Alan's 2013 Season Log

**Alan H** · 14th March 13, 12:46 PM

Very short solo practice last night, as I had a Tartan Day organizational meeting.

6 light hammer throws at about 80% crank. Man, I am TIRED, still from Sonora.
8 standing stone tosses with the 12 pounder, focusing on keeping my left side high and active.

And that's all I had the mojo for.

**Alan H** · 15th March 13, 07:06 PM

Political garbage in the athletics...Nooooo... I thought I got enough of that from the Guilds. *sigh* Well, that just clinches my thoughts on becoming a stakeholder in the local organization. I can help, but I'm not letting this stuff become my life. Forget it. I hate to not contribute, but if contributing means that I have to play these games, I ain't playing.

**Martin Roy** · 15th March 13, 08:58 PM

Will the politics have any impact on the athletics at Awood? Sounds like a pain in the keister.

**o1d_dude** · 15th March 13, 10:48 PM

Originally Posted by Alan H

Political garbage in the athletics...Nooooo... I thought I got enough of that from the Guilds. *sigh* Well, that just clinches my thoughts on becoming a stakeholder in the local organization. I can help, but I'm not letting this stuff become my life. Forget it. I hate to not contribute, but if contributing means that I have to play these games, I ain't playing.

I just want to throw.

**Alan H** · 18th March 13, 10:51 AM

No... Ardenwood is fine. I mean, we've got our problems...half the committee has dropped out, the sponsoring club is on death's door, the chairman is playing King Lear...he's quit but he still wants everything to go his way, and so on. But no....I do Ardenwood athletics the way I want to do it now, of course working with the other committee members, and it's fine. It's a lot of work going to stupid committee meetings and I inherited the "Clan Chairman" title this year as well because our "regular" Clan Chairman couldn't stomach some of the simple changes we put in place. However, we'll have a good event on April 6th.

----------------------------------------------------

I was down in So Cal this weekend to visit my sister in law, whose angiosarcoma has metastasized and who's on chemotherapy, and also to support my brother in law and nephew as they ran the LA Marathon. They did **Great**... the old man, (4 years younger than I am) finished in 3:40 and the punk kid, all of 12 years old was third overall in the 12-14 year old division with a stunning time of 3:20. I am REALLY proud of both of them. My sister in law is doing pretty well, considering.

I got in about a dozen standing throws with the 16 pound shotput on Saturday afternoon, and spent the rest of the weekend cheering for other people and eating too much. My hips will probably appreciate this!

**Alan H** · 18th March 13, 03:31 PM

Went to the gym, today. I've just been stiff and tight and my knees have felt weak. I decided that maybe a regular old gym day is what I needed. I think that's what the Doctor ordered.

Stretch Cage
Incline BP ... 6 x 135 / 3 x 4 x 185 / 2 x 215
backsquat ... 6 x 135 / 6 x 185 / 2 x 4 x 215 / 2 x 2 x 265 was going to do 245 but decided to push it a bit.
knee extensions ...4 x 5 x 70 "on the stack" each leg. Because the supporting muscles in my knees have just felt useless for weeks. Wow. Should have done this weeks ago.
rev. wrist curls ... 2 x 10 x 15 pounds each side. Therapy
upright rows ... 3 x 8 x 90
curlz... 3 x 6 x 90
seated flies ... 4 x 4 x 190 "on the stack"
hammer wind ab crushers ... 2 x 8 x 12 lb ball...8 each way.

**Alan H** · 20th March 13, 10:45 AM

I was sore as all get out from Mondays lifting, but throwing went well anyway.... a good CHAC practice. Bethany is back to her cheerful self and launched at least one 60 foot LWFD last night and is looking explosive in the stones. Shirelle is threatening 50 in the LWFD and is solid in her heavy hammer... new girl, Schantae is starting to figure out her footwork, she'll be very competent at Ardenwood. Robert launched a mess of light hammer throws at about 95 and then deposited at least 2-3 well into the 100's topping out at 106. (we pulled tape on that one. I thought it was about 112!) His LWFD, after almost no practice all winter is very close to 60 feet. Tim C is starting to get rid of his "throw over the top" issue in LWFD, and put 2-3 out into the low 40's, which is pretty good for him. I'm happy to see that. He continues to "out-pop" me in the stones.

The Old Man threw some LWFD, aboout 4-5 to warm up...all around 50. Then, on to the HWFD, the 56'er which is just plain too bloody heavy for me to handle. MOAR WORK, but I'm resigned to the fact that the raw weight of the implement is too much for me and despite lifting my brains out all winter, the force required to throw it properly is just not there. I will do the best that I ca . At the end of the evening after everybody went home, I did 4-5 first turn drills and then more LWFD, focusing on staying *extremely* low and driving a bit down and forward in the first turn to fix this "foul out the back" and "foul out the left side" issue. I'm staying in, and pretty much everything paced off to 51-53 feet, though it was getting pretty dark by then, so hard to tell.

Light hammer is meh. 80? ... I took about 3-4 tosses. There's power there, I think I just need to get my timing set. I think I've finally decided on the technique that I will work on through the season. Heavy hammer, put one out at 63 and two at 65, as I pace them off, but I think my paces are a bit short, and the throws just felt like there was no power nor speed. I should try the hammer-rama.

Tonight is caber and more HWFD. I'll just take 3-4 of each and call it good 'cause Bakersfield is this weekend.

**Alan H** · 22nd March 13, 01:52 PM

Last night I fiinished the kids cabers for Tim C. to take to Bakersfield.... couple of coats of paint at the "big end" and three coats of clear poly at the "little end".

I'll throw some HWFD..the 56er after work, today, and maybe try a dozen hammer tosses. This coming weekend is devoted to Ardenwood prep. -- caber prep, and setup of the sheaf uprights at the CHAC practice field.

.....and cooking a meal to freeze and get us through at least Thursday of next week.
..... and re-vamp the EBSA web site because it's out of date. ARRRGH. I did NOT sign up to be the EBSA webmaster.

**Alan H** · 25th March 13, 12:06 PM

I spent Saturday prepping the Big Stick...currently unnamed for Ardenwood. If Belhaven comes through with some support, it will become the Belhaven caber.

Here's the cut down "Clansman", which had significant rot in the big end...now it's a short 14 feet, but still 100 pounds.

And the New Stick...17 feet and 115 pounds...feels heavier than that, actually. I tried throwing it on Sunday hahahahahaaaa!! NOT.

After doing a Highland Athletics day at church, I dropped the new caber off at the practice field. I took the chance to do about 8-9 HWFD tosses with the 56 pounder and tried Marty's suggestion of getting into the throw a bit less energetically. It worked...MUCH better. I'm not flailing around as badly and I get 23-24 feet off a double spin instead of 20-21. I'll take it.

I also did 5-6 56 pound WOB tosses, trying to focus on hanging on to the thing and finishing by looking at the bar, which Roger pointed out at Sonora. I cleared 10 easily, still nicking the bar at 11, but that's fine. It'd be cool to get 11 by July.