Mission Accomplished

Well, a couple of small “missions” at least. During my last trip to the “Y” I achieved 2 goals I had set for myself for 2006. One was to bench press 195 pounds, and the other was to squat (1/2 squat) 260 pounds. That the calendar doesn’t even read May yet is probably less of a testimony about my wonderful performances as it is an indication of how ignorant I was about goal-setting for weight lifting. There’s not a lot of magic in the numbers I picked as targets. I just picked numbers that were a lot higher than what I was lifting at the time. Not very scientific I’m afraid.

There is one little bit of magic in those numbers however, and that is that 195 pounds means I bench pressed my body weight before my birthday. Benching one’s body weight is a minor milestone in the weight-lifting world, and I was able to crank out 3 set of 3 reps. I think I will need to revise my bench goal for 2007 now. Way back when I set these goals I thought that a 235 bench would be a challenging goal, but with 18 months still remaining to achieve it I’m now leaning toward 1.5 times my body weight (~300 pounds).

I experimented with some technical changes in discus a couple of days ago. I’m trying to have a more effective leg sweep. It feels awkward when it’s not done properly, but I was able to find the groove on three throws, which all went around 140’ which, coincidentally is my discus goal for the year. That was very encouraging.

Also encouraging was my shot put performance. It appears the big numbers (for me) that I put up on Saturday may not have been a fluke after all. On Sunday I was regularly putting the shot out past 35’ on both full throws and stands. Nice, but my 2006 goal of 39’ 4.5” (12 meters) still seems miles away.

End Times

I think that somewhere in the Bible it says that when the end of the world comes "He who was first shall be last" and vice versa. Something like that. Well, at today's track meet I was the only competitor in my age group, so I was first and last at the same time. In light of the biblical prophesy I'm feeling a little uneasy, and will probably sleep with one eye open for the next few days.

It was a pretty good meet. It was relatively close-by in that it was only a 90 minute drive away. And, it was well run, especially when you consider that this was the "first annual" effort. The facilities were acceptable, the competitions started on time, and all throws were measured. Oh yeah...Medals were handed out on the spot, following the last competitor. I'm not really into medals, but I think that some are. One more thing...the souvenier T-shirts were not totally ugly. I left the house at 6:00am and was back home by noon. Not too shabby.

My discus throwing was not "on" today. I don't know what the problem was. It could have been something as simple as needing a longer warm-up for such an early morning competition. Who knows? At any rate, my standing throws were only carrying 110' so I wasn't expected a PR today. Fortunately I finshed up with a fairly acceptable last throw after a luke warm start. My throws today were: 120' 10", 120' 11", sector foul, 127' 9".

The shot put area is the only reason I only gave the facilities an acceptable rating. Otherwise I would have said they were above average, but unfortunately the shot put landing area had a definite downward slope. That's great for posting a big mark, but it's not one you can really compare with any of your other performances. Still, I threw the shot very well while warming up in a level area, so despite the inflated distances I think I would have still had a PR and gone over 35'. My shot throws were 34' 3.5", 35' 11", 35' 8.5", and 36' 5.5" for a BIG PR by 2' 5.5". How many times do you think someone has gone out in shot put and PR'd by over 7%? That was sweet.

The next meet is a couple of weeks away. This one is a USATF sanctioned event, with all the thowing events contested. Back to work...big time!

We Try Harder

One good thing about living in a warm climate is that the track season starts early in the year. Sometimes the first meet is in late February, or at least early March, when much of the U.S. is covered with snow. This means that you get to submit results for ranking earlier than most of the competition. This year I was fortunate to have a pretty decent throw early in the season. As a result I was able to bask in the glory of being ranked #1 for about a week. The #1 ranking didn't mean much except that 1) I got off a fairly good throw early in the year, and 2) none of the good throwers had been to meets yet.

Today I woke up to find that I had slipped to #2, and not just barely. The new #1 blew me away. In fact, his throw may wind up being in the top three when all is said and done for the 2006 season, and unless I improve my performance I figure I have about a 50-50 chance of being bumped off of the Top 25 list.

