Ok, now its official...The season is over! ;)
As of my last blog entry on the 13th, I was all ready to call it a season looking at a long stretch of 16 meets that started back in the beginning of May. But then, whats just 1 more right? I got the call to go to Daegu, Korea late Friday evening and was on a plane for a 20 hour travel to Asia 72hrs later. I had no expectations on doing well because I had been on "vacation" for a few weeks since the last meet of my season. Although it wasn't a true vacation...I had to move in and out of the Olympic Training Center and into my new place a few blocks away, twice! It was a very busy time for me that included NO Training. So, my expectations for Daegu where to me more of a tourist than an athlete...and it worked!
I managed to throw 79.86m for 3rd place in what turned out to be my 3rd best performance of the year. This was my 2nd trip to Daegu and I have had 2 solid performances there. Things are looking good for the 2011 World Championships that take place at that very stadium in just 2 years. After speaking with arguably the best javelin coach in the world, Kari Ihalinen of Finland...It turns out that a few weeks off at the end of the season can actually do some good for technical event athletes, given that they are still in somewhat decent shape before the 2 week layoff. Here are just a few examples of what some of the best athletes in the world have done after some rest and relaxation...
exhibit #1, Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway in 2008 after winning Olympic Gold. In his words "was drunk for a week straight, and wasnt even going to go to Zurich I decided to go at the last second..." Result, he had the greatest series of his life, threw over 90m and had 4 throws over 88m.
exhibit #2, Barbara Spotakova of Czech Republic in 2008 after winning Olympic Gold. I was sitting at breakfast with her at the World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, she was telling friends that she hadn't trained in 2 weeks and was drunk for most of it, her hometown threw her a party that lasted a week straight...she had no idea how she was going to even warm up for the meet...Result, a new world record!
exhibit #3, Andreas again, in Zurich...again! After winning World Championship Gold in Berlin, goes to Zurich again with no training for a week. Result, throws 91.28m, his 2nd best throw ever and wins by over 6m!
So what does all this mean? Should world class technical event athletes just decide to take a few weeks off prior to World Championships or Olympic Games? Hardly, there is enough science to show that isn't the smartest option, but there is enough science to show that an athletes mental state plays a huge role in their performance. To find the magical combination of physical preparation and tapering with the relaxed mental state of 2 weeks vacation...that is the key!
So whats next? For me, task #1 is kick this jetlag! Next on the list is finish getting moved in to my new house down the street. After that is to get my fall ITA ducks in a row and make sure that I am ready to start working with the local kids full time. Last but not least...
Rest and relaxation! My plan is 4 weeks off...let see if I stick to it.
Until next time,
M++
Monday, September 28, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Rest & Recovery
For the 1st time in over 4 months, I am blogging from....home ;)
I just returned home from a ridiculously long season and am finally taking some time to lick my wounds, do some laundry and get things in order for the fall training period. As far as I know, I don't have any more meets scheduled, but I have been told that I am supposed to make a end of the month run to Japan and Korea (again) but i am honestly not in the mood. Considering I had to take 800mg of caffeine and a shot of demoral in my big toe just to get through my last meet, I'm going to stick with my instincts and say its time for a rest...but then again there are bills to pay, so who knows...
Here is a quick recap of this seasons destinations:
Doha, Qatar 8 May
Tucson, Arizona 23 May
Hengelo, Netherlands 1 Jun
Seinäjoki, Finland 6 Jun
Kuortane, Finland 13 Jun
Eugene, Oregon 25 Jun
Villeneuve d'Ascq, France 30 Jun
Pátra, Greece 6 Jul
Roma, Italy 10 Jul
Athína, Greece 13 Jul
Heusden, Belgium 18 Jul
Stockholm, Sweden 31 Jul
Berlin, Germany 21 Aug
Tallinn, Estonia 25 Aug
Riga, Latvia 26 Aug
Rovereto, Italy 1 Sep
Bruxelles, Belgium 4 Sep
The end of the season was a whirlwind of meets that included 5 meets in 14 days. In the javelin throw, that kind of schedule is asking for trouble, if not injury. I told myself that I would not do that kind of schedule anymore, but somehow the lure of potential money (which is never there) always sucks me in, I guess the idea of making money always sounds good especially when you don't have any. That brings me to my main topic of this blog...Being on top of the world...and staying there.
I read an article a few days ago that asked why so many of the US athletes (throwers in particular) travel to Europe only to have sub par performances and have a hard time staying in the mix with the Europeans and don't put up any big marks...allow me to take an exert from this article:
"But there is a consistent performance problem for athletes when making the National Team. 2009 like 2008 produced reps in Mens javelin, then hitting Europe and performing below par. Golden League poor performances, Grand Prix events low level and culminating in qualifying rounds at World Champs where distances are lower than expected. In the period after NCAA Finals and US Nationals there are drops of 8+m in the important European season. When the Mens event took just over 78m to make the final, each of the 3 US mens throwers PR's were sufficient to go through but what occurred was a marked drop.
