The South American Fiasco

I really hope that I am running out of trips that could double as cheap horror flicks…After I returned home from “The Doha Disaster” (see previous blog entry), I figured that the worst was behind me, that it couldn’t possible get worse than that…well you guessed it, the week and a half journey to Brazil to hit the 3 Brazilian Grand Prix’s was nothing short of a test of my every last nerve. In fact, it was as a result of these 3 meets that I have decided to start my own website that will be dedicated to “rating” or scoring track and field competitions all over the world. Sure it will take massive amounts of time to get up and running, but the premise is to eventually be able to sell it to a 3rd party sometime over the next few years. This website will be accessed by athletes and managers alike that can log onto the site and rate the competitions that they were just in. These competitions will be rated on the following categories;
Travel, Accommodations, Food, Competition and Training Facilities, and last but not least Financial Arrangements.
These categories will be scored something like 1-5…1 being horrible, 2 below average, 3 average, 4 above average and 5 being great. After each category is ranked, the meet will receive a final grade, maybe something like a A+ to F or Failing with flying colors. I hope that this holds meeting directors and officials to higher standards when it comes to taking care of some of the most basic requirements, especially when the IAAF puts a “Grand Prix” status on a competition. I hope that athletes and managers alike will find this useful when picking meets at the beginning of the season and allows them to make well-informed decisions and what to expect from certain competitions. I will give you a few examples, there are a few meetings in Europe that are typically great places to compete with good venues, however, these few meets are notorious for not paying their financial agreements to the athletes (Ostrava and Tallinn). This information should be made known so that athletes and managers are aware of this before scheduling those competitions. There are also instances where competitions do a great job in every detail of running a world-class athletics competition, but lack proper competition facilities. This is also very helpful to know ahead of time.
I am now sitting on a train en route from Frankfurt to Berlin Germany. I am amazed at the differences in every aspect of life in Europe compared to South America, the organization, the cleanliness and the overall quality of life…I am competing in the Berlin Golden League Meeting on June 1. This will without a doubt be the largest competition of my career as the eyes of the entire athletics world are fixed upon 6 meetings a year, the Golden League Meetings…they take place in Berlin, Oslo, Paris, Rome, Brussels and Zurich. I am hoping with a good performance in Berlin, I will be able to get confirmations for Golden League meetings later this summer. These meetings are absolutely killer for World Ranking Points so it’s a great opportunity to jump a few people who I have been behind all year. The new World Rankings were posted just as I left Brazil, I have now cracked the elusive “top 10” list and am sitting comfortably atop the World Athletic Tour Standings with an almost 30 point lead…however that lead will diminish extremely quickly and will likely disappear all together as the Scandinavian guys bring their A games this summer.
My stop is coming up next, gotta pack my stuff and hit the next connection to Berlin. Catch yall later! M++

The Doha Disaster

Before you get to deep into this blog, let me just warn you in may take a while to dig through all this past week’s adventures. That being said, its now 2:30am San Diego time and I am somewhere between Northern Ireland and Greenland, I just flew directly over London and just north of Limerick. Here’s some fun facts just to kill some time:

