C. Fay Training Log

The day started off raining and muddy, with a stacked class full of awesome throwers, we kicked it off with heavy hammer while it was wet out, using a hammer initially with a 1/2" pvc handle

1st throw: 83+, went nice and easy on this to get a mark, took the lead for a short while with this, many guys were losing their grip

2nd throw: the guys switched the hammer out for one with a 3/4" pvc handle with tape on it, this caused me to lose my grip 82+

3rd throw: They took the tape off the hammer and everyone was gripping better at this point, I tried to make up for lost ground and muscled it too much instead of staying long, I got short, bad throw 83+, almost 10ft off my best but few if any were throwing PRs in the weather, not sure where I placed but not too high.

Stone: Not worth even reviewing, 35+, dead last as expected, just glad to be done with it.

HWFD: We used one with a decent length of chain and a cannonball type of weight on it, never used one like that before

1st throw: 33+

2nd throw: 34'9 PR! My foot was slipping in the mud bad on the first turn, somehow I saved the throw for a modest PR, it was becoming a real mudfest and many guys were slipping and fouling.

3rd throw: 34+, was not patient enough and muscled it

LWFD:

1st throw: Side foul, felt off

2nd throw: tried to be more deliberate and safe to get one in, 63+

3rd throw: 66+, blah overall, about 3ft off my best

Caber: 18ft, 130lbs

1st: Easy turn for 12:45, others said it turned high in the air before it touched the ground, felt easy

2nd: Bad pick, had to drop it, this cost me

3rd: 1:30, easy turn again. 

Many guys ended up turning the stick and although my 12:45 was one of the better scores, since there were so many turns the drop kept me from getting as many points as I hoped for on a strong event for me

20lb sheaf: A new experience for me, never threw anything over 16lb in a games

24ft: (opening height): missed it the first time, made a stance adjustment and cleared easily. A few guys no heighted here

27ft: cleared this on my second try I think, quite a few more didn't make it.

29ft: came close, but not close enough, only two made this height I think.

WOB: Opening height was 13, I came in at that and cleared 13, 14 and 15ft on my first try. There were still 10 of us in at 15ft and 8 of us in at 16ft. Pretty crazy, especially since it was standing WOB only. I had the height easily all three times at 16ft but left it about an inch out front every time, just didn't follow through enough. 2 guys made 16ft.

End result, 12th place out of 14 competitors.

Congrats to Eddie Brown on the win, awesome display overall.

This was about how I figured I would place, so no surprises there. I knew I was outgunned in the weights and stones, although I thought my hammer would have been more competitive. I hit pretty good marks on my strong events (caber, sheaf, wob) but the competition was just so strong that they didn't get me the points that I hoped for. I should have cleared 16ft on the WOB and I am not too sure but that may have cost me a little in the placing as well as the caber drop I had. A few critical errors can hurt a lot. Overall it was a great experience and just to be able to watch some of these guys throw was a great learning experience. I walked away with 2 PRs, a HWFD PR and a 20lb sheaf PR (since I never threw one, any height was a PR lol!). Definitely something to build on for the future and I know I have a lot of work to do. Thanks to Kevin Dupuis for organizing everything and getting me the invite, lets all hope he recovers quickly from his injury. Also a big thanks to Lenny, Scott and Jeff for making things go so smoothly. This week I just need to rest and heal up and get ready for ECCs, hopefully I can redeem myself a bit.

Sunday I competed in the East Coast Championships, although the guys that actually showed up to compete were good throwers, there were so few of us that it is hard to call it an east coast championship. We started off with 4 guys: J. Baker, M. Patterson, Drew Kirchen and myself. Baker pulled out with an injury after two events. Here is how it went.

HH: 88 ft, 2nd place

Braemar: 28+ (garbage, kept coming off the fingers early), last

O-stone: 37+, (standing throws), last

HWFD: 35.35 ft PR!, first

LWFD: 65+, first, I know I won this by a half inch

Caber: Drop, 11:00, 12:00, big stick but shoot out, the bad pick hurt, last on this

Sheaf: 27, totally inconsistent here, felt like I was throwing a different bag evertime I did it, 2nd 

WOB: 15 ft, first

Overall it ended up as a 3 way tie for points, Kirchen got the win since he had the best caber scores, so Patterson and I ended up tying for 2nd place.

