Rest & Recovery

For the 1st time in over 4 months, I am blogging from....home ;)

I just returned home from a ridiculously long season and am finally taking some time to lick my wounds, do some laundry and get things in order for the fall training period. As far as I know, I don't have any more meets scheduled, but I have been told that I am supposed to make a end of the month run to Japan and Korea (again) but i am honestly not in the mood. Considering I had to take 800mg of caffeine and a shot of demoral in my big toe just to get through my last meet, I'm going to stick with my instincts and say its time for a rest...but then again there are bills to pay, so who knows...

Here is a quick recap of this seasons destinations:

Doha, Qatar 8 May
Tucson, Arizona 23 May
Hengelo, Netherlands 1 Jun
Seinäjoki, Finland 6 Jun
Kuortane, Finland 13 Jun
Eugene, Oregon 25 Jun
Villeneuve d'Ascq, France 30 Jun
Pátra, Greece 6 Jul
Roma, Italy 10 Jul
Athína, Greece 13 Jul
Heusden, Belgium 18 Jul
Stockholm, Sweden 31 Jul
Berlin, Germany 21 Aug
Tallinn, Estonia 25 Aug
Riga, Latvia 26 Aug
Rovereto, Italy 1 Sep
Bruxelles, Belgium 4 Sep

The end of the season was a whirlwind of meets that included 5 meets in 14 days. In the javelin throw, that kind of schedule is asking for trouble, if not injury. I told myself that I would not do that kind of schedule anymore, but somehow the lure of potential money (which is never there) always sucks me in, I guess the idea of making money always sounds good especially when you don't have any. That brings me to my main topic of this blog...Being on top of the world...and staying there.

I read an article a few days ago that asked why so many of the US athletes (throwers in particular) travel to Europe only to have sub par performances and have a hard time staying in the mix with the Europeans and don't put up any big marks...allow me to take an exert from this article:

"But there is a consistent performance problem for athletes when making the National Team. 2009 like 2008 produced reps in Mens javelin, then hitting Europe and performing below par. Golden League poor performances, Grand Prix events low level and culminating in qualifying rounds at World Champs where distances are lower than expected. In the period after NCAA Finals and US Nationals there are drops of 8+m in the important European season. When the Mens event took just over 78m to make the final, each of the 3 US mens throwers PR's were sufficient to go through but what occurred was a marked drop.

Allow me if I may to put some of these questions at rest...if your interested.

First of all, in regards to the top guys in the world, when you are on top of the world in any sport, often times its not that hard to stay there. Its getting there that is the kicker. Most of the guys who travel and do the (now non existent) Golden League events exclusively are traveling business class, staying in 5 star hotels and have access to good food and even better medical and therapy and alot of rest. With the exception of a 3 week span in July, these athletes have multiple weeks in between competitions to recover and get ready for the next one.

The problem arises when you don't know if your are included in these competitions until a day or 2 before hand and you are left trying to squeeze in smaller meets on far ends of the globe to pay the bills in between...then you finally get the go ahead for the big meets and 9 times out of 10, you catch a plane, arrive the day before and throw on maybe 3 days rest...Thats not the exact recipe for big throws. The "wait and see" schedule is in effect for the majority of throwers on the circuit with the exception of the top guys in the world, who have their schedules set early in the year which allows them to design training plans and peaks for major championships. Heading to Europe with your bags packed and on the eternal "wait list" is a way of life for the majority and its just not an effective training plan for big results. So once again, its seems as if your able to climb that mountain, it gets a little easier at the top and its alot easier to stay there...so the question is asked, how to climb that mountain, faster and more effective?

back to the drawing board...

Until next time...
M++

Berlin in the Rear View

Berlin in the Rear View

It was about this time last year that I blogged about “Beijing in the Rear View” …Well, here we are 1 week after the 2009 World Championships in Berlin and I have had some time to reflect on the week and my performance. I threw 78.17m to finish 10th in my flight in some terrible conditions. I missed qualifying for the final by 48cm. At the time, 78.17m was my 2nd best throw of the season (far from the results of my Olympic year campaign). There were intermittent showers and a cold front blowing in which brought with it swirling winds up to 25mph. The 1st flight of 24 throwers saw only 2 guys hit the automatic qualifying mark of 82m and even saw some 90m guys throwing in the mid to low 70’s. Such is the game at major international championships. Usually, stats and previous season and personal best carry no weight in the qualifying rounds. Looking back (hind-sight is always 20-20) I am starting to think that I need to practice in terrible weather as much as possible. 2007 Rio De Janeiro’s Pan Am Games, Beijing last year and Berlin this year all have been cursed by downpours and ridiculous winds. Not the best conditions for a southern California based guy (I’m laughing of course as I type this ;) In summary, I was very satisfied with my performance and would not have changed a thing. I got what I deserved and those who made it into the final all earned it.

