Can't Run Here...

I was pretty lame growing up so never got kicked out of anywhere for skateboarding or anything cool like that, but I never imagined I'd ever get kicked off a track and threatened with trespassing for doing some flying 40's.

I had to be in Phoenix all last week for a conference and was stoked when my google maps fly-over found a dirt track nearby to workout on.  Unfortunately Capt. Golf Cart discovered my unlawful intervalling half-way through my workout and made sure to escort me off the premises despite my pleas (I only had 10 minutes to go before my last interval).  I was able to get my final run on the local jogging path (much to the confusion of some power-walkers), but it was definitely the first time I've been kicked off a track for running.

On the update front, this will probably be my last post of 2008 but that means 2009 and the track season is just around the corner.  The Jets have their first meets coming up in January and I competed in my first meet last week.  Also, in Pole-A-Thon news things have gotten off the ground surprisingly well.  Huge, HUGE, thanks go out to my good buddy Ian Kenworthy, a hurdle teammate both at Saint Francis High School (he broke the school record I couldn't get) and UC Davis, and Team Awesome (Tyler Smith, Joe Huffsmith, and Dave Preston) for donating my first two poles - dubbed Glory Pole and Peppermint Taco respectively.  Guys, I can't thank you enough.

For now, I get a couple of days in California to rest up and enjoy the family before getting back to Boston and buckling down for the season.  Until then, have great holidays everybody.

Pole-A-Thon...I need your help.

As some of you close to me know, the week before the Olympic Trials was actually extremely stressful.  The week before I had come to find out that the shipping company I use used to use ruined just about every single pole I had shipped to Dallas for my decathlon at the beginning of June.  And I use the general term 'ruined' on purpose...I have no idea what they could have done to them to cause the damage I've been left with.

Seriously,  Short of a laser-pistol fight amongst guerillas I have no way to explain how 8 poles could be not only smashed, but burnt as well.  They weren't even flown, they were ground shipped.  Anyways, I lucked out and was able to borrow poles during the Trials (thank you Ryan Harlan) but with the size of poles that I need (big) being so rare, they only way I'm going to be able to find poles for this year is to buy them and unfortunately at over $500 and $600 a piece for most of them, they're far from cheap.  I lost a few grand of poles (as well as a couple that were lent to me by Northeastern and Harvard University so that fellow competitors in Dallas could borrow poles to jump on) so I'm going to need a lot of support.  

The great guys at M-F Athletic have pledged to give me 20% off each of my poles (which is HUGE!!! Thanks Guys!) so we've got a good start but if you or anyone you know is willing to support your favorite decathlete (me...), then please take a moment to visit my site at mchisam.com.  Every little bit helps so even if you can't help out monetarily, please take a moment to show your support with a comment.  Plus, if you're able to help out by donating a whole pole (Thanks You!!!) then not only will you get to name the pole, but you'll also be kept up to date with how your pole's season is coming along all year.  We started to get some great places last year, help me get even higher (literally) this year.

Thanks all,

Matt

mchisam.com

Superstitions

Whereas I've ever really been the superstitious type it's definitely something you will always find around you in sport and the topic was recently sparked by one of my athletes asking about any superstitions I adhere to. I actually remember in Little League I was jealous that the pro guys were superstitious so I thought that i should be too and thus took a Winchester Mystery House coin and put it in my shoe during a game "for good luck." Most painful game ever.
Being a huge over-thinker, rather than having superstitions I just get incredibly OCD about my preparations. I have to have the right breakfast, I have to do the right thorough warm-up (and spend way too much time doing it), my shoes always have to be tight enough, but never too tight and if one must be re-tied I can never not re-tie the other because it will then feel too loose in comparison to the newly tied shoe. I always have to put on a fresh jersey before my first event so I can never warm-up with it on. When vaulting (a whole 'nother story when it comes to superstitions and OCD behavior) I have to ensure that my entire hands are completely covered in chalk right before I step on the runway. If there is then an interruption in my pre-approach routine or if I have to wait too long to jump, I almost always have to re-chalk my hands.

But I guess there are a few things that might qualify:
1. If possible I always pack a box of honey wheat Wheatables crackers for every decathlon. This goes back to college when a teammate and I always brought these to meets. I don't even eat them half the time, but I always like to have them - it reminds me of the good ol' days with my UC Davis team and our multi-event trips. My coach usually ate more of them then we did (and then tried to get us to go to Carl's Jr every day because his wife (our other coach) wouldn't let him eat it at home).
2. I always down a Boost shake after the final days event in a decathlon - this if for recovery tho, so chalk it up to OCD.
3. If possible, I always shower right before the 1500 meters. This I got from Phil McMullen (friend, training partner, hero to all man) and I have PR'd in the 1500m every time I've been able to find a shower since.
4. In one of my first college decathlons, American Record Holder Dan O'Brien was competing with us and he was the first one to approach me after the 1500m - which is a big deal to a decathlete. I had my hands on my knees and was debating falling over when he came up to me and said: "Stand up. Americans never lay down after the 1500." I can hear him say that the moment I cross the line every time I finish a 15 and thus I don't lay down.

Be Warned...

The Jets have begun relay practice! The world is on notice.

Hills, Drills, and Jets

November is here and with it has come a step up in the event training (specific event work - ie, drills), a step up in the intervals (with a heavy dose of hills), and The Jets! The Cambridge Jets have begun their season so I am finally back working with them. It's great to see a lot of familiar faces and we've been able to hop right into the fun. This year I'm excited as I will get to work specifically with some of the kids on some field event stuff. We got to long jump last year, but I'm eager to try some other events out as well.
I keep forgetting to take some time to use my Flip out at practice with the Jets, but otherwise here's a snapshot of my November:

...

In one week it will be November. Things are starting to pick up real quick. You know that climb up the first big roller coaster hill? The chains slowly clicking, the plastic seat under your butt still a bit cold to the touch, the excitement starting to mix with anxiety - am I ready? is the bar clicked tight enough to my lap? Is it too tight? Do I put my hands up, do I scream? Where's the camera going to be? I wonder when they built this thing? This is going to be awesome.

In November I start with the Jets which is going to be great. I even ran into one of my guy's parents at Microcenter this weekend. His son, Jordan, and the family saw me on TV at the Trials - even picked me out of the background on some of the clips on top of the 1500m coverage. Now Jordan wants to try some multis this year, maybe even a decathlon this summer.
In November I will be one month away from the Harvard team's first meet. I'm psyched as this is going to be a great year. We've brought a lot of change to that program that will really come to show this year. I've got some great new kids and I'm stoked to see what my vets are going to accomplish, but once we start, there's really no let up 'til May.
In November I will be two months out from my first meet. Two months. eight weeks, 60 real-world days, 48 training days, 2 training cycles, then its here.

Probably means I should get to bed. Got lift in 10 hours. This is going to be awesome.

Sport

Sitting on the sidelines of one of the athletic department's twice weekly "Noon Hoops" games this week it dawned on me just how much sport gives to all of us. I use these and the subsequent Noon Soccer games as early season cross-training (got to switch it up sometimes, right?), but taking some time out a looking around the other day really made me appreciate it all. In one game we had 2 soccer coaches, a swim coach who used to be a boxer, 3 track coaches, a basketball coach who is still on some of Dukes all-time records as a player, Directors of Opererations, Alumni relations people, guys in charge of facilities, operations guys in charge of making those facilities work, interns, business school professors, 25 year olds, 50 year olds, guys, gals, people that can shoot, people that can run, and everything in between. 2 buildings over staff members and business school students were converging for pretty much the same situtation but on ice and with sticks. In the soccer games we get hockey coaches who've never played a game of soccer in their life next to secretaries, 300 ilb ex-linemen next to 130 ilb ex-cross-country runners, next to athletic directors. Everyone enjoying a little sweat and some competition along with great company.
For me and our young staff in the track offices it's how we've gotten to know the other coaches and administrators in the department - what i've dubbed "Noon Hoops diplomacy." For others it's a workout and a way to get in shape, some just need to get out of the office, but for all it's a chance to interact with the people around them.

