Bonsoir...MarHaban, Kayfa Haaluka...and oooohh Jessica Simpson!

I'm attempting to brush on on French and Arabic as I am looking at my upcoming schedule over then next month. I just received the 1st 2 confirmations of the 2009 season.
I am headed to the 1st IAAF Grand Prix of the season in Dakar Senegal on April 18 and then headed back to Doha, Qatar for the IAAF Super Grand Prix on May 8. If you didn't have a chance to hear what happened the last time I was in Doha....here is a quick recap.

Flight from San Diego was cut short due to medical emergency in board, as a result, missed my connection in DC (and also lost my luggage). I was re-routed through London and eventually to Doha and 36 hours later arrived in Doha, with nothing with me but what I had on. After 3 days of hassles with Qatar authorities I still had no luggage and competed in borrowed spikes and a Qatar uniform. After all that, I ended up setting a lifetime best.

http://in-the-arena-mike.blogspot.com/2008/05/doha-disaster.html

Although I am hoping for a similar result this year, I am planning to bring as much necessities with me on my carry on as possible. Even if my luggage gets lost this time, at least I will have a few weeks in Doha to rest up and wait for it. I am flying from Dakar to Casablanca then to Doha and will meet up again with my buddy (04 ad 08 Olympic Champion) Andreas from Norway. We will have 2 weeks of training to prepare for the Super Grand Prix. After Doha, I will return back to the states for my 1st meet in the USA (other than USA Championships) since 2006. The Tuscon Elite Throwers Meeting. This meeting is the site of numerous personal bests from other athletes last year and promises to have near perfect conditions. It is there that I am hoping to chase a big throw and take advantage of the conditions that other athletes get to do every year.

My shoulder has healed up nicely and I am now going on 1 week with no pain and am thanking my luck stars (a.k.a God) for helping me through these trying times. No matter how you try to talk your self through an injury, nothing feels quite as good as being able to train pain free. All is well here at the Training Center and the invasion by some of the best foreign athletes in the world has started. Some of my friends from Norway are already here with other long time training partners from the UK. Some of my closest friends...of whom I lived with in Finland will be here by the end of the week.

Overall, it seems as the hard training period is starting to wind down and many athletes are using the spring to tighten their screws, so to speak. For now, I am going to sit here and watch my roomate Karl type his blog and then Im going to go look for Jessica Simpson, rumor has it she is here at the Training Center! Look here for more details: http://in-the-arena-sarah.blogspot.com/

Here are a few pics from my visit in Atlanta, had a chance to speak to the Duluth High School Varsity Soccer Team....till next time,
M++

Making Lemonade...

...Isn't that what you are supposed to do when life gives you lemons?
I am typing this blog as I just have finished packing for a 4 day trip to Atlanta Georgia. Why? I am headed top the east coast to see a specialist who is going to try to repair some small tears in my posterior labrum.

I just returned home from my 6 week Scandinavian training camp and learned so much about my event...and unfortunately wont be able to utilize what I learned until I get my shoulder back to 100%. I was having some shoulder pain while in Europe but thought it was due to the volume of training and throwing. However, after being diagnosed in Europe and here at the training center of having labrum tears, I have decided not to have surgery and try to rehab the shoulder and throw this season. If I can get my range of motion and strength back then it will just be a pain tolerance issue, which is one that I have learned to deal with fairly well over my career. I have tentatively scheduled my 1st 2 meets of the year for Dakar Senegal and Doha Qatar on April 18 and May 8 but now everything will depend on how fast I can get back to full strength.

My community service projects are now starting back up after the 7 week break and I will be making my 3rd visit to the Brady Children's Hospital next week for the annual Relay for Life. Along with the Children's Hospital I have booked 3 classes of 5th graders here at the OTC and cant wait to get back in the mix with the kids!

I hope I have some better and more exciting news to report in 2 weeks time...now how much sugar goes in the lemonade?
M++

Tips For Record Breaking

For this blog entry, the In the Arena athletes have been prompted to respond to a recent article about a UK man, Richard Jenkins, who is attempting to break the world land speed record over ground by a sail powered craft. Throughout his battle to break this record he has had to had to over come many obstacles, some personal, some financial, but all potential set backs... He compiled a list of "Tips for Record Breakers" and my task on this blog is to create my own, "Tips for Record Breakers" using what I have learned throughout my athletic career.

TIPS FOR RECORD-BREAKERS

• Develop a plan that continually evolves and adapts to your circumstances. If part of your plan fails, then learn from that and modify it. Most importantly, trust in your plan.

• Hope for the best, but plan for the worst... pack an extra pair of shoe laces or backup uniform. The phrase its better to be safe than sorry was coined for a reason.

• Develop your own training plan through trial and error, find out what works for you and try to make that aspect of your training stronger.

• Be goal oriented. Make immediate goals that can be accomplished every day. Make short term goals that can be accomplished in the near future and finally and most importantly, make long term goals that drive you to be who you are.

• Don't stick to conventional training. Think outside the box, just because the book says it is to be done one way, doesn't mean that there are better ways that work for you.

• Start from the ground and work your way up. In most athletic events, the initiation of movement or action starts on the ground. If you are having trouble with your technique in your upper body, track the flow of power or movement backwards and try to find out where the problem starts. Where you see the problem isn't always the cause.

• Lastly and most importantly....stay healthy. This comes at all cost. In the athletics arena, he who stays healthy longest wins. It doesn't matter if your the worlds strongest or fastest, if you are injured you cant compete. World class performances also require world class treatment. If you are aiming for world records then you have to treat your body the same way.

The last tip for me is often the most important one. Don't be afraid to spend money to stay healthy, after all, if you cant compete because your injured, then you cant make money in the first place. One of the greatest coaches in the world said, "be prepared to spend 15% of your income on treatment." When an individual is competing at the highest level, it is no different than driving a formula 1 car. Do you think that after the F1 drivers take their million dollar vehicles out for a run, the simply just park it in the garage? No, they change the oil, check the tire pressure, monitor the cars computer systems, tighten screws, replace fluids...and so on and so on. The human body is no different. I hope that theses tips give some insight to what I have learned over the last 5 years.