No Pain, No Gain (or vice versa)

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.