On the other end of the spectrum, just a few hours earlier I was staring face down at a puddle of my own sweat attempting to finish up another one of my strength coach's "Beastday" workouts. Next to me were two brave friends I talked into joining me for the workout. After finally completing the workout and collapsing to the ground I couldn't help but think that although most people had yet to show up to the office for the day, there were 1,000's of athletes just like me in gyms, on tracks, on mountains, on bikes, on courts, in pools or on roads all over the country doing just the same as I. Maybe re-defining booty-lock, or mentally mapping the quickest route to the nearest trash can in case breafast decides to make another appearance, mopping up pools of their own sweat, or even yearning for a tub of ice to dunk themselves in. Some in a brightly lit training center surrounded by coaches, teammates, and the hum of video and computer analytical equipment. Others in dimly lit gyms surrounded by echos and rust. Here athletes are learning about themselves the way many will never know.

Then you have the kids; eagerly awaiting the end of the day for soccer practice, football practice, or lacrosse. I remembered never wanting to get sick because if I missed school, mom and dad wouldn't let me go to practice. Then a few years later it was sports that helped me fit in so that I wasn't just the nerd in honors classes whose mom was a teacher.

Sports are where so many find ourselves, where we find others, where we consequences and rewards, how to win, how to lose, where we learn to push and desire, where we learn to work.

In the wake of districts across the country cutting down on Physical Education and After-School sports, watching those Noon Hoops games and having the opportunity to hang out with the young guys with the Cambridge Jets always reminds me of how incredibly important sport can actually be.

Camp Foss II

I've finally had a chance to upload some film I took with my handy camera at Foss. When you pretty much live on the track from winter through summer it's always a good time getting in workouts well outside the lane lines.

"The Beast"

"Conquer the beast, Lest it conquer you."
These words are printed on the bottom of my Thursday strength circuit. You see, it turns out that when you tell your strength coach that you want him to feel free to experiment with you in your training, things get interesting real fast. Entitled "The Beast," my Thursday workout is an excellent example of this. Wanna try?

THE BEAST
50 x Deadlifts (w/ 135 ilbs)
50 x Pushups
50 x Barbell hang clean and jerk
50 x Straight leg sit-ups
50 x Overhead extensions (w/ 50ilb sandbag)
50 x Box step-ups (no bounce. 25 x each leg)
100 x Icemen (prone hold on elbows. extend one arm out and back = 1; 50 x each arm)
4 x MedBall Gassers (throw 12ilb ball in air, run to it, do it again for 80m)
50 x Mtn Climbers on slideboard (50 each leg)
75 x Atomic sit-ups (lying: bring head to knees, repeat)
25 x Chin-ups

Start a stopwatch at the beginning. Stop it after your chin-ups. Do better next week. Enjoy.

Camp Foss, NH

My college coach used to say: "There's no one more selfish than an elite athlete." In many regards this is very true. You are constantly thinking about yourself, what you are doing, what you are not doing, what you need to do. At times you can get caught up in all the nonsense, but about an hour ago I was reminded just how much an elite athlete can give back at the same time.

I am spending this week at Camp Foss outside of Stafford, New Hampshire with the Harvard Cross Country team (at this moment I am typing on the dock of our amazingly peaceful lake. The sun has just passed the hills, the crickets are fighting for attention against a group of the girls who have started a spontaneous sing-a-long and my legs are happily tired from a long day of workouts. There are definitely worse places to be...). We just finished dinner and the subsequent "Thought of the Day" presentation before entering the dining hall tonight was brought to us by one of our Juniors named Bobby. For tonight's theme, Bobby wanted to express the inspiration he has taken from In-The-Arena's own 1500 meter runner Gabe Jennings. Bobby was increibly impressed in that although Gabe may be very serious about running, at the same time doesn't allow that to get in the way of who he is and wants to be as a person. Gabe competed in the Boston Indoor Games this past winter, and I am sure it was either on his way to or from ITA founder Amory Rowe's apartment in Harvard Square that Bobby was able to meet Gabe wandering through The Square. I'm sure the interaction lasted no more than a couple minutes but I could clearly see on Bobby's face that this chance meeting would be with him for the rest of his life influencing not only who Bobby is and will be as a runner, but who Bobby will be as a person as well. On top of which, thanks to our "Thought of the Day" presentation and Bobby's great speach, this chance meeting was passed onto 50 more of Harvard's finest as they romp about in the woods this week and beyond. It's so easy as an athlete to get caught up in fine-tuning the body and razor sharpening the mind but I think Gabe is such an amazing example of the fact that without balance between your goals as an athlete and your goals as a person neither will every reach it's potential. The two do not detract from one another as many might think (I myself have been one of those), but with balance comes strength.


For myself, this trip as it did last year marks the official start of this coming season's training. I've had a great summer taking time off to rest the body and visity with family and friends but now it's time to get back to work. As far as it matters to me, New Years 2009 fell on September 2nd. I celebrated with a 2.5 mile run, some hill repeats, and a very dirty and sweaty strength circuit. I love being up here and there's no better way to start the year off right then a healthy dose of trail running, lake swimming, canoeing, hill runs, volleyball, and card games.

Thanks to last night's strength circuit I've realized that although I may have forgotten a bit of what it feels like to push through the pain, I am also remembering how great it feels to go to bed at night sore and exhausted.

The mosquitos have found me and the camp fire calls, I will post again soon.


2009, here we go.

Real Beijing

I didn't get a chance to read Mike's blog before writing my own, but I have just done so. It's one thing to watch the Olympics and be inspired. It's one thing to hear Morgan Freeman tell inspiring stories about athletes (I may or may not tear up everytime I see that one about the 400m runner and his dad in Barcelona). But if you want to see what it really means to be an Olympic Athletic please take a moment to read Mike's blog.

http://in-the-arena-mike.blogspot.com

Pro Track, Part I

Recently I have had to sought out by a couple multi-eventers either graduating or coming towards the close of their collegiate careers looking for advice about training post-collegiately. With the closing ceremonies of the Beijing Games just a couple days ago we all have had a great couple of weeks of sport to entertain and inspire us. I'll be the first to say that I'm a bit relieved to see them come to an end as the 2am bedtimes were killing me and I don't have DVR, but with the end of one Olympic cycle brings about an interesting time in Olympic sports like our Track and Field. These times and the turmoil rarely make it to the public conscious but are at the forefront for the athletes themselves. Once I get fired up about something it's hard to stop me so for your sake i'll split this up into two parts as noted by the title.

