Jake Arnold

Italy and Europe Begin

2010-05-27T12:40:00.000-07:00

May 11-13, 2010 (Goppingen)

We decided to stay with my friend Katrin for a few days because Brent and I decide to take a trip to Madrid, Spain for the weekend. We did a little running, laundry, and just relaxed.

May 10, 2010 (Tubingen)

I rode with Julian Ade from Desenzano del Garda, Italy to Tubingen, Germany where I was stayed with my friend Jenny for the night. Tubingen is a small University town which is really cool because university town have lots to do. Tomorrow we will pick Brent up at 2pm and then go to dinner with Katrin and Jenny and go home to stay with Katrin for a few days before we move to Stuttgart to start training.

May 9, 2010 (2^nd Day Multistars)

Woke up at 4:30am and couldn’t fall asleep until 7:00am which gave me 1 hour asleep before I had to be up for breakfast and to compete. Caffeine will be my friend today. I felt great warming up for hurdles and it should because I ran 14.22 only .1 off my Personal best but this was into a 1.5 headwind. I moved closer to first winning the event and then after a huge personal best in the discus 48.80 (over 5 feet better) I moved into first place. I then went on to win the pole vault at 5.15 and then threw 56.40 in the pouring rain and fouled a throw that was a personal best. I then ran a 4:36 to hold of the bronze medalist of the Olympics to win with a 8141 score my third best all time and only 10 points off a second day best score. With the bad winds and rain I am very happy with the score and know that I will be ready to score very high in Gotzis in 3 weeks. Off to Stuttgart, Germany for 2 weeks of training.

Afterwards is always a good time for all the athletes because we have a celebration dinner where we can all hang out and blow off some steam. We had some good Italian wine and danced the night away before we have to take off the next day. I have made lots of new friends and reconnected with others at this decathlon. I now have a travel and training partner, my buddy Brent Newdick of New Zealand will be going with me to train in Stuttgart Germany

May 8, 2010 (1^st Day Multistars)

I woke up at 5am this morning for 2 hours before I could fall asleep again and slept for about another hour before I had to be up so I could get breakfast and make it to the track before we started at 11am. The rain has cleared for today and I hope it stays away for the weekend. I won my heat of the 100m with 11.25 but was not happy because it was a head wind and my legs from the jet lag did not have the strength to finish the race strong. Long Jump I ha to work hard to put up a 6.92 which is good for me. The winds are very bad for both events and then the rain came back as we were warming up for shot put. I had good warm-ups and it cleared as competition started and I threw 15.67m that was a half meter Personal best it was a huge throw that moved me closer to first place. High jump was below average and so was the 400m but I felt that I had empty legs from jet lag. I was fine though being in second at 4006 points sandwich between two of the worlds best from Cuba. Off to bed to put a great second day together.

May 7, 2010 (Italy)

I arrived in Desenzano Del Garda two days ago and have not done much but train and sleep. I have had a great season so far this year and training has been amazing. I feel great and so ready to take on the best in the world. Tomorrow I begin my decathlon in Desenzano and will be competing against the 2^nd and 5^th best guys in the World from Cuba. I have been constantly ranked lower then what I end up doing. I love being the underdog and working my ass off to prove I am better. Wish me luck on this decathlon.

Catching Up With ALL I Have Done

2010-05-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

Catching Up With My Life ( Vancouver, 3peat USA Indoor Champ)

It been a while since I wrote on the blog and life has taken over and made me very busy these days. Fall training went really well. I spent the month of December at the Olympic Training center in Chula Vista, CA. I worked with Brad Walker, Tim Mack, and Ty. Their insight on javelin and pole vault were very helpful and after I went back to Tucson I continued to work on everything and saw a great improvement.

I had personal best in the pole vault going 5.35m (17’6 ½) and 60m hurdles indoor I ran 7.997 sec. I won USA Championships for the 3 times in a row. But what made it really special is I beat Tom Pappas for the first time in my career.

I was able to go with my friend, Aaron, to watch the Vancouver Olympics. I got to see Bodi Miller win the Gold Medal for the first time in the Super Combined Downhill. The atmosphere was amazing and it was like New Years Eve every day and night. We didn’t get tickets but were able to enjoy the USA win over Canada in Hockey while we were in Vancouver. It was an amazing and fun trip to the winter Olympics.

Outdoor has been really good so far in my first meet I threw javelin I threw 60.78m (199’ 4) only 2 feet off of my personal best. I did a decathlon at our home multi meet the Jim Click, I wasn’t suppose to do the whole thing but after just going through it as a practice I scored 7832. I had a very solid meet and was very excited of what I was able to do that early and excited to see what I can do when I really compete. I leave for Italy on the 4^th of May and will compete there the 9^th and 10^th of May. I will be training in Stuttgart after that and then doing Gotzis Meet in Austria on May 29^th and 30^th which will be my biggest meet this year against the top guys in the world. Wish me luck and I will keep you updated on my European adventures.

2009 Season

What a season. Would say amazing and really didn’t feel great to me but looking at it on paper it was a really amazing season. I won USA Indoor for 2^nd straight time, Won Italy meet, 10^th at Gotzis against the best guys in world and scored 8069, 3^rd at USA to make my second World Championship team, and got 24^th a World Champs having a bad meet. You always wish and hope for more but looking back I had a really good year and learned so much. I can’t wait to start training next year and really start to kick ass and score big again. Thanks for all the support.

September 26 to October 2

What a trip. It was nice to enjoy Europe and not have to compete or train. I got to enjoy Oktoberfest, France, and Spain. What an amazing trip and now it back home and back to work.

September 25^th

I went golfing with Tobias and Helen at very nice golf course. That night I went to Munich (Munchen) and meet Allison. I went out with Allison to Bar and then hip hop club. We are going to Oktoberfest on Sunday so Saturday we explored the city and saw all of the sites

September 24^th

Went to Koln (colongne) because my friend had to work there and sounded like a fun adventure. I went and saw artwork and some amazing Gothic Cathlic Churches. I really cool city. We return to Goppengan to friends and had a movie night with everyone because after last nights party we were all tired.

September 23^rd

Headed to Stuttgart to meet up with my good friends from Germany that I met in Italy last year. We went out in Stuttgart with a big group of people. Had a really fun night and meet a lot of really cool people. Going to Koln tomorrow.

September 22^nd

So it my first time using a euro pass and made a mistake because in France you have to reserve a seat for which train you want. Well I didn’t and instead of waiting I jumped on train because I needed to get to Germany. It worked out because there were lots of open seats and they just charged me more for a ticket. I meet up with my friend in Mainz, Germany. Goal is to get to Munich and go to Oktoberfest.

September 21^st

Well after long night got up at 5am to go on a boat with friend because one wave goes down this river each day and you can ride or surf it for up to 20mins. Well out of 40 times this guy has only tipped over twice and once was today. I lost my camera and got soaked but had an amazing time doing it. We then returned to the hotal and went to the beach where we got to surf. I then took a nap and was taking out to dinner by 3 girls who showed me the night life in Bordeaux. Tomorrow I leave to Germany.

September 20^th (Day 2 Decathlon)

Well figured I would sleep nope 2:30am to 6am awake started at 10am almost slept through alarm. Can’t get my body to warm-up well the year has caught up to me. It is raining again but it light of all of this I will finish the meet and see what happens. I did finish and got 10^th scoring just over 7500. Not good meet but I had fun and know no matter what I am not quitting unless my body really tells me it can’t. I gave away all my shoes to the young kids and they were all so excited.

September 19^th (Day 1 Decathlon)

Ahhhh was awake from 2:30am to 5am. It pouring rain and is a little chilly. I feel awake but body is tired and during High Jump my calves got really tight. Body not doing well. Don’t know if it is sleep or long season but not out of it. I will finish the meet no matter what just don’t know what the outcome will be. Pretty average first day.

September 18^th

I slept 12 and half hours last night I hope I can sleep tonight. We had dinner and ceremonies in Bordeaux to promote the meet for all the city. This met is very big in Bordeaux and people are very supportive. Start tomorrow

September 17^th

Not feeling bad. Went to Bordeaux after morning training. Bordeaux is a great city with many restaurants and fun things to do. I plan on seeing more when I am done.

September 16^th (Flight to Bordeaux France)

Long travel again to Europe and couldn’t sleep on the flight. Don’t like coming in this late to a meet but it should be fine. My body is tired from the season but looking forward to another adventure.

August 26^th

Travel to and from Europe is so long. But I do love visiting Europe and competing over there.

August 25^th

We made it to the train to Dresden today. Dresden is a city that was 95% destroyed and rebuilt to look like it used too. Dresden was interested to go to because we had to go through East Germany which is the Russian side of the Berlin wall. You can see the Communist look in everything because it all very plain and boring. The city of Dresden was very cool and very beautiful. After so many adventures and seeing so much History I do not want to leave Germany but tomorrow I have to leave bright and early.

August 24^th

We were very slow this morning and missed the train to Dresden so we decided explored more of Berlin. I got to see Check Point Charlie, Berlin Wall, Brandenburg Gate, parliament, and Holocaust Memorial. The Berlin wall was amazing with the artwork and all the history behind it. I have experienced so much history in the last few days.

August 23^rd (Potsdamm)

We woke kinda early to see Tom off but then back to sleep because we were going to play tourist today. Today we woke up and had breakfast at the apartment and then headed out to check out Potsdamm. My mom, dad, Katryna, Chris and I arrived around noon to Potsdam and proceeded to figure out the best way to see all the sites. We decided to take the bus tour around so that we could see all the palaces and sites worth seeing. At first the tour was really bad but then we arrived at the palace, where the services quarters were bigger then most estates or palaces alone. We then jumped back on the bus that drove us around this enormous park that was all connected to this palace and others around it. It was huge and had really cool areas to see.

Chris left for the airport after our day of adventures and I headed to the track to watch Nick Symmonds run the 800 meters. He placed 6^th. After I met up with Nick and went to dinner with him and his family, agents, coaches and friends. My parents and Katryna met up later in the night and we all went to a club til 4am in the morning. It was a long night.

August 22^nd (Concentration Camp)

Today was a very emotional and crazy day for me. I visited a concentration camp, it was Sachsenhausen just outside the main Berlin area. My parents, Tom, Katryna, and myself made the trip to this historical place that cost so many their lives because of the Nazis. This concentration was an amazing way to see what happen in Germany at that time. We were at the concentration camp for a long time hearing about all the different things from how many people shared rooms to where they were executed. This experience will always be with me and I believe that everyone should see this once in their life to understand what those wars really were.

After the concentration we grabbed lunch at a Turkish restaurant. Well Turkish restaurant and stands are like Mexican food in the states. They are everywhere and they have good food too. We had Kebab. It a pita like bread that looks like a taco and inside is lettuce, tomato, herb sauce, and meat that sliced off a huge thing of meat that rotating on a spikit. After lunch we jumped back on the train where my mom, dad and katryna went to the Apartment and Tom and I went to meet Joseph at the Stadium so I could watch the men’s pole vault as well as other events. We meet up with Chris there and after we all returned to the apartment for beers and sleep. Tomorrow Tom leaves and we are going to look around Pottersdamm before Chris takes off to Poland.

August 21^st (Rest day)

I was so exhausted and beat up from the two days of physical and mental work that I got sick from dehydration and exhaustion and was until about 3pm. The rest of the household including Tom, Katryna, my mom and dad all slept until 2pm because they were just as tired from the long days before. Chris Chappell showed up and we all had dinner and watched the track meet on TV. It was a low key day that everyone needed. After dinner we had some beers and Chris brought some champagne that he made a great toast to me and my family. After this Katryna, Tom, Chris, and myself went out to have beers and we stayed out til 5am just chatting and having a good time at a small bar.

August 20^th (Decathlon Day 2)

AHHHH!!! Is all I have to say. Worst meet in three years but I finished and was 24^th in the world.

August 19^th ( Decathlon Day 1)

Well we started with 38 guys which is the biggest field at a major championship ever. This caused for a long day of competition. We started at 10am and didn’t finish until

August 18^th (1 day left)

Today is a very low key day because I start tomorrow. I am feeling really good and ready to go. I am really excited to finally start it feels like I have been waiting forever to start this decathlon. The stadium is amazing best track stadium I have seen. Such an amazing site to see this facility in Berlin. Well off to bed have two long days ahead of me.

Last before Competition

2009-08-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

August 17^th (2 days left)

Woke up early to meet Sheldon for practice because we wanted to train at the same time as I would be competing. After doing shot put and block starts I returned to the hotel with Sheldon and we met Jack and Sharon to go to lunch at the ASICS hospitality for lunch. Lunch was so good. All the food was flown in from Italy for the Italy team that was sharing the hotel with ASICS.

