Central Florida Highland Games

I am officially an Amateur A Division competitor.  Let me tell you, it feels pretty damned good.  The morning of the competition they were predicting an overflow of B Division competitors, so they allowed me to throw with the big boys based on my past throws.  I was really excited to learn and boy did I ever learn.

Lessons Learned
1.  My form is absolute garbage.  No lie, I looked like some hulking galoot out there on some of the throws.  I don't pick up my chest in time for the stone, pull too late on the weights for distance, have horrible timing on the weight for height, and God help my sheaf.  I did okay in some events, but I was always at the back of the pack.

2.  My Caber is not as bad as I thought.  I was the third athlete to turn the caber on the day, finished fifth, but at least I got the thing to turn.  It was only 2:00, and I need more pull out of my upper body.

3.  I was stronger than most of my competitors.  At least in the weight room anyway.  Hearing some of these talk I'm smashing weights in the weight room they won't even touch.  This leads me to believe that I really need to work on my throws and not concentrate so damn much on my numbers in the gym.  Practice on the throws is going to be my main concern over the next month and a half to get ready for Jax.  The only guy that I talked to that was stronger than I was ended up being Wes Kiser.  This guy is fixing to go pro in the Highland Games and is an absolute animal in the weight room as well as on the field. 

4.  I've been relying way too much on brute force.  I LOVE getting in the gym and hitting MY Big 5: Squat, Deadlift, Overhead Press, Power Clean, Power Snatch.  Being strong as a bull is great when all you do is actually lift the weights, but when you have specialized throws, you need technique.  I will still hit up the big lifts, but from now on it will not be my big focus.  I need to find a park or a field around town to hit up throws practice at least once a week.

5.  My upper body strength is pathetic.  I can blame it on my shoulder all I want, but if I want to succeed in the Highland Games the way I want to, I HAVE to just suck it up and JFDI, as my Dad would say.  For crying out loud I have a 500+ lb deadlift, an almost 300lb clean and I can only 3 board press 275!?  It is absolutely pathetic.  I may take a trip down to Orlando Barbell to get some help from Brian Schwab.  Brian is a graduate of the University of Florida and a world record holding powerlifter.  I talked to him Sunday and he said it would be okay to come down and train every once and a while.


Overall I had a great weekend.  Thursday morning I tweaked my left Achilles Tendon that left me with a pretty significant limp.  I sought some advice from two Athletic Trainers we have on staff at work and they both recommended Achilles taping.  Basically this tape job creates an artificial external Achilles Tendon.  I had my wife do it the morning of the competition and it kept me from getting hurt any worse than I already was.  Don't get me wrong I threw like garbage because I threw like garbage, but I just didn't have that "oomph" that I usually have on my throws.  If you want you can check out my field of competitors HERE. 

I hit 2 Prs.  A 1 foot PR on the sheaf which brings me to 22 whole feet.  It makes me sick to even say that.  I also hit a 5 foot PR on the Hammer.

I'd like to thank Kevin Dupuis and Jim Gibson for pointing out some errors in my throwing.  Jim won Athlete of the Day and Kevin smoked just about everyone on every event.  The only setback is that Kevin fouled out of the 56 WFD. 

Now its is back to the drawing board.  Remember that programming I was talking about earlier?  Yeah, that is in the trash now and I have to reconfigure things.  Oh well, that is the way the game is played.  Time to go back to the drawing board...

Update and Last Games as a B

Well it has been a while since my last blog post, so here goes. 

I have spent the past two weekends of my life moving.  Nothing makes me more inscenced than moving.  I loathe it, but it had to be done.  Instead of living in the thriving metropolis that is Melrose, FL we have decided to move back into Gainesville.  We found a house to rent here that is pretty alright, but it is a HUGE change from 18 acres of land on a lake.  We will still make it out there as often as possible, but the commute was killing us and we were spending something like $700+ a month in gas alone.  The best part is my drive to work is now 15 minutes, where it was 40-45 minutes before. 

Training has been going very well and now I'm deloading to get ready for my competition in Orlando this weekend.  I feel strong and fast, which is a big change over the past few Highland Games I've competed in.  In the past I've felt strong and slow or fast and weak, so the current combination is what I've been looking for.  A lot of it has probably come from me not worrying so much about my weight.  I'm going to compete at the weight I walk around at and not worry about bulking or too much of a salt bloat.  Another thing, I'm not going to drink the night before the competition.  I usually get together with some of the guys and have a pint or nine, but this time I'm not going to drink at all.  I find that my endurance is much better without drinking the night before.

Equipment will be different this time too.  I thought about getting a pair of lighter Powerlifting briefs to help out, but I decided against it at the end.  I'll be using hammer spikes for the first time in this games and that should put some extra oomph on my throws.  I've decided to stay away from the throwing spikes and just throw in my Five Fingers.  Sure, I get a ton of crap for throwing in them from the other competitors, but they work and I throw farther than the guys that laugh at them.  I should start giggling at the guys in soccer cleats.  I'll be wearing a belt this time it will be a Spud Inc. 3 ply Deadlift Belt.  It will probably only be used for the 56# Weight For Height and the Caber.  I finally got my sheaf fork tuned in and filed/sanded down the way it needs to be, but I SUCK AT THE SHEAF.

Here are my goals for the weekend
56#WFD:  26'+
28#WFD:  52'+
Heavy Hammer:  70'+
56# WFH:  12'+
Stone of Strength: 40'  This is a mark I cannot seem to beat, but I feel much more confident in reaching this goal this go 'round
Caber:  At least one 12:00.  I'm always one of the few guys that turns it, but I usually end up over-muscling it and jacking up the turn.
Sheaf:  Try not to embarrass myself too bad.  I SUCK AT THE SHEAF.

I don't care if I win or not, I just want to be in the A's.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the guys I throw with in the B's, but I'm not learning anything from them.  So this will be my last Highland Games as a B regardless of if I win or not.  It is time for me to move on and start throwing with the big boys and learn a thing or two.  I know I'm definitely strong enough to be in the A's, I just need to translate the technique a little better.

All I need now is to pack up the Blue Heat, ammonia, and the kilt...