Today's work out was an easy one, which was probably a good thing because I don't think my shins could have taken much.  I didn't have shin splints as bad as I thought I would which is good, and if anything they felt a little bit better then they have in the past.  My hamstrings were also a little bit sore from yesterday's straight-leg deadlifts which confirms my theory that my hamstrings are under developed compared to my quads.  I think I will definably keep those deadlifts in my weekly routine.

Today's workout:

400m jog
3x100m tempo
stretching
3x100m tempo
1x120m 80%
1x130m 80%
1x150m 80%
1x200m 80%
3x80m sled runs
5x100m 70%



I may or may not be headed up to Bridgewater next week for a small meet at the new fieldhouse.  It will depend on how many other people will be competing, if there are only 3 or 4 people I don't think their would be much point to the trip.

So today was a half day at school, I was pretty pumped because their was a lot of work I had to get done today.  I used today as an oppurtunity to get a feel for a couple new exercises I wanted to try out. 

2km run (easy)

Lunges 100lbx10x2

Reverse single-legged deadlifts 70lbx10x2

Straight-legged deadlifts 120x1  130x1 140x1

2km run (easy)

That all felt pretty good but I when I went back to workout tonight I wasn't quite feeling it.  I had to cut my upper-body short, I had absolutely no energy.

What I got done was:

Bench press 123lbx1 120lbx2

Military press 70lbx6x2

Tomorrow I have practice in Sackville again so hopefully I'm feeling re-amped and re-energized!

Yesterday was a good day.  At the gym I got through a pain free session of lower body work:

180lb x8 x6 squats

100lb x8 x6 Hang cleans

I had no pain when performing the exercises but today I was a little bit sore and was suffering from shin splints (not as bad as they have been).  Today's workout included:

30m x4 x2

300mx3

5 hurdle starts

Various core work.

I still haven't got the hang of running over hurdles.  I can't seem to keep my trail leg up or land without leaning forward and losing momentum.

Tomorrow is going to be a fairly light day.  I plan on doing some upper body lifting and then, depending on how I am feeling, I may go for a light run.

Tomorrow's workout

Benchpress 110lb x8 x3

Shoulder press 65lb x8 x3

Skull Crushers 50lb x8 x3

Upright row 25lb x10x3

Practice was canceled this morning because of the rain so I did so light work at Beazly Field.  The plan was to do 6x300m but due to  pain along my inner left Tibia I stopped after 2.  This evening I did some lower body work and felt little pain.  

6x8x143lb squats.

3x8x150lb deadlifts

3x8x100lb clean

My clean technique is still very rough but I am starting to get a better feel for it.  I am going to spend a couple of workouts trying to perfect the racking position.  

I was a little sore from yesterday's hurdle workout, espically in my upper quads.

140x5 squats
143x1squat

150x4deadlift
160x2deadlift

Felt good, besides minimal pain in my quads and a general soreness

Today's and yesterdays workouts definably felt better then they had in the past.  The only thing that was bothering me was my left hamstring.  It tightened up on Saturday during a cold tempo session and I am continuing to feel the trail end of it.

     My shoulder has been sore all day as well as the last two days.  I think that it is best to give up the Olympic lifts for at least a week and just double up on squats and deadlifts.  Today I am planning on doing:

deadlifts- 8x6

Squats 8x6

Upright row 3x10

crunches 30x5

  On a positive note, I will be heading back to the track sometime in the next week or so.  It will feel good to get some real running in. 

     Tomorrow will be the hardest training day I've had in a while, starting off I'm going to continue the lower body work I've been following (cleans, clean and jerk, squats and dead-lifts)  followed by a 6km run to clear out the lactic.  In the evening I will be heading back to the gym to complete a upper body and core circuit.

Current injuries

Strained left deltoid

Mental apathy

Sore right right knee

     Today when I was lifting my technique in the clean and jerk as well as just the straight clean felt like it was lacking.  On a positive note compared to Friday the deadlifts felt much better, I could feel the work being done in my legs instead of just my lower back.  The squats felt good as well but reviewing the footage of my lifts there is still a great room for improvement.