I returned to the stadium to watch the Women Vault and my friend Chelsea jump. What a night because Chels got silver after Isinbayeva no heighted in the vault. Amazing awesome cool wow. It was so cool to watch a friend do so well. Night everyone will write when I get done.

August 16^th (3 days left)

Today I met with Sheldon at the apartment and got him in and settled before I headed back to the hotel to chill out and then went to the track to watch the men’s 100 meter. I arrived at the track and watched the women’s hep javelin and then the quarters of the 100 meters. After watching many events the main event came up and the electricity in the Stadium was ridiculous before the men’s 100 meter final. As I sat there waiting for it to start the stadium got quiet and then the race started and BOOM it got so loud and crazy as Usain Bolt ran 9.58 a new World Record. If you don’t understand how fast that is it like moving at 30+ mph as a human. What a thing to watch in that stadium. Well off to bed. I start in three days.

August 15^th(first day of World Competition)

It nice that competition is starting up because it gives me something to do during the day. I went over this morning and watched the women’s hep hurdles and high jump. I also saw the first round of 100meters for men and other events. After watching I did a workout at the warm up track doing High Jump and Javelin approaches. The workout went very well and I am feeling awesome with the competition coming up.

For dinner I met up with some friends from the states the were in Berlin and we went to central Berlin for some Thai food. This Thai restaurant I learned how to make a flower out of a napkin it was so cool. After having a awesome dinner I return to the hotel to sleep before I had to meet Sheldon in the morning.

August 14^th

Pretty simple day but an awesome day at the track. I did the hurdles, Long Jump, and discus today and all of them went really well for me. Tomorrow the meet starts and I will head over there to watch the morning session of the heptathlon.

Berlin Cont...

2009-08-14T07:28:00.000-07:00

Aug 13^th

Today was an interesting day. I apparently was very tired and didn’t wake up until 10am and went to bed at 11pm. I finally got moving at around 11am and went and got lunch at noon. I was planning on doing some touring but we had a USA mandatory meeting at 3pm which I thought

would take maybe an hour but it took 2.5 hours. This ruined all my plans for the day. I was also going to watch a friend compete at 4:30pm but missed that as well. After a lazy day I am getting a good night sleep to have a good day of training tomorrow where I will do hurdles, long jump, and discus.

Aug 12^th

Woke up early and got a deep tissue massage which was good for me but definitely not relaxing. She really got all the bad stuff out and moving in my muscles. Because I got the massage I had to change up my training and not do the all out sprints I was planning on. The body is feeling good and I am ready to go. After practice and everything I decided to go over to the Olympic stadium and check it out.

WOW!!! That what I thought when I saw it. I arrived at the warm-up track first and it was all types of sports facilities surrounding it. It was very amazing. After checking out the warm-up track we took the long walk through the tunnel. This tunnel was 400 meters long and took a

while to walk but once you left it you were in this enormous stadium that really makes you lose your breath. Amazing that this stadium was used during the 1936 Olympics and I am going to be competing in less then a week. I walked around the track and then returned to the hotel. I hope to tour around tomorrow because I have the day off of training.

Berlin

2009-08-12T12:02:00.001-07:00

Aug 11^th

The day was very easy I woke up at 9:30 to get breakfast and meet Trey downstairs to get the poles over to the track so we could return the car by noon. Well our poles were fine we just tied them on the car again but the girls with poles put them in the v

an and cracked the windshield. After getting them to the track I did a short shake out. The practice track was awesome and so nice. After some time at the trac

k I returned to the hotel and passed out for 2 hours. Grabbed some dinner and went back to sleep after watching a movie. I am so lucky to be here and I hope that I can show the World how good I can be.

Aug 10^th

Trey and I took are time getting going this morning because we couldn’t get the car until noon. Trey and I decided to rent a car to drive to Berlin because with poles and everything we felt it was easier to drive and split the cost. Well after breakfast and packing w

e grabbed a taxi to get the car. We then returned to the hotel and grabbed my brother and our luggage after dropping my brother at the train station we went to go get the poles. Oh it is fun tying two pole bags to the top of a car and getting ready to go as fast as we can on the autobahn.

So the drive to Berlin was a fun and interesting drive. The fun part was pushing a 4cylinder engine to it limits. When on an open autobahn we avg about 170km(104mph) and the max was on a slit downgrade of 197km(110+mph). It would be so cool to get a better car and really see what you can do because we were going 180km and an Audi A4 car went by us like we were standing still. People in Germany know how to drive because if they stay out of the left lane and really keep traffic going.

The interesting part of the drive came when we hit a huge rainstorm about an hour into the drive. The storm had hail and was dumping buckets. The best thing was that we tied the poles through the doors so the weather stripping was pulled back and water started to pour in the car on my right shoulder and Trey left shoulder. We were SOAKED in a car so we pulled under an overpass and waited it out. Other then that the drive was awesome and we arrived at the hotel at 6pm grabbed dinner and headed to bed. My roommate is Nick Symmonds the 800m runner but he won’t get here until the 16^th of Aug so I have a room to myself.

Aug 9^th

I woke up feeling better then the first day of competition. Competition started at noon and I was doing a quick hurdle warm-up but not running, discus and pole vault. I did 3 x 2 hurdles out of blocks. The hurdle starts felt really good and fast. I then did discus the ring was a little slick and I threw 44.69 (147’) which was ok for me. I then went and did pole vault where I jumped 5.05m (16’ 5 ¾). I was over 5.15m twice but both times caught it coming down on the backside. Overall it was a very productive day and as my legs start to become fresh it will get better.

After competition was a big celebration for all the athletes and workers. We had the party at a local bar that had been so generous all week to give us meals and drinks for free. It was no different for this night all food and drinks were free to everyone there. If you can believe it my little brother showed up just in time for the party. Everyone had a great time and I got to meet so many new people. I went home early because I have to get sleep before we drive to Berlin tomorrow. Berlin the last stop before World’s!!!!

Road to Berlin

2009-08-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

August 8^th

Today is the first day of the decathlon for the Thorpe Cup. I ran the 100meter dash and ran an 11.05 which was good for me. Long jump was bad but a plus was that my run was really good and even though I jumped bad I really feel that I am ready to make a big jump. High Jump was not better. My legs were just not there today so I am not really upset but disappointed in what I did. I am ready to do awesome at World’s just need to get the body fresh and over jet lag. Doing the discus and pole vault tomorrow. Off to bed.

August 7^th

Today was a low key day because the competition is tomorrow for the Thorpe Cup. I am doing the 100m, Long Jump and High Jump. My legs are still very tight so hopefully they will be good to go tomorrow before I compete. Otherwise everything going really well and training is really good. I can’t wait to have my legs fresh and put up a big score at World’s.

August 6^th

We had wake up early today to train because we were headed to visit an US Army base in Frankfort. Wiesbaden was the base. We went to the track at 7:30am trained which was still rough for me. Every day gets better. After training we returned to the hotel and 10:30am we headed on a bus to Wiesbaden to have lunch with the soldiers and take a tour around the base and the youth center. It was a very cool thing to do and I enjoyed sitting with the soldiers and hearing there stories and just getting to know them. The bus rides were horrible because there was no real AC and it was like sitting in a sauna for and hour each way. We finally returned at 5pm and we were all pretty beat at this point but were back on the bus at 6pm to head to the Licher Brewery for dinner and a tour.

The Licher Brewery was a lot of fun. We had a good dinner with the German team then got a tour around the whole Brewery. We saw how they made, stored, and bottled everything. It was a very good time but when I got home around 10pm I went straight to bed because I was beat. I don’t think sitting on a bus and all this stuff is very good or my legs but I have two weeks to feel good and kick ass at World’s.

August 5^th

After a long flight I made it to Frankfort, Germany it was 9:30am when we arrived which was like 12:30am Arizona time. I was all messed up and it was a long day because I was so tired and had to force myself to stay awake the whole day so I could get on to the time over here. Well we got picked up at the airport and drove an hour to Marburg where we checked into the hotel grabbed lunch and headed to the track. It was a very good facility and they rally have gone the extra mile to take care of us. After practice we returned to the hotel and Trey and I went to an early dinner because I was fading fast. We returned to the hotel about 8pm and by 8:30 I was out cold and didn’t wake up til 6:30am.

July 31^st to Aug 4^th

Training is going awesome right now. I had such good practices. Can’t wait to get to Germany and compete. Other then that….

This last week has been crazy for me. I remodeled a bathroom changing up the sink and tiles for the vanity. I then flew home for a wedding o Thursday and back on Sunday to leave to Germany on Tuesday the 4^th. The bathroom came out really good and I am glad I got it done because my roommates are moving in when I am gone.

The wedding was Daniel Weber and Kristy Sather and it was an amazing wedding and I had a great time. When I returned Sunday night I realized I had so much more to do then I thought. I woke up and went to practice and then ran around doing errands, did stuff around the house, and finally packed at 10pm. I got to bed at 12am and woke up at 3am. What a week but that all done now to World’s. Berlin baby.

USA and July Training

2009-08-05T11:14:00.000-07:00

July 13^th – July 30^th

The first day back to training on the track was a rude awaking to how hot Tucson really was. The first day back I was out there at 9:30am and it was already 98* and by the time I was done at 12:30pm it was 106*. I was dying but I had a good practice. This was the way practice went for the last three weeks really hot and exhausting but really good. There were a few days that it was a little cooler but most were in the 100’s. Training has been really good the past three weeks and I have figured a lot of stuff out and really feel that World’s will be the perfect stage to put up a huge score.

Well training not all I have been doing. I have been finishing up my house and getting it ready for my roommates. My dad even came down for a week to help. My dad would wake up at 6am and get all the stuff done outside before it got hot. I would go to practice and return to help him with the projects we had. As a team we got a lot done and the house looks great. Well it July 30^th and I am headed to Santa Rosa to go to Daniel Weber and Kristy Sather wedding. I am very excited for these two and hope them the best because they are such a great couple.

Well I leave Tuesday the 4^th at 6:45am out of Phx. I go to Frankfort Germany first where I will go to Marburg to compete in 5 events at the Thorpe Cup before I head to Berlin on the 10^th for World’s. I compete Aug 19^th and 20^th in Berlin and it can be seen on VS sports channel.

June 27^th – July 12^th

Well after my competition I decided to hang out and watch USA and all my friends compete so I stayed until the 30^th up there then I headed to Tucson for a day and then off to Catalina for a short family vacation. I left Catalina in the middle for a little to train at UC Irvine but then returned for our annual Golf Tournament which my brother Tom and I won with a friends wife and their son. It was a lot of fun and a relaxing time. I wish I could have stayed longer but I needed to get back to the 105 heat and training. Catalina is such a wonderful and relaxing place to go for me. I have been there every summer since I was born.

June 26^th (Day 2 Decathlon USA)

Day 2 I woke up feeling really good except that in the middle of the night my shoulder blade was giving me problems but saw the chiro and it was gone. The winds for the hurdles were really good with a straight tail wind so I was excited. I was in the first heat lane 2. The gun went off and I was flying but about the 7^th hurdle I was moving so well that I got to close and hit the last three hurdles and ran a 14.16 getting second in my heat by .01. The day started well with hurdles and then discus went well throwing 45.75 (150’ 1”). Then came the pole vault we had to wait an hour because of the Juniors and by this time my left hamstring was giving me trouble which was weird because it is usually my right that gives me trouble. Warm-ups were good and I looked like I should jump well. Well I waited til get got to 4.70(15’ 5”) and made it my second attempt but my hamstring was really tight and I was being very timid which you cant do in vault. I failed to make 4.90(16’ ¾”) because I was being a baby and wouldn’t run right. This ultimately cost me second place losing 90pts in one event. Javelin was ok but I was fighting the head wind by going harder which is the wrong way to do it. I threw 57.82(189’ 8”) which sealed my place at third but with me that not good enough so I went and ran 1500m to get second. The race started and I hung with Ashton and a few guys for the first lap but no one wanted to take it out so I took the lead the second lap into the head wind I pushed it all the way til the end but having the lead took a toll on me and in the last 200 meters Ashton passed to take second. I really was trying but his 1500m skills are better and he took it. Well I did what I needed to and competed to make the World Team. Score wasn’t very good at 7984 but it was enough to make the team which was the goal. Now the real work starts for Germany.

http://www.usatf.org/events/2009/USAOutdoorTFChampionships/results/F39.asp

Day 1 USA

2009-06-25T22:24:00.000-07:00

June 25th (Day 1 Decathlon USA)

Day one went well but not great. I am feeling really good but I just can’t get the marks. With Clay dropping out that made me move up to 3^rd in the rankings. This was good but maybe bad because I felt some pressure go away. I compete well under pressure and with me being in a drivers seat I may have been lax. I wasn’t though I competed and had a PR in the 100meters 11.01 a .02 PR my first of the year. I then went 6.95meters in the long jump which was good and then 14.69meters in the shot put. High jump was a disappointment with a 1.96metrs. The 400 was good compared to the field but I was disappointed with a 49.49 sec. Thanks for all the support.

