One semester of school down, one more to go and now I’ve got a good month to myself before I get started on that last semester. Though I’ll readily admit that I am a bit tired of school, I am at the very least thankful for the time off between semesters and during the summer. I know that such vacations will be no more once I begin my stint in the “real world.” In any case, now I get to spend about two out of my four free weeks at home, with my family in Newburgh, New York. Oddly enough, I’m not one of those people who really ever gets tired of being home. In fact, when I’m home, I rarely leave the house…except to visit other family members and of course get my workouts in. One of the downsides of being home though is definitely the fact that the workouts I do get in, end up being pretty makeshift compared to what I usually get done down in Virginia.

Taking into account the fact that I don’t have an indoor facility to use on a consistent basis, my coach suggested that I take these next couple of weeks “easy.” That said, even though when I’m home I definitely still keep my lifting up as much as possible, there’s nothing like having platforms and bumper plates so you can throw your weights around during Olympic lifts. Since I just lift at a family-type gym nearby, I usually have to bring my weight percentages down a notch or two so I can actually catch the weights after each rep and avoid getting tossed out of the place for putting a hole in the ground. Luckily, I don’t have the same problem with squats so I’ll power through in that department in anticipation of things being taken up another level in January.

Aside from hitting the weights relatively hard, I will most likely spend a fair bit of time in the pool over the next couple of weeks. I haven’t done pool workouts since college though so I’m actually looking forward to it. It will most likely just consist of drills and some sprints in the shallow end, which will allow me to get some resistance training in…not very much resistance, but it’s better than nothing. I guess you just have to “make it do what it do” when you can’t put the sprint spikes on and speed down the straightaway. I’m also pretty certain that the pool workouts will help with recovery from the little nagging soreness I have from the intensity of the past couple week’s workouts which consisted of a good amount of box drills and heavy lifting, with some light speed work mixed in.

I also try to link up with my high school coach (Coach Burks) and his team while I’m home. Not to workout really, but rather to spend some time with the kids and share some of the knowledge and experience I’ve gained since leaving Newburgh Free Academy (NFA). Every now and then,  I’ll get lucky and Coach Burks will make use of his connects and get the team into West Point’s indoor facility for a few workouts. It beats running through the high school’s hallways or shoveling snow out of a couple of lanes and hitting the track, which is what we used to do! So, I of course have no problem making the 25 minute drive out to West Point and tagging along with the team for the chance to get a quality workout (even though the pool work definitely serves a purpose during this transition portion of the season). In the event that I make it out to West Point during the break, I’ll definitely try and get some jumping in with the weight vest.

I do have a favorite hill nearby that I like to use whenever the temperature gets above 40-45 degrees during the break, BUT given that the forecast for the next week or so doesn’t mention anything above 35 degrees, I’ll stick to the weights, pool and cross my fingers for an opportunity to head to West Point. I’ll update everybody on how things are going to shape up for the early portion of the indoor season once 2010 gets here. Right now though, all things are pointing towards a January 16th start to my season and I’m looking forward to it. To quote a friend of mine: “2009 was the preparation and 2010 is the execution.” More info to come though…

Happy Holidays folks!