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.