Back on Track: Coming back to competitive sports

This year (2025/26 season), I will compete in Long Jump and short sprints (60m/100m) again. I didn't compete at all in the 2024/25 season, but I did compete for about 6.5 years before it (starting from late 2018). Born in 2004, much of my time being 15-20 years old was spent on the track. In summary, this is how my sports "career" went:

Track & Field Background

"The road is more important than the destination". The next paragraph represents mainly the "destination" part, the results. Not the process. Not the fun I had in 2-3 short training camps or in international comps, neither what I did in training. Those bulleted dots may seem a little sad, but 6 years is a long time and there really were ups and downs. I am a big believer in results. The road might be important but as you'll see - being the best nationally in 2018/19 and pretty much getting stuck for years after, while all my opponents destroy me, wasn't enjoyable.

• 2018: I joined in the winter. Looking back, training was relatively easy. It was a year of learning what the hell is athletics.
• 2018/19: Turned out I am very good in hurdles (U16 = 84cm hurdles, 100mH). I broke the national U16 100mH record 5 times. None of those times counted. The wind blew stronger than 2.0 m/s. My P.B was 13.03s in the 100mH (84cm). I did LJ, sprints and most of the events except TJ, PV and throws. This was a HUGE year. One of the fastest kids in the country, passed 6m in the LJ which is far for that age, super-fast on the hurdles. In general, I didn't come close in terms of success to 2018/19 until 2022/23.
• 2019/20: In Feb or Mar of 2020, I started feeling pain in the right iliopsoas (hip pain, when lifting my right knee while running). Luckily, the day of the first competition, when I was very much in pain - was the day my country entered the COVID-19 lockdown. I was saved in plain daylight. The rest of the year was mostly spent training at home. Best result that year - 14.70s in 110mH (91m) with +2.3m/s. Tbh that's not bad.
• 2020/21: Lockdown continues! I went to physiotherapists. Nothing really fixed my problem. In hindsight, with proper training this "classic" issue wouldn't even pop. Pure lack of knowledge if you ask me. Felt pain on and off. Competitions weren't good that year. There was a highlight where I ran a 5:05 1500m on pure motivation at the end of a decathlon and almost got to the podium with 9 events (I didn't pass starting height in PV, we don't have one in our stadium) buuut I am no 1500m runner so... This may have been the worst season of my life.
• 2021/22: Something improved. At least something worked for me in March-April when I jumped 6.5m and ran the 100 in about 11.5s. I averaged around 6.40m in the LJ that year and ran 14.90s in the 110mH (99cm). Bonus: I flew to my first ever international competition. The main hurdler and his replacer were not available, so I was 3rd on the list! That was an important experience that made me stay the next year in sports (I wanted to quit).
• 2022/23: I decided to stop relying on physiotherapists to fix my hip pain and start relying on myself. Thanks to friends & myself I got out of my hip pain!! That year was A BLAST. Ran 11.21s in the 100m and jumped 6.75m, 6.8w. Came in 7th in LJ national championship. That year was a rollercoaster. Had some very good months and some very bad ones too. The best result that year was actually of 60mH - 8.28s (99cm). Just couple of weeks before I was enlisted to the army (mandatory). This was the first time I started being OK. Far from good, but those are at least results most average people can't do after little training. I was SO READY FOR NEXT YEAR!
• 2023/24: October 7th happened. I am from Israel and was 18yr old so you can imagine how that impacted me. I really tried, having that good momentum of previous year, to excel in competitions and keep the momentum going. I had a good winter, but something went terribly wrong in the summer. And so, I left. That season I tried so hard, and the results just didn't match my hard work. You can't cheat recovery and good-for-sports environment. Maybe that's what failed me.
• 2024/25: Didn't compete.

Now with that background, here's a quick recap:

• 2018: The first year whatever.
• 2019: AMAZING! JUST A 10/10.
• 2020: Decent at best. COVID...
• 2021: TERRIBLE. WORST EVER.
• 2022: Decent at best. COMPETED ABROAD THOUGH!
• 2023: ABSOLUTE CINEMA! GREAT.
• 2024: War. Good training, bad mentality. Good start, terrible end.
• 2025: Ghost.
• 2026: TBD

*Addition to that background - I trained in a 200m stadium. Rough track. I live in the south of Israel, Beersheba. It is hot & dry here. The equipment and tools for training are OK. Not the best but I grew up to appreciate what we had. Gym - could be better but could be worse.

