Sydney

I have never been happier with a 58-meter day.

Last night in Sydney, I threw 58.48m to win my second competition of the (early) season. Five out of my six throws went 57-58 meters, and I should have fouled my sixth one that flew sideways for 55m. I had more intensity, confidence, fun, and connection than I have in a competition for a whole year.

This week, I worked on getting my left foot down quickly and holding my upper body closed and strong, while leaving my right arm back as far as possible. In watching practice video from recently and competition video from years past in the days leading up to the competition, I suddenly realized that I’d been basically walking down the runway for a long, long time, and that I needed to pick up the pace and be tough for once! Remember how I mentioned that I’d been pain-free last weekend in Perth? I used the confidence I gained from that experience to actually put energy into my block leg; I carried speed down the runway last night, stuck my left leg out strong, and wasn’t worried about collapsing under the ache in my left hip! I can’t tell you how liberated I feel!

While I’m not satisfied with the distances I threw here in Australia (I don’t think it’s acceptable for me to throw less than 61 meters in competition), I am extremely happy to have learned a few things and to have put the past season behind me a little bit more than I already had through successful practices. I felt like there was a little bit of strength and power missing from my throws last night, and I’m looking forward to working on the same technical cues I did this week when I get home. It’s nice to have a little gauge of how training is going in the form of competition distances!

This has been a fun experiment.

I’m heading home to San Diego today! I can’t wait to see my friends and my apartment; it will be nice to be home after the longest Sunday ever!

Perth

First of all, it was so weird to compete on Saturday! I went through the day doing everything I normally do to prepare for a meet-resting, eating light, nutritious meals, visualizing technique and watching some video, etc.-but it was so surreal to be doing those things on February 11th. The earliest I had ever competed before this was in college at the end of March. Crazy, but I came down to Australia to change up the routine I’ve had for the last few years and to see how the things I’ve been doing in practice carry over to a higher-pressure situation.

My first few throws were terrible. I didn’t feel any connection to the javelin and I really didn’t want to rush things, so instead I went down the runway ridiculously slowly. I do have to mention that this was my first pain-free meet in a long, long time; my left SI joint remained calm throughout the night! I am so excited about that, because I wasn’t sure how things would go, even though I’ve been feeling great in training.

Having a pain-free meet fresh in my mind is already a huge confidence boost.

On my third throw, I decided I needed to move a little quicker through my approach and really hold my entire left side solid. I sort of achieved those goals, and the javelin went 59.18m. I thought that my last throw was a little further because I felt more connected to it than the third and it flew straighter and with more power, but it only reached 58 meters. I’m slightly disappointed with my final distance because I know I’m capable of throwing much further right now, but I guess it’s okay since this is a totally new experience for me!

The things I’m really happy with from this meet

are that I didn’t lose any of my throws to the right, which is something I’ve been working so hard on this fall! I had a few right sector fouls throughout all of my disappointing meets last season, and I’m really excited to be consistently hitting the middle of the field now. Along the same lines, I only lost the tip of the javelin (threw it too high) on my first throw; one that I’m happy to forget about in general anyway! The first competition throw of the season might always be weird and unusual. :) Every other attempt flew well, if not as far as I wanted them to fly!

This week, I’m working on holding my entire left side really strong, and waiting to push my chest forward until my left foot is down. My two biggest weaknesses in throwing are pushing with my right leg into the block and moving my chest forward too early in order to get a false stretch on my arm. Both result in my whole body being too far forward really early, which doesn’t let me get any actual stretch at all! I had a fairly successful session working on those cues this morning, and we’ll practice again tomorrow morning before heading to Sydney on Wednesday. The meet there is on Saturday!

We Americans (Russ, Mark and I) are having a blast here in Perth; there are so many beautiful places to see and weird, adorable animals to discover! Look for a picture post soon.