Post-Olympic Trials

Well, my track and field season is officially over. A lot went on for me this season. Frustration was prominent in the beginning of the season for me. Meets were not going well, and I had a fear that I was not going to even qualify for the Olympic Trials. But I remedied that when I traveled out to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA. After going two years without an improvement in my discus throw I was able to straighten some things out and line things up for my best throw ever of 61.36m (201' 3"). This was enough to ensure my qualification for the Trials and eased my frustrations. After returning home from the OTC a week and a half outside of my competition date at the Trials I was training and suffered a slight strain of my right pec muscle, something that has been happening much to frequently the past two years. I rested it for three days unable to throw and lift for fear I would further damage it and be totally useless. This brought frustration back to me. I knew I needed to lift and continue refining my technique up to the big meet, but I had no choice but to lay off and let it heal so I could compete.
When I arrived in Eugene I felt great! I was excited to be there and overall my body felt probably the best it had all year. I definitely had making the Olympic Trials finals in my mindset. I truly believed I would be within the top 8 after my fifth place finish last year at the US Championships. It is truly difficult to not be inspired and motivated to do your best when competing at such an event. One of the first steps to success is believing in yourself, and I sure did and still do, but the results of the qualifying round did not represent that well.
The night of my competition was exciting. I definitely had a good amount of adrenaline flowing through me when I stepped out on to the field with first flight of throwers in front of a full Hayward Field stadium. I went through my warm up throws and felt great. My pec was pain free, a big thanks to my adrenaline! I felt fluid and calm amidst the tense atmosphere. I honestly felt I was going to have another lifetime best throw with all this energy. The competition finally began and I was the second thrower. I got in the ring and gave that 2k discus everything I had...but I put a bad flight on it and it fell far short of my seasons best throw. This didn't effect my mind set because I knew I had 2 more throws to get it right. My second throw came and I landed it around 190'. I knew this wasn't going to be enough to get me to the finals. I made sure on my last throw that I was going to put everything I had within me to get a better throw. When I hit my final throw I thought I had connected and sent that discus near 200' as I watched it fly high and with a perfect spin! I continued to watch it but my heart sank when I saw the discus start falling from the sky and hitting at a similar distance as my previous throw. My final throw did not better my second throw, and at that, my appearance at the Olympic Trials was over. Back to the stadium seats to watch other people have their day.
I'll tell you it really hurt to walk inside the stadium on the day of the discus finals and watch my friends and fellow competitors warming up before going inside the stadium to perform for 21,000 excited track and field fans. I wanted to be out there so bad! It was a feeling that I don't want to forget. I definitely don't want to experience that feeling again, but sometimes I feel it is good to endure pain like that so that it drives you and makes you hungry. "The sweet ain't so sweet without the bitter!"
Now that my season is over I am already gearing up for next year. I am putting my focus into doing some big things next year. In doing so I am putting on weight as I type this so that I can throw the shot put again competitively starting this winter. I really missed throwing it this year, but I thought it would be in my best interest to focus on the discus with a lot of guys throwing the shot put well. It will just be another challenge to take on!

Back at the OTC

I'm writing this post in from the comfort of my dorm room at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA. It's great to be back out here! I've only been gone about eight months since I moved back to Minneapolis. I've definitely enjoyed seeing familiar faces and catching up with friends I haven't seen in awhile. It's also been great getting back to some consistent weather and throwing in warm, dry weather. I've gotten the chance to work with Bud Rasmussen, the coach I was working with last year, it's nice to get a professional eye. I came back out to the training center to compete in two meets this weekend and one next weekend. I'm going to take advantage of my current situation as much as possible while I'm here. One thing I've been taking advantage of is the endless supply of amazing food. I find myself eating until I'm uncomfortably full, but this is good since I'm trying to put on some extra weight. I'm hoping that I can get back out here next year to train. It's impossible to not be motivated out here with a group of great athletes training daily. I'll hopefully have more to post after my competitions this weekend. I am expecting good things, practice has been going well. Currently I am 24th on the list for the Olympic Trials, so I need to better my personal best throw to ensure my spot at the Trials.

Trying to compete

This post is a little last minute. Things have been a little hectic, or maybe I just feel like that because of my lack of organization. Just got back last week from a 2 week trip where I competed in two meets in California and three meets in Maui, Hawaii. I'm disappointed to not be able to report any awesome results that I was expecting. My body felt good but I was not able improve upon my personal best marks in the discus. I hate making excuses but the first meet in California was cold, mid 50's. I was outside for about four hours before I competed and I just wasn't able to get warmed up before I threw. You would think a kid from Minnesota wouldn't be bothered by the cold weather! The next meet was much warmer but I threw far worse. I was having difficulties with sector fouls and a small foot foul. I wasn't feeling too bad after these meets because I knew was going to be able to use the incredible wind in Maui. I couldn't have been more mistaken. The first day in Maui was great, wind conditions were perfect for huge throws. The following day was different. The winds that we were expecting were trade winds blowing in at a perfect angle ac cross the discus field. The wind that was blowing on competition day was called and known as the "kona" winds. These winds blew from the opposite direction of the trade winds. It was very unexpected and frustrating for everyone. The poor wind conditions took about three meters off of every one's throws. We had one more chance for better winds two days after this first meet. The wind for the next competition was not as bad as the first day, but it was still not conducive to BIG throws, which is why everyone broke the bank to fly to Hawaii to compete. This is a lesson that you can not chase the wind. Sometimes you just get lucky. I did enjoy myself in Hawaii though and had a chance to go snorkeling for the first time in my life.