The competition between the three of us stayed exciting because we were just so close to each other all the way to the end. I must admit it was really sad that there ended up being only 4 to show up and 3 to throw in a games as historic as the VSG ECC's. We ended up throwing in a mixed group with a bunch of masters because there were so few of us and this made the day go long. I was happy with my HWFD performance, most other events were an average performance by me and not the strong finish I was hoping for. Sheaf was weird and totally inconsistent. Normally when I do something wrong on the sheaf, I am consistent about it and can adjust as needed, this time the bag came off the tines differently every time each one of us threw it. It was frustrating. This will be my last games for the year, I really cannot take any more time off from work and family to travel and I have been practicing and throwing non stop for 11 months now and need a break. I am going to take a month off from throwing and am going to focus for a while on getting stronger again. In hindsight I think I put too much emphasis on bar speed work. In the past I have used a combination of both max effort type work and speed work and I think that combo works best for highland games for me. Overall it was a good season and I made significant improvements in all events but the stone, which I need to figure out in the off season. Below is a wrap up of my 2016 bests vs 2015

2015                      2016

Braemar 30.2          36.15

O-Stone 36.3           38.3

HWFD    29.9           35.35

LWFD     56              69.3

HH         84.65         93.05

LH         99.2           112.9

Sheaf     30              33

WOB      16              16.6

Caber was tough for me last year and I only had turns in two games, this year I turned every caber with the exception of Dunedin, where no one turned it. The improvement was significant overall this year although I wanted a stronger finish. Lots of work to do in the off season.

Thanks! I have quite a bit of things to work on in the off season to make improvements for next year. Luckily I learned a lot over the weekend from talking to you and Brady and watching the other pros throw. I definitely know what areas I really need to attack.

Warmup: Heavy sled drags x3 trips, Front squats bar 2x10, 1 leg squats 2x10, 1 leg deads 2x5, hip mobility stuff.

BB Complex w/bar 2 rounds: snatch high pull x6/snatch grip behind the neck press x6/snatch balance x6

BB Hang Snatch 95 5x3

DE BB Front Squat w/harness on low box

barx10

145x10

195 8x2

Seated Good mornings

185x10

175x10

145x10

Every thing stayed super light in this workout. Still having some left knee and psoas pain that radiates into the back that is left over from the games last weekend. Will get some accessories done friday.

Warmup: Cuff complex, Upper body sled dragging, incline DB press 4x20, band pullaparts 4x20, band extensions 4x20

DE BB Bench

165 3x3 close grip

175 3x3 medium grip

185 3x3 wide grip

Benching was supersetted w/fat man pullups 3x8

Standing behind the neck full range overhead press w/snatch grip 

bar 2x10

65x10

75 2x10

Overhead pressing was supersetted w/Meadow's rows 3x10

1. I filmed and reviewed the majority of my throws in practice

2. During most weeks in preparation for and during the season I lifted only twice a week and threw 3 times a week for maximal repetitions

3. I think practicing HWFD more frequently with the 49 helped

4. When lifting I did more squats and benches against bands which I think improved my explosiveness

I am pretty convinced though that the biggest reason for my improvement is just sheer repetition. I did one season as a B two years ago, moved up to the A's last year and finally hit some respectable marks on some throws this year. Since I am relatively new to this whole thing, I have probably just hit the number of reps necessary to get a moderate enough level of proficiency in most events in order to be able to translate my already existing strength into the throw. Despite all of this, the stone seems to be the one event that has not responded too well to the extra work and improves very slowly. I think the key for me to continue to improve will simply be more time and repetitions, because there are still tons of things I don't do well and need to improve on. But I guess if I can sum it up, for a person like me who is already pretty strong but relatively new to the game, improvement comes from more reps throwing and a bit less time in the gym.

Warmup: Upper body sled dragging, cuff complex, incline DB press 4x20, band pullaparts 4x20, CSR 2x20, 2x10

RE BB Floor Press (medium grip)

barx20

135x10

185x5

225x5

255x5

275x5

Pressing was supersetted w/pullups 3x5

Behind the neck snatch grip push press 

barx10

95x5

115x5

135x5

Push press supersetted w/pullovers 3x10

Walking hammer winds forwards/backwards x10

Rev hyper x20

Warmup: Sled dragging w/moderate weight, weighted marching, GHR x20, 45 degree hyper x20, Rev hyper x20, standing abs x20, landmines x20, BB front squat w/bar 2x10, 1 leg split squat 2x10, 1 leg KB dead 2x5, hip mobility work.

2 rounds of BB Complex: Snatch high pull x6/Snatch grip behind the neck press x6/Snatch balance x6

Power Snatch From Hang

95x5

135x3

165x2

185x1

205x1

ME Front Box Squat, low box w/harness

barx10

145x5

195x2

235x2

285x2

325x2

355x2

375x2

add belt

415x1

445x1

465x1

Seated Goodmorning w/cambered bar: 135x10, 185x5, 225x5

Walking lunge barbell twist in bottom 2x10 supersetted w/ab wheel 2x10

Warmup: Upper body dragging, cuff complex, incline DB press 4x20, pulldowns 4x15

DE BB Bench w/chains

barx20

bar+80lb chain x10 (kept this chain from here on out)

135 3x3 close

155 3x3 medium

175 3x3 wide

Benching was supersetted w/pullups 3x5

Standing snatch grip behind the neck press: barx10, 65x10, 85x10, 95x10

Presses were supersetted w/1 arm pulldowns 3x10

Finished w/winds w/35lb KB x10 each side

Bad lightning outside so instead of finishing w/hammer winds to loosen up, I did winds with the 35lb KB using a similar form. It might be a good thing to do those for some midsection work in the future.

