Threatening 90 in hammer?
Everything over 50 in lwfd?
Sounds like you've reached much higher ground. We'll all get a kink in our necks at Dixon watching you way up there. I'll have to remember to bring my telescope.
Way to go!
Yeah, well I've threatened 90 in the 16 hammer before at practice, and it's never happened on Game Day. That 87-something PR from Monterey 2010 is getting kind of long in the tooth. ditto for the 70-and-change heavy hammer toss from the same Games. I fouled a 71 footer at Monterey and have gone 69+ twice this season, so it's in the tank.....just hasn't happened, yet.
Now the 50+ LWFD... that is starting to feel like the real deal, now. It's interesting. I've been able to throw 50+ in practice since late last season. I just never have done it in a Games until Pleasanton. Last year I'd throw 48-50 in practice a lot and then go throw 44 on Game Day. GAAAA. Drove me nuts. Woodland, this year was a p*ss*r... I SO had 50 feet in practice and then hosed up two of the LWFD throws, and had to settle for 49' 9". I threw 49' 9" TWICE this season. I went 49' 9" at Ardenwood in 2011. sheesh. If I can go over 50 at both Dixon and Ventura, then I declare the 50 foot glass ceiling officially broken. It would be VERY nice to break my 51' 4" PR before the end of the season. I could do it, I think I threw about 3-4 over that mark in practice last night, but I'll just be happy going over 50 in the last two Games of the season.
Once Dixon is over, I get in three solid workouts with lots of sheaf time. I'll be gunning for 26 at Ventura.
All in all, this has been a good season. I'm still getting better. The increase in strength/ability versus decline-due-to-age-curve has not flattened out, yet. I got a PR in sheaf at Queen Mary and then matched it at Bakersfield. I got a PR in open stone at Santa Cruz....a PR (barely) in HWFD at Pleasanton...seriously ramped up my caber throwing and got myself a nifty trophy for it at Pleasanton, and went over 50 feet in LWFD again. I went to the MWC and got slaughtered, but I picked and controlled and got three decent pulls on an honest-to-goodness A class caber. I'm stuck at 13 in Masters WOB, but for some reason can now clear 11 feet with the 56 pounder, which is way better than I've ever done before.
Last edited by Alan H; 26th September 12 at 11:31 AM.
We started with WOB, six people there. BTW, six is about maximum, before we split the practice group into two sub-groups. in fact, really five is about maximum, but this was supposed to be a laid-back day. I got in about 6 throws. Cleared 12 easily, got 2 over 13 feet, then tried to REALLY dig super-deep on the last two and wound up leaving the weight in front of the bar. Hmmm.
MacFeairchair is the Sheaf Queen, however. She's got 17, fo sho. She just winds up and blasts that thing. The woman has the capacity to be aggressive, no girly-girl silliness here. She also cleared 9 feet in WOB twice, which is pretty good, considering her diminutive size. Russ alllmost has 12 feet with the 56. Brian alllllmmost has 11 feet, 10 for sure. And *blank on his name* our really tall dude, cleared 12 feet, but missed at 12'6". Pretty good for C class stuff.
Then caber. I only took one shot at the Whomper. Turned it for about an 11:30. Then I pushed up sticks for MacFearchair who struggled a bit. she needs to rest. Bethany worked with the guys and they all turned The Whomper multiple times.
Finished up with some LWFD. MacFearchair kind of spazzed out. She was tired and needs to recover. I did about 6 throws, 2 just completely relaxed. Those went just fine, right around 50 and my feet went right down the middle. The other 4 I pulled hard...pulled myself a bit off-balance at the end but even the bad ones were over 50 and two were out, probably 53. So I have great hopes for Dixon.
I probably shouldn't have thrown LWFD at all, but I was curious.
Now to rest....nothing for two days, then leave it on the field!
Weight over Bar comparison of me and World Champ, Dan McKim......thanks to Roger for the side shots of Dan.
Now,we have to take into account that the pictures are not taken from the exact same angle. You can tell because of the orientation of the wob uprights. The angles are kinda screwy, so those yellow and pink lines aren't the real story. Still, a few things are blitheringly obvious.
1.) At the bottom, before the pull, my weight is almost as far back as when Dan has it. I'm doing better there than I thought. However, I'm looking at the ground. Dan has his head up. Dans hips are tremendously lower to the ground than mine are. The angle between Dans shin/femur is tighter than mine.
In other words, he has his BUTT DOWN. I don't. I know, I know, Bethany......
2.) The second frame shows how incredibly much straighter up and down Dan is, than I am the instant before the weight passes between my calves. There's no hiding this.
3.) The third and fourth frame illustrate how much more Dan is extended back through the pull than I am. The yellow lines don't really tell the story.
Just focusing on head, back, butt position at the low point... Bert is head-up and lower than I am. ---the other guys are all spinners.
Mike Zolkiewitz standing WR. 18' 9" or something
head up, but interestingly enough, not all that low, I think.
However, he's VERY low...thighs parallel to the ground in this one...
So I'm thinking that the first change I work on....one thing at a time, is getting really serious about getting my butt DOWN, to where my thighs are parallel to the ground.
Also, this winter, speed deads and cleans off the floor.
Last edited by Alan H; 27th September 12 at 08:12 PM.
