Life After College ... "Pick up a Golf Club"

Last week I stumbled across an interview that my old roomate, Toby Stevenson, gave to Flotrack after a practice session at Stanford University (were he currently coaches.)

This interview is probably one of the greatest perspectives of life after college, by one of the greatest pole vaulters to ever live. And this is from an Olympic medalist, a guy who has reached the pinnacle of the sport. His advice to an aspiring NCAA "up and coming" athlete...someone who has the "potential" to make it in the professional ranks..."pick up a golf club and learn to play golf". This is the funniest, yet truest advice I have ever heard.

In Toby's interview, he talks about sacrifices and support. We all know "sacrifices sound cliche" but in professional track and field, especially the technical events where athletes don't reach the international level until their late 20's and 30's... sacrifice is an understatement.

I was speaking to the Olympic Training Centers sports psychologist last week about life after track, and what I can take away from my career when it is over. My opinion seems to be echoed by most retired and older athletes, most of whom are Olympians and even some Olympic medalists. I...we... believe that we have put in more than we will ever be able to get out of track and field. Even if I where to win an Olympic Gold medal, I believe that I will still feel as if I have dedicated half my life to an ideal that did not give back. I have had a pretty blessed career thus far, made an Olympic Team, World Championship Team, World Cup Team, won an International Medal, traveled the world 10 times over...but yet I feel that the sport has made me more cynical and bitter than thankful. I admit, that the majority of my animosity comes from the lack of support from our National Governing body, who ironically should be the number one place of support. Maybe one shinning light in hindsight was the support that I received from my family and a few close friends and organizations that put faith in my talent and ambition...amazing people and friends such as Amory Rowe and In the Arena, Jack Wickens and the USATF Foundation. Let me make that statement clear, that would be the USATF FOUNDATION, not our national governing body USATF...there is a BIG difference! Help from the United States Olympic Committee and guys like Tracy Lamb, for taking a gamble on me back in 2006. Support from amazing friends like these help ease the burden of trying to fight the sometimes impossible fight and for that I am forever thankful.

In a side note, how fun would professional sports in the USA be if they followed the track and field, golf and tennis model. What if... NFL/NHL/MLB/NBA players didn't get paid, unless they won their game? How hard would these guys fight every game to secure their multi-million dollar salaries, some of who receive millions of dollars and dont even play? How fun would that be? Maybe we would see a little "extra effort" or a few ground balls?

Here is Toby's interview, watch it, save it, hopefully you get an idea of what life is all about in the life of a professional track athlete and maybe get a laugh as well.

The interview can be seen here:

http://www.flotrack.org/speaker/7406-Toby-Stevenson/video/482077-Toby-Stevenson-Life-After-Track?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook

March Training

March is almost halfway over and its flying by fast and furious. The weather has been great, surprise right. Can't say the same for whats happening in Japan right now. Watching all the tsunami stuff on TV reminds me of when I went through similar evacuations about a year ago in Hawaii, see below:

http://in-the-arena-mike.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html

I packed our condo all through the night and waited for the evacuation sirens to go off at 06:00am...

I haven't gotten confirmation if any of the problems in Japan will effect the May 8 competition in Kawasaki, which is supposed to be my 2nd meet of the season...I'm crossing my fingers. Not much news to blog about this time of year. The High Tech High Bruins have resumed practice at the Olympic Training Center and although I havent been able to spend as much time coaching them, it has been fun catching up with old friends and seeing some new faces.

Here is a random video I made from some of the past few days training, I plan to make several more, but am going to collect some more footage first...

All things New...

New training block, new haircut ;) new javelin spikes, new music... The new training block starts, in about 5 hours (I'm a little bit sleep deprived) so if this blog comes off a bit random, it reflects how I'm currently feeling...but after this first round of coffee, things may clear up a bit near the end of this entry (but it may be too late by then)... By the way, if you have the ear for some amazing tech house/progressive EXCLUSIVE music, check out my new sponsor friskyradio.com...like NOW!

http://www.friskyradio.com/

ok, now that the rambling is out of the way... New 4 week training block starts today, which includes a bit more fast pace throwing, not too much, just a bit....and some of my favorite lifts...Here's a clip of my coach and I about 10 days out from Beijing in 08. Cool thing is I'm up about 30k since then...moving on



By the way, here is my coach giving an awesome interview at USA Indoors this weekend:
http://www.runnerspace.com/video.php?do=view&video_id=37546

Lets see, other updates, I cut my hair for the 1st time since September 2010. Nike is "rumored" to be working on a new javelin spike, which would be great, given that the current one is probably the...well never mind, lets just say its not ideal. Here is a cool pics of the current boot "melting" upon ground contact.


And here is one of Chris Hill's toe after one session...you get the idea


My DJ website if finally up and running, big thanks to sponsors Frisky Radio
http://www.friskyradio.com/

and Undastreet Music Enhancement:
http://www.undastreet.com/

http://djmisha.us/

I got approved for a guest mix on friskyradio last month, which is HUGE for me because Friskyradio is worldwide and reaches ears on all corners of the globe, anywhere there is internet and a love for music, my mix will be there. My last mix was all set to air but I messed up and put a link to it on facebook which violated the agreement with Frisky because all their mixes are EXSCLUSIVE! Thats how they make their money and what makes the special, you wont hear those sets anywhere else in the world. Anyways, since I made the last mix public, here is the link:

files.me.com/mikehazle/2lpzgo.mp3


I have dialed down my community service quite a bit the last month because I have been spending a HUGE amount of time doing therapy and rehab, and so far it working well. I still have a few bumps and bruises for the most part, but again that's to be expected for this time of the year. I will be in touch with the High Tech High gang this season but in a far less role than last year. Although being with HTH guys is buckets of fun and I really enjoy just hanging with the team, it does do a huge number on my ability to recover from training. Things are going so well right now that I would rather not change anything. "If it aint broke, don't fix it".

