After the success of BUCS Indoors, all the Exeter University sprinters and hurdlers are back following the same training schedule. We’re in our second Specific Preparation cycle. In this training block, plyometrics and ballistics become more intensive (less volume, more rest, more explosivity). In addition, most of our sprinting takes place in spikes. Meanwhile, my Exeter Speed athletes are a training block behind, and just beginning more extensive plyometrics and ballistics.

I closely monitor footwear throughout the training year as too much training in spikes, in my opinion, is the cause of most low-level but infuriating injuries like ‘shin splints’ and Achilles tendon soreness. In an ideal world, I’d have athletes sprinting in spikes all year round, but I know it would lead to losing training time. Most of the athletes I train have under-conditioned feet and ankles and aren’t practised enough at jumping and landing. I am toying with the idea of introducing exercises into warm-ups to start addressing this, namely skipping (with a jump rope) and possibly sandpit running in the summer.

Related to this, I made a slight mistake last Monday with the plyometric training for the Uni students. Athletes were asked to ‘spike up’ before I remembered our plyometric training. To save time, I just asked athletes to do their plyos in spikes. This coupled with higher intensity and verbal queues to pull the toes up in the air led to rather a lot of calf and anterior tibialis DOMs! This nicely highlighted the importance of gradually phasing between training blocks.

I’m now focussing on BUCS Outdoors, and I have put together a competition schedule for athletes. I ask all athletes to prove that they deserve a BUCS spot by having races or time trials. Selection must be fair, transparent and free from bias. Exeter Speed athletes have a little more time before they need to be thinking about competitions. These athletes are building for County Championships in early May.

Whilst all this is going on, I’m still serving my Exeter personal training clients, many of whom are working on their pitch speed for football and rugby.