Tucson Day 1

I threw 59.66m here in Tucson yesterday on my first attempt for a win and a season’s best.  It was a relaxed, closed, strong-left-side throw, and then I tried really hard to throw further, got tight, and couldn’t get past 56ish meters the rest of the evening.

I was happy with my first throw.  I was excited to build on it!  But when I didn’t, I walked away from the competition frustrated and hungry for Saturday, when we’ll compete again at the University of Arizona’s track.  The fact that this meet is supposed to mimic an Olympic Trials/Olympics/World Championships qualifying round (Thursday) and finals (Saturday) makes me realize that I did have my best throw on my first attempt in “qualifying” though, and that’s good.  It just should have been over 61 meters to make certain that I made it to the next day.  The rules aren’t as stringent here though, so I get another chance on Saturday.

I have been training hard.  This last block, while focused on speed rather than strength and power like the two months before it were, still had a lot of volume and a lot of sessions.  This week is rest week of that speed block, and I actually had all of Tuesday off!  I haven’t had a weekday totally off for a long time, and it was fun.  I’m feeling slightly more rested than I have for the past three months, but I know that I still have a while until my body is totally ready to use all of the stuff I’ve put into it in training.

I am fairly happy with my technique on my first throw yesterday.  I attacked the block but kept my upper body relaxed, which is something I’ve been really focusing on since Drake.  My block leg has gotten increasingly more solid in recent weeks, and it held really strong.  I was pretty closed.  I’m not happy with the tiny hitch I still have in my right to left transition at the block though, and when I start to push my chest gets way forward because I get an even bigger hesitation in getting to my right.  Ty told me that the plan for Saturday is to relax for the first four throws, and then turn it up on the last two.

A lot of people asked me yesterday if I was throwing on both days of competition, and seemed surprised when I said, “Absolutely!”  This year, we’ve literally thrown every day in practice, and I see no problem with competing twice in one week.  Monday marks the start of a new block for me though, and for this one I’m only going to be throwing twice a week.  While I’m thankful for all of the repetitions I’ve had and practice I’ve gotten in letting my left side be strong at impact, I’m really, really excited to get some rest in between throwing sessions and in preparation for the big meets this summer.  Olympic Trials are only a month and a half away!  That’s kind of a long time still in terms of locking technical things and feelings in, but it’ll be here before you know it.  I should probably buy my ticket to Portland... :)