3K or Bust!

In less than 48 hours I will have finished competing in the Texas Master’s Championship and will busily updating my results tables and blog. Only time will tell if the tone of that posting will be “tears” or “cheers”.

As usual, I set my sights high when I began formulating my goals for the meet. My primary goal is to do well in this, my one and only Weight Pentathlon of the season. The goal I have set is to attain the American Standard in the event of 3000 points, and I’ve identified distance targets in each of the 5 throws which result in a WP score of 3001. My secondary goal is to at least do well in the Hammer Throw and Discus Throw, which are the 2 events I have entered in the upcoming National Championships.

With the exception of Javelin and Weight Throw, none of the individual targets represent performances I haven’t already posted at various meets during this season. And my Javelin and Weight Throw targets are marks I can achieve almost every time I practice, so none of the 5 represents uncharted territory for me. The real trick will be to put together 5 solid performances on the same day. (I have acquired a lot of respect for decathletes!)

My PR for the Weight Pentathlon is currently 2546, although I have turned in individual marks on the same day which would have amounted to 2640 points had WP scoring been applied to them. But those marks were last season, and I’ve improved significantly in 4 of the 5 events since then. One big factor will be the weather. The high temperature for Dallas tomorrow is projected to be 106 degrees F (41.1C), then dropping to a “comfortable” 92 degrees (33.3C) on meet day. I certainly hope they know what they are talking about. If not, I could easily see myself starting to head for home around noon, immediately after the discus throw.

For the record, the targets I’ve set to make 3001 points are:

Hammer Throw - 119’ (32.67m), Season best 128’ 7.5”
Shot Put - 35’ (10.66m), Season best 36’ 5.5”
Discus Throw - 134’ (40.84m), Season best 134’ 11”
Javelin Throw - 109’ (33.22m), Season best 107’ 8”
Weight Throw - 41’ (12.49m), Season best 37’ 0.5”