Wednesday, June 26, 2013

6/26/13 - hammer

Training @ 1215p

16# hammer x15, best of 137'5, avg 133

Started off with usual warmups. Had to take a few extra as I was pretty tight. Haven't been hitting the weights this week so I'm not as loose as usual at that time of day. Also, since adding back in the right side leg drive/push across it makes the timing a bit different. After 5-6 sets of winds I was ready to go. The majority of the throws were in the 130-133 range with a handful at 134. Started feeling gassed towards the end. Took video of the last three throws that went 129, 127 and 137'5 respectfully. The 137'5 is a training PR, for whatever that's worth. Talking with Sean it's apparent that I had a better/higher release angle on the last one (outside of speed). Rather than thinking about pushing the hammer around me, I'm going to also think about pushing the hammer up for a big lift on the finish. I didn't specifically have this in my mind, but I can see how that affected the throw. Higher release, more time to travel, more distance, etc. My basices are there and speed is getting good. Every little nuance is going to cost me or give me distance. Need to really dial in the release, ensuring to make it faster with good lift.

Ostone and hwd tomorrow then done till Monday. Starting back up with the weights on Monday morning and 2 training weeks until Portland. Coming up fast. I've got work to do.

Side note, I get my caber back this weekend, YESSS!!!!



Tuesday, June 25, 2013

6/25/13 - stones

Training @ 1215p

15.5# stone
*stand x6-8, best 45, avg 44
*spin x8-10, best 51, avg 50

I feel like I'm making progress in stone. Starting next week I'll be shifting focus to stone to get better prepared for the stone guys in Portland, Claw, Pton, etc. that I'll be having to go against. Every inch is going to count and I can't lose too many points as I'm going to need as many as possible going up against the Vincent brothers, Mckim, Zolk, etc on wob/caber.

On standing tosses I really focused on holding my upper body back. Not in the sense of holding it from twisting, but holding it and trying to get my belly to the sky, not letting it travel linearly. I can feel a much stronger snap and pull with the hips doing this. Felt good and going to keep after it. With a 15.5# stone, I need to make 50ft standing regular.

On the spins I tried to replicate that same power position. I have a tendency to have so much forward momentum that I'm chasing the stone into the field. I need to get my left down and hold that upper body position from a linear point of view. Not quite as successful here. Feeling really good coming out of the back. Trying to lead with my left knee and push it way out before anything else. Trying to keep my right on the ground as long as possible so that it snaps around into position and never stops turning. Throws are feeling pretty good overall but still more to work on. Finally, I need to watch the horizon longer as I'm sprinting. This will let me wind/coil/torque up more as my hips are leading the throw. I completely forgot about this today. I'll be sure to revisit this log before next stone sesh. Also, I need to get more flexible. My fat ass just does not like to separate and I know this is costing me valuable feet. I need to get this number up to 58ft. Man I've got a lot of work to do.

Time to get on a stretch/foam roll nightly routine.





Monday, June 24, 2013

6/24/13 - wfd

Training @ 1215p

56# wfd
*1 turn x6
*full x10-12

28# wfd x6-8

Hwd felt ok, but I'm still feeling really run down. Just not recovering very well. The 56 feels heavier than it should. Thinking about taking thurs-sunday off and comin back strong on Monday. Lwd feels spot on. Kept it slow and hit positions. Decided to throw alternating 28 and 56 since the 28 feels so much smoother. I think this helped. By the end I was hitting better positions and things felt smoother. No huge tosses, just looking for accelleration all the way through.

6/22/13 - hammer/wfd

Training @ 545a

16#hammer x14-16, best/avg 128

56# wfd
*one turn x6, best 41, avg 38
*full x16-20, best 42, avg 40

28# wfd x4, 79/82/85/86

Feeling slow and run down. Happy I'm deloading next week. Will still throw though. Hammer was ok. Added back in the push across as I stopped doing this to work on pushing the ball away from my to my right side when its behind me. Now that I'm getting better at that I'm going to add in the push across me for even more speed. I know I'm on the brink of 140.

Hwd was meh. Still missing that groove on the finish. Sprint feels good and timing feels solid but just not getting any faster. Weird because when I move to the lwd it feels great. There is definately something I'm doing with the light that I'm not witth the heavy and I can't quite put my finger on it. I have a feeling that doing my one turns first is causing something to be off in my fulls with the heavy. Maybe I'm turning too late on the one turns? Might just take a handful of lwd tosses before throwing the heavy and try to replicate it with the heavy. It's minor enough that I can't pick it out on video, but there is definiately something different.