Current injuries:

Traces of pain in right knee

Tightness in upper-quads

Strained left deltoid                       

     Today was the first day in three weeks I have trained on the track.  I went light, essentially my entire workout was stretching, 60m tempos and a couple of 20m starts.  My right hamstring felt tight from yesterdays lifting session and I didn't went to push through the pain.  

     After I got back from the track I hit the weights again with some, bench press, skull crushers, curls and the military press.  For the most part everything felt good, I was aware of my left shoulder but it caused no specific pain when lifting. 

    I've also decided to change my schedule up a little bit, and lift four times a week (two lower body, two upper body) instead of 5 times a week.

New Schedule:

Sunday- light run, core work

Monday- lower body

Tuesday- practice, core work

Wednesday- upper body

Thursday- practice, core work

Friday- lower body

Saturday- practice, upper body

Current injuries: 

                             Strained left deltoid

                             Sore middle back

                             Tight right hamstring

                             

                               

The shoulder is a little bit sore from yesterdays workout and my back and hamstrings feel like they have been replaced with 100% lactic acid. I'm happy that my legs and back are just stiff and not injured. I guess that's a sign my lifting technique is improving. I put some ice on my shoulder about an hour ago and now the pain is less acute. Tomorrow I start grade 12, I'm sad to see the summer end but it will be nice to get back into a routine. I have a feeling it's going to be a hard year, I am in 7 advanced courses plus I will be in the weightroom three lunches a week.

  Yesterday was a hard day, so today is an easy day. I am going to spend about half an hour stretching and getting the lactic out of my legs, about half an hour to an hour of core work and finish it off with an ice bath.

Today I had my first real workouut in the weightroom since my last competion.  The last couple of weeks I have been doing light core circuits and going for light runs around 3km, just enough to stay loose, nothing that could cause injury.  Physically I felt pretty good when lifting, my only major complaint is a dull pain in my left shoulder.  I expect that pain to be gone by tomorrow though.  My technique for each lift feels much better.  It feels as though I'm getting more strength gains with less stress on my body.  My workout was as followed:

Clean and jerk 3x8x70%

Clean 3x8x70%

Squat 3x8x70%

Deadlifts 3x8x70%

crunches 2x30 with 10lb's

russain twisters 6x10 with 10lb's

I opted to use low weight and high reps so I could focus more on the technique instead of worrying about the weight.  Tommorow I plan to either do a light or moderate core circuit with focus on the low back depending on how my body is feeling from todays workout.  

