Travelin' with Javelins

Since April, I’ve traveled on airplanes with javelins a total of 15 times, and 7 of those times have been internationally. A conservative estimate of what I’ve spent to put them on the plane with me is $600 total. That’s pretty cheap, considering my pole-vaulter friends spend FAR more, but I’d like to share a little bit about the experience!

When I travel in Europe, I have my javelin bag, a big suitcase, and a rolling Eagle Creek convertible backpack, as well as a purse. I need to take a picture of myself carrying all that stuff sometime, because I’m sure I deserve the looks I get. I left Cologne for London yesterday morning (competing today!), and it was the first time this summer that I’ve had to get myself to or from the airport without any help from my dear boyfriend, adventurous parents or various meet transportation. I consider that fact to be a triumph! Our apartment this year was on the fourth floor of a super cool (in both senses of the word) building in a very convenient location. When I say convenient, I mean it was close to training and grocery shopping (which were the only places Sean and I went for the last week!). Going to the airport, however, was a different story. It’s not too bad of a trip, but last year we only took one train to the airport, while this year, we had to change trains once from home to the Flughafen. Add to that construction going on along the normal route, and I was a little nervous about my solo trip! Not to mention, I totally forgot which platform I was supposed to go to once I got off the first train, and I wasn’t even sure where to get off at. I’m a disaster sometimes.

I’ve gotten used to the Cologne train system enough to know where to look for information and understand enough German to listen to announcements and find my way, so getting on the right trains and arriving at the airport was no problem: It might’ve even gone faster than it ever has before! That doesn’t mean that I’m not stressed about it and/or sweating profusely because of all the stuff I’m carrying though. So when I show up at the check-in counter, perspiring visibly and toting one oddly-shaped and another overweight bag, maybe the man/woman behind the counter isn’t too happy to see me. In all my travel with javelins, I’ve never once thought that maybe I’m ruining their day a little bit by showing up with something they don’t normally see!

On my way to Pre this year, I stood at the United check-in counter in San Diego for literally 40 minutes. I wasn’t in line for that long, I was waiting for the man behind the counter to call the actual plane I would be flying on from San Francisco to Eugene to make sure that my 8-foot-long tube would fit on board. IT’S A PLANE. I CAN FIT THEM IN MY CAR, WITHOUT STICKING THEM THROUGH THE TRUNK. I flew Delta to New York and had to pay $175 each way for them. When that’s the only bag I check (which was the case for Rome, Pre AND New York), I feel like I should get a little bit of a break. On the way home from New York, the ladies at the check-in counter wanted to MAKE SURE I knew that my bag was oversize. They said, “Ma’am, this is over 80 inches long,” and I said, “Yes, I know,” and they said, “But, that’s oversize,” and I said, “Yes, I know,” and they said, “MA’AM, this is an oversize bag! It’s longer than 80 inches!” and I said, “YES, I KNOW! HOW MUCH DO I OWE YOU?!” I learned about inches and feet in elementary school. I bet they didn’t know how many meters long the javelins are. I know that, too.

I understand why an oversize bag costs more money, and I also understand why airline employees are concerned about putting an oversize bag on a small plane. I’m fully aware that I’m not the only person flying on each plane I board, and I think that the other people on that plane have also probably checked luggage. All that said, I’ve just begun to realize why I’m met with such hostility sometimes when I attempt to check in my javelins. People don’t like change or things that are unfamiliar to them. In the same way that I’m uncomfortable if I don’t know exactly which train I’m supposed to get on or precisely where the check-in counter is at each airport, every new airline employee that I meet during check-in doesn’t know what I have in my bag, or whether or not their boss will be upset with them if they put it on the plane. Before I started traveling to track meets at the end of high school, I didn’t know it was possible, either. I look at people funny if they travel with cardboard boxes (I’ve seen it!), and other people look at me funny because I have a bag that’s taller than me. I think that maybe it’s more common for dogs to travel in the cargo hold than javelins, now that I’m thinking about it. I’ve seen multiple dog crates come out of the oversize luggage area when my javelins do, and I ALWAYS want to pet them.
I do my very, very best to educate the public (what little of it that I encounter in airports) about what’s in my crazy bag. The VAST majority of people who actually talk to me (instead of just stare curiously) think I’m a pole vaulter, which most of the time just angers me, but is a huge opportunity to teach them a little bit about the sport of track and field. If you know me, you know that when I think I’m being mean and snooty, I’m probably being nicer than most other people. Sometimes I try to have an attitude, but it just doesn’t work because A) I have no practice and B) I chicken out and say something nice after something that might, maybe, possibly be considered harsh.