Friday, June 21, 2013

6/20/13 - snatch & assistance

Training @ 530a

Hang power snatch 135x4x4, 185x2, 205x2, 235x, 205x2
Overhead squat pvc x a bunch, bar x5x3, 95x3x2
Ring rows 3x12

With the exception of plowing the bar into my forehead with 135 on my warmups, snatches felt good. Getting a strong pull and explosion. 235 was right there if I would've dropped down 3-4". Still working on both flexibility and tech for the overhead squats. I feel great with the pvc and the bar but as soon as I've got 95lbs on there its pushing my shoulders in, popping and uncomfortable enough to make me stop. Last thing I want to do is risk injury. Been talking with Sean Langford and Tom Sroka about how to fix this. Going to do a lot of overhead squatting with PVC and the bar to work on flexibility as well as work on some cues for keeping my shoulders high and lats engaged while in the bottom position. I'll get some video of these shortly, regardless of how silly I look struggling under 95lbs.

Was going to throw wfd but the fat kid came out instead. I had 4 eggs, 1.25lb steak, 4 pieces of toast and about 1/3 gallon of milk. Delicious.

6/19/13 - ohp & hammer

Training#1 @ 530a

Push press up to a miss @ 325, 305x2x3
Strict ohp 225x5x3
Pullups 3x5
Ring dips 3x10

Nailed 315 for 3 singles last week and really thought 325 might be in the cards. Between lack of sleep and fatigue from prior lifting, it just wasn't going. Dropped down and hit 3 doubles with 305 which weren't even that hard. Skipped bench, meh.


Training#2 @ 115p

16# hammer x12, best of 133, avg 130

Nice redemption from last hammer session but still feeling fatigued. Deloading next week will do me good. Will still be throwing every day, just laying off the weight room, working mobility and active recovery.

6/18/13 - stone

Training @ 115p

23.5# stone x8-10, avg 35
15.5# stone, avg 49

Meh, stones stones stones. Bane of my existance. Not terrible for first sesh in 2 weeks. Working on getting my chest to the sky. Lots of linear drive on the open stone. Need to get my chest high here as well. Got a few things to work on. Trying to keep my right foot on the ground as long as possible and keep my left shoulder inside my left leg. Still so much here to work on.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

6/17/13 - lower & wfd

Training#1 @ 410a

Hang power clean 135x5, 225x4x2, 275x2, 315x1x2
Squat up to 495x1, add belt/wraps 545x1x3
Deficit pulls 545x1 @ 4" deficit, 545 miss, 545x1 from floor, 545x1 from 2" deficit
RDL/36" box jump superset 315x5/5, 385x5/5, 435x5/5

Cleans felt really good and explosive. Really dialing in technique. No feet splay and not much of a drop to catch, one could say they were caught "on virtually straight legs", lol. Getting shoulders out in front of the bar but also dropping my hips some. This is giving me a big explosion/bump right at my hip crease and a very powerful pull. Not as consistant as I'd like yet but it's feeling good. Going to stay at 315 for a few more weeks before attempting to move up, regardless these are the best 300+ has ever felt on a hang clean. Squats felt solid. That's the first time I've done (ever?) 495 with no belt or wraps. I've done it with no wraps before but I don't recall ever going no belt with 495. Felt heavy but pretty good and didn't slow down at all. 545 was rough, might be reaching my top out very soon. 495 off the 4" box felt easy. 545 did not. Second set at 545 I quit about 3" off the floor. The first one took so much out of me and I was WAY out front. I just can't seem to keep my hips low when the box is that high. Pulled it off the floor for a very easy single and then went to a 2" deficit for another easy single. Think I might just go with 2" deficits from now on. Maybe go with 3", not sure yet.

Training#2 @ 115p

56# wfd
*1 turn x8-10, best avg 38, best 39
*full x16-20, best 43, avg 41

Threw slightly uphill so those numbers are kind of encouraging. Man, I have no idea how I got into this wfd slump but I think I'm finally starting to climb out of it. Cast is feeling much better but still missing positions at the front. About 3/4 way through I realized I'm leading with my left shoulder on the sprint. I don't know why, I just am. Before, I used to think about pushing the weight from it's low point through the sprint nice and high. The moment I did this my position at the front was much better. Another plus to this was that I wasn't drifting left through the sprint anymore. Another issue off my mind. At the front I was in a position to be able to accellerate through the low point and get a big push into the field whereas before I was just able to catch it at zero and push it into the field. Finally taking some bigger steps forward. Pretty gassed from legs this morning but numbers were decent regardless. Portland is coming up in 6 weeks so I need to start putting all of this together. Going to start hitting stones pretty seriously starting next week, hopefully by then my wfd will be 100% back on track.




