5 days left...

I got outside and practiced on Monday. The weather was a nice breezy 60 degrees. It is so nice being somewhere warm this time of year. It was great for my training last year not having to stay inside until April. I threw the 15# shot and had my best practice of the year. It still isn't up to par with my practices from last year, but I threw about four times as much leading up to this meet in 2006. My bests from last year with the 15# all came the week before Indoor Nationals (I kinda got burnt out last year after indoors). So this year, I have focused on outdoors and started having normal throwing practices in January as opposed to September. My bests were 53' from stand, 64' from half, and 68' from full. On Monday, I had a 53' stand, 60' half, and a 68' full. I worked on technique for about 10 throws and then tried to bomb six. Each throw of the six was a little bit farther, ending with a 68' and all throws over 66'6". What is weird, is that I have thrown 60'+ from the half turn three or four times with the 16# this year (in meets and intense practices). I still haven't timed up the little ball. Some say you can throw the 16# what you can throw the 15# in practice. Let's hope that is true!

Today, I did about 30 minutes of drills along with some sprints and box jumps. I felt like I could have thrown today, but I need to throw tomorrow. I will treat tomorrow's practice like a meet. With about 2-3 full throw warm-ups and six intense throws. I'll update you on how that went tomorrow. We will be heading out tomorrow night for Houston as our flight leaves at 7:45AM on Friday.

Anyways, I'm still feeling great - actually, better than ever. It is early in my training and this weekend will be a good time to set a precedent for the coming year. Make sure you tune into ESPN2 on Sunday at 4:00 PM ET!!! Or check www.usatf.org for results. You'll hear most of the results before I can get them on here.

Ciao!