Probably the strangest thing about Berlin was watching very close friends and training partners of mine win medals. Often times we only dream of performances that lead to the medal stand and to see so many of those dreams come true for many friends of mine, it made me realize that great things are not as far off as they seem. This really hit home as I watched the javelin final on Sunday and saw 82m take a bronze medal from an unheard kid from Japan.

The city of Berlin was absolutely amazing! Although the stadium was rarely filled to capacity (rumors of ridiculously high priced tickets) the crowd that showed up was passionate for every athlete in every event. Berlin has hosted major international competitions before as in 1936 the Olympic Games and more recently the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Of course there are the now non-existent Golden League meetings that I have participated in Berlin, but none were as amazing as this years World Championships. I was stunned to watch a 22 year old Jamaican kid run 9.58 seconds over 100m and then follow that performance with a 19.19 200m. Although he running on some “special fuel” (if you get my drift) he is still good for athletics as it is slowly dying. According to what other athletes and managers are saying, even though he is good for the sports popularity (he is the 1st track and field athlete to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 9 years) he is also killing the sport with how much money he is making. He now is demanding the entire budget of some competitions just to show up, which means he can hand pick where he wants to race, at what time and against whom to ensure that he is not beaten. There are confirmed reports that he is getting $425,000 JUST TO SHOW UP at the Brussels Golden League next Friday (which I will be at but not sure about competing in).

I am now at the Riga, Latvia airport on my way to Venice, Italy and have just left Tallinn, Estonia. I competed in Tallinn on Tuesday the 25th and was back over 80m with a throw of 80.11m and took the win over the 2005 World Champion. The Estonian guy who threw exactly 1cm better than me in Berlin was 2nd with 78m…ah revenge ;) Once I get to Venice, I will hopefully have some information on if I am throwing in Rovereto, Italy on Monday the 1st before I head off to my final stop in Brussels Belgium for the last Golden League in the history of the Golden League’s…Brussels is the only Golden League that I have not competed in, and it would be a great treat to be upgraded from the waitlist to the start list….time will tell. But for now, with Berlin in the rear view, it’s on to the rest, and end of the season.
M++

Locked & Loaded

You know the feeling of seeing a present under the Christmas tree a few days before Christmas day? Well that’s about how I feel about my upcoming qualifying round this Friday in Berlin at the IAAF World Champs. But you always know there is a catch right? Well in my case, if I shake that present to try to guess whats inside, it will break before Christmas comes…so instead I have to see it everyday and just look at it and wonder…

I have been in Berlin since August 9th and am in lifetime best shape, which is very good but also very dangerous. I am learning from my experiences in Beijing and from what I have seen several athletes go through thus far in the championships…Being in the best shape of your life for a World Championships is great, but I also have to make sure that I don’t let my emotions take over and place expectations on myself. I have goals and dreams sure, but expectations no…well maybe 1 great expectation and that is I expect to go out and do my best. I have watched my roommate, the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist and 2005 World Champion place 5th last night. He has been around a long time and seen it all, and he summed it up the best that I have heard thus far. As he was walking out the door to go to the final…I said “good luck bro!” as he was just about to shut the door he smiled and said, “just another day at the office”

Berlin has been great, the hotel is nice (been here a few times before for the Golden Leagues) and the weather has held up nicely. The stadium has been almost at capacity for every session and it has all the makings of a great championship. Tomorrow I have a short sprint session followed by a few full approach runs with the javelin. After that, it’s a rest day on Tuesday as I will watch my teammate Rachel Yurkovich compete in the women’s javelin final. Its exciting times for the USA javelin team, for the 1st time ever we have a woman in the final and we have a full squad of 3 guys. Wednesday is a light lifting session and Thursday is a pre meet shakeout before the show on Friday. I will also be watching my fellow ITA teammate Zoila Gomez compete in the marathon! GO ZOILA!!!!!

I will try to give a few more updates as the qualifying round gets closer, but for now…Locked and loaded in Berlin, and its just another day at the office ;)
By the way, some guy just ran a 9.58 in the 100m dash…that’s kind of fast, 24 mph to be exact…wow
M++

Berlin Bound

Multi-tasking:
"The apparent simultaneous performance of two or more tasks by a central processing unit"... try more like juggling 5 or 6 tasks! arrggggg!

