Current items of interest in Track & Field throwing events, and my progress as a Masters Athlete.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Maybe I Spoke Too Soon
After weeks of stagnation there was finally some movement in the discus rankings posted for 8/27/06, and I dropped in position down to # 20. Basically, a guy jumped ahead of me by 14 inches.
The national rankings continue to be updated about twice a week, and quite frankly I’m shocked that I haven’t dropped in position in many weeks. I’m still 19th in Discus and 13th in Hammer. This is encouraging because the season is winding down and the number of opportunities for people to improve their marks is dwindling. So I’m fairly certain that I will at least be in the top 25 at the end of the year, but I would be very surprised if my posted throws were strong enough to hold their positions. I could really use some longer throws this season, and especially in discus.
You see, my “neighborhood” of the discus rankings is very crowded. In fact, numbers 10 through 25 fall within 10 feet of each other (roughly 130’-140’). This tight grouping means that I could jump from #19 all the way up to #10 with only 6 feet of improvement in my season best throw. Of course this also means that any of those other 16 throwers could do the same thing. After you pass 140’ though, the neighborhood becomes quite a bit more exclusive, and a couple of extra feet here and there won’t move you up very far.
Interesting side note: In the year 2000 a 148’ throw wouldn’t have even made the top 25! _________________________ I had a pretty good throwing session this morning even though conditions were less than ideal. Various circumstances forced me to use Practice Area "C", which is just barley good enough for practice, let alone trying to throw far. The concrete is rough (as in, lumpy) and very slick. The landing area is a little uphill. And to top that off, there was a 10-15 mph tail wind. Even so I threw quite a few in the 135’-140’ range, and one that was clearly past the 140’ marker.
I think the deconstruction/reconstruction of my discus technique is paying off. During this process I’ve come to the conclusion that the wide leg sweep technique that is so popular today is just not for me. [Click HERE to see Virgilijus Alekna use this technique.] Clearly, the more linear technique that was made popular by John Powell is better suited to me. [Click HERE to see Aleksander Tammert use this technique.]
While using this technique today I was able to feel a continuous pull on the discus (i.e., acceleration) during the entire throw – from the first wind all the way through to the release. I really like the feel of this technique a lot better than the jerky feeling that a wide leg whip produces. I feel pretty confident that a couple of weeks of practice will produce good things at the upcoming State Senior Games.
I’ve been having pain in my throwing shoulder over the past several weeks, and I’ve been trying to keep quiet about it in hopes that it would go away. Today it feels a little better so maybe my strategy is working.
I went to the sports medicine place last Thursday, where they did some X-rays on it. The X-rays really didn’t show anything, which isn’t too surprising, so they gave me the choice of an MRI, or a physical terrorist…uh, therapist. Based on how painful it was to have the doc mess with it for even a few minutes, I decided to pass on the physical therapy. I also passed on the MRI due to the $300 deductible payment required. Maybe it’s just a slight muscle tear which will heal on its own, or maybe it’s a touch of tendonitis that will get better with a reduction in training. Whatever it is, I’m just trying to hold it together until the State Championships in 4 weeks. After that, if it’s still a problem I’ll probably go in for the MRI.
Strangely enough, the shoulder problem is only a problem for javelin, shot put, some weight lifting sets, and lifting my arm above my head. So I have completely quit throwing shot and javelin in training and have adjusted my weight lifting a little. (I still lift my arm above my head from time to time.) Now all I’m practicing is discus and hammer.
I had a pretty good, but short, throwing session yesterday morning. My normal practice area has the ring in the shade until about noon, which is ideal, but they are watering in the mornings now so I have to go to "Practice Area B", which has no shade and a landing area in the middle of the practice football field. The ring is placed in an area that is noticeably lower than the field’s sidelines, and of course, the field is “crowned” so the middle of the field where the discus lands is noticeably higher than the sidelines. I figure I’m throwing uphill a good 4-5’, but I still had a few discus throws around 135’ and some hammer throws just short of 120’. Not too shabby for an old “crip”.
P.S. I think I also beat my discus standing throw PR of 120’, but I didn’t measure it. For some reason I was thinking my PR was 121-something, and my throw looked to be too close to that distance to worry about. If this truly was a standing throw of 121’+ to a landing area elevated 4-5’ that represents a pretty big improvement. Maybe it was just a fluke. I’ll have to check it out the next time I throw.
My new budget-priced, low-spin 2k discus arrived today. I can’t wait to take it out for a spin tomorrow.
I was practicing standing throws with my old 2k rubber discus yesterday and I sent several over 100 feet. One measured out to 107’ 6”. If I ever hear of a “Men’s 50-54 yr 2kg Old Rubber Discus Standing Throw Championship” I may enter.
