First Throws

Throughout this journey I have been desiring an opportunity to meet up with folks who are involved in the highland games in this area. I can lift and train and lose weight all on my own, but learning technique and getting the ins and outs of the games is a totally different matter.

Fortunately, this has totally changed in the last two weeks. On Saturday, April 12, I met with the guy who puts on the MN Highland Games. We talked about life, God, training and throwing. so much fun to connect with another person who has a passion to throw things around and serve the Lord at the same time. Very cool meeting. Well Jeff put me in touch with another great guy, Brian Hare, who is a fellow competitor and coach for newbies like me. Last Saturday, April 19, I got to meet up with Brian and a couple other guys and begin learning the techniques for throwing the hammer and weight for distance (WFD).

We began with the hammer and while I most scared about this throw, it turned out is was a lot easier than the WFD. So the other guys are chucking the hammer 75-115 ft. Me? not so much. first toss was 46 ft. Once I started to understand the physics of it (this is going to be a major growth area for me because I am NOT science-minded) I got a better. My 7th and final toss on the light weight hammer (16 lbs) was a whopping 66 ft. Ugh. Looks like I have a ways to go, but I know of quite a few things I could do to help. Size is great, but technique is EVERYTHING.

Needless to say that I have no technique on the WFD. I need a lot of work on it, but the guys really spent a good amount of time with me teaching me about highs and lows and planes. It'll come. But hopefully sooner rather than later because while my goal was to compete in next year's games (and just sit by and idly watch this year), I have been encouraged by all the other competitors that I just need to get going on it.

SO....I will be competing in THIS YEAR'S Minnesota Highland Games on July 12th, 2014. I'm confident I won't be among the top competitors (remember, I still have the caber toss to master), but I am incredibly grateful and excited for a new group of friends that are on this journey with me.

thanks for your support and if you're interested in seeing the games and you're going to be in the Twin Cities in mid July--make a point to get out to the games!

Until next time...see you on the field...

Plugging Along

It's hard to believe that it has been almost 3 weeks since my last post. For those of you following the journey, I have kept up the workouts and the eating schedule (5-6 smaller meals with higher protein intake). Last week was tough for me because I was at a conference where my meals weren't under my control and I wasn't given time to workout. It was hard because I have been feeling so good about lifting and doing cardio. What was harder, though, was getting back into the swing this week.

I started back with cardio and noticed right away that I didn't have the stamina I had before the week-long break. I had originally thought that maybe exercise is like life--that it is good to take a vacation every once in a while. Nope. Just goes to show that keeping it up on a regular basis is very important. At the beginning of that break I also celebrated my 39th birthday (if you can still celebrate moments like these). Let's just say I HAD my 39th birthday. the biggest thing that this means for me is that my goal of competing in the games when I'm 40 is closer every day.

During the workouts the last few weeks I have hit and broken Personal records (PR's ) on both squats and deadlifts. It has been since high school that I've even attempted squats with a barbell on me, and I know I have never even tried a deadlift before. But things are going very well on that front. The explosion is increasing and I can tell that my legs, arms and core are all getting stronger. Even my oldest kiddo (almost 12 years old) is joining me in some workouts at home. It was a blast on Sunday to pump some iron with my boy, get all sweaty, and teach him about solid 80's rock n roll bands.

One thing that has brought this journey into more focus is that my loving wife got me a kilt for my birthday. It is the clergy tartan. I know that many of the highland games athletes wear the kilt from Sportkilt, so I'm giving them a shout-out here. I love this kilt. It breathes well, it is durable, and super nice. Big props to this company. I'll be buying all my stuff from them from here on out!

The next thing on my radar, since the weather is finally nice enough to go outside (and most of the snow is melted) is to find a couple stones and begin throwing them around. I'm also looking for someone in the Twin Cities area that I can work with on technique and training for the actual highland games events. If you know of any one, please let me know!

Lastly, for those interested, the MN Scottish Festival is on the horizon on July 12th. I'm planning on being there to take everything in I can about the events (although some want me competing even in this year's games). We'll see.

Until next time...see you on the field.