Such is life. At least I had my one week of glory.

Next Meet in 5 Days

This one offers only discus and shot put for throwers, so it won't be one of the more gruelling ones. And it's relatively close...only about a 90 minute drive. And finally, it's a low-pressure Senior Olympics kind of affair. It ought to be a good time.

I would like to follow up my last meet's discus PR with a strong performance in order to keep the momentum going, because this is the last "fun" meet before the important ones begin. Not that they aren't fun, but it's a different kind of fun. That's when we'll see how much good all this work I've put in over the last 6 months has done me.

So "good luck" to me, and my next post will have the results.

Missing the Big 4-0

[Kajsa Bergqvist]

I guess it’s a little ironic. For the entire two years since I set my previous personal record in discus of 39.19 meters I had dreamed about throwing 40 meters. Then I went the entire 2005 season without any improvement. Now, fast-forward through a lot of off-season work prior to my recent new PR, and I find that I completely skipped over 40 meters and went directly to 41.12. Could it be that I’ll never throw the 40 meters that I worked so hard to get to? Is it possible that I’ll just skip 40 meters and keep on going? Heck, maybe I’ll skip 42 meters also, and go directly to 43! That sounds like a plan…I’ll skip all even-numbered meters. I think I like that.

So the question is, how do I build on 41.12? What have I been doing right? What have I been doing wrong? Those are tough ones. Obviously, my weight training has paid off and my increased strength is a factor in my longer throws. But how good is my technique?

My 3 recent competition throws wound up being increases over my standing throw maximum of 5.2%, 11.3%, and 17.4%. In plain English that translates into “poor”, “fair” and “excellent”. I’m not sure I can expect much better than a 17.4% increase, but obviously there is room for improvement in my consistency.

The other area that can help me build on 41.12 meters is to improve my standing throw distance. I’ve been practicing “stands” quite a bit lately, but I’m frustrated at a lack of improvement. I seem to be stuck in the 116’ – 117’ range (lacking a favorable wind). Standing throws in this range will not give me a realistic chance of reaching my season goal of 140’. That distance would represent a 20% increase over my standing throws, and that kind of “bump” is next to impossible. A perfect wind, and a perfect throw might produce 140’, but what are the odds of that happening. So it’s back to the gym for me to try to build up those rubber bands of mine. If I can get me stands up over 120’ then I’ve got a real shot.

P.S. The first rankings of the year came out today and I missed the deadline to get my throw posted. It's a shame because it would have been the #1 throw. I didn't see anything on the list that's likely to hold up through the entire year, but I would have liked to have seen my name at the top of the list, if only for a little while. Oh well...

Feeling Good

[Bianca Kappler]

Despite the long waits between throws, untrained officials, and the general disorganization which are common at local Senior Olympics competitions, I managed personal records in 2 of the three events I was in, and missed a third by 1 inch.

Most satisfying was the PR I set in discus. All of the events were 3-attempt competitions so I knew I had to make all throws good ones if at all possible. As it turns out I launched my first attempt 134' 11" (41.12 m) for a PR improvement of 6' 4". I didn't write down the other two results, but the second one was 128-something, and the third try was 121-something. All are fairly respectable, but the first one is more in line with what I've been doing in practice lately and it felt good to finally make it happen in a competition. It's especially satisfying when you consider how early in the season it is, and also that this mark stands a pretty good chance of placing me in the top 25 for the country at the end of the year. (Of course, my plans are that this will NOT be my best mark of the season.)

Although it was a PR, my 107' 8" javelin throw was still disappointing, and well short of where I feel that I ought to be. I won't feel good about javelin until I'm throwing up around 125'. Lot's of work to do here.

"Ditto" for shot put. I threw 33' 11", which is 1" short of my PR, but it's so anemic when compared to other throwers that it's hard to get too excited about it. My consistency is much better than in previous years and that usually means that a breakthrough is right around the corner (like what just happened to me in discus).

Just three weeks until the next meet. I'm going to have to train really hard if I want to keep those PR's coming.