Altitude: 36,000ft, Outside Temp: -60C, Air Speed : 548 mph, Tailwind: 32mph

I am returning from the 1st Super Grand Prix of the year in Doha Qatar. I have been trying to figure out an easy way to explain some of the madness that went on the last 4 days, and I’m not sure I can fit all the details in but here it goes.
I left the training center in San Diego Tuesday around 11am for my flight from San Diego to DC to Doha. It was only supposed to be 18 hours total travel time, which is really good for going to the other side of the world. The 1st problem of the trip was a busted panel on the bottom of the United plane that couldn’t be fixed, so after sitting on the tarmac for 2 hours, we were moved to another plane. About 1 hour into our 4 ½ hour flight, an elderly lady had an medical emergency, presumed to be some sort of heart attack which only added to the delay of the already 2 hour late flight. Oh yeah before I forget…after de-boarding the original flight and prior to boarding the new one, I noticed that there would be almost no way that I would be able to make the connecting flight. In fact, “if” the new flight left on time and had no other delays I would have exactly 27 minutes to make the connection in Washington DC. I proceeded to ask the gating agent if “in your professional opinion, should I risk taking the flight to DC and not making the connection, or take a later flight that goes through San Francisco and London before getting into Doha 6 hours later that the original flight.” She said not to worry that the flight should make it to DC in plenty of time to catch the one and only flight to Doha…well as I’m sure you have guessed, that didn’t happen. So I waited in DC for 7 hours before boarding another flight to London at 7AM and then on to Doha.
As I arrived in Doha (14 hours later than scheduled…oh yeah 32 hours later!), I was met by a baggage claim representative that told me that my bags didn’t make the connection in London (not to my surprise) as that has happened to me 3 of the 4 times I have been through London. They then said that the bags should arrive by 4pm (Thursday)…being that it was 6AM Thursday morning, I didn’t think that was too bad of a deal…but as I’m sure you guessed, again, that wasn’t the case, I suppose I can try to make a long story short.
My bags ended up arriving at 3AM Saturday morning into Doha, which doesn’t do much good when you fly to the other side of the world to compete in a track competition that is on FRIDAY NIGHT!. Needless to say after about 35 calls to London, DC, and Qatar Baggage Services, and a 300$ phone bill in 24 hours, the panic was starting to set in.
I did have a few pieces of luck that went my way. An American friend of mine that is now coaching for Qatar, Todd Henson, was able to shuttle me to a few malls on the morning of the competition so that I could buy a few needed items…underwear, socks, toothbrush, deodorant, a few red bulls and a truck load of ibuprofen! Unfortunately, when you are in the Middle East, javelin spikes and competition uniforms (the most important of all) aren’t easily found at your local sports store. I was able to borrow a Qatar National Team Uniform, which I found amazingly ironic, as I was now competing for the home team…and another good friend of mine, Andreas Thorkildsen (2004 Olympic Champ from Norway) let me borrow his extra pair of practice spikes…even though they were a size and a half too big, they still were better than throwing in tennis shoes (which I also had to buy because I thought I would try to look cool and wear dress shoes on the plane…. dumb move)
Well, as fate would have it, after all the stress and agony over not having the luxuries that most of us are used to when we travel…I was able to pull my head out of my butt and compete. I ended up setting a lifetime best of 82.31m which also moves my World Ranking to #14 and #1 on the World Athletics Tour points standings. However it was a bitter sweet competition for me, I was mentally totally unprepared and felt like crap the entire competition, not to mention that I missed every single one of my throws, even the 82.31m (I am not looking forward to the technical analysis when my coach sees the video footage). The one bright side to that competition was that I had an easy warm-up from ½ approach that was at or near the 85m mark. That being said, its always nice to get a personal best (even if everything you had on was either to big, to small or had you competing for a foreign federation)…but not as sweet as it would have been to throw to your true potential on a massive stage such as a Super Grand Prix. I have been typing for almost an hour now, so I’m going to take a small break and reflect on a few things then come back and wrap it up….hang in there.

