Training results; bar results

My parents and I at the 2009 UW/WSU Dual Meet. (Ed. note: I was wearing a Husky shirt during the competition itself)

Another week of training and another new personal best in training, this time with the 10-kilogram (22 pound) hammer. After watching my friend Zack Midles win the UW/WSU dual meet on Friday with a new personal best, I did a little practice of my own and improved my training personal best by four feet to 52.88 meters (173-06).

I arrived back to Kamloops last night and Coach Bondarchuk told me that my recent success with the heavy hammers is a sign of things to come. Both this mark and my recent training best with the 9-kilogram hammer make him think that I am in shape to throw a personal best of around 69 meters (226-04). However, to do that, we need to do two things: (1) let my body rest up a little, and (2) transfer the strength I’ve built into speed so that I can have just as much success with the competition 16 pound hammer. He gave me a new training program today that should accomplish just that. Rather than throwing mostly heavy hammers, I’ll be throwing lightweight hammers for the next few weeks and do little weightlifting. This will allow my core muscles to rest and regain some speed and explosiveness. My next meet is not until May 31st, so I’ve got plenty of time to finish putting the pieces together.

In other news, I got my results back from February’s Washington State bar exam. I passed. Now I’ll be licensed in two states. I’m not a worrier, but I wasn’t very optimistic about my results after starting work in January. With training and starting a new job, I had little time to prepare. I now have more doors open to me after I retire from throwing and will be able to jump right in without needing to take another exam.