Martin roy training log

[Martin Roy]

Sunday afternoon at Shaffer Park: threw heavy hammer and light hammer until the handle broke on the light. Clearly a message from the universe that it was time to stop throwing.

I think I'm going to revisit my lifting/throwing schedule after last week. The lifting has been going very well but it's taking more out of me than I'd expected. As a result, my throwing sessions have been limited to a certain extent by residual fatigue. It has occurred to me, though, that there is nothing sacred about a plan based on one week. I can simply change it to a ten day plan. Under this scenario I would do the major, more intense lifting on the 1st and the 6th day, with each lifting day followed by four non-lifting days which would be used for either recovery or throwing. Thus, the plan would roughly look like this: Squat/bench, recovery day, throwing, light day, throwing, pulls/overhead, recovery day, throwing, light day, throwing, and then start over. And the light day could be used for either gym work or drilling on the field.

I've found that a lifting day after a throwing day is easier than the opposite order.

The more I've considered this approach, the more appealing I find it to be.

[Martin Roy]

Welcome to the board, Profane James.

[Profane James]

Welcome received, thank you sir.

[Martin Roy]

Time to deload for a few days. Last night I went to the gym to squat and I hit the wall. After warm ups and three sets of 5 with 255 I felt completely depleted. My first thought was that I simply hadn't eaten enough during the day and, in fact, I'd forgotten to have my mid-afternoon bag of nuts which generally fuels an intense session. But this morning I'm still feeling like I've overtrained somewhat the last few weeks. Thus, I'm going very light until Friday.

[Martin Roy]

Feeling much better after two days completely off. This afternoon I plan on meeting my son at Shaffer Park for a good throwing session; I'm thinking it will be wfd, wob, and caber. We are both signed up for Monterey the first weekend of August and there's work to do.

[Alan H]

After yesterday's debacle today was definitely another day. Got the squat rack immediately, warmed up with the bar and a few sets with 135; a set at 185, another at 225 and 255. Then 3 reps at 275, a single at 295, a single at 305.

At that point I knew it was time to go for 315, three wheels - the goal I've been working towards for longer than I want to admit.

So. I loaded up and took it off the rack to get feel for the weight, then put it back. When I stepped away I knew I could handle it. Re-loaded, set, spotter ready, and did it. I felt a bit tentative but I got it. After a short rest, I did it again; the second time I was more confident and it felt better.

There it is, at long, long last. And it's been quite a journey. I vividly recall the first time I attempted 135 and thought I would pass out. Now the focus will be more reps in the 295-315 range; I won't go any higher in weight until I feel like I own 315.

Cooled off on the bike and stretched out.

Couldn't stop smiling.

YES!!!!

woooo-'effin' - HOO !

[Martin Roy]

Alan, I really appreciate the props. Nonetheless, I am somewhat chagrined to point out that the 315 squat post was from this past December...I think your computer must have been caught in a time warp. However, of all the posts to revisit via a wrinkle in time, that one would be my first choice. Three wheels, twice; I still glow when I think about it, especially in the aftermath of the infamous Hot Tub Debacle which set back my squat progress and throws training by several months.

[Martin Roy]

Returning to the present, at least for the moment, yesterday evening my son and I had a solid throw session at Shaffer Park, assisted by my brother who is conducting a running/cardio training experiment on himself which involves doing hills at the park while maintaining his heart rate below a defined level so that eventually he will be able to run forever. It strikes me that the goal of running forever begs the question of why anyone would want to do such a thing. The answer to that question is, of course, identical to the answer to the question of why anyone would want to call a heavy pole a caber and flip it over while wearing a kilt. Some questions just don't have answers that sound rational when spoken out loud.

Anyway...we started with lwfd. I continued my focus on footwork and timing. On Sunday I'll work in the heavy weight again. I'm still angry with myself over completely booting both weights at Vista. After a dozen or so reps we moved to wob. Mainly I just wanted a few refresher tosses, a half dozen or so to reinforce form. Then, we tossed around the Bergland Caber, about 17', 80lbs. I'm working on dialing in the timing of the pull and getting a good run with a quick transition to a power position for the pull. A work in progress, but I intend to spend more time on this in the next couple of weeks.

Plan at this time is to throw tomorrow afternoon. Curt the new guy from the Duke is coming out; he's already registered for Monterey, a good indicator that he's serious.

[Martin Roy]

Sunday afternoon throwing at Shaffer Park. Perfect weather, great afternoon, excellent throwing session.

I worked with Curt the new guy on the three most technical events: caber, hammer, and wfd. Spent about an hour on caber to start, focused on getting the pick down. It was rough at the start but he was an apt student and improved throughout the practice. He's signed up for Monterey in two weeks and I expect him to get through the caber without too much difficulty.

At the tail end of the caber work, Gman my lightweight son arrived and took a few pulls. I'd wanted to begin with caber so that Gman could work with Curt on hammer and wfd because Gman has the best form of anyone I know. No brag, just fact. You can ask around.

Finished out the session with hammer and wfd. Good reps on both.

Rest tomorrow and throw again on Tuesday. That's the plan for now anyway.

[Martin Roy]

Good session yesterday with Gman at Shaffer Park. We did a lot of reps with the hwfd and finished with 3 competition tosses with the lwfd. Followed by some caber work. Nothing remarkable, just good old basic throwing work.