Since I've gotten back from my trip I have been trying to figure out what meets I will compete in with a short amount of time left to achieve an A standard mark or to be seeded even higher at the Trials. There are a few meets being held out in California at the Training Center in Chula Vista. I'm looking forward to getting back out there and catching up with some friends I haven't seen since last year. I'm looking forward to being able to redeem myself a little as well.

Still Waiting

I'm writing this post today as I sit inside my apartment waiting for a break in the rain on this cold (42 degrees), wet, end of April day. This weather is getting ridiculous. The forecast is calling for rain mixed with snow this weekend! We had mid 70 weather earlier this week, but it appears those days are gone, at least for the next week.

All that aside things are alright. I got a solid week of throwing in outside, at a little bit of a disadvantage to most of my competitors in the south and west who get to throw outside throughout the year. I feel ready to compete though. This has been the latest I've ever gone without competing, and it is difficult to stay patient. I actually had a competition/practice on Wednesday at Hamline University here in Minneapolis. I originally was not going to compete but as I went out to practice that day I thought it would have been silly to pass up the opportunity to throw in good weather. I had planned on throwing at the Drake Relays this weekend but I entered myself to late and apparently the meet was based on first come first serve. So, I used the meet on Wednesday to make up for a missed opportunity. I have one more meet next week in Iowa before heading west to compete and chase some marks.

April Fool's

Hey Everyone!

Today is a beautiful day in Minnesota. The sun is shinning, birds are chirping and the is a predicted high near 60 degrees! I really hope that the warm weather will stay around.

This Tuesday, April Fool's day, I woke up and stepped outside into a winter wonderland. It was a cruel joke. There was four inches of snow on the ground, and all I could do was shake my head and brush the snow off of my car. The snow didn't last long though. I'm hoping that the last little spots of snow will melt off today.

In other news I have been dealing with a painful left knee that has limited my training. For the past couple of months I have had difficulty squatting and doing plyometics. These are important components to my training program. It has been hard mentally to train as hard as I need to. The pain has been very severe. I went to the Mayo Clinic in my hometown of Rochester, MN to see knee specialist there. I had x-ray's and an MRI to find out what was causing the pain in my knee. The doctors reported to me that I am suffering from tendinopathy in my rectus femoris tendon. This tendon attaches to the patella. I was given a few options for helping alleviate my pain. The first option was an extensive surgery that could possibly end my career as a track and field athlete. Another option is a relatively new surgery procedure that is a possibility for me to have post-season which would involve injecting my blood plasma into the damaged tendon in hopes of producing new and healthy growth. The final option is a training program developed in Scandinavia which involves eccentric single-leg exercises. I have been doing these exercises religiously that were designed to help athletes suffering from patellar tendinitis. I have noticed a little bit of an improvement with the knee pain. My hopes are high that these simple exercise will help me get back to normal with my training program.

Finally, I have set up my travel plans for a series of meets beginning May 7th. I will traveling to California to compete in two meets then I will travel to Maui to compete in another meet series. I'm excited to compete and improve my personal best marks in the discus. More to come on that later...

Close Call

I'm a little late with this post. Just arrived back in Minnesota from a longer than expected training trip to Florida. I had planned on only being in Florida for a week but it turned into two unexpectedly. My first week of training was great in Florida, it was my first time visiting. It was a nice change of climate for me coming from bitterly cold Minnesota. I soaked in as much sunshine as I could and threw the discus outdoors to my heart's content.

On the last day in the sunshine state I was involved in a roll over crash in which the vehicle I was a passenger in rolled 5 times. The car was traveling on the interstate going at least 75 mph when a trailer a few cars ahead blew a tire causing the person behind them to swerve into our lane causing the vehicle I was in to avoid hitting them and as a result losing control and flipping. I'm grateful to report there were no serious injuries, and I was left amazingly unscathed, not a scratch or sore neck. Fortunately I did not miss any training time and was able to stay awhile longer and train before I went back to Minnesota. It was unfortunate about the accident though which could have been much worse.

Now I'm back in Minneapolis and looking forward to getting back to the Boys and Girls Club and being patient to get outside and throw while the snow melts!

Ready For Spring

Hello! Winter is getting long and cold here in Minneapolis! The past two weekends have had air temperatures of negative digits well into the teens and negative wind chills nearing -40! It is crazy! It definitely makes training a little more difficult when you don't want to go outside or your car won't even start. But we do what we can here in Minnesota when the weather get ridiculous.

All that aside, I am ready to take a trip to Florida and see some sunshine and maybe get a tan. I definitely need to get away from the cold and throw discus a little outside. It gets a little monotonous throwing into a net daily and being inside all the time, but spring is around the corner. March usually brings a nice thaw here.

My volunteer position at the Boys and Girls Club is still a good time. I am looking forward to being outside with the kids and doing some track and field stuff with them that I am unable to do in a gym full of kids. I can tell the kids are getting anxious to be able to play outside as well. I am still hoping to get the boys group started at the club. Myself and a fellow employee of the club are trying to get it started. It will take some organization of all the boys at the club and some planning, but it will be a good time for the kids and myself.