9/29/11 - throws

throws

30# wfd

• x10 one turns, best of 68'
• x8-10 two turns, best of 69'
• x3-5 footwork drills between every couple reps. working on a quick left leg with good separation

16# hammer x 6-8, best of 114'

Trained on my lunch break, threw uphill as usual. Weights felt really well, though a tidbit disappointed with the distance. The day before was my speed day so I'm sure I wasn't fully recovered, but I was hoping for a little better. The 68' one turn was pretty solid so I'm satisfied with that. Between each throw I was practicing foot work. Practicing the pivot, sprint, quick left leg, pivot, pull. My first few tosses were slow so I could work on the footwork while throwing, I think those tosses were around 52-58'ish. Once I sped it up I was getting them out there. I need to video myself a few times to see how it looks, if I'm getting low enough, speed, etc. Hammers went ok, focused on staying super loose and usign my hips to move the ball. By now I had been throwing for about an hour straight so I was getting tired. I dropped a couple out at 114' but was too tired to get my hips moving fast enough for anything higher. Next week I'll spend some exclusive time on the hammer. This week it was all about fixing my o-stone and wfd footwork. Anxious for Saturday's throwing session.

cals = ?, lasagna with the in-laws for dinner, you bet your ass I didn't count dem caloriezzzz.

9/28/11 - speed work

speed training w/PF (fastest time listed)
speed incline bench

1. 115x3 @ 4.08
2. 135x3 @ 3.71
3. 135x4 @ 3.85
4. 135x4 @ 3.71
5. 135x3 @ 3.95
6. 145x3 @ 3.83
7. 145x3 @ 3.71
8. 145x3 @ 3.83
9. 145x3 @ 3.83
10. 145x3 @ 3.83

speed front squats

1. 185x2 @ 3.71
2. 225x2 @ 3.71
3. 225x2 @ 3.83
4. 225x2 @ 3.46
5. 225x2 @ 3.46
6. 225x2 @ 3.46
7. 225x2 @ 3.33
8. 225x2 @ 3.46
9. 225x2 @ 3.33
10. 225x2 @ 3.58

speed sumo deads

1. 225x1 @ 2.84
2. 225x1 @ 3.09
3. 225x1 @ 3.09
4. 225x1 @ 2.84
5. 225x1 @ 2.84
6. 225x1 @ 3.21
7. 225x1 @ 3.21
8. 225x1 @ 3.21
9. 225x1 @ 3.21
10. 225x1 @ 2.96

RDLs- 225x8, 315x6x3
banded pull throughs- green x10x3

+lying leg raises & ab wheel

Sesh started out solid, not a single rep under 3.3f/s until I got to deads. Apparently my sumo deads are hella slower than conventional. Not happy with this either. Also, going to be increasing the rep scheme to 3 reps with everything. Overall, workout felt solid. Definitely not as fatigued as last week, possibly my body is adaptnig already?

stretched/foam rolled tonight


cals = ? shitloads of spaghetti for dinner, lol

9/27/11 - throws

throws

16# stone

• x8 standing step over drills, best of 38'
• x15-20 footwoork drills
• x8-10 south african throws, best of 41'

53# wfd

• one turn x 5, best of 35'
• two turn x ~3, best of 33'
• two turn w/ 30# wfd x ~4

Trained on my lunch break, threw uphill of course, different spot than usual so even more of an incline. Felt tired after yesterday's throwing and weight session so #s were pretty down, either that or the increase in incline made my #s look dreary. I'm not one for excuses so I'll just say I need to try harder. Step overs felt really good and snappy. Getting a good pivot off my right leg and driving up onto my block. Been working on pushing my left leg back while blocking to help accellerate the hips. Definitely feel this is working. Worked on driving to the trig while wrapping better for the south african. Can definitely feel a difference, now I need to get some height on the stone again. Seems I fix one thing and the other I forget about, haha. WFD felt alright, hand is still kind of tore up from last week and this weekend but I still hit it hard regardless. Worked on getting a violent pull out of the back on the one turns, then getting that left down fast. Had a good toss at 35', despite being tired. Two turns didn't go as well. Need my first spin to be faster so I can really speed up the weight as I'm driving it down to my leg before the spring, then a strong pull and a quick left leg to plant. Need more reps, story of my life.


cals = 4248 w/ 297g protein, 3 nutri grain bars preworkout, ordering a a couple tubs of waxy maize this weekend.