I can't speak for the outside world, but in American Track & Field, after you explain what you do for a living, the reason you're out in the rain running intervals on Friday evenings, why you, as a man, somehow feel more comfortable in skin tight spandex than you do in basketball shorts down to your ankles, the first question is: so you're going to be in the Olympics? I think everyone has their reasons for being out here, and of course, everyone dreams of walking in that stadium for Opening Ceremonies and getting the rings tattooed on your butt in the Olympic Village (oh, that's just me? nevermind), but there's so much more to it. Four years is a very long time. When you're twenty something like most of us are, four years can be a very long time and thus we are forced to face some very serious questions. I turned 26 a couple days after the Trials this summer. I wake up everyday and love what I do. I have a reason to get to bed every night, a reason to get up in the morning, a reason to eat well and take care of myself as do so many like me. That being said those many are also like me in that we've never had a spring break due to competitions, I never studied abroad because of worries about training, I'm four years removed from college and have never had a real full time job. My parents still pay my college loans for me and part of my car. Did I mention I regularly wear spandex and use friday evenings for interval workouts? Not exactly a stellar move for the social life. I know I did mention I love what I do, but is this where I want to be in four years when I hit the big 3-0? These are some of the questions 1,000s of great athletes around the country are facing right now. Am I willing to sell out another four years of my life?
Please don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to sound negative as I have a life and experiences I would never trade in, but there's always the internal sociological tug-of-war.
Unfortunatley the decathlon community, for these very reasons are going to lose some great competitors from our ranks this year.
Ryan Olkowski (Goose), despite my efforts to try to get him up to Boston to join me, at 28 has been feeling the pressure of the outside world for some time now. He also has been blessed with an incredibly supportive family and thanks to his father, he has been able train as a decathlete for the past 6 years since graduating from Penn State.
Joe Cebulski, 31, sold his house, bought a diesel car he converted to run on vegetable oil, and moved his family nearly across the country for his final shot this past year at the Olympic Team and his dream. I was there when he hit his A-mark qualifier for the trials in Dallas and was unfortunatley the one to call him with the heads up that USATF was trying to disallow our marks for qualifying due to wind. He sold ten years of his life to our sport and we're all better off for it.
And now what happens of Tom Pappas? I'm sure we'll still see him competing, but for how long? I'm sure there are questions throughout his head right now. As Bryan Clay jokingly told Pappas in the ice bath after the Trials: "Tom, if you're still around for the next Olympics, I'm going to hit you in the nuts. I'll be 30!" Tom is still one of the greatest athletes in the world (it was just a couple of years ago he became the first person to jump 27' in the long jump, 7' in the high jump, and 17' in the pole vault in the same meet - ridiculous), but has had to pull out of the last two olympics with injury. He's got a wife and a young kid...how much longer do you push it? Yes Tom is one of the few fortunatley to be able to make a living by simply running, but every year after the Olympic a re-evaluation period takes place in which many many athletes quickly find themselves without the sponsors they've relied on going into the Games. Pro Track on this level is business and decathletes anytime outside of an Olympic year are not good business. We eat too much.

Yes there is so much more to the sport than the 4 year cycle, and for the majority of us it is that majority outside of the sport outside the Olympics but although your years, even months in the sport may be numbered and you may never make it anywhere near an Opening Ceremonies, when you step out on the track every single day, into the weight room every morning, into the covers early everynight, maybe only symbolically, but nonetheless, you are training for the Olympic Games.

(Pictures copywrite Bill Franks SI Vault)

Olympics!!

I love the Olympics.  I'd be lying if there were some sports whose membership at The Games that I question (ballroom dancing??), but what I don't question is the sacrifice and work that everyone there put in to get there.  I love every four years when the off-events get showcased - when you can watch team handball at midnight, catch some of the modern pentathlon (so I know what it is when people ask me if I have to ride horses or shoot guns as a part of the decathlon), and even right now I've got some crazy equestrian thing on in the background on my computer.  I have no idea what's going on, I think the horse has directional issues because it's crooked most of the time, but the rider seems very serious so I think they're doing the right thing.  Despite my ignorance, I know one thing for sure, this crazy Canadian in a top hat probably worked damn hard to get to where he is.  It's so great to think that right now in China there are thousands of athletes all living in one village.  The gymnasts are eating right next to the gymnasts, million-dollar NBA guys are like 12 year olds trying to catch a glimpse of hard-core table tennis in action, and you know the pole vaulters are finding a way to hang out with the beach volleyball players.  300+ ilb men (maybe even women) 4'-8" girls, 41 year old ripped swimmers, people in top hats who ride horses, multi-million dollar basketball players, athletes from countries the size of my state, all coming together to realize how alike they all are.  They may all look very much different, may act very much different, but inside they are all composed the same: heart, determination, grit, pride.  I love it.

Catching Up.

There are ten events in the decathlon. Right now I think I hold an emotion for each.

I. Alleviated

• To make easier to endure; lessen; mitigate

This has been a year of incredible peaks and Valleys. Going back to look at the goals I set for myself, on the small end I accomplished a lot, but they never seemed to add up when it counted. From an indoor season marked by PR after PR but a no-mark in the shot at Dartmouth Relays keeping me out of a big Heptathlon score and possible berth at USA Indoors. A huge first day at LSU to open the season was marred by bad luck and poor execution on day 2.
Full of confidence in my progress, the Dallas meet started off the incredibly rocky month of June. A good day two saved a weak first day making a meet long with regret and what I thought for sure was a missed chance at the Olympic Trials. The next couple weeks were wrought with phone calls and anguish while battling USATF to get my mark legitimized then endlessly waiting for a chance to make the meet. After selling my rooms, my family selling their tickets, building hope, losing hope, and finally preparing for the Hexham meet in England, a dream finally unfolded in front of me. Even while finally in Eugene it was far from smooth sailing, but still an experience never to be forgot. In the end, I just found out that I missed the USA vs. Germany dual meet team by one or two spots, thus my season is now over. Frustration? yes, but finally as well...relaxation.
Like the speech for incoming freshman I stole from my dad: "There's good stress and there's bad stress, but it's all still stress." Tis true, and I've felt it all. It is finally time to just let it all go. Time to rest. Time to sit. Finally.

II. Apprehensive

• Capable of apprehending, or quick to do so; apt; discerning.
• Perceptive.
• Uneasy or fearful about something that might happen.

This year if nothing else taught me one thing: never be content. Especially with the nature of our sport. Many great pieces came this year: PRs in 6 of the ten events (100m, LJ, SP, HJ, PV, 1500m), but you can never let it be enough. This year 10 guys scored the Olympic A standard of 8,000 pts - a feat only bettered once before in US History. The field of 20 assembled in Eugene this year was one of the best ever to meet on US soil. Numerous multi-event NCAA record holders, World Record Holders, an Attempt at the American Decathlon record, the end of great careers (see: Celbuski), the begenning of others (see: Eaton), and even the fastest decathlon 110mH heat in history. I was building a good year, but I wasn't the only one stepping it up.
Plus, on top of which: you never know what is going to happen. In LSU a meet turned with the wind when within minutes a beautiful tailwind evaporated into a tailwind with rain and thunderstorms. My allowed my meet and score to follow suit. The poles that had carried me towards 17 feet in the same event at Dallas were taken from my my inexplicable damage in shipping. I wasn't going to let luck deter me in Eugene as it had in Baton Rogue. I again took shots at 17 feet at the Trials, but this time is was on borrowed poles I hadn't touch before. I can fund raise to replace poles, but to get to where I want to be it's going to take a lot more than some new poles.

III. Thankful

• feeling or expressing gratitude; appreciative.

When all is said and done: intervals, toe-board fouls, cross-country moves, early mornings, long days, credit cards, appeals, plane rides, the 1,500, there's nothing like walking off the track amidst 20,000 people to have your family there waiting with the biggest smiles you've ever seen. Everything else goes away as you finally take a moment to realize all that went into the moment you're finally able to live. Emails, voice messages, and text messages from people you haven't heard from in years. Hugging your brother in the stands during the victory lap, hearing voices from the stands: your high school school coach, your old teammate, the athletes you coach, your uncle who somehow got a press pass, your mom. Only through them did I get where I have gotten. For them I am here.

IV. Antagonistic

• Indicating opposition or resitance
• Characterized by antagonism or antipathy; "slaves antagonistic to their masters"

Unfortunately I've also learned another lesson: you only get so far without politics. I've fought some - I guess maybe even started some - battles this past month. I've never been a fighter, maybe I've just never been passionate to fight over anything. Our sport is far from perfect and it's going to take those who love it to do something about it.

V. Optimistic

• disposed to take a favorable view of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome.

As I've said before, I've done a hell of a lot of good this year. I can't wait to build onto it. Next year starts now.

