2009 Season Review

My birthday is tomorrow, so I figured it would be as good a time as any to do a assessment of my season.

The Good – My biggest success of the year was winning my first Swiss Championship.  That was an accomplishment I have been waiting for, and it was nice to realize.  With school finished, I was also able to drastically increase my volume of training.  I estimate that I trained an addition 50-100% this year, which is beginning to build a strong foundation for future success.  With the increase volume came increased fitness.  I felt a little heavy last year, weighing in at around 112.5 kg.  This year my weight was down to around 105 kg.  Most importantly, I was able to gain strength while losing those pounds.  My special strength also increased a lot due to the high training volume.  Specifically, I threw training bests with the heavy 9- and 10-kilogram hammers.  Coach Bondarchuk felt my throws with those implements indicated I was ready to throw nearly 70 meters.

The Bad – Well, I didn’t throw 70 meters.  Other than a few long fouls early in the season, I wasn’t able to approach this goal this year.  By the end of the season, training distances also dropped off a little.  Looking back on the season, I felt that in my first meets I was able to step it up at meets and use the adrenaline to throw far.   Unfortunately, those far throws were fouls.  After that, I began to throw more conservatively in order to make sure my throws were legal.  While my foul trouble disappeared, so did that extra energy and my distances were not as impressive as a before.

The Ugly - By my last meet of the season, even my technique was beginning to falter.  I am not sure what created the problems, but I know what they are and I know I am already working on fixing them for next year.  One element that contributed to the problem was the period of time I spent away from my coach this summer.  I was in Europe for 10 weeks and might not do that again in the future.  The length of time would have been fine if I had more competitions, but some of my meets fell through and it would have made sense for me to take two shorter trips to Europe this summer rather than one long trip.

As with every year, you learn many things from your mistakes that can help you reach your goals in the future.  The World Championships started today in Berlin and watching that event always makes me wonder what I need to improve upon to reach that level.  This year’s competition is even more exciting since three of my training partners are competing for Team Canada: Dylan Armstrong, Sultana Frizell, and Jennifer Joyce.  Obviously my coach knows what it takes to get there.  I think I know too.  I know what I can improve upon and, more importantly, my successes this year also reminded me that my goals are still attainable.