Five bounds 18.70m
9 step approach (13.10m)
11 step approach (~13.00m)
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Monday, July 14, 2014
Finally
Well it's been one hell of a rollercoaster ride over the last few years. In the summer of 2012 before my knee injury my last four meets were: 14.38m, 14.13m, 13.78m, 14.30m. Since then things have gone downhill at an alarming rate. I injured my patellar tendon in September 2012 and took most of that indoor season off from competing. I open the season at the end of January with a 13.67m jump and things only got worse from there. I ended the season off at 13.30m and I didn't think things could get any worse. They did. I open the outdoor season with a 13.65m jump which wasn't bad for an opener but the decline continued as my knee continued to bother me and grew worse. At Canada Games in August, which was supposed to be when I was peaked, I jumped 12.90m in the prelim and scratched the final because of the injury.
I was so melancholic and depressed that I even considered giving up the sport. In the fall I decided to train part-time as an Olympic Weightlifter and even considered becoming a competitive athlete in that discipline. Due to the extreme volume of weights my nervous system was pretty taxed and I went to the season opener, and ender, in November with a 5.90m/12.70m slash. It was a long way from jumping 15.00m. I didn't feel like myself, I wasn't having fun, and my knee was still bothering me as much as ever. I wanted to quit.
I decided to take six weeks off to rehab my knee and try to get my health back. During this time I did a lot of strides, light weights, and high rep squats. By the end of January I was ready to start training again. I hit 13.27m in March at an indoor meet I went to in Moncton. I was happy with the result. It was a long way from where I wanted to be but at least it as a step in the right direction. After a six week power block, in which I hit a 300lb power clean and 305lb full clean, I went to an early season meet to shake
out. Long jump went okay, low 6.00m but a couple faults in the 6.40m range, but triple jump was awful. I took one jump and it was 13.00m (but in all fairness it was a one day meet). I switched to a 7 step approach to at least get some technical work in, and they actual went pretty well. I got one of the jumps up to 12.65m.
For the rest of the season I continue with the pattern of doing short approach jumps at meets. In the three weeks leading up to nationals I went off 9,11,13 steps. I jumped 12.98, 13.30, 13.51(with a 13.65m fault). At Nationals the next day I hit an okay jump of 13.87m for a seventh place finish, which I was still relatively happy with it, because it was a long climb back from how far I had fallen the year before.
This weekend marks my first time hitting 14.00m since the injury (14.01m +1.5m/s) and I know I still have a lot more left in me. I was jumping on a very sore ankle and only took two real jumps. My importantly than the distance, it gives me hope for the future. I feel like the "fire" has returned and the passion which had left me during the injury is once again burning in full force. I think that after a year of healthy, focused training I can hit 15.00m next year.
But here's a curveball. I am moving to Korea in six weeks to teach English. I'm not exactly sure what the training set up is going to look like over the next year but I'm sure I'll find something. I'm going to be living in Seoul so by the looks of things there will be a track and weight-room pretty close by.
With one more meet left in the season, in three weeks time, I am excited to try to jump a pb. Even if I don't I know that it's been a long journey and the best is yet to come. I am very excited to see where I'll be this time next year.
I was so melancholic and depressed that I even considered giving up the sport. In the fall I decided to train part-time as an Olympic Weightlifter and even considered becoming a competitive athlete in that discipline. Due to the extreme volume of weights my nervous system was pretty taxed and I went to the season opener, and ender, in November with a 5.90m/12.70m slash. It was a long way from jumping 15.00m. I didn't feel like myself, I wasn't having fun, and my knee was still bothering me as much as ever. I wanted to quit.