VI. Perturbed

• to be disturbed or disquiet greatly in mind; agitated.

Again, much good was done, but there's much more in store. The decathlon gives you many chances to succeed, but you have just as many opportunities to fail. I did much right, but there's some I need to change and much that can be improved. Next year starts now.

VII. Restless

• characterized by or showing inability to remain at rest
• unquiet or uneasy, as a person, the mind, or the heart.
• unceasingly active; averse to quiet or inaction.

Next year starts now!! Whereas when I was younger at times I would be longing for the time of year I finally got a chance to rest. A break. Recently it's become the toughest part of my whole year. It's nice to let the hair down a bit, enjoy being young a bit, spend a little more time with friends, a lot less time on the track, but at the same time rest is the last thing you want. There's so much to fix, so much work to get done. You get the taste of where you can be, you can't just put it down. The body needs rest but the mind and heart want everything but. Not to mention the fact that I am literally restless. When you're used to hours of intense activity a day, now that i've cut myself off of working out I'm incredibly far from tired come the end of the night...

VIII. Insecure

• Not secure; exposed or liable to risk, loss, or danger.
• Not firmly or reliably placed or fastened.

There's a lot more there than came out this year. Will I find a way to bring it out? There were holes in my training this year, can I fix them? What about my poles? Do I have what it takes to step up along with the rest of the guys? Can I find a way to recruit training partners? When I don't allow my body to put in work, my mind takes over.

IX. Anxious

• earnestly desirous; eager

Next year starts now. I can't wait. Seriously, I really don't want to wait.

X. Elated

• Very happy or proud; jubilant; in high spirits.

I did it. :)

I never really considered it a dream until I actually got to live a piece of it. Its funny how I might have even more questions and yet I have never been more secure. Thank you to my incredible family that has always supported me, the incredible teachers and coaches that I learn from every day, my athletes that keep me inspired, and all my great friends that make it worthwhile. Of course, Amory and In-The-Arena, I don't know what I could have done without you.

Trials, Part II

So day 2 turned around much better than the first. The meet itself was incredible with some guys putting up some ridiculous scores. Many are considering it one of the greatests decathlons ever at a Trials. Unfortunately after losing so many points after the first day my overall score wasn't quite what I was going for, I came back strong on day two scoring just 25 pts shy of 4,000 for the day and working my way up from 19th to 15th.

I started off on a decent foot by battling well in the hurdles to come back and win my heat. The discus was again decently solid at just over 44m on my first throw, but the real fireworks came in the vault. I have to thank Ryan Harlan, Trey Hardee, and the U of O coach Dan Steele for all being coming through and being great enough to offer their poles for me to borrow. I went with Ryan's and it payed off huge. It took a jump or two but I was eventually able to move up to 5 meter poles that I have never been on before. I got the crowd into it, and my coach and family's heart pumping by missing my first two attempts at opening height (video to come later), but once I was over that, it was all fun from there on in. The crowd, again, was amazing. By the time we got to the vault the stadium was probably at least half full and after my clearance at 5.10m (16'-8") only Tom Pappas left in the competition. The couple time world champion was currently in 2nd place and is also from Oregon so we had the attention of the crowd. Their clapping and cheering was unbelievable. I took a couple of good hacks at 5.20 (~17'), but just couldn't quite get it.

After the vault we went on to jav in usual order, but once we finished the jav we had a nearly 2.5 hour break before the 1,500m. It was interesting trying to figure out what to do with a couple hour break, but in the end it was all worth it. We took the track at 9:30pm just after the crowd of 40,000 plus witness three Oregon's qualify for the Olympics in the 800m. The place was unbelievably electric. Bryan Clay was taking a shot at the American record and needed to run about a 4:40 to do it so I figured if he was close, I'd be on a good pace. It turns out I wouldn't even see Clay for the first 1,050 meters as with all the excitement I took it out real quick behind the lead group. It's amazing what 40,000 screaming fans will do for you. As most of us commented on later, after two days, nine events, and a 3 hour break, with a wall of noise running with you through the race, you barely felt tired. Unfortunately one of my hamstrings that I was having earlier trouble with (even cramped up on the massage table before the javelin) came back with a vengence halfway through the second lap and I was basically trying to see how fast I could run without lifting my heels more than six inches off the track....good ol' 1500. Clay passed me with just over a lap to go, but once we hit the bell lap I dug deep and kicked it hard in for the final 400m. My time (4:46) was actually much better than I tought it would be considering the hamstring issues, but with that crowd going the whole time, it felt much more like you were floating than running. Amazing.

The real highlight came after the awards ceremony when Clay, Trey, and Pappas call us all back out on the track and we as a field took a victory lap around the stadium. Giving high fives, signing autographs, hugging family, all to the standing ovation of a packed Hayward field. Again amazing.

I'll try to get so video and whatnot up later, but that's it for now. For all of those of you that have emailed, called, texted, etc after following the meet or seeing the coverage on NBC, thank you so much. To my family who was able to make it out, mom, dad, Chris, Tim, all my old coaches and friends (and of course super-fan Ian Kenworth who flew in last minute just for a day), it was even more special having you all there with me. You all were all there with me thank you.

-matt

Oly Trials: Day One

I'm back at the hotel room now after dinner and recovery after day one. I'm not exactly where I was hoping to be with a 100m that was a bit sluggish, 2 fouls into a third long jump that didn't touch the take-off board, a decent shot, and another mediocre high jump, but the atmosphere is amazing. There was a pretty good crowd all day and they're super into it. By the time we got to the 400m we were in front of a crowd of 20,000 people. I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel like a rookie a bit (I may or may not have been distracted at one point in the high jump when I noticed the videoboard in the corner of my eye following my jumps). I pulled a rookie mistake in the over-officiated high jump when the official scratched my third attempt at 1.96m because I approached the bar too soon (yeah, that happened). Anyways, it's a hell of an experience and I'm looking forward to coming back for day two f ora chance to drop some big events.

Til then I'll leave you with these (100m - lane 2 on far right, Shot - my last and best throw, but a foul):

I'm in...I'm out...I'm IN....i'm out..........

I'm in. Not exactly the way it mapped out, but I've got my spot for The Trials. I found out yesterday (about 7 hours after my rooms were re-sold), spent most of the day on the phone sending in appeals, trying to track down poles to buy or borrow, finding rooms, getting some flights for my family, prepping for a meet 3 days away rather than 2 weeks...but i'm in. I'm now in Denver waiting for my connecting flight, ill get some pre-meet in tomorrow, then come Sunday & Monday, it's Go Time.






As the Cambridge Jets say:

Or, as Will poetically put it:

"Things never work out the way you think they will"

When It Rains...

It's almost half past 1am and I've been staring at my wall for a couple hours now. It's been a tough month that has produced plenty of thoughts for me to stew over, which is apparently much more exciting to my mind than sleep right now. I don't have a girlfriend to complain to and I've spent way to many hours on the phone recently, so, forgive me, but you guys are going to be stuck with my rants - plus I'm hoping some writing and the glass of milk next to me will help me calm down a bit. What's on my mind? I'm glad you asked:

Hexham: I've decided I need to get another meet in. As #20 on the list for the Trials, I am not going to get in unless someone else doesn't go. As Jason, the Harvard head coach said: too much training to quit now. I've got to get another meet in. I'm in great shape and it's way too early to end it. There's a meet in Northern England that I've been thinking about going to for the past couple of years. Normally heald in September, it's being held on July 12th this year, thus, perfect time to go. I've been emailing back and forth with the meet director trying to get all the logistics squared away. It's a meet which has had constant rain the past four years in a row, but it has a good international field and not only would I have a chance to place or even win, but I'd also have a chance at some meet records and making some prize money. I will be traveling completely on my own with very little idea of what I'm doing, but if anything it'll be a good experience.