That's my background. I learned a lot in those years. Training - what works & what doesn't. What others do in Israel that works for them. What pain can I train with, what I should be cautious with. "Fixes" for common injuries. Which stadiums are open for outsiders, which trainers are open-minded, which ones are closed. Who to ask for what. Stuff like that. Stuff you learn from being in a community for long. Because I am from the south - it did disconnect me from a lot of information and knowledge that's present in the center of Israel (where Track & Field is most popular and advanced). That's unfortunate. But now I'm 21 and living far is no excuse. I am free to move to a new city. It was definitely a problem though for more than 5 years.

Current stats

• Height: ~170cm

• Weight: ~64kg

• Standing jump to pit: 2.90m

• 3-bounds jump: 8.88m

• 5-bounds jump: 15.10m

• 60m PB: 7.33s

• 100m PB: 11.21s

• LJ PB: 6.75m (6.80w)

• Clean PB: 95kg (from last week)

• Squat: Can do 130kg, no real PB

• Bench: PB 80kgX6 (Feb 2025)

Why did I leave?

2022/23 was good, 2023/24 was worse but I didn't have a major injury, nor catastrophic results. There are couple of reasons but one is most relevant to us right now. The reason I left is I am good at other things too. Maybe even better than sports. Maybe even way better.

In 2023/24 each day looked like this:

• Waking up around 6:40am
• breakfast
• 8am-2pm: work + lunch
• 3pm: arrive home
• 4:30pm leave for training
• 9pm arrive home. Sometimes later (was waiting for others to finish)
• Eat & Sleep
• REPEAT 100+ times.

My routine was unbelievably repetitive. And it was costly. The price - social life, being absent at home even if needed (no time), other hobbies, time in general, etc. I trained alone for a huge share of my time. It felt like the cost of sports just went up and up and up with each day. The results didn't change... They became worse.

It is hard to understand exactly what went wrong. I tried very hard that year. I guess sleeping well was practically impossible. Lack of guidance, Lack of knowledge, being alone lots of the time. Maybe not having the ideal track. Hard to tell.

Here is another thing about me - I love other things in addition to sports. I love creating, I love programming, web dev., entrepreneurship... And so while being in that routine I created 2 projects:

• Visuathlete - A site to visualize results for all Israeli athletes
• EL-ON - A site I made for a client

By any means, that was NOT easy. Weekends - sacrificed. Free time - sacrificed. Looking back, I am not sure how those two were born in such routine (Visuathlete was more of a 2-year project)

I started this section by saying that I may be better in some stuff than I am in sports. I think entrepreneurship might be one... Because those sites must be some proof that I can create traffic and value out of thin air. That is... an amazing feeling. How many 18yr olds create such stuff vs professional athletes? I really don't know but that skill of just creating whatever goes through your mind felt special to me.

And so, I was stuck between two worlds. Two worlds that require ALL of you and not SOME of you. That is the truth. Especially with a routine like that. In 2023/24 I paid a big price. At the end of it, I chose focusing on creating instead of on sports. And it did work. I did create a huge project this year that would literally never be created if I didn't remove my focus from track & field. A lot of value that would never be created was given to more than 100 of people.

Why come back?

If everything is so pink & butterflies - why leave this thriving path?

This year (and it would be hard for younger me to believe) - my schedule was even more dense than of 2023/24 (the last year in track). It had more variety, yes. It was less repetitive, maybe (even though.... not sure). It was less lonely. But - it was harder.

This year, I start fresh. My old work is gone. I am free to shape my life. If I trained, worked, created a project like the one I created this last year. All of those at the same time - then why not train and keep creating & innovating this year? This must be possible. Why not? The last year taught me that an unbelievable amount of stuff can be done in 24 hours. Super dense schedules can be created. You can win life in couple of paths simultaneously. This must be right. Or I might be wrong? But is it not wrong to never see my full potential in sports? Is it not wrong to not try? I might actually be good.

I decided to give this year a try. A full, from the heart, intent-full try. Let's see how it goes.

Coach? Guidance?

One of the problems I had in previous seasons is not having proper guidance. I had a coach that was with me for lots of years (which of course I am thankful of) and brought me to my current level. I had disagreements with him on things regarding gym exercises, long jump, injury prevention, etc. I was never in a team of many jumpers. There wasn't a team of good and reliable professionals (gym coach, physiotherapists, massagists, etc.). Many times, I just didn't know. I didn't know if whatever I'm doing now is adding me distance at the target competition in LJ, if my gym is good, if my body is ready. What should I fix, what strengths should I play on...

This year will be a year of many firsts. First time out of my hometown, First time in my own apartment, first "big" 'n regular job. It is not ideal for sports (Sports require a stable routine for sleep, training, recovery... Consistency is important and might be hard to achieve in parts of this year) but it is a necessary step as there are more knowledge and opportunities in the place I'll end up soon.