 2006 was the first time I was exposed to track and field, I was in grade 8. The year before I was a member of a school running club so I decided to go out for cross country and track the year after. With no set event I tried my hand at running, jumping and throwing. I had limited success only advancing to the Regional meet for long jump. Even though I had my strongest performance in the long jump, I developed a passion for the triple jump. Over the summer I started to train by myself almost everyday at the local track, doing countless full-out jumps, probably as many as 20-25 jumps a day. Of course this ended up in injury, I strained both my hamstrings by September and gave up training for the fall and winter. I didn't jump again until the spring when school track started up again. While Pb'ing by about two meters I didn't end up advancing past the county meet (I believe I jumped 9.50m which felt unbelievably far at the time). Just the same I felt that I wanted to continue on in the sport. My grade 9 English teacher brought a club to my attention that trained all year round called Chebucto Athletics.  
 At this point my goal for the sport was to qualify for provincials in the next season, a seemingly unrealistic goal. I joined the club and trained through the summer struggling through the most basic drills such as fast foot and A skip. I did improve though, and by the end of the season I even got my Pb up to 10.14m. As the summer came to a close my coach mentioned the chance at qualifying for the provincial team next season to go to youth nationals. Looking at the standard, 12.80m I laughed at that idea.
 Through the winter I began to comprehend most of the basic drills and by March I even pulled off a meter Pb at 11.14m. I was feeling good coming into the school and my goal of making it to the provincial final seemed almost guaranteed. Well not only did I qualify but I also finished third in the triple jump (11.90m) and second in the 4x400m relay. At this point I started to seriously consider making the provincial team but I knew I would have to jump much farther then I ever had before. I ended up finishing second at the selection meet, beating my teammate by 4cm on sixth jump (12.30m) and was the 37th out of 38 people selected to the team. At the championships I finished twelfth setting a slight Pb at 12.39m.  
 With my first full track season coming to a close I set unbelievably high goals for the next season (at the time they seemed reasonable). I vowed to jump 14.00m by the next season to qualify for the 2009 Canada games team. I also wanted to finished top 2 at youth nationals in the next season. Through the fall I was feeling good and I still thought my goals were reasonable. The first impasse that I reached was in January where I tore apart my left knee at practice during a standing triple jump. Originally I was afraid that I might miss the next practice in two days time. Well those two days passed and so did 200 more. As it turned out it didn't heal to a satisfactory level until the end of July, even at the end of August I could feel the after-effects. All through the competition season I received disappointment after disappointment because of my physical condition and mental goals. At the provincial final I jumped 12.20m, receiving a bitter bronze medal. Even at the Canada games trials I feel short of my 14.00m goal jumping 12.50m.  
 With youth nationals the last meet of the season and my current Pb at 12.87m, I put all my hope into three jumps, one of which became a very emotional jump. My first jump was 12.58m, the second 12.74m and the third being the most bittersweet of them all. The first two phases felt huge compared to my first two jumps, and the last phase felt good until the landing. My left elbow hit roughly 30cm behind my body and the jump ended up be 12.83m, an effort not even good enough to make the final. I was devastated, each jump had been better then the last and I knew that if I had three final jumps each one would be farther then the potential 13.13m jump(not counting the majority of the board that was left) that I had just jumped. After the competition I just started to run laps around the warm up soccer field, I ran farther and harder then I had all year. The only thing that went through my mind was “what if?”. I started to think of what could have been, what should have been. Eventually I began to calm down and tried to think logically. I began to think of what is, what just happened. I proved that I had the potential to jump well into the 13's while being injured for nearly 8 months. I started to regain hope for the 2010 season and I finally accepted what just happened (although as I started to walk back towards the track I did start to get a little choked up again).  
 Last season I set my goals high, and I crashed on the way. Even though the past season has been a disaster there is still hope for next year. I'm not going to set specific goals this season, for I know if I do I'll crash and burn again. This year I'm going to train harder then I ever have before, work harder then I ever thought possible and whatever happens, happens. The only thing I know for sure is my elbow well never land behind me again.

With outdoor season finished I am looking forward to spending the next couple of weeks healing up for the 2010 season. The 2009 season was disappointing, I failed to reach any of my goals for the year. Near the beginning of January I began to develop Bursitis and tendonitis in my knee which eventually resulted in me tearing a ligament and tendon in my left knee. That injury kept me from being able to run properly until late April and I didn't start jumping until May. Even the part of the season I was able to jump I was plagued with injured caused by imbalance. In-between January and August I counted over 10 different injuries, including a bone bruise on my heel, various strains, and two sprains.

The first meet I felt completely healthy at was the last meet of the year, youth nationals. I didn't pb, I jumped 4cm less then I had the week before at tlantics (12.87m) but I physically felt much better. It would have been a HUGE pb however if it wasn't for two things. One, I barely touched the board, and two, my left elbow hit the sand about 30cm behind the my body. 30cm+20cm+12.83m= 13.33m. I was a little broken up about that jump because it would have been enough to make the final and even possibly medaled. Even though on paper 12.87m remains my pb, it's nice to know I have the potential jump mid 13's with my technique as bad as it is. I have spent the ladder half of August resting up and trying to heal. Right now my knee is pretty much healed, the only time I notice it is after I go for long runs. With school starting in a couple of days I am planning on completely upgrading my training, I am going to start going to the weightroom 3 times a week and spending 2 days a week at home increasing core strength. Also I well continue to train 3 times a week in Sackville. A big uncertainty is what is going to happen in March, last year I went to Florida for three weeks of training but this year I'm not sure if I have the finances to fork out $3000.00. I am not even sure if we are planning on going to Florida this year my coach even put out the possibility of Arizona.

All in all I am looking foward to the next couple months and the results that will come with the hard work. A fresh start is just what I need to put last years performances behind me.