Genius Hour Project Week 4

What I did:

This was my last week of training to try and improve my speed! I have been very consistent with my running schedule. Same as the past three weeks, this week I ran four times: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Again, each day of the week, I focused on a different aspect of my running. Monday I focused on speed, Wednesday on strength endurance, Thursday on speed endurance and Saturday on tempo running. On Monday I ran 80 meters, 100 meters, 1200 meters three times at

95%.  On Wednesday I ran 400 meters, 400 meters, 300 meters, 300 meters, 200 meters and 200 meters at 80%. On Thursday I ran 100 meters, 120 meters, 150 meters, 120 meters and 150 meters at 90%. On my last session of the week, Saturday, I did the tempo workout which was jog 200 meters, jog even slower for 100 meters four times in a row, then do that whole sequence three times. I felt confident with my training this week. I feel that I improved from last week because I reflected on my troubles last week and what I needed to do this week in order to improve. Last week I wrote about timing myself and how it was inaccurate so I wanted to ask someone else to time me. Therefore, I asked my friend to come to the track with me and time me. I think that was extremely beneficial because I was not worried about timing my reps, I was solely focused on running. I did have a little bit of an injury, but that did not stop me from finishing my workouts to the best of my ability. After the four weeks, I feel accomplished and proud of myself for sticking to the Genius Hour proposal that I made four weeks ago.

Troubles I had:

The trouble I had this week was battling a minor injury. My left shin was hurting me. I have had a past with shin splits so I was not overly surprised when my left shin started to hurt while I was training. However, this caused a little bit of a setback in my training because I don't feel I trained as hard as I have been for the past three weeks, because of this minor injury. Injuries are something that can happen to anyone who is training or working out. This led me to question, if I have been over training.

Question:

Is it possible to over train?
Yes. Overtraining is the point in which the body's ability to recover from exercise is exceeded. You have given your body more than it can handle

What have I learned about my topic:
I have learned so much about training, running and how to create workouts that aim to increase speed. There are different workouts that aim to work different energy systems. For example, the aerobic system and anaerobic system. I also know that training for different distances requires training different body systems. If you are training for a marathon, then you would want to mostly train your aerobic system. If you are training for sprints, which is what I was doing, you want to mostly train your anaerobic system. Springing relays heavily on energy supply from the ATP-PC system. This system provides enough ATP to fuel one to three minutes of intense activity.

What I have learned about myself from participating in Genius Hour:
I have learned a lot about my mental and physical abilities from participating in Genius Hour. I have learned that even if you are physically fit to complete a workout, does not mean that you are mentally prepared to do the workout. It is important to be mentally prepared in order to train the best I can. And training the best I can will translate to me increasing my speed. Being physically ready to run is critical and being consistent truly helped me to improve my speed from week 1 to week 4. Also, I have learned that it can take a while to increase speed. Even if there are improvements in speed, they are very minimal. For example, I remember in week 2 I ran the 60 meters in 8.70 seconds and then in week 3 I ran it in 8.57 seconds. The improvement between these two times is only 0.13 milliseconds, but this is a huge improvement in such a short race.

Where to go from here, my next steps:

I plan to continue training in order to increase my speed. Even though the four weeks are over, I want to challenge myself and continue to see if I can get faster. I have learned that if my body is not recovering fast enough, I need to take more rest between workouts or ease down on the training. This is beneficial to note and I can glad that I learned this through my Genius Hour. I plan to train three days a week and see how my body handles working our three days as opposed to four. I hope there is
a difference!

Through reading my weekly blogs, I hope you have learned something about training, running workouts to increase speed, running workouts to increase overall fitness and mental practice. 

References
FriendsFitnessFreedom, (2017). "ATP-PC Energy System". Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/614530311623459014/?lp=true
Inkscape Tutorials Blog, (June 22, 2007). "Text reflection using inkscape". Retrieved from https://inkscapetutorials.wordpress.com/2007/06/22/text-reflection-using-inkscape/
Post Bulletin, (November 27, 2017). "Emojis get a big thumbs-up from British linguist" Retrieved from https://www.postbulletin.com/life/lifestyles/emojis-get-a-big-thumbs-up-from-british-linguist/article_4590158a-ff18-5065-ba35-1421a0d336a4.html
Teens Health, (January 2019). "Shin Splints". Retrieved from https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/shin-splints.html
Track, (September 20, 2018). "Denver Track & Field Club for High School Athletes". Retrieved  from https://www.hustledenver.com/hustle-track-club

Genius Hour Project Week 2

What I did:

Again, same like last week, this week I did four sprint workouts: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Each day of the week, I focused on a different aspect of my training. Monday is speed, Wednesday is strength endurance, Thursday is speed endurance and Saturday is tempo. On Monday I ran 40 meters, 60 meters, 80 meters three times at 95%. On Wednesday I ran 300 meters six times at 80%. On Thursday I ran 100 meters, 120 meters, 150 meters, 120 meters, 150 meters at 90%. On my last session of the week, Saturday, I did the tempo workout which was jog 200 meters, jog even slower for 100 meters four times in a row, then do that whole sequence three times. As a whole, I felt good with my performance during the whole week. I did feel faster and I felt that in one week I made slight improvements in my overall fitness. In week 1, I ran my 40 meters in 5.65 seconds. This week I ran my 40 meters in 5.53 seconds. Even though this is not a big difference in time, it is an improvement and showcases that my speed is increasing.