Monday, June 17, 2013

6/15/13 - hammer/wfd

Training @ 5am

hammers
*22# x4-5
*20# x2-3
*16# x6-8
*14# x4-6

Lack of sleep doing me in. These were all awful. Couldn't get my back loosened up on any of them. The FELT smooth and relaxed but had absolutely no speed. Even when I thought I hit a solid one with the 16, the best was 122. Best with the 14 was 125. Looking forward to a long nights rest.

56# wfd
*1 turn x6-8, best 39
*2 turn x16-18, best 42, avg 40

28# wfd x2, 79/82

Wfd felt ok. Positions feeling much much better since getting my left around faster. Able to get my left down, drop my hips and really reach for a long sprint. Watching video though, the throw never speeds up. My left isn't getting down fast at the front and as such I'm losing my accelleration through the low point for the big finish. It's less apparent on the lwd than the hwd as I'm still speeding up the finish on the lwd. My lower back has been extremely tight the last 6 weeks so I'm thinking it might have made me lazy with reaching back and separating to catch the weight at the front and get my left leg down. Now my left is just kind of dangling until the weight gets to about 7:00 whereas I used to get it down closer to 9:00 and applying force by 8:00. Something to work on monday when I hit weights again. Skipped stones, whatever.

Also, I need to start making sleep a bigger priority. Running on 5-5.5 hrs sleep every night just isn't working. I'm exhausted all the time and while my weight training isn't being too affected, my throws training certainly is. Especially by the 4th day in a row. Got to make sure to get to bed earlier.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

6/13/13 - lower assist & back

ughhhhhh, dragged out of bed this morning.

Training @ 4a

Hang power snatch (1) & overhead squat - bar x alot x a bunch of sets, 95x5x3 sets, 135x3x2 sets
Front squat 135x6, 225x5, 315x2, add belt/wraps 405x1, 515x1 PR
Dimel deads 275x15x2, 325x15
Pullups 3x5
DB rows 150x5x3


This workout took almost 3 hours. I think I spent nearly an hour and a half on the snatches and overhead squats. Lots of fucks not given. Didn't really wake up until the 315 front squat set. Then I was fired up from how easy the 405 single was. The 515 felt great.

Was going to throw stones this afternoon but meh, not really feeling it. I'm getting confident in my hammers so Saturday's practice will just be a handful of hammers. Maybe 3 warmup sets of winds + 2 warmup throws and then a handful of throws with various hammers. Going to spend the majority of time on stones and weights. Looking forward to it.

6/12/13 - wob

deload from the gym

Training @ 645p

56# wob
2/3 @ 14ft
3/3 @ 15ft
2/9 @ 16ft

16ft was laughable. Not really sure there was any benefit at all to this session. I had initially planned on doing this but changed my mind. Well when I got home my son said "daddy throw high" so.... I'm sure you can fill in the blank. Feeling very run down from training last 2 days. Next week I'll take more pulls at 15 and less at 16. Accuracy wasn't too bad, only left it out front 3-4 times total. Need to focus on a really close cast then a huge huge pull, trying to wait for the wob to get to my toes and get it as close to the ground as possible before yanking.

Carry on.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

6/11/13 - upper & hammer

Training#1 @ 420a

Push press up to 225x3, add belt 275x1, 315x1x3
Strict press 225x3, add belt 235x3, 245x3, 255x3
Bench up to 365x1, add slingshot 365x3, 365x4
Ring dips 3x10
Band pushdowns 3x20

I really don't like adding the belt so soon on my ohp work but my low back was extremely tight still from yesterday's big lower session. The ohp work destroyed my triceps and I nearly missed the 365 bench. Added the slingshot and it still felt heavy. Dips were ok, band pushdowns were the nails in the coffin. I'm exhausted.

