The Year Of The Games.
So here it is - 2014. The Year Of The Games! I was still at school when we found out that Glasgow would host the 2014 Commonwealth Games so it's hard to believe that it's almost upon us. Not that I should really think about that too much or I might never leave the house for fear of injuring myself and missing this opportunity...
The Christmas period turned out to be a much needed break and I came back feeling refreshed and ready to go again. John programmed the most horrific block for us and after the first week, I wasn't actually sure if I would be able to complete the progressions set out in the gym! It was a necessary shock tactic to get us all back in shape though, after too much good food but it is definitely the most brutal block of training I have ever done in my life. To make matters worse, my main training partner was injured and unable to get stuck into training in the same way - I was amazed how much harder it was to work yourself into the ground without that person there doing the same next to you. Just to give you an idea of what I was putting myself through - gym sessions consisted of 6x6 for most exercises and each week the recovery time decreased. In the first week I calculated a weight that I didn't even know if I could do 6x6 at, let alone doing it under ever-increasing time pressure!!
Unsurprisingly, my throwing distances dropped again during this block and took a little while to pick back up again. I started getting really frustrated at the end of that first block when the focus switched back to throwing and things didn't start to improve as quickly as I wanted them to. With my first competition planned for the 1st March, earlier than I'd ever opened a season before, I was starting to panic that I wasn't going to be ready in time. I managed to get myself into a bit of a negative mental rut, which started to affect training even more. What I didn't realise going into this year, was that I would find it so difficult to switch off from Hammer when I left the track, and that being a full-time athlete would be so emotionally draining. Having always packed so much into my days, I'm used to there usually being at least one thing going well, whether it be athletics, academics or something else. Now, if training isn't going well, it feels like nothing is and I was really not prepared for that. Both my coach and my boyfriend had to deal with tears on more than one occasion!
Thankfully, a combination of things started to pick up and a talking to from John has set me back on track and I'm now feeling really positive and confident that things are going in the right direction. This was definitely helped by competing on the first weekend of March. The official competition was cancelled just two days beforehand, but with some quick thinking a few of us managed to source our own graded officials and we went ahead with a slightly altered set-up. On the day, my warm-up throws felt really nice and I opened with a steady 56.49m. In the second round, I improved to 57.50m followed by 57.39m in the third. I didn't improve in the next three throws but I was pleased overall with the consistency and knew that I was capable of throwing further - I just didn't get it all together in one throw on the day. This has been the catalyst for a really good week of training, including a training best mark with the 3.75kg; my previous best with this weight hammer had been in May 2011, the month that I threw my personal best with the 4kg.
My next competition is on 30th March in Grangemouth, so I'm looking forward to going back home for a few days. My training partner (now injury free thankfully!), is coming with me which will be great fun and will help us both - the competiton cobwebs haven't quite been dusted off yet so it will be good for us each to have a pair of eyes there to help if need be!! It would be great to start peppering the 60m line so watch this space....