Blogs : Matthew Megerdichian

This week

Tuesday brought the first time I picked up the 35lb weight since February.  It was just as much fun as expected, none.  Yes, in case you don't already know, I dislike throwing the 35lb weight.  One positive thing to take from it is that although I have lost a little bit of weight from all the conditioning I've been doing, my increased strength levels are making throwing that giant thing a little easier. 

Wednesday - a nice easy 20 minute run which I had to battle through a little bit given my slight shin-splint in my right leg(which is feeling better everyday thankfully).

Thursday - Fartlegs for 25 minutes on Watchtower hill.  Anyone who has ever seen this hill in Downtown Brooklyn will appreciate this workout.  A fartleg, which I didn't know too much about until today is when you jog, in this case up and down a giant hill, and when coach blows the whistle you sprint and on the second blow you return to a jog... for 25 minutes.  Not exactly fun, but definately a good workout. 

Friday - Tomorrow morning I have throwing practice at 6am.  No better way to start a Friday than throwing the 35lb weight.  After that I have class and then lifting and then the weekend to relax and recover. 

Also, I may be participating in the 12th Annual Eileen C. Dugan Memorial 5k Run which is hosted my St. Francis College this Sunday morning; depending of course upon how my shin-splint is feeling.  We all know how much throwers love distance running...

Throwing again

I threw hammer for the first time since Conference Championships last May and of course I was rather rusty.  It did feel good to get spinning again, though.  Worked on a few things with my coach and took about 20 throws. 

Monday was a rough day as usual.  Woke up, ate breakfast, went to class from 10-11, lifted weights (Monday is a heavy leg day), ate lunch, rested for a bit, and then a conditioning and bounding work out with the sprints coach.  So by about 6pm I was exhausted and luckily the Jets make the Monday night game unwatchable so I was able to get a little bit of work done and go to sleep relatively early. 

This morning I began my pool workouts.  I swam a few laps in the pool at the gym near our dorms.  It was a good shoulder workout and everything so I am going to try to do that like twice a week. 

Thats it for now, have to go to class and start my day. 

into the swing of things

back to school...almost

summer workout has begun

End of season/busy with non-track stuff

My season ended this past weekend at NCAA East Regionals.  I didn't do great, about 58m which seemed to be the average this season.  Big thanks to my entire team and coaching staff.  I was surprised to recieve a whole lot of text messages from a lot of people wishing me luck.  I felt really good going into my throws, but they just weren't going as far as they felt. 

This season was a very interesting one.  While I improved by several meters in the hammer, but I didn't improve in the javelin, my better event.  I think it is fair to say that my one good meet of the season came at the best time, at conference championships.  One of the many goals I set for myself at the beginning of this season was to win conference in the javelin.  Even though it was pretty much the only goal I achieved, it was probably the most important one. 

My coach and I have talked a bit about how to make sure this doesn't happen again.  The first thing I realized is that I should try to not take 18 credits during the spring semester.(6 classes left little room for extra practices or workouts)  Also, I have to run more, I admittingly slacked off in the sprinting and conditioning workout department as the season went on and being in better running shape will definately help with my lack of runway speed. 

This summer for me means working out consistantly at the gym, but mostly working in Manhattan as a vacation relief porter at a luxury high rise condominium.  I've had the job for the past 2 years and it's not a bad job plus the pay is really great.  Also, the hours can be crazy so I'm not sure how often I'll be updating this blog. 

Thats it for now..

upcoming weeks

Alright, so my first real weekend off in some time was productive... if u consider playing grand theft auto 4 the entire time productive (I sure do).  The game is awesome, but getting to more track related issues, I only lifted one day last week because I was still a bit drained from conference and the rest was helpful. I am feeling confident and ready to put in some good hard work in the weight room and at practice this week.  IC4As are Sunday at Princeton at 10:30 and then the next day I am having another wisdom tooth removed so that will keep me out of action for at least the first few days of that week, but it's okay because then I have nothing until East Regionals at the end of the month. 

