9/30/13 - offseason w1d1 pulls & wfd

Sat around and relaxed last week. Worked on rehabbing my right shoulder and just generally getting recovered for a strong off season. Now the deload is over. Time to put the women and children to bed and go looking for supper. 

Training#1 @ 405a

15 mins stationary bike

Warmup with 2" deficit pulls to 405

Deads 445x12x3 (65%)

Rdls 315x10x3

Hammerstrength preacher curls 45x20x3

Wowza. Posterior chain is destroyed. Got that over with. 10s next week. 

Training#2 @ 1210p

49# wfd x10-12, best 52, avg 50

25# wfd x6, best 89, avg 88

Felt good to throw today. Tech feeling pretty solid. Working on speed. 

9/21&22 Loon Mountain World Championships

Rather than create a bunch of posts about training for the past week leading up to the games, I'll just sum it all up here as sort of a pre-contest lead up.

Sunday 9/15: threw stone/wfd
Monday 9/16 AM: wfd
Monday 9/16 PM: stone
Monday 9/16 PM2: wob
Tuesday 9/17 AM: stone
Tuesday 9/17 PM: hammer
Tuesday 9/17 PM2: caber
Wenesday 9/18: skipped AM recovery workout, no throwing, 2 gallons of water and PM massage
Thursday 9/19: 2 gallons water, BCAAs, 15 minutes spin bike, stretch/foam roll in PM
Friday 9/20: Travel, stratch/foam rol in PM

Onto the juicy stuff, from memory so might not be exact..

Loon Mountain Day 1

22# hammer x 113+ (3rd)
56# wfd x 46'7 FR/PR (1st)
16# stone x 53'8.5 (tie 4th)
Caber 8th I think
56# wob x16 first attempt (3rd)

Loon Mountain Day 2

16# hammer x 143'3 PR (2nd)
26# braemar x 36+ (5th)
28# wfd x 83+ (3rd)

Overall 3rd.

The heavy hammer is my second best throw of the season so I can't be too disappointed, however, I was really looking for 118-120 here. Dan dropped an impressive 123 for a new field record and Craig Sinclair went 115. Good throws.

Hwd was solid. Warmups didn't feel great but my focus was timing of the sprint and trying to think about sprinting right so I don't drift too far left. First throw went 46'2 for just shy of a 2ft pr. Second one I got after a bit more and ended up being a little late on the sprint and fouled out the left side. Third I sped it up again but was more mindful of timing and went 46'7 for a new PR and field record. Great series here. Still need to work on getting my left down faster after the first turn so I can land blocked off a bit more. That should take care of the left drift so I can focus more on a linear drive and finish. Mat$o slipped twice and still went 46. They were going to be BIG. He's got a big throw waiting to get out.

Stone wasn't bad. First throw went 44 because I slipped out of the back. Put some more weight on my left and had a good drive. Focus here was get the left down and push like hell. 53+ on second toss and 53'8.5 on third. Tie for 4th with Sebastian. Matt went 58 and fouled a couple bigger ones. Dan went 54 and Andy just edged me out at 53'10. Good competition.

Caber actually felt a lot better than it went. I know what I need to do here in the offseason. Going to work on speed, getting the caber moving fast and dropping fast for a big pull. Next year I'll be much better at caber

Wob went pretty good until 17. Cleared 14, 15 and 16 on first attempt. First two at 17 didn't quite have it. Got the crowd in it on the 3rd attempt and smashed the bar on the way up. Only Andy and Zolk moved on and had a battle royale at 18'6 with Andy coming out on top. That was sweet to watch.

Started off with light hammer on Sunday. Was sprinkling but got it done. Went with the pvc handle since it was easier to dry off. Series went 129, 136, 143'3 for a new pr. Not happy at all with the 129 and was missing the catch on the second wind and not getting it moving fast enough. Took a couple practice winds between my 2nd and 3rd throw and got into the groove. Hit it hard on my last attempt and it flew. Felt awesome to finally hit that big hammer I've been chasing all season. That throw actually put me in the lead but Dan hit a 144 to finish off his series and take the W back. Craig pulled 3rd at 140+ and Matso went 137.

26# braemar next. Ended up getting 1 warmup and had to get in the trig. Stone shape wasn't bad. First toss went a miserable 34ft as I reversed early, nothing new there. Decided to no reverse my 2nd and had a nice long push going 36'8-ish. On the third I tried to get after it and once again finished too early with the reverse and only went 35. Andy and Sebastian went at it here with Sebastian edging him out then taking the field record at 41'11.

