your entertainment.

A little background. I'm a 50 year old without prior competitive track experience who picked up masters track about 4 years ago. Since that time I've trained in a serious way to run the 800 meters, primarily, which seems to be my best race. My PRs, all set last year at age 49 are:

200 - 25.99
400 - 56.99
800 - 2:09.21

I've never raced a 100. This year, as a 50 year old my best times were:

200 - 26.90
400 - 58.84
800 - 2:14.52

Like I said, not what I'd hoped for this year.

Dr. Peters explained that his training regimen is to warm up for ten minutes, then run four 100 meter sprints of increasing intensity, with full recoveries, culminating in an all-out race-type effort. Then wait 30 minutes and run an all-out 300 or 400. His times for these reps are roughly 14.0, 13.5, 12.5, 11.5; and 36-38 for the 300. Do this three times a week - that's it! No additional aerobic exercise, weight training or plyometrics.

I have been doing something similar, except I am doing a longer warmup (afraid not too), and warming down with 800 meters. And I have been running a few road miles on off days, but not many. Here are my results for the first four and a half weeks:

Fastest 100 300
13.3 43.5
13.3 42.5
13.3
13.2 42.5
13.2
12.9 42.1
13 42.2
12.9 42.9
12.8 41.4
12.9 42.1
12.9
12.9 41.5
12.9
12.9 41.3
12.7 41

A couple of observations:
1. Accurate measurement is an issue, since I'm training alone. I've tried to be very systematic by holding my watch in my right hand with my thumb on the button in exactly the same manner each time, waiting 'til I push the button to start any motion, and trying to be very accurate in pushing the button for splits.
2. Since I've never really done sprint-only training before there's naturally going to be some training effect no matter what I'm doing, but I do feel that the above represents a nice improvement in a relatively short time.
3. Since I'm more of a middle distance runner I don't expect to ever get really fast in the 100; my main hope is to substantially improve my 400 time, and perhaps hit the All-American standard in the 200 (25.5). I feel best about my 41.0 in the 300 this week; if I can get to 40.0 I should be able to beat my PR in the 400 handily.
4. I'm wondering how badly I'm hurting my 800 capability, and how quickly that will go downhill. I'm committed to doing this experiment for at least another month, and longer if I keep improving.
5. One of the other aspects of Dr. Peters' method is mental discipline and focus. I don't know what he focuses on, but I've tried to use the same "mantra" ("explode, drive, arms, faster") each rep and keep my mind focused during my reps. I plan to contact Dr. Peters and see if he'll let me in on the real method that he uses. I am starting to see that mental focus is important in this.



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Sat Sep 12, 2009 4:43 am

 
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Journeyman Masters Athlete
Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2009 12:30 am
Posts: 28
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Hi Doug,

I have thought about Steven Peter's method since talking with him several years ago. I practised something like it – in my case running repeated flying 30m with automatic timing, then some speedy 300m. Trouble is I learned to run some good flying 30m (and flying 30m is not an event!) and some excellent 300m (and what good is that with 100m left to go?).

I found the method maintained any natural speed I had. But on reflection maybe speed is not my main problem. It is staying uninjured and not ill (I am M70). It seems that the repeated speed training was exposing my immune defence system to undue stress, which may explain all the down time I experienced due to unpleasant influenzas and viruses.

A possible disadvantage of this type of speed training is also that you may peak too early in the season. Personally I will instead spend the coming indoor season's training 2 days of 3 to improving that which I am not so good at - endurance over 400m, 1 day in 3 to improving speed and long jump. As you said, the real key is the mental focus. Training has to be goal-oriented. One also has to be on top of the event on the day.

There is a lot more to Steven Peter’s mental focus. I suspect that Dr. Peters is not just focussed on running in that "tunnel" to the exclusion of everything else that people recommend. Don't take me literally but his power running looks like he is "elbowing" his competitors out of the way. I may be very wrong but he looks definitely conscious of his competitors and uses them as levers to get ahead.