There is this little thing in weightlifting called the "second pull".
In the WOB, it's when the weight comes forward and you squat your butt down a little bit going into the push/pull as you drive your hips forward.
You have to look very closely at Bert Sorin's throwing motion because he does it very quickly but he does it each time. Mike Z's video shows the same thing.
Kit
'As a trainer my objective is not make you a version of me. My objective is to make you better than me.' - Paul Sharp
Another interesting thing is how far in FRONT pf the crossbar Dan stands. In on of the videos I watched and I think he goes about 2 footlinks out. I think that maybe his tremendous follow through with his back necessitates this.
Great day in Dixon, today. The Masters 50's were split into the "old" masters (55-59) and the "young" Masters (50-54). I joined the old group this past summer, along with good friend Steve Elliot.
We started with weights. I actually fouled the first two throws in the heavy weight for distance because I was nowhere near "tight" enough with my first turns. On the third one, I tightened it up and launched a 34+ footer...what I'd done at Pleasanton. THAT was nice. I then took two extra's, both of which were over 34 feet. So I'd thrown three in a row over 34. NICE....very happy with that.
Next up, light weight for distance. I just stayed relaxed in my first one, and broke 50 feet again. SWEET. The second one, I hosed up somehow, but it still went 48 feet+...not bad. The third one, just stayed relaxed and broke 50 feet again-- 51' 10" if I remember right, which was a new PR. I took three extra's, all of which were over 51 feet, and topped out at 53' 5", which OBLITERATES my previous personal best, set in 2010 in Monterey, by two feet and change. I let out some yells about this series!!
Next...stones. I did much better in the Braemar stone here than I did at Pleasanton and got two throws over 26 feet. That's good for me, and I won the class with that. Open stone...after doing two standing throws, both just over 31 feet, and anything over 31 is a very good day for me, I tried a "shuffle", which I've never really done but for a few in practice this week. STUNNED...33' 5", which is my second-best throw of all time. Well, now, this is shaping up to be a good day!
We only did one hammer...light hammer. This was NOT a big hammer day, my first throw was an awful 74 feet. Then 79 and finished up with 81' 7". My two extras were both 81 feet but I could tell this wasn't gonna be The DAY for hammer, it was just too bloody hot, so two was enough.
I got soundly whupped by Steve Elliott and Jim Walker in weight over bar. I *almost* got 13, the handle clipped the bar on the last throw. I was getting pretty low on mojo at this point. The temperature was well over 100 degrees and I hadn't had much for lunch, and I'd had a swallow of some Ardbeg 18. Heh. I'd hoped for better, but oh, well. Jim got 13' 6" and Steve got 14. Nice job, guys!
Caber...we got the big green and white monster that we'd had on Saturday at Pleasanton. I think it's about 17 feet and 90 pounds and very straight. It felt heavy today, in the heat. My first throw was a timing disaster, but nobody else was having any better luck. I stuck the last two throws, though....turned it twice for a 10:30 and a 1:00, which won the event for me. I only managed a single 10:00 turn on this bad boy at Pleasanton, so I was very happy with this.
Overall first place, which is always fun...though really not "the point" any more, and VERY happy with that HUGE light weight for distance PR, and essentially matching (-3 inches) my PR in *three* consecutive throws in the heavy weight for distance. That 33 foot open stone toss felt pretty good, too...and so did those two caber turns!
Last edited by Alan H; 29th September 12 at 09:25 PM.
she placed 3rd overall in the Womens C class. She stuck a seriously big 43 foot light weight for distance toss... IN HER FIRST GAMES! That's huge. Like...HUGE.
She controlled and got pulls on a caber that was just stupidly too big for the Womens C class .. twice and would have gotten it 3x if her stupid coach hadn't yelled at her about her hands. Me= sorry.
And she won the most amazing "unofficial" award...the Mike Qutermous "mighty mite" award. I'll let her tell you what that means.
Good CHAC workout last night. We got the sheaf standards up but some halfwit forgot his fork! DOH!!..... Anyway, did an hour on stones with 5 of us, then I made the guys throw a bit of the 56 for distance. MacFearchair turned the Candy Stick caber 4x in 8 attempts. One or two more practices with that and she's gonna graduate to the next biggest stick...which BTW, doesn't have a name yet, so I think she's gonna have to name it after she turns it the first time.
After everybody went home I took the 28 pounder out there for 20 minutes on my own. I tried something that I saw John Davis do this weekend. Not that John is the only guy that does this, I've watched video of Rusty Price do it, and also Ed Green and West Douglas Imboden. I've tried it in the past and it's not helped me any...though I've passed it on to some CHAC throwers, notably Shirelle Lowe. However, last night....spotting behind me..... *Worked*. I'd been thinking about a conversation I'd had with Kristina Sisseck at Dixon, about being conscious of the low point of the weights orbit, in her LWFD. All my throws were good until the last two which were out of control. All were well into the 50's
OK, it was dark, I can't be totally sure where the weight landed. I didn't have a trig board up, so I just paced it off from where my front foot wound up. I could be five feet off in my measuring. But all that said....it was 20 paces to the spot where I thought the weight landed, the fourth time I threw it. 60 feet.
Did that really happen? Is it REALLY 60 feet? I dunno, but I am sure looking forward to Ventura.
Originally Posted by Martin Roy
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