Allow me if I may to put some of these questions at rest...if your interested.
First of all, in regards to the top guys in the world, when you are on top of the world in any sport, often times its not that hard to stay there. Its getting there that is the kicker. Most of the guys who travel and do the (now non existent) Golden League events exclusively are traveling business class, staying in 5 star hotels and have access to good food and even better medical and therapy and alot of rest. With the exception of a 3 week span in July, these athletes have multiple weeks in between competitions to recover and get ready for the next one.
The problem arises when you don't know if your are included in these competitions until a day or 2 before hand and you are left trying to squeeze in smaller meets on far ends of the globe to pay the bills in between...then you finally get the go ahead for the big meets and 9 times out of 10, you catch a plane, arrive the day before and throw on maybe 3 days rest...Thats not the exact recipe for big throws. The "wait and see" schedule is in effect for the majority of throwers on the circuit with the exception of the top guys in the world, who have their schedules set early in the year which allows them to design training plans and peaks for major championships. Heading to Europe with your bags packed and on the eternal "wait list" is a way of life for the majority and its just not an effective training plan for big results. So once again, its seems as if your able to climb that mountain, it gets a little easier at the top and its alot easier to stay there...so the question is asked, how to climb that mountain, faster and more effective?
back to the drawing board...
Until next time...
M++
I just returned home from a ridiculously long season and am finally taking some time to lick my wounds, do some laundry and get things in order for the fall training period. As far as I know, I don't have any more meets scheduled, but I have been told that I am supposed to make a end of the month run to Japan and Korea (again) but i am honestly not in the mood. Considering I had to take 800mg of caffeine and a shot of demoral in my big toe just to get through my last meet, I'm going to stick with my instincts and say its time for a rest...but then again there are bills to pay, so who knows...
Here is a quick recap of this seasons destinations:
Doha, Qatar 8 May
Tucson, Arizona 23 May
Hengelo, Netherlands 1 Jun
Seinäjoki, Finland 6 Jun
Kuortane, Finland 13 Jun
Eugene, Oregon 25 Jun
Villeneuve d'Ascq, France 30 Jun
Pátra, Greece 6 Jul
Roma, Italy 10 Jul
Athína, Greece 13 Jul
Heusden, Belgium 18 Jul
Stockholm, Sweden 31 Jul
Berlin, Germany 21 Aug
Tallinn, Estonia 25 Aug
Riga, Latvia 26 Aug
Rovereto, Italy 1 Sep
Bruxelles, Belgium 4 Sep
The end of the season was a whirlwind of meets that included 5 meets in 14 days. In the javelin throw, that kind of schedule is asking for trouble, if not injury. I told myself that I would not do that kind of schedule anymore, but somehow the lure of potential money (which is never there) always sucks me in, I guess the idea of making money always sounds good especially when you don't have any. That brings me to my main topic of this blog...Being on top of the world...and staying there.
I read an article a few days ago that asked why so many of the US athletes (throwers in particular) travel to Europe only to have sub par performances and have a hard time staying in the mix with the Europeans and don't put up any big marks...allow me to take an exert from this article:
"But there is a consistent performance problem for athletes when making the National Team. 2009 like 2008 produced reps in Mens javelin, then hitting Europe and performing below par. Golden League poor performances, Grand Prix events low level and culminating in qualifying rounds at World Champs where distances are lower than expected. In the period after NCAA Finals and US Nationals there are drops of 8+m in the important European season. When the Mens event took just over 78m to make the final, each of the 3 US mens throwers PR's were sufficient to go through but what occurred was a marked drop.
Allow me if I may to put some of these questions at rest...if your interested.
First of all, in regards to the top guys in the world, when you are on top of the world in any sport, often times its not that hard to stay there. Its getting there that is the kicker. Most of the guys who travel and do the (now non existent) Golden League events exclusively are traveling business class, staying in 5 star hotels and have access to good food and even better medical and therapy and alot of rest. With the exception of a 3 week span in July, these athletes have multiple weeks in between competitions to recover and get ready for the next one.
The problem arises when you don't know if your are included in these competitions until a day or 2 before hand and you are left trying to squeeze in smaller meets on far ends of the globe to pay the bills in between...then you finally get the go ahead for the big meets and 9 times out of 10, you catch a plane, arrive the day before and throw on maybe 3 days rest...Thats not the exact recipe for big throws. The "wait and see" schedule is in effect for the majority of throwers on the circuit with the exception of the top guys in the world, who have their schedules set early in the year which allows them to design training plans and peaks for major championships. Heading to Europe with your bags packed and on the eternal "wait list" is a way of life for the majority and its just not an effective training plan for big results. So once again, its seems as if your able to climb that mountain, it gets a little easier at the top and its alot easier to stay there...so the question is asked, how to climb that mountain, faster and more effective?
back to the drawing board...
Until next time...
M++
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