Training

I am writing this in late October but actually I started training already in August while there were still competitions for those who competed. Just to get some sessions in before everyone gets back to training.

August: Just back to being athletic

I couldn't train consistently on track until late September. Right as I started sprinting, I started feeling pain in the left hamstring. I decided to try and settle this issue on my own (I had very little access to physiotherapists)

The targets for August were:

1. Getting back mobility that I lost, stretching
2. Strengthen everything - core, hips, feet, upper body, etc.
3. Just running. Running at pretty high speeds and a few long runs. I wanted to see how my body will handle moving so much after a year without much of fast running.
4. Getting more powerful & stronger (gym)

I couldn't get rid of the hamstring pain but when warmed up, it didn't really affect me. Still, I didn't have a track, nor a lot of time but August reminded me how training feels and prepared me for harder training that followed.

September: Faster, more explosiveness, getting back to the track

I started running faster and started doing more explosive work (bound jumps, jumping with weights, single leg jumps, etc.). I ran on stairs twice. I did my first tests to understand where I am standing in comparison with last year. You can see the results under the October headline.

Around late September I started arriving to the track regularly. Looking on exercises that I did back in 2023/24 - the weights in the gym, the height of hurdles I jumped above, the test's results... In many of those I am better now than I was in October 2023. In some I am even the best I ever was.

That month wasn't super clean in terms of pain. Unfortunately, I still felt pain. Pain that doesn't bother me 100% of the time but pain that I must get rid of. As time goes by, I start being more and more aggressive towards wanting to get rid of it.

Throughout a lot of training sessions, I feel directionless. Sometimes it eats me up a bit. What I mean by that is - I train a lot. I spend a lot of time on planning what I should do the next week/month and what training is best for me, etc. But honestly, who am I?

Currently my routine and life are just too unstable to commit to one place (I am literally moving my place of staying every month or so). I can't commit to a trainer and the whole logistics of that are complex where I live. I am forced to train alone right now, maybe it won't be the case in couple of months.

October: Aiming for training consistency & being healthy while lifting heavier, running and jumping w/resistance

I am writing this with already 3 October weeks under my belt. The first day of this block, I wasn't allowed to enter a track I rode 2 hours to. I guess you can only climb from here.

This month I started looking at 2 things.

First, why did the second half of 2023/24 was so bad in comparison with its first half, where I did my best test results ever.

Second, what the hell should I do with long jump. Until now I focused on main strength, getting back to jumping, explosiveness, moving fast with and without weights, just being athletic. Now the time for technical work is around the door. Two solutions I see right now:

• Join long jump sessions with friends when possible
• Analyze my jump and try to better it with drills and training. It is time to learn about long jump. Just as an example, I stumbled across John Shepherd lately. He made me realize maybe I got the penultimate all wrong. (the penultimate step is a huge problem in my long jump). But that's just an example. Researching will be a big part of the next months and if I got rid of my hip pain in the start of 2022/23 via Internet & friends - I'll try my best here too.

Just so we'll be on the same page, this my technic overall (March 24th, 2024): Long jump from 11 steps

Training wise, this is October:

• More jumping, using grass if possible
• Gym becomes heavier (PB'ed the clean a week ago - 95kg!!)
• I started going to physiotherapy to get rid of hamstring pain (= Everyday exercises for hamstring & hips)
• Running & Mobility as usual. I think I never ran fast for a long period of time in any season and that was a mistake - so I am trying to run fast as much as I can (volume wise).
• Running & jumping with sleds/resistance.
• At the end of the month - starting/planning LJ technical work

Did tests again: (I put spikes in jumps this time)

There was an improvement, but I know I need to jump farther if I aim to jump more than 7m this year. I think lifting heavy might help me here. Maybe I focused too much on explosive work in the gym. I'll trade some explosive work for heavy lifts for the next month. Then I'll focus on explosiveness. I am explosive, but I can be stronger.

What's next?

Next week, I am moving to a new apartment in a new city.

It'll be a new life. There'll be new people around the track (a better, newer, 400m instead of 200m track). I can learn from or even train with them. New people in a new gym. Hopefully, I'll get rid of my pain by the end of next month. I'll start putting more focus towards that. Competitions start in about two months, which is really not that much time. Eight training weeks, that's all.

The next couple of months will be a test whether I can mix up the 2 worlds I love and win in them both. All of that while first time cooking and living practically by myself.

This article was long and dramatic, but it had a lot to cover. The next articles will cover a smaller timeframe and be probably more technical. I would like to document this season. It'll help me next year if I'll keep training and it may give hope to anyone like me anywhere in the world (My inspo was Jeff Chen).