HW

Feeling ok today, pretty fatigued still from squats but ready to do some work with the HW.

Warm up

HW
1 Turns x a whole bunch and a few out close to 40. Still not getting the right finish on balance.
Full Throws x a few out past 40, but still not finishing on balance with good pop but I was too gassed to keep working on it. I had a few more than last time that felt more normal.

Training:

Clean Grip Snatch
Worked up in triples to 85kg for a double.

Log
150 x5x5

Trap Bar jumps
190x3x5

Suitcase Carry
160x5 trips

Not bad...real hot and sweaty. Post workout weight at 275, probably lost about 3-4#.

Hammer / OS

Had the little one all day as she was sick, so we didn't do much but sit around. I was able to get some stone work in while she was napping. I have been so focused on the entry and setting things up that I have lost the block and strike action. So I really tried to zero in on just getting to the front on balance at all points and getting a nice smooth block. Felt pretty good, took some video and it looks good. I need to keep the L arm more level and keep rotating through the throw. I felt like I could get a good push on it. Kept the reps down with the lighter stone. I'll hit the heavy open stone over the weekend as regularly planned. I would like to get an extra stone workout in during the week as it is still one of my weaker events.

In the evening I was able to get some hammer work in.

Hammer:
22#
10 warm ups dumping to the R trying to stay long and loose
10 Easy throws. Worked on staying long and getting a nice snappy block/release. I played with an extra wind here to accelerate more gradually which seemed ok but was hard to stay balanced compared to the more dynamic start
15 full throws. Felt good here, the extra wind helped and I was able to get a few out to 113-114 before I got too fatigued to keep the balance and rhythm.

Training:
Pretty tired by this point, long day, long nights with the sick kid.

Clean pulls to hole 8
150x3x5

Squat
405+40# chain x2x5

KB Jumps
70# x3x5

Core was taken care of with the extra hammer volume and I didn't want to push anything too hard as I was pretty gassed by this point. Good day overall, got some good work in.

Braemar

Felt pretty decent today, yesterday off was nice. I pretty much did nothing training or throwing related. It's good to give the mind a break.

Warm up
Bike x5min
Hip swings
Quad stretch
ABD activations

Braemar:
20 throws out to 37+ with the 26 which is starting to move in the right direction. I was focusing on a long push with good left arm action and right arm strike. I have a lot of work to do, but happy to see progress. I know when I start to push 38-39 feet that the 22-24# stones out there start to feel pretty decent.

Training:

Snatch Pulls
120kg to hole 5 x4x5

Bench
345 x4x5

KB Press
70 x10x3

Not much on paper, but Monday's get late and it's good to get in and out and ready for Tuesdays which is one of my main training days of the week.

Light Weight

Today I had a throwing clinic that we put on in Lincoln, and I had a pretty good turn out! I maybe took about 4 throws with the LW and 2-3 throws with the LH.

LW
8 one turns out to about 78
10 full throws around 82

I did some video of the throws and I'm just not getting a lot of push. Best throw of the day was my final throw and I was able to force myself to get both "sinks". I need to work on pushing the weight by after the cast instead of being so rotational.

Jump Squat
135x3x5

Side Lunge
135x3x5

Heavyweight

In keeping with the increased throwing volume and weight, I hit the HW today pretty hard

Warm up
the usual

HW
56# 1 turns x10 near 40' but not quite yet
61# full throws x10 right out to 38+

I seriously can't remember what else I did. I think maybe some cleans? Core work? Who knows.

Stone / Upper?

I have been looking forward to this session for a while. I like to throw the heavier open stone that I have as I feel like I have more connection during the throw and also know the need for building specific strength is very high right now. It didn't help that it was still in the mid 90s at 7:30 and I felt it.

Warm up

Bike

Hip Swings

Quad stretches

Glute activation

Throga

Stone:
Took 30 total reps trying to be right around 45' with the 18 for 20 reps (I think I hit around 8 of them at 45+) and 10 reps with the 15 all 45+. I tried to emphasize a long loose R leg, preturning the R foot, and getting the L down quickly. Seemed to stay loose but definitely started to fatigue pretty quickly.

Training:

Clean up to 150kg x2x4

Jump Squat 225x3x5

OHP 135x8x5 working on compensatory acceleration and really driving into the weight

Landmine

Arcs and presses

Tough day. Really hot in the garage and I had trouble keeping hydrated even after 60oz of fluids before and during training. I felt good with the stone, but really feeling the lack of repetition up to this point. I'm really trying to push the volume with the heavier implements. 

