I don't know what to make of today, it clearly had it's ups and downs. I woke up today at 6:45am feeling overall good but anxious about competing today. I knew that I needed to pull out a personal best to save my sanity and to stay in the top twelve in the national rankings. I slept well and my injuries seemed to stay at bay.
   I started a jog about 2 hours before my event to wake up and then sat down for about 50 minutes before starting my real workout. It felt smooth and relaxed but I was being conservative to make sure my shin splint (stress fracture?) didn't start hurting as well as my recovering ankle. I find whenever I can feel something like my shin I get distracted and start to panic even if it's nothing serious.
   Most of my runways were faults by about 3-4cm and my runways seemed unusually inconsistent probably because the board was only 10cm long instead of the usual 20cm. My first jump didn't feel particularly good, it felt quite normal and judging by the tape (I put a mark at 13.58m, 13.83m and 14.00m) it was around 13.40m and I was about 3cm over the board. My second jump was the smallest but legal 13.26m it felt subconsciously like a safety jump even though I didn't mean for it to be.  Jump number three was another fault this one being in the 13.50-13.60m range minus a three centimeter fault. Technically it felt better. I got the clap going for my final three jumps to try and get momentum on my runway. The fourth jump was my farthest legal jump, 13.42m but it was only 13.42m because I brutalized the landing. I got two measures on it, one from where my butt landed and another from where my fit hit and there was a 26cm difference, it would have been a 10cm personal best. My next jump was another falling back jump similar to the last but maybe not quite as far, probably in the 13.50's after the fault.
   I had so much adrenaline for my last jump my technique completely broke down but it didn't seem to matter. My step phase opened up but I hit the sand quite far into the pit. If it wasn't for two major issues I would have had a huge pb... For starters I faulted by about 4-5cm and second, I fell back 27cm on the landing. They measured where I actually landed at 13.68m not including the fault  but the mark where my feet landed was at 13.95m! I know it's being overly optimistic but even if the fault is subtracted that would have been a 13.90m if I hadn't fallen back well over the 13.83m provincial record.
   It's clear that may landing is the problem, I can't afford to lose 25cm on every jump at CIS... I 'm hoping to get to a pit somewhere in the next two weeks to try and fix this obvious problem. I know it isn't a big issue and once it is fixed it will be fixed for good. A slight tweak may mean a huge personal best in two weeks!

Today was very light in an attempt to taper for this weekend. All I did was a competition warm-up, the lightest plyo circuit that I have ever done and three runways. I did five sets of cleans and five sets of jerks afterwards at about 60%
   My right ankle is sore as a bitch but it didn't seem to get any worst when I was running on it, as long as it doesn't tear in half I'll be fine.
  I'm down to ninth in the CIS rankings and I feel like I may get knocked out of the top 12 this weekend. I PB is definitely needed and I'm down to my last shot. There are four people within 15cm of me so If I can manage to pass them I think I'll be all set. My minimum goal for this weekend is 13.73m, my secondary goal is the provincial record 13.83m and my uppermost goal is 14.00m. I don't want to become obsessed with the distance and have my technique breakdown but I'm very aware that anything not over 13.70m is absolutely useless...

Today was the most focused I have been in a while. I started my warm-up with a different approach, to become as warm as possible instead of just going through a routine because it's something I do. I know that sounds stupid but it's amazing how much a little bit of a shift of focus can do.
   I then did three runways with 3 minute recovery time between them. All three felt quick with the second feeling the best.
   I then moved into standing, three step and five step jumps. They felt good, I really tried to focus on the arm drive of the hop phase and holding the step phase (which I'm still convinced has been the biggest problem over the last few weeks. I finished off with 2x4 jump squats at 135lb's and three sets at 155lb's.
   The only negative today was I could feel my right ankle during the step-jump transition. It felt as if it was collapsing which could mean a lose in power. Hopefully icing it will be enough to get it to 100% shape by next Sunday. This meet matters...

I'm surprised that I still have a shin splint even with so much rest. What does a stress fracture feel like? I imagine it would be much more painful. After warming up I did one set of drop jumps and three sets of depth jumps. I followed that with a set of standing long jump off a 4inch box and five sets of bounds focusing on the front leg and arm action. I finished off with hop, step onto a box, jumps from a box and from a three step runway.

Another easy day... a short warm-up and 3x150m. Tomorrow will be a plyo day, hopefully a little more intense than the last few plyo days.

Today I started tunning again, I took it very light but I felt a more refreshed than I have in a while. I still feel quite beat up and there's a lot of work to do before this weekend. My weight is still going down which is superb but the last 3 pounds will be the hardest.
   Today I did a full warm-up and hurdle skill package and  then did 3 runways. I feel like when I try to lengthen my stride I sink my hips and my stride frequency diminishes.
   For weights I did 2x2 squats 225lb, 2x2 squats 245lb, 3x2 bench press, 5x3 leg curls, 8x3 pull ups. They all felt pretty good except I had relatively low energy.

