World Javelin Conference

I returned yesterday from a very enjoyable World Javelin conference at the Olympic Training Centre in Kuortane, Finland. It was great to catch up with many old faces and hear from great athletes such as Tero Pitkamaki and Steffi Nerius amongst others about their career's and training.

We heard presentations from athletes, coaches, medics and statisticians relating to javelin throwing. I now have to write a report on the second day of the conference for the European Athletics Association.

Below is my most recent blog for the UKA website.........
It’s been a few months since my last blog in July, and a lot has happened!

After my back injury in early May, my season was never going to be easy; but with a promising Crystal Palace comeback competition, I was hopeful of a decent performance in Berlin. However, qualifying rounds always highlight any weaknesses in the armoury, and my power levels were definitely down on previous years. This was no doubt due to having to cut back on intense training whilst rehabilitating my back. I unfortunately missed the final by a single place and had to sit in the stands to watch the final - which is never a fun experience! That said, it was a pretty exciting final. It produced the first German winner of the Championships, Steffi Nerius, in her last year before retirement.

Despite my very disappointing champs it was great to see all the other British athletes do so well. Jess is a huge inspiration to come back after a stress fracture to become World Champion. I thought Lisa and Jenny were superb and it was great to see Phillips make up for his disappointment from last year (although I don’t think many of us would call an Olympic silver medal ‘disappointing’). I also very much enjoyed watching the exciting throws finals, especially the women’s shot and men’s discus.

I carried on after Berlin and did a couple more competitions, but felt emotionally drained after having put so much into the World Championship season. If I'm completely honest, I let go a sigh of relief when my season came to a close in late August – it had been a very tough several months.

I took a few weeks off to relax, recover, and catch up with friends and family During that time I had a pleasant surprise when I learnt that I had performed well on the exam I was studying for when I got diagnosed with the stress fracture in my back. Quite a pleasant surprise!

I am now fully rested and looking forward to a solid winter’s training, and an exciting 2010 season! I will of course have to keep looking after my back, but I am hoping it doesn’t cause me any more problems. This week marks the beginning of my winter training, and I'm certainly feeling that normal early season stiffness while my body gets accustomed to training again!

Until next time...

Goldie

P.S. It was great to see that Rio de Janeiro got awarded the 2016 Olympics, that should be one hell of a party!

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Posted on 13 Oct 2009 by Goldie Sayers