Trials: Since returning from Dallas it has been a whirlwind couple of weeks (has it been that long??). I have been in an ongoing battle with USA Track and Field about the legitimacy about our scores. It seems USATF is enforcing a new rule about wind-aided marks in the combined events that they neglected to tell anyone about. I just typed the incredibly boring details about this whole debacle, but have also just erased them to save you. You're welcome (if actually are interested, see Frank Zarnowski's article on the whole thing here at DecathlonUSA). Anyways, I have been constantly on the phone and email about the situation since I got back. It has however, led to two developments

1. An incredible frustration at the way our governing body is ran.
2. If USATF accepts my mark from Dallas (which they they more than likely will - after a $250 appeal process) I am the first alternate to be accepted if anyone doesn't declare for the meet.
   

There is one person in particular that is recovering from surgery and hasn't competed in a meet all year that has yet to declare. However, everyone has until 2 days before the meet to declare their intent to compete, thus, I could be getting a call as late as Friday to let me know that I can compete in the decathlon on Sunday. At which point I get to scramble to replace the hotels and flights I already gave up, undo all the figuring I've been doing for Hexham, and even more nerve racking: figure out a way to get my pole vault poles from Boston to Eugene in two days.
....Oh yeah, I forgot to mention my poles:

My Poles: In recent years fewer and fewer airlines are allowing you to take poles on planes (as well as charging ridiculous fees for some of those that do carry them - see US Air's new charge PER POLE policy), thus like the previous 3 times I've competed at this meet, I shipped my poles. My poles arrived back on Tuesday while I was at lunch, so I got there just after they arrived. I noticed some rips in the bag, but unfortunately this is pretty par of the course when shipping poles, so after a real quick look at the tops of the poles and a quick shake test to listen for broken poles, I figured the poles themselves were fine.
While recruiting for Harvard at a meet in North Carolina this weekend I got a disturbing call from Brenner (my coach) who was borrowing some of the poles I had in the bag for a camp. That 'rip' in the bag turned out to be much much more.
Along with five of my poles, I brought down about 4 other poles some of the guys at the Dallas meet asked me to bring down for them to use. Of the 9 poles that were in that bag, maybe three of them can still be used. Somehow my pole bag (a canvas bag over a platic tube housing the poles) was run over or caught on something so that most of the poles are in some way crushed, melted, or some combination of the two. I don't even understand what they could have done. It looks like someone took a torch to the tube.
Of course, the poles were not insured (it was never offered and for some reason never even thought of it), and because they came at the precise half an hour that I was out of the office for lunch, someone with no knowledge of vault poles signed for them. Vis à vis, er go, I am royally hosed.
Today was the first day I was able to look at them myself. The most blatent damage was done to the poles I had for the other guys, but mine didn't exactly come out well either. My baby, the 16' - 210# (4.90m 13.6 for those of you in the know), the pole I've been battling with all year, the pole that finally got me over 5.10m, the pole I was hoping would soon get me over 17' (5.20) has about 4cm worth of hairline cracks about 4 inches up from the bottom of the pole. Just enough to not look like much, probably just enough to make it completely worthless. I think my 205 might actually be ok, but other than that, the 5m pole that should have been the successor to my 16-210 is crushed (a pole I had to beg, borrow, and steal to get), the 16-200 is melted and crushed. All in all, about (9 x average $400)...I don't even want to do that math...a lot of money's worth of damage. With time, I'll find a way to replace those poles...the problem is, for the poles I jump on, I don't have time. Anything stiffer than a 16'-195 is a rare pole. Not many vaulters are big enough to need a pole that big, not many decathletes jump well enough to need a pole that big. A 16'-210, however, you should see the reactions I get just telling people I have that pole. For Hexham, not to mention if I get into Trials, I'm not sure there's even one to try to borrow, let alone know where to find it if it exists. I knew at some point I would have to find a way to get some new poles...I just never thought it'd have to include poles I already had.

Kids, always fly your poles with you if you can. If you can't, get insurance, and always check your pole on delivery.

I'm going to bed (I hope).

TGA: 7,694

Coming into the meet, 18th on The List
for Trials, ie, the last spot, was 7,790, thus it would take that score or higher to go. After the first day I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a bit panicked, but after looking at the numbers I knew that a solid 2nd day could still get to 7800 and a spot in the meet. We figured it'd take about a 14.6 hurdle, 45m disc, 5.10m vault, a 57m jav, and a 4:47 1500m. All but the vault I'd done before.
The day had some great spots, but I just didn't have enough. My hurdles just weren't there for me, but everything else was pretty close. I was far from clean early in the race and just didn't have much pop in the legs to get em sprinting after that: 14.93. This discus was decently solid at 43.92m (144'), but again, the points were slowly slipping away.
The vault, however, went very well. I opened at 4.80m (5cm under my PR a year ago) with a big clearance, skipped to 5.00m and hit a HUGE clearance for a first attempt new PR. I then moved to 5.10m (16'-8.75") and also cleared this on my first attempt. The guys were giving me crap for not celebrating my PR the height before, so at this one I had to give out a bit of a yell with my obligatory fist pumps. We then moved the bar 5.20m (~17') despite some big hip height, I wasn't able to clear it cleanly. My confidence was great, I was working my largest pole with ease, and 16 feet looked like 14 feet. It felt great. The vault was finally coming around. I walked away with 940 points and I was back into the game with a chance.
The jav was better than it had been. I opened with a strong 56 (184') meter throw, but couldn't get things to line up enough to better it on my final two. I was able to muster up a strong kick on top of a strong run in the 1500m to finish with a 4:39, a 2 second PR to punctuate a 90 pt overall PR, but in the end, if the guys who are supposed to know what they're talking about know what they're talking about, I'm going to be about 100 pts shy of making the cut for The Trials. I'll know for sure after this weekend when all declarations are required.

A lot of good came out of this meet. A great breakthrough in the 100m, another in the vault, and great strong finish in the 1500m. I was top three in all throws with wins in the shot and vault against some very good competition. It was the first time I'd been over 7,000 pts after 9 events (a secret goal of mine for a while), and a day two PR better topping 3,900 pts combines for a score that puts me in the top 45 in the world.

100 pts:
10 cm in the long jump (25 pts)
2 bars (6cm) in the high jump (54 pts)
1 bar (10cm) in the vault or 0.20 seconds in the hurdles (31 pts)
thus, taking the hurdles out of it: 26 cm, ie, less than 11 inches.

Texas Greatest Athlete Decathlon: Git it Done.

Intro
I'm in Dallas right now recovering from the first day of the Texas Greatest Athlete Decathlon (and heptathlon). It's a great meet put on at St. Marks School of Texas, a high school with incredible facilities whose program is run by John Turek, the head of USATF Heptathlon as well as a great coach and even better guy. As of last July, I hold the facility record here (this will be my fourth meet here in three years - I spend more time in Texas than I do home now...) and my overall PR is from here, my 1500m PR is from here, my 400m PR is from here, until indoors, my High Jump PR is from here, and although we throw off of a grass runway, both times I've been over 60 meters in the jav were here. Thus, I'm excited to be here, but I walk in to this meet with a very weighty purpose. This will be the final chance to boost my provisional "B" standard for the Olympic Trials. In fact, it's a pretty huge meet for just that reason: there are about 12 guys here trying boost their marks into the top 18 needed to make The Trials. Which, although nerve-racking, also makes this a great meet for the people as well. It's really the huge part about the decathlon that a lot of other sports miss out on:

A handful of us have been doing this meet for a few years now

• Chris Staton whom I have been decathloning against since high school, and Mike Marsh both come from Southern California. I've competed against both those guys about a dozen times...man, I'm getting old),
  
• Mark Jellison was one of my training partners in Berkeley, and still trains there
• Goose, I think you've heard me talk about before and is actually my roommate on the trip. He's out of Penn State and is actually only doing select events this time around as he dropped a big 7800+ pt score a few weeks back to secure his trip to Trials.
• Moose, from Dartmouth who now trains in Colorado is here with his coach and some friends he brought along. He as well has had a HUGE year, dropping a 8100+ pt score, and BIG PR to not only secure the A Mark for both Trials and The Games, but also thrusts him in to contention for a spot on the team to Beijing. You've heard me talk plenty about Moose if you read my post on the Dartmouth Relays.