Wednesday

Feeling really rough today. I haven't really been training hard as the main goal was just to get through Utah and Chicago without issue. I know I'm WAAAAY behind where I should be this year and I know it's really due to not hitting it hard in the field and gym, so that's what I've been doing, and it hurts...it hurts good, but it still hurts.

So today was more restorative work

Bike x 6'
Hip swings/mobility
ankle mobility
Throga


Worked up a sweat, felt better, NormaTec boots, Tacos, Bed.

Hammer / Lower

Still riding that heavy volume train

Warm up
Bike
Hip Swings
Mobility

Hammer:
22x20 out around 105, trying to stay loose and easy, but it was more like tight and hard
16 1 winds out to 120

Training:
Clean grip snatch
70kg x3x5

Squat
Worked up to 405x3x5 with a focus on compensatory acceleration

Good Mornings
225x10x3

Not bad, I can tell the volume with the heavy implements will start to pay dividends, but probably not for another month. I'll stick with mostly heavy stuffs for the next 2 weeks and then taper to more lighter implements for speed prior to PDX, then heavy and light for the Claw.

Braemar / Upper

Trying to get more volume in early in this 4 week block.

Warm Up
Bike (the craziest thing happened here. I got an old spin bike from work and the computer never worked at the clinic. For whatever reason, it started working today. I plugged the sensor into the computer and it read RPMs, Watts, Time, etc. This is seriously the weirdest thing. I have been working at that job for a little over 5 years and never, emphasis on NEVER, saw that thing work and randomly one day in my garage it starts working!? I think it must be the heat!)

Hip swings
Quad Stretches
Band Hip ABD
Agility Ladder

Braemar:
26# for 20+ Throws most over 35'

Snatch Pulls
140 to #6 x3x5

Bench
315x10

Chicago

Just got home from the Chicago games. What a great games they put on. I love going to them and they are always tight for the top 3. I started out decent in warm ups for the full spin in the open stone trying to stay nice and loose and managed one good one so I felt pretty good but when I got into the trig, felt myself tighten up a bit. I managed out to 47 or 48+ with the full spin which is terrible, but ok for the group. I think I was 5th with that throw out of 10. The 56 was disappointing but not a surprise. I went 45 here last year but managed about 42. Enough to be top 4 but no real finish at the end (this is a theme). Light weight was 81-82 which is close to last year I think at 83. Just missing solid connection and good pop at the end. Heavy hammer was feeling good but missed the last two, went 105 for 2nd and moved myself into 2nd overall before the caber. We went turn-no turn so if you didn't turn, you all split last place points...almost turned the last attempt but really bothered my ankle, so no speed on the run up. Sheaf was decent, I hit 30' but had nothing left for more, and WOB was more of the same. I had decent height but no endurance so when we hit 17' I was really reaching deep for the power and left it out in front. I know there is so much more when I'm in top form with my training and it's frustrating to not be where I was last year.

The plan leading up to PDX in 4 weeks will be 2 weeks of fairly heavy lifting and more volume on the olympic lifts to build up some of that explosive endurance that I'm lacking. I'll go overweight/comp implements for the next 2-3 weeks phasing out to comp/light implements for the last 2 weeks. Hopefully this will bring me up close to where I was last year. I'll keep the plyos going as well.

Wednesday Accessory / Open Stone

Warm up, accessory work, open stone. Not exactly sure what I did but it wasn't much. I didn't measure stones but they felt pretty good with the first time going back to full spin.

HW / Lower

Feeling pretty good today, but we had 40 MPH winds with 50 MPH gusts, so I didn't really feel like throwing hammer in that nonsense. I decided to get some work in with the heavyweight and then get into the gym.

Warmup/re/prehab
Bike
Hip Swings/Circles
Agility Ladder

5yd Sprints

Throws:
10 1 turns with the 56
5 Full throws with 61#
10 Full throws with the 56

No measure, no flags, just trying to get a good feeling for the tempo and rhythm again. I like the 61 (which is just a 5# Plate added to my weight) for building specific event strength. I hit one out around 40 with that, which is huge

Gym:
Clean grip snatch
70kg x3x5

Squat
worked up to 315+80# Chain
x2x5

Side Lunge
135x2x5

This was pretty good. I feel I had a high intensity, but kept the volume low enough that I could recover by this weekend. That will be it for lifting this week, but I'll hit some agility and plyos tomorrow night.