Warmup: Cuff complex, upper body sled dragging, various types of DB pressing 4x20, band pullaparts 4x20, band flyes x20

Incline BB Bench

barx20

135x10

185x5

225x3

255x2

275x1

295x1

315x1

325x1

Benching was supersetted w/CSR x10, 3x5

Snatch grip behind the neck push press 

barx10

95x5

135x5

155x3

Push presses were supersetted w/rev hyper shrugs 3x20

Warmup: Cuff complex, behind the neck pulldowns 4x15, flat DB press 4x20

DE BB Bench w/chains

barx10

bar+80lb chain x10 (kept this chain on from here on out)

135 3x3 close

165 3x3 medium

185 3x3 wide

Supersetted benching w/pullups: bwt x5, 20lb chain x3, 40lb chain x2

Standing snatch grip behind the neck press: bar x10, 65x10, 85 2x10

Pressing was supersetted w/neck harness 35lb 2x20 (to prevent having a stack o'dimes neck)

Finished w/some hammer winds to loosen everything up and then went home to put up hurricane shutters yay!

Warmup: Upper body sled dragging, cuff complex, incline DB press 4x20, band pullaparts 4x20

BB Floor Press

barx20

135x10

185x5

225x5

275x5

Floor pressing was supersetted w/CSR 4x10

Behind the neck push press w/snatch grip 

barx10

95x5

135x5

Push press was supersetted w/rev hyper shrug 2x20

Finished w/some drills w/12lb shot, line drills and hammer winds

Warmup: Upper body sled drags, cuff complex, flat DB press 4x20, pulldowns 4x15.

DE BB Bench w/doubled mini bands

barx10

135 3x3 close (sets averaged velocity ranged from .72-.83 m/s)

165 3x3 medium (.64-.78 m/s)

185 3x3 wide (.71-.72 m/s)

Benching was supersetted w/pullups 3x5

Behind the neck full range press w/snatch grip 

barx10

65x10

85x5

95x5

Pressing was supersetted w/2 hand KB outside the leg swings 3x20 and neck harness 3x20

Finished w/some separation drills for stone

I am not making hitting a certain bar speed a big emphasis at this point in my training cycle, I just want to monitor where I am at for reference purposes. I also found out that there is one last games this year in Florida, a new games Celtober at the end of the month over in Sarasota. I would love to get out and throw and support a new games in the state if possible. Hopefully I can make it work with my job. I am very rusty on the throws and don't want to change up my whole training plan by going to an in-season throwing plan to do this games. I guess I will just stay the course and maybe get a few extra throw sessions in and see where the cards fall and not keep my expectations too high. I hope I can get out and do it.

Morning ME Bench

 

Warmup: Upper body sled dragging, incline DB press 4x20, band pullapart 4x20

BB Bench w/chains

barx20

bar+80lb chain (kept this chain throughout) x10

135x5

185x5

225x3

255x2

275x1

295x1

315x1

Behind the neck push press

barx10

95x5

135x5

165x3

185x1

Finished w/CSR 2x10, 3x5 and some HH winds

Felt like hell overall this morning, no energy. Push press is easy, just hard to get back into place after the end of the set, dropping it is much easier but its a pain in the ass to get back into the rack again.

Afternoon throws

Stone

Toes to trig x5

Drop to 1 knee x5

Standing w/reverse x8 (most were out around 35ft)

49lb weight 

Entry drill x3

2 turn throws x5 (started at around 34ft and ended up putting a couple out past 37ft)

LWFD 2 turns x8 (started off around 59ft and worked some throws out past 64ft)

WOB x5 ugly and rusty, need to get the rhythm back

I ate some serious golden arches breakfast stuff and took a nap after the morning workout and that fueled me enough to have a surprisingly good afternoon throw session. I have not thrown a heavy weight since the ECCs, but the 49 felt really good today and the light weight was not too bad either. I may be able to put together some reasonable throws on those events in short notice. Stone was feeling good by my standards and I think some of the ques i am using may work out for me in the long term although i dont expect much in the short term. WOB just needs a little practice and I am going to have to get some throws in with the HH, Sheaf and Caber next week so that I dont make an ass out of myself in sarasota.