Happy Memorial Day

After a nice memorial day service in Royersford I decided to get my workout in before it got too much hotter.  I ran just over a mile at a decent pace before i decided to call it, because it was so hot.  Came finished that part of the workout up with about a half mile cool down.  Headed home for some water then to the back yard to finish up the workout.  Decided to get in speed work on the hill in the hard.  Its between 10-20 meters at a pretty steep incline.  Did 5 sprints up jog down, then 2 sets of 2 foot jumps, 2 sets of single leg hoops on each leg, 2 sets of A skips, 2 sets of bounding then finished up with 5 more sprints.  Headed inside for some abs.  3 sets of 25 full sit ups, 25 six inch leg crunches, and 25 twists with a 35 lbs weight.  Finished up with what i call Michael's push up workout, because it was his design in Oxford!!  Set of 25 push ups, set of 15 push ups, then 10 clap push ups for 50 total.  Overall it was just over an hour of a workout.  Pretty content with what I got through today.  hopefully it boded well for the work i need to get done this summer.  now looking forward to enjoy the evening with the fam.

Tired

Today decided to do a bike workout in order to give the back of my foot another day to heal.  So I went a little big and borrowed part of a workout from Michael and Brian, that they did over winter break.  I only did half though, but it was enough!!  The workout was a 45 min ride.  5 mins light 15 secs hard, 4:45 light 30 secs hard.  Continued increasing the length of the hard segment by 15 and decreasing the light by 15 until the hard segment was 2 mins.  This left just under 4 mins for a much needed cool down.  After that I intended to do some major lifts.  I made it through 3 sets of bench, the first a set of 10 at 95 lbs, then a set of 8 at 105, and a set of 6 at 115.  Afterwards I did 3 sets of 10 back squats at 115.  Then just seemed out of motivation and energy to do much else.  Finished up with a set of 2 min abs and called it a day.  Now time to get ready to head across the state to visit fam for the weekend, very excited!!

Sub 7!

After two days of workouts that consisted of cleaning for hours at the gym (which is a moderate workout, I was a little sore!!!)  I finally got back out to do a real workout today.  After a couple of hours working with great kids I headed outside.  Attempted to protected the blistered area on the back of my foot with a band-aid but it was off by the end of my warm up.  I am pretty sure that the problem on monday was only caused by my shoes not being tied right, since that was the first time I wore them, because all they did today was pull off the skin from the blister, no new ones formed!!  This is very exciting because I love those shoes and would be upset if I could not use them!  So after a half mile warm up I ran a mile through the neighborhood.  It was the fastest mile of mile life, coming in in just under 7 mins.  Because I measured the distance by driving it, it is not completely perfect, but it was as close as I could get to a mile.  Then I came inside for a little body weight lift.

3x8 bench dips with my feet up
3x8 split jumps on each side
3x25 side crunches on each side
3x8 handstand push-ups
3x8 single leg calf raises on a  ledge on each side
3x20 v-seats
3x15 push-ups
3x8 box jumps
3x10 windshield wipes

Overall it was a good workout, very pleased with where i am but hoping to make a lot of improvement throughout the summer, so here we go!

Back on the run!!

After a nice week off I decided that I needed to get out of the house and move a little bit.  Especially since my high school team is hosting an all-comers meet the day after memorial day, where I will compete in something, looks like it may be as part of a 4x8 at the moment.  But since that is only a week away and im putting in some hours at work this week I wanted to get a run in today.  The plan was to run a 2.5/3 mile loop.  unfortunately in order to leave my house I have to run up a pretty steep nearly 300 meter hill, which does not all for easing into runs.  But once I got going I was feeling really good.  Around the 2 mile mark the same breathing issue I had one my last run with Michael hit me again, but since I was by myself I had less motivation to push through it, so I only got through just over 2 miles.  Did discover a pattern in the two episodes though.  Both times I had not prepared to run during the day.  I had not eaten much and was very underhydrated.  Also, both times I had done some level of activity for the few hours before I attempted the run, last time walking the mall, this morning cleaning the pit.  So I can blame myself and make sure I don't let it happen again!  Also tried my hand at the bench challenge the activedge team used as part of their race last weekend.  As many reps of bench as possible with half your body weight.  So I weighed myself and set it up. But once again was stupid and did not warm up or anything.  Only did 40 reps not quite the 50 I wanted :)  but thats ok, I have not lifted in about a month, Ill hit it before the summer is out, maybe even before i leave for cali!

Disappointing end, Exciting beginnings

The meet on saturday was a disappointing way for me to end my season.  First warm ups went wonderfully, everything felt great.  I had no problems at all jumping on the big pole!  But I had one where I did not land as deeply as I would like and the fear set in.  Messed up the rest of my warm up and I was unable to clear 3.11.  Did enjoy talking to Joe from Vertical Assault, been a very long time since I have been there!!

Now I must refocus and look towards next year.  Everything is now directed towards getting myself on the plane for indoor nationals, only 295 days to go!  Looking forward to two weeks of recovery from a very long season, then have to get back to work and get ready to go for next year!  No more excuses for not being at nationals!!

As a recap of the season, overall it was pretty good.  Managed a 6 cm PR over the course of the year.  While this may not seem huge I can tell I have improved in other ways.  I got over being unable to jump in practice or warm up, its not perfect yet, but its better!  Also, what I think was the biggest improvement was the change from jumping on a 12' 120 lbs pole to jumping on a 13' 130 lbs pole!!  This means I am jumping much better than I ever have before, even if the heights are not showing it yet.  Hopefully with the work I can will put in this summer I will be able to develop the athleticism I need to really show improvement!

