Today is a day I wish I could have back. It's funny where a few wrong decisions can take you. I didn't start my workout until 7:00pm and it was austere at best. Once I realized my right ankle was still unbelievably sore I pretty much cut the track work down to skipping, arm swings and fast leg. I don't understand why my foot is so sore I haven't really done anything this week, I guess jumping on it yesterday didn't help but I didn't do a huge volume and it was no harder on my body than anything else I have been doing. Today was my first time ever doing hang-cleans, I decided that I don't want to completely take out power-cleans but should incorporate hang-cleans since they better replicate a jumping position. Deadlifts didn't feel as good as they did last week, probably fatigue I felt them in my back more than I would have liked but not as much as I did when I first started out.

TODAY'S WORKOUT

Suplemented warm-up
Hang cleans- 1x5@155lb's, 2x5@166lb's, 1x5@175lb's
Power Cleans- 2x3@185lb's, 1x3@205lb's
Deadlifts- 3x5@245lb's, 1x5@250.5lb's
Bench press- 4x5@135lb's
Back Extensions 3x8 (2-4-0)
Static stretching

   Not a great day, both workouts seemed forced. In the morning I went to the Dalplex to finish off the weights I couldn't finish last night and then I threw the 9kg med-ball around for a bit, just for fun if nothing else. This evening I want to Beazly field to do a couple short approach jumps. I actually pb'd in standing triple, 8.80m, and set a pb off of three steps, 11.20m. Beyond that I couldn't do much else, my ankle was pretty sore as it still is. Anything over five steps was insatiable.



TODAY'S WORKOUT

Leg curls 3x10 136lb's
One-armed rows 4x10 45lb's
Med-ball front throws 20
Med-ball back throws
Standing triple jumpx5   (8.40m-8.80m)
Standing long jumpx5    (3.00m-3.10m)
Three-step triplex5       (11.00-11.20m)
five step triplex2 (felt terrible)   (~11.60)

I was surprised when I woke up this morning and my quads were a little bit sore, I assume it's from the med-ball throws yesterday. I also have remnants of pain in my hamstrings from Sunday's straight-legged deadlifts. It was nice to finally get in a workout outdoors, at the ball field next to the University. The workout wasn't too bad, just more conditioning. My only concern was on the poor footing, I came very close to rolling my ankle over serveral times bounding but luckily refrained from doing so

TODAY'S WORKOUT

Warmup

2 circuits--
15 Burpees
popups
15 pushups/crunches
Squat hops
15 V-sits/wall touches
Bounding
15 tuck jumps

3x Medicine ball circuit--
8 side throws
8 front throws
8 back throws
8 sitting twists
8 push passes

Squats- 3x5 255lb's, 1x5 260.5lb's
Incline bench press- 4x8 45lb's

Today was a pretty solid workout for a Monday. Normally I feel tired and have an overall weak disposition but today I focused well and even found a way to turn medball circuits from something I was apathetic about to something that I enjoyed. Instead of just getting through 100 throws as quickly as possible I slowed it down and turned it into a little self-competition, throwing from the same line every time and trying to set a pb. It's funny, when I started throwing for distance instead of just throwing I put about four meters on both my front and overhead throws.

TODAY'S WORKOUT

Warm-up
Hurdle mobility
Med ball work--
Back throws-1x14, 2x10
Front throws-1x13, 2x10
Push pass-1x13, 2x10
Ab circuit-210 movements
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.

Well if nothing else, today was the first decent squat workout I have had in a while.

I started off with I nice long warm-up focusing on my ankle, making sure I wasn't pushing through pain. With spikes on I did a set of six runways and a set of three. I was going to do twelve but I could feel myself starting to slow and any extra seemed pointless.
  I then did 100 medball touches, all the standards, before starting weights. For squats I slowly tapered the weight up then back down for the last one. They felt pretty good, a thousand times better than they did on Tuesday. I started at 247lb's for two sets, then 257lb's, 267lb's and back down 257lb's (5x5 in all). It's not much weight but I really wanted to focus on the depth, I even went below parallel on a couple of them during the first three sets. That's actually why I went down again after 267lb's it felt like I was sacrificing about two inches at the bottom.
   I also did 5x5 straight-legged deadlifts (which I assume are going to make my hamstrings very sore tomorrow) and back extensions, 2 second hold, four seconds down.