28# wfd to finish up the comp. Only got one warmup which was super lousy. This kind of threw off my confidence moving into the trig. First throw went 81. Trig slanted down and to the left so I was way off on my finish, falling to the left and blah blah blah. Tried to hit it a bit harder on the 2nd only went 79, falling off again. Relaxed on my third and slowed things down. Just focused on a big sprint and finish and went high 83 to take 3rd behind Matt and Dan, respectively. BIG respect to Matt for hitting some huge tosses (91+) with that trig. The ability to drive straight and still hit a big one when half the other guys were falling off to the left was impressive. Awesome to watch.

Highlight moment outside of throwing:

Having dinner with Magnus ver Magnusson and not even realizing "who" he was until I asked and then felt like a dummy. That was pretty funny. I knew he looked familiar but just couldn't place it, then when I asked he had this like on his face like I was the dumbest guy on earth. Shoot me now. Super cool guy. Talked about training, the games and WSM. Very awesome. Steve and I chuckled about the situation later.

After throwing on Saturday Matt, Andy, Craig, Doherty and Rob went to the river for a natural ice bath. This was SUPER AWESOME. Steve came too but didn't get in, lol. Rob is the natural slide king looking like a huge 3 year old going down these rock slides. Hilarious. Then he cuts his ankle and is bleeding, lmao. Great time hanging out and getting the legs recharged for the second day.

Party at the Diamantes. This was pretty cool. Dinner was fantastic and pool down in the lower basement was sweet, however, don't ever pick Jeff Kaste as your partner, WTFFFFFFFFFF. Lots of stories and a great time.

Breakfast at flapjacks was solid but the best was heading to a local bar to play shuffle board with Matt, Andy and Sebastian. This is a very close second to the hot tub party we had in Pleasanton with regards to awesomeness. To see a giant of a man like Sebastian jumping for joy when he hit a 5point move was hilarious. Fantastic time.

Props go out to all my competitors for pushing me to hit some big last throws and keep me in the game. It was a pretty close race all the way to the end. Really looking forward to more battles next season.

A few thanks are in order. First to Bill and Holly Crawford for putting this all together. I had a great time and am excited and hopeful for an invitation next year. Next to Steve Conway for putting up with my jabbering in the car ride to the hotel and for just being an all around awesome dude. Thanks to Petur Gudmondsson as our head judge. The expression on his face when I told him I had no prior background in throwing was priceless. Aweosme guy and class act for rooting on Sebastian in breaking his record. Super cool to get to meet Magnus and AliGunn and hear them tell stories of past experiences/throws/etc. Thanks to Wayne, Leroy et al for all the work they put in to make this run smoothly. Thanks to the Diamantes for the spectacular party and support of the games. Thanks as always to SportKilt for keeping me sexy on the field and to Tod Stewart for his support in helping me get to the level of competition I am. Without his help I would probably still be a mid level A amateur.

The biggest thanks of all goes out to my beautiful Mrs Sullivan. Without you I wouldn't be anything that I am today. Your support, love and encouragement means the world to me. To send me on my way with two small children at home is so very selfless and I can't thank you enough. I appreciate all of your hard work.

One more games of the season, however, I'll be starting my offseason training next week. Going back to basics with some linear periodization. 8 weeks of hypertrophy training and 8 weeks of strength training then I will evaluate where I'm at, what games I have lined up and how to move forward. I'll be adding in cardio to work on overall cardiovascular health as well as the prowler to work some 10m drive sprints and get faster. Will be working with the 14 hammer, 25 wfd and 49 wfd to work on speed. Next year I want to hit some big big numbers. Really excited to see what the next season brings.

9/12/2013 - squat press/back and wfd

Training#1 @ 515a

Squat press 225x2x6

Pull-ups x5x3

Db rows 110x10, 150x5x2

Nothing special. 

Training#2 @ 615a

56# wfd x15-18, best 43

Working on keeping the low point inside my right leg and driving straight. Same old. Figured out something here: think about  sprinting to the right corner. That gives  me a stronger sprint and nearly eliminates my drift. Little changes are adding up. Gonna try go gas a few of these this weekend. Anxious to see what changes these do for my lwd.

 

9/11/13 - stone

Training @ 130p

15.5# stone

*stand non reverse x6

*stand reverse x5

*msa x10-12

These were meh. Still jumping off my left leg no matter what I do. Not on purpose, I just hit my block and end up jumping. Talked to Kahanic for a while and he gave me some insight that pretty muh eveyone good at stone told me: separate more. He also said to get my legs in front of the stone. I won't be able to jump if my body weight isn't over my left. Makes sense. He gave me some mental cues for separation so I'll try it out Sunday. Would love to have an epiphany here before worlds. 

9/10/13 - ohp & hammers

Training#1 @ 415a

Push press up to 345x1 (10# pr)

Strict press up to 275x1, 250x4

Cgbp 275x5x3

Ring dips x10, x6x2

Band push downs x25, x20x2

Sweet PR on the push presses. Went up fast. Thought about going up but decided to take my PR and come back for another one later.