Good luck at Nationals to Dira, automatic qualifier in the 400 hurdles, Rich, automatic qualifier in the decathlon and provisional qualifier in the high jump, and Matt Winker, automatic qualifier in the 800!  Also, hopefully Brittany can retain her spot and go in the Long jump, and Congrats to Jenna for hitting the provo mark in the High jump!  Also, Congrats to all the graduating seniors of 2011!!!

This was a good year for our team, obviously we can be a lot better but I really believe that an attitude change has begun to take hold that will lead us to amazing things in the next few years!  Looking forward to bringing in nearly 60 new freshman!! Should be an awesome year!

Rain at Roanoke!

Yesterday we made the 4 hours trek to Roanoke college only to get hit by a thunderstorm!!  By the time it cleared up the meet was an hour behind schedule! Thankfully it was a very small meet!  I had a pretty decent day, came in at 3.10 m ( just over 10 feet), cleared it on my first attempt.  Then, went right over 3.25 m (10'8") on my first attempt as well.  Unfortunately i was unable to hit 3.40 m.  But on a fantastic note I had no hamstring pain whatsoever so I am looking forward to competing at Swarthmore tomorrow!!  Should be a great evening!

not much of a pre meet

Hamstring felt much better today, but in order to be in the best possible shape for tomorrow and saturday Coach decided that I should not do to much today, just warm up and some plant work.  This left me very antsy and wanting to do something.  Joey thought it was entertaining and thought i was more likely to hurt myself messing around when I was not allowed to jump!  Then we packed up the pole and took them to the freeman center.  After a quick lunch I have spent the rest of the day cleaning in case I am unable to qualify this weekend and head home monday.  Nearly everything is done now.  all that is left is to pick everything up and leave.  Also still have a small paint chip on my wall that needs fixed.  Moderately annoyed at the RAs lack of helpfulness when I asked if they still have paint.  Looks like I will be trying to track down a maintenance person in the morning!  Looking forward to heading to roanoke and jumping again!  Hopefully it will be a nice day!

Progress

So today the hamstring felt much better.  Managed to get through the warm up and a good amount of short approach jumps before it tightened up on me again.  So then headed into the weight room and biked for about 35 mins.  Felt really good to do something athletic!  Continuing to take care of the hamstring and hope that it will be good to go for pre meet tomorrow and the meet on thursday!

More Hamstring trouble...

So after this weekend my hamstring started to get sore.  Went to see Lindsey this morning and she said that it felt very tight and appears to be right on the verge of a pull.  So had to take it easy at practice today.  I only did some short approach work before it started to feel really tight again.  Made sure to ice afterwards.  Very frustrated that I have to deal with this thing again, but hopefully I can get it healthy enough to be competitive on Thursday!

Back on Track!

Ended the week with two moderately productive practices.  Still lacking a little confidence but got through what I needed to do.

This morning I headed down to the track bright and early for our last home meet of the season.  Girl's pole vault began at 9.  I was a little nervous after last week and my warm up was a little rough.  Took me a while to get going, but came in early to have a little wiggle room.  3rd attempt clearance at 9 was not pretty but got the job done.  Best jump of the day was at 10'.  Then managed to get right over 3.26 m, about 10'8.5".  Which put me number 2 o the all time list!  The coach had me go after 3.55 m again.  First attempt was good but blew through the pole.  Could not seem to get that jump back on the last two attempts.  But now I have two more meets to go after this to get it!  Looking forward to building some confidence and going after a provo mark!

Rain...

Woke up this morning to a pretty good rain storm.  Headed out to practice anyway.  By the end  of the warm up we were all drenched.  Luckily the workout was short and all we did was 5 110m, with full recovery.  Felt pretty fast today though!  Then spent some time in the bookstore picking up some stuff for the fam!  Now just relaxing for the day and avoiding the rain.  Little bit bored with my life as a pro-athlete but oh well it is kinda nice to have some time to chill.

Life as a Pro-athlete

So with classes being done I get to spend the next two weeks or so being a professional athlete!  Which actually means I will prob be kinda bored and catch up on my tv watching!

Sunday afternoon I spent the day with Marie going through freshman rooms then watching Grease!  I was really glad we got to spend sometime together before she headed home!

Yesterday we had practice at 9 am, it was a pretty chill practice with the conference award ceremony followed by a light shake out a some approach work. Then enjoyed a day at the beach with Marissa and a wonderful dinner with her fam.  Keeping the friends and family of fellow CNU student Nick Smith in my prayers!

Today we did not practice until 12:30 because of the Newport News public school field day taking place on out track.  Today was a jump day, Coach is getting me back to a 7 step approach because that is what feels right.  It was really hot today and i am starting to feel this long season, so I lost momentum a little early!  planning to cool pool tomorrow so I can convince myself to hold on a little longer!

MEN are Conference Champs!

Congrats to the guys team for their victory this weekend!! They worked really hard and totally deserve it!! The girls had a much harder time and finished up second to Methodist, who is just too deep in the sprinting events.  Congrats to the boy vaulters for taking 2,4,5 and 6!!  Also Amanda cleared her first height and managed to get over 7'3"!!!  I had a bad day, lets just leave it at that.  guess they have to happen every once in a while, but hate that it had to be at conference.

Was so excited my fam could be there to visit though!  It was great to see everyone!!  I am really looking forward to heading home for the summer in  few weeks!!  Also so glad Andrew was able to stop by!!  And Michael was able to stay long enough for the meet too, even though he had a really bad day of his own!

Crazy to think the semester is over, but looking forward to a change of pace.  Have to refocus and get ready for two more last chance meets!