I feel absolutely terrible, like my nervous system is shutting down around me. My legs and back won't stop twitching and for some reason every muscle is sore even though I've only done core and hurdles over the last two days. My tragic performance this weekend was bad enough to get knocked down to 8th in the CIS rankings--it's going to be a sleepless two weeks. I'm going to try to get into the 155lb range for Atlantics, I'm already down to 159.8lb's, something has to change.

I tried my best to take today off and I think I pretty much succeeded, the less I do between know and AUS the better. Today I just warmed up without sprinting, did a quick core circuit and a long hurdle mobility set. Tomorrow will be similar again and then Tuesday will be a speed day. Even just taking today off makes my legs feel like they are recovering.

Today was the absolute worst case scenario, two awful sequences with no promise of a better future. I can't understand where the better part of a meter has gone over the course of a month. I should be tapering off and becoming lighter/jumping better as the season progresses. My confidence is completely rattled, jumps in the 12's seem to be getting more and more common. I really wanted to put one out there to set up AUS but even my best jump was a joke.
   I must be over-training, it's been 5 weeks since I took an off day. I guess I'll have to taper it down over the next two weeks hopefully lose 5lb's and get back to peak physical condition.

I'm feeling very anxious and I'm worrying about how much sleep I will get tonight. Overall I feel good besides a slight amount of pain behind my left knee. If I can't jump well feeling like this I won't ever be able to jump well. The pressure is on now let's see what happens. Triple jump at 10:00am and long jump at 1:30pm... Even if I don't pb I want to see a sign that good things are soon going to come.

My hamstrings, left shin and ankles were all sore today from doing 4x120m yesterday. I iced a little bit tonight to try to heal up for the meet on Saturday but we'll see how it goes. Overall I'm feeling pretty good and am hoping for a pb. Anything over 13.70m would be nice. I'm a little bit nervous because I haven't been jumping well recently so I'm hoping this will set me up well mentally for AUS and hopefully CIS. A big jump here will give me confidence for Atlantics which set me up perfectly to peek at the season's pinnacle CIS assuming I make it.. Knock on wood.

Today was a pretty light workout, tapering off before Gagetwon on Saturday. I am up a few pounds however,  159.9, it would be nice to get under 157 before then.
   Today was a speed workout, 3x35m+4x50m. The weights were equally as light, 4x2 squats at 60%, 3x3 bench press, 3x5 chin ups and 3x5 leg curls... No shin splints today!

Today I was not as sore as I was expected, the ankle that I almost re-sprained yesterday is swollen but not so much that I can't run or jump on it.
  I abstained from sprinting at all today and did a 30 minute skill package on the train and 300 ab movements in the weight room. Assuming I can rid myself of this shin splint and ankle problem I'm feeling good about Fredericton this weekend.

Aside from one irrelevant fact today was not a good day by any means. I started off by doing a light hurdle mobility package and ab circuit and then moved into a few triple jump specific plyometrics. They were feeling pretty good (droping off a box, bounding onto another box and popping up) until I nearly re-sprained my right ankle. I missed the face off the box and rolled my foot completely over. My initial reaction was terror, I took three steps and to my surprise I couldn't really feel any particular pain. I walked around, got a drink and actually felt well enough to continue to jump. I moved into short approach long/triple jump into the crash my and I feel like a may have strained my left hip flexor. We'll see how it feels tomorrow... All in all more harm than good done today.

My left shin is much more painful then it should be, I iced for like an hour tonight so hopefully the pain goes away before I compete(?) next Saturday. I'm starting to stress out a little bit as the season is coming to it's end. There's still so much up in the air.
   Today I did a lengthy warm-up, around an hour, and worked on a few event specific drills of boxes. I really tried to emphasize a big jump phase.
   Tomorrow may be an off day depending how I'm feeling when I wake up, ab's perhaps.

Physically I felt good today but emotionally I am being torn apart. Today was plyo day, the first actual plyometric workout I've done in what must be three weeks. 120 touches off boxes, bounds and stairs. My ankles feel sore deep within but it won't kill me. Tomorrow I'm going to work on short approach triple jump.

It's been a pretty chill week, my back is still sore from the bus ride in two different spots so I want to let that heal before I dive into anything too strenuous. Yesterday I did a little bit of speed work: 3x35m and 5x80m and followed it up with squats and bench press, five sets of three at 80% and chin-ups and leg curls 5x5.
   Today I was supposed to run 4x200m but the Dalplex was closed today because of a snowstorm so I thought I might as well take advantage of it as a rare off day.