Back from the dead!

Holy crap, has it really been two years? Ok, I'm back in the game bitches. I'm lighter, faster, stronger. I feel big things this year!

Update

I know I haven't updated this in a while. I have been really busy. There have been a few games and I have been working on a new workout routine, so I'll post the details soon.

Stay tuned.

Aug 5th and Aug 11th Games.

Well, I figured I would just lump my two game reports together. I’ll start with the Weight city games that John Collins’ family put on in Clarksburg. We had a semi humid day, but it was too crazy hot like it had been all week. What a great day of throwing. We decided to do a team event pairing up an A thrower with a master or B class thrower. The A’s were a shootout between John Collins, Beau Fay, and Mike Dickens. They had some incredible throws. Beau had a couple LWD throws over 71’ I was the old guy teamed with John Collins and all I could say I did was not hurt his scores ;-) John came in 1^st and I came in 7^th overall, but the points were all pretty close between us mere mortals. As a team we were the points leaders. So that was cool. I actually had a great day considering it was my first game coming off a really bad back injury. I had some really good numbers and was pretty solid across the board. That Frank Henry was doing a good job of staying out in front of me. Frank always kills me on the stone and LWD but I thought I could catch him on a couple things. He edged me out of both hammers and the caber, beating me by something like a foot. One day Frank!

So now on to the second game on the following weekend. This one was the Glenn Meade Highland games in Corry, Pa. I had no idea how far away this place was from me. It was about an 8 hour drive up. Corry is right next to Lake Erie. It’s nice country up there but man an 8 hour drive can tweak your back. I was lucky to find a bed and breakfast for both Friday night and Saturday night so at least I didn’t have to drive straight through. We had a great day to throw. It was sunny, about 80 degrees, and no humidity! The field was soft and muddy from heavy rains the last couple of days though. On the WOB both the 42 and the 56 were vanishing into the mud when they landed. I had a pretty good day. Norman Spayd was chasing me most of the day and he killed me in the stone. I’m not a track guy so these shot putters usually clean me up in the stone. My stone sucks. I’m lucky to break 30’ and in this game my stone luck was failing. I did something like 29’ and Norm was in the high 30’s. He came close to catching me on the LWD too lobbing out a 45+ throw to my 46+, a 5’ PR for him. My throws ended up 29+ stone, 32+ HWD, 46+LWD, 83’ LH, 22’ muddy sheaf, 13’ WOB (Rich and I were both tag’n 14’), a 12:00 and a 12:10 caber turn. I took 1^st in the masters although I’m not sure how the point spread looked. Beau took 1^st in the Ams and if I am not mistaken he had a 74+ LWD! Despite the drive I had a great time! I know the Weight city scores are up on NASGA, I’m not sure about Glenn Meade though.

Wed - Pre game workout.

Have a game on Sunday so today will be my last workout until the game. Probably lifted more than I should of but I was feeling good.

• 15 warm up on the Stairmaster
• Back Extensions - 4x20x410
• Cable crunches - 1x50x210 2x80x210 1x100x210
• Wide cable press - 1x8x280 1x8x300 1x8x320 1x8x330
• Wide fly - 1x8x220 2x8x240 1x8x250
• Preacher curl w/EZ-bar - 1x8x80 1x8x90 1x8x100 1x8x120
• Rope push downs - 1x8x180 1x8x200 1x8x220 1x8x240

Sun - Training at Birch's

Had a good day at Birch's. Broke 30' with the stone finally with a 31' and change. Managed to get out a few 46' LWD and one at 47' which makes me feel pretty good this long after being out of the game. Hammer is still stuck in the mid 80's. I think I have lost the flex in my back and it's throwing me off.
Dave brought out his Ironmind pulling harness and we ended the day with a few pulls on Birch's Chevy Tahoe. The videos don't show it well but these were on a uphill grade. Much MUCH harder than I thought it would be!!!

Videos from Birch's site:

Birch pulling
Eric Pulling (With Birch's lovely commentary)

I only had flipflops and my throwing shoes with me so I barowed a pair of running shoes from Birch. In the first clip I didn't have them laced tight enough and stepped out of them. I tried to keep going but was losing my traction :( Next two pulls went ok, but man was I tired!

Mon - practice

Got together with Adam today and did sheaf and WOB. Nothing special from me. It was hard and I am sore today. It's going to take a while to get my sheaf mojo back. And WOB, it was just pathetic. Oh well, this is what training days are for and I had a blast shooting the sh*t with Adam.