Even though I wasn't in action this weekend, some of my teammates were... Andre Donaldson went out with a bang in his final performance in a St. Francis College uniform with a school record in the triple jump of 14.06m.  It's a shame he was battling with a nagging hamstring for much of the season because he is the hardest worker on the team.  To see him perform as he did even though he wasn't 100% forced me to not give up this season (as much as you know I wanted to if you've been reading my blog.)

Northeast Conference Championships

What a relief, the long season of frustration, let-downs, and confusion has ended.  This past Saturday and Sunday was our conference championships; I competed in the hammer on Saturday morning and the javelin on Sunday afternoon. 

First the hammer, it was raining on and off all day Saturday which is usually a good thing for hammer throwing because it makes any circle faster.  Surprisingly enough, with all the room they had at this facility, they didn't have a double circle (one circle for discus and a separate circle inside the same cage for hammer).  The disadvantage of that is having to deal with circle inserts which I despise because they never fit perfectly in the circle and of course, the one section of the inserts that was slightly crooked was the one right where I like to put my right foot to start.  It's no excuse though; I started off very well in the warm-ups.  Had some far warm-up throws, I'm guessing around low 50m range.  My first throw I was nice and relaxed and threw 51.10m.  That was the only legal throw I had in the competition as I fouled the next 5 for various reasons.  I just couldn't get comfortable out of the back and the start in the hammer for me is the most important part.  I placed 4th and scored 5 points for my team so I was happy. 

The javelin was on Sunday at 12:30pm.  I almost forgot to check-in because I was warming up in the designated warm-up area which was in a bubble next to the track.  I felt great in the warm-ups though and some of the main points my coach and I had been working on in the past week were clicking almost perfectly.  My series: 1) 56m ensured I got 5 more throws 2) 53m It felt a lot better than 53m, not sure what happened 3)59m Put me into the lead going into the finals 4) 58m I think, solid throw, just way too low 5) 61.44m I didn't know it at the time but the kid in 2nd place had moved past me on his 5th throw with a further 59m throw.  6) I could hardly bare to watch the final round as there were easily 4 or 5 other guys who could have thrown farther to pass me. One by one they threw and I remained in the lead, and then came the 2nd place guy.  He launched one that looked far and it was tough to tell because the sector lines were not very accurate.  As soon as the official said "59.68m" I was overwhelmed with emotion because I had finally caught my break and at the perfect time.  No clue how far my last throw was.  In all fairness I gave up halfway down the runway because I was so happy already. 

61.44m is only 20cm off my personal best from last year so now I am back on track to throw farther.  The win automatically qualifies me for East Regional’s which are at the end of the month, and I have IC4A championships in 2 weeks and I feel big things are coming. I am done with hammer for the season, but considering I only practiced it twice aside from meets early in the season where I was taking a lot of warm-up throws I cannot complain about PRing by a couple meters and moving up 4 places at NEC's from 2007.

Our men's team placed 8th with 27 points, which is one place up from last year's 9th place finish, and is very promising considering that many key people have been battling with injuries all year.  Senior Andre Donaldson PRed with a nagging hamstring to place 7th in the triple jump.  Junior Louis Elrose courageously came back from a car accident and placed 4th in the high jump in his first meet all season.  Our makeshift relays added points, too: 4x8 placed 7th, 7:58.55; 4x1 placed 7th, 43.69; and 4x4 finished 8th 3:21.13. 

Full results can be found here

Special thanks to St. Francis College Alumni Throwers Matt Dzwonek and Rory Erskine who made the 7+hour trip on their own to watch me throw; it helped tremendously. 

I will have the video uploaded later today or this week and will post the link here.

being sick doesn't count as resting

I guess being sick and unable to practice for a week is different from taking a week off to rest.  The meet this weekend proved that.  I still have a bit of a cough but I've felt fine other than feeling weak from not having lifted all week and basically just sitting around trying to get better.  And of course when trying to practice today, I had to stop after one warmup lap because of a toothache which had been giving me a headache all day; I think I am going to have to have wisdom teeth removed. 