Today was a rare off day--it's funny I have been praying for a day to recover all week but now that I have one I just want to get back at it. There seems like there is so much that needs to be fixed technically before this summer, my hop phase has become more of a vertical impulse but I feel will a little tweaking I can take this newfound cyclic motion and comfort of running off the board and using it to get a strong, flat first phase.

It has been a busy couple of days and I'm glad that I know have essentially two days off we the exception of abs/med ball throws and hurdles tomorrow. My legs have been sore since last Thursday... My ankle could probably use some rest as well. Yesterday I went to Beazley field to videotape some short approach jumps to get an idea where I reside technically. This should also serve as a pretty good base example to compare footage from later this season to. I did a couple of three step and five step jumps focusing on dynamic hop. I feel like it was high but also longer so I guess I'll have to wait and see what will happen from a longer runway. Here's a little montage of a few jumps.




I was clearly collapsing after the hop but it's something to work on. I also did 8x80m afterwards, then I shut the workout down before I had a chance to do 4x120, 2x150, 1x200m. I figured that it was one degree out and my legs are already sore enough--speed endurance isn't going to be what makes or breaks this season but an injury might.

   Today's workout was circuit work mostly, just general strength and fitness followed by weights. The best surprise of today was finding that my dead-lift form has improved since last Sunday. Last time I did dead-lifts I had pain in my lower back afterwards where I was clearly pulling with my back instead of pushing the ground away. Today I didn't feel anything in my back (slightly after my fourth set but barely noticeable, not even pain just a tiredness) and I went from 225lb's last week to 245lb's this week. Clean's didn't go quite as well, I did the first set at 185lb's but dropped it down to 155lb's for the last three sets just to be safe. I also did narrow-bench and back extensions as supplementary exercises.

Spring is officially here and that means training will soon be moved outdoors! Finally no more Dalplex, no more shinsplints and a pit to jump in. Tomorrow I may do a couple short approach jumps to work on a dynamic hop phase focusing on the arm drive and keeping my hips forward. Maybe 6 five step jumps--that is depending on how my legs feel in the morning. I was incredibly sore this evening, it was definitely one of the hardest workouts I have done in a while. On a day where my hamstrings were already sore from Sunday's stiff-legged deadlifts and my quads were sore from last Thursday's plyo workout, I did a total of 140 touches as well as a general fitness circuit (ab's push-up's burpees, ect.). Perhaps I should have called it quits there but I opted to continue on through the weights. I set the bar up at 170lb's for a warmup and it felt heavy, much heavier than pretty much half my 1RM should feel. I went as high as 250lb's for the first two sets for five reps and than cut it back to 227lb's. My quads were killing on the way down and I started to feel like I was sacrificing depth at the bottom for weight. This season I want to focus more on depth than weight, I think today was a good intro to that.

Today was a fairly good day. When I woke up this morning (after about 7-7.5 hours of sleep) I found that may legs were still a little sore from Thrusday's plyo workout, around the IT band on my left leg mostly but a little bit around both my vastus mediales (I think that's the Latin Nomitive, plural declension?). When I went to the track I was hoping to get some strong testing numbers to help track my progress but I don't think my standing jumps were a good indication of where I am right now. I hope I'm not delusion but my standing long jump was a measly 2.90m, I think mostly because my landing has grown rusty. I had absolutely no extension and although my feet were around 3.10m my hip landed back every time. This is down from the 3.20m I usually jump and even my very windy 3.30m. My standing triple was also down, around 8.30m from 8.70m. I think this numbers will quickly return to their norms during more optimal conditions.
Although my power was clearly down I still managed to pb in both the three step triple and five step triple (11.03m and 11.70m respectively). It was the first time I have felt like my step phase is on it's way. If I took a few more five stepers I think I would have broke 12m. I'm excited to retest under prime conditions!
My weight workout today was alright... 8x2x135lb jump squats, 3x5lb deadlifts and 3x5 stiff-legged deadlifts. My deadlift form definitely needs work as I felt like I was pulling with my back instead of pushing the ground away. I'm glad I didn't go too heavy..