Basically, traveling with javelins is inconvenient, somewhat embarrassing, slow (because you have to talk to people and explain yourself most of the time), expensive, awkward, and really not that bad. I do my best to greet check-in counter people with a smile every time I get to the airport, and perpetually work on my positive and understanding attitude and communication skills when people are SURE they know what’s inside my bag. I’m thinking about having “JAVELINS” embroidered on my next case, but I’m sure the same happenings will still occur.

Any ideas for colors/patterns/designs for a new case, by the way?

Bottropp and Monaco, etc.

Since I started blogging last year, I've really enjoyed reading friends' posts, writing my own as an outlet about track, and finding fun blogs to follow that have nothing to do with my day-to-day life. I've suggested that others both start and refresh blogs, and discussed with a fellow devoted blogger just how difficult some posts can be to write.

Last year, it was extremely easy to update everyone on how I was doing. I was happy to report that, for the very most part, things were great! I competed better than I ever had before, and when I didn't, I couldn't wait to get it all out in a post and move on. This year, I've been disappointed time and again because I feel awesome and end up throwing crappy. It's hard to keep coming back to the keyboard when I know I'm going to write about something that's discouraging and frustrating. I have a lot of people that I can talk to about how competition is going and how I'm feeling (Russ, my parents, Britney, Mike, Maggie, Jamie, Ty), but I guess my blog is where I put stuff to move past it.

So here we go.

I threw in Bottropp, Germany on July 15th. It was a tiny meet that was actually really cool to be a part of. Russ and I took the train up there and back in the same day (only an hour one way), and there were a lot of American athletes, plus a German teammate of Russ's that he hadn't seen in years! Cool! I was looking forward to a low-key, low-pressure situation where I could focus on positions and not worry as much about distance. Unfortunately, my competitive nature got the best of me, and once again I tried too hard, waited too long to put my left foot down at the block and lost the tip of the javelin, only throwing 57m and placing second. Russ took video though, and for the first time since like April I saw what I've been doing on film. That meant that we went to practice that Monday armed with a plan and positivity on my end; I was a lot closer than I thought!

The Herculis Meeting in Monaco came next, on July 22nd. I love Monaco!! It is gorgeous, has fabulous weather all the time, reminds me of San Diego (just fancier), and I did well there last year. I felt awesome (again) warming up for the competition, and my warm-up throws actually went way better than they had in recent meets. My first throw felt like the good ones from warm-ups and it flew pretty well, but landed way, way too close to me. I adopted the same attitude on each throw; do what I'd been focusing on in practice and the distance would come. Unfortunately, neither one of those things happened and I ended up last. Again.

I've been feeling really sorry for myself for a while now, and I wanted someone to just come along and magically fix me. There has been this desperation to figure it out right now, and I think that has been my downfall. Multiple people have advised me to just be patient, and that has been really difficult because of my own expectations, but I'm trying my best. I did have a revelation yesterday:

The season's not over yet.

Tomorrow, I'm going to practice and I will think the whole time about how I can still accomplish my biggest goals for 2011. What I need to do to get there is slow down, be more disciplined than ever in my technique, and remember why I do what I do in the first place. So here we go!

Paris

I'm embarrassed, discouraged and in awe all at the same time. I guess the emotion of being "in awe" during a competition isn't the most productive, but witnessing (and being a small part of) last Friday's Paris Areva Meeting was cool (World Lead by Christina Obergfoell, great depth of competition), and also terrible.

