Modified Approach

I had trouble with my approach at Drake. I added two carry steps this year (running forward with the javelin over your head; each left foot strike counts as a step), making my approach four carry steps and three crossovers. Last year, I used two carry steps and three crossovers, meaning that my approach this year got a lot longer, less aggressive, and more likely to have mistakes in it.

The point of adding more carry steps is to get more speed by the end of the approach. Unfortunately, if you don't use that speed correctly, there is absolutely no reason to include the extra steps! Acceleration is one of the most important factors in good javelining, so if you're not accelerating throughout your approach, something is wrong. Take a look at this video of my best attempt at Drake.



Pretty constant speed, not much acceleration, just blah all the way through, slow left leg at the end.

Yesterday, I had a good throwing session. We're throwing 700-gram javelins right now, and I've been pleased with how my last few practices have gone. At the end of throwing sessions, we practice approaches. After one mock approach using four carry steps yesterday, Ty simply said, "You just look tired." I felt tired.

By the end of that long approach (distance runners, no laughing) I was just feeling lost and scatter-brained,

so we decided to shorten it by one carry step. Huge difference. I'm very excited about using this slightly shorter approach! I feel more comfortable at the end of it and much more ready to throw far out of it than the extended version. I can accelerate throughout instead of feeling like I have to hold something back for the end. I'm pretty pumped to put it to the test in Rome next Thursday. :)