But even more so, we've been able to bring some new guys into the mix and introduce them to this great meet. Both Trey Hardee (NCAA record holder out of U of Texas and current top 5 in the world) and Jake Arnold (2 time NCAA dec champ out of Arizona - but more importantly, Northern California kid out of Santa Rosa that I haven't competed against in a few years) are both out here dong some select events in prep for the Trials. A number of other great guys are competing in the full dec, each vying to reach that magic number (7790 as of right now) that will place them in the top 18 and thus earn them a right to the Trials.

That being said: we're here for business:

Day One:
I'm coming into the meet feeling great. I haven't been able to really compete in anything since LSU (April!!) due to my glute issue and just lack of meets + travel with the Harvard team so I'm not totally sure where my fitness is at, but my jumps have been awesome in practice, my throws are feeling pretty good, and my workouts have been feeling good.
Day one was about 100 degrees with plenty of humidity but some good winds as well. I've competed here many times before under the heat but for some reason, today was the first time I think it really affected me.
100m
I started off great in the 100m. We had a great heat, I got out to a great start and was able to battle with all the guys the entire way down. I think 80 percent or better in the race PR'd - including myself: 11.16. Huge PR not only by time, but especially mentally. It's a mark I've been trying to bring down for way too long and is finally something that pretty respectable. It also get me well into 800 pts.
Long Jump
practice in the long had been going great recently and although it's an event i've struggled with for a while, I feel like I'm finally starting to get it. With the confidence of the 100m I was ready to go big.
I warmed up great and was ready to roll. Unfortunately, due to the size of the meet (maybe we shouldn't have told everybody about this meet) I was 18th in the order and had to wait a bit to jump. Not that that's an excuse, but I ended up jumping much more poor than I had expected. I just couldn't seem to get things to work together and ended up with a 6.67m best. A year about it would have been decent, but after LSU and the way things had been going - a large dissappointment. Not to mention, this was only the second event and I was already feeling the affects of the heat with some twinging going on in the left hamstring.
Shot Put
Shot turned out decently well. I wussed a bit on the first throw to hit a super slow but safe 13 meters. I came back on the second with my best mark of 14.21m. A solid throw and decent score. Mine was the furthest throw on the day.
High Jump
High Jump was ugly. Every jump felt a bit different than the last. Trouble with running the curve and I just couldn't get things to work together. I felt ok, but just couldn't get it done. I ended up at 1.94m, around 6-4, and a solid 2 bars lower than LSU, 3 less than the Dartmouth Relays. Ouch.
400m
Going into the quarter I knew I had dug myself into a hole. I took it out strong with a 23-mid first 200m but couldn't quite hold on. It was a LONG final 70m. I finished with a 51.7. Not great but only a couple tenths slower than LSU although nothing gained, not a ton lost.

Day one started off great with a big breakthrough in the hundred, but with real weak jumps, I had some serious ground to make up. I was just over 100 pts down from the day one score at LSU.

Training Vlog

I figured I'd get my flip camera out and see what's it like if I took some film every hour while training...

"On The Breaking Point"

A month or so back, I was contacted by Whitney J. Fox, a grad student in the communications department at BU, and she wanted to know if she could follow me around for a day or so and document a bit of what I do for a project she was doing on local athletes training for the summer games. I always thought it'd be interesting to see an outside perspective on what I do on a daily basis. Whitney came to a Tuesday night vault session with myself, Brenner, and the Northeastern vaulters and took a bunch of still photos, then her counterpart, Andy Beatman, also of BU School of Communications, came to a high jump session of mine the next day where he took some video of the session, then asked me some questions about what I do. Later that day Whitney came back to watch and take some pictures of me at Harvard both coaching then getting a lift in. A week later they came out with a great film, as they entitled it: "On The Breaking Point."

...check it out:

It was great working with both Whitney and Andy. You should be sure to check out Whitney's new website as well: whitneyjfox.com. Be sure to check out the great video of Zara Northover, Northeastern alum and stud Jamaican shot putter friend of mine, that Whitney and Andy filmed as well.

As for training, I'm feeling great. Although sitting still sucks, I'm back to full workouts and intensity on my glute. I've had some great sessions the past couple of weeks and feel like I'm in solid shape. Unfortunately it's going to be real difficult to test it out as there aren't many local meets this time of year so I might have to wait until next month when I head down to Dallas for the Texas Greatest Athlete decathlon.

"How are elite athletes made?"

Although Amory often provides great prompts for our blogs, I often take a pass in favor of blabbing about running and jumping and stuff. Although we're just now trying to get the season revved up, this is a tough month for competitions as a post-collegiate athlete because most meets are reserved for various collegiate championships. As a result, we are discriminated against for being too old cool for school. On top of which, I'm curiously battling a mysterious flare up of my glute injury that I picked up in April. As a result, not much to speak about on the track so I think this is a pretty good opportunity to try my shot at one of Amory's prompts that I've actually been thinking about for a while.

As posed by Amory herself:

tell the story of when you first self-identified as an athlete. Was it in grade school? Middle school? High school or later? When did you first realize you were possessed of an abundance of talent and passion for sport? I think it’s fun to plumb the depths of the question “How are elite athletes made?”

For most I guess this is one of those basic questions of nature versus nurture, but I think I might be able to answer this prompt with a single picture:

What? You didn't have a hammer to play with in your front yard? Yes, that's me. While you were smashing toy cars into the wall and trying not to drool on your over-alls, I was training. Well, ok, to this day I have no idea how to actually throw the hammer, but needless to say, I come from a bit of a track family. My parents both separately competed for then eventually met while coaching at UCLA. My mom was a hurdler, javelin thrower, and discus thrower turned throws coach. Yes, she was the first to teach me the proper way to squat and clean, but she also taught me how to work hard and to get things done the right way. Dad was a crazy mid-distance runner but also my first jumps coach. On top of which, they may have one a couple national titles along the way. Thus, there was some pretty decent nature there (thanks for the shoulders mom...but dad, when the hell are those 1500m genes going to kick in?), but for me I think it's really the nurture that counts. I was a little misguiding here or there (baseball), but on the whole, when you spend your sick days bicycling around Stanford's track and football stadium and throw javelins at the park with mom and little brother during Christmas Breaks, you're given pretty good opportunities to do and generally enjoy track and field. Even to this day, when Brenner wasn't able to make it down to Baton Rouge for the LSU dec, dad was able to make it down to help me out as a coach.

In fact, I really don't think there was a time that I self-identified myself as an athlete; It's just all I've ever known. I'd never be one to say I've really got any pure talents, I mean, Josh Kreuzer and I had some epic races for fastest kid in school in third grade and I was always one of the few boys that could outrun the girls at recess (looking back on it, probably not the best skill I could have picked up), but since then I haven't really been that fast. I was always the shy, tall geeky kid whose skinny ribs you could see sticking out of my chest until maybe my sophomore year of high school. Other than that, I was just really good at eating.

