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.

Travel Excitement

I know travelling to different to places can seem glamorous but I have to tell you about my return trip from Maui.  I left the hotel at 12pm local time for my 2pm flight from Maui to Honolulu.  It was a short 30min flight.  My next flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles wasn’t leaving until 10:30pm  so I had eight hours to kill.  Will Conwell, US discus thrower, my training partner in Seattle, WA reminded me we had some Huskies on the island.  Lauren a former runner for the huskies lives there but she was coaching at the high school state meet.  But another husky came to my rescue, Blake a former decathlete for the huskies was there on vacation.

We found a place to have lunch and they took me to a beautiful beach.  It was relaxing watching all of the kids playing and there was guy who was rowing around standing on a surf board.  It was pretty cool to watch, it looked like a really hard workout.  We took a short driving tour and then it was time to head back to the airport.

My flight was a little late leaving and by the time we landed in LA I had 10min. to get to my connecting flight to Memphis.  My mad dash began and I made the flight.  I got to Memphis and was thankful to have only 1 flight left, 50 min. and I would be off to Atlanta.  We boarded the flight as usual but the plane was having issues and we stayed parked at the gate for about an hour.  Then they had all of us get off the plane so they could fix it.  We waited about another hour still no word.  Finally the gate agent started booking people on later flights.  I was able to get on a later flight on a different airline. 

After a short 50min flight from Memphis to Atlanta my trip was almost done.  I just had an hour drive left to Auburn, AL.  I couldn’t get there fast enough, I was missing my baby and just wanted to see him.  He waited up for me and gave me the biggest hug.  That hug made me forget about the 30 hours it took to get from Maui to Auburn.

Training in Maui

It was a nice change of weather from Osaka to here. I love the warm weather, mid 80’s, and ocean breeze. Our hotel is right in a harbour and this beautiful cruise ship was docked here for 2 days. I got a great training session in on Monday and the breeze was just right for the discus. They even had a place set up for us to lift.

Our hotel is right across from the mall, so it’s a easy walk for lunch and dinner everyday. Most of the other throwers arrived today and we should have some good comps. this week. There are enough throwers here for 4 days of meets, with B sections on Tuesday and Thursday and A sections on Wednesday and Friday. Here is the meet site, http://www.mauidiscuschallenge.org/page/page/5846709.htm

1st day in Osaka

   I was able to get a great nights rest after the long travel.  Breakfast at the hotel was really good.  A wide variety of food for all the international athletes here.  This is a very nice hotel, with great food and service.  I found out that I will be competing at 10am local time in Osaka, so after breakfast I headed to the track for a work out.

We worked out at the warm up track but we were able to walk out on the field in the stadium.  This is the same stadium were World Championships were held last year.  It is very pretty and I plan on getting some pictures tomorrow.  It was a nice temperature for training about 75 degrees.  And the track officials did a great job of keeping the throwing field clear for us while throwing.  A lot of time athletes run right across the field while were throwing and it can be pretty dangerous. 

With the time change I was pretty sleepy after training.  So to stay awake Beatrice Faumuina(discus thrower from New Zealand), Cleopatra Borel-Brown(shot putter from Trinidad & Tobago) and I checked out some of the city for a few hours.  The hotel has a free shuttle that drops you in town and brings you back.  We checked out some stores, Louis Vuitton, Cole Haan, Tiffany’s and others, of course we were just window shopping.

The best part of the trip is we found a Starbuck’s and I treated myself to a coffee.  They have a drink here with Coffee flavored Jelly in the drink, of course I had to try it.  It was pretty good. We got back to the hotel just in time for the athlete party.  The food again was awesome and the best thing was the tempura prawns.

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.

On the Road to Beijing 2008!!

On June 4, 2007, the most exciting event of my life occurred. I became a mother.  My little boy, Theo, instantly filled my world.  However, the pregnancy left my body without muscles, which are so important to a thrower.  I competed at nationals, when Theo was only 18 days old.  It felt good to pick up the discus and compete after being out of the ring for so long, but I finished a disappointing fifth and did not make the world team. 

Since then, I have been committed to training and my body is returning to pre-pregnancy form.  While pregnancy and throwing seem to be at odds with one another, motherhood and throwing go well together.  My commitment to motherhood and throwing are equal in their passion and I plan to come back stronger and better than ever this season, in both arenas.

I am currently training in Auburn, AL with my coach Jerry Clayton preparing for the Olympic Trials.  Which are in Eugene, OR June 27- July 6th 2008.

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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