RESULTS: http://www.usatf.org/events/2009/USAOutdoorTFChampionships/results/F39.asp

Days before USA Championships

2009-06-24T22:36:00.001-07:00

June 24^th

I woke up around 8:30am and was ready to go but hung out doing things on my computer until Nick woke up. We then grabbed my brother and went to get credentials. After we headed to breakfast at 5^th Street Market with Nick, John, Andy, Tom and myself. After breakfast we chilled at Nick house until my parents came and picked me up so we could check into the hotel. I then grab lunch with my parents and headed to the track. Warming up at the track I remember what level I was at when I am running past gold medalist and world record holders. Amazing I love this feeling of competition. After the track shake out I headed back for dinner at Olive Garden. Nothing to exciting but I am feeling good and ready to kick some ass tomorrow. Berlin here I come.

June 23^rd

Training up to this point has been really good and I feel healthy. I really haven’t felt this good since NCAA in 2007. I had a long travel day from Tucson to Portland then a drive to Eugene. I left my house at 10:10am and arrived at Nick’s in Eugene at 9:00pm. It was a long trip but I am here and ready to compete. Night Everyone.

Toronto Meet

2009-06-24T12:10:00.000-07:00

June 11^th

Because we had all day to kill before the meet we asked Jenna a heptathlete at University of Toronto to take us around town and the campus. She took us to something street where there were lots of crazy second hand shops. Then we went China town. Around 1pm we headed back to the hotel where we grab lunch and got ready to head to the track. I left around 3pm with Paul to go warm-up because we had the Pole Vault at 5pm.

This meet was very different then I had seen because we were doing 3 events starting with the Pole Vault which we only got 6 attempts (Miss or make), then it was the 110HH, and 25mins later the 400meters. We had 5 competitors Clay, Hardee, Terek, Canadian, and me. Pole Vault went well I made 4.90 (16’ ¾) and 5.00 (16’ 4 ¾) first attempt and then took 4 attempts at 5.20 which I did not make. Then it was a 2 hour break before the hurdles and at this point Hardee had dropped out and we had 4 guys. It was raining and there was a slight head wind at this time. I ran a 14.13 which is my second best ever by .01sec and only .13 behind Clay. It was a very good race for me. By the time I got my stuff and sat down I had to put my shoes on and run the 400meters. That sucked because I wasn’t ready. I ran a 49.65 and won the 400meters but feel short of beating Clay overall by 40pts. Overall it was a fun meet and it went really well. Toroonto is a very cool city and I hope to visit there again.

June 10^th

I woke up late after falling asleep around 1am. I grab lunch and then meet Jim Dilling to explore the city of Toronto and go in the Toronto Tower (similar to the Space Needle in Seattle). We traveled on the bullet which is the subway to city center and went by the Toronto Blue Jay Stadium and to the Toronto Tower where we paid to go to the highest observatory spot in the world. It was really cool to go up to the top and see the whole city from one vantage point. Around 5pm we returned to the hotel so that we could get ready and head to the track. At the track we both did our pre-meet warm-ups. At the time Usain Bolt was doing his as well and there was a big group of people and media people there to watch him. Usain was getting paid $250,000 to run the 100meters. Jim and I finished our warm-ups and returned to the hotel and headed to dinner. After dinner we were headed back when we saw Jesse Williams and Paul Terek so instead of heading back with Jim I went with them to a second dinner so I could catch up with them. By the time I got to bed it was 1am but I didn’t compete until 5pm so I was ok.

June 9^th

After staying in Santa Rosa from the 1^st to the 3^rd I returned to Tucson to train but am off again for a meet in Toronto. I left from Phoenix because it was a direct flight on US Airways and they were able to carry my poles. I arrived at 10:30pm in Toronto and got to my hotel around 11:45pm. This was fine because my body was so confused on when to sleep and be awake after spending so much time in Europe that getting there late was fine. This Toronto meet will be interesting because I am only doing 3 events the pole vault, 110 HH, and 400 meters. We are doing that because they wanted to include decathletes but it was only a 3 hour meet with Usain Bolt running the 100meters as a finale. I compete June 11^th.

European Experience

2009-06-24T12:07:00.000-07:00

MAY European Experience

My experience in Europe for the month of May was amazing and I was happy I could share it with my brother Tom. As you know the trip started in Italy at The Multistars Decathlon where I scored 7994 and took First Place. We then found ourselves in Lienz, Austria where I trained for three weeks for Gotzis Hypomeeting where the best Decathletes in the world show up at each year. The world record was set at this meet and I was really excited to compete against all the guys that this competition brought. I got 10^th at Gotzis and was happy with my 8069 but knew that wouldn’t cut it at USA Championships. Overall it was amazing trip from Italy to London to Austria. Riding in a Maserati and going Paragliding. Great thanks goes to Josef Schmidl for all his help with training and setting me up to stay in Europe for a month. I will try to do this same trip every year because it was such a success.

Gotzis

2009-06-08T23:38:00.000-07:00

May 31^st (Day 2 of Gotzis)

I always like the start of day 2 because I like the events that I get to do. So knowing that I didn’t do as well as I wanted so I knew that I needed to start off well and move up so I could make some money and hopefully pass 8200. Well it started off ok with a 14.27 sec 110 HH. I nailed the second hurdle and that slowed me from the beginning but ran a great race after that. Next was the discus and warm-ups were really good and I was ready to go. My first throw was 45.76 (150’) which was 30cm from my PR. It was a big first throw. I didn’t improve but ended up 4^th in the event which was big. Then came the pole vault and if I wanted to get a big score today I would have to jump well. Well the weather didn’t want it to be easy and the winds started to swirl and at one point it began to rain. I should have jumped better but I jumped 4.90m (16’ ¾) which moved me to 11^th and right where I needed to be to move up.

Well the weather hated us in the first group of the javelin. It turn to a straight head wind at about 4 meters/hour. One guy even held the javelin straight out in front of him and threw it up and it flew right back to him. Head wind is the worst in Javelin because as the javelin starts to come off the arc the head wind just pushes the tip to the ground. That exactly what happened and I managed 56.84m which was 690 points. Not good. I was back a ways and needed to run a fast 1500meters. I ran 4:31.13 (.09 of my PR) I made up 100points on the guy who was 8^th and 30 on the guy who got 9^th. I missed 8^th by 19 points so I tried and only missed it by a little. Overall it was an amazing experience and I was very happy with what I did but will be back to do better next year.

May 30^th (Day 1 of Gotzis)

I woke up excited and ready to go for Day 1 of the decathlon in Gotzis. This is considered the place to be if you are a decathlete because this place has had the best scores ever. The world record was set here and many other big scores. The atmosphere is amazing with so many people surrounding the track with cow bells and clapping a each corner. Day one started out good I ran 11.06 which is my second best start ever. Long jump was good at 6.92 (22’ 10 ½”) but way behind the rest of the guys. Then I had a bogey as they call in golf only throwing 14.20 (47’ ) in the shot put. I was in 19^th place after shot but high jump and 400 meters were left. High Jump has been very good lately and it was really good I cleared first attempts until 2.00m (6’6 ¾) I made it second attempt by a bunch. The crowd was really into it now and it got me a little to excited and I ended up not making another bar because I was running to hard. I felt I was going to PR in the high jump today but was happy. This moved me to 16^th place. I ran the 400m in 49.17 which moved me closer but I was still in 16^th place. I scored 4039 first day which is average for me but I am in a good spot to move up with a good second day. This meet is awesome and if you ever get a chance I would come and see this meet. Wish me luck on day 2.

Austria Last days

2009-05-27T10:37:00.000-07:00

May 28^th

Today we left at 11am to Gotzis and arrived around 3pm. It was a beautiful ride and Tom, Lisa, Josef, and I made it safe and sound. Josef dropped Tom and me off at our Hotel and would meet him at the track at 5pm

May 27^th

The rain continued until around 2:30pm when I finally got on the track to do my training. We returned from training and packed up all are stuff and got everything to leave tomorrow. It has been 16 days and it went so fast since Italy. I then went to a massage at 5:30pm while my brother and Josef went and got stuff for dinner and placed a bet for Barcelona to win. It was 5.20 to 1 so Tom put 10 euro and Josef 50 euro. If Barcelona won Tom got 52 euro and Josef 260 euro. So we had our team to cheer on tonight. We ate dinner at Josef where he made pasta with shrimp it was so good. After dinner we watched the Manchester United and Barcelona game. It was so much fun and with Barcelona winning 2-0 we were all excited. Well off to bed because we leave tomorrow.

May 26^th

What a crazy day!!! We went to meet a guy to go paragliding at 11am and hen we drove his little car on these back roads to the top of a ski resort. We parked the car next to the chair lift where you get off. At this point we got out all the gear and Tom suited up to paraglide first. We were going for 45mins each. The guy was real cool and because he knew Josef he gave us the same price as he charges but threw in that he would do tricks with us. Tom was up for an hour and got up to 3100m which is like 9000+ feet. He had an awesome time and I got some awesome pics. Well it was my turn and I got suited up and we were off. We were flying in the mountains and spiraling up and then back down doing tricks. Then he said we had to land after only ten minutes I was on the ground because a storm was rolling in fast and we could get caught in the air or on the mountain in his little ass car.

Paragliding was crazy and cool but nothing compared to how this guy drove. After landing we packed quick as possible jumped in the car and were flying down these dirt back roads because he was worried it would rain and he couldn’t drive down with out sliding on the road. Well he was going so fast he kept bottoming out because on dirt roads you have the ruts on the side and big mound in the middle. Well this guy had trouble and kept bottoming out hard on these rocks and by the end Tom and I felt sick because he was flying down these curvy roads and hitting the brakes it was awful. Well after spinning in the air and the car ride Tom and I felt like shit after but I must admit it was awesome and a crazy day. I would do it again. After all this it started raining and by night it was pouring with thunder and lightning. The storm was amazing so Tom and I sat on the balcony and watch the storm over head. What a day.

May 25^th

Not to exciting today I did my training walked around town and mailed some postcards. But tomorrow morning we are going paragliding over the town of Lienz.

May 24^th

Today at the track Lisa and Josef had a guy coming out with electric timing to time Lisa so I took part. Morning was slow because we were out late but I went to the track around 1pm and Tom stayed home because he was tired and sore. I warmed up making sure my foot was ok to sprint and maybe hurdle. After warming up I decided to run the hurdles with Lisa. She ran her 100mH and I did my 110HH off the same start guy. I ran a 14.40 which in practice with a 1.1 head wind was awesome. I then ran a 300m in 36.77 and a 200m in 22.58. I slowed up in the 300m with about 50 to go so not as good as I wanted but 200m was good after all that running. Foot was a little sore but it was good to be able to get the training in. Afterward we went to Josef to eat.

I can’t call it dinner because it was 4pm but we had a salmon and rice dinner that was delicious. Josef had it early because he was taking his nephew to hit golf balls at 5pm. Tom and I returned after dinner and I took a nap while Tom watched a movie. I then watched a movie with him and we made some more food because we were hungry again.

May 23^rd

My foot is feeling better so I decided to see how good it felt. While Tom and Josef went on a 45min run I warmed up and did sprints. I started off with a build up and then did some hard starts for 30m, 40m, and 60m. It felt good and instead of pushing it I got ready for long jump. Josef returned and I asked where Tom was at and he said he lost him 5 mins earlier. Josef ran just under 10k with Tom and he came in around 45mins and Tom came in 49mins. He had gotten tired and had to walk but he finished the run under 50mins. Tom didn’t realize that he was running that far before he left and when he returned he was happy he finished but a little pissed. HAHA After they returned I did long jump and had no pain in the foot so I was happy. After training Tom and Josef went to golf while I stayed behind.

I did some work on the computer and then watch Kingdom of Heaven. I returned home thinking Tom was coming back because they called and said they were but an hour went by and no one. So I called and they were headed back after stopping for dinner and more beers then planned. I then went out with them to the bars because I hate to just sit around and do nothing especially if I am in another country. It was fun and I returned home around 1:45am. Tom stayed out with Josef and they had a good old time. Well the cool thing that came out of their long dinner was Tom meet a man that does paragliding and said he would take us one day. We have to see about the weather but we will go soon.

