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I’m getting so anxious for outdoors to get here and ready to compete.  It was weird not competing in indoors and I got tons of great messages from fans who said they missed me at indoor championships this year, but it was a good move for me to continue to focus on my hammer through the indoor season.

Right now in Colorado, there is a sort of teasing type weather for about two months.  We’ll get some beautiful sunny days around 50, and then snow and ice, then we’ll gets some beautiful sunny days at 60′s and then snow and ice, and this trend will continue through early April.  It’s been a mild enough winter that I have been able to throw outside 2-4 days a week consistently, but those days are typically cold and windy, and some straight up miserable.

That being said, I’m done with the effing snow and cold and ready for the sunshine!  I am so pale right now, I need to work on my suntan and get my track tan lines back.

So training, what have I been doing, how have I been doing?  I’ve gotten a lot of questions lately, so I figured I’d try to talk about some of them in here.  I’m so behind on updating my blog and website… anyway, let’s begin.

So what’s happening in my life:

I’ve moved to Colorado Springs and started working as a coach at CrossfitSoco in January and subbing at Atlas Prep (junior high charter school aimed at at-risk youths).  Why another move?  Working at the bank with my schedule, I was unable to pay my bills, going deeper in debt every month and still didn’t have the time/energy I needed to dedicate to training (I was unable to see my coach for weeks at a time).

My support environment in Colorado Springs is amazing.  I’ve made a lot of friends and have people who support me.  I have a place to train (my lifting/conditioning/specific strength/drills) at my gym I coach at which is over 6,000 sqft, I have time to for training and recovery (barely had time for one and the other was non-existent before), and as the weather gets better, I will have to time to drive up and see my coach and may even find a few spare dollars to afford chiros.

Overall, I’ve moved so much trying to find the right training environment.  I know there is no perfect place, but I’m happy and I have time for training and competitions (remember last year flying in at 2am the day before a competition or flying in on the day?…) and I have a furniture right now!!!  I have my very own bed.

Training/Fitness/Strength:

I’ve tried many different types of training and lifting and had varying degrees of success and failures.    After coming off of a dismal season and injuries in 2010, I decided the lifting heavy and hard every day approach was not for me.  Also, I’m not 20 any more and I needed to maximize the most out of my workouts.  I needed a sniper approach and not a shotgun.  I needed to be strong enough, but more importantly, I needed and wanted specific strength and speed that would actually benefit my hammer and not just look good on paper.

I feel like I’m really stepping into this fitness wise.  Sam Lewis of NorcoCrossfit (former D-II football player, CF-L1 cert, and masters in sports science) writes my programming along with my influence and input.  In the fall, I did very general fitness.  This past winter, I’ve been going through a “strength” phase which mostly consists of me doing two days a week “metcons” or metabolic conditioning (think of specific and special strength exercises, light to med weight fast and explosive) and two days a week with an Olympic/plyo movement and heavy leg like squat/ft. squat/or deadlift.

So what have my results been?:  I’m the fittest I’ve ever been in my life so far….  My core strength is right where it needs to be, my specific and special strength is where I like it to be, and my speed is good and will grow as I move into that phase.  This past week I found my heavy sets for snatch, clean, back squat, and front squat.   I don’t do a lot of heavy singles, so I went in not knowing what to expect.  For snatch, the most I’ve every attempted was 77.5k and after getting 80k easily, I went on to try 90k just barely missing it.  Clean, my all-time best was 240lbs (also weighing about 200lbs at the time) now 15lbs lighter, I cleaned 245lbs!

So, my training is working, I’m gaining explosive strength and fitness without hurting myself and driving myself into the ground.  I feel like my strength and fitness program is complementing my throwing and not getting in the way.

Training/Throwing:

I just got back from a great week of training in AZ with Kibwe, Martin, and Sultana.  It was nice to actually throw with people for a change, as I have been mostly doing this alone.  There have been some high’s (I’ve put some videos up of some of my better throws) and naturally some lows.

Throwing alone and throwing cold isn’t the best combination, but I’ve made the most of things.  My gym I workout is big enough for me to do drills inside, throw med balls and such, and my more open schedule allows for me to throw twice a day.

As I move into my speed, my light balls are going to take off, my heavy are right where I want them already out throwing my best from last year.   Some of my best marks in training have been (49m- 6k, 60m-5k, 69m-4k).

So as I move into outdoors, which very well may be my last, I am happy with my hard work and my focus.  I’m ready to do great things.   I’ll get around to updating my website that will include my meets I will compete in and also give an update to what I’m doing in training.  As always, I hope the best for those who are training and feel free to shoot me emails and messages with questions and always appreciated cheers!

Don’t call it a come back, I’ve been here for years!

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