Open Stone / Upper

No braemar at Chicago, so I took more reps with the OS today. Not feeling really smooth, and not getting a nice finish. I took probably 20 throws and had a hard time seeing where they were landing. I know for sure I hit 50'

Clean
140kg x3x5

Bench
365 x3x4

Jumps to gutter x10

ab wheel

Mondays are always the worst training day for me. The work day is the latest of my training days and I never feel like I get much done. Clean and bench felt good, more work tomorrow and wed. I need to remember to be ok with less on Mondays. When I hit braemar first, it's not as bad. I need to keep it short and sweet most weeks.

Utah Recap

I got a little behind in the week leading up to the Utah games so I'll try to catch what I did then and then recap the games.

I hit hammer on Tuesday along with a lot of recovery work and then light weight on Wednesday and open stone on Thursday to round out the week. I did plyos on Wednesday and Thursday as well as some light core work etc.

Utah:
Arrived Friday afternoon and got checked in and then went out to eat. It was great to see everyone after not competing for so long and I really enjoyed the dinner. We went back to the hotel and I did some contrast work and went to bed fairly early. I had a little trouble sleeping, I woke up in a slight panic that I forgot a pair of shoes, but then remembered I didn't (brains are weird) and was finally able to get back to sleep. I did some warm up work in the morning before breakfast to get the body awake including bike, hip mobility, light stretching and some ankle rehab. Breakfast was at the hotel and then we went to the field.

The numbers I wanted to hit were:
Braemar: 40
Open: 50
HW: 40
LW: 80
HH: 110
LH: 130
WOB: 17
Sheaf: 30
Caber: Don't hurt your ankle!

I was very excited to be throwing again and had very little stress going into the day.

Traditional order
Braemar: Felt decent, nice and smooth, but not getting a lot of finish, or push out past the trig. I think I'm still subconsciously uncomfortable with the reverse, so no surprise there. I felt I was good for 40+ but ended at 39+

Open: Same story as braemar, not comfortable at release. I managed to put a little more behind the last throw and went 49+.

HW: Training had not been great for this, so I was a little surprised to go just over 42' which was very good. There is a lot more there when I start to get comfortable. I didn't hit 45 until Chicago last year, and that is next weekend so hopefully I can match that.

LW: Tried to be smooth and finish strong and managed 81+ which was very nice. Good for much more when I get my legs underneath me and mentally a little better. I was hitting 88 in practice without much difficulty prior to the injury.

HH: Hammers were nice, but I put a little too much air under it and went 105 for all 3 of my throws. Need to drive harder into the sector and get less of an angle. More reps needed here especially since Chicago only throw heavy.

LH: Same story as heavy, too much air, but I felt very comfortable with the speed. Looking for 140+ at the top this year and 133 is a great start.

WOB: Definitely feeling the lack of training prior but made 17 on my last attempt and was very close to 18 again, just clipped the bar. More olympic lifting and jumping will get more consistent here. I was very tired by this point and could really feel the lack of conditioning.

Sheaf: Went 30' but it was work. The bag was pretty small and I never throw small bags well. I need to get way more reps here at home.

Caber: Didn't hurt my ankle...didn't turn it, but didn't roll my ankle either.

All in all, a good day. I left a lot of points on the field, but the whole goal was to ease back into a full games with no pressure and hit some decent numbers and I think I did that. Most unhappy with HH and Open stone but they will come. Need them to come big and quick if I want to do well in Chi-Town.

Sunday:
Flight back home was uneventful. I felt I had good nutrition and hydration but was starting to feel the soreness on the way back. I was able to get in for some cryotherapy which really seemed to help and shake out at home was good to get loose for the upcoming week.

Hammer

Rushed this morning as I have a ton to get done today and was crunched for time. I managed to get to the hammer field and got about 9 really good 14# hammer throws in, 3 over 140'. I then had just enough time to get home, get 9 cleans in working up to doubles at 150kg and 155kg in the Oly shoes which felt pretty good and that was it. Felt good in the hammer to get some positive reinforcement on being long and loose and seeing the distance improve. Hopefully that will translate well to this weekend. Ended the session with a really cold shower and off to do some errands before I have massage and floating today. I am excited to see how that makes me feel with regards to recovery.

Pilates?