Austrian adventures continued...

2009-05-25T06:51:00.000-07:00

May 22^nd

Tom did not move this morning and when I left at 1:30pm to train he still had not moved. But I was jealous he got to enjoy the nightlife and see how the people were here. The truth is I don’t know if I would have ever come to Lienz and experience this if I weren’t training though. I took today of training again and just did 20 mins on the bike and some weights. Tomorrow I am going to try and sprint and jump to test the foot. After training I returned home to get Tom up and go to Josef for dinner. Tonight Josef made pasta with meat sauce. It was really good and I ate until I couldn’t eat anymore. We then returned home and Tom and I went to sleep.

May 21^st

Today was a holiday for Austria. Everyone had it off because everything was closed it was crazy. We met Josef around 10am and went and got a cappuccino at a café in town. Josef then took us out for a ride and showed us around town. We stopped at a small pizza place where we grabbed lunch real quick and then headed home because we were training at 1pm. Well because of my foot I decided to take a few days off from training. Tom made up for it though. Tom ran with Josef for 32mins going about 5k almost 6k. Then when he recovered he ran a 100m and 120m with Lisa as fast as they could. After Tom was tight but did a good job. I am sure he will feel it tomorrow.

After training Tom and Josef went out to play golf while I stayed at Josef to use the internet and get caught up on some things. It is really weird being in another country and training because usually I would be out having all kinds of adventures. But I have to be smart so that means no extra hikes to make me tired, mo-peds, or golf. Sucks but I have bigger things to do. Tom and Josef returned from Golf and we went to the local football (soccer) match at the track I had been training at.

Let me just say that this level of soccer was not very good but they get paid to play. Everyone here drinks from 16 years old and up. After the game was over everyone stayed to drink and listen to live music at the field. Josef friend Hans who we met yesterday at golf was there and this became Tom new drinking friend for the night. After hanging out at the field we proceeded to downtown to check out the bars. The first bar we visited was Elsa’s which was the smallest bar you have ever seen which was owned by an older woman named, Elsa. But this bar was the late night spot for entertainment and late drinks til the sun came up. It was 11pm and we stayed for a little then headed to a bar called Yellow. I took off about 12am to go home and sleep and left my brother with Josef and Hans. My brother strolled in around 5:45am and if you want to know what he did you will have to ask him haha. Now I know he is going to be sore tomorrow haha. Lienz is a great small town.

May 20^th

Tom and I have enjoyed our apartment and it has been nice to have a place where we can cook and chill. Our apartment is stuck in the 70’s though. With retro carpet and Disney pictures of the 7 dwarfs next to a shirtless woman petting a horse. It works though it is just funny. I went to the track where I ran with Lisa and Tom again. Tom is becoming quite the runner he has run 15 plus minutes each day. If you know Tom he hates running so it cool to see him trying to get into shape. After the run I tried to see if I could sprint but couldn’t so I changed my workout and did 3x400m at 65secs. IT was a good workout.

After training we went to the golf course where Tom and Josef played golf and I walked along and watched. The coolest thing about the Golf Course was that there is a stream running through that is so clear and I pointed out that it looks like you could drink the water. Well you can Josef showed us a place that the water comes out of the ground and it is the freshest spring water you will ever taste. It was cold and so good. After 9 holes Josef drove me to my massage and returned after at 8pm when we grabbed food and Tom and I returned home. At dinner we tried a new beer that called a Rattler by Gosser, it is a 2% alc. but it is beer and lemon mix that is so refreshing and good. This trip is so cool living in a town and learning a culture I never thought I would know.

May 19^th

I had to be up early this morning to go to the doctor to get chiro work and check my foot. After work went to Josef to get the laundry we had done yesterday. I went home and then got ready to try and train. I went on a run with Lisa and Tom, the foot hurt but if you know me I will push through any pain. I got through the run but couldn’t do anything else. The foot is worse then I thought but I will be fine by the end of the week. After training we went home and Josef got his brother in law MASERATI and came to pick us up.

Josef took us up to Tristacher See, which is a lake in the mountains, where we got a iced coffee and then we went to the Golf Course. The Maserati was so sweet. That thing can handle the curvy roads with ease but also has so much power with 480 HP. Damn it was so nice and clean inside too. At the Golf Course we just hit on the driving range. Then Tom, Josef and I returned to Josef for dinner where he made a spicy curry chicken dish with rice. It was really good but my brother Tom got lit up like a firecracker and was in tears from the spice. As we have been here Josef has been awesome and introduced us to so many good wines and beers as well as food. It has been a great trip and once my foot good I can get back to training hard.

May 18^th

After being in Europe for almost two weeks I needed to do some laundry. Josef allowed us to do our laundry at his apartment while he went to work. Tom and I did work on the computer because we had internet and did laundry all morning. At 1pm we headed to the track to get some real training in. I was feeling pretty good after only a week after a decathlon. I had block starts and pole vault for a workout. They went really well until I had a bad vault and fell off the mat hitting my foot really hard and causing a bone bruise on the ball of my foot right below my right big toe. I finished my workout with little pain. By night time my foot was in a lot of pain and had started to swell. Tom and I decided to go to dinner and found a place called Alder. Dinner was really good. We returned home and went to sleep. Hope my foot ok in the morning.

London Weekend Crazy fast

2009-05-23T12:15:00.001-07:00

May 17^th

Tom and I woke up at 5:45am showered and packed our little bags and headed out. We got a taxi to the train station and then grab a train to Gatwick where we caught our flight on easyjet.com to Salzburg, Austria. We arrive around 11 and had an hour and a half to catch a train to Kufstein to meet with Josef who was in Innsbruck for a meet with Lisa. We meet with Josef and Tom and I jumped in the car back to Lienz. When Tom and I got home we were so tired we just watched movies and sat on the couch. We talked about our quick but really cool trip to London and then we went to bed. Wwwwhhhhhhh breath

May 16^th

After seeing all of London in one day yesterday we had to go see the culture. After we woke up and we ate some food we headed out to find Tom old managers new Pub. We found the Pub but it didn’t open until later so we went to a café and grab another breakfast because I was hungry again (shocking). After we enjoyed our food we returned to the Pub and found John. It was now 12pm and Danielle, John, Tom, and I had a beer while we chatted with John. John was an awesome guy that had so much energy and I can see why Tom went so far to see him. After our visit with John we went to meet up with his son Steven and another Pub. Steven was Tom biggest drinking buddy when he lived in London and that just says what happened next. We sat at the Pub for the next few hours drinking with Steven and his friends. It was such a fun time I didn’t want to leave but we had made plans to catch STOMP at 8pm.

We went to Lester Square where all the plays and performances happen in London. We got our tickets and went to STOMP. It was a really cool show with amazing music, funny gestures, and cool dancing. After a long day we had to return home because Tom and I had an 8:30 am flight to catch out of Gatwick.

May 15^th

Danielle is in London because she works for Apple and will be there for 3 months. So she had to get up early and go to work so Tom was going to show me the city of London. We decided to do the Big Bus Tour that takes you around the whole city of London and see all the sites. It was a beautiful day in London if you can believe it. The bus tour has two different lines you can ride, we chose to take the Red Line that has a person as your tour guide. We went by the Buckingham Palace, the major parks, Big Ben, over the London Bridge, to the London Tower, the London Eye, and so much more. With all these places Tom and I decided to get off at the London Eye and ride it so we could see the city. We were lucky to watching the changing of the Guard from the eye and because of the nice day you could see everything. After the London Eye we returned to the bus and rode it to the London Tower.

At the London tower they had a demonstration of different medieval weapons for all to see. We then went in and caught the tour and followed it around the whole compound until it ended then we proceeded to see the Crown Jewels. I can’t even tell you how amazing the Crown Jewels are. There were diamonds as big as my fist and jewels you didn’t think could be real. It was so cool. After seeing the London Tower we returned to the bus and rode it back to the beginning where we caught the blue line which was the audio tour of London. We took it to Harrod’s which my brother was very excited to see and was walking distance to the Pub he used to work at when he lived in London.

It was about 4pm now and we had started at 8am from Danielle’s and were suppose to meet her at 6pm. Tom and I went to the Duke of Wellington Pub to see if Tom could catch some of the regulars he used to see 4 years ago. We found a few and got stories on the rest. John the manager when Tom worked there had moved to a new Pub and we got direction to try and catch him tomorrow. After a beer we returned to get Danielle and return to the Duke for dinner. We grab Danielle and as we were leaving Zach, Danielle co-worker, was headed out with his mom and they joined us at the Duke for beers. The Pub food was really good and the beer was amazing too. The beer has the same alcohol content as US beer but tastes so much better. At 11pm the Pub closed and we returned to Danielle’s and went to sleep.

May 14th

After a long night we were a little slow in the morning but we got everything together which was a small backpack full. We then headed out on the train at 1130am to Klagenfurt where we were flying out on Ryan air to London Stansted. We arrived around 5pm and then grab the train into Downtown London. It was getting late and we still hadn’t gotten hold of our friend Danielle so we checked into a hostel and got onto the internet to see if we could get hold of her. We did get hold of her and found out where she lived and went to visit her. Well she invited us to stay at her place, by that time were so tired that we passed out on Danielle couch bed and stayed there for the night.

Little side note about why we are in London. Danielle birthday was today and Tom and Danielle have celebrated there birthdays together for the last four years and they made sure not to miss this one.

Trip to Austria from Italy

2009-05-23T12:13:00.000-07:00

May 13^th (Brother Tom Birthday)

After sleeping in we hung around the apartment and then headed to the track where I ran and stretch out. After only a few days after a decathlon I was feeling good but still a little sore. Tom found a new thing to do and that was to climb the rope at the track. Tom thought he was coming to Europe to hang out but really he is getting in shape haha. I also saw Lisa who I will be training with while here. Lisa is coming to U of A next year as a heptathlete. By this time it was around 3pm so we headed back to the apartment and I got a massage.

At 6pm Josef took us to a really good place for Tom Birthday. Before we walked to dinner though Tom and I decided to book a trip to London for the weekend. At dinner we had a three course meal with wine and beer. It was amazing I had asparagus soup, tortellini, and this fried chicken. Around the end of dinner Lisa showed up because she was going out in Lienz for the night because all the kids had finished finals. So after dinner we all went out with Lisa to a bar. I learned a new pool game (????) which was so funny because I was playing with a bunch of younger Austrian guys. After the bar we went to a club and Tom and I danced with Lisa and her friends. After a long night I pretty much carried my brother home but Tom had a great time on his birthday and I was glad to be there.

May 12^th

Woke up early today to try and find a car to rent that we could take my poles to Austria. Well, because we were in a small town that only had a few car rental places it was very hard to find a rental place to rent a car. Especially one we could leave in Austria instead of bring it back to Italy. Finally Matt said that he would go with us and drive the car back to Desenzano. So the challenge now was finding a car that could hold four people and all the luggage of three people including poles and a massage table. We found a car and around 1230pm we were on the road to Lienz.

Well I would like to say that it was an easy trip and we had no problems but sure we got pulled over when trying to find our way through a little town. Lucky us Joel, the massage theropist, spoke German and talked to the Police about why we had the poles tied to the top of a car that had no rack and with some luck and little lies about me being an Olympian we were let go with no ticket or fine. Dang that was close. After that we got to Lienz as fast as possible and once there got hold of Josef, who is a coach there that I know and will be training with for a few weeks til Gotzis. Tom and I got our apartment for the next 16 days and then we went to the track for a beer. HAHA there is a bar at the track where I will be training because they have football (soccer) matches and everyone loves their beer here. We then went to another place for food and beer and then walked home. I must say that their beer is very good.

Venice

2009-05-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

May 11^th

Today Matt, my brother and I went to Venice to explore to city where roads are made of water. We were suppose to head to Austria today but because of communication problems to do with the poles my poles were now getting left in Italy and had no way to get to Austria for my meet so I decide to rent a car and drive to where I needed to go.

Back to our trip to Venice, after a night of fun craziness with all the athletes at the after meet dinner my two fellow companions were moving a little slow. Most days you would want to stay in bed after a night like that but when can you say that you are going Venice for the day. So I got them out and ready and we went to catch the 12:31pm train from Desenzano del Garda to Venice. After a two and a half hour train ride we were in Venice and ready to go explore the city. After getting off the train we jumped on the water taxi and rode it down to St. Marks Square where we looked around the square and went to the top of the bell tower to see all of Venice.