Sun - Practice

Nothing special today. Got out for a little practice at O-dark thirty in the morning. Did about 2 hours of throwing. Not a bad day, just average. Ground was dry and hard making my hammer spikes just about useless. Still managed some low 60's in the HH and mid 80's in the LH. Not what I was hoping for. Should of been up in the 70's on the HH and 90's in the LH. Oh well, I should be happy I was throwing at all. Was about 30' in the HWD and 45+ in the LWD, so those were not too bad. Monday I will be doing WOB and Sheaf with Adam and maybe Tim.

Trying to step up my training a bit. I have a game on Aug 5th and haven't thrown all year. So my mojo is gone. Plenty strong, but that doesn't seem to help my throwing too much :-(

Wed - Training

Met Adam and Tim out in Federalsburg for an afternoon of throwing. Not a bad night! Was great to get out and throw with the guys again. I haven't seen them in a while. My throws were pretty aweful. I expected that after the lifts I had the day before. My hammer really showed how blasted my upper body was. Think the best I could pull of was a 63' to 64' HH. It was all good though. I can feel the mojo coming back. It wasn't a bad day for all of us though. Adam blew out a 2' PR on the light weight, 47+ feet. I think he was pretty happy about that. His WOB is looking pretty good too. Speaking of WOB, Tim was coaching me on the spin. Can't say I throw any higher with it but I was clearing the bar and not falling on my arse. There may be something to that spinny crap! Wrapped up around 9ish and was home watching the tube at 10pm. Overall a good night.

Tue - chest

Had to workout quick today, only had an hour and a half to work with. I cut it back to 3 sets and just jumped the weight up. Had some nice gains this week. Seems that not working out so much is working for me :-)

• 10 minute warm up on the stairmaster
• Wide cable press - 1x8x280 1x8x300 1x8x320 1x1x360 (Big PR)
• Wide fly - 1x8x220 1x8x230 1x8x240
• Shoulder press - 1x8x250 2x6x250
• Standing shoulder raise - 1x8x150 1x8x160 1x8x170
• High delt rows - 1x8x340 1x8x360 1x8x380

Would of finished up with some shrugs and back extensions but ran out of time.

Sat - Boarding

Took my daughter boarding today. We spent all day ripping it up. This picture was right before I taught my daughter about what happens when you don't wear pads.

I hardly ever ride that board I'm holding. It's more of a pool board and I usually have my carving long board. This one is smaller and I figured it would be easier to teach her tricks with. Unfortunately the wheels are a little hard and on the way back to the car I jumped a curb and hit a crack in the asphalt full of gravel. The board came to a dead stop, I however didn't. Got some nice road rash.

Thurs - Back/arms

Started the day with a 2 hour long skateboard ride with the dog. She is becoming a very good boarding partner. I only had to run over her once before she figured out it wasn't wise to cut in front of me. My workout today was amazing. I don't know what I ate, but I was feeling great!

• Barbell rows - 4x15x410
• Wide lat pull downs - 1x10x290 1x10x300 1x10x310 1x12x320
• Narrow grip pull downs - 1x10x290 1x10x320 1x10x340 1x12x360 (Don't need to tell you how happy I was with these!)
• Preacher curl w/EZ bar - 1x8x70 1x8x80 1x8x90 1x15x100 (These were good too)
• Reverse curl w/straight bar - 1x8x80 1x8x100 1x8x110 1x10x120
• French press - 1x8x200 1x8x210 1x8x220 1x10x230
• Rope push downs - 1x10x170 1x10x190 1x10x210 1x7x220 (Arms were blasted)
• Cable crunches - 2x50x210 1x80x210 1x100x210
  

Awesome day!

Wed - Chiro day

Went to the bone cruncher today and got straightened out. I was going to do back today but after spending the afternoon at the dog park, I was too tired. So tomorrow will be a back day.

Mon - Sheaf/WOB/ some light lifting

Too fricken hot today! Did a little sheaf and some WOB. Just focused on technique. Then did a little light workout.

• Cable Crunches - 4x50x200
• Back extensions - 4x20x410
• Rolling thunder lifts - 1x10x160 1x10x200 1x10x220 1x9x240 (PR on this! No doubt the Capt. of Crush #3 is helping with this!)

