So, it's been awhile since my last post and I should be Finland right now, but yet another injury at just the wrong time is keeping me home. Two days after coming back from the Nationals, I pulled a muscle in my lower abs hurdling, and it really hurt. I think it was a knock-on injury from the really tight groins. It's surprising how critical those muscles are to running, sprinting, jumping, and especially pole vaulting. I went to the doctor, then saw a chiropractor who threw everything at it, including cold laser, ultrasound, graston therapy, electro stimulation, and magnetic resonance. By last Wednesday it was getting better, but I just was too afraid that I wouldn't be able to complete the deca in Finland, and then also ruin my chance at doing the one in Seattle on August 15. It was a harsh calculation, because I was keying on the World meet, but at this point completing a decathlon with a decent score became more important to me. I had ok workouts yesterday and today, so I think my ab will recover almost fully by August 15, although my bruised heel is very painful, so the next three weeks will be no walk in the park. I can't wait til the season is over and I can recharge, mostly because of the heel. It needs 2 to 3 months of either full rest, or non-impact exercise like the bike or rowing to fully recover probably. I count 10 significant injuries now this training season since last August, so I need to reassess my training methods and intensity for next season. I think relatively minor changes could make a large difference towards the likelihood of injury. I was asking a lot of my body to go from zero to decathlon in one year, especially training the way I was, attempting to train somewhat like a younger person would. I did quite a bit of weight lifting with my legs, so even though my strength went up, the flexibility of those same muscles decreased, so the propensity to injure actually probably went up instead of down. Logically, this next year I could lift much less to maintain the same strength, and do more stretching, yoga, etc. to regain the same limberness I used to have. This, plus perhaps increased warmup time and less volume of full speed sprint workouts will dramatically lower the injury liability. For example, the workout where I pulled my hamstring, which is really where the chain of injuries began( or maybe the swollen knee before that)I was running 50yard sprints, and I was doing 16 of them, 2 sets of 8, pretty much all out. Instead of doing that, I should do maybe 10, 2 sets of 5, and keep the effort to 90% instead of 98%. The hurdles is the only event where it takes almost maximum effort to practice, so there the only solution is the most warmup possible without draining strength, then limited volume at max effort. And this is only with 3 step practice later in the season. Without a serious injury that takes me out for month after month, I would be able to work into the harder workouts gradually, and keep what I've built up without having to start all over again after the injury.
Anyway, on the plus side, I had a pretty good national meet in Wisconsin on July 10, winning the long jump, getting second in the high jump and 4th in the discus. I had to do the high jump and long jump at the same time, so it was less that ideal, but I was still excited to jump 5-11 and almost make 6-0 3/4. I was less excited with my long jump, but with the lack of prep, I couldn't complain too much to jump 19-11. I was only able to take 4 jumps because of the conflict, and I ran through on my last one, so I really only got three, although that doesn't matter as much as the fact that I was totally rushed, and even barely remember it it happened so fast. I didn't really connect in the discus and threw about 122', so I was a little disappointed there, because I could have gotten second if I had thrown in the higher 120s, which is where I should have been. Also with regards to this meet, my groin muscles were still aching badly and very tight, and I was fighting off some kind of virus. I was actually still coughing a little on the day of the long and high jump. If I could ever be injury free and not sick, I might be able to do something...
So, now I'm counting down to Seattle in 18 days, so at this point I have to get back in the running groove, and just do whatever technique practice I can to stay in touch with the events. I'll try to vault again next week, and hopefully be able to sprint enough to do long jump run throughs. I may not be able to hurdle much, so that may be a bit rough in Seattle, but I can still get the American record. I've found out that the AR is officially actually just 7082, and not the 7500 done by Rex Harvey in 1991 because of the change in the javelin specs, they only count jav and deca records from after about 1994. This record is very soft, and I know I can do it, if not in Seattle, then next year in May or June. My workout and meet PRs still add up to around 7700, so I have some pretty good leeway. In July of next year Kip Janvrin turns 45, and he could probably beat me and the record, so I think I have a one year window to break the record. There are a couple decas I can do here in Oregon in next May and June, so those would be the next goals after this season, and also the indoor Pentathlon at the World championships in British Columbia next March. The indoor penta world record is also reachable for me, because it has three of my best events, the hurdles, high jump and long jump, and then the shot and 1000m run. The world and american records are the same, so after some rest until October it will be back to the track!