Training#2 @ 1215p

16# hammer x16-18, best 137, avg 135, only 2 under 130

Getting more consistent. Focusing on pushing the ball away from me and out to my right side then getting relaxed and getting as fast as I can. I feel like I can get faster, but I'm just not there yet. Need to take some reps with the 20# hammer as well as the 14# hammer to work on strength and speed a bit more. Overall still very happy with hammers considering the incredible soreness from the last couple days training. Stones and wfd tomorrow and a much needed off day from the gym.

6/10/13 - squat/pull & wfd

Training#1 @ 4a

Hang clean 225x4x2, 275x2x2, 295x1, 315x, 315x, 315x1, 275x2, 225x4
Squat up to 475x1, add belt/wraps 535x1x3, 405x8
2" deficit deadlift up to 535x1x2, add belt 535x1

I'm doing a good job of keeping my shoulders in front of the bar on the hang cleans (bar at knee) but my hips are too high so I'm not getting an real pop out of my legs. Playing around with keeping shoulders out front and dropping my hips some. As a result, really getting a good explosion at the hips. I could probably muscle up more weight but I'm trying to keep these pulls high, not splay my feet and have relatively good tech. Making improvements, but always more work to do. Squats felt great. 475 felt pretty heavy without a belt or wraps but it's a nice ease of mind that I've still got some decent 100% raw power. I consider this more functional than the power I get from belt/wraps. Top end sets felt good and weren't fast but weren't slow. I'm hoping to make it to 585 before dropping down but really I don't know. Next week is 545. Will prob make 495 my last no belt/wraps set before gearing up. Pulls felt amazing. All of them very fast. I like the 2" deficit. The 4" deficit is much harder. Next week we go to 545 from a 4" deficit and that's going to be rough. Looking forward to pulling off the floor again though. Once I get to the 100% top end on pulls I'll run the next training cycle/buildup pulling swapping from the floor and 2" deficit vs 2" and 4" deficits.

Training#2 @ 645a

56# wfd
*1 turn x8, best of 38
*full x15ish, best of 42, avg 40

28# wfd x6, all over 80, best at 83

Finally, a mini-breakthrough here. Watching my previous videos I still couldn't tell what I was doing wrong to lose my push to zero and drift left on my sprint so much. About 4 throws into my fulls it dawned on me: I need to land more closed off aka get my left down sooner. ***IMMEDIATELY*** everything came together. I was able to accellerate through the low point again after the first turn, I wasn't drifting as much anymore on the sprint and everything felt more relaxed. This was awesome. Timing is off at the front but shouldn't take me too long to fix. Hoping to get back in the 45-46+ range by Portland. I'll need some really big hammers and weights to make up for my slack in stones.

Still need to get my caber back. Might just fix my planer and go buy a pole and make one. I'd be extremely annoyed if it snapped again though. Between a rock and a hard place. Hmm...

Monday, June 10, 2013

6/9/13 - hammer/wfd

Training @ 5a

16# hammer x 12-15, best 135, avg 133

56# wfd
*1 turn x8, best 40, avg 38
*full x12-15, best 42, avg 41

Started off with some warmups on hammer. Really focusing on pushing the hammer away from me on my right right off the bat on the first wind. This really is key. Had several really good tosses. Still not reaching full speed yet but I can feel it's getting smoother and more relaxed.

Wfd was ok. Working on getting back whatever I lost over the last couple months. I just feel like I have no push to zero and I'm always drifting way left out the side of the box. Tried a bunch of different things: turning early, changing my low point, changing my high point, etc. Throws are feeling better but at the end of the day was still trying to figure out what was different. More work needed here.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Hooking for wfd (Rob Meulenberg)

Rob,

Here's how I'm picture you're hooking the wfd. Nice and deep, index and middle finger over your thumb and the handle sitting in your palm. Notice in the first picture below how that ring finger callus is just chomping at the bits to be removed based on how I'm holding it. I've lost that callus many many times. This is what feels the most comfortable for my thumb and the most secure but doing back to back games I just can't risk losing the callus and I really don't like throwing with a glove. I like to feel the implement. Now fast forward to the next set of pics.



