Here We Go: Round 2, San Diego

Hello!

Wow it has been quite a while. 2014 has been a very interesting year and i'm very excited to
finally compete this coming year in 2015!

SO what in the world have I been doing with my life since my last post? Welp, I was
training hehe. Training and working that is.... in order to keep my sanity and to have something to look forward to on the weeknds, I found a job. While the rest of my teammates/roommates competed on the weeknds, I have been working as a Redzone Specialist at the Apple Store in San Diego. Actually, it's a very fun job and more rewarding than I could have possibly imagined. The learning curve was (and still is) ridiculous, but I think it keeps me mentally sharp. It's a very dynamic job and wills you to think on your feet, improvise. All that fun stuff. Oh! I forgot to mention, the store where I work is a hot spot for many international customers. So, lucky for me, about 25% of my interactions are in Portuguese, 35% are in Spanish and the rest is in english. Bom dia tudo bom? Buenos días, cómo están? So practicando my language skills has been excellent. I've been working for the company since Valentine's day. Now that I have an actual competitive season on the horizon, vamos a ver que pasará con el trabajo.

I have absolutely loved working with my training partners. It is a Very motivational and very inspiring group, and we are all a goofy bunch so it's just an amazing time and job to look forward to.

What kind of training have I focused on this year? ohh boyyyy, many many hours of Discus, Jav,
and shotput. I honestly love the throwing events, and working on the weaker events of the decathlon has been frustrating, rewarding and, quite frankly, pretty insightful. As an athlete that can learn and pick up concepts fairly quickly, it is the most frustrating thing when something just isn't perfect, or just doesn't click. But that moment when the lightbulb comes on......DIOS MIO!!! It feels amazing. I've had a couple of those small but rewarding breakthroughs in those events, and I'm going to love to just keep drilling those. VAMOS!!

I didn't focus too much on the running side of training. My coach and I kinda put the cardiovascular fitness on the back burner and stressed rehab, long jump, and the throws. Much like my roommates (who are all throwers), I would walk down to practice with the mentality of a thrower. Big time baby, BOOM! Thats how I got my mind right for practice. When coaches would be traveling to competitions with athletes, I would find myself as the lone wolf on the track. That is definitely where you are made as an athlete. When nobody is watching, who is there to push you? to keep you motivated? I did have some mental battles this year during those times, but I'm glad to say that i'm 100% healthy and ready to go do big things this coming track season!

After the summer finished we were required by the USOC to take a month off or so from training, so
I drove back Seattle! Wanting to stay busy, I worked at the Apple Store in University Village (by UW!) and had a blast meeting the people that worked there (they were kinda like an extended family and were very welcoming/supportive of having me for a brief stint).

While I was back, I also made it out to Friday Harbor. Honestly you get the best sense of the PNW in this setting ... just cruising along the water in the Puget Sound.

For a weeknd we made it down to San Diego and I was able to show my lovely parents the Olympic Training Center. We also attended the blistering Seahawks-Chargers game that Sunday.

I also experienced quite a peculiar thing while back home; our justice system. I was summoned for jury duty and ended up being selected for a jury on a case that lasted about 3 weeks.
I wasn't able to work at Apple during this time, but it was an interesting process to experience and I'm glad that I fulfilled my civic duty.

Right after jury duty I traveled up to Vancouver to see my best friend who is living in the Gas Town area of the city.

I came back to Seattle that Sunday and the following Monday started the journey back to San Diego.
I went from Seattle to Portland and the next day from Portland to SF...

From SF i went to Palo Alto. I saw my family friend at Stanford and then Apple Headquarters in Cupertino. 

 

Stopped in San Luis Obispo for a quick dinner and farmer's market!

Made my way to LA to stay with my friend from high school! I had the great weather following me all the way down the coast :)

I'm finally back in San Diego, all moved in and settled. Ready to start this next rodeo. Competing internationally is the goal. Time to win!!! 

Good night and good Luck! Ciao

Jeremy

2014: A New Start

Bom Dia,

I hope fortune favors you all in 2014!

I was able to have a brief visit in Seattle for the holidays. It was great to see family, friends, and also my first Seahawks game. I am so grateful for my family and the time I was able to spend with them. It's always a bit of a strange feeling when you return home after a long absence. You feel like you sink into the rhythm of how things are supposed to operate, and if you don't try to incorporate that "Seattle flow" into your schedule, everything will feel like its working against you. Therefore, it proved to be a difficult task waking up and trying to continue the workout plan from the OTC. But "rest assured", I understood that it's only beneficial for your mind and "energy" to experience  the holiday happenings, so it was nice to take the time needed to have fun with friends and family.

2013 was quite a year. I realized that the many experiences, dreams, doubts, challenges, and obstacles that occurred helped manifest into an incredibly powerful realization and credence in my mind.... "that if you believe in something entirely, (that you orient every action and every thought in the direction of this dream with an obsessive ritualistic concentration) it will happen". As was the case for making the USA world championships team.

Interestingly enough, my purpose,  my year's direction, and my efforts were only focused on making the team. It seemed like I found myself in a state of obliviousness, when I was in Europe honing my final skills for the last decathlon of 2013. It struck me that my energy and focus had begun to steep in a cup of euphoric accomplishment in relishing the spot  that I earned on the team, rather than a reinvigorated energy and focus on the days ahead for one of the biggest competitions of my life.

Good thing I caught this mishap early on ;)... with 2014...Now the focus is on victory. The focus is on medals. The focus needs to be on "why shouldn't I win?" rather than "I can make the team and maybe... if i'm lucky... I could get a medal". See, I was blundering through the last remaining months of college. I was distracted with exams, and small victories of sorts like "Pac 12" and "NCAA" titles. I was caught up in the idea of... "if I can get through this college season with some respectable success and passable marks, maybe I could have enough energy left to make it on the world team". The thirst was partial. "Life" is a great distractor. :)

But for the past few months I've been training and developing a strong mindset. Building muscle brain endurance, experiencing brain fatigue, and using quick explosive thinking. Your mind is the most important component of your athletic body. I've been learning positive self-talk, analyzing why and how my brain starts to work against my own body. Understanding that fear needn't be an unequivocal form of paralysis, but rather a completely negligible factor. Positive imaging and self-talk for an athlete has the potential to substitute for some of the most strenuous and laboriously intensive practice sessions.

Since I'm still in a building cycle with my knee, I can only believe that positivity and "time" are going to get me to where I need to be. That the Universe is sending me subtle clues and small lessons to prepare me for an enlightened mindset and a power of which I will have to use with great responsibility (call me Peter Parker).

What in the world am I talking about?
I'm talking about a whole new way to look at competition (at least for me). I'm looking forward to competition as a challenge. Each event. I'm looking at competition as something that I can approach with the innocent simplicity of a child's mind (sometimes we get too smart for our own good). One where I just think about the event and what I'm about to do. To celebrate a successful attempt and be present minded. "Forshadowing" shouldn't be in a Decathlete's vocabulary... unless you are on a roll and know that you will do work in every event you attempt. That every factor, every apparent "miscue" or debacle... or any annoying uncontrollable element that your find yourself in (I hate pickles so I won't use that word here), that it's all apart of the competition and is necessary for my success...

So here goes the challenge... it should be a fun one! Bueno, allí lo tienes. that's what my 2014 resolution will look like from a competition standpoint.

Another resolution is to read more books and to start refreshing my Brazilian Portuguese!

Comida, Amor, Dinero and Take care,

Jeremy