Armed with my phone for catching up on my blogging (I love this thing), my ipod music and podcasts (President's weekly address, Photography 101, Al Jazeera Listening Posts are my current favorites + I'm always a Radiohead fan on airplanes), a new book (In Pursuit of Elegance, Matthew E. May), and a backpack full of PB & J's, I am on a plane again. It took a little while to cool down after being reamed by United for my poles (see previous entry) but after writing about it and getting my mid-flight stretching session (a must) I'm settled in and ready to open up the outdoor season this weekend.
I'm fortunate enough to be able to head home to California this weekend to not only get a chance to see my friends and family but also head back to my alma mater to compete. I haven't been on the track at UCD in 2 years so I'm looking forward to seeing how far I've come.
Last weekend I ended the Indoor season on a great note with a 4th place finish at the US Combined Events Championships - my first medal in USATF National Competition. I went down to North Carolina more so to get a meet in and test where I'm at than expecting any big placing. Although nothing was huge and my strongest event, the pole vault was pretty ugly, everything else was real solid based on the time of year. I was third overall in the HJ, 2nd in the Shot, and 2nd in the Vault. I'm a little bummed when I realize that clearing a height or two more in the PV or HJ would have earned me some decent prize money, but all-in-all I'm excited to see what's coming this outdoor season.
A lot of snow in Boston has kept me indoors the entire year thus far so this weekend will be the first time I touch a full-size track (or a real discus and javelin) this year. The hurdles are going to feel a mile long and the discus awkward, but I'm psyched. No matter what happens it'll be good to be competing amongst friends I haven't seen in too long.
Upcoming:
March 14 - Aggie Open, Davis CA
March 28 - Bayou Classic, Houston TX
April 24 - Drake Relays, Des Moines IA
May 9,10 - Multistars Decathlon, Descenzano Italy
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Dear United
Dear United Airlines,
I will never fly your airline again.
It is true I have spent many free flight hours apon your wings in the past two years thanks to the numerous travel vouchers earned for your disability to stay on schedule (and my ability to not need a specific flight schedule) and writing this just minutes from take-off on one of your cross-country flights may not be the most appropriate of moves, kharmically speaking, but seriously, $175 to check pole vault poles?! I remember in 6th grade when that kid socked me in the face after thinking I snitched on him. Walking away from your counter I feel just as assaulted.
Yes, I understand the times are tough and the nickel and diming has become as natural to flying as stripping down at security. Hell, $15 for luggage, $9 for a soggy sandwich - excuse me: soggy "wrap" - is even somewhat understandable. A year or two ago you charged $80 for my poles - a standard fee not too difficult to choke down as it would only be slightly more expensive to ship them. Awkward at 17 feet long, I know the pole tube can be difficult to negotiate through the winds and twists of the checked baggage super-highway (try the check-in lines with that tube on your shoulder), but right now I'm sitting in 1 of 6 seats in the 28th of the 34 rows of this airplane, once slid into the bay, at 30 or so pounds, there is no possible way my pole tube is worth $175 of hassle - well over twice as much hassle as a year or two ago. Before this trip I was debating whether or not I could afford a new laptop. Now I know I could have - but no longer can.
Last week I flew to North Carolina for the Indoor US Combined Events Championships. After a host of phone calls and queries before the trip, I was stoked to find out that previously unknown to me, on top of a ridiculously good airfare, plenty of leg room, and comfy seats for my sore (and lanky) apendages, Jetblue was able to check pole vault poles. The $75 was an expected and competitive charge not too far off of what I might have ended up spending at a bar watching the same college basketball games I enjoyed during the flight complements of the headrest satellite TVs. Unfortunately, Jetblue's scheduling didn't work out for me to fly to California this weekend and the other airlines that are actually enjoyable to fly either don't fly out of Boston (Southwest) or can't take poles (Virgin America) so I was forced to take United - the airline I used to consider "the one of the old airlines that isn't too bad." Then you charged me nearly the same price for my poles to fly under your plane as you did for me to sit in your cramped cardboard isle seat.
I should have left the poles and bought the laptop...Virgin has inflight Wi-Fi.
Good luck in the future,
Matt Chisam
I will never fly your airline again.
It is true I have spent many free flight hours apon your wings in the past two years thanks to the numerous travel vouchers earned for your disability to stay on schedule (and my ability to not need a specific flight schedule) and writing this just minutes from take-off on one of your cross-country flights may not be the most appropriate of moves, kharmically speaking, but seriously, $175 to check pole vault poles?! I remember in 6th grade when that kid socked me in the face after thinking I snitched on him. Walking away from your counter I feel just as assaulted.
