Go to your typical track meet and I bet you can identify which throwers are coached by which coach. Maybe it is a signature start, or how they move across the ring. They have a technical model and they’ve applied that successfully to their athletes. That is the sign of a good coach, right?
Expectations are annoyingly tough to define. You often find yourself navigating the fine line between goal crushing euphoria, and the slippery slope of the seemingly insurmountable odds of reaching the peak of the tallest mountain. How can you possibly attempt to handle the expectation when you know that one misstep will send you careening down a crevasse of the internal, “I told you so?”
It’s 2018. ‘New year, new me,’ and all that jazz. We’ve all done it before. If you’re anything like me, you’re already pretty comfortable with the person you are in this moment. That’s not to say I’m too cool to never continue to improve myself as a man, as a father, as a husband, etc. That’s to say most of us predominantly already are who we are. And there’s nothing wrong with that! Yet we still can, and must improve.
Now that I’m coaching at IMG Academy, I’m having to do something I’ve never had to do in my career for an extended period of time: train alone. Dr. Bondarchuk is still my coach. He writes my programs. I will continue to utilize his mentorship as it pertains to high performance coaching until it is no longer available. But day to day I am on my own now.
Wow. It has been a long time since my last post! As you’re probably aware, lots of changes the last few months. So let’s dive right in. Without further adieu, here are my top goals for the coming Olympic year.
Below is an interview I did this week with the new website Throwers Unite. You can read the original here.
Since the recent doping report was released, I have toed the line between outrage at the Russian federation and athletes, to feeling sorry for the athletes involved. Outrage because this is something long suspected; I never thought I’d see justice on such a mass scale in my career. Sorrow because I’m sure a great many of the athletes don’t have a choice. I’ve heard stories where athletes are given ultimatums.
There has been a lot of speculation over the last month on Letsrun and Macthrowvideo about what the next step in my career will be. As of yesterday the news is finally official:
I just got back from the World Championships and put a few thoughts together on my experience there for Throwholics yesterday. You can also read it below. For some of my thoughts heading into the championships you can also check out my last post.
Easlier this week Throwholics posted an interview with me about my preparations for Beijing. Check it out on their site or below.