Training#2 @ 1215p

16 hammer x10, best 142

Amazing hammer session today. Focus here was to get whippy again and use my legs to push side to side and stay in front of the hammer the whole time. Imagine you're roller skating, pushing your legs (hips) side to side. After the 1st wind and the hammer is moving across me, once the hammer starts climbing my left I pushed my right leg hard to shift my hips left which snapped my upper body right and the hammer followed suit. Great results. First two were the only throws under 135 as they were about 125ish. The rest were all 135-138 with 3 of them at 140+ and two of those were 142. Great great session. Can't wait to hit this hard when I'm rested.

 

9/9/13 - squat/pull

Training @ 415a

Front squat up to 455x1, 405x3

24" box squat 405x5, 455x5x2

12" step ups 225x6x2

2" deficit pulls up to 525x3x2

Rdls 315x5, 385x5, 455x5

Feeling pretty good. Knees are much better, squats were snappy and pulls were quick.

9/8/13 - stone/wfd/hammer

Training @ 545a

28# braemar

*non reverse x4

*full x3, best 33

15.5# open

*msa x8, best 53

56 wfd x6, 2 @ 44

16 hammer x6, 125ish

Grabbed a bigger stone for braemar as Loon will have a 28# stone to toss. Trying to get a little used to the larger size and hand positioning for a good throw. Harder to keep it tucked but I don't feel 33 is awful. If I can get 35-36ft I think that would put me in good standings. On the MSA I was focusing on keeping my head up and my eyes at 9:00 until my left touched down. This was letting my hips get in front and getting good separation. Still finishing early and jumping off my left. Going to work in keeping my upper body back a bit more and getting my right shoulder more into the field before fishing. 

Wfd was great. Changed my entry so not as big of an angle on the setup and cast. This made it easier to move my low point more left. Straighter sprint and longer push on both the sprint and finish. Great breakthrough here. 

Thinking of switching to tacky only for hammers. I keep ripping my gloves within 2 uses and just throwing money away. I have always preferred to throw without them but became a slave to simplicity and easy cleanup. Donned some tacky and went to it. Need to get used to setup time for maximum tack as the handle was sliding around a bit and wasn't comfortable getting after it. Just focused on hitting some good positions. Started raining so couldn't get after any of them. Focus this week will be to loosen up and let my legs push the hammer left & right. Relaxxxxxx.

 

9/6/13 - hammers

Training @ 1230p

16 hammer x2

20/16/16 hammer x 4 rounds

16 hammer x4

Best 116 with the 20 and 132 with the 16. Not bad. Need to loosen up and get whippy again. Seemed I lost this in my conquest to get faster and I think I'm losing good distance because of it. 

9/5/13 - presses & wfd

Training#1 @ 530a

Axle push press up to 325x1
Axle strict press 235x6
Ring dips x10, x8
Band pushdowns x25

Axle def feels harder than a regular bar. Doesn't sit right on my delts for the push press so I think this is good hitting 325 with less leg power transfer than a regular bar. Was hoping to get 345 but 325 was pretty rough so I called it there. Still satisfied. Strict presses felt good. Kept it pretty short, workout took about 45 mins total. Looking forward to really pushing the envelope once offseason starts.

Training#2 @ 130p

56# wfd x10-12, avg 42
28# wfd x3, series went 78/83/88

Working on the slow-to-fast here. Starting to come back together. Still not speeding the heavy weight up out of the back yet. Biggest two things I need to work on is keeping the low point inside my right leg out of the back and hitting the sprint as soon as my left leg touches down. WFD feels like it's making a good comeback and it's perfect timing. Hammers tomorrow then a day off before a full practice on Sunday. No time for rest.

9/3/13 - stone & squat/pull

Training#1 @ 115p

17# stone
*non reverse x5, best 43
*reverse x5, best 45
*MSA x6-8, best 49

Not bad. Still a little tired from the weekend. Need to put a lot of work into stones. Watching the video I'm still finishing early. I need to get my right shoulder forward before finishing. Need to change the release angle so that I'm pushing the stone away from me instead of in front of me. This should keep me on my left longer and allow me to push on the stone longer. Footwork looks solid. Trying to stay low and really drive my hip into my torso on the stands. On the spins I'm pushing forward with my chest and trying to get my left down as fast as possible while keeping my eyes on the front horizon as long as possible. Still drifting a little too far forward but it's coming along. Working on keeping my head up and again, not finishing too early. Good stepping stone today, more stones later this week.