9/26/11 - assist/o-lift + throws

training (evening)

hip snatches- 175x3x3

push press- 255(80%)x6, 255x6, 255x10
pullups- BWx5x6
hang cleans- 265x3x3

BB rows- 315x8x3
CGBP- 265x5, 265x4


throws (lunch)

16# stone

• ~5 step over drills
• ~5 standing fulls, best of 42'
• ~10 south african spins, best of 44'

16# hammer x3, best of 107'

threw on my lunch break. standing throws feeling better but the spin felt off. By the time I was tired I realized I should have worked more drills and footwork for the south african, rather than full throws. This bummed me out so I'll do them again tomorrow. Just took a couple easy hammer throws as I was showing a friend how to get the hips involved, rather than just an arm dominant throw.

Weights went well, though everything felt pretty heavy. Still kind of sore from the speed work last week. Looking forward to wednesday to hit that PF again.

cals = 3372 w/ 290g protein, 70g carbs pre-workout for both training sessions.. little light on the food today, no bueno

9/25/11 - throws

throws

16# stone, stand x8-10, south african x10-12
28# wfd, 5-8 full throws
20# sheaf, 5-8 tosses
20# hammer, 4-6 tosses

Trained with Andrew Hobson, can't thank him enough for all of his help. Worked on planting that left foot hard and pulling it to accellerate the hips on the standing tosses, also his cue of "throw it over the WFD standards" finally got some height to the stone. Good things here. Worked on getting a better wrap with a more linear drive to the trig on the south african, have some work to do here as I was pretty much just spinning around the stone before. I can see how this will generate additional power. Worked on getting the left down quick on LWFD after the sprint. Need to work on not reaching so far though as I had an extremely wide base when it came time to pull. Sheaf felt good, Andrew had me working on my back swing, much much higher. Felt more fluid and was going several feet higher. Good session.

Went to dinner at Oreganos with my family, had great time. The kiddo was scarfing down noodles and cheerios like nobody's business, haha.
cals = ?

9/24/11 dinner = breakfast

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9/23/11 - cupcake sammich

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9/22/11 - throws + speed work

throws

20# sheaf x ~18-20
16# hammer x 5 winds only, x5 full, best of 120'2"

unk heights on sheaf, focused on getting a huge back swing and really driving it hard down to the ground. Also focused on sitting into it a bit more as to get more pop as well as the timing on the block.

hammers felt terrible at first. I took 5 reps of winds only to loosen up my hips. First throw dropped out around 98' which is usual since I rarely put anything on the first one. After that I was able to get the timing on my hips a bit better and dropped a couple at 105ish. Then I wanted to get after it, really get my hips moving and reached on the 4th wind (yes, I said 4th wind, I'll explain in a minute), that one went 112'. At the beginning of the workout I told myself if I get 120' (which I haven't since may) then I'd call it a day because it's so hot and I just wanted to be done. I went for that fifth rep and really wanted to gas it. The first 2 times I lost my balance as my hips couldn't keep up with the ball to counter. I got it together and tried again, got the ball moving ridiculously fast (for me) and dropped it out there at 120'. Good day.

Yes, I moved to 4 winds with the hammer. Instead of usnig the first wind to get my balance and immediately have to start pushing the speed, I use the first two to get my balance and rhythm. My first wind is just for my balance, then I speed it up a little bit more on the 2nd and that gets my hips in the rhythm, the third is where I turn it on and push the pedal and on the 4th I focus on getting as high and as long as possible.


