Two Minute Warning

It’s hard to believe, but there are just a few days left now until my last meet of the season. It doesn’t seem all that long ago that I drove to Austin and threw in a cold rain, but a quick check of my notes tells me that was way back in March. The summer heat is now waning, and we’re expecting a high temperature of 82 degrees in Austin, so it must be true that the season is winding down.

It should be really nice this weekend, except for the predicted North wind of 13 mph. A North wind would be a tailwind, and would all but kill my hopes of throwing 140’ in the discus. Still, there’s hope, and there is even a better shot of hitting 135’ for a new PR. Any improvement would be nice actually, as there is room to move up as many as 9 places in the rankings without even breaking 140’. (I’m currently at 22nd place in discus, with a 134’ 11” throw.)

Normally at this point before a meet I would be tapering off on my training, but I basically don’t have much training to taper off from any more. I haven’t lifted weights since I hurt my shoulder almost 2 months ago, and recent business travel and torrential rains have made it very difficult to get in much throwing time. So this week I will be trying to throw as much as I can just to try to rediscover some sense of rhythm.

I was out throwing the other day and things felt pretty good, but a tailwind then kept knocking the discus down around 125-130’. That makes me a little nervous about what might happen in Austin this weekend, but we’ll see.

I’ve been taking a few Hammer throws too, and they have felt a little better than my most recent efforts in competition. It would be nice to get in a couple of decent Hammer throws during competition to end the season, because after my big throws back in May, my Hammer distances have been crap. Hammer technique should translate over to the weight throw also, and I’m very confident I can improve my 40’ 2” SB if I can just keep it in the sector. I’m currently ranked 15th in Hammer (which I doubt I can improve upon) and 19th in the Weight Throw. If I don’t foul I should be able to get into the top 15 in the Weight.

Once again Shot Put and Javelin are out of the picture for me, but I signed up for the Super Weight Throw just to have that option at the meet. I don’t know which is worse though – the thought of leaving a 12’ 3” mark in the rankings, or the thought of picking up that 65 pound ball and swinging it around!

I also signed up for a Hammer clinic. Unfortunately, it is being held just prior to the meet so while it is likely to help me in the long run, it could very easily wear me out prior to competition. That would suck.

Having said all that, it’s going to be a good day just seeing all the other throwers again, regardless of how well (or poorly) I perform. I may take my video camera and catch some action shots to post on YouTube. It would be really cool to capture Stefan Blomquist throwing the Shot out near 19 meters.