This is how I modified my grip so that I still get a real deep hook, but instead of keeping the end of the handle in the meat of my hand, I angle it so that it sits on my ring and pinky. The hook is the same but the handle is angled outwards more. In all honestly, I never feel it pulling on my pinky and ring finger. With that said, I don't have PsA so I don't know if this will work for you. I can tell you my thumb hurts A LOT more hooking like this because there is less weight distribution so the majority of the weight sits on your thumb. What I try to do is angle my wrist a little so it's taking about 30% of the weight off my thumb. Boatloads of chalk later and this atually feels more secure than the above photos. You've got to pick up the weight and let it crunch your ring and pinky together a bit but afterwards it feels very secure. If you angle your wrist so that your index finger knuckle is is the lowest knuckle that puts the majority of the weight on your thumb and off your back two fingers. If you angle your wrist the opposite it distributes the weight differently. At that point its personal preference. Tape the base of your thumb, pinky and ring finger or you're likely to filet one of those off too, but otherwise I've never had a callus on my palm itself rip off this way. Photos taken as a lefty because I'm right handed and can't work a camera with my left hand. I figured it would work since you're a lefty anyways, haha. Hope that helps buddy.



6/6/13 - hammers

Was supposed to hit some snatches, back assistance and speed squats but that felt through as my body is still thrashed from the past two days weight sessions. I'll do some pullups and rows later tonight or this week sometime.

Training @ 1230p

16# hammer x15ish, avg 133, best 135

The usual 3 sets of winds to warmup. First toss was 125, second was 130. I thought today was giong to be an awesome day based on those. Started speeding things up and falling apart. Numbers were still good, but not in relation to those first two warmup throws. Watched some video and analyzing what I'm doing. Typically, on my first wind I'm allowing the ball to drop on my right side. Mind you, I'm reaching and getting it as far right as possible, but I'm allowing to drop vs pushing it away from me. Typically I push the ball down and across me on my second wind and on my third I push the ball away from me off my right side, down then all the way across me into my block. I'm realizing that the faster I go, the more this won't work because there's too much orbit manipulation during the throw. So I changed things around and started pushing the ball away from me to the right side on the very first wind. This gave me a very long push across and set me up so in a good position to do the exact same thing on the second wind. This gave me a slingshot effect speeding the ball up and on the third into the finish I did it one last time. Ended up finishing late but the ball still went 135 out to the left of the field. Awesome. Now I just need to do the exact same thing and work on my timing a bit more. These felt really really good. Looking forward to the next hammer practice.

6/5/13 - ohp/bench & stones

Training#1 @ 415a

Strict ohp up to 275x1, miss @ 295, back down to 275x1, 225x7
Flat BB bench up to 365x1x3, add slingshot for 365x6
Ring dips bwx10, x6x2
Band face pulls 3x20

Woke up feeling miserable. My left spinal erector is ON FIRE. Spent about 10 minutes rolling it out, took some ibuprofin and decided to skip push presses. It's not injured, but it's def not happy. Pushed through and hit some decent #s. The first 275 was pretty fast. Probably fastest it's ever been. Went for 295 and stalled about 2" above my head, lockout issues, as always. Dropped for another 275 which was slow then 7 reps was the best I could do with 225. Bench felt pretty good. The 365 was tough but not killer. Not sure if 385 would have been there or not. Triceps were smoked for the dips. Overall energy was REALLY low after legs yesterday. Been going to bed at about 1030p lately too so running on 5 hours of sleep isn't helping me any. I'll have to make sure I get some good sleep tonight so I can hit some snatches/assistance work tomorrow.

Training#2 @ 12p

23.5# braemar x12, best of 40'
17# ostone x12-15, best of 48'

Both stones feeling ok but not great. I'm allowing my torso to move too early and drift too far forward before blocking. I've got to lead with my hips and hold my torso back. Trying to think about driving forward with my legs but twisting with my upper body to finish chest up. Making improvements. This is a PR with my training 23.5# stone so I'll take it. I really need to get this closer to 43-44 if I want to be a contender.

Ostone is getting more consistant. Same as last few practices, slowing my left down to work on a faster right. I'm getting to the point now where I can start speeding my left up again and my right is still turning, leading the throw. Slowly getting there. Still dropping my head and opening my left side a tad early. Really trying to not do this but it's going to take some time to break those habits. 48' with this stone is a good toss for me. Very tough to find a handle on either of these stones.

