Well... I'm back. E tudo bom.

Well... I'm back. E tudo bom. 

It's been a bit of time since my last post. I'm sure everyone knows how that goes. Not enough hours at the end of the day. Too much month at the end of your money.

Pero hay muchas cosas que han pasado! Cosas buenas. Entrenamiento bien duro. A lot of positive brain training and a new way to focus on athletic endeavors. 

Working part time at the Apple Store and training for the decathlon has been a lot to handle. But it's life and its kept my days dynamic, fun, competitive. I've also embarked on the journey of Rosetta Stone and the quest to learn French. My days are supersaturated with learning in every aspect that you can think of.... Y pensé que la escuela secundaria me enseñó a manejar el tiempo 

My new coach Kris Mack, is amazing. I'm invested. We are on the same jet. In fact I'm the jet and he's the pilot.... (But keep in mind that in this scenario he has a multiple hour flight logs and intensive pilot training)... So we're good. Positivity is a force that we are channeling through every spike i every shoe, and every muscle fiber in the body. Mind and body are one. Time to believe and thrive!

E que otimo! O meu time é divertido! The goofy training group that I'm with is amazing. I am incredibly thankful for the positive and wonderful personalities that I get to work with on the track every day. 

This fall season, coach Mack has helped us find our groove in training. Well... i wouldn't say groove, more like honed us into distinct elvish blades meant to endure the multi events... . 

The Smithy's vast array of tongs, anvils, billows and hammer for this process have been: death circuits, mental toughness, chains, sweat, hills, sand, blood, 80's music, 90's music.... You name it. We are all coming into this season with the number 24 on our backs... Looking to beastmode this year. 

But here's a little something else. Something he's breathed into the sword before plunging each into the slack tub...... A "positive mindset" and "attention to long term training at a healthy level". This is where we have decided to focus our energies. "With great power, comes great responsibility". Uncle Ben has been intelligently annotating how each of us tick, how we run, and how we operate in competition and practice. This is how he will best set us up for success. 

So let me illuminate a little wisdom to those currently training, who have found themselves plagued by injury or just want to finally have a consistently healthy season. (I love when people share hints of the location of collectible items on Pottermore/Morrowind etc)

First Dumbledorian Clue: 

1. Take the time to check in with yourself. What do you feel like when you wake up?! How did you feel at the end of last week? How are you supposed to feel today? What are you going to do to help yourself get through a day of training? What are you going to do to set yourself up for a good day of training tomorrow? 

A lot of questions are buzzing through athletes' minds all the time. As a training partner and I put it (might I say quite poetically) elite training/health is like walking a tightrope. You're pushing yourself towards a state of almost overtraining to gett great training in, yet staying just below that threshold. Be smart. 

Deuxième:

2. If you can reflect and see that a proportional amount of your time in the day was focused on warming up properly, stretching, targeting aches or Tightness prior/post training, and hydrating/refueling when your brain told you to....during your workout..... Then you are doing a great job. Keep that consistent. consistent. consistent. 

Terceiro:

3. Your brain is the strongest and most Influential part of how you feel. I bet you that 10/10 times if you are about to approach a workout and say that "you are going to do well", "get through it", "feel good" and really MEAN what you say.... That you will feel it. Say what you mean and mean what you say. It's a tough mental exercise, but with practice... it becomes powerful. One of my favorite quotes on my wall growing up was "Nothing can stop a person with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal, nothing on earth can help a person with the wrong mental attitude" -Thomas Jefferson.

....I dunno if he ever  tried doing sprint ladders in between drafts of the Declaration of Independence.... But I bet his positive energies were imperative in the success of the most epic breakup letter of all time.

So try this... Whether in practice or not.. If.... in your daily life when confronting a task, you find yourself automatically saying "I can't do this" or think "this isn't going to go well".... Swerve that thought. Rewind! and tell yourself "I'm not going to think like that, I can do this.. And this is going to be great". If you start putting that positive force out into the universe, you're going to see a return on investment 

(Can the Econ ppl just corroborate with me here? Por favor?)

That being said, this past weekend I found myself at the Uw invitational. The first week of January my coach said "hey I can't really find a multi between now and nationals, we are gonna go to Uw and do one in two and a half weeks"..... Rather than think that we were underprepared (because our original target was at the end of February) I said "sweet, this'll be awesome".

And it was! Fue un placer! To be at my own school and open up my first heptathlon (in two years). I was on my track after a year off and I managed to set the meet and facility record in front of my friends and my family.... That was awesome . It was great seeing my friends and family. So much love and support that i cannot begin to express how grateful I am. 

So here we go 2015, I'm gonna be like Harry Potter, questing out with a new mindset that Dumbledore left me with. hunting horcruxes... I'm going to be rocking some superhero outfits, seeing if I can get a shoe sponsor, gain some more international experience, see some beautiful places, and eat some good FOOOOOODDD along the way. 

Stay Postive, Healthy and Hangry my friends! 

Creer , Soportar,  Golpear, Prosperar

Taiwo