Devon County Athletics Champs

Day 14 of no smoking, feeling good and comfortable.

Devon Athletics Champs

I had entered the 100m to see what kind of a time I could do (never done one before) and the javelin, hoping to better last year's mark of 54.90m in September.

I got to the stadium with about 30 mins before the 100m races were due to start. Picked up my number and the lady said, "Oh, you're in the javelin - it's going to be a good competition!". Didn't think much more about that, had a warm up to go and do but was not feeling the love for the impending sprint!

Off I jogged. Did quite a bit of stretching and jogging to moderate sprinting down the back straight. Felt like an imposter with all the lycra and lightning quick strides goin on all around me! Hey ho - it was a bit of fun.

There were 3 men in the V35 category and 5 others in the Senior Men category, all of us racing together as a straight final. I got Lane 2 in between the other two vets. Everyone else in the race had blocks. Me - it was a kneel down on the track and wait for the gun approach! We were called to the start.

"On Your Marks"...we all get settled in at the line.

"Set"...... here we go, get ready for the bang

FALSE START - everyone else jumped out of the blocks while I just stayed where I was staring at my knee...!

And again...

"On Your Marks"

"Set"

"BANG" - this time!!

And we're off - fast steps, get up to speed...oh wait - everyone else has blasted away from me! Oh bloomin heck....

As I got to about 40m I was behind everyone and trailing. It was like a school sports day where the slow kid's legs are moving but he's not really moving! Oh dear. And there's lots of people watching... oh well, just stride out and keep working.

As I got to 80m, the other guys had stopped going away from me, I had caught up to their speed, although I was miles behind! The other thing I remember is that my hamstrings were screaming at me with every step, each step getting worse and worse, but I battled on. One guy pulled up with 10m to go and I went past him to finish 7th out of the 8 starters...

Winner was 11.0 I think and top 5 spots all under 12 seconds. 6th place was 12.3s, I was 13.2s and the last guy 14.7s.

UPDATE! The official results came through and I was a tiny bit faster than first indicated - 13.01s:

RESULTS  

It was fun in a 'let's have a go and see what happens' kind of way. It wasn't fun in terms of the pain in my legs and the embarrassment factor of being so slow in a 100m final. Heck - the Under 15 boys race would have seen me out of the medals...!

At least I now have a 100m PB, so if I ever decide to go again I'll be aiming to go sub 13 seconds.

I took Tammy and Bagel home as it was a bit cold and boring for them. On the way home, My hams kept cramping up so I rubbed some ibruprofen gel into the hams, and set back off to the stadium for part 2 - javelin!

Got there with half an hour to warm up again. Read the programme to see who was entered:

Alex Van Der Merwe - 74m thrower (Sen)

Matt Smith - 70m thrower (U23)

Simon Bennett - 66m thrower (V35)

Stephen Turnock - 64m thrower (U20)

To put it into perspective, my best when U20 was 63.14m. In recent years, I did 54.90m last year and a couple of 51-52m comps for cameo appearances out of the blue in 2006 and 2009.

I would have been happy with 50m today considering the agony I was in!

First throw off a full run-up. Had not measured it properly and had run out of runway so I cut it short at the end and posted a miserable 42m first round. The 4 guys above all threw over 60m and I knew there was no way I'd be challenging them so it was me against me against the hamstrings....!

by the last round I'd not hit 50m and had done 48m twice I think. All I wanted to do was hit the magic 50m for today but my legs were preventing me from doin any form of run-up. I just walked in and blasted it with my arm as best I could. 49.49m - nearly but not quite what I wanted.

Great to meet my old pals and meet some new guys on the scene who look like they could get in amongst the mid 70's with a couple more years behind them.

I think today's result was:

Alex - 66m

Matt - 65m

Steve - 63m

Simon - 60m

I earned a Silver Medal by virtue of there only being two V35 throwers and posting a score. I asked about the 100m in which I was 3rd out of 3 V35's but they said sorry it was only the winner who got one. I said I didn't mind as I didn't really deserve a medal by running like a school girl!

All good fun. Vets Champs June 19th - count me in!

Deadlift PB - 235kg , 517lbs

After having had a pretty easy week last week I stepped it up with a Squat PB last night - 210kg and then tonight was power cleans and deadlifts. This will be guaranteed to wear me out for a day or two!

10 mins erg - 2585m - 1:56.0 - r25 - ending heart rate 162

Hang Cleans 

8 x 60kg

Power Cleans

10 x 60kg

4 x 80kg

100kg - fail - PB is 105kg. This bar tonight has ball bearings which I didn't like, prefer a rigid bar.

Deadlifts

5 x 1 x 150kg

3 x 1 x 180kg

190kg - fail - left hand grip is still not strong enough manage this weight

3 x 190kg (with straps)

1 x 235kg / 517lbs - NEW PB! 

Very pleased with that. I went straight from 190kg to a new PB weight just to see if I had it in me. It was very tough all the way up and I had to battle to lock out at the top but got there and held it for about 5 seconds and then lowered it with control to the floor.

5 x wide grip chins - recent PB (used to do 10 when javelin thrower, and the 'flag' for about 5 seconds - ah the old days....!)