speed training w/PF (fastest time listed)

speed bench w/ ~45sec between sets

1. 135x3 @ 2.90
2. 135x3 @ 3.01
3. 135x4 @ 2.84
4. 135x4 @ 3.21
5. 135x3 @ 3.21
6. 135x3 @ 3.21
7. 135x3 @ 3.09
8. 135x3 @ 3.21
9. 135x3 @ 3.21
10. 135x3 @ 3.21

speed deads w/ ~45 sec between sets, test: 135x1 @ 4.08

1. 225x1 @ 3.46
2. 225x1 @ 3.33
3. 225x1 @ 3.46
4. 225x2 @ 3.48
5. 225x2 @ 3.83
6. 275x2 @ 3.46
7. 275x2 @ 3.33
8. 275x2 @ 3.46
9. 275x2 @ 3.58
10. 275x2 @ 3.58

speed squats w/ ~60sec between sets, test: 135x4 @ 371, 185x3 @3.46

1. 225x2 @ 3.46
2. 225x2 @ 3.33
3. 225x2 @ 3.46
4. 225x2 @ 3.33
5. 225x2 @ 3.46
6. 225x2 @ 3.33
7. 225x2 @ 3.33
8. 225x2 @ 3.33
9. 225x2 @ 3.21
10. 225x2 @ 3.33

GMs- 225x8x3
BW pullups- BWx8, x6, x4

Humbled. One word to describe how I feel right now. Last night's workout was intense. I didn't realize even my speed stuff on bench was so damn s-l-o-w. I was giving it everything I had and just couldn't break that 3.3 mark. Deads felt great, feels weird pulling that fast but I like it. Squats also felt great, but you can see towards the end when I started getting tired and speed dropped. I only wrote down the fastest reps. Most of the time the reps were either slightly below what is listed. I've done westside style speed work in the past, but holy shit, actually MEASURING the velocity, that changes things up. I love it. Next week will be front squats, sumo pulls and incline bench.

Oh, and it feels like I got hit by a truck today. My hips, hams and lower back are just trashed.

cals = 4120 w/ 308g protein, 75g carbs before each workout

9/21/11 dinner = chicken tacos

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9/21/11 - throws

throws

53# wfd

• one turn x 9, best of 37'
• two turn x ~8, best of 35'

Threw uphill as ususal. Was stuck at 30-32 for the first 4-5 throws of the one turns. tried to think about what I was doing an d analyze it in my head. I remember from watching videos recently that my left leg is just barely getting down before I start pulling on my release so I thought if I got it down faster I would have a better base to speed up a tidbit more before pulling for the release. Tried this once and immediately jumped to 35'. Tried a couple more times and nailed 37'. Definitely feel more in there but I called it there because I wanted to get some 2 turns in.

My first 2 turn dropped all the way back down to 30'. This is frustrating to say the least. The next went to 31' and then 2 more at 30'. I took a few minutes to think about what I was doing and I don't really think I was accellerating the weight during my sprint, rather just spinning around it. Also, I typically begin my spin when the weight gets to 12:00. By doing this, the weight is ALMOST at 6 before I get into position for my sprint, this means I'm not getting any acceleration going into the sprint. 3rd, I think I'm casting the weight too high which is throwing off my drive forward and therefore am slowing down. So, now I have to fix the issues. I started my spin at 11, got into position, pulled linear, got the left around and it went 34'. Not great but definitely better. Thew a couple more, working on fast feet getting into positions and hit 35'. Again, not great, but better than where I was. That ended up being my last throw as I tore a callus clean off and couldn't get a good grip on the weight anymore.

Just need to remind myself to play around a bit more with the cast so that I can get my feet into position faster, as well as adjust the height. Need to get that left leg down super fast so that I can drive the weight down to my right leg and sprint to the trig, then get that left down super fast again, drive the weight down and pull up and over the trig. Looking forward to sunday to throw wfd again. Tomorrow will be hammers and sheaf.

cals = 4348 w/ 312g protein, 75g carbs pre workout

9/20/11 - assit/o-lift day + throws

training (evening)

hip snatches- 170(75%)x3x3

push press w/power factor

• 245(75%)x8, no PF
• 245x8, fastest 3.71ft/s
• 245x10, slowest 3.01 ft/s, fastest 3.71ft/s

hang cleans- 255(75%)x3x3
BB rows- 315x8x3
CGBP- 255x5x3

+lying ab raises x3sets


throws (lunch)

