For someone who's "ramping back" I'm still working pretty hard.

[Alan H]

This week Wendy Spies finally made it to practice. Wendy is tiny, about 5' 3" and maybe 110 pounds but she's also the womens Masters 30-39 Olympic Lifting world champion. The woman has some serious KABOOM.

Tuesday was hammer winds for starters... I did 70, nonstop, which busted my gut a good one. Then did 30 more and then about 6-8 throws. Two of them "clicked" and were around 83 feet. The rest, *meh*. The timing is not quite automatic yet. MOAR REPS. We'll see how it goes at Costa Mesa. I can feel that there's a PR in there, somewhere. New guy, just out for 5 workouts, Joshua did a mess of throws and is having a hard time getting settled in hammer winds. I only had the 16 pound hammer, which is mighty heavy for Wendy. so nothing special, there.

Then weights.... I gave Wendy the 21 pound Masters womens weight. That's her "heavy" weight, which is hard to start with. She's seriously struggling with the footwork. Joshua is putting single turn throws out into the high 40's with the 28 pounder. It's nice to be 22 years old, 300 pounds and strong as a bull. Lance dropped one in at 60+, most were mid 50's. I am stuck between 44 and 46 feet with the 28. I'm seriously stuck and I don't know what to do about it. In the HWFD, Lance is consistant at 39+ with a best of about 44. I threw 4x, all were over 30 feet (any day over 30 feet is a good day) and best of about 32. That one was sweet, right down the pipe. Anyway, after Costa Mesa, weights become more of a priority.

Then Wendy and I did some stones. Her *pop* will serve her well when she figures out how to control it. I need to have her throw at half strength for a while. We threw a 12 pound rock that we grabbed off of the field, and I dropped a mess of those out at 39-40 feet, standing. WOW. The key to this was picking a point on the ground behind me and keeping my eyes on it as long as possible. I then got a huge *punch* on the rock and the thing took off.

Yesterday was a smorgasbord... I wasn't going to throw much at all, resting for Costa Mesa. Joshua and I coached Wendy into clearing 12 feet with sheaf, so that's good. Then we did some WOB. He straight-ahead explosiveness is awesome, she's clearing 12 feet easily and might have 13 in her with some practice. I threw the 56 2x for giggles...clean over 10 feet both times. Joshua is clean over 11, would love to see 12. He'll get more practice when he goes home to Arizona, Lance has hooked him up with two practice groups near his house.

Then hammer. I didn't touch a hammer...REST... but I had the 12 pounder in there for Wendy. She's starting to figure it out. I had Josh do some grip-and-rips after watching him flail around with multiple winds and get nowhere....whoah. WHOAH.... the kid ripped 3-4 out to the high 80's, best of about 87-88 feet. That will do him just fine in C class! Then stones. I stood a few with the open stone, again trying to keep my eyes on a point on the ground behind me, as long as possible. POW...31-32 feet standing. That's great. Wendy is struggling, we need to go half-crank on stones for a couple of workouts. Stones are going to be Joshua's nemesis, he has some elbow flexibility issues which means that he can't tuck the rock in properly.

Finally...caber. I had the little eucalyptus stick out for Wendy. She managed to get the pick down, well and is shocked at how much physical work goes into caber. She'll turn that stick in another 1-2 workouts. Then we put up the heavy, short eucalyptus caber for me and I did six throws, focusing on stop_BOOM. Don't wait. Just stop and IMMEDIATELY pop the caber. I turned it a mess of times, but that's irrelevant, it's short. I worked up a sweat and my hips feel it.

Now, rest until Sunday.

[Alan H]

I had an absolute blast at Costa Mesa, though having three of the seven cabers I delivered get broken in ONE GAMES was frustrating beyond belief. Numbers were sort of the usual thing, with the only real high point being HWFD, in which I put my best throw out there since Portland, 2013. - 31' 8" or something like that.

[Alan H]

No practice yesterday, but a long one, tonight. It was just me, Lance and Wendy. We did a lot of open stone throws. Wendy is starting to put it together. I've hit on something which might get me another foot, which would be nice.

Then we did a lot of LWFD drills. Wendy is starting to "get it" and threw a mess of tosses out at 36-38 feet. Seeing as she started the night at about 22-24 feet, that's pretty remarkable. I drilled first turn....nailing it every time. I drilled second turn. I can easily toss it out to 42-43 feet. When I throw two turns I get 43-45 feet. Frustrating as hell.

[Stitchwiz]

Don't get too discouraged, Alan - sometimes it just takes time. Keep your method pure, build the muscle memory and eventually the rest will follow - then things will fly!

