Nothing If Not Stronger

Hello. I don't actually have the energy to do a long entry tonight, as I am fatigued beyond recognition. Thought I would at least throw up a quick vid of part of my lifting session. Then I have to go downstairs and eat until I go to sleep. We have been doing body fat testing on a regular basis, and mine has been too low. Means that I am not getting enough calories in my diet to offset the training that I am doing. This means I have been catabolic, and using muscle as energy instead of stored fat. Not good to do early in the season. So a few weeks ago Dan upped my caloric intake by 1000 calories. I gained 4 pounds, but no increase in body fat. So again I have been asked to increase it by another 1000. So my daily intake is somewhere around 7-9000 calories now. Sounds like fun...but it is not. It is a lot of work to eat that much. So off I go to begin the gorging. Joe

Newspaper Photo

Click here to see a photo of Joe and Rowan that appeared in the paper today. There was a "meet and greet" open house at the training facility at the Port of Stockton yesterday--so lots of business members, community members, and news representatives were present. The Record snapped a shot when Rowan ran over to say hi to Joe.

Update

This is a quick update mostly to give some links to our Flickr account for a bunch of photos I posted. The photo above is of the new training facility at the Port of Stockton. Click here to see a bunch more pictures of the building, plus a few of a discus practice that the throwers did at a local high school...so the high schoolers could see some professional throwing.



Rowan had her first week of pre-school and it went great. The photo below is from her first day. She was very proud and excited and from what she reported, all went well. It's hard to know for sure...the details come out in spurts, and we're never sure what to believe. But it's a relief to have her in something a few days a week--will offer social outlets for her, and work time for me!

Click here to see some random pictures from the last few months, including oil collecting, playdate, laundromat, and Rowan having some fun in the mirror.



If you want to see a few interior shots of the new house we're renting, click here.

New Digs

As many of you blog-readers know, the group of athletes here is now training at the Port of Stockton, under a local non-profit called Tri-Valley Athletics (you can check out their developing website at www.trivalleyathletics.com) The move has been stressful, but good. We spent all of February making the nearly one-hour commute from our RV park to Stockton...and trying to figure out where we could park the RV closer to the training facility.

When it was clear that we could not find a free place to park the RV...we became open to other living situations. A group of athletes had been living together in Oakley (near the old training facility), and were also looking to be closer to Stockton. So we had two options: pay $600 a month at an RV park and stay in the RV, or pay $400 a month to live in a big house with these athletes.

We decided to move into a house---and last week we officially moved into a 5-bedroom, 3-bath house about 12 minutes from the Port of Stockton. We're living with 4 other athletes---all pole vaulters. Two of them only train here part-time....so some of the time, there will only be two other athletes living with us. Joe, Rowan, and I have the master bedroom (and our own bathroom with a huge tub!)---complete with 2 big walk-in closets, one of which became Rowan's room. It's far bigger than her space in the RV...but it still feels strange to say her room is a closet!

So this is quite a change of direction for us. Honestly, it was a very hard decision for me (easier for Joe because it was clearly the better financial choice). I love the idea of living in an RV, and have truly enjoyed it these last months. I was in no way “eager” to get out of the RV. I like the hard-coreness of it, the thought that we can live on so little, in such a little amount of space. There has been something very simple about life, about cooking, about cleaning, about being together as a family in the RV. I feel like if we could live in an RV for a year with a toddler, we could do just about anything.

But that wasn't in the cards for us. I've always loved living with other people (we often had roommates in Jonesboro) and the idea of community. So I guess this is God's way of putting that back into my life. Already in the week that we've been living here, I've found joy in communal meals, carpooling to church, watching Rowan wrestle with Bubba and play hard with Uncle Yoo (we're going to have to put boundaries on how much Rowan bothers Uncle Yoo—for his sake!), and spontaneous conversations over lunch in the sunny backyard.