1k erg cool down - 2:05 pace r23 nice and easy to relax the body

Summary

Stronger than ever before. Need to translate it to the indoor rowing machine sprint stroke now for that 300m World Record attempt in April.

Javelin Competition

Today was the Exeter Open meeting which I'd decided about 6 weeks ago to enter in the javelin and train for.

The weather forecast didn't look great but it turned out to be half decent conditions, if a little flat in the atmosphere. Nobody's spears caught the wind particularly but at least it wasn't a strong crosswind or too cold.

I arrived at 6pm, registration was 6.20pm and javelin due to start at 6.45pm so I started warming up at 6.15 and did lots of stretching and drills to get ready. The official decided to put the youngsters on first so that delayed our starting time, but I wasn't too bothered as it was fun watching the rubberised javelins they were chucking with glee!

We started at around 7.45pm so it was difficult but not impossible to keep warm and loose. There were two other Senior Men who have both thrown over 60m this year so the competition was tough. Simon Bennett opened up with a 61.74m first throw, the best of the night actually and it set the standard for Mike Tarran and myself to try and get close. Mike Threw 59.30m and was peppering the 60m line without hitting it.

I threw 54.90m (180ft) in the 5th round and all throws were over 50m which was encouraging. I had built up enough confidence by the 4th round to properly plant the left foot and hit the ground, transferring the power up and through the body. Only problem was that my boots are a tad too small and the end of the boot rammed my big toenail and bent it in half (OUCH!)

Don't know how I did any more after that and especially don't know how I threw the best one in the next round off a shortened run-up.

Thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Met a couple of decent guys and good throwers who I didn't mind losing to. However, there's always next season....

Here's a snap of the view I was throwing into

 Here's a snap of the big toe

Here's a video of the first throw I did (not the best one but it gives a good picture of my technique).

All in all not too bad but there is still plenty of room for improvement, not least with keeping the arm straight until the movement starts with the shoulder (and not breaking the elbow before the throw like I did here). Mr Steve Backley demonstrates it better with one of his world record throws:

54.90m - ranks me 8th in Scotland, 92nd in UK and 9th if I were a veteran (which I become in November) :D

Now - back to erg sprinting! :-D

Week 2, Day 2 - Lower Body Javelin Workout

Tomorrow was due to be my next session but due to an all day meeting I can't bank on having the time so I did my Lower Body session today instead. Decided to raise the bar again and add more into the session from last time...

wu 2k r20 - 7:17.4 - 1:49.3 (erm, warm up???!)

3 x 10 x 70kg Jump Squats (big height, explosive jump)

3 x 5 x 70kg Power cleans (explosive drive up, no fall to catch, straight up to collar)

2 x 10 Depth Jumps (off the wall and into tuck position)

Bounding:
4 x alternate leg bounding (height and distance)
2 x broad jumps (distance, bounce)
2 x crossovers (accelerating)
1 x jav run-up (focus on acceleration in last 5 strides)

3 x 10 x stack - adductors (felt that!)

3 x 10 x stack - abductors (and that!)

3 x 10 x stack - leg extensions (I'm used to the pain on this machine)

3 x 10 x stack - ham curls (this was tough at the end of the session)

3 x 10 x stack - leg press (not much left by now...)

3 mins bike

10 mins stretching

Phew - my normal training lasts an hour, this took an hour and a half. I could have stopped before the resistance machines but I could still walk so I did a round of them to create wobbly leg syndrome and clamber up the stairs to get out!

The javelin run-up felt a little clumsy but then it was on grass and the ground was a bit uneven and I'm clumsy anyway ;-)

Day 4 - Upper Body Weight Training for Javelin

Nearly rested again today but at lunchtime I was taking the mickey out of the guys doing their barbell biceps curls - they were rocking away. They challenged me to do a set in my suit, which I did - 60kg x 10. Anyway, it left me with a tingle in my biceps and tendons and the will to get in there and get working after work!

2k wu 1:59.2 r24

Lat Pulldowns Wide Grip - 10 x 75kg, 6 x 90kg, 10 x 75kg

High Cable, single arm pullover (back to cable, straight arm from vertical to horizontal)
10 x 40kg, 10 x 40kg, 10 x 50kg each arm

Wide Grip Chins Strict, no rocking/bouncing - erm, 2, 2, 1.5 - less said the better!

DB Pullovers, straight arm - 10 x 24kg, 10 x 30kg, 10 x 26kg

BB Shoulder Press behind neck, standing - 10 x 20kg, 8 x 40kg, 10 x 30kg

Skin the Cat Snatch - (BB from snatch position, lower the straight arms backwards to 45deg and back up to vertical, left leg forward throughout) - 10 x 20kg, 10 x 20kg - this hurt the shoulders and lower back a bit so dropped the 3rd set!

Med Ball - Straight arm throw and sit up against wall - 10 x 4kg, 20 x 4kg (explosive)

Med Ball - Chest Pass off wall and catch - 20 x 4kg, 20 x 4kg (explosive)

1k cd - 2:20ish

So, the first Week of Training is complete and I feel stronger than ever now. Feels great to be training like an athlete again (well, in relative terms). Next week is 4 more sessions but with different exercises then Week 3 is a repeat of this week with some tweaks to weights, intensity, etc. 5 of these weeks and then some speed work to finish and I hope to be ready to launch that spear!!! :-D