The view from the top of the bell tower was amazing because you really could see, all of this amazing city on water. After see the tourist attraction of St Marks square we went and got lost in the allies and streets of Venice. After walking for a long time we sat at a café on the water and enjoyed a cappuccino before jumping on a water taxi back to the train station. What a day in Venice with Matt and my brother. We all slept the entire way back on the train to Desenzano. We returned around 9pm and then walked 20 mins to the hotel where we all jumped in bed and went to sleep.

Italy Decathlon Day 1 and 2

2009-05-21T09:02:00.000-07:00

May 10^th (Second Day)

Starting out in third I was feeling good and ready to run fast in the hurdles and jump high in the vault. I slept well last night because I was so tired from waking up the first day at 4am. I can still feel the weird affects of Jet lag but it should be no problem and I am ready to compete. Hurdles went well and I ran 14.28 and got third overall. Next came the discus and I have been throwing really well but this ring was so slick that it made it tough to throw. I almost fell twice both times at the beginning of my throw. I was able to figure it out and threw 44.16m. This put me into first place going into pole vault. During warm ups the conditions were amazing with a slight tail wind and I was vaulting awesome. Well by the time I was vaulting the wind had done a total 180 degrees and was a strong head wind. I managed to make 5.05m and tie for the best vault. For the conditions I was very happy. Javelin was a disaster and I only threw 55.48m. Just enough to keep me in first by, 60 points. I then went on to run 4:38.71 which was about a second slower then I needed to run to score 8000 points. I scored 7994 but won the meet in Italy. I was happy with my performance for it being my first decathlon of the year but there is a lot that I could have done better and will in Gotzis in 3 weeks. Well it is off to Austria on Tuesday to stay in Lienz until Gotzis.

May 9^th (First Day)

Today I woke up at 4am wide awake and really never fell back asleep. This was tough because I hadn’t slept well since I got here and it was definitely starting to catch up. I was feeling kind of sluggish going into the meet. Warm ups went well and I felt ready for the 100m. I was in the third heat and ran 11.17 but what got me was I was pretty much even with the guys who won and they ran 10.95 so I wasn’t sure if this was right but I went to Long Jump ready to improve. Well I didn’t I jumped 6.83m which was below average. I felt great on the runway but things were just not firing. At this point my left leg was very tight and causing my knee to hurt. I threw shot 14.31m and again below average. To this point though I was even with my marks for my PR decathlon 8215. I went into High Jump and jumped 2.04m which was my best since Osaka in 2007. I felt ok going into the 400m but my body was very tired from the lack of sleep. I ran 49.53 because I tightened up the last 100m. Overall 4020 was my first day score which puts me in 3^rd only 13 pints behind the leader. For being Jet Lagged and starting the season here I was very happy with the marks but this will not fly in Gotzis so I have some work to do. Sorry they are not in feet but over here they do not convert and I have forgotten my book.

Travel to Italy and preparation

2009-05-21T08:58:00.000-07:00

May 8^th

I didn’t sleep well last night and woke up around 7am, wide awake, and ready to go. I went down stairs and got breakfast and then returned to the room and did some stuff on my computer until Matt woke up at 9am. After he returned from breakfast we headed to the track and did a pre-meet warm up. Then we wasted the day really not doing much in the hotel. I am feeling good and can’t wait to begin tomorrow. I start at 10:15am (1:15am pacific time). So I am off and will let you know how the meet goes.

May 7^th

Today was a good day with a trip to Sirmione and having a good shake out at the track. Woke up around 9am and got breakfast at the hotel and about 9:45am Barbara picked some of us up at the Hotel and took us to the track to do a shake out so that we could get the junk out of our legs before Saturday. I had heavy legs but after some running and full sprints to blow out the junk I felt much better. I saw Joel for a massage and then returned to the Hotel for lunch. After lunch we headed to Sirmione to check out the castle and buy some gifts for some people back home. Including getting a gift for my mom for mother’s day. We then returned to the hotel and relaxed for the rest of the day and got to bed around 11pm after watching a movie.

May 5^th to 6^th

What a long day/two days. I took off out of SFO at 6:56pm on the 5^th and landed in Milan Italy at 5:35pm on the 6^th. After 14 hours I had arrived in Milan and then had a 2 hours car ride to the hotel in Desenzano del Garda. Upon arrival at the hotel Abergo al Caccitore, Matt Chisam and I then did a 10 minute run and stretched. We meet Joel Tull a massage therapist for Wake Forest who loves to travel to different meets and lend his services to all athletes at the meet. We then grabbed dinner and returned to go to sleep at around 11:30pm. I had arrived in Europe and will return to the states on June 1^st.

May 1^st

Today I was suppose to take part in the All City Meet in Santa Rosa but due to Rain I was not able pole vault. I was going to pole vault at the high school meet to bring some excitement to the community about track. I was very disappointed that I was not able to Vault but I will set up to do it again. I need to thank Greg Fog and HEART and SOLE running store for setting all of this up and being such supporters of me.

Outdoor Meets and Training Before Europe

2009-05-21T08:55:00.000-07:00

May 1st

April

I took part in the Sun Angel, Mt. Sac, Long Beach State meet, and Sun Devil meets for the rest of the month. All the meets went well for how hard we trained going into each one. I did the Pole Vault (4.90m) and 400 meter hurdles (54.55) at Sun Angel. I decide to do the 400 meter hurdles as a change in training and had no training going into it. I ran well but definitely off at each hurdle. Mt. Sac I did the Pole vault (4.90) and high jump (1.95) on Friday and then did Long Beach State meet on Saturday where I did the pole vault (4.90). The last meet I did was the Sun Devil meet where I did the Long Jump (6.77), Pole Vault (4.90), discus (46.09)PR, and 110HH (14.24). The month went really well and I was excited at what I did and can’t wait to go to Europe for May and kick butt in the Desenzano and Gotzis Decathlons.

April 3rd

Today was the second day of the Jim Click Multis and today I will do all the events except the 1500 meters. I started with the 110 meter hurdles and ran a 14.30 which is a great opening time especially for the first time running 10 hurdles. Second was the discus which was not great I threw 142’ which is ok but not to where I had been in practice. The pole vault went great during warm ups but then the weather changed and it became extremely windy and I went 4.70 and couldn’t make anything else. The weather was a big factor and I did Javelin but nothing good came of it. Chris finished with a PR score. Chris has been a great addition to my training. After 5 years of training alone it has been good to have a partner to run with and push me each day.

April 2nd

Today was the first day of the Jim Click Multis and I will be competing in the Long jump, shot put, and High Jump. It was a very good day with a 6.97 long jump, 14.54 shot put, and 1.97 high jump. It was a good training day and I was excited to open up for the outdoor season with such good marks. My training partner Chris McGovern had a good first day with PR in the 100 and long jump. He had a PR first day and hope he keep it up to PR the second day.

March 14th

Well only a week after the USA Championships I decided to take part in the University of Arizona NFL Pro Day. I took part in the 40meter dash (4.54secs), vertical jump (36inches), broad jump (10’ 9), 3 cone drill (7.22secs), 20 meter shuffle (4.50secs), and ran routes as a wide receiver. The cone drills and shuffle gave me a little trouble. Overall I felt I did really good and ran some good routes as a receiver. For only doing football stuff for a week with Willie and Mike I felt I did very good and we will see.

USA Indoor Combined Events Challenge

2009-05-21T08:54:00.000-07:00

March 8th

The second day started at 1pm. I had tweaked my groin in the High Jump the day before and it was getting tight as I was warming up so I had the trainer wrap up the groin and leg and finished my warm up for hurdles. It was a good race at 8.15 but I know if my leg wasn’t hurting I would have been better. Going into the vault I had a good lead and after making 4.95 (16’ 2 3/4) I had a significant lead over second place. In the 1000 I sat behind the second place guy and with 200meters to go blew past him and ran 2:50.04. Not a great time but what I needed to do to win USA Indoor Combined Championships. I scored 5748 which I felt was not a good meet for me but sometimes it doesn’t matter the score it is how you compete against the rest of the field and today I was on top.

March 7th

Today is the first day of the USA Combined Events Championships and we started at 1pm. I was feeling good but a little stiff from all the training but after warm ups I was ready to go. The day didn’t start out well for me or the rest of the competitors because of an extremely fast gun in the first heat, none of the competitors were ready and had slow starts. I myself was not even set when the gun went off. So ran a 7.20 which was fast compared to the field but not for where I should have run. The long jump was again not up to par with a 6.81. But brought it all back with a 14.94 (49’ 00 ¼) and moved into 1st. High Jump began and I was feeling good but was only able to clear 1.97 (6’5 ½) as my best height. After day 1 I ws in 1st and ready to keep that lead through the second day.

March 6th

Today was very low key. We woke up late and by the time we got going it was lunchtime. We checked out Duke and I went to the track for a shake out. That night we had dinner with a few of my friends from Carolina and then it was off to bed because tomorrow was day 1.

March 5th

I flew into North Carolina today for the USA Indoor Combined Championships. I arrived and rented my first car from Alamo. It was interesting because I had to leave the poles at the airport go get the car and come back to grab them but everything worked out fine and I got the poles and the car just fine. I then drove to the hotel about 20 mins down the highway where I changed and headed to the track to do a shake out. I was feeling good after my workout and ready to go on Saturday.

I returned to the airport and picked up my parents who came in to watch my meet. I was excited to have them here and cheering me on.

Fall Training 2009 and Indoor Season

2009-05-21T08:53:00.000-07:00

Month of February

I did do any meets for the month of February instead I took the weekends to install my kitchen and work on my house. The last weekend of February I headed to Seattle with the U of A team to coach at the Mt Pac championships. Training has been very good and I look forward to Indoor nationals the first week of March. I feel strong and fast but very tired from all the intense training.

Jan 31st

The second day started at 11am which I fell is a great time to start. The day started with the 60m hurdles and warm ups went great but only ran an 8.25 because I hit the first hurdle. The next event was the pole vault which has been interesting this year because I have changed a lot of things. I only went 4.95 (16’ 2 ¾) but was happy because the things I changed started to feel comfortable and pay off. The last event was the 1000m and I was hoping to run 2:45 but being rusty my pacing is off and I ran a 2:52.4. I was able to win every event of the Hep and scored 5649 which for only my second meet was a good start.

Jan 30th

We had a 2pm start today which is totally different usually it is 9am and really early. I am so used to an earlier start that I found myself trying to find stuff to do for a few hours before I started. The first day was a good opener for getting the rust off. There was a very quick gun at the start of the 60m and I was not totally set and ran a 7.16 which second fastest time in a hep. I just wish I had a better start. Long jump warm ups felt great but the second I had to jump I was so worried about the board and not fouling that I had three bad jumps but still jumped 6.74 (22’ 1 ¾). The shot was really bad this meet but high jump went really well and I jumped 2.01 (6’ 7). It was a good first day and I was able to win every event of the first day.

Jan 29

Traveling to Albuquerque, New Mexico for a heptathlon. I have done one indoor meet this year at Flagstaff two weeks ago. I did the hurdles and the Pole Vault. Hurdles went really well but vault was a little off. I am looking forward to competing again in a multi event. I feel really good and want to see how things are by doing this heptathlon.

Jan

Home Depot is dropping their Olympic Program which will end March 2nd. This will interesting for many athletes and I hope they bring it back when the economy turns around. The good news is I am in negotiations with Asics to sign a contract to run for them. So look for their shoes and apparel.

On a different note I have decided to stay in Tucson until 2012 for the London Olympics and train with Sheldon Blockburger so I bought a house right before Thanksgiving and have remodeled it with a new kitchen, floors, paint, and much more. What an experience it has been being a Homeowner.

Sept – Dec

Fall training was really good this year. I am going into the indoor season feeling good and healthy. All of September and October all I did was lift and polymerics. I came out stronger and more dynamic then I have ever been. I then began technical work in November and because of how good of shape I am in the events were very easy to pick back up. I am really excited for this season. All I have to do is stay healthy and big things will happen.

Beijing Olympics

2009-05-21T08:52:00.000-07:00

August 12th – 24th (Watching Olympic Games in Beijing)

I was fortunate to have money donated to me by 4 Santa Rosa businessmen to go to Beijing China to watch the Olympic Games. This was an amazing opportunity that I got to experience. I went with my friend Aaron Robinson which made the trip 10 times better have such a good friend there to experience this with. I was able to enjoy many events including Softball Gold Medal match, Baseball Bronze medal match and many of the track finals and events. I got to watch Usain Bolt break all the records as well as many of my friends compete at the Olympics.