While I was practicing, just out of curiosity I marked off the current American discus record for my age group – 205’ 10”. Pretty impressive. Then I marked off the World Record of 224’ 5”. That wound up being right in the middle of lane 8 of the running track where I practice. I sure am glad I don’t throw that far. I would have to find a new place to practice!
Actually, it’s not because I just ordered a 2K discus to start using in training, and I’m really looking forward to its arrival. I ordered an inexpensive low-spin model thinking that I had no hope of making a perimeter weighted model fly at all. Plus, why waste the extra money on a training discus? I figure that using it might provide a number of benefits:
1) The extra weight will slow me down, and give me more time to concentrate on hitting good positions. 2) The extra weight will make hitting good positions an absolute must, or it just won’t go very far. 3) It should help strengthen some discus-specific muscles. 4) I won’t have to walk as far to retrieve it!
We’ll see how it goes. Actually, I already have an old beat up 2K rubber discus that I did some standing throws with last night (when I found it, it appeared to have been run over by a mower). It was kind of halfway dark when I was throwing so I couldn’t see exactly where it was landing, but it appeared that a couple went out around 100’. Damn, it felt heavy. I’m a little apprehensive about trying full throws with the thing for fear that body parts might start falling off!
The other day I was looking at the rankings listings over the last several years, with an eye on seeing what happens to guys when they move up in age from 49 to 50, and shift from the 2K to the 1.5K implement. There’s a lot of variation in the results, but it appears that people can gain up to 30 feet of distance (8-9 meters). So…one would think that if I could get to the point that I can throw the 2K 120’, I ought to be able to throw the 1.5K 150’. That’s my theory anyway, and I’m sticking to it.
I’ve decided to completely deconstruct my discus technique and start all over from the ground up – soup to nuts…beginning tomorrow. This rather drastic move was prompted by the realization that my current technique is just not going to get me where I want to go. The USATF Nationals made this painfully clear.
I’ve got 5 weeks until the next meet, so hopefully I’ll be able to get in enough reps between now then to groove it a little before I have to roll it out for public consumption. Not that it matters all that much because the next meet is the Senior Olympics State Championship, and the goal of this meet is to place in the top 3 so I can go to Nationals next year. I know who my competition will be at this meet, and the sad truth is that I could place in the top three (and probably win it) with only a standing throw. This is not to say that my standing throw is all that fantastic, it’s just that I’m the proverbial big discus fish in a pretty small pond.
Now that I've had a taste of the big pond, the small pond just doesn't do it for me any more.
I just returned from the USATF Nationals in Charlotte, NC and in spite of a particularly bad performance on my part, I have no regrets about going. It was quite a display of what talent, hard training, and good genes can accomplish. A lot of the folks I saw were just incredible.
As for my performance, what can I say – I had a bad meet. A very bad meet. In fact, my longest legal throw was just 2 feet longer than my typical standing throw. Ouch! But I’ve got to remind myself that my throw was still a foot longer than my average last year, and even though it was a big stage it’s still just one meet. (I did have one sector foul that appeared to be fairly decent.)
It’s hard to explain what happened. I fouled 2 out of the 4 throws even though I average about one foul every 3 or 4 meets. I fouled left and I fouled right, when at my last meet all 4 of my throws would have fit inside a 2 meter circle. It was like a different person was throwing and using my name. I think the technical term for this is “choke”.
Good things that happened:
1. In spite of my being physically dwarfed by most of my competitors at Charlotte (about half of them looked like they averaged 6’4” and 250+ lbs), the guy who blew everyone away and won the whole enchilada was just about my size. For me, THAT was a very good thing to have witnessed. 2. A couple of my friends, and people I compete with all the time, won big-time even though they were hurt. Carol Finsrud, who is recovering from a serious hand injury and has hardly trained all year, won the discus (and I believe the hammer). And Bruce Navarre, at age 49 (or is he 48?) with 2 bad shoulders and a bad back, threw the 2k discus over 46 meters to win his age group. When he moves up to the 1.5k discus, look out!
3. I met Joe Schleppi, a fellow thrower who seems to be a great guy, and who may be the only person who reads this blog on a regular basis. (Nice throw at the Ohio Senior Olympics, Joe.)
4. And last but not least, there were a lot of women with really nice looking legs at this meet.
So…after my disappointing performance, and before I was able to stop wallowing in self-pitty, I happened upon an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet near my hotel. Feeling near rock-bottom, I decided to drown my sorrows in soy sauce. I emptied 2 full plates and then threw in the towel. They left a fortune cookie with my check, and on the way out of the restaurant I cracked it open and it said (I swear) "practice makes perfect".