This blog comes to you, with a bit of sarcasm and frustration. Just a quick update on the current situation...

I am in Saarbrucken Germany, where my training base for the upcoming IAAF World Championships are in 3 weeks (and counting)... The current problems are that I am unable to get into my room that I am staying in, because my roomate has proceeded to head into town for a few beers and has taken the room key with him, thus I'm locked out. 2nd problem, I have been wearing the same clothes since Saturday morning (its now almost midnight and Monday morning is just a few minutes away). I flew back from the Stockholm Super Grand Prix Saturday afternoon, but Frankfurt International misplaced my bags (and where supposed to be here 9 hours ago) and they now refuse to answer the phone... (see Doha disaster 2008 AND 2009) The last issue is my computer, I have been on and off the phone with German and USA tech support and they have been great as usual but we keep getting disconnected due to bad connections...So imagine telling a story for about 30min, then hang up, and start all over again, now repeat this process 5 more times and this is where I am now.

So...I am healthy and in good shape physically, just a bit flustered and dirty and am ready to get things back in order...always looking up shall I say ;)

Quick updates on the competition schedules...last update was from Athens as I was on my way to the Rome Golden League meeting. I threw below average in Rome and took 6th place which was ok for me in a stacked field full of medals. From Rome I went back to Athens and took 4th at the Grand Prix there with another average performance. I then had a short break and just got back from the Stockholm Super Grand Prix yesterday...

The Stockholm meet (which was on Universal Sports in the US if you missed it) was the most fun I have ever had at a meet by far. The food, the hotel, the organization, the Swedish people, everything was awesome and 1st class. The competition itself was ok, I took 4th place (again) in another stacked field and was finally able to knock off the 2004 and 2008 Silver medalists from Latvia as well as the 2003 World Champion. The conditions where bad, strong headwind, 50 degrees and rain, but I have thrown in similar conditions this year several times and managed a 78m throw.

I am now heading into the final preparations for Worlds and have a few good weeks of training ahead of me before resting for the big show. Ill try to updat emore from Berlin as I did last year from Beijing, but for now, I need to get in my room, shower and get to bed!

Till next time,
Auf Wiedersehen
M++

Always looking up…Part 2

Καλησπέρα από την Αθήνα!

This blog comes to you from Athens, Greece...how cool does that sound! I am such a fan of the Mediterranean culture...it is similar to Southern California, but without the egos! ;)

I am here at the Athens airport about to catch a flight over to Rome, Italy for my next shot at the IAAF Golden Leagues...Rome will mark the 3rd Golden League that I have been in the last 2 years, the others being Oslo and Berlin, the only remaining meets left are Paris Brussels and Zurich, all of which I probably will not be attending (explain below)... After being in Rome for a few days last year, I can say that it will probably be the coolest Golden League Meeting, aside from Oslo because I have so many close friends there. The city of Rome is literally one big museum and I cant wait to go back.



Competition updates: After having placing 2nd at our National Championships with my 2nd best throw ever (82.06m) and qualifying for World Championships in Berlin...I have done absolutely nothing ;)

I flew straight back to San Diego and moved everything that I own into storage units because the training center is once again re-evaluating the program and they wanted everyone out before they went to Europe. So, to make a long story short, I moved pretty much non-stop from the time I walked off the plane until about 2am, I got up at 5am and finished packing a few last minute items and headed straight over to France. I got in around 8pm that night and threw the next day...not a good idea.

ahhhh France, where do I start...without being too hard on them let me just say it was not the place I wanted to be as the July 4th holiday was approaching, I was oozing red white and blue and it must have showed all over my face! Let me just say that all of the stereotypes that you hear about the French...are true! I was blown away, in a bad way, but like I said, I wont go into too much detail about it but I realize now that stereotypes are usually based on fact! I even refrained from dropping the best one liner EVER! I was being spoken to (in a very condescending and sarcastic tone) by a French guy at the Paris Nord Train station, about my javelins "being in his way" as he was trying to pass... All I heard was blah blah blah wee wee wee, and he was looking at me like I knew what he was saying! I refrained, but all I wanted to say was,
"Im sorry, the only French I know is I surrender" :) (don't worry, I didn't say it out loud, but he deserved it)

anyways, after the sub par meet France, I met up with some of my training partners from the training center in Saarbrucken, Germany, a very very cool little town with a nice training center, I hung out there for 2 days and then headed down to Greece, Patras to be exact and threw again last night, another sub par result. My technique is hiding once again, but I'm sure it will come back, I just hope it comes back before I get to Rome and bang heads with the best in the world.