I visited the Great Wall which is more amazing in person then anything I have seen. I enjoyed the Silk Market, Forbidden City, and many of the great things Beijing had to offer. It was a great experience to see and be part of the Olympic games. If you want to know more just find me and I will tell you all about it.

USA vs Germany Thorpe Cup

2009-05-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

August 3rd

The second day of the Thorpe cup was just as hot and humid as the first day. It was so hot and miserable and I felt good warming up. Hurdle warm ups were really good and ran a 14.26 and got second. This moved me up in the standing. Discus my hip began to tighten up like it had all year but I still threw well 45.71 (150’) and then came Pole Vault which by this time my little injuries began o come back I cleared 4.95 (16’ 2 ¾) which was not bad but running down the run way was not so fluid. I moved into first and with Javelin and 1500 left. Javelin was 58.04 (190’ 5) which put me a little more ahead. With just the 1500 I was ahead by about 90 points but the German behind me was good in the 1500 and I had about 9 seconds to spear. I ran 4:36.1 which was good for me with 4 weeks of little training but the German beat me and won by 8 points about a second to slow for me. I was very happy with this meet scoring 8191 my second best ever and it was good I took part in it. Our team won with the second best team score ever averaging over 8000 points for the 5 guys. Now back to getting healthy and getting ready to make the Berlin World Team in 2009.

August 2nd

Today was the first day of the Thorpe Cup and it is hot and humid it was 105 degrees with 95% humidity. As always I woke up got my breakfast and headed to the track. I felt good even though that I have not done much in the last four weeks because I was letting my body heal. But I knew with the training I had done all year that I was good to go and feeling healthy was way better then anything. I had personal records in the first three events 100m was 11.03 a .05 sec improvement, Long Jump was 7.22 (23’9) which was a 9 inch improvement, and the Shot Put was 15.17 which was 800 points in a throw. High Jump was better then it had been all year and I went 2.00 meters ( 6’6 ¾). Due to the injuries and everything after Trials I really kept the training down so the 400 was a challenge and I ran 49.49. Which was not bad considering the lack of training. This was a PR first day in the dec by almost 100 points, it was 4161. Good start to the dec in Manhattan.

August 1st

Manhattan, KS is hot and humid. Today it was 100 degrees with about 95% humidity. This is the expected the weather for the rest of the weekend but may be hotter. This will be interesting to do a decathlon in this kind of heat. It been really fun at this meet so far because it a team atmosphere out here and I haven’t had that since college. This is the first time this year that I have not been stressed out before a meet. I actually feel like I used to when I had fun competing. With the Olympics and everything it been a crazy year. Good Night

July 31st

Well today I am flying to Manhattan Kansas to compete in the USA vs Germany Thorpe Cup decathlon challenge. My coach Sheldon Blockburger was selected as the Head coach for the men’s side and I was chosen as Captain. The Thorpe Cup is 7 German decathletes and 7 USA Decathletes that compete in the decathlon. The top 5 scores from each team are added up and high team score wins. It will be a close battle and I expect USA will be on top. I feel we have 7 strong decathletes on the team that will do amazing.

July

After trials I sat down with my coach and we discussed the hip and abdomen issues I had been having for the last year. We were saying call it a season and begin the healing but I had been dealing with it for a while and wanted to compete one more time at USA vs Germany Thorpe Cup. So we decided that I would take two weeks off and come back training with no volume and just technical work. It has been working and even though I may loss some stuff in events been healthy is more important through 10 events.

Olympic Trials

2009-05-21T08:50:00.002-07:00

June 30th

I woke up feeling tight so I got to the track early to get work done and get loss for the hurdles which I decided was going to be a turning point and I was going to finally get a Personal best. The gun went off and I had a great start and blistered to a 14.12 which was a .08 second personal best and ranked me 4th in that event. Discus was next and I had been throwing well in the past weeks so I was looking for another personal best, 46.02 (151’) and it was a new pb. I had a long break after discus because there was a second flight but I was ready to vault high. I had vault 17 feet plus in many meets this year and was ready to do it again. The winds were not good for vault but that doesn’t matter to me because if I get on my poles I will go 17 feet. I felt good in warm ups and the first few heights and then the hips and hamstrings got tight and instead of relaxing and running better I tried to push harder and my rhythm was off. I vaulted 5.00 (16’4.75”) well below the 5.30 (17’ 4.5) I was hoping for. This point the only way I was making the team was if someone got hurt or didn’t finish ahead of me. I went into Javelin still tight and threw ok but at this time disappointed in myself for my performance. We had a four hour break between Jav and the 1500 meters and I convinced myself that I was going to finish strong and get 4th place no matter what. It was close but I did get 4th by 8 points. I ran 4:31.66 just .5 seconds off my pb. Ashton Eaton from Oregon ran an incredible race and ran 4:20 which almost allowed him to pass me.

The crowd during the 1500 meters was incredible they were yelling the whole race. For a decathlete you don’t hear that during the 1500 meters because many people say we are jogging but I know I am running as hard as I can. I want to see people 195 lbs that have just done 9 events and been at the track 20 hours in the last two days not look tired. No thanks to announcer (((((((( for saying here comes the jog. You just did the High Jump and I know if you had to jump two days in a row that you would say you were tired.

Well thank you to all my fans that were at the trials and keeping up with me on the computer. Thanks for all the support and love it means so much.

June 29th

I had trouble getting to sleep but slept well. My dad met me for breakfast bright and early and then took me over to the track to get warmed up for day one. Warm-ups went well and I felt good but really nervous and worked up for me. But once the gun went off in the 100 meters I was good. Besides a head wind in the 100 meters I ran really well clocking 11.11 my second best ever. Out of the field I was the closest to my personal best .03 off. Long Jump was next and this was the swing event for me and it was average. Only 6.91 (22’9) and when you hope for 7.20 that not good. What was worse is the guys I needed to beat started strong and LJ they blew me away.

Shot was next and again an average mark 14.54 meters. High Jump was next and at this point the guys I needed to beat were rolling and High Jump was the event I needed to be amazing in and instead I went 1.96. My hips were tightening up on me. High felt good but I needed at least three for bars. We had a long break between high jump and the 400 meters but it allowed me to get stretched and worked on so I wasn’t so tight. I was pumped to run this 400 because the stadium was packed and roaring. I stepped into the blocks in lane 2 which is a tough lane to be in but allowed me to see everyone. By 250 I was running well and as I came off the turn feeling good but my hamstring tightened with 70 to go and I ran 48.66 my second best ever, I was very happy with the time. Finished day one 4033 well below the 4200 I was hoping because I had been average and really didn’t do what I needed to. But day two is my day and as I know anything can happen.

June 28th

Family and Friends came in today and it was good to see them. I must admit I am nervous and excited to be here. Lets hope I can sleep tonight.

June 27th

I went to the track and I did a shake out and saw the chiros and massage therapist. I then watched the women’s heptathlon to cheer on some friends. I watched for an hour or two and then left. I can already see the hype of the Oregon crowd and how enthusiastic they are to watch these amazing trials.

June 26th

It was nice staying at the Hilton because it was where the Hospitality room was for athletes. They had everything we needed. Got breakfast and then meet up with Sheldon at Hayward field to do a workout. WOW! What a site Hayward Field is with all the stands and stuff going on around it. I did discus, long jump approaches, and block starts. After that I headed to the chiros and massage therapist they had provided for the athletes. I returned and got lunch and later went to dinner with Joe Detmer, Raven Cepeda, and a few UNI guys. I returned home and went to bed after that. Hayward was a site to see and tomorrow events start so should be interesting to see the amount of people.

June 25th (travel to Trials)

Today I traveled to Eugene Oregon for the Olympic Trials. I was up early and flew from Tucson into Portland because to get poles to Eugene it was easier to take Southwest airlines to Portland and then take the free Athlete shuttle down. The trip went easy but the butterflies of the Trials began to stir. I arrived late afternoon and checked into the Hilton where I was staying. Then I relaxed got dinner and groceries with Sheldon and Shevell. Then went to bed. I was finally here after a year of training. Feeling good and ready to go. I feel fast and strong just hope the body agrees when the day comes.

Home Depot Commercial

2009-05-21T08:50:00.001-07:00

June 17 Home Depot Commercial

I was in Carson, CA at the Home Depot Center at 11:30am to film me long jumping on camera for a national commercial. I had my own changing room and from 11:30 til 1:30 I was hanging out. I did a fitting and got briefed on what I needed to do. I warmed up and waited until 1:30pm when they finally got me to go to the stadium. I met a lot of people but the Director was the director ofInvincible with Mark Wahlburg and he also helped on Fast and the Furious. It was really cool to meet him and everyone was so cool that was working on the set. I did a quick warm-up when I got there as they set-up and waited for instructions.

The set was in the LA Galaxy Stadium and they had set up a raised wood runway for the long jump. It was up against the wall like we were in a stadium. There was fake people in the stands and real people mixed in to cheer when I took a jump. It was amazing feeling thinking of being in a commercial. I did a few run throughs and they told me that they would be filming the landing and then doing a full jump with run and everything. I began with short run of a box for the landings that were a very close shot on where I landed and nothing else. I did about five because it was such a zoomed in shot it had to be within two feet so I needed to land right in frame. We then moved onto full run jumps like I would in a meet. I took three of these and then was done with the action part. They were some amazing shots and I can’t wait to see which ones they chose.

We then broke for lunch and came back to do a close up shot of each of the athletes. Then they took some photos and I was all done. I was able to catch the earlier flight into Tucson and was home by 10:30pm. A long day but so exciting and fun, just another amazing adventure in my life.

Keep an eye out for the commercial during Trials and all summer!!!

Training and Meets Before Trials

2009-05-21T08:49:00.000-07:00

June 16

I got in last night after 15 hours of traveling and crashed. Got up in the morning went to breakfast with Jarred Sola that was leaving town and then got a call that I was needed in LA to do a Home Depot commercial. I said yes and was flying out at 4:49pm. My call time was 11:30am the next morning.

June 11-15

I decided to go to Des Moines, Iowa to train with Sheldon for the week while he was at NCAA Championships. I finally arrived on the 11th while trying to get on a D3 pass for the last two days. I was very glad that I went to Des Moines to train with Sheldon and watch the NCAA’s. Train was awesome and watching NCAA’s got me even more fired up about going to Trials in two weeks. U of A had national champion in the women’s high jump and many all-americans. It was a fun week but Sunday was a long travel day back to Tucson.

June 8

So the time had come to see how my leg would react to the first day and when I woke up it was tight but as I warmed up it felt very good. My leg is about 85-90% right now. I ran 14.33 in the 100 hurdles and threw the discus 145’. All felt good and with three more weeks I should be 100% going into the Trials in Eugene.

This meet is very fun for me because a lot of the decathletes that I have meet over the years are all in one place competing and hanging out. It's fun to go to meets that are for decathletes and heptathletes because I relate to them so well. It was a good weekend and I am ready to hit the ground running at Trials.

June 7

I traveled to Dallas for the Texas Greatest Athletes Decathlon at St. Marks High School. I planned to do events to see where my leg was at during competition. Today I did the 100m, LJ, SP, HJ and 200meters of the 400 meters. I ran a 10.96 in the 100meters, Long jumped 6.80 (22’3”), did one shot throw at 47’, and High Jumped 1.97 (6’6). I then fished the day off with running the first 200meters of the 400meters. I am planning to do the 110 hurdles and the discus tomorrow.

May (Finished up)

The rest of May was pretty busy with trips to Provo, Utah and Regionals in Northridge, Ca. After Pac-10 I headed to BYU in Provo for a High Performance meet that the USATF paid for to do some events. Still with a leg that was 70% I did the long jump, high jump, and discus. The meet went well but still had to rehab the leg. I then traveled to Northridge with the U of A team to coach the women and men’s vault. Both Jaci and Brendan got personal records and almost made some big bars. Our team did well and had a bunch make it on to nationals. May was a busy month and I was only in Tucson for about 10 days the whole month. I have one more meet in Dallas and then three weeks of rest before trials.

Italy Decathlon 2008 trip

2009-05-21T08:47:00.001-07:00

May 15 Flew Home

A long day of flying that ended in Phoenix where I stayed for the weekend to coach Pac-10 for the U of A team.

May 14 Verona

We woke up late and walked around Desenzano and had lunch before we meet with Gabriel at our hotel at 2pm. Gabriel was one of the teachers from the hospitality high school that I had visited. My mom had seen him at the track meet and offered to take us around Verona that he had taken his class many times. He was amazing tour guides that took us too many places in Verona and explained the history and significance of each one. We saw many of the churches, the castle, the coliseum, the tombs and the famous bridges. Venice was amazing but we had a very short trip so I must admit I had the most fun in Verona. There was an amazing market to buy gifts for everyone and the structures were amazing.