Ok, so now on to a few of the lessons that I learned on this trip, after all… what good are all the downfalls, struggles and fights in the world if you cant learn from your mistakes. As I dealt with the Qatarian Baggage Services (not to mention London Heathrow as well) I quickly learned to look at the situation form the other side of the desk…The people who are “helping” you cannot possibly comprehend the amount of anger and frustration that you are experiencing, They are not in your situation and you are just an name and baggage claim number to them, along with the hundreds of other stranded passengers going through the same excruciating experience…
So here’s lesson #1 from this week: You are not a special circumstance and will not receive any extra effort on the part of baggage claim representative, there are others that are in the same situation, even if they don’t have thousands of dollars and points on the line that you bust your ass everyday for over the last 5 years… you just take your number, and wait along with everyone else…and if you feel the need to express how important or different your case is, all it will do is get the same response that is practiced a thousand times by these “robots”….I’m so sorry sir, I promise that we are doing everything possible to find you luggage and get it to you …” grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!
Lesson #2, this one is easy; pack your competition gear in your carry one bag…duh! I used to do this but got lazy and it screwed me, big time…lesson learned, that wont happen again.
Lesson #3, this one may fall under the common sense category, but when your blind with anger and frustration, common sense sometimes takes a back seat. Do not take for granted that when you are in a foreign country, you must abide by their rules, which means that some things that may be said or done inside the USA, may not…scratch that, WILL not be tolerated. I wont go into to details, but I almost found myself “escorted” to a place that I think I would not have wanted to go…3 TIMES in 48 hours. Remember this is that same country that cuts of fingers and hands for stealing…lesson learned.
Lesson #4, “…don’t sweat the small stuff.” I learned this way back in high school from my football coaches and I hear it weekly from my Sports Physiologist. No matter how bad things are or how bad you want something done, even something as easy as a phone call with an update (talking to you Qatar Baggage services!) Some things are out of your control and you cant possibly influence the factors that determine the outcome, so its best to save your mental energy for other things…such as what to eat for dinner in Qatar…beef or....beef, oh and there’s also some beef, to go with your side of, yup you guessed it…beef!
Lesson #5, I guess I will save this one for last since it should be the most important one and it is also the one I have the most trouble with…stand up for what you believe in!!! Im not necessarily talking about going to a Muslim country and arguing religious tactics, I’m just saying stand up for something if you feel strongly about it and don’t just be a bystander in the crowd attempt to blend in with the conversation. When I was in Australia this February, I happened to stumble into a political debate with a few of the locals and they began to rip president Bush and the entire USA government a new backside…I just sat there quietly and nodded my head and even smirked at a few of their lame wise cracks. After this conversation ended I was nauseated because I didn’t stand up for what I felt then, and feel very strongly about now. I had another similar situation in Qatar and I made sure that my previous mistakes weren’t repeated. I think everyone involved in the conversation now knows how this Texas boy stands. So for those of you who are George Bush haters and for those of you who cry about how bad we have it in the USA and how messed up the government is, go ahead and sign off now…and don’t bother to check this blog ever again. Somehow I always end up these blog entries with something political/patriotic…not sure why it always comes back to that. I suppose its because I saw a culture this weekend so amazingly different but yet awesome from ours today and it made me realize how good we have it. So I guess I will take a line out of my last blog entry…”love it or leave it!” I also heard another great quote this weekend, it was said during a discussion over some of the issues in the Middle East… “Leaders will do work when there is work to be done…and this place needs work.”
Only 13 more hours to go until home…Greenland is now off in the distance to my back right, bearing down on Goose Bay Canada…almost home…sort of

Altitude: 36,000ft, Outside Temp: -51C, Air Speed : 555 mph, HeadWind: 9mph

Until next time…
M++

Eugene Training Camp

Howdy! Just finishing up a week long training camp here in Eugene, Oregon...home of our Olympic Trials. About 9 of us from the Olympic Training Center came up for some mental preparation on the same track that we will fight for our Olympic births on. Most people would say we are crazy for leaving the sun in southern California for 40 degree rain in Oregon, and they are partly right. But its also nice to get a shot at track that the trials are on, and its ALWAYS nice to get away from the training center.
We arrived into Eugene late Monday evening and have been putting in 2 workouts a day everyday, and for most of us its the heaviest week or training as far as volume and intensity go. This is the last week of a 8 week long phase that I wrote about in my last blog entry and my body is finally showing the signs of the accumulated 8 weeks of pounding. I was playing with some numbers on the flight up here and here are some stats for you. In this last 8 weeks I have done the following:

Squated 44,160 kilos (97,152 lbs)
Power Cleaned 19,840 kilos (43,648 lbs)
Threw 2,400 medballs
800 javelin throws
1,600 weighted ball throws
*not even going to try to add up the number of miles SPRINTED

Anyways, I thought it was a good idea to add everything up and look at it in the big picture. One can almost say that the hay is almost in the barn...its now time to start tightening the screws and get ready for some big competitions and hopefully big throws. Speaking of which, today I am supposed to throw here at a collegiate meet at the University of Oregon. This comes to my coach and I as a surprise because when we departed for Oregon at the beginning of the week we had a schedule that said I was to compete Saturday evening. As a result I threw yesterday morning and lifted last night very hard. So it will be interesting to see if I can still manage to throw over 80m with every part of my body aching from the last 8 weeks beatings. My coach has let me know that unless I feel 100% sure that I am capable of throwing that I do not have to.
In other competition news, I have been confirmed for my 1st IAAF Super Grand Prix which will be in Doha, Qatar on May 9. I will finally get to rub elbows with the big guys, Andreas Thorkildsen (2004 Olympic Champ) will also start his outdoor campaign there as well.
I have also launched a website that you can get all kinds of goodies on like my music, javelin training info and of course links to In The Arena, check it out at:

www.web.mac.com/mikehazle

The Daily Grind

Since the last update (which I just noticed was saved as a draft and not published...sorry about that) I mentioned that the Olympic Training Center was jam packed with foreign athletes from all over the world. It is now the middle of April and almost everyone here is in the midst of our own personal "hell month". This is typically the last month of the year to get high volume high intensity training before the summer season starts to kick in (which is typically mid May). If this post sounds as beat up as my body feels, then I send my apologies in advance ;)
So far so good on my end, my body is holding up "fairly well" and my technical training has yet to dip below the unacceptable mark. I'm anticipating holding this phase for another 2 weeks before a rest week and then straight in to my power conversion phase which will include the following meets before the USA Olympic Trials:
May 18 - Rio De Janerio Grand Prix II
May 21 - Fortaleza Grand Prix II
May 25 - Belem Grand Prix I
June 3 - Tallinn Grand Prix II
June 10 - Moscow Open
June 15 - Memorial Zmaneski Russian Cup
In community project news. I have tentatively struck up a new project that has slipped through the cracks, I was anticipating working with troubled youth from the South Bay Family Crisis Center, however I was notified that I had to basically get a congressional appointment (not really) to get back in with these kids...seriously there must have been 5 tests including HIV and hepatitis tests as well as reference letters and applications and endless forms that needed to be filled out, all just to hang out with some kids that need a bit of direction. Needless to say this wasnt the time of year that I had that much free time available just to get through the screening process. Therefore I am still hanging out with my kids that visit the training center (who are absolute studs!!). I had the most awesome group of kindergarten kids yesterday. The look on their faces in priceless and every now and then you get the feeling that these projects actually do work and it makes it all worth wile...to be continued! Check out these rock stars below!!
Mike++

Whats 7 divided by 4?

...7 divided by 4...I pose this question because I am in the midst of trying to squeeze 7 days of workouts into 4 days. I am leaving Friday morning for Des Moines Iowa. Why in the world would anyone leave San Diego for Des Moines (sorry to Des Moines natives in advance)...well my coach and close friend is getting married this weekend...finally!

Things are getting pretty busy here in San Diego. The Olympic Training Center has turned into quite the international attraction lately. Currently we have teams training here from the following countries; Argentina, Japan, Canada, The Netherlands, Norway, Germany, China, and Great Britain. In the following weeks we will also have individuals from Finland, Estonia, Finland, Denmark and Egypt. I get a bit frustrated with the fuss of fighting for the last few pieces of protein at dinner and waiting in line for the ice bath, but then I remember how fortunate I am to call this place home. So as short as this blog entry may be, I would like to remind you (if you live in the USA) of how fortunate you are to call this place home...and I would like to sign off with the following..."love it or leave it!"
Catch y'all later!
Mike (oh yeah go McCain!)

...Back From Down Under

Howdy...as I sit here just returned from a month trip to Australia, I remember where I was right before I left and the mixed emotions that I had . It was a gamble, an expensive gamble at that. I had never tried to compete in February before, much less in another country on the other side of the world. For once (not including 1 lucky evening in Vegas) that gamble paid off and paid off HUGE!
I left with the aspirations of having 3 meets down under and hoping to be able to throw between 76-78m in each meet. Those results would finish me in the top 4 of each meet, allowing me to receive a "few" needed World Athletics Tour Points and a small bump to my World Ranking. As fate would have it, I managed results of 77.67m, 80.87m and throwing 10cm of my all time best 81.89m in the last meet, the Australian Olympic Trials. Departing Australia with 2 second place finishes, and one Grand Prix victory. As of now, early as it is, my World Ranking jumped from #31 to #14 and #3 on the World Athletics Tour.