Yes, I understand the times are tough and the nickel and diming has become as natural to flying as stripping down at security. Hell, $15 for luggage, $9 for a soggy sandwich - excuse me: soggy "wrap" - is even somewhat understandable. A year or two ago you charged $80 for my poles - a standard fee not too difficult to choke down as it would only be slightly more expensive to ship them. Awkward at 17 feet long, I know the pole tube can be difficult to negotiate through the winds and twists of the checked baggage super-highway (try the check-in lines with that tube on your shoulder), but right now I'm sitting in 1 of 6 seats in the 28th of the 34 rows of this airplane, once slid into the bay, at 30 or so pounds, there is no possible way my pole tube is worth $175 of hassle - well over twice as much hassle as a year or two ago. Before this trip I was debating whether or not I could afford a new laptop. Now I know I could have - but no longer can.
Last week I flew to North Carolina for the Indoor US Combined Events Championships. After a host of phone calls and queries before the trip, I was stoked to find out that previously unknown to me, on top of a ridiculously good airfare, plenty of leg room, and comfy seats for my sore (and lanky) apendages, Jetblue was able to check pole vault poles. The $75 was an expected and competitive charge not too far off of what I might have ended up spending at a bar watching the same college basketball games I enjoyed during the flight complements of the headrest satellite TVs. Unfortunately, Jetblue's scheduling didn't work out for me to fly to California this weekend and the other airlines that are actually enjoyable to fly either don't fly out of Boston (Southwest) or can't take poles (Virgin America) so I was forced to take United - the airline I used to consider "the one of the old airlines that isn't too bad." Then you charged me nearly the same price for my poles to fly under your plane as you did for me to sit in your cramped cardboard isle seat.
I should have left the poles and bought the laptop...Virgin has inflight Wi-Fi.
Good luck in the future,
Matt Chisam
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Combined Events Champs, Day 1
Good day today.
We're at a great facility and we've got a great group of guys. After a couple of scratches we're down to only a field of 8 people so it's a good number without being too big.
The meet started well with a PR in the 60m and a solid Long Jump. I was in 8th after 2 events but it was close. I opened the shot with a real solid 14.33m throw (47 ft) which led the competition by quite a bit until Jake Arnold stepped up with a big 14.98m throw. I wasn't able to answer but was still able to hop up one spot to 7th place.
In the high jump I continued the charge. Feeling great after warm-ups I opened with big clearances at 6-2 and 6-4.5. I was battling some inconsistencies in my approach (the story of my HJ this year) so despite big height over the bar I was only able to clear 1.97m cleanly (6-5ish) but still a solid showing and was in fact enough to jump me up to 5th place over all.
At the end of the first day I'm sitting on a first day PR of 3001 pts. It'll be a battle day 2 as there is less than 150 pts seperating places 2nd - 8th.
We're at a great facility and we've got a great group of guys. After a couple of scratches we're down to only a field of 8 people so it's a good number without being too big.
The meet started well with a PR in the 60m and a solid Long Jump. I was in 8th after 2 events but it was close. I opened the shot with a real solid 14.33m throw (47 ft) which led the competition by quite a bit until Jake Arnold stepped up with a big 14.98m throw. I wasn't able to answer but was still able to hop up one spot to 7th place.
In the high jump I continued the charge. Feeling great after warm-ups I opened with big clearances at 6-2 and 6-4.5. I was battling some inconsistencies in my approach (the story of my HJ this year) so despite big height over the bar I was only able to clear 1.97m cleanly (6-5ish) but still a solid showing and was in fact enough to jump me up to 5th place over all.
At the end of the first day I'm sitting on a first day PR of 3001 pts. It'll be a battle day 2 as there is less than 150 pts seperating places 2nd - 8th.
Friday, March 6, 2009
En Route
I'm currently waiting to board my plane at Boston's Logan airport, so this will be my first mobile post. I'm headed to the University of North Carolina for my first Indoor Combined Events Championships with the Heptathlon being Sat + Sunday.
I continue my refusal to do things the easy way as I found out in the terminal that I accidentally booked my flight for next week rather than this morning. On top of which, homeland security tried to take confiscate my pole bag while I was in line. "That's real bad," the guy said, "do you know why the dog is here? I just called in to have these picked up as an 'unattended rug.'" My poles have been mistaken for many things (oars, winsurfing sails, etc) but never a rug.
Anyways, planes here, I'm om board (hopefully so are my poles), UNC here I come.
I continue my refusal to do things the easy way as I found out in the terminal that I accidentally booked my flight for next week rather than this morning. On top of which, homeland security tried to take confiscate my pole bag while I was in line. "That's real bad," the guy said, "do you know why the dog is here? I just called in to have these picked up as an 'unattended rug.'" My poles have been mistaken for many things (oars, winsurfing sails, etc) but never a rug.
Anyways, planes here, I'm om board (hopefully so are my poles), UNC here I come.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
How to Win? Don't Screw It Up.
Every once in a while, Amory (In The Arena founder) poses a prompt for our consideration when posting. For this week:
Your challenge - should you choose to accept it - is to blog about your own advice for "record-breaking" in whatever capacity that phrase is relevant to your athletic pursuits. Each one of you [of the In The Arena roster] is involved in pushing the boundaries of our physical and psychological limits, talents, and expertise. In essence, you're chasing records everyday...
