Training Update

I have had some great workouts since my return from the early Australian meets.  I am really excited about my new personal records in the weight room.  My training partners Kristin Heaston and Cory Martin have been a big help in getting my numbers up in the bench, clean and snatch.  We have had some fun competitions that have helped all of us and right now I am beating Cory in the bench press.  Not in actual weight but in the differential, I am closing the gap.  All I can say is next time he’s buying the pizza.Kristin continues to challenge me in the hurdle hops and we are both reaching higher heights. My coach and I have been working hard on a few technical adjustments and I am starting to get the feeling.  Now I need a few meets to groove them in.  I am really excited about the upcoming Drake Relays in Des Moines, IA on April 25th.  It will give me a chance to start fine tuning my technique while competing against a great field of discus throwers.  Be sure to watch all three of is compete at Drake on ESPN2 April 26th, 2:00 - 3:30 pm 

2009 Update

 

I enjoyed my 2008 accomplishments, winning the Olympic Trials and making the finals in the Olympics in Beijing were the highlights.  But I have been hard at work to have a better season in 2009.  Training has been going really well and I am excited to get the 2009 season underway.  I had some great fall and winter training sessions.  I was able to address some weaknesses in the off season and I have working hard to get them stronger and gain some more flexibility.  Which is important in discus throwing.  I feel like I am in great shape, my fitness is improved and my strength levels are up. We recently lost one of our Olympic sponsorships, The Home Depot Job Program, which I was part of.  So I have also been busy fundraising trying to find my own sponsors so I can be a Full Time discus thrower, train hard to make the 2012 Olympic Team and get a Medal for the USA!  I have some great people I am working with and I hope to find some sponsors soon.  If you have some ideas or contacts please send them my way.  This a team effort.  I have my new 2009 schedule up with the meets I know about so far.  Follow along as I get ready to start a new season.   

Turkey Toss 2008 Champion

My latest competition was this week at the annual Rick and Bubba Turkey Toss.  It was held Thursday morning at the Academy of Sports in Auburn, AL.  I got a call from Kristin Heaston, two-time Olympian, late Wednesday night telling me about the event and it was early in the morning from 6am to 9am. Cold mornings and frozen turkeys a chilly thought.  But I decided to head out there anyway.  I got there about 5:45am and  met up with Cory Martin, 2008 NCAA Champion in the shot put and hammer and the place was packed.  They had a Waffle House trailer cooking up hot waffles, Char-Broil trailer deep frying turkeys, Krispy Kreme donughts and Starbucks coffee.

They started to contest about 6:15am and I am frozen.  The turkeys are frozen in the bags and the crowd is not sure the best way to grip it and throw it.  The key was getting it to roll because they measured it where it stopped.  I did a sideways hip toss and it went about 50 feet and I moved into the lead.  I thought that might hold up but I wasn’t sure.  So I headed home to warm up and decided I would go back closer to end and see if my mark had held up.   I didn’t want to miss out on my prize.

When I got back the new leader had thrown 83 feet. WOW!!! I wonder who threw that, then I ran into her in the crowd it was Chandra Brewer a USA Shot putter who was 4th at this years Olympic Trials, she trains at Alabama University and was the 2007 Turkey Toss Champion and in 2nd was Krystal Hancock  of Enterprise, AL.  I took a couple of more throws and couldn’t come close so I took a break walked around and check out all the booths and with about 15minutes to go I decided one more throw.  I really wanted that Academy of Sports gift card.  As soon as I got back in line they said we were the cut off and no more throws.

I picked up the turkey got the best rip I could and threw it discus style and it flew and got a great roll.  I waited anxiously for the judge to let me know if it was enough and then he gave the thumbs up 83 feet 7 inches I took the lead.  It was awesome I never knew I could toss a turkey that far.  I had a great time all the competitors were awesome and of course Rick and Bubba were great.  Thanks see you next year!!!

Check out the award winning Rick and Bubba website, http://www.rickandbubba.com/   They have a list of all the winners and more photos of the event.

Pictures Courtesy of Krystal Hancock

An Exciting Send Off

We had another fun send off on Friday here in Opelika, AL.  Kristin’s neighbors all got together and planned a great farewell.  They made some great salads and a beautiful cake with the Olympics rings on it.  We brought our implements for some up close and with a shot put and discus.  It’s great to know we have such great support here in Opelika as well as around the country.  The neighbors have been supportive all season wishing good luck on various trips and following our progress.  Here are some pictures of our exciting send off.

         

A Great Media Day

A special thank you to Toomer’s coffee for hosting an Olympic send off for Kristin Heaston and myself yesterday.  It was fun spending time with the family, friends and the community.  I had a great time and the support of others is awsome.  So keep the great vibes coming especially on our competition days.  I throw on Aug. 15th and 18th and Kristin throws on Aug. 16th.

Also one of my sponsors, Advocare, came out to practice yesterday to get some new footage and freshen up my advocare video.  I am excited to see the new one when they have it finished.  I know they have a few more athletes to shoot, Advocare had a number of endorsers make the 2008 Olympic Team.

Training for Reebok Grand Prix Meet

It’s been great to get back in the weight-room and training after all those days on the road to Japan and Hawaii.  I had a great week of lifting last week.  My Olympic lifts, bench and squats are finally starting to get close to what they were 2 years ago.  The weight-room staff at Auburn University is 1st class.  One of the assistant strength coaches, Jeff, is getting married this weekend.  Congrats Jeff!!!!

 After these 2 good weeks of hard training.  I am excited to be competing again this weekend in the Reebok Grand Prix in New York.  We are  going to have a great field of women’s discus throwers.  One of our American discus throwers, Stephanie has a current World Leading Mark at 66.17meters.  This is going to be my first visit to the Big Apple, I’ll try to take lots of pictures.

For more meet info visit, http://www.reebokgrandprix.com/

TV Times

ESPN2, May 31, 8:00-10:00 p.m.
CBS, June 1, 1:30-2:30 p.m.

A Great Week of Training

Training felt great this past week. My timing in the discus is starting to come back. So much of the throw is rhythm and timing. You can work the technique, but you have to find the right tempo as well.

My jumps and sprints are improving and I am feeling explosive again. I had a great jumping workout in the sand and over hurdles this week. As I work my explosion back into the throw, the discus is really going to fly.

My numbers are improving in the weight-room as well. Now the weight-room is not my favorite place and it’s exciting for me to push the limits in there again. My total tonnage was probably the heaviest I have ever done adding up all the lifts. I was able to bench 230 for 4 reps.

I have the Mt Sac Relays this weekend in Walnut California. Most of the top athletes will be there. It is an exciting meet and I am truly looking forward to the competition. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Training with coach Jerry Clayton

I have been training with coach in Auburn, AL at Auburn University for a few weeks and it has been awesome.

Having a training partner (Kristin Heaston, USA Olympian women’s shot put) to train with has been very exciting.

We are able to push each other harder in the workouts. Even though the workouts are hard enough the way coach writes them, we some how find a way to make them harder having mini competitions in our training exercises.

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