I took today off to recover from the past week, I really didn't do that much work but where I'm in the midst of a competition block I would rather not risk tearing a hamstring. It looks like I will be long jumping here in Halifax tomorrow, it will be the first time in nearly a year I have long jumped. I'm a little bit worried about getting injured but I'm also excited. There is absolutely no pressure since I really don't care how far I can long jump! Of course a pb is always nice, no matter what the event but I'm just competing for fun. I'm normally so high-strung before competitions that I am often my own worst enemy and mentally defeat myself, I don't think I'll do that tomorrow. If it goes well it will be because I am relaxed and if it doesn't... well it will be because I'm really not that good at long jump.

I woke up very focused this morning, after shaking the cobwebs out with a nice warm-up I went to the pit and did some short approach work. My body was pretty sore and tired from the last week but my mind was concentrating better than normal. I took six nine step jumps after which I felt my technique starting to get worse so I stopped jumping. My main focus was letting the shin rotate on the board. I didn't jump very far today, less than 13m but I feel that is just because I was tired and I never seem to do well in the mornings anyway.



TODAY'S WORKOUT
Morning--
400m jog
Warm-up
Dynamic mobility
Light bounds 3x3
Nine step hops x3
Nine step triple jump x6
Cool-down
Afternoon--
Snatch 4x2@155lb's
Jerks 3x3@135lb's
Light stretching

Wow, I felt flat today... most of been those cleans last night. I didn't even want to move all day so I pretty much just lazed around beyond a quick morning session and some visualization in the evening. I figure if my body is too tired to train than I might as well train my mind. I spent much of the afternoon trying to learn everything I can about my event. It's really easy on recovery days to just forget about being a jumper and laze around, wasting time and just growing older. But I want to learn everything I can about being a triple jumper. I feel as though there are a near infinite amount of holes in my knowledgebank and the more I study the more it seems I don't know. I think I'm really starting to get a clear mental picture of the take-off position, now it's just a matter of making the same connection with my body!
   I'm going to the track tomorrow morning/afternoon depending on the weather and how I'm feeling physically and I'm going to try to get in a focused jumping workout--not too much volume but very focused.

TODAY'S WORKOUT
Morning--
5 minute bike ride
Standing med-ball twists 1x10@6kg (Each side)
Sitting med-ball twists 1x10@6kg (Each side)
Lunge-position med-ball twists 1x10@6kg (Each side)
Oblique crunches 3x10@65lb's (Each side)
Abdominal pull-downs 3x10@170lb's
Light stretching
Evening--
600m jog
dynamic mobility
30 minutes visualization
6x7 flying strides (at minimal speed and focusing on vertical force)
Incline leg raises 3x10
Seated twists 3x10@33lb's
Hanging leg-raises 3x8
Static stretching

I cannot believe how sore my legs are.. I still have a significant amount of DOMS from squatting on Tuesday. I have trouble believing how sore I am from doing three sets of squats 100lb's off of my pb. Maybe it is because my legs weren't completely recovered from jumping on Saturday. I did still manage to get a decent workout in though--it was mostly bounding. The first couple were pretty flat and I was going to call it quits early but then I had one set of bounds that was like a meter farther than the rest so I kept jumping. I didn't accomplish what I wanted to which was to keep my hips up during the jump and hold an upright position instead of going into a premature landing position but it's not the kind of thing that is going to come over night, it's definitely going to take sometime. But be this time next year (when I jumping 15.00m) it will no longer be an issue because of the 12 months of work I put in trying to correct it.
   I was surprised to tie my hang clean pb.. considering I haven't gone heavy in many weeks I was expecting to have lost a lot of strength but it seems not to be the case. That's nice to know!

TODAY'S WORKOUT
Morning--
400m jog
Warm-up
Dynamic mobility
Standing long jump x3
Standing triple jump x3
Five step bounds 8x5 (best around 18.60m), 3x3 (light)
Cool-down
Ice bath

Evening
Warm-up
Hang cleans 2x2@225lb's, 1x2@235lb's (felt really good), 1x2@245lb's (fairly good), 1x2@250lb's (ox) (tired)
Light bike ride
Static stretching

Today was a recovery day, my legs are surprisingly sore--I think it was from squatting yesterday. Even though I was lifting more than a hundred pounds off my max I guess the motion is enough to create some DOMS even if the intensity was low. I went to the Dalplex this morning and did a core circuit--it was really hard to get through it because it was about a thousand degrees in there. There were a couple of fans turned on both it still must have been close to 40 degrees. I took probably the coldest shower of my life after that...
   Tonight I went Beazley and did some mobility stuff, hurdles and dynamic stretching. I looking forward to getting in a good plyo workout in tomorrow morning, I haven't worked out exactly what I'll be doing yet but there will be bounding... lots of bounding. I really want to focus on keeping my hips forward and staying upright while transitioning into the jump phase. I excited to make some connections.

TODAY'S WORKOUT
Morning--
300m jog
Light stretching
Incline leg raises 3x10
Oblique crunches 3x10@65lb's
Hanging leg-raises 3x8
Standing med-ball twists 1x10@6kg
Sitting med-ball twists 1x10@6kg
Lunge-position med-ball twists 1x10@6kg
Abdominal pull-downs 2x10@170lb's, 3x10@180lb's, 1x5@190lb's, 1x5@200lb's
Pull-ups 3x10
Seated med-ball twists 3x10@33lb's
Standing med-ball twists 3x10@33lb's
Evening--
400m jog
Warm-up
Dynamic mobility
30 minutes Hurdle mobility
Static stretching
Ice bath

Well at least one good thing came from this weekend--I am extremely motivated at the moment, the most I have been in a while. All I want to do is eat, train, sleep, eat, repeat. Unfortunately that's not really possible, real life gets in the way from time to time... But I have twelve days until I jump again and I won't be jumping 14.13m... I will be jumping over 14.50m.
   I was pretty sore at the track today but I was focused, so that kind of made up for it. After I did some speed and runways I did three sets of pretty easy bounds with a jump at the end.. I really tried to keep my hips forward and extend my body during the jump and it felt really good. I look forward to building off of this on Wednesday.

TODAY'S WORKOUT
800m jog
Warm-up
Dynamic mobility
Flying 25m x3
Runways x6
Light Bounds 3x5
Weights--
Explosive squats 3x3@245lb's
Jump squats 6x2@115lb's, 2x2@45lb's
Explosive bench press 6x2@95lb's,
Light stretching

I'm still pretty disappointed with how yesterday went, I really wish that I could have a "do-over." I feel a big part of the reason I wasn't doing well was because I was flat from sitting around so much. All muscle soreness aside, I feel as though I could jump much farther today. I feel a little bit wired.
My lower back is a little sore as well as the stabilizers around my hips and the origin of my right hamstring. I'm hoping that I'm healthy enough to do a fairly extensive speed workout tomorrow. I have two options: 1. Sit around feeling sorry for myself or 2. Get back on the track and fix everything that needs to be fixed. I'll have at least two more shots at the 14.50m barrier before this summer is over and I want it--I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get there.
I'm still running yesterday over in my head, trying to figure out what went wrong. I am still thinking that it was no one thing--I feel as though nerves, sitting around too much and not planning meals ahead of time all played a part.
This week's extensive workouts will be on Monday, Wednesday, Friday instead of the usual Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. I am probably going to try to go heavy in the weight-room on Friday with the other two days being explosively focused.

TODAY'S WORKOUT
15 minute jog
Dynamic stretching
Light stretching