I know I said I was going to include video from every meet but it's pointless.  If you want to see what the video looks like, just watch last week's videos in slow motion.  I threw 57.54m in the jav and 51m in the hammer.  Not bad but still not the jav distances I should be throwing.  I am probably the slowest person I have seen on the runway, it's not even funny anymore.  In the hammer, my release is still killing my throws but if my tooth doesn't bother me too much I am planning on getting some ring time this week, something which has been tough to come by this year for several reasons. 

practicing when sick is not a good idea

not practicing = PR's???

This weekend was much anticipated because it was a return to the place where I earned my first real collegiate win last season.  Friday we left at 8am for a bus ride that ended around 3pm at the track at the University of Virginia.  The hammer went extremely well for me.  I felt really good warming up despite the long bus ride and not having thrown since monmouth 2 weeks ago.  I opened up nicely with a 49m effort.  Then I PRed 3 times with 2 throws over 52m, my best being 52.43m.  Just missed qualifying for IC4As by 7cm but after seeing the video I'm confident I'll improve if I can fix some problems, mainly my release. 

Then Saturday came.

I was feeling a little sick with a bit of a fever(I think) and a sore throat, but that wasn't the problem this weekend in the javelin.  Despite being slow in my approach, my throw was smooth and the most technically sound it has been all season.  The only thing missing was some pop at the end.  My coach and I were both stumped when we looked at the video together afterwards, but we came up with a solution based on what has worked for me in the past.  Let's just say I'm gonna become very good friend with medicine balls and only touch a javelin on weekends.  Hopefully this will give me some of the explosiveness back and keep my body more rested and ready to throw.  In high school I PRed when I practiced less or not at all which sounds lazy but I really think only throwing at meets helps me focus more on the importance of every throw at the meet. 

So a good weekend all in all.  A nice PR in the hammer extending my St. Francis school record for 5th place.  A slight SB in the javelin, 58.71m good for 3rd place, and some encouragement from the decent technique.  Big congrats goes out to Brian Fill of rival NEC school Monmouth who won the competition with a huge PR of 67.88m. 

here are the videos... enjoy =)

still tired and trying to feel confident

forgetting how to throw

Florida Relays didn't go as well as planned.  I came in 8th place with a throw of 57.89m (189'11").  Technical problems continued this weekend despite some really good practices during the week to try to fix last weekend's problems.  This weekend was more about the mental aspect of competing than anything else.  My coach said I looked way too tense and I was trying way too hard to throw far and correctly, and I agree because I could tell my approach was extremely slow because I was thinking about every aspect of the throw instead of just relaxing and having fun and throwing.  This semester has been pretty stressful and I guess I have been letting it affect me too much.  Next weekend my team will be at the University of Virginia at the Lou Onesty Invitational.  This was the meet last season where I began to improve significantly so hopefully I will be at ease knowing that I've had success there in the past.  I'm going to try to remember what throwing is all about and just have fun with it.  I need to stop trying to improve on last year and just focus on this year. 

This is my the workout from the past week that I completed with my school's strength coach Ryan Benfield...

31-Mar
Kneeling Overhead Medball Throw	5x5
Plyo Push Up (up to 6 inch box0	5x3
Chin up (3sec eccentric)	3x6-8
Reverse Hyper (BW)  Super set	2x15
BB Russian Twist Super set	2x12
2-Apr
SMR on Bicep tendon (lacrosse ball)
Recover Sled Pulls (30 yards per set)
Forward (105 lbs)	6x30yards
Lateral Crossovers (70 pounds)	3x30yards R&L
3-Apr
Double Response w/hurdles(26in) onto 38-40 inch box	4 sets
Transverse Box Jump	4x2
Cable Pull Thru	3x12,10,8
Incline DB Rear Delt Fly (thumb up)	2x12-15
Band Shoulder Traction (strong/blue band)	1x1min (R&L)

weekend update

Well, the weekend went well overall I think.  I had a pretty consistent series on Friday in the hammer in what turned out to be a much nicer day in terms of weather than Saturday was.  My best throw was a personal best by almost a meter, 50.70m.  Kind of surprising to PR because I haven't gotten much circle time to practice it but my increased strength levels definitely helped and my technique was good as well.  On Thursday my strength & conditioning coach suggested that I take it light so we did a lot of bounding drills over hurdles and onto boxes which I think contributed well to the explosiveness I felt in my legs. 