As far as passion goes, however, I just always loved sport. My big sport growing up was always soccer and I played baseball through my freshman year in high school, but on top of the club teams I played every sport my middle school had to offer (except for cross country of course, I may never understand distance running...). I wrestled (thereby adding some gray hairs for mom), played basketball (at least after getting cut once or twice), ran track, and even played volleyball for 3 weeks until we failed to find a six man to make our squad whole. There were seasons that mom and dad got to cart me around to basketball, baseball, and soccer practices all at the same time (on top of my younger brother having a similar schedule). Of course, however, it was all only if my homework was done the night before...thanks mom.

Ironically enough, I actually managed to excel in the positions that required the least to do with my eventual path towards the jumping, throwing, and the endless running of track and field. In baseball I was a catcher (to the detriment of my knees) and was one of the few kids in the history of little league to almost never pitch and I was never able to hit a ball out of the park. My arm sucked - to the extent that my high school baseball coach once asked me after try-outs: "so, have you ever had any injuries to your arm" - and my power hitting was worse. In soccer I was a goalkeeper, probably mostly due to my height and asthma, but even worse was that our team was good, thus I hardly ever saw action. So much so that I once had to be carried off the field because the lack of movement in the second half of one cold game stole my ability to do anything but stand in place and chatter my teeth while mumbling: "I-I-I-Immm c-c-c-c-ooooooolllld-d-d..." while the rest of the team shook hands with the traditional "good game" exchange. The first day of freshman football in high school (again, more gray hairs for mom) I signed up for strong safety (so I could hit people without them seeing it coming) and wide receiver (so I could run away from getting hit - plus I figured I was way too skinny for anything else). Within two days I was a defensive end and tight end. A couple weeks later and I was a defensive tackle and a center. I got moved up to varsity my sophomore year to back up an all-league center that was maybe 5-10 and about 250 ilbs. I was 6-3, had ballooned up 185 thanks to that off-season strength work, and my shoulder pads made my arms look like long icicles dripping off a roof-top.

Thus, my point being, how does a skinny slow kid with asthma turn into an "elite athlete"? Easy, the people around him: amazing parents, and great coaches and teachers. Yes, the genes you get from your family play a role, but more importantly, having parents that tirelessly drive you from soccer practice to baseball practice, come to all the games (even when your 25 years old and they're still making your car payments), and never push, but always encourage and support. Furthermore, it's from them I learned the value of hard work, and about how determination and attention to detail pay huge in the long run. The reason I'm still where I am is because I learned how to always strive to be better - plus I'm just too stubborn to quit.

What got me here are the coaches. I have been incredibly fortunate in that my coaches from Tommy Anderson (developer of the amazing Daisy Cutta'), my U-10 soccer coach to my Little League coaches, to Coach Filios every summer at basketball camp, to my amazing high school coaches - Tom Tuite and Jason Hinkin who taught me to vault, Dan Quinn and Carl Florant who taught me to hurdle, Coach Frank, Coach Adams, Coach Ivers, and even teachers like Mike Kemp, Gary Dinneen, and Don Carroll (who I hope is not proof-reading this right now), and so many others that I may not have ever seen on a track yet I still carry with me every day the lessons I learned in their classrooms. You pick up a lot of great stuff when you surround yourself with good people. Things like carrying horsepower on the runway, keeping your dive through a hurdle, or the proper way to warm up are huge, but it's really the little lessons I learn from these people that I carry with me every day. It's about how to treat people, how to be unsatisfied with nothing but the best, how to love what you do. Those are the real lessons I learned from my coaches and teachers that get me through every day of training. Though, when you start traveling for competitions in college and realize that your high school coaches were better than 80% of the college coaches you see around, that doesn't hurt.

Of course, my college coaches weren't too shabby either. Coach Dee taught us all to work our butt's off, V always kept us on track and going with a smile on our faces (when he wasn't stealing my Wheat Thins...). When you have a chance to go to a D-II school, get a great degree, and be coached day in and day out by people that are not only some of the best coaches in the world, but also world-class people, how can you go wrong? Again, it's almost like the toughest part is just not screwing up all they have to give you. Then of course you've got your scattering of Olympic finalist throwers (Andy Bloom) to teach you a thing or two about hucking things and lifting weights, a Japanese Olympic coach to teach you some things about high jumping (H) - plus fix you here or there when you're nice and broken, Coach Rob (he tried his best to make me fast), and Ken Norlan who all contributed in so many ways. Not to mention someone like Julie Baclene and her endless hours in the training room with me when things were not quite right (if you plan on being a decathlete, make good friends with a great trainer).

Thus, I guess what I'm trying to say is, the answer is in the question. From my experience, elite athletes are just that: made. Find yourself some great parents and surround yourself with the most amazing people around. Next, just keep you ears open and do what they say (even if you're countless 400's deep, in the rain, an hour after the rest of the team has gone home, barely able to stand, and all you can here is V yelling: "shuffle!").

Congrats to Zoila: 4th at Trials and Beijing alternate

The Women's Marathon Olympic Trials were in Boston so I got up early to go cheer on fellow In-TheArena'er Zoila Gomez. Plus I figured it'd be a great way to try out my new toy: the Flip video cameras that Amory got for all of us.

Zoila came in with the 6th best time in the field but with a truly inspiring last couple of miles, she came hard charging to win by a mere second. I couldn't imagine what's it like to be that poor girl Zoila hawked down (running over 26 miles and lose the alternate spot by a mere stride length), but congrats to Zoila for showing so much heart.

I was on the Mass Ave. bridge (and got to the race late, but in time for the good start), so when I showed up Zoila came by me in 6th place at mile 21:

Here she was pretty well alone in 5th, but with some strong final miles, she was quickly coming up on 4th place. Here she is at mile 25 (she's the second one) with less than a minute between her and the 4th place spot:

Despite my bike, I wasn't able to get in an out of people fast enough to make it to the finish, but from what I here it was about as close as you can get.

I'm glad I was able to make it out. Definitely an inspiring experience and great to see. However, I am going to feel like a real wuss on my monster 20 minute run today...

LSU Tiger Combined Events: Day 2

So, in the decathlon there are 2 days....
Normally a fact that works huge in my favor and is something that I thrive on. I remember NCAA's (Div. II) in 2003: I came in thinking that if I was within the top 8 after the first day, I had a shot at really shocking some people. After day one, I was seventh. Unfortunately I didn't have enough to catch the winner, but it only took me the first 3 of the 5 events on day two to solidify myself in second place. The second day is my day.

But this one hurt. The legs felt pretty good when I woke up. I worked all night at trying to loosen up the glute and hamstring so I didn't feel too bad after waking and getting my morning shake out in. Again, when we got to the track we had beautiful conditions. It was only a couple degrees hotter at ~88 degrees, but it def felt a little sweatier than the first day. Not quite as strong as the day before, but we again had that beautiful tail wind.

110m High Hurdles
Lesson learned: I made sure I had someone to hold my blocks for me this time. I had a great heat myself in the middle surrounded by 3 low 14 second hurdlers: the two other unnattached guys as well as Leander McKenzie out of Troy who had already run a regional qualifier in the 110s this year. We had a lane in between each of us as per NCAA rules (this is to save us from ourselves - decathletes tend to be very large, very ugly hurdlers and we're not afraid to hit each other. See my 60mH at the Dartmouth Relays earlier this year. If the guy next to you smacks you enough to ruin your race and thus meet after putting a long days work in the day before, you would not unhappy to very unhappy.) With the wind the way it was, I knew I really needed to keep quick otherwise i'd be hitting some hurdles.
I felt good through the first half of the race and felt like I could really start coming up on Claston in the lane next to me, but unfortunately I hit a couple hurdles late in the race which through me a bit off balance. I could def. still tell I need some work outdoors with the hurdles as it's still feeling like a long race. As I crossed the line and saw the guys just ahead of me were in the low 14s, I knew I had a solid time.
14.69 - a hundredth faster than my decathlon PR set this time a year ago. That made it 4 decathlon PRs for the meet and a solid start to the second day.