I decided to take six weeks off to rehab my knee and try to get my health back. During this time I did a lot of strides, light weights, and high rep squats. By the end of January I was ready to start training again. I hit 13.27m in March at an indoor meet I went to in Moncton. I was happy with the result. It was a long way from where I wanted to be but at least it as a step in the right direction. After a six week power block, in which I hit a 300lb power clean and 305lb full clean, I went to an early season meet to shake out. Long jump went okay, low 6.00m but a couple faults in the 6.40m range, but triple jump was awful. I took one jump and it was 13.00m (but in all fairness it was a one day meet). I switched to a 7 step approach to at least get some technical work in, and they actual went pretty well. I got one of the jumps up to 12.65m.
For the rest of the season I continue with the pattern of doing short approach jumps at meets. In the three weeks leading up to nationals I went off 9,11,13 steps. I jumped 12.98, 13.30, 13.51(with a 13.65m fault). At Nationals the next day I hit an okay jump of 13.87m for a seventh place finish, which I was still relatively happy with it, because it was a long climb back from how far I had fallen the year before.
This weekend marks my first time hitting 14.00m since the injury (14.01m +1.5m/s) and I know I still have a lot more left in me. I was jumping on a very sore ankle and only took two real jumps. My importantly than the distance, it gives me hope for the future. I feel like the "fire" has returned and the passion which had left me during the injury is once again burning in full force. I think that after a year of healthy, focused training I can hit 15.00m next year.But here's a curveball. I am moving to Korea in six weeks to teach English. I'm not exactly sure what the training set up is going to look like over the next year but I'm sure I'll find something. I'm going to be living in Seoul so by the looks of things there will be a track and weight-room pretty close by.
With one more meet left in the season, in three weeks time, I am excited to try to jump a pb. Even if I don't I know that it's been a long journey and the best is yet to come. I am very excited to see where I'll be this time next year.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
Sunday March 9 2014
For most of my life I have had blood sugar fluctuations with a variety of inconvenient side effects. First, I go through periods of hypoglycemia where I become weak, shaky, light headed, and feel generally awful. This is a problem that I know effects many people, especially those who have become "sugar dependant". The second side effect is having to eat extremely often and regularly. If I go more than two hours without eating I become tired and light-headed. Essentially, I eat continuously from the time I wake in the morning until I go to bed in the evening.
So I am going to do a little experiment over the next 14 days. My diet is already fairly high fat but I am going to up the fat take even more as I decrease carbohydrate intake. I am hoping that by the end of the two week period the headaches from sugar withdrawal decrease and my body will become more efficient at burning fat for energy. The "paleo" style diet has gained a lot of attention over the last few years, and while I am personally not a fan of any "fad" diet, I think there are definitely many positives that can be extracted from it, including the encouragement of eating unprocessed foods. My diet is paleo-ish but I don't believe that dairy, grains, legumes, ect. need to be completely abolished. I am interested to see how my body will respond.
I am not going to count kCal intake, and am aiming to be in a positive caloric balance. Once I become adapted to burning fat for energy, then I will feel comfortable cutting calories for weight manipulation.
Day 1- I am feeling a little light-headed and foggy from a lack of carbohydrates. I am very sleepy, but it is a relatively lazy "off day" so that's not overly unusual.
So I am going to do a little experiment over the next 14 days. My diet is already fairly high fat but I am going to up the fat take even more as I decrease carbohydrate intake. I am hoping that by the end of the two week period the headaches from sugar withdrawal decrease and my body will become more efficient at burning fat for energy. The "paleo" style diet has gained a lot of attention over the last few years, and while I am personally not a fan of any "fad" diet, I think there are definitely many positives that can be extracted from it, including the encouragement of eating unprocessed foods. My diet is paleo-ish but I don't believe that dairy, grains, legumes, ect. need to be completely abolished. I am interested to see how my body will respond.
I am not going to count kCal intake, and am aiming to be in a positive caloric balance. Once I become adapted to burning fat for energy, then I will feel comfortable cutting calories for weight manipulation.
Day 1- I am feeling a little light-headed and foggy from a lack of carbohydrates. I am very sleepy, but it is a relatively lazy "off day" so that's not overly unusual.
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