Saturday morning it was in the 30s and very windy, but that’s no excuse.  I had some good warm-ups when I was just trying to go through the motions, but when the competition began I started thinking too much and lost quite a bit of technique which accounts for my terrible series.  My best throw of the day came in the second round, 58.36m.  My second best throw went 56m in the 3rd round.  It was tough to watch it fly out cause the wind had ceased temporarily but I squandered the opportunity by throwing a line-drive.  While I was hoping to PR early, it’s tough to not be satisfied with a throw only 10 feet off my best from last year in adverse conditions. 

It's official now that I'll be competing at the Florida Relays so hopefully it will come together down there. 

Up to this point (WARNING! VERY LONG)

I thought the best direction for my first entry would be to give a background of how I got to where I am today in track and field.  It is very long because there are many years and things to cover and it quickly turned into a small novel.  I promise they will not all be as long as this one. 

Having grown up in the New York City borough of Queens, the last thing I expected to be doing at this point in life was throwing Javelin at a division I college.  As a kid I played a lot of sports but mostly focused on roller hockey which was a much more popular thing at that time than it is now.  I played some ice hockey but anyone who has played knows how expensive that can be and roller hockey was much cheaper and still fun so I stuck with that for other reasons as well.  May 5th, 2002 changed everything though. 

It was the summer of 8th grade and I already knew where I was going to college and planned on playing ice hockey for their varsity team which had quickly developed into a local powerhouse.  I was playing in a less than important game on a rink that was not well maintained and had the unfortunate(or fortunate depending on which way you look at it) experience of slipping on some dust that had apparently accumulated behind the net on the rink.  I broke my right wrist and to make a long story short, that basically brought a quick end to my hockey career. 

That fall I attended Archbishop Molloy High School in Briarwood, Queens, a school known both for its storied athletic history as well as its academic standards.  They have this great event early in the year for all freshman called "Freshman Field Day".  It divides the entire freshman class, about 350 students, into teams by alphabetic homerooms.  They have all kinds of events like relay races and football and softball tosses, but one event stood out: the shot put.  I decided for whatever reason to sign up for the shot put.  Yes, me a 135lb 5'10" skinny kid who knows nothing of the event and little of track and field as a sport at that.  It ended up actually pretty well; I threw the 8lb shot something like 28 feet and came in 3rd.  The throws coach for the team at the time was there and suggested that I try out for the team, so I did.  I progressed slowly with the shot until finally ending the indoor season with a PR of 40', which for my small size and hideous technique was pretty impressive I suppose.  Then outdoor season came and all of a sudden there were these new events, the javelin and the discus.  I was immediately better at those than I was at the shotput.  I had freshman PR's in the Jav of 97' and Discus 88' which were both essentially stance throws.  Sophomore Year I focused more on those events and improved significantly and thanks to some excellent coaching from my new throws coach, former St. John's University Javelin and Hammer thrower Ed Hausdorf, to 153' in the Javelin and 124' in the discus.  Junior Year was when I finally realized that there might be more in the sport for me than just something fun to do after school.  With increased focus on the Javelin and discus and a new focus on the Weight throw and hammer throw came new experiences.  I qualified for indoor nationals in the weight throw and despite being extremely nervous PR'ed at NSIC's with a then school record of 55'10.5".  Outdoor Produced more national qualifying distances in both the hammer and javelin.  I won CHSAA intersectionals as a junior in the javelin and finished the year with a PR of 176'5"(I think, I can’t remember exactly) but was only able to compete in the hammer at Nike Outdoor Nationals due to New York State's wonderful and mandatory Regents Examinations and conflicting dates.  It was a good experience throwing the hammer there even though I placed somewhere in the 20's.  The summer after Junior Year was when these interesting letters from mostly small colleges began to come in regarding throwing on track teams in college.  More surprised then anything else it became apparent that someone besides my parents and my high school coaches thought I was doing something good. 

