2020 Track Season in Review

2020’s been a bad year in a lot of ways. I’ve been fortunate that I’ve been able to keep training throughout the year. Despite having no official track meets to attend and despite dealing with a couple injuries, I closed my 2020 track season faster and stronger than I’ve ever been before! Not only have my weight room numbers skyrocketed, I set PRs in every distance (60m-400m) I compete in!

In this post, I walk through my training, recovery, and competition in 2020, and gather learnings for next year.

Training

• I didn’t have a season-long training plan - instead, I was mostly focused on week-over-week improvements. Immediately after COVID, most of my workouts were on the longer side - building special endurance 1 and 2. Unfortunately this eventually caught up with me, and I tweaked my hamstring in the middle of May. By mid-June I was back on track, and I kept up the speed & special endurance work.
• July marked the end of my track season. That month, I bought a Freelap BT112 kit, and started doing a bunch of 30 meter flies to improve my maximum velocity. Since then, my workout schedule has been speed work on Mondays and Wednesdays with some kind of special/speed endurance work on Fridays.
• I started seriously training my core towards the end of the summer. Unfortunately this has since resulted in athletic pubalgia, so I’ve had to bring that back.
• After the gyms closed in SF and before I moved back to Dublin, I lost access to a weight room - from [[May 13th, 2020]] until [[July 27th, 2020]]! After moving to Dublin, I re-acclimated relatively quickly and set up 4 week mesocycle linear periodization. In my last test week in October, I set a bunch of weight room PRs:
  • overhead press: 180lbs -> 190lbs
  • pullups: 17 -> 22
  • bench press: 265lbs -> 285lbs
  • hex bar deadlift: 465lbs -> 600lbs

Recovery & Sleep

• My sleep quality was quite good overall:

• Despite that, my Whoop recovery scores were pretty mediocre besides a spike in July:

• Beyond sleep - my recovery tactics were fairly lightweight. I took a lot of hot baths and made sure to stretch after every workout. However, I rarely foam rolled and got no massages the entire season.

Competition

Overall I’m really happy with this season. I set a PR in every distance I compete in: 60m, 100m, 200m, 400m, and even standing long jump!

2/8 Los Gatos All-Comers 1

• 60m: 7.23 NWI
• 100m: 11.27 NWI

2/15 Los Gatos All-Comers 2

• 60m: 7.03 NWI PR
• 100m: 11.07 NWI

2/28 - Chabot Relays

• 100m: 11.10 NWI
• 200m: 22.15 NWI PR

3/7 Berkeley Outdoor Opener

• 100m: 11.10 +0.7
• 200m: 22.17 +0.9 The remaining track meets on my list were cancelled after March, so I only had time trials after that:

8/7 - 8/9: USATF Virtual Track Meet

• Standing long jump: 3.16m PR
• 100m: 10.92 NWI Freelap PR
• 200m: 22.10 NWI Freelap PR

8/30: 400m Time Trial

• 400m: 49.50 NWI (camera timed) PR

9/26: 200m Time Trial

• 200m: 21.80 NWI (camera timed) PR

Learnings

• Periodization works! I pumped my hex bar deadlift max by 135 pounds in just 10 weeks. Looking forward to 2021, I’ll definitely continue periodizing my weight room work, and I’d like to periodize my track workouts as well.
• Track meets are precious. I had taken them for granted up until this point - but with COVID still ravaging the country, I don’t expect any track meets until mid-2021 at the very earliest. This has a couple implications on my approach to the 2021 season:
  • I’ll have a prolonged “offseason” through at least March - where I can really focus on max velocity, acceleration, and strength/power work. I plan to avoid speed & special endurance work until I know when meets will happen.
  • I need to stay focused on my long-term goal, which is to run under 10.80 in the 100m by the end of 2021. With 14 months to go, I’ll have to stay patient and make sure I’m taking care of my body.
• Access to tracks continues to get harder. In SF, I was lucky that Kezar Stadium remained open. Once I moved to Dublin, I worked out at Foothill High for a while. After getting kicked out twice, I started going to Amador Valley. Unfortunately, just this week, they’ve locked up their track, so I’m now driving 30 minutes to Acalanes High in Lafayette for every workout.