To wrap it all up, I read a pretty amazing quote last night... I'll leave you with where I read it and the amazingness that follows: you are welcome ;)

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing."

-Helen Keller

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bJmVJZbmIk

Freedom...

Its usually this time of year that I get a kick out of cruising the mall on the weekend and looking at all the stressed out guys... You can always tell the ones who are desperate to get that last second gift that has to be just right, not too much and definitely not too little. Sometimes I can even tell by looking which guys have been in the doghouse. I know these thing, because I used to be in their shoes... and now, I am as excited as ever to celebrate tomorrow's holiday! My holiday is a bit different however, I celebrate, what some call "Singles Awareness Day" but I just refer to it as the celebration of... FREEDOM!

If I may present...a great gathering of happy men, celebrating their FREEDOM! ;)


Training is going uber fantashtic! I'm going on the 3rd week of a 4 week training block and this is the week that I usually feel the worst, but so far so good. My coach and I are looking at upcoming meets and getting workouts ready for the season that should start the end of April. My training partner Kara Patterson is looking scary good and I'm having to do everything I can to keep up with her. She is a totally different athlete from last year, and I honestly have no idea how far she may throw this year. I'm trying to negotiate a "training partner" bonus clause in her contract ;)

In the community service arena, I have dialed down a bit of my services in order to devote more time to my training and recovery, but will be in touch with my High Tech High crew throughout the Spring and will do what I can to get them ready for more school records. Until next time, have a great "Freedom" day.

Same 'Ol ...

Not much new to report since my last blog update. I am still enjoying the amazing San Diego weather and really feel blessed to live in this city! I just happened to catch a funny joke on tv the other day... A guy who lives in the O-C (Orange County) was talking to some people who live in the Midwest and the Midwest folk where saying how they could never live in Southern California. They said "I could never live in SoCal, I need to live in a place that has seasons..." the reply was, "me too, I love seasons, that's why I moved to a place that skips the crappy ones!" That pretty much hits the nail on the head. Anyways, enough rubbing it in ;)

Training has continued to go well, and I'm starting a new block this week and am looking forward to doing a bit more quality throwing sessions. However, coming off a rest week, well...half of a rest week, I suddenly found myself bored crazy. See previous blog entry "Balance" http://in-the-arena-mike.blogspot.com/2010/07/balance.html
I have been doing alot more gymnastic work and much less weightlifting and it looks as if its paying off. Heres a quick video from some new ring "tricks" and a big thanks to my training partner Kara Patterson's crazy camera skills!

Until next time...M++

Back in the Mix...again...

The last few weeks in San Diego have been great. Unlike much of the USA, we have been blessed with better than average weather in the high 70's and low 80's. That kind of weather usually just makes being outside, much less training, very enjoyable. The entire month of January has been one of the most pleasant training months that I can remember. My volume is extremely high and the intensity is getting higher each week, yet I'm holding together fairly well, minus the normal aches and pains. As January rolls on and we get into February, the volume will continue to climb and if my calculations are correct, this is what I will have in store over the next few weeks:

Squat 44,160 kilos (97,152 lbs)
Power Clean 19,840 kilos (43,648 lbs)
Throw 2,400 medballs
Take 800 javelin throws
Throw 1,600 weighted ball throws

I'm throwing heavy javelins at the moment, and am really liking the new technical changes as well as being able to train full time with my training partner Kara Patterson and my old buddy Andreas Thorkildsen is here as well until early February.

In other news, today was a very frustrating day for me as BOTH of my NFL teams lost today...and yesterday the team that I hate the worst in the entire world, the Steelers, won...It just about ruined a perfect weekend for me, then add to that a Tom Brady and Wes Welker loss to the 2nd worst team in the world, the J-E-T-S .... I feel sick right now....yup, just threw up in my mouth. Oh well, my lone hope for any redemption of this season is in the hands of the Green Bay Packers...here is me crossing my fingers.

I am waiting on the start of the High Tech High Bruins season. I have not heard back from the principle and head track coach on when the kids are allowed to resume practice, but I'm assuming it will be any day now and I am on stand by until further notice. Until next time,

GO PACK!
M++

Here is a 1k jav throw with the new technique....cheers!

Ghosts of Christmas Past

I thought it might be fun to re-live a few of my past Christmas's and training experiences...so here goes.

This time last year, I was gearing up for working with the High Tech High School Track Team and just coming off shoulder surgery. December of 2009 was filled with a ton of bike workouts and some job searching to help knock off some surgery bills. December of 2008 looked like a fairly good month of training, given that all of November was basically a waste due to a rotated SI joint in my low back. I was also nominated for the December "Athlete of the Month" at the US Olympic Training Center, which was odd because there where no competitions going on at that time, I was told it was because I had the most community service hours ;)

December of 2007...actually December 17, 2007 was the 2nd coolest day of my life to date. December 17 was the day that I had the privilege of training with the Navy Seals. Its ironic, because as of that date this year, 3 years later...I met my neighbor, who happens to be a SEAL and found out that there are 3 other team members on my street. Good company to be around, and I'm sure they will be able to answer most of the questions that I have about my future when I'm done with throwing sticks.

Heres wishing happy holidays to everyone, until next time:
M++