6/4/13 - squat/pull & wfd

Training#1 @ 4a

Hang clean up to 305x1, 225x5
Squat up to 475x1 no belt/wraps, then 525x1x3 w/ belt/wraps, drop to 405x6
4" deficit pull up to 525x1x2 no belt, add belt for a third single
RDL 315x5, 365x5, 425x5 superset with 36" box jump triples between sets

Solid first session back after a deload. Everything felt a bit heavier than I was expecting but I feel wrecked and awesome at the same time right now. I was really hoping to push this cycle up to 585 for three singles but I can feel already that 525 is getting close to my top end. If I can get to 555-565 I'll be happy but it's going to take some work. Legs were toast on the 405 rep out. Was looking to get 10, just didn't have the mental drive to finish it. Pulls felt solid. After pulling from a 4" deficit, moving to the RDLs the first pull off the floor felt like such little ROM, lol. I can already feel how pulling from the deficit is helping my tech and drive off the floor without the box.


Training#2 @ 12p

56# wfd
*one turn x10, best 37
*full x12-15, best 43

One turns felt off, again. Just working the finish mainly. Fulls felt really good. Changing things around slightly. Getting my aggressiveness back with the 56 as well. Sinking more and reaching for a longer push on both the sprint and the finish. Starting my turn when the weight is between 1:00 & 2:00 which puts high high point just right of 12:00. This lets me sprint harder without worrying about drifting left too far. Still need to be mindful to keep the low point behind my right leg at the start or I will drift too far left on the sprint and forward on the first turn. Need to remember to keep weight on my left side in the back during the cast as well to prevent me from drifting too far left on the first turn. Good sesh.



Side note: this comes a day late as on Sunday I bought a big play-set for my kids and spent all day putting it together and didn't get it finished so I got up at 5am this morning to put it together. Finished it tonight. The main house part being on the pavers is just temporary. Makes it easy for my wife to see the kids while she's inside cleaning or taking care of the baby or whatever awesome mom stuff she does during the day while I'm at work.


5/31/13 - wfd

deload week..... couldn't keep away. Needed to work on some wfd and do something kind of athletic.

56# wfd
*1turn x8-10, best 38
*full x12-14, best 42

1 turns have been kid of crappy for me lately. Positions feel good, just no pop. I've got some time to figure these out. Fulls felt ok but still not how they were feeling before. I've come to the realization that throwing the 49 exclusively before abq was a bad idea. I really feel that I've lost the aggressiveness with the 56 that I had before. Going to be doing a lot of work with the 56 to get this back. Also changing my orbit just a little bit. Not quite as high, trying to sink hips and reach more to get a longer push on the weight. Changing a few little things that I'm hoping with turn into big things in the long run.

5/25 & 5/26/13 Costa Mesa Games Write-Up

long overdue:

Costa Mesa Games write-up

Day1
22ish# bstone - 38'5.5
56# wfd - 41'7.25"
56# challenge wob (anvil) - 14'
22# hammer - 110'2"
16# hammer - 127'11"
18'10 x 130# caber - 75deg

Day2
16# ostone - 50'2.5"
28# wfd - 83'2"
56# wob (knockoff bar) - 17" PR
20# sheaf - 30'
18'3 x165# challenge caber - womp womp wompppp

Overall 2nd.


I was looking for second coming into this games as I was headed up against the infamous Dan McKim. Throwing with him is an experience. I had a great time. Jon O'Neil and Rusty Price were on my heels all day long as well and produced some good throws. I was really hoping to beat dan on a handful events: weights, ostone, sheaf and he left the door open but I failed to walk through it.

Bstone was a shit show. Just not able to get my hip in front, everything was falling to pieces. I went back to a non reverse throw and had a fantastic push on it, however, it came off my finger tips and fell 5ft short. Oh well.

I was really excited to go head to head with Dan with the 56. I went head to head with Andy back in Vegas and pulled an awesome 44+ PR so I was hoping for something along the lines of 45-46 today. First throw as 41ft, not a bad opener. Second throw side fouled and third was another at 41. Just wasn't getting a big drive on either the sprint or the finish. Losing confidence on this event when just very recently it was one of my best events.

Wob was ridiculous. We threw the challenge wob on day1 because the other wobs were broken. That anvil is no joke. Because of how long it is it's very easy to tap the bar and with my already known accuracy issues I just couldn't get 15ft without nicking the bar and knocking it off. Oh well.