• 16# stone
• 10 step over drills
• 10 standing fulls, best of 38'
• ~20 south african spins, best of 45'

threw uphill at work, as usual. probably not a huge grade, maybe 5' total or so. Very unhappy with the 38', I felt like I really had a lot more in me than that, pretty pathetic.. oh well. Focused on driving my hips around with both my right and left leg, felt pretty snappy and was hitting around 35' on the step over drills. Also focused on getting some height on the throws, I'd say 50% of them were getting there. The spin throws felt pretty good. After about 10 throws I tried to get a better wrap, but that was throwing me way off to the left and dropping about 4 feet off my throws so I went back to the original way. Again, focused on getting some height, as wel as pushing my right knee in after the spin and a very tight and fast spin with my let leg.

evening workout felt great. PF doesn't work too well on snatches and cleans because the bar has to start moving "down" again before acknowledging the rep which was really slowing down the readout.. I mean, 1.5 f/s hip snatch? not so much. Just learning the PF so I hooked it up to the push presses as well and was pleasantly surprised. I'm lazy so I set the weight at 75lbs and moved the decimal 2 places on the watts. Slowest rep was 3.01 f/s and fastest 3.71 f/s, 95% of the reps were over 3.3 f/s. First set actually felt pretty heavy but trying to move the bar faster give me a bit of extra energy to put into the bar. Looking forward to speed day to really see where I'm at.


cals = 4003 w/298g protein, 75g carbs pre-workout for both training sessions

9/17/11 dessert = strawberry shortcake

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9/17/11 dinner = chili

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9/16/11 Pot luck breakfast

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9/15/11 dinner = Chicken Alfredo

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9/15/11 breakfast = Chorizo burro

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"pics or gtfo"

9/5/11

A sad day has arrived and passed. After the sheer awesomeness that was my beard had only begun to reach a glimpse of its potential, it was dessimated at the request of a beautiful young lass: Mrs. Sullivan.

"We had a deal" she said. That was true. We did. The verbal contract was as follows: I kept my horseshoe mustache/fumanchu for approximately 6 months by her request. That was the terms. The consideration: I was to grow the beard from my birthday (6/22) until the Pleasanton games (9/4). My part of the deal was completed, I had the mustache from January until June. Now that I see the dates in number format, it wasn't nearly enough time. I jumpstarted the beard growth in early June so that it was a least presentable on my birthday. I attempted, numerous times, to renegotiate the terms of our contract until the Tucson games (11/6), but alas, there was no reason to be heard, her mind was made.

I am a man. "All I have in this world is my balls and my word, and I don't break them for no one." To my dismay, it was time to shave. Please, a moment of silence.

Before the assassination.

After.

9/10/11 - MN Ren Fest Amateur World Championship

throws

BS- 36'5.5"..6th
OS- 45'5"..6th
HWFD- 34'..7th
LWFD- 67'10.75"..8th
HH- 88'1"..8th
Caber- 75...8th
WOB- 16'..4th

Overall = 5th

Wow, not sure how I pulled off 5th, really. Shared the field with some big hitters and had a lot of fun throughout the day. You know it's a tight knit competition when a 16' standing wob gets you 4th place. Witnessing Matt V's 17'10" standing wob was pretty incredible. My throws were off and the field wasn't the best, but I had a great time and am looking forward to next year. Thanks to Kevin Dupuis for putting together a great event, thanks to the others that judged, announced, shagged, marked, etc.. Everything ran ultra smooth. Time to man-up, do some work and come back strong for Tucson in 7 1/2 weeks. Then it's off-season, can't wait.

9/7/11 - throws

throws

• 23.5# braemar x 5, best of 33'
• 16# open x 5, best of 44'
• 53# wfd x 6, best of 33'
• 28# wfd x 4, best of 71'
• 16# hammer x 10, best of 117'

Got an ankle brace and that helped immobilize my ankle so that swelling has gone down. My toe has been feeling good as well as my left patellar tendon so I wanted to get some throws in today before heading to Minnesota this weekendl. Threw stones and wfd at work, uphill and pulled some decent numbers. Threw the hammer at home this evening on flat ground and focused on staying loose and keeping my hips active. I was hitting around 104' and then started thinking about my hips and bumpted it up to the 115's. Steady 112-117' for 5-6 throws before callign it a night. Everything clicked really well despite my poor nutrition lately. High fats, very low protein and less than adequate carbs, especially around training. Weight is holding steady, despite not keeping my calories where they need to be, however, this is definitely affecting performance. Going to get this fixed in the next couple days and make sure I have lots of carbs to take with me on the field Saturday. Taking the next 2 days off to deload, stretch, foam roll, etc. Flying out to MN with Jon O'Neil so that should be a good time.