So, I'm trying something new to add to the powerful training arsenal at Chuck Gym For Muscles. I have a PT school classmate and Therapist in town that specializes in Pilates. I contacted her to see if we could work together on doing some Pilates for throwing. She was all in and I had my first, sort of introductory, visit tonight.

I really enjoyed working on the reformer and feel that the combination of strengthening and lengthening will really apply well to throwing. I feel that it will especially help with the hammer and the weights as being long and strong is very important for these events.

The 30 minute session consisted of quite a bit of strengthening, stretching, and breathing and I really enjoyed the change of pace from my traditional monday night work.

Games Week!

Starting off the week with the usual game week prep. I hit heavy events early in the week along with heavier training and then taper to lighter faster events as the week goes on.

I have been working with the idea of 10s from Dan John where he feels that he has about 10 good reps when he lifts. I took this idea for my games week where I probably have 10 good throws (not counting warm ups...which he didn't either) and 10 good lifts when I do train. This helps keep the volume down and the intensity up, which is exactly what I want on a games week. I'm hoping I feel a lot more fresh and prepared.

You can feel fresh really easily...just don't train. BUT! That does not make you feel prepared. You have to find the balance of feeling prepared AND fresh for a big competition and I'm trying to find that balance.

Today was a long day of outside work and I'm pretty drained.

Braemar
26# x10 throws out to 37' which is 2 feet further than last session!

56 x10
Yuck. I could tell from the first throw that this was going to be rough and I was not wrong. Managed a few toward the end out over 40'. So frustrating because they feel good! They just don't go anywhere! Need to get more quality reps to get more consistent progress. Hoping for >41-42' in Utah.

Hammer

Got my 14# hammer in the mail today so I decided I should throw. I usually don't do much the saturday before a competition but I haven't been throwing hammer well and wanted to get some more reps in. It was nice so I thought, why not!

No real ankle issues so I did some light mobility work, and let my early throws be the warm up.

Throwing set up:
One winds with 22 and 16 out to 100' and 120' respectively. Once I hit those numbers, I dropped to the 22 and took 5 throws and hit 110' which was huge for me as it really puts me where I want to be and then grabbed the 14# hammer for some full throws.

I have heard from some of the great hammer throwers that the 14# hammer is very good for building your speed and teaching yourself to catch the hammer earlier so I'm hoping that adds to my 16. I would really like to get up to 140'+ this season. I felt I had it late last year but never got it to line up. Now being 6 weeks behind, I really feel like I want to get some hammers out there this year. I'm trying to look at it like I had 6 weeks of rest instead of being behind...but I totally see through my lies!

28 WFD

Long day at work and feeling tired from the 56 yesterday so I decided to just take some throws with the 28 and call it a day. Feeling like I just don't have a lot of pop at the finish. Not sure if that's a product of not doing as much jumping or oly lifting from my ankle, or just mentally a little hesitant.

Warm Up
The usual
Agilities, Balance, Etc

Throws
Took about 20 throws with the 28. Nothing exciting. Managed a few over 80' which is good. It's starting to feel like it's moving a little more smoothly.

Dun.

56 / Upper / Plyo

Feeling tired and beat up today but was excited to throw!

Throwing:
Warm up
Bike
Hip Swings
Foam Roller
Quad/Hip Flexor Stretch
Ladder/Hurdles

56
Took around 20 throws; 10 1 turns out to 39+ and 10 fulls out to 41+. Not getting a lot of carryover to the full throw yet as I'm not getting any finish. When I'm throwing HW well, I'll get another 5-6 feet out of the full throw compared to the one turn and I'm maybe getting 2 right now. As it smooths out and I get my feet underneath me, that will get better.

Training:
OHP
135 x3x8 working on quick response plyometrics and compensatory acceleration of the bar. "Move Light Weight Faster"

Clapping pushups
x3x8 again working on quick response. I need to get much better at these and I think I'll have a really big carryover to the stones

Clean
136kg x3x5

Suitcase / Overhead Carry
120farmers / 70kb 3 trips each

Feeling pretty good. My recovery has been in the tank as I haven't been sleeping well. I'm going to put a priority on that for the next few weeks as I have back to back games coming up and want to be as fresh as possible. I'll only have 2 real gym days next week and am playing with mixing up some upper and lower on those days to get more done in a smaller window. This should allow me to hit what I need to, and still recover for gameday. I'll probably go for Sunday and Tuesday in the gym and then just very light accessory work for the rest of the week.