Discus
Much like the shot the day before, warm-ups for disc were a bit of an adventure. I felt pretty good in the ring, but my release was all over the place. We were facing away from the track (and parallel to the Mike, the Tiger's Cage), so the wind was in our face this time, but this can be a great thing in the disc as long as you keep the disc low. Something I did not do.
I first throw was a weak 38m throw that went higher than it did far, but it was conservative and I had a mark so I knew I could really get after the next couple throws.
Again on the second throw I got way to much height on the disc and wasn't able to get a ton of power out of the back of the ring. It was a minor improvement to just over 40 meters.
I think you can hear in the video my yell on my third had a big more flavor of desperation than anything else. Claston, a couple of throws before me, had hit his final throw really well at just under 50m - right where I was hoping to be. I was much better out of the back of the ring and got a bit more pop on my final throw, but again had some trouble with the height and had to settle for a mark at 42.37m (139'). Not a bad mark, especially compared to my first two, but over ten feet shy of my PR and well off what I'd been training at.
However, the vault and the jav coming up were the two events I was really waiting for on this day, so I was ready to put some real points on the board.

Pole Vault
As they set up the pit for the vault, the sun was still shining bright and we had a great little tail wind. Warm-ups were feeling great and I had some good confidence about getting onto my larger poles. I had a great jump at a 16'-8" bungie to finish off warm-ups, then packed up my poles and gear to head inside to the A/C of the indoor track. We were starting at 10 feet and there were a number of beginner type jumpers so I knew I had some time.
I returned an hour later to find the field narrowed down a bit, but with some ugly clouds on the horizon. They seemed to be in a direction to pass by us, but as I was finishing my re-warm-up things took a turn for the worse, literally. The height before I entered the competition, our beautiful tail wind instantaneously switched 180 degrees to become a gusting head-wind. On top of which, this also changed the direction of our storm so that it was now heading right for us.
I knew after warm-ups that I would need to open on my 16' - 205# pole, and although it took me one jump to get everything going, I had a clearance at 4.65m (15' - 3"). 800pts in the bag, and a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. It was actually a year ago at the Sea Ray relays that some ugly cross winds had helped me no-height in the vault thereby scrubbing a decent meet and producing my first ever decathlon no mark.
I had plenty of height on clearance, and there was just one other jumper in the competition at this point so in order to conserve jumps for later, I passed 4.75m and moved right to 4.85. The other jumper (Dmitri Kabakov) did the same, but unfortunately the weather was moving as quick as the bar was. At this point is was raining as well and the wind was not getting any better. We were both spending considerable time at the back of the runway before jumps trying to wait for calms in the wind, but they rarely came. I almost never jump with the standards closer than 70cm (and it's rare I even put them there), but despite moving them to 70m I was still having some trouble getting into the pit. Although my dad was doing a great job and helping a ton, this is where it gets tough not having your coach there with you. Should I move down a pole? Should I move my step up? Am I slowing down into the box? The height was there, I just couldn't get it over the bar.
I had to settle for opening height: 4.65m (15' - 3"). Disappointing, yes, but I actually came away feeling a bit relieved I got any bar in with the way the weather turned. In fact, right after we finished, it really started coming down and we had to clear the track for about a half an hour or so due to lightening.

Javelin
We came back to a soggy track and the sun had long since left us, but the jav was really the even that I had been looking forward to all meet. My meets in Houston went real well and thanks to my board of coaches (Brenner, mom, Chris - my brother), I had some easy ways to throw much farther... I just couldn't find them.
I warmed up well with some easy tosses over 180 feet. I had put together a bit more of a full run that I was planning on using so I would be added quite a bit more speed to the 55m tosses I had in Houston. Unfortunately it seems like someone was using a giant magnet for my javelin at 50m. I felt like I was putting out huge tosses and was developing much more whip, especially on my first attempt, then I had felt in a long time, and yet every throw seemed to fall out of the sky right at 50m. I kept composure well because I knew that just like the shot and the discus, I was only one throw away from the big one. Then I ran out of throws.


I've learned to stop counting points during a decathlon, to put The Book (table of scores) away and just compete event by event, but at this point I had to know. Counting chickens before the eggs, possibly, but after day one, I had some great looking eggs. With a good second day, let alone a vault, disc, and jav like I had been practicing, I was ready for a huge score. Not to mention, in the back of my head I was definitely going for the cool factor of scoring over 7,000 pts after just 9 events.
After nine events: 6,903 pts. My heart sunk. This meet was about much more than PRing, but I looked it up to see what I'd have to run in the 1500m to better 7,600: 4:34.

1,500m: final event
My legs had been real tight since pole vault warm-ups (and a big thanks to dad for making the supermarket run to stock up on Pedialyte and sports drinks to combat my dehydration) and I had not done a single traditional 1,500m type workout this year, so I was curious how I was going to run. I knew I was strong and in my 1,000m at Dartmouth earlier in the year, felt good despite how I ran.
Again, there was a lot of inexperience in the field, so no one really knew how they were going to run (this one kid seemed to surge about 4 times per lap and would sprint ahead every time I caught him), but Claston was going for 8,000m points and the Olympic A standard and needed a 4:34 to do it. Funny how that works. My plan was to stick behind him, let him pull me through and see how I felt.
I started conservative (not the usual for me) and had some fun as we fought for position a bit the first 200m. 2 of the Portland guys took it out and were well ahead (typical Oregon guys in the 1,500m), but I was right in the pack around Claston. Unfortunately I felt early that this wasn't quite 4:34 pace (either than or I was in ridiculous shape). We came through the first lap in about 73, which is right about 4:40+ place.
I felt good and comfortable through the second lap and all the changes in pace in the guys around me were great for giving me something to think about other than my own legs. I came through the 800 in 2:36 and I still felt real good so knew I had to do some work the next lap.
My final 600m was probably the strongest I've felt at that point in the race and I was surprised to find a pretty decent kick in me for the last 400. As I came to the final turn I came up on Dmitry and Cory Roberts out of SE Louisiana fighting each other to the finish so I dug down and fought to come up on them.
With my first 800m in about 2:30 I closed real well to a 2:20 final 800m and a 71 final lap for a 4:49.97. Especially considering the way my legs felt half way through the day, this was a great finish and only a couple seconds off my PR set last summer.

Final score: 7,522 points.


It's taken me a couple days to write this, and probably with good reason because a couple days ago it would have a much different tone, but all-in-all, this is a meet that shows a ton of promise. I finally hit a first day like I have been waiting for for a long time now. Minus some technical difficulties I would have had 4 out of 5 decathlon and outdoor PRs which is a hell of a start to the season. Especially considering it's still April. I've never broken 7,000pts in April before (sadly), which actually makes this about a 500 point PR for the time of year. Now I'm definitely not saying this is going to lead to a 500 point PR come June (although I'll take it), but what it does show is that my training is going great and is right about where I want it. The speed is so much better than it ever has been at this point, I'm FINALLY starting to figure out the long jump, the high jump bar is looking lower and lower every day, the strength is great, and my technique is approaching a whole new level. I as def. able to tell which events are going to require a lot more outdoor training of which I haven't been able to get much in at this point (hurdles #6-#10, disc, jav), but as of right now is a beautiful 60 degrees out (that great for Boston) so things are looking up. The second day will come, I'm not worried. Now it's time to hunker down and keep doing what I'm doing. Stick to the game plan, work hard, and hit it again come June when I'll do one more meet in Dallas a few weeks before the Trials. The good thing is, if I had popped that big score last week, it would have ruined the surprise. At least this way I can save the good stuff for June.


Oh, and I'm working on getting some of the video and pictures myself, but thanks to my Director of Arts and Driving, you can watch some video of each day here.