Last edited by Anthony Treacher on Sun Sep 13, 2009 11:45 am, edited 1 time in total.


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Sat Sep 12, 2009 1:55 pm

 
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Senior Masters Athlete
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 2:29 pm
Posts: 18

Hey Anthony,

Good to hear from you, and congratulations, BTW, on your recent LJ mark. This coming week I will try to contact Dr. Peters and see if he'll share his mental approach...I'm quite curious how complex it is. He seemed to hint that it might be when we lunched in Lahti.

Doug



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Wed Sep 16, 2009 7:49 pm

 
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Master Masters Athlete
Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2007 9:53 pm
Posts: 143
Location: Gulf Breeze, FL

Hey Doug,

I gave the Dr Peter's workout a try this past Sunday. Great workout but not quite as fast as you guys. I will probably add this workout to my training routine.

Thanks for sharing,

Tony



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Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:17 am

 
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Senior Masters Athlete
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 2:29 pm
Posts: 18

Great - let me know how it goes!



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Thu Sep 17, 2009 8:18 am

 
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Senior Masters Athlete
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 2:29 pm
Posts: 18

Great - let me know how it goes!



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Sat Sep 19, 2009 8:50 am

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Senior Masters Athlete
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 2:29 pm
Posts: 18

I have nothing new to report this week, as I've been sidelined by a very unusual injury THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH MY TRAINING. I was warming up this past Monday, doing my normal skipping drill, when I set my left foot down wrong and felt a sharp pain in my calf. The pain was so intense I thought I must have torn something, and I limped very slowly off the track.

I haven't been able to get any push from my calf muscle since, and have been limping all week. The good news is that this morning I was able to jog for the first time, and I now think this was some kind of cramp, or strain, but not a tear. It seems to respond to massage, but is still very sore.

It's frustrating to feel that the overall machine is in great shape, but one faulty cog is holding the whole operation up. I've been doing some dead lifts and leg presses this week to at least get some strength improvement while I wait to get back to running. I hope to get back to my experiment by the end of this coming week.



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Sat Sep 19, 2009 12:28 pm

 
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Junior Masters Athlete
Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:21 pm
Posts: 9
Location: Fresno CA

Doug,

I think you are giving up to much base, for the 400 and 800 meters. You can keep your 800 strength and still make the all American standard. I ran a 50.90/400 without many 100 meters repeats this year.

Joe 8) Carnegie



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Sat Sep 26, 2009 10:29 am

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Senior Masters Athlete
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 2:29 pm
Posts: 18

I've been out of town all week, and was able to begin regular jogging - 3 miles on Wednesday, and 2.5 miles Friday, including a fast (6:14) mile. The calf muscle was still sore but not noticeable during daily activities.

This morning (Saturday) I went to the track, prepared to find that I still had a lot of time left to rehab the calf, and that I'd have to discontinue my experiment with the Peters method. I did my usual thorough warmup (800 jog, dynamic stretching drills, faster 400, 6 x skip drills) and everything felt great, except the pop-up skips, where I'd injured myself a week and a half ago. I recognize that they put a lot of sudden stress on the calf muscles during landing.

I felt so good that I decided to do some of the 100s, being very careful not to over-exert myself. I ran 15.7, then 14.9 and everything felt good. I was very careful not to explode from the start so as not to hurt the left calf. My last rep I was again careful at the start but gave it almost full effort down the stretch, and was very pleased to see a time of 13.3! This was my fastest 100 when I started this whole experiment less than 2 months ago, and I was able to do that with a slow, careful start and less than 100% effort.

So, I'm thinking that I can continue. I'll try again on Monday, and God willing, be back on track by the end of next week.



