Odds and Ends

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!
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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.