Pre-Season
Firstly, I can't believe it's already April! Where do the weeks go? And secondly, I can't believe I've already done two competitions! I've never opened my season as early as March, so I'm thinking of it as a pre-season phase where I can brush off the competition cobwebs and get a good idea of where I am in my preparations for the summer.
So far that's been going quite well! Unfortunately, the Winter Throws competition that was organised at Loughborough on the 1st March, was cancelled last minute but luckily a few of us were able to find our own graded officials and held an impromptu competition anyway! I threw 57.50m, which I was happy enough with for that stage of my training, though I know I could have thrown further if I'd got it all right in one throw. I also managed to beat one of my main rivals, Rachel Hunter, who is also in the running for one of the two remaining Commonwealth Games spaces for Scotland.
This started a really good month of training for me. I've had some great gym sessions, with big PBs for back squat and deadlift. I don't test these lifts to a 1 repetition maximum (1RM) very often, so it was pretty exciting to suddenly be able to put an extra 20kg or so on the bar!! I've also finally reached my winter target for hang clean, which I'm so pleased about! I only switched to cleaning from hang at the start of this winter, so it was quite an ambitious target but in one week I had a couple of great sessions and got 77.5kg on the Wednesday and then finally 80kg three days later! I'll try and get the video evidence up soon! It definitely feels like there's more there - anybody who knows me would agree that I rely on my technique more than my strength so it's really exciting for me to be making such progress in the gym and I can't wait to transfer it into my throwing! One of the guys in my squad told me I'm part of the 'strong club' now - happy days!!
My distances have also been creeping up and I'm beginning to get some consistency across the various hammer weights as well. I'm in a much more positive mindframe which has also made a big difference from February! I've thrown a PB with the 3.75kg and been within a handle's width of my 3kg and 4kg best ever training distances. This has all been building up my confidence and I was really looking forward to my second competition of the year on 30th March.
My training partner, Stef, and I drove up to my parents' home in Scotland on the Friday, so that we could do an easy training session on Saturday, in preparation for the Spring Throws Fest being held at Grangemouth the next day. Sunday turned out to be a pretty cold and foggy day and our warm-ups were disrupted by a 30 minute delay in the discus competition being held before us. But luckily we could relax inside and stay warm - I think by the time we went out to start our warm-up throws we both had about 7 or 8 layers on!! It certainly didn't make de-robing for each throw particularly easy... Rachel Hunter and Kimberley Reed were also competing, which immediately increased the stakes for Commonwealth Games selection! While, my first round throw ended up in the cage, Rachel threw an enormous PB of 62.76m for her first CG standard and to overtake me on the All-Time ranking lists. I responded with a solid mark in the next round of 60.69m - my third best ever throw and the first time over 60m since 2011. Neither of us managed to improve on these marks, but Kimberley improved throughout the rounds to a PB of 59.84m. Stef finished with a mark of 49.06m, which doesn't really do justice to the good shape she's in at the moment.
Despite being just 31cm away from that magic 61m standard, I'm pretty pleased to be back over 60m in March. My session on a slippy circle the day before hadn't been the preparation I was hoping for, and the conditions on the day were challenging, though I think Stef and I coped with them well. John and I are happy with my progression so far, especially considering where I am within my training programme at the moment. I have another competition in Scotland on the 12th April so I'm looking forward to another fortnight of good work, another weekend of being looked after at home, and hopefully another good performance in Scotland.