9/3 & 9/4/11 Pleasanton Games

I'm going to skip the prior posts mainly because they are all just deload workouts working up to this. On friday 8/26/11 I straiend my left patellar tendon. I've been battling wrist issues as well as that dislocated/broken toe from the 45lb plate. On top of that, at some point during that week I rolled my ankle because now that is hurting and swollen... I'm falling apart.

Anyways, onto the P-ton writeup. My wife and I flew into San Francisco where it was a stunningly cold 59 degrees. We walked down a bunch of piers, caught a glipse of Alcatraz island through the thick fog, then drove over the Golden Gate Bridge, seeing absolutely nothing due to the heavy fog. About 3ish we headed to pleasanton, met up with Adam Brezina, chilled for a bit, picked up some grub and went to sleep.

We headed over to the field after breakfast, getting there at about 815a which was apparently too late. After checking in, getting my gear on and very quickly stretching, I got in about 3 warmup throws with the open stone and we were off.

Saturday's series was as follows:

16# open- 42'8' - 6th
56# wfd- 33'9.5" - 5th
16# hammer- 110'8.75" - 4th
Caber- 18'3", 95# - 1:00 - 9th
56# wob- 15' - 2nd

A few notes, everything felt awful. The stone was super wet, even after "drying" it off with the towel. Just wasn't loose enough to get a good wrap. Matt V took this stone 54' so there's no excuses, I just screwed this up bad. HWFD felt awful, I felt like I had no drive whatsoever and most certainly had no lift. Hammer actually felt pretty good, however, digging in was nearly impossible. The first two attempts my blades popped out just after lifting the hammer so I took it nice and slow and went for a huge pull. On the 3rd attempt I finally got dug in and some good speed going, then missed the pull. The caber was a complete shootout caber. It was an easy pick and turn for everyone. Apparently I have an issue with my plant just before pulling and turn to the right rather than landing straight and pulling. Not to mention, the ground was uneven due to the track. Meh, excuses right? I figured it out on the last pull but was still a bit off. I'm still happy with the 1:00. WOB felt great, slowed down the cast a lot and really dug deep. Cleared the 16' bar by 3-4" but didn't get it behind me. That 16' will be mine very soon.

The 2nd day went as follows:

26# braemar stone- 32'7" - 6th
28# wfd- 70'7.75" - 4th
22# hammer- 92'9.75" - 3rd
challenge caber- 19' 105#s - 70 degrees?
challenge wob- 15'

My knee, ankle and wrist were really bugging me the 2nd day, much moreso than the 1st. The stone was VERY hard to tuck and control. It came off the inside of my hand 2 out of the 3 throws and the one throw I got a hold on was hella flat. The wfd felt off as well. For some reason, my body just wasn't pushing 100% and I don't know why. I really pulled it together and dropped a big one on my 3rd attempt, but fouled it out the side. oh well.. Hammer felt really good. I went up to 4 winds which gave me 2 setup winds to get my balance and then 2 more to increase speed. I felt like I got a hold of the 2nd throw. I tried to add more speed on the third but tightened up a bit and lost a couple feet. Overall I'm happy with how the hammer went. Afterwards we went to a challenge caber where only Matt V turned it. It wasn't really a difficult stick, just couldn't get my pull right and being on the dirt track I was unsure of my footing, Cleared 15' wob on the 3rd toss and wasn't coming close to 16'. Just nothing left in the tank.

Overall I took 4th behind John Davis in 3rd, Robin Knebel in 2nd and Matt Vincent in 1st. It was a great competition with some awesome athletes. Really looking forward to the MN Ren Fest this coming weekend. Big thanks to Steve Conway for putting together a great event, as well as our judge Mike Qutermus and all the other assistance provided that made this run as smooth as it did.