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Thu Oct 01, 2009 7:44 am

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Senior Masters Athlete
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This morning (Thursday the 1st) I finally felt completely healed from my calf injury, and did a full Peters workout for the first time in a little over 2 weeks. My 100 times were: 16.2, 14.6, 13.4, 13.1, 13.0 (I added the last rep to try and get under 13.0). This means that in addition to missing 2 weeks of training I regressed three weeks in my results. Hopefully I can make up that lost ground quickly. The good news was that I didn't even feel a twinge from my calf.



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Sat Oct 03, 2009 9:47 am

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Two days later, with a slightly stiff hamstring from Thursday's workout, I ran 15.9, 14.4, 13.6, 12.8, then 300 @ (13.7, 13.4, 14.4) 41.5. This is only a week behind my best workout before I was injured, so I feel a lot better about things.



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Sat Oct 10, 2009 8:03 pm

 
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Senior Masters Athlete
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This week I was traveling Monday - Wednesday and unable to find a track to work out on. Thursday I hit 12.7 on my fifth attempt, matching my fastest from before the calf injury. Saturday I ran 12.9 on my fourth AND fifth attempts; just couldn't get below that time. Traveling again this coming week - I'll try to find a track in the Emeryville/Oakland/Berkley area to get some consistency.



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Sat Oct 10, 2009 9:34 pm

 
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Senior Masters Athlete
Joined: Fri Sep 18, 2009 4:07 pm
Posts: 13
Location: Napa, CA

You can try Laney College in downtown Oakland, it's just a couple of blocks off 880. Or if you want to come up to Napa we've got lots of options!

_________________
Tony, Men 50-54
All-American: Jumper, Hurdler, & Multis



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Fri Oct 16, 2009 10:34 pm

 
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Senior Masters Athlete
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 2:29 pm
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Thanks a lot! I was staying by the Cal campus this week and ran up by their track one morning. For $12 I can get a day pass to use it. Bit expensive, but I can run there instead of trying to drive around in the dark.

I'm having trouble getting enough workout time while traveling lately. Did two workouts, didn't get enough sleep the nights before. This morning did 15.2, 14.4, 13.6, 12.9; 300 @ (13.8, 13.8, 14.2) 41.8.

I have the whole week at home next week, so I'm expecting to make progress.



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Sat Oct 24, 2009 12:12 pm

 
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Senior Masters Athlete
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2008 2:29 pm
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Up until the last rep of my last workout of the week (today, Saturday) I would have said this week was a miserable failure. By way of review, I started trying out the "Peters workout" in late August after returning from Lahti. In about 5 weeks I went from a best 100 of 13.3 to 12.7, and dropped my 300 time from around 43 seconds to 41 seconds. I felt that I still had some good momentum going at that time for further improvement.

Then I was injured (not related to the training) and took a month to get back in training. I also started a very demanding job which has kept me traveling every week, so I've had trouble training consistently for the past month. I had almost gotten back to where I was before my injury by the end of last week.

This week I was home all week, but just didn't have the "pop" in my legs. My fastest 100s were all 13.0 or slower for my 3 track workouts - very discouraging! I was running 5 or 6 100s instead of 4, trying to get under 13.0, so I wasn't running the 300 rep at the end of the workout. Today I couldn't beat 13.0 in the 100, but decided to stop with 4 reps and run 300 anyway.

On the third leg of the 300 I felt myself tighten up and had to really push to finish fast, feeling very discouraged. But when I looked at my splits I was pleasantly surprised: 13.2, 13.3, 14.6 for 41.1. That's only a tenth off my very fastest of the year, and the fastest first 2 legs I've run thus far.

The other thing I've started doing on my "off" days is running 1 mile easy to warm up and then a mile at around 6:00, to keep some endurance in place.

I've been thinking about the mental aspect of the Peters method - which I haven't been able to learn about. I haven't been able to get an email address for Steve Peters to even ask him. From what I've observed in his training he can't have better endurance than his competitors - this method is solely about speed. Yet I hear he passes people in the last 100 with a supreme effort. Is it possible that his mental approach somehow triggers a boost of adrenaline at the end of a 400?



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