WOW! I never got to Southern Italy but the people in Northern Italy were so helpful and nice. If I knew the language I could easily see myself living there and enjoying the culture and amazing atmosphere. I will return next year to win the meet and show them what I really can do in track.

May 13 Lago Del Garda (5 different cities)
Happy 22nd Birthday Tom

Well before we went to bed last night we asked at the front desk about trains and what we should do for today. To go to Florence we would have had to get on a train at 6:55 and arrive there at 12:45pm and leave 8 hours later for the same train ride. We decided against the long trip and decided to rent a car and drive around Lake Garda and see what it had to offer. This was an amazing choice and something most tourist miss doing. We started in Desenzano and went to Salo, Tremosine, Riva del Garda, Malcesine, and Peschiera.

Salo was a city in a bay that was on the water and it was beautiful. The next stop was Tremosine which was toward the North end of the lake which is totally different then that of the South. You begin the Alps and there are huge mountains instead of flat ground. To get to Tremosine you had to go up and little road that at most place only fit one car but the site from the top of the Mountain was amazing. I could see so much from the city from the mountain ranges to the lake down below. The next stop was Riva at the very north of the Lake. Riva was surrounded by mountains and was a very popular area for wind surfing. Riva had many expensive stores and high end stuff. The next stop was Malcesine which had a famous castle on the banks of the lake. This area had a lot of beaches and people enjoying the lake. The last stop was Peschiera where we had dinner at a small restaurant tucked away in the back streets. The whole day was so much fun, I could go on forever telling you the beauty of the lake and everything I saw. I learned to drive on round abouts and had an amazing day with my mom.

May 12 Venice (Day 6)

Well after having such a bad meet I am glad I am staying in Italy to take some R&R while checking out all the amazing things Italy has to offer. I had never been to Europe so this was going to be an experience. Our first stop was Venice with Jackie and my mom. We got a late start but we got to Venice by train around 2pm and the train left at 7:50pm. The train was very cool because we got our own cabin and just napped all the way there. As you leave the train station the Grand Canal is there with so many boats going around as they were cars. We decided to jump on the Water ferry and go all the way to the end and walk back hitting all of the sites. WOW, the buildings were amazing with so much history. Even the simplest a bridge was a work of art as you went down the canal. Streets had become water and no one missed a beat. Our first stop was the St. Marks Square which was huge and had so much history and beauty. We mad sure to get lost in all the side streets to see all of Venice. We visited an art exhibit and saw artwork from many different artists. Well I will be the first to say I need a week in Venice to even see enough to make me happy. We had dinner and returned home on the train. Watch out, Venice is expensive and for the most part all of Italy was a little pricy. Tomorrow we may try Florence but seeing a 4 hour train ride we may skip that.

May 11 Italy (Day 5) Day 2 of Decathlon

I woke up feeling good except this nagging groin and hip stuff I have been having going on for a while. I did everything to get warm for hurdles and still had trouble so wrapped it up and put icy-hot on it. I was ready to go and ran a good race. I won the hurdles for the meet running 14.39. After hurdles and adrenaline were over, my hip and right leg tightened up and I couldn’t get it to loosen up the rest of the day and just told myself to finish and not hurt myself so I could do anything after this meet. I am fine and will take a few weeks to get healthy and be ready to still go score 8400 at the Olympic Trials and go to the Olympics in Beijing. This is the first bad meet I have had in two years so I am glad it came now and not later.

That night they had a huge dinner for all of the athletes and coaches to celebrate as they handed out all the awards for the meet. It was very fun hanging out having some vino with everyone. My mom was there as well having a grand old time.

May 10 Italy (Day 4) Day 1 of Decathlon

Well I had about one of the most nerve racking days of my track career. I began the day as I always do with breakfast and getting to the track 2 hours prior. Listened to my music and warmed up. Warm up took longer then usually but I got my hip and groin ready to run a fast 100meters. I felt fast and besides the head wind I was ready to run fast. I ran a 11.08 and was tied for third after the 100meters which is really good for me in the 100meters. Well that was the last good thing of the meet. I warmed up awesome for the long jump but scratched my first because I was running fast so I moved back and had a huge jump on my second but scratched as well. I had never had two scratches before and I started to doubt myself and was so rattled I couldn't calm myself. I jumped 6.39 and lost over 100 points. After that I couldn’t get anything going putting up less then par marks. I finally decided enough and was going to run a great 400meters but as the 4th heat began a storm blew in and we had terrible winds with tents flying and wind swirling in all directions. I began with strong wind in my face and tried to fight this wind through 200 meters but by the time I got to 300meters the wind took it’s toll on me and I ran 49.85. I just had one of though days. To bed and hopefully I can turn things around tomorrow because I am not out of the meet.

May 9 Italy (Day 3) Day before decathlon

Today I woke up around 7:30 and had a decant night sleep considering the bed is smaller then me. I then went and had breakfast with everyone and then we all headed to the track at 10am for are shake out before starting tomorrow. My legs felt really good today. My hips have loosened up. Joe and I again played soccer and after three days we were all tied up at 3 goals so we will never know who wins. I feel ready to go for my decathlon I just hope my groin and hip don’t give me any trouble. One of the athlete had some eye trouble and my mom went with her to the hospital so that she had a mom. Everyone at the meet was so helpful and got everything dealt with.

After our workout we returned to the hotel and then went on a day trip to Sirmione which is a city 15 mins away that is on a peninsula that goes out into the water. It was a very beautiful city. We visited the castle that overlooked the whole city and across the lake. We took a bus here and a boat back across. Italy is an amazing country that is so beautiful and everyone is so nice and very helpful. So far Daniele, Barbara, and everyone has gone the extra mile to make sure that everything is good to go. To bed now and hopefully a day full of Personal Records.

May 8 Italy (Day 2)

Well I crashed hard last night and really didn’t move for 9 hours. I woke up around 6:40am and tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t so I got up and went down to the lobby and messed around on my computer. I then had breakfast with some of the heptathletes and at 10am I was picked up to go talk to a High School that was a Hospitality technical (vocational) school. It was very interesting because they had the school centered around three jobs; receptionist, cooks, and waiters. They had a bar, kitchen, and everything you would see in a hotel.

Joe, Jackie, my mom and I first got a tour around the school and then went into the gym to talk to the kids. It was chaos at first but got better but they were still High School students. I was that way in High School too. It was very cool after we were done taking pictures and signing autographs. We then were taken to the dining room where the students had prepared lunch for us. We were served like we were in a fancy restaurant with different courses and it was delicious. After all the school stuff we headed to the track.

Joe, Jackie, and I did our shake out and a little workout at the track. Then Joe and I played soccer for about 20 mins before we returned to the hotel. The rest of the day was low key and tomorrow will be a very low key day before I start Saturday. I am very excited for this meet and can’t wait to start.

May 6-7 Italy (Day 1)

What a long day of travel. I woke up at 4:30 am and went to the airport. I flew out of Phoenix at 7:15am and landed in Philadelphia at 3:00pm and left there at 4:25pm for Milan. My mom meet me in Philly and it was really good to see her and have someone going with me to Italy. I was only able to sleep about 4 hours over all this time and we landed at 6:25am Milan time on May 7th. I then stayed up for the whole day and finally went to bed at 9:00pm. To best adjust to the time, I had to do this and by the time I went to bed I was exhausted. Besides the crazy day of travel, Italy is amazing. I was able to go to the track with Joe where we did a shake out and played soccer. I'm in the city of Desenzano del Garda, which is right on a huge lake it reminds me of a mix between Catalina and San Diego. I am very excited for the meet this weekend and hope that I can show the world how good I can be.

Ciao

Outdoor 2008 Training and Meets

2009-05-21T08:43:00.000-07:00

April Outdoor meets

April was a good month at the end but started very slow. I competed in a meet at Tucson, Phoenix, and San Diego. The first meet was a decathlon at U of A on the 3rd and 4th where I did everything but the 100m on the first day and was suppose to do the first three events of the second day but was having some hip and groin issues. I had a very solid first day with a long jump of 6.93 (22’10), shot put of 14.6 ( 48’), High Jump of 2.00 (‘6 ¾), and ran a 48.66 in the 400m. I was very happy with the marks but was not happy being hurt. The next week I went to Phoenix and threw the discus and did the Pole Vault. I was still having groin issues but threw the discus about 147’ and pole vaulted 5.05 (16’7). The last few vaults I began to feel the best I had since NCAA last year, so that was very encouraging. Things were coming around and I was excited to see how I would do in San Diego. I took the weekend off after Phoenix and returned home.

I returned home to go to a function that Scott Wilmore and the Culinary Kings had set-up for me to receive money from families for my track endeavors. The function was more amazing then anything that I could have imagined and I was able to raise plenty of money to take my coach to Beijing, cover my travel expenses to meets, and buy the track gear that I need. I thank everyone that was part of the function and can not tell you how much I appreciate all of your donations.

The last meet of April was in San Diego and I was very excited to compete because my hip and groin were feeling better and training was going very very well. I participated in the long jump, pole vault, high jump, discus, and the 110 hurdles. I was very pleased with everything except long jump. I pole vaulted 5.21 (17’1), threw the discus 44.76 (148’), high jumped 1.95 (6’5 ½) but had great attempts at 2.05(6’ 8 ¾) and ran 14.34 in the hurdles and got hit at the 4th hurdle. I was pleased to know that things were coming together for my big meet in Italy where I am doing a full decathlon.

March Outdoor meets

Well outdoor has been going really good so far considering that we have been training so hard through all of the meets. I competed in the one Tucson meet and an El Paso meet to start off my season in March.. The first meet was the Willie Williams Meet and I competed in Pole Vault, Discus, long jump and 110 hurdles. I was very pleased with my hurdles (14.4) but everything else was a little off but still had good marks so that was exciting. Discus 143’, Pole Vault 5.05 (16’7), and long jump. I was suppose to compete in Tucson again but it was cancelled and I made the trip to UTEP for a meet where I did the long jump, javelin, and high jump. This was my bad meet for the year and that all I have to say. Training caught up to me and the legs did not want to go. Training has been going really well though and things like this are expected.

What I have Left for Outdoor

The season has gone quickly and I only have two more meets before my first decathlon in Italy. I have Sun Angel on April 12th and the Triton meet on April 26th. Then I head to Italy for a decathlon on May 10th and 11th. I have a prep meet in June and then the Trials on the 29th and 30th of June. Hopefully, Beijing, China in August. So that my schedule and what I have been up too. I will put up updates as meets finish so keep an eye out for me.

March Outdoor Meets

Training has been really hard and intense since indoor ended. I have been training very hard because this is the time of the year before the big meets that I have to train hard and not worry about having good mark in meets. Training has been very good and my marks have been really good at meets considering the fatigued legs.

Outdoor started March 21-22 at the Willie Williams Classic at the U of A where I participated in the 110 hurdles, Pole Vault, and Discus. I vaulted 5.05 (16’ 6.75”), threw the discus 43.40, and ran 14.40 in the hurdles. The following weekend I participated in the UTEP Springtime Invitational where I competed in the High Jump, Long Jump, and Javelin. Which training caught up with me and I had a bad weekend of competing in UTEP. The following weekend, April 3-4, I participated in part of a decathlon here in Tucson at the Jim Click Multis. I participated in all events on the first day except the 100 meters which I just did a block start and jogged out of it. I had 4 solid marks after not running the 100 meters. I long jumped 6.93 (22’ 9”), then shot put was 14.65 (48’ 0.5”), high jump was 2.00 (6’ 6.75”) and last the 400 meters which I ran 48.66 my second best time ever. Overall it was a great first day. I was suppose to participate the second day in the hurdles, discus and pole vault but had some groin issues that kept me from starting.

Indoor Combined Events Championships 2008

2009-05-21T08:42:00.000-07:00

March 9, 2008 (Second Day of USA Indoors)

After yesterday’s performance I woke up ready to go and win my first USA title. Warming up I felt really good and knew that I was ready to run a fast hurdle race. The hurdle race went really well except at the start. The starter had such a fast gun that I was not totally set and got a slow start but by the second hurdle I got back into a grove and was still able to get a personal best 8.09 in the 60 meter hurdles. The second event was the pole vault, which is usually my best event but today my timing was a little off and only went 4.90 meters (16’ 0.75”). After 6 events I was in 1st place and all I had to do was stay within 7 seconds of 2nd place and I was the winner. I ran a 2:47.49 in the 1000 meters and won by 57 points to get my first USA Title. After the win I was really excited but it only lasted for part of the day because the real goal is the Olympic Trials and I knew I had some stuff to work on.