Training#2 @ 715p

Squat up to 405x5 no belt/wraps
23" box squat, 405x5, 455x5x2 belt only, snappy
12" step ups bw x15x2
Deadlift 225x5, 425x2, 515x1, 605x1, 655x1

Squats felt good. It's nice to be moving some weight without the belt or wraps and knees feeling ok too. Feeling a bit more powerful.  Hit the box for some fast explosive reps, weights singing at the top and bar bouncing off shoulders. Attempted to do some step ups with 225 but my patellar tendon on both knees were screaming at me so I just did some bodyweight stuff. Prob just still a bit inflamed from the weekend. Pulls felt absolutely awesome. First time pulling 655 in nearly a year and a half. 605 flew up so I decided to put a quarter on each side. Missed first attempt due to a sweaty grip failure and felt like I couldn't get a good breath with the belt so I lost that, chalked up and hit it again. Probably not the smartest to do 2 weeks out from Worlds but it felt good and was definitely a confidence booster. Feeling strong.

8/31 & 9/1/13 - Pleasanton Games

2013 Pleasanton US Heavy Events Invitational write-up

26# braemar x 36+
17.5# open x 49+
56# wfd x 41+
28# wfd x 90'2.5" PR (2nd)
22# hammer x 109+ (3rd)
16# hammer x 129+
16# wob x 17 (3rd)
18/135# caber x 85deg

4th overall

Challenge wob x14 (tie 10th)
Championship caber 18/135# x 55deg (8th)

*****

26 braemar - Always a tough stone but a fun challenge. First toss was the best, despite no reverse. Lost the stone too early on the second and came off the inside of my hand way early. On the third I finished too early and didn't get a long enough push. 6th or 7th I think.

16 hammer - Was really looking for something big here but I flat out dropped the ball. 129 was good for 4th or 5th.

56 wfd - The hwd has been iffy for me lately. Having issues with drifting left, waiting too long on my sprint and missing the finish. Ended up fouling my first two and had to lay off the sprint on the 3rd to stay in. 41+ got me 4th here

WOB - 17 first attempt on knockoff bar, pretty stoked about this. 3rd place here.

Caber - 19ft 135lbs, 85 degrees. Caber continues to elude me. Working on figuring out a tech that works for me. Going to spend a lot of time with it this off-season.

17 open stone - First toss dropped to 46 which wasn't bad for just switching to MSA. 2nd and 3rd were both at 49ft which was good for 6th or 7th. Ugh. Need to keep my head up and stop finishing early.

22 hammer - Fouled first two attempts. Pushing it too early on that first wind and orbit getting too flat which threw me off balance. Relaxed and let the hammer sink on the last attempt and didn't worry about getting too fast. Settled for 109 and 3rd place.

28 wfd - Highlight of the comp for me. Went 83 first attempt then 86 second attempt. Was sitting in 2nd behind Scott Rider when Matt dropped a big 91+ for a new field record which pushed me to 3rd. I knew I needed a big on here as I was only 1/2 point behind, sitting in 4th overall going into this event. Sped it up out of the back and hit a massive sprint and a long finish which resulted in a big almost 3ft pr of 90'2.5". Excellent.

Challenger caber/wob were a shit show. No need to discuss. Too gassed. Got it done when it mattered and I'm satisfied with that. Will try to work on a bit more endurance next year to last me throughout.

My first professional appearance at Pleasanton is in the books. By far the most competitive field I have ever stepped foot on. Both days it was up and down battling for every last 1/2 point. Yes I said 1/2 point. Finished 4th overall behind Daniel McKim, Andy Vincent and Scott Rider respectively. 1/2 point behind Scott and 1 point in front of Matt Vincent. Words cannot express how amazing this fie...ld was. We all made our mistakes and we all pulled some clutch throws when we needed to. I can't say that I'm upset with my placing but there are some events that I flat out should have done better on. It is what it is. I had an absolutely fantastic time. Thank you so much to Steve Conway for giving me the opportunity to be present among this elite group of professional athletes ranging from all over the world. Throwing with the Scots Craig Sinclair and Sinclair Patience was a real blast. Canada champ Matthew Doherty brought the heat as well on the stones and hammers and Michael Zolkiewicz destroyed the WOB as usual. I'm still blown away by the competitiveness and camaraderie shown in the professional class. To go from inching each other out on the field to drinking bourbon, smoking cigars and sharing stories around the pool is nothing short of what the living life to its fullest really is. I look forward to continuing this tradition for years to come. Utmost gratitude to to my host, the helpers, my judge, my fellow athletes and most of all my wife, Kristina Sullivan, for taking care of our two sons and giving me the opportunity to build these memories that I will never forget. As always, Sport Kilt providing the threads to keep me looking sexy on the field, I appreciate that. Lastly, I want to express how incredible it is to compete beside and throw with some of the very people I have looked up to since I began this sport in 2010. MattV, McKim, Scott Rider, Jon O'Neil, Rusty Price, MikeZ. I idolized these guys as I came up in the sport. Being handed the chance to throw with them is beyond me and for that I am truly grateful. Loon coming up in 3 weeks. I need to be prepared for another battle royale.