Senior year brought everything together in one confusing mess.  Early in my indoor season of weight throwing I threw a huge PR of 65'.  I took second at the meet to Walter Henning who is responsible for creating much interest in the hammer and weight throw in the New York high school scene.  That throw at that early point in the season ranked me 4th in nation and all of a sudden there was a huge buzz around me of talks of becoming an ALL-AMERICAN and my college decisions took a new direction based on which ones I received calls or letters from because of that throw.  Georgia Tech, US Naval Academy, University of Connecticut, Robert Morris, Monmouth, and a few others were amongst the new choices.  Some of those coaches showed more interest than others, but one stood out, St. Francis College.  But that's for a little later. 

One thing I learned really quickly was the idea of pressure and what it can do to your performances.  The next meet I threw a whopping 55' and struggled to break 60' for the next few meets.  I never PRed again but came close on one occasion at the New Balance Collegiate Meet with a 3rd place throw of 64'11".  I placed 7th at Nike Indoors, one spot from ALL-American...

Outdoor produced less than stellar PR's of 182' in the hammer and 185'11" in the Javelin, and no ALL-American performances. 

The number of college choices was narrowed down to just two schools by this point of the year. One choice was the University of Connecticut, where my discus teammate Darius Sileikis was going.  I visited UCONN and really got a feel for what a big time track and field program was all about.  I loved every bit of it, the atmosphere, the coaching staff, their facilities, everything.  The other choice was little St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights New York.  Despite the difference in size, and appearance between the two schools, there was something special about St. Francis.  Head Coach Anthony Kurtin spoke to me on a much more personal level than any other school had.  Coach Kurtin's recruitment stood out right away because it was the only one that didn’t have the feel of a standard template with my name inserted in a blank space.  For numerous reasons, I made the less obvious choice and enrolled in St. Francis. 

My freshman year was an interesting experience because it taught me a lot and showed just how right my decision was to come to St. Francis.  Being that the college is small and mostly a commuter school, it was not a difficult transition from high school.  I lived in a dorm a few blocks from the school and it certainly was better than having to spend a few hours on a bus and train everyday.  The transition to the 35lb weight was not a fun time.  I struggled through my freshman year throwing furthest at the least important meets.  I had a much easier time with the 16lb hammer.  I started off around 45m but quickly progressed to 47, 48, and had several meets at 49m+ including a PR of 49.93m.  That throw qualified me for junior nationals where I threw the 6k hammer.  My results at that meet were disappointing because I had stopped training consistently in favor of working a summer job.  

My focus in college has been the javelin.  I didn’t PR in the Javelin until mid April.  My breakout meet was at the University of Virginia Invitational.  I won the meet against some good competition including schools from our conference, the Northeast Conference.  My throw of 59.71m qualified me for junior nationals.  I later PRed again at NEC Championships placing 3rd with a NCAA Regional Qualifying mark of 61.64m.  I was the first person in school history to qualify for an NCAA competition in track and field so it was a pretty big deal.  I placed in the top 20 at East Regionals with a 60m throw and I think I was the #3 freshman.  Over the summer some major coaching changes took place.  Coach Kurtin Received a promotion to become the school's Assistant Athletic Director and jumps coach Kyle Brown (A former NEC conference record holder in the triple jump for Long Island University) became the new head coach.  Also, I have a new throws coach, Coach Anthony Liriano.  I had met Coach Liriano a few times at meets throughout my first year and knew he was very knowledgeable about the sport so I felt comfortable about it.  This year my focus on the javelin has reached an entirely new level.  I began taking training throws much earlier in the year than I had in previous seasons.  And between a new theraband workout to build shoulder strength suggested by the head of sports medicine and the workouts my strength coach has put me through, I'm hoping for a big year.  Indoors suffered as a result.  I failed to reach my PR in the weight from freshman year, but I did manage to take 8th at our conference meet which was a big deal for me because I think it was the first time I had ever scored points at an indoor championship meet. 

My first meet with the javelin is this weekend at Monmouth University.  And in two weeks I'll be at the Florida Relays.  I'll probably update at some point after the meet hopefully with good news.  I'll have more information on my training and workouts in future posts as well; this one was just a starter to let you know who I am.  Hopefully some of you found it interesting.