As I analyze my current situation, I remember where I was 1 year ago and those that helped out in the journey. Now its time for me to spend a few minutes...hours...no days, praising the individuals that helped keep the Olympic Dream alive for me. I haven't done this in the previous blog entries, and I hope as you read this you don't feel as this is some kind of political propaganda to boost others egos, just know that it is a heart felt and sincere thank you to those that operate behind the scenes that don't get as much acknowledgment as they deserve. I think somewhere there is some hideous country song that says behind every good man, there is a better woman...well heres a fact, behind every athlete that is an immense support structure that is seldom seen, except for today.
My parents have long supported my dream of competing for the USA and have taken many financial hits, including delaying their own retirement and watched mountains of debt climb up as their son pursued his Olympic Dream. To my Mom & Dad, no words can express my gratitude for your unwaivering support. You have said that your previous financial backing was an "investment" in my future...I cant wait to see your "investment" pay out largely in 6 months time. There is a word class organization and a world class individual that heads it up, on who's behalf that I wright this blog entry...Amory Rowe and In The Arena. Without the support of Amory and In The Arena, this past years journey and all its experiences would be one word...impossible. To Amory, you have made the impossible, possible and the dream a reality. I cant express my families and my thanks in words, so I wont even struggle to find them because it would be a gross understatement. The United States Olympic Training Center was wiling to take a gamble on a guy who put all his eggs in one basket and it has thus far panned out. Without being accepted there, I would have been working a 9 to 5 back in October of 2006, a huge thanks to them as well.
Ok, that has been long overdue and I just felt I needed to get that out of the way...On to the good stuff. I approaching the 1 year anniversary with In The Arena and am eager to embark on year #2. Looking back at the successes and failures of the past years community programs, I feel the need to "funnel" my activities to certain age groups. I am going to make an attempt to reach out to kids from grades 2-5 and 10-12. It seems to me that the younger kids that fall between 2nd-5th grades look at Olympic Athletes as lager than life, they don't quite differentiate between "famous" baseball and football players and Olympic athletes. All they see is an athlete at the highest level and know that they are doing something bigger than they can comprehend. It is these kids that seem to hang on every word that you say, and I often get letters from these kids who have coined the catch phrase "I wanna be like Mike"... The kids that are reaching the upper levels of high school are an entire new ball game. These are the kids that will actually look to you for advice on life issues that they may not be able to get at home. It is this opportunity that allows us to plant the seeds that the Olympic Movement is all about. I have found through a couple of projects that the kids that fall into grades 6-10 are sometimes "to cool for school" and aren't open to seeing things in the large picture. These kids are often searching to find their own identity and wont look for help in outside sources and will figure it out on their own through trial and error.
I have the rest of the week off, and have some time to reflect and ponder new and old community projects and hope to have some exciting news for you on the next blog entry. As I sit here and proof-read this entry, it strikes me that I haven't really expressed all that I wanted to say, especially in the "thank you" department...but I will save that for another place and time...how about in Asia in August. Speak to you again soon, Mike++

Headed Down-Under

G'Day Mate,
This blog update finds me in the midst of booking flights to Australia for a short 4 meet series in February and early March. I just got confirmation this weekend and will be headed down under from the 4th of February to the 2nd of March. This trip comes as I'm finishing a power conversion phase in my training so I am anticipating some big throws.

In other news, I have been fortunate enough to be invited back to watch the "break out" session of hell week for the new class of navy Seals. This special night will take place Sunday, February 27. I will be able to meet and socialize with some of the military's highest ranking officers as well as several members of congress and a few Senators. I haven't been told who due to security restrictions, but it has the makings of a amazing night. This class of Seal's have been training for several weeks and will now begin the dreaded "hell week breakout". Basically, the seals will begin a weeks worth of pain and anguish while operating on a total of 4 hours of sleep for 1 week straight. The Seal instructors anticipate the class going from a total of over 250 recruits to 40 during this week. I will not be participating, however will be able to re-live one of the most awesome experiences of my life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67L35y77cWQ&feature=related


In community activity news, classes at the local Elementary and High Schools are back in and my classes that meet at the training center have also resumed. I have had a string on awesome 2nd graders come through who seem to be genuinely inspired and amazed by what they see here. It is truly a treat for me to read some of the thank you letters that trickle through after their visits. It reminds me that no matter how "routine" it becomes for me, it really is something special to many kids. I am trying to make an effort everyday to put forth as much energy and emotion as the kids show when the first arrive on site. As I prepare to leave for Australia, I will continue to strive to show our youth the real ideals of the Olympic Movement in its most untainted and untarnished form, I only hope to not let them down! Talk to you soon,
Mike++