Not that the week wasn't stressful for me. I always hate moving; hate being “in-between” and not having a routine down yet. It makes me feel insecure, on edge, and out of sorts. Joe was long-suffering with me, and has been going out of his way to make the place feel like “home” for me. Rowan, on the other hand, has been full of energy and excitement about the new house. The day we were moving in, she said “It's been awhile since we lived in a stuck house!” She loves her new room, and wants to show anyone who comes over where her toys and books are. It also doesn't hurt that Yoo has a new puppy that Rowan has been playing with endlessly!

So now we begin the process of developing new routines: where to grocery shop, which library to visit, what parks to play at. I think that it was also in God's plan for me not to find a pre-school for Rowan—she would have just begun, then we would have had to pull her out! I managed to find a pre-school in a nearby town (Lodi) that had an opening--so Rowan will start pre-school next week and go every Tues and Thurs morning.

I promise to post some pictures soon--of the new house, and the new training facility. I'm hoping that life slows down a bit in the next weeks--the Trials are only 4 months away....time to focus!

Big Sur

It's been awhile since I updated---the last few weeks have been exceptionally busy with the move to Stockton (which I will detail in a later post). But we did get to take a fun weekend away (last weekend!) to Highway 1 and Big Sur before all the busyness—and I want to report on that first.

When we were moving to CA with the RV, we figured that one of the perks would be getting to utilize the RV on weekend overnights to see all the cool sites in Northern CA. Little did we realize how busy Joe would be with training---that Saturdays would all be booked with workouts and clinics. So last week was a rest week, which meant Saturday was off, and we decided to take advantage of it and spend a few nights on the coast. Even though the prediction was for a storm with heavy rain and big winds!

We hadn't towed the RV since we landed here in October---but it was like riding a bike. Buckle it down, hitch it up, get lots of veggie oil to burn. We took off after practice on Friday...and drove a few hours to a Wal-mart parking lot just north of Monterey. It felt strange to be living in the RV in a different location. When we traveled cross-country, it was all new and unfamiliar. Now that we've been living in it for 4+ months, it felt weird to wake up and walk out the front door to see a busy street and stores. Cool, but strange. It really is like taking your house with you wherever you go. We didn't have to pack!

Saturday morning we got going early---the forecast was calling for lots of rain, and we wanted to see some of Highway 1 without too much storminess. We connected to Highway 1 just south of Monterey.

Wow. We had no idea.

We did know that Highway 1 was going to beautiful....that it was scenic...that campgrounds filled up months in advance in the summer. Yada yada yada. But we were not prepared for how truly awe-inspiring it was. It was better than the famed “road to Hana” in Hawaii. Vista after vista after vista...and all this in the gray, almost-rainy weather....still brought us to our knees. Huge, pounding waves...rocks just dotting the shoreline and out into the water....green, unspoiled hills framing it all.

We drove (and stopped many times) for about 30 miles to a campground in Big Sur....Joe had to concentrate so hard to pull the RV, it was a relief to get rid of it so we could continue our exploring! The campground was in the Redwoods...and it was a challenge to navigate the RV to the site, to say the least. We took a bit of bark from a Redwood home with us on our back left bumper. Opps. Totally my fault: I was trying to take a photo of the precarious position of the RV, and failed to alert Joe to the impending bump.

By the time the RV was all settled in and set up, the rain had started. We drove south for awhile longer, stopped at some more beautiful vistas (and one utopian spot where a 40-foot waterfall literally lands on a sandy beach near where the waves crash ashore), visited a cool art gallery for awhile, and finally decided to brave a secluded beach in the cold rain. It was secluded, especially in that weather, and it was beautiful...but it was cold, wet, and windy, and we didn't last long.

The coolest thing is that the next day (Sunday) we returned to the same secluded beach...and caught the last hour or so before sunset....and saw the place in a whole new light and circumstance (see above photo). The waves had battered it for over a day... it was amazing to see the power of the ocean unleashed on a spot.