Thats it. Not much going on today, it's just too stinkin hot.

Sun - Training

First real practice this year. Man I need some work. My stone has fallen apart. Longest throw was from a stand, the glide added nothing. That aint right!

• Stone - 26' and some change. It's like my first day all over. I was up to around 32'+ at the beginning of the year.
• Heavy weight (42) - 31'4" Ok, this wasn't bad. Only a foot from my PR :-)
• Light weight - 44'6" Not bad, but far from 50!
• Light hammer - 87'6" They were all in the mid 80's, not too bad.
• Sheaf (21lb) - No problems with the 20' fence. Not sure about the height.

It was HOT and Humid! By the time I hit the sheaf I was done. Over all, a good first crack at getting my numbers back up.

Fri Legs/abs

Late workout today. I really am shocked at how strong I still am. I thought I would of lost a lot more strength than I have. I feel pretty good!

• 10 minute warm up on the stairmaster
• Single leg press offs - 4x10x400 (Actually was getting the weights to launch off my foot a bit!)
• Leg curls - 2x8x120 2x8x130
• Leg extensions - 2x8x230 2x8x240
• Calf raises - 4x40x410 each leg
• Rope pull over crunches - 4x20x200
• Cable crunches - 4x50x210

Tue chest/shoulders and sheaf/wob

First day I have actually done some real throwing! But first the gym:

• Wide cable press - 1x8x260 1x8x270 1x8x280 1x8x290
• Wide fly - 3x8x210 1x9x210
• Shoulder press - 2x8x240 1x8x250 1x10x250
• Standing shoulder raise - 1x8x130 1x8x140 1x8x150 1x10x160
• Delt row - 1x8x320 1x8x330 1x8x340 1x10x360
• Standing shrugs - 2x30x410 2x30x415
• Back extensions - 2x15x410 2x20x410

Overall not too bad. Not the most I have ever lifted, but a pretty good volume. Still felt really strong and the numbers aren't too sad ;-)

Then I did some sheaf. Was killing my 21' branch with my 20 pound bag! These looked really good. I'm totally stoked to get on the field with these heights. WOB was a little sad. Barely making 11' I'll have to work the bugs out there. Good day either way.

Finally a real workout!!!

It's about fricken time. Hot as all get out, but I got in a real workout. I was surprised to see that I haven't lost a crap load of strength. Yeah baby yeah!

• 10 minute warm up on the stairmaster.
• Barbell rows - 1x10x410 3x15x410
• Wide Lat pull downs - 1x10x280 1x10x290 1x10x300 1x10x310
• Preacher curl w/EZ-bar - 1x10x60 1x10x70 1x10x80 1x10x90
• Reverse curl w/straight bar - 1x10x60 3x10x80
• French press - 1x10x160 3x10x200
• Rope pull downs - 1x10x160 1x10x170 1x10x180 1x10x190
• Back extensions - 4x20x410
• Cable crunches - 4x50x210

Must of drank a gallon of water. It really was good to get back into action! I actually was feeling pretty strong. In a few weeks I may start some light throwing. Woohoo!

Great day for a ride!

Took today off from work. It was sunny and 80 but not too humid. I had a lot to do today. My neighbor was having a midsummer party and I had stuff to make. So I got up early this morning, grabbed my long board and hit the trail. Did a little over 10 miles today. That felt great! Skated all the way to the beach on the other side of the island and then just kicked back and checked out the sights. Then I huffed it back and had a coffee at the coffee shop.

10 miles on a board is a surprisingly good cardio workout!

Saturday/Sunday - Boarding

Ok, so I was looking for a little something low impact to do this weekend. I pulled out some of my old skateboards and thought I'd just do a little riding. Man I am old. 7 years ago I was bombing the city streets of DC sometimes hitting 50mph and Coleman sliding to a stop. Now I feel all shakey.

It's coming back though. I had my 3 year old daughter on both of my boards. She loves it and Sunday she pulled quite a few solo flights. I'm shocked at the amount of balance she has. I'm getting her a board for her birthday. You never know, she could end up the next Tony Hawk!

I'm sore today. I never realized how flexible you need to be on those things. Man I wish I could shave a few years off of this old body.

Chiro today.

Well my chiropractor said it's a torn ligament and if my doctor couldn't feel that I should find a new doctor. Anyway, did some adjusting and the stim and heat thing. I feel great. Should of hit him up first!