I can't believe I have to go another three months with a 13.60m pb... It's insatiable, my desire to have to "fix" things. Clearly I have had ample opportunity to break that this season, a couple big faults but at the end of the day I'm left with nothing more than 13.58m. What a joke. I know I should just be focused on getting healthy and having a big summer but I can't help over-train--I know I'm soon going to drive myself into the ground but I can't help it. It consumes my thoughts and when I try to get better I get worst.
13.54m, 13.58m, 13.30m, 13.10m, 13.01m, 13.42m, 13.25m, the last being the most bitter of all. And now I'm getting heavy I have already put on 4lb's since CIS, do I let myself continue to grow and hope my relative strength improves as well or do I try to stay where I am.
   What if I hit 170lb's? It wasn't that long ago I was 155...

It feels good to be sore again--I felt like the taper over the last season was too extreme, I didn't really lose weight but I got weaker. Today was pretty much a recovery day from yesterday's speed and weights. Tomorrow I'll be hart at it again, plyos and cleans. I really want to fix all the technical issues that has been restricting me--sprint mechanics, weight form and foot contacts.

It's time to start anew, take a step back from a dreadful indoor season and go back to basic. Number one on my list is sprint mechanics especially in the support phase, my foot-strike is in front of my center of mass and I put the breaks on with every step. Tomorrow I am going to do a sprint workout focusing on the mechanics and keeping the reps low.
   It's also time to get strong again, I've pretty much had three months off from lifting today I tried to get back into deadlifts with just 3x225. They still hurt my shins and my technique is terrible but I know what I am doing wrong so it should be an easy fix. I shall fix it before I put the weight up.

Today's calorie intake: 2890
Weight: 158.6lb's

Not the performance I was looking for, not even close... 13.25m? A three year old could jump that. I can't believe I have to wait three months for the outdoor season to start. I can't believe I have to go three more months being a "13.60m" jumper.
   My first jump was the farthest, 13.25m, but the landing was messy... I lost a good 20cm from my elbow flailing back. The second jump appeared to be farther but it was a fair sized fault. The mark in the sand seemed to be pretty much at the 13.80m marker, maybe around 70 minus the fault. My last jump was just awful, a 12.96m (hahahha) apparently I was a board's length away from the board on takeoff and my landing was again messy.
   Technically all three jumps felt terrible, my take-off was messy, my step phase opened up completely and the landing was... well, about as bad as it could have been. The only thing that felt good was the first three strides on the runway.
   Tomorrow is the start of a new season. I'm feeling optimistic for this summer, being able to actually jump in a pit and work on the things I need to work on. For now I just need to work on getting all that lost strength back...

En route to Montreal and then Sherbrooke tomorrow for CIS. I'm not going to lie, I'm starting to get nervous, I'm excited to have another chance to compete before the season is over but it's also my last chance to jump like I know I can. If I can recreate the feeling I had at Atlantic's without faulting and with a much cleaner landing I think I'll do alright.

Today is about as much an off day as I'll ever have, I jogged a couple laps, three sets of 60m strides and finished off with 30 minutes of hurdles and a 12 minute ice bath (those are always fun). Tomorrow I'm going to do a few runways just to see how they'll feel, probably no weights.
   I'm feeling alright for CIS but not great, I've went up a few pounds but I think it's mostly water weight. I'll my school assignments will be done by tomorrow so hopefully I'll be able to focus... nine hours of sleep tpnight will be nice too.

I've lost the momentum I had last week and I'm not quite sure why. Everything is the same as it was before, I don't feel like nationals are going to go particularly well. I'm going to have trouble making the final and that's my goal. I tried to get into the Canada Games Center to fix up my landing the the pit was covered and it supposedly wasn't to be open. I also went to Beazley Field but there was a layer of ice over the pit. After searching for ten minutes for the sand and then trying to dig it our for another ten I finally gave up. On a positive note it looks like I'll have time in a pit on Wednesday/Thursday.

I'm a little sore, a pulled muscle in my back and my legs feel a little drained. I ran five of the slowest 150m's of my life today, just to shake out the cobwebs. Tomorrow is another plyo day, I'm suspecting that I will take it quite lightly