Hammers were up next. I was pretty excited as hammers have been on the up and up for me lately. We're walking to the side field and I notice it's just an uphill dirt lot with very little grass. We start warming up and I'm feeling pretty good. There's really only one spot to dig into behind the trig because of how the gras is lined up and the holes were already dug. Unfortunately for me, they were a bit too wide for my liking, however making changes to accomodate were near impossible because of the lack of anything to dig into. So I just went with it. First throw was 100' on the dot I think. I worked my way up to 110 on the last toss but was looking more for 115'. I think Dan won with 113 then took an extra to get 116. I shook off the negative energy from the let down on heavy hammer and we moved onto the 16# hammer. It seems the farther you threw the hammer, the more uphill the field was. My best was 127+. Dan went 133 for the win and took an extra to go 139. Door open....... and closed. Noticed on my finish I was pulling instead of pushing the hammer around me. Something to work on here.

Caber up next, nobody cares. Moving on.

Day 2 started off with open stone. Was pretty excited about this as ostone has been going well for me lately. Warmups didn't feel so good but the last 1 or 2 felt ok. First toss dropped at 48' to take 1st in the the round. Stone was an awful completely flat on one side and oddly shaped on the others. I thought the rules were to pick a stone that was oval shaped? yeah, not so much. Second toss went 50'2.5" and again took the lead in the round. Was amping up for a big 3rd throw. Set up, came around, right kept turning, opened up my left into a huge block and boom, huge throw.....................until Justin Rosa fouled it stating my left leg hit the top of the trig on the reverse. I watched video and didn't even come close. Showed him the same, he agreed and gave me another toss. Well......I didn't want another toss, I wanted that toss, that he fouled, and didn't mark.. oh well. I took another one anyways and it was crap. Mind wasn't in it anymore at that point. Once again, door open and failed to walk through. Dan went 51+ for the win in that event.

Wob up next and one of the handles already broken. Didn't have my first miss until 16 which I cleared on my 2nd attempt. Jon cleared 16 on his 3rd attempt so I was sitting right behind Dan until we got to 17 which both Dan and Jon cleared on their 1st attempt. Crap. I took a big pull on my 1st and hit the bar. Really didn't think this was going to go today, let alone go on a knockoff bar. On the second one I focus on really being slow and patient with the weight. Letting it get to my toes before I start pulling and trying to get the weight as close to the ground as possible for the longest pull I could. Everything came together and the weight soared over the bar by about 3 inches. HUGE PR. Lots of celebration. Next up 18, hit the bar all 3 times but not really very close. Nobody cleared 18.

Sheaf up next. Was anxious for this as it was another event me and Dan are close in. I was definitely feeling very tired by this point and having trouble keeping the bag on my right side. Watching Dan throw sheaf is pretty cool. He's very smooth and relaxed then BOOM, the bag is soaring high. Hit 30ft then missed all 3 tries at 32 to take 2nd. Dan finished with 33.

Challege Caber............................................................................................ Dan couldn't turn it. Nuff said.

Overall a good games. Some hiccups on the field like the stupid WR caber toss that injured Jason Corder and almost took out a few others. While it would be cool to see 40 cabers up at the same time, to do it on that size of a field is a bit silly imo and is too big of a risk for injury. Had a great time throwing with Rusty, Dan, Jon and the new guy Guat. Got some honey off of Rusty and it's solid. My wife and kids love it so if you have a chance to throw with Rusty, $15 will get you a small jug of delicious honey.

As always, big thanks go out to my wife for taking care of the kids while I'm out of town and supporting me to excel in thsi sport. Also thanks go out to my sponsor Stewart & Torgerson Injury Law for helping with travel as well as being a great friend and driving me to succeed. One more shout-out to Sport Kilt for the kilt. Went with some aqua blue socks for this game to try to accent the blue in my kilt and that failed hard and just looked weird. Heading back to red. Regardless, the kilt itself was snazzy as FFFF. Thanks to Vierra for giving me a chance to share the field with these guys and the SAAA for having us out there. Francis also did a stand-up job announcing as he always does.

On a side note, Jon, Jon's wife (Katie), Dan and I had dinner on Saturday night and I watched Dan plow through the 2 entrees for $20 meal like it was a birthday cake. Hahaha, geat eatin' big guy! I, myself, had a nice 10oz sirloin steak with a side of 10oz sirloin steak and some mashed taters. Solid meal.




5/22/13 - ostone/hammer

Training @ 12p

15.5# stone stands & full spin

Working on leading the throw out of the back with my left knee. Trying to hold my upper and keep my right on the ground as long as possible, creating a sling-shot forward and around. As always, keep the right turning. Good practice

16# hammer

Just getting in the reps, nothing big.