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.