[Alan H]

Stitchwiz, Oh, I put in the time...LOTS of time! This is typical. Most people "mature" as throwers at around years 6-8. I started in 2008. It's 2015...seven years. I'm probably about *there*. I don't forsee a lot more lifetime PR's. There certainly can be good days on the field, but the days of 2-3 foot improvements is probably over. It's a little bit difficult to take because one of my training partners is currently notching four personal records PER GAME in all the Highland Games he's thrown at this year...four of them. Now, I had those days, too. I didn't get four per Game but there was an entire season where I had at least one per Game. That was heady stuff.

Now, that doesn't really bother me, I'm glad for him. Also, I haven't really started down the "decline" slope, either. I'm throwing almost exactly what I've been throwing for quite a while. Well...in everything but the light weight for distance anyway. And heck, I set a PR in weight over bar at Costa Mesa last year and then got it again at Ventura 2014 and on the first throw at Woodland this year. So that's GREAT!

No, this is a time of mental readjustment (which I'm good at). I can't work harder, my body simply can't do it. Therefore, I need to work *smarter*, which is what I'm thinking on, these days.

There are also other rewards to be had on the field. I can help new throwers. I can judge, in fact it's likely that I will be a judge at the Pleasanton Championships this year instead of competing. I can hardly complain. I've gotten to throw at Pleasanton four (five??) times. I've been up on the podium three times. I've won the caber championships and have my name engraved on a big silver cup. It's all good! Also, in a couple of years I'll be 60 and I might get to throw in THAT class and get up on the podium again, we'll see how it goes.

So anyway, I've polled some of my weight lifting buddies and I have A PLAN, which goes into practice, today.

[Alan H]

Note to self: throwing LWFD "to exhaustion" is damned hard.

Why do it? Same reason to wind hammers to exhaustion... learn what it feels like to get out of the way of the weight. When you can't fight it, when you can't muscle it, when you can't "dominate" it, you HAVE to throw it "right". You HAVE to throw it by working *With* the weight, not *against* it.

But manohman is that hard.

Current knee and ankle problems (last two days) were probably exacerbated by working the sartorius too hard. It cramped up, HARD on Sunday, and has been sore as hell for several days. However, 5 minutes on the foam roller this morning helped. MOAR UV THAT.

[Stitchwiz]

You may be "ramping back" but you have a plan, and that means that you are moving forward. Awesome!

You understand your sport and your body so well. You are in better condition than most men half your age and you will continue to have a wonderful time doing what you love. Supporting fellow athletes is so important. They need to know that they can be as good as you are when they are your age. They need mentors, so they look up to men like you. You probably have no idea how much they appreciate you. I'm sure they love having you around.

So, now it is time to have fun, just like you did the other day! We are never too old to play!

I am impressed! You are 'a fine figure of a man', as my Mom used to say, and I was totally blown away by the photo of you after you tossed that caber - you made it look like it was so easy - amazing!

Keep it up, Alan. We applaud your effort to continue doing it, especially when it is so hard; and we look forward to the new directions that you take.



Now...where can we find that foam roller that helped you? Would ten minutes would be better?... I think we all need it, I know I do!... Where does the line end...?

[Alan H]

Thanks, luv!

Now, foam rollers...."self myofascial release"... this is THE BOMB. It's 3/4 of the benefit of a specific area massage by a chiropracter or massage therapist at 1/20th of the price. EVen an expert foam roller isn't as good as a serious massage therapist trained in ART, but dollar for dollar, they're the BEST.

There are variations on the "foam roller" theme. I use a softball on really tough spots, but lacrosse balls are also popular.

Got lower back problems?

Get one of these.:



Or it you're really strong and need to seriously bust up some muscle, one of these (the rumbleroller):



and learn how to do this with it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...n_4044197.html


I swear, the piriformis roll-out, JUST THAT can work wonders for sore lower backs. Do the whole thing...15 minutes every other day and if your back issues are due to muscle strength imbalances, there's a really good chance you'll see big improvement.

Search out YouTube for piriformis stretch exercises. If your lower back pain is due to muscle tightness or strength imbalances, they can REALLY help. Naturally, they won't help much if you got a herniated disk, or some other horrible thing!

[Stitchwiz]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Alan!

I have been looking for something just like this. I am recovering from a nasty fall almost 3 months ago, and have to wait to see a specialist for one shoulder, and another for the opposite leg - ankle and knee. The rest of my body has been taking a beating protecting the injured parts. This should help ease the tight muscles - right now some feel more like planks full of knots than muscles. Getting down there might be an challenge, but it will be so worth it to have the relief.

Awesome link - it's very important to know how to do it properly.

...Now...would a cattle prod help to speed up the healthcare system?...

[Alan H]

No throwing this weekend but I did score two really good redwood logs for cabers.