March 8, 2008 (First Day of USA Indoors)

The start time for today was 1pm and that was nice because I am used to going at 10am. I have been feeling really good in training and it came out in today’s marks. I began the day with a personal best in 7.11 in the 60-meter-dash which tied me for second place. I then topped that with another personal best in the long jump with a 7.05 (23’ 1.75), which was huge because I finally got the 7-meter barrier and this tied me for first place. I felt good going into shot but only threw 14.60 (47’ 11) which was 40 cm lower then my best but put me into first by 100+ points. The last event of the day was the high jump and I went 1.98 (6’ 6). It was a solid mark but not what I was hoping for. After all was said and done I was first with 3220 points, which was a first day personal record by 110 points. I am feeling good and ready to put up big marks tomorrow in the hurdles, pole vault and 1000-meters.

Fall Training 2007-2008

2009-05-21T08:40:00.000-07:00

February 2008

I apologize again for no updates until now. I will be posting a lot more frequently now that I will be getting into season. This month has been very good for training and meets. I began the month at Nebraska where I competed in a Heptathlon, which is 7 events instead of 10. I did it to see how I would do in a multi at this point in time. I didn’t expect too much but expected to finish strong. I scored 5659 and had some very solid marks. I then competed again in Flagstaff where I did the 60m, pole vault and long jump. Next meet with be USA Multi Indoor Nationals in Chappel Hill, North Carolina on March 8-9.

I recently went home on Feb 21-24 and had the pleasure of having lunch with some local business men of Santa Rosa that were interested with helping me with my Track endeavors. Special thanks goes to Michael Carney and Doug Bosco for setting up the lunch and helping me out with my track endeavors.

January 2008

Training has continued to be really good and feeling good about everything that Sheldon and I have been working on. After discuss things with Sheldon we have decide to take part in Indoor track. We feel that the training is going better then expect after taking off time for the abdomen. I will open up at Flagstaff, AZ on January 19th.

The Flagstaff meet went well I competed in the 60 meter hurdles, pole vault, and shot put. I ran in the prelims and Finals of the hurdles and ran a 8.19, vaulted 16’7, and threw the shot 47’. It was a good opener and I am excited to see that my training is going well.

November and December 2007

I apologize that I have not kept you up to date since Japan.

After Japan I returned to Tucson, Arizona where I have chosen to train for the upcoming Olympic Trials in June and ultimately the Olympics in Beijing, China in August of 2008. After returning to Tucson I was accepted into the Home Depot Olympic Program. The Home Depot Olympic Program is a program for training athletes that are hopefuls for the Olympics. The program has 219 athletes that work as Home Depot employees and it allows you to work part time and get paid full time as well as have your medical covered. I also traveled to Cancun, Mexico for a USATF Rookie Camp that brought in the Rookies as well as the two best athletes from each event in the USA. It was a very fun and educational weekend that has allowed me to be more prepared for my professional career.

After Japan I had to take two months off to heal my body from the abdomen strains that I had gotten over the summer. I began full training at the beginning of November and since it has been going really well. I have been working at Home Depot 20 hours a week and training 25-30 hours a week. It has been hard doing work and training but the great part about the Home Depot program is I can request any time I need off.

World Championships in Osaka

2009-05-21T08:26:00.000-07:00

The Overall Experience

As an athlete you always want to do better then what the outcome is, but for my first international meet on such a big stage I couldn’t ask for anything better. Osaka, Japan was amazing and I am happy that I scored over 8000 points and can say that I am 13th in the world. I will tell you what, next year I will be 100% going into the meet and those guys better watch out. Thanks for all the emails and the support it was amazing. Thank you to Heather Van Holt for this amazing website.

September 1 Second Day

Well I got to bed at 12am last night after dinner and shake down. I woke up at 5:15am. Probably slept about 4 hours, which is the least amount I have ever had in between days. I was sore and tired but the adrenaline kicked in and things got easier except for my abs, which were causing some pain. This day was going to take every ounce of strength and mental toughness to get through. I ran the hurdles and block starts were very rough but I was ready. As I was running them I had a sharp pain go up my left side about the fifth hurdle. I finished the race running 14.72 which is the slowest I have run in years but it was ok I was still in it. After the hurdles I went in and Tom Pappas was almost in tears with pain in his foot. Minutes later he dropped out. Clay and Pappas out and I am wanting to stop with two ab strains. I quit once in a December and never was going to do it again. I got out there threw discus and got a good mark at 43.70meters. Vault was the event I was worried about with my abs but somehow I was able to go 5.10meters. But it took going on my smallest pole and being in pain every time I hit the mat. This was the first time I was not confident in vault and almost no heighted. This point I had gone to far and the last two events were easy on the body. Javelin was good in warm-ups but crappy in the competition 56.01 meters. Well the final event the 1500meters. I felt like I had no energy until the gun went off. I was feeling good and after the first lap took the lead but got kicked three times by the French guy and the third time almost went down. After that the legs started to lock and all I wanted was to break 4:44 and score 8000 points. I scored 8004 points and was 13th overall. I was very happy at what I had done. After all this, all the decathletes walked around the track together in a celebrated victory lap for finishing the decathlon.

August 31 First Day

This will be quick. Welll I was up at 6am and out to the track by 7:30 to start at 10:00am. I was in the last heat of the 100 meters. They had us check in at a call room where they checked everything in your bag and then take you over to the start. For 20 mins there was no where to warm up so that was new but my adrenaline was so high that it didn’t matter. I ran a great 100meter and ran a 11.14 which is my second best ever. Lon was a little struggle but still pulled off a 6.86m which is good for me. Shot was good at 14.74m and put me on pace for my best first day. We then had a four hour break. This was new and weird but I liked getting a good meal in the middle. I return to the track and had a shaky start in the high jump but made up for it in the end jumping 6’9, 2.06m. But the high jump took a toll on my legs and I ran a 49.02 in the 400m. It was the best first day ever and I am sitting 14th right now and in a great position to place in the top 8. Well I am going to try to get 5 hours of sleep night.

August 30 (Tomorrow the DAY)

The mood in my room was different today because my roommate competes today. I woke up early to get a shake out in at the track at 9:30. The shake out was interrupted by a down pour of rain for the morning but I still got it in at the track. I feel good and just want to get started. I met up with my parents and we checked out the Floating Garden Observatory which allows you to see all of Osaka from the top of the building. It was amazing the city goes on forever. I got a easy massage to shake out the legs and then headed to my room where I am hanging out the rest of the day. It is finally here and I am excited, nervous, and ready to kick some ass for the USA. I will try to get something up tomorrow night after the first day but depends when I finish. Love all of ya and thanks for all the Support.

August 29 (2 days until competition)

It getting closer to the day and it getting harder to get to sleep at night but I am feeling really good and ready to go. The mornings are a little wet but by afternoon it clears up. I hope conditions are good on Friday and Saturday. Today woke up got breakfast and watched the meet. I went over to the track this afternoon so I got everything done before my family showed up. I went out to the track and did some block starts and felt fast and the legs had some good bounce. After workout I walked down to find my family’s hotel and leave them a note so they could find me when they arrived. I met up with them for dinner and it was so good to have them here. I am excited my family can see me compete here in Osaka. Well this is the most important night of sleep so I hope I sleep well tonight.

August 28 (3 days until Competition)

The days are really simple now just resting for the day I compete. I got a massage this morning and then watched the meet and did laundry. Japan is really humid and hot when you are outside. I am getting more used to it but I just have to remember to keep hydrated. I am so anxious now to compete. I went out to the track around 2:30pm and did shot put, discus, and javelin approaches. It went really well and all the timing in my throws was on so that was very good this close to competition. My family comes tomorrow and I am so excited to see them and have them here to watch me. It getting so close and I am feeling really good and excited.

Here I am in my USA gear with stadium in the background.

August 27 (4 days until Competition)

Every day I have been receiving massages and chiro work so that my body feels loose and ready to go come competition. The massage therapist are amazing here they are the best at what they do and have been getting everything done that I need to feel good. I can’t thank them enough. My day is mostly filled with just chilling and watching the meet in the morning and then heading to the track and watching the meet again. Today workout went really well over at the warm-up track by the stadium. I did Pole runs with the vaulting poles to just make sure I had the timing down and I felt like I had a lot of bounce in my step. I will do some technical stuff tomorrow and then it is just chilling until the day we start.

The food at the hotel is starting to get repetitive and boring but it is keeping me on a good diet before competition. I hope everyone is doing well back in the States and I will keep you updated to what is going on here.

August 26 (5 days until Competition)

Today was a real easy day. I woke up and got a massage from Benny and worked on my hip a little because it was tight then I got breakfast and watched the track meet in my room. I took a nap and then went to the track and did an easy shake out just to get the legs moving. I headed to the track for the Women’s Pole Vault Prelims and the 100 meter men’s final. The track meet is amazing and the caliber of talent is mind-blowing. I will tell you what though the Men’s 100 meter final was out of this world with Tyson Gay winning it for the USA. I was so pumped after watching that I wanted to go compete right away.

August 25 (6 days until Competition)

I had a good workout today but the legs are still a little shot from the flight and long season but I am sure I will feel great on Friday when it is ready to compete. I just did some long jump approaches and some short jumps which felt good but a little sluggish. Next I did the high jump and cleared 6’3 three times and felt really good. Last thing I did was two 150 meter runs at 17secs with a 3 min break. All and all it was a good training day and my last hard one before I compete.

The meet started today and I decide to go watch the evening section with the Men’s shot and 100 meter prelims. Well this was the first time in the stadium and my stomach dropped I had never seen a track stadium that big I felt like I was at a football game. WOOOOOWWW. The races and everything were awesome. I am so fired up now.

August 24 (7 days until Competition)

Today I woke up early and grab some breakfast with Courtney and we headed to the train station to take he train to a few Tokyo attractions. I did not have much time to tour because I had to be back for USA Team meeting at 6pm so I had to leave by 2pm. We went to Shibuya and saw the busiest intersection and all the stores, then we went to Harajuku and checked out the shrine, and last Akihabara which is the electric district with all the electronic stores. Tokyo was really fun and cool I wish I had more time up there.

The bullet train is so cool and fast. I made it back for the USA meeting and it was amazing and a shock to the nerves to see all the athletes representing the USA in one room. I am still living on cloud nine.

August 23 (8 days until Competition)

This morning I went out to the track early so that I could catch a train up to Tokyo to visit my friend. My workout this morning was suppose to be pretty tough but I was tight so I decided to listen to my body and take it easy for the morning. I am so excited right now to be here. So I head to Tokyo and got up there around 5pm and had dinner with my friend Courtney who dances at Disney, Tokyo, and had some amazing Sushi at a little place next to where she lives. I later hung out with her Disney Cast members and chilled.

August 22 (9 days until Competition)

Last Night I went to dinner with Brad Walker and Grace Upshaw and we had so great Sushi. Well today I woke up around 10 and feel ok but we will see when I go to the track. I cant believe everything that is happening I am eating everyday with athletes I only used to see only on TV. Osaka is a huge city that is a lot like Chicago with water ways running all through. This city is so clean though with no one littering. Today I saw a man open his car door ash his cigarette and the take it back in the car. Plus the crazy thing is there are no trash cans to be found anywhere.

I went to the Practice track by the main stadium and when I arrived I could not believe my eyes and how huge the stadium was. I felt that I was looking at a football stadium. My shake out went well but still a little tight from the flight over.

August 20 (In America) August 21 (In Japan)

Well today was a long day but one that I will never forget. I left Phoenix at 6:45am this morning on my way to San Francisco and finally Osaka, Japan. Great thanks goes to my buddy Adam who dropped me off this morning at 5:00am and then had to get back to Tucson. The trip went very well and was very easy. I checked all my bags in at the Phoenix Airport and they made it to Osaka, which took a lot of stress off of my mind.

I can’t start to tell all of you how much I have smiled today. I have gotten goose bumps twice today and had to pinch myself that this is all really happening. I am staying in the Hanshin Hotel which the rooms are tiny but we have everything we need here for the athletes. I am rooming with one of the best Pole Vaulters in the World, Brad Walker, and the second I walked in the hotel I saw the #1 decathlete Brian Clay. WOW. I am really here competing at the World Championships.

The city of Osaka is huge and everything is centered around the water. There are so many bridges and high-rise buildings. The time difference is 16 hours and it was strange that the whole time I was flying it was sunny outside. 10 days until I compete.