As an athlete it is your job every single day to get better. You wake every single morning (and go to bed every single night) with the sole intent of improving yourself in some facet. Will you get stronger, will you get faster, will you get wiser?
Taking the job as a coach at Harvard, i'll be the first to admit a total lack in confidence in my ability to "coach" college athletes. I had so much to learn as an athlete and was myself only 1 full year out of college - how was I anywhere near qualified for such a job? Alas, I was somewhat bullied into the job (thanks PT (RIP)), but I have not regretted the decision since. Where am I going with this, you ask? I didn't think I was ready to coach because I felt that I lacked the technical knowledge to coach. Because I was far from a perfect hurdler, I didn't feel that I could teach a kid to become a perfect hurdler - then I quickly learned that the technical side is only one small part of coaching. The biggest part is my answer to Amory's prompt.
How do you get better everyday, how do you win, how do you break records? Yes you have to work everyday, you have to show up to the track (the gym, the field, etc) everyday and improve in some facet to slow build upon your ability, but come game day, come meet day or the time to perform you have to do what is many times the absolute most difficult and unnatural feeling thing to do: Let It Happen.
True, in order to PR (personal record), or do better than you've ever done before, you do have to do something you've never done before, you have to be at least slightly better then you've ever been before, but what is so difficult to grasp for most athletes is that if you only need to let happen what's never happened before. Overanalyzing, over-stressing, over-thinking, it's so often the case that the biggest obstacle to you doing better than you've ever done before is yourself. If my college coaches are reading this they're laughing their butts off right now because this is exactly what stood in my way for so long. If you step into a hurdle race thinking:
okay, stay loose and make sure you get good pressure on the blocks. When the gun goes off, drive the arms, but stay low, don't pop your head up. BANG! keep my heels low, push hard, keep driving the arms, be patient with my acceleration (did they get a better start than me), here comes the first hurdle, stay fast, drive the knee, keep the arms moving, stay forward, sprint through the first hurdle (are they ahead of me?), quick arms, but don't let them get too big...
Not only are you definitely not going to stay loose, but you're almost certainly not going to break any records. Practice is the time for learning, for thinking, competition is the time for performing, for letting all that you've built come out. As I type, Sportscenter is on and in just the last 10 minutes of reporting the show is rife with this theme. Kyle Busch just won a NASCAR race in Vegas thereby setting numerous records for early season driving performance. In his words:
"It was a methodical day....the car was there in the beginning, we just had to ride and get what it would give us"Simple words but so important - and surprising difficult to follow: drive the car you came in. The Detroit Pistons just knocked off the Celtics in Boston. Having recently traded for superstar Allen Iverson, the Pistons have been sputtering despite a very strong team. Today they knock off the Celts with Rip Hamilton starting in place of injured superstar Allen Iverson, why? They know Rip. With him they are able to "just do what they do." With AI they're just pieces "trying to figure out how to fit." With Rip, a player they've all been playing with (and winning with) for years they can simply relax and play basketball, play their game without much thought. It's all reaction and performance. Will they eventually be a stronger team with Iverson at the helm, maybe once they figure it all out, but for now, they're trying to do to much. You can't learn how to be a team and win.
I feel i'm digressing here a bit, so to bring it back I have to brag a little big. I coached my first conference champion in the hurdles today*. Over the past 2 days we've hosted the Ivy League Championships at Harvard (The Crimson recap video here) and one of my hurdlers, Dara Wilson, won the 60m Hurdles.
I'm super proud of her winning her first conference title, but above all it was the circumstances in which she did it that makes me most proud. Coming in as one of the top couple seeds, she had a rough run in the semi-finals thanks to nearly false-starting, but kept her cool and qualified for the finals. The less than stellar qualifying heat left her in lane 8 and despite huge commotion over girls hitting hurdles and almost going down around her on top of a slow start, Dara kept her cool, kept her confidence and battled back to take her title. A title deserved through hard work day in and day out at practice, but a title earned through performing when it counted. It was far from a perfect race technically but once you get to meet day it matters not how you get there as long as you get there before everyone else.
Afterwards, Dara gives a great interview talking about her transition from the qualifying race to the finals:
She didn't freak out and try to figure out "how to fix" everything, she knew that all she had to do was drive the car she came in.
It's late, it's been a long weekend, and I have to get to bed (5 days to go under USATF Combined Event Champs) so I think i'm dragging a bit so i'll wrap it up. Paul Turner (RIP), as I mentioned above, one of the primary reasons I am coaching at Harvard, passed along his simple key to coaching success:
Get good athletes, don't screw em up.
Whether coaching, whether competing, my advice for breaking records and winning: Make it happen during the week, but when it comes time to perform, Let It Happen.
*Shannon Flahive, another our athletes I help coach at Harvard won the pentathlon on Saturday night as well. Her hurdle time combined with Dara's actually makes it wins for Harvard Hurdlers in both hurdle events of the meet - the open and the pentathlon 60m Hurdles (while we're on the subject of bragging...). Congrats ladies.
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