What I learned:

I learned this week this that my sprinting stride was a really crucial part of my running and how fast I was going. Running strides regularly are a fundamental, critical and basic exercise that every runner should do to improve their running form and therefore improving their overall speed. I learned that the proper running strides makes running close to top speed, running at 95%, comfortable as it develops neuromuscular coordination.

Troubles I had:

The trouble I had this week was during my workout on Wednesday. I had troubles keeping my 300 meter reps at the same pace. I ran my first one in 52 seconds, and I planned to run all six of my reps at this pace. However, when I got to my fifth rep I ran it in 1 minute and 21 seconds. This is where I had to use mental practice, and really push myself to finish strong in my last two reps. Running can be very physically, and mentally exhausting, which is what I experienced this week.

What I need to be before next Genius Hour:

Before my new Genius Hour, I have to look over my running schedule for the upcoming week and mentally prepare myself for the workouts. I now know that it is simply not enough to be physically prepared to run, but I also have to be mentally prepared as well.

Questions:

Will I be able to see an improve in my speed over the course of the four weeks?
In order to find the answer for this question, I would do a google search and find some reliable websites to see their findings. I would also compare multiple websites to see if they are providing me with the same information.

Where to go from here:

Next week, I hope to find some more techniques to improve my overall speed and put these techniques to practice!

Thanks for reading. I will post again in one week with information regarding how my training is going!

References
Track, (September 20, 2018). "Denver Track & Field Club for High School Athletes" Retrieved  from https://www.hustledenver.com/hustle-track-club
DHgate, (2019). "Road Runner Sticker Cartoon Old Fast Car Truck Laptop Vinyl Accessories Decal Car Accessories". Retrieved from https://www.dhgate.com/product/road-runner-sticker-cartoon-old-fast-car/446447397.html

Genius Hour Evaluation Rubric

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/10eoCuxB3WTKVFnUdz8ssZyTXn-MaN8Kw5E70_YN6gaI/viewform?edit_requested=true

Genius Hour Project Week 1

What I did:

This week I ran four times: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. Each day of the week, I focused on a different aspect of my training. Monday is speed, Wednesday is strength endurance, Thursday is speed endurance and Saturday is tempo. On Monday I ran 20 meters, 30 meters, 40 meters three times at 95%. On Wednesday I ran 450 meters, 400 meters, 350 meters at 80%. On Thursday I ran 120 meters, 220 meters, 220 meters at 90%. On my last session of the week, Saturday, I did the tempo workout which was jog 200 meters, jog even slower for 100 meters four times in a row, then do that whole sequence three times.

What I learned:

I learned that it is difficult to find time to fit these running workouts in but I believe that they are beneficial in improving my speed and overall fitness. During the first run, I was having trouble but as the week progressed and I continued through my running workouts, I already saw small improvements. I have also learned that consistency is very important. In order to improve my overall fitness, running four days a week and trying my hardest on each run will help me to reach my goals.

Troubles I had:

The only small trouble I had this week was finding the time to do on my runs. Teachers college is a lot of work and it is hard to make time out of your day to go for a run, but I was successful this week!

What I need to be before next Genius Hour:

Before my new Genius Hour, I have to look over my sprinting schedule and see what I have in store for next week. I have already created my schedule for the four weeks, so each week I will just have to review my workouts. I also have to rest my body so it has time to recover and my muscles have time to rebuild themselves.

Questions:

How do I track my progress?
I would track my progress my timing how fast I am running and see if I am getting faster each week. When I am running different distance this will be harder to see if I am running faster. For example, one week I am running 20m, 30m, 40m and the next week I am running 40m, 60m, 80m. But I can look up conversions online to calculate my average speed per 10m and I can figure out if my pace is getting faster.
How do I track my overall speed?
During each session I will reflect during and after my run. I will reflect upon how I am feeling, if I am tried, if I am satisfied with my run, if my times are faster or slower, etc.

Where to go from here:

From here, I have to keep going on my runs. I have a watch so I can time myself and see if my times will be faster in week 2 than they were in week 1.

Here is a video of a child giving a PEP talk! It is very motivational. Take some time to watch it.
 

Week 1: Genius Hour Blog

Hello everyone! Welcome to my Genius Hour Blog. 

My name is Monica Binotto and I am in my fifth year of Concurrent Education. I am a Brock Teacher Candidate at the the Hamilton Campus. I'm in Junior Intermediate and my teachable is Physical Education.

A Genius Hour Blog is a way for students and teachers to explore and share topics they are passionate about. It allows students to have a choice and be creative in what they are learning in the classroom. Students investigate a topic and consequently do a project on what they are interested in learning about. They will then spend many weeks researching and learning about the topic. At the end, the project will be shared with the class.

Is it possible to increase my speed while sprinting if a track four times a week for one hour?

The goals for my project are to increase my speed and overall fitness over the course of four weeks.
I will measure my success by timing myself during each workout. As a result, I will be able to determine if my speed increases over time. I will measure my fitness by measuring my heart rate both at work and at rest.

I have a lot of experience with running as I am on the track team at Brock and am well versed in the sport. For my next steps, I plan to look into the actual times and reflect on them.