I warmed up okay. My body was pretty achy, which it had no reason to be after my first business-class international plane ride! The weather was fine and we were in a stadium, meaning wind wasn't really a factor.

My first throw sky-rocketed and landed at like 55-56m (as far as I could tell; it could've been more or less). I had too much pride and intentionally fouled it. My second throw went right out of the sector, but I ran through the foul line as soon as it left my hand because I could tell where it was headed. There were only 8 women in the competition, so I knew I would make finals, but figured I should have a legal mark to do it. That meant that I marked my third throw, even though I knew it was bad. To find out how bad, you can look at the results, because I'm not going to say it.

After that start, I really, really had to fight to get back up to 58-ish meters, which happened on my last throw and still meant that I was last by 3 meters. I have to take pride in the fact that I did manage to claw my way back to a distance that would not have been last in (I don't think) any other Diamond League meet except the one that I got last at in Zurich last year. And three people didn't throw over 60m in Zurich last year, whereas I was the only one to not throw over 60m in Paris (and I threw a meter farther in Zurich).

I've been in Cologne, Germany since Sunday, training at a facility in Leverkusen where I've trained for the past two summers. I'm happy here! I know the city, I'm familiar with how to get around, I'm living with a group of people I like in an awesome set of apartments that are equipped with washing machines and internet, and my little bit of German has come flying back to me! My idea of how to throw has also come back to me, and now I just need to apply it. I'm competing at a small meet in Bottropp, Germany tomorrow afternoon, and I'm looking forward to a low-key setting (with some familiar faces) where I can focus on remembering that good technique means far distances.

USAs!

I competed at the 2011 USATF Outdoor National Championships yesterday, and came away with my fourth straight national title (including 2008's Olympic Trials Championship)!

I'm happy.

I'm happy that I threw farther than I have been in recent meets.

I'm happy that I put a decent throw (59.34m) out in the sector on my first toss, since I was the very first thrower in the order and had an opportunity to make a statement early.

I'm happy that I competed well, not only against the other girls, but against my recently-chattering brain!

I'm happy that I kept my USAs winning streak alive.

I'm happy that I really took to heart all the amazing encouragement I've received over the past few weeks from people that I care about and who I know truly care about me.

I'm extremely happy that I didn't have any right sector fouls. :) In fact, my fourth round throw landed on the left side of the sector. Booyah!

I know I have more work to do. I'm spending a few days at home in Washington and I'll be back in San Diego on Wednesday morning. I'm really looking forward to building on this competition's technical progress in practice, and getting even more great training in! Thanks a bunch to everyone who has offered support and congratulations! Thanks especially to my Coach (Ty Sevin) and Sports Psychologist (Dr. Ross Flowers), and huge awesome-job-you're-the-best-training-partner-ever-appreciate-your-help-always shout-out to Mike Hazle, who won his first national title in the men's javelin on Friday after coming in second to four different guys for the last four years! Well deserved and long-awaited victory! Proud of ya. :)

I've been confirmed for the Paris (July 8) and Monaco (July 22) Diamond League meets! I'll be spending most of July in Cologne, Germany, living with a group of friends from the training center. I loved living there last year and am looking forward to spending time in the same place again! I definitely have my work cut out for me in the coming competitions, but it's nice to feel like I'm rounding into a good mentality at the right time.

CVOTC "Tune-Up"

I competed in the meet here at the training center on Thursday. I wanted to have a low-key, fun meet after New York and before USAs! Some dear friends of mine threw the javelin for me to make it a legitimate meet; thanks ladies :). It was fun, but each time I got on the runway, I got all tight again.

I threw 56.98m, which is better than New York, worse than Pre and not nearly where I want to be. In the middle of the competition, I took another step out of my approach, which means my approach is now exactly what it was last year (and I loved it last year). After the competition, I practiced for about another hour, throwing out of that new/old full approach and finishing up with some shorter stuff at the end. Practice was great and I think I threw myself out of some things by the end of it, yay!