After Rome, I head straight back to Athens for the Athens Grand Prix on Monday the 13th and then off to Zaragoza, Spain on the weekend...after that, it may be time for a small, very small training period to rebuild a bit before Worlds in Berlin.

Till next time, missing the fireworks and BBQ's
M++

"Athletics is a balancing act, its a series of highs and lows, its how you manage your average that counts."



Roma Stadio Olimpico




Ολυμπιακό Στάδιο Αθήνας

Always looking up…

"My happiness grows in direct proportion to my acceptance, and in inverse proportion to my expectations." –Michael J Fox.
I started this blog off with that quote for about 100 different reasons…mainly because I am in the middle of Finland with nothing to keep me entertained in between throwing sessions other than my own thoughts. Last night, I was watching one of four channels on tv here at the training center in Finland, and happened to come across an interview with Michael J, Fox and Jimmy Kimmell. What I heard over the next few minutes really struck a cord in me and I felt compelled to ramble about it. So….Michael J. Fox just wrote a book called,” Always looking up, the Adventures of an Incurable Optimist”. For a quick re-cap, Michael was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease back in 1991 and since has been active in helping change peoples lives with what he coins his new outlook on life.
What does this have to do athletes or people that are totally healthy? I believe that it directly corresponds to athletes’ mental state leading up to major competitions and more importantly afterwards. Lets backtrack a few minutes (or months) looking back on the Beijing Olympic Games. There was a great deal of research done by the US Olympic Committee and USA Track & Field on why so many of the US athletes did poorly or not as well as was “**expected**” (**key phrase here**) at the Olympic Games. There where graphs, charts, and tons of calculations and many other scientific means of evaluation that a lot of people spent endless hours searching for the elusive answer of “why”. I heard one answer that came from the very top of the USOC Sports Science department…this answer was derived after countless meetings and reviews on why so many athletes did worse than “**expected**” and that answer was exactly this…and I quote,
“Mike, you know what we found out? Sometimes Sh*t just happens”
Lets jump forward now, back to what I saw in one of the most enlightening 10 minutes of my life. Michael J. Fox was asked, “how is it that you have found so much happiness through acquiring a disease that most people would find extremely hard to deal with?” His answer was simple, he said “"My happiness grows in direct proportion to my acceptance, and in inverse proportion to my expectations." He began to explain how he has accepted the fact that he has Parkinson’s disease, there are no options there, he has it, didn’t ask for it, cant give it back, its there. So he has accepted it, where he has options is how he deals with it and makes choices around it. His happiness grows with proportion to his acceptance. He then began to explain that his “**expectations**” are often times what leads to his disappointment, if he has no expectations then he cannot be disappointed.
Now before you run off and say, how can you have no expectations! Lets define expectations… here is a good quote to help set it up:
'”Hope is the product of knowledge and the projection of where the knowledge can take us.” Christopher Reeve
Expectations in athletics are sometimes confused with hopes and dreams…at least I think so. I am all for dreams, but expectations maybe not. I know that I had all of these expectations of myself for Beijing and when I did not meet those expectations, I was beyond devastated, it was a feeling I cannot even put into words, and I don’t think I actually accepted the result for many months. I made excuses to myself to help cope with the tremendous disappointment of my performance. Looking back (the famous phrase) I would have saved myself a few grey hairs and a lot of grief if I would have just went into the competition with no expectations and accepted the result and moved on. Easier said than done when the eyes of the world are focused on you I know, but it seems as the ones who did well were just happy to be there and had no expectations, only dreams.
How can this help athletes in the future? I know that every athlete that competes in any sport wants to do the very best they can possibly do on any given day. No one intentionally performs poorly or doesn’t try hard. So it just seems like common sense to me now to have no expectations for your upcoming performance, regardless of where you training is, or your last competition. Accept the results, and make your decisions on how to deal with whats next. I know that track and field is a very “what have you done for me lately” sport and often times your only as good as your last meet in the eyes of the general public. In my event if you are consumed about how far you are “**expected**” to throw or how your managers, meet directors and coaches think of you… then you are in for a few sleepless nights.
“what other people think of me is none of my business” Michael J. Fox