It's strange when we change things that don't need to be changed or we forget about things we worked on for a long time. But those things don't matter as long as we realize how important it is to focus on basics and execute simple things we know we're good at. I'm looking forward to practice tomorrow!

adidas Grand Prix NYC

Well, I got sixth again. This time though, sixth meant I also got last place. I only threw 54.62m, intentionally fouled two of my throws, and had two sector fouls. My last throw (the one that went 54m) landed about an inch inside the right sector line.

Needless to say, my alignment is off.

I still feel physically awesome. I was a little more achy than recent weeks on Saturday, probably because of the slight sickness I've had and all the travel I've done in the last three weeks, but a little achy shouldn't mean 54m. Last year, I threw at Drake Relays and had two meets at Tucson Elite before USAs. Those three competitions were low-key and fun, and I got a chance to really trust the technique I had developed. I wasn't trying to win on every throw, I was just trying to solidify the things I had done in practice. This year, I threw at Drake Relays, flew to Rome a month later, went to Eugene the next weekend, and competed in New York the weekend after that. Rome, Eugene and New York were much more high-pressure than my competitions last year, and dealing with external pressures from having prior success has been something I thought I was prepared for, but perhaps wasn't.

I think it's important to talk about the mental side of track and field. I started working with Dr. Ross Flowers here at the training center last year, and his help has been invaluable. I get to talk to him this afternoon, and I'm craving a good, tough conversation. After I threw 61.56m in 2008 at Big Tens, I suddenly felt like I needed to throw that far every single time I competed, and (in my head) it seemed like people following my career would be disappointed if I didn't. Not true. I realized eventually that people were watching me because they were excited to see me succeed. Sure, they'd be a little bummed if I didn't throw far, but if I did, they'd be happy. I wanted to make them (and myself) happy! It took me a while to learn how to use other people's energy as a positive thing, and I think I'm dealing with the same kind of stress now. Every athlete takes a different path to where they want to be, and I'm doing my best to learn and grow from everything I experience!

It's pretty cool to receive congratulatory text messages/facebook messages/voice mails/tweets when you do well, but something that I took a lot of comfort in this weekend was that people didn't hesitate to contact me to tell me how much they are still supporting me after a poor performance. I feel blessed to have people in my life who cheer for me and lift me up when I'm feeling a little bit down. I try to be that person for them when they need it, too! Part of athletics, though, is always moving forward. So, on to practice today and away from a meet I'm happy to leave behind.

Prefontaine Classic

I had my worst result ever at Hayward Field this weekend (58.39m). I also suffered my first career loss at that venue with a 6th place finish. I'm disappointed, but the way I felt physically did not show in my results!

Training this year has been much more challenging than last year. Yeah, I worked hard in 2010 and was in good shape, but 2011 has been vastly more well-rounded as far as total-body focus along with many ever-important technical sessions. Ty has been teaching me to throw the javelin with my legs and whole body instead of just using the arm felixibility and strength that I've always known are there. In the competitions that haven't gone like I wanted this season (Drake and Pre), I've resorted to old ways.

Obviously, I don't revert on purpose.

I'm simply having to learn to use a higher fitness level and more speed on the runway; to make adjustments. My timing was off in Eugene this weekend because I didn't trust myself to stay behind my block and hit correct positions with the power I was bringing to the throw. I'm frustrated with myself for not being brave in the moment, but I'm feeling very positive about the fact that I'm healthy and haven't had to miss nearly as much training as I did last year! I need to just hone in on some technical cues in practice and trust my positions in competition.

My parents and brother came to the Prefontaine Classic this weekend! I love my family because they are competitive and, of course, only want the best for me. When I don't perform to my potential, I know they love me anyway, but I also know that they're feeling disappointment too. I don't take that as pressure, I take that as reassurance of their belief in my capabilities as a javelin thrower. They want me to be as great as I want myself to be, and I love that!

Up next is the third installment of women's javelin Diamond League meets. I'll throw in the adidas Grand Prix in New York on Saturday!