On Saturday, after hot showers, making fish tacos, and a chilled evening at the campground, we decided that Monterey Bay Aquarium was in order for a rainy Sunday. Rowan is crazy about aquariums, and since it was her birthday last week....we knew this would be a special end to her celebration week. Monterey Bay has one of the best aquariums in the world....and it didn't disappoint. The weather even cleared up while we were there, and we made it back to the aforementioned beach for sunset and some great photo opportunities.

One unexpected benefit of seeing the coast around the time of the storm was the sheer power and size of the waves that were produced. We had never seen waves so huge....we would just pull the truck over and watch....awestruck. I'm sure we will be back to see this coast in it's blue, sunny glory....but there was something moody, special, and mystical about seeing the gray mistiness reveal the water's size and strength.

We were energized. Which as it turned out, we needed for the coming week!

To see (way too many) photos of the weekend, click here.

Michigan Visit

Since we didn't get to go home to Michigan for Christmas, we decided to go for a visit in February instead. Joe stayed back in CA to train and finish getting things set up at the new training facility (he had a busy week while we were gone--he's very tired and not getting enough rest!) Rowan and I got to be in Michigan for a very relaxing 10 days. It was a winter wonderland while we were home--so much beautiful snow on the ground! The last few days it got really cold--down to the low single digits...and that made it feel especially good to return to a sunny 60 degrees in California!

Joe's dad continues to recover from his kidney transplant in early January. He seems to be doing great--they are still trying to work out some of his medications, so sometimes those can make him feel pretty sick. But the kidney is functioning and he's remained healthy. We spent a few nights with the Cebulskis, had an early birthday party for Rowan at their house, and Rowan even got to spend the night there alone while I went away with some girlfriends. Even though we hadn't seen them in 4 months, Rowan quickly warmed up to her Nana and Papa and felt more than comfortable in their home. Rowan loves to bake with her Nana, so they made Valentine's cookies and cupcakes for her party.

We also had dinner with Stephanie, the woman who donated her kidney, and her family. They have two boys, almost 2 and 4, so Rowan got to play and play with Benjamin and Matthew. It was special to meet Stephanie and her family--we have heard so much about them, it felt like I already knew them!

Rowan's birthday isn't until Feb. 21, but we had an early party in MI. A few weeks before, I asked Rowan what she wanted on her birthday cake...and she didn't hesitate to say "a rattlesnake!" I figured that would be a challenging theme to work with, so I asked for another idea and she settled on dolphins. So we had dolphin cupcakes, dolphin balloons, played pin the tail on the dolphin, and played that fishing game from elementary school carnivals. The kids who attended belong to my best girlfriends...so it was a party for them, and us!

We spent the rest of the time at my parent's house, plus a night at my brother's house to play with cousins and go to the Y. Rowan's cousin, Seth, has a birthday in February, too...so we had a joint family celebration for them. My sister Jenny drove up from Peoria to see us and wish the kids a happy birthday. Some highlights of being with my parents: Friday night Mr. Burger, watching Lost, reading lots of books, "grandpa, will you play with me?", Seth's truck party, swimming at the YMCA, shopping at Younkers 75% off sale, lots of long conversations, staying up late with my sister, and lots of breaks from Rowan-care! I got to spend a few evenings with friends (and one overnight at a friend's house in Grand Haven--that was heavenly!)

Joe keeps saying he has a lot to blog on---from oil collection to the new training situation. I'll stay on him to get new info up soon!

To see more pictures of our time in Michigan (mostly birthday party pictures!) click here.

Brief Update

Rowan and I were in snowy Michigan for the last week or so...I will get some photos and an update posted soon....but I just wanted to post a link to this article that appeared in the Stockton newspaper. It's about the athletes training at the Port of Stockton. It was a good thing to have happened--a few days after the story appeared, the Opinion section of the paper gave the Port a "thumbs up" for their involvement...and the Port Director is enthused because apparently they have never received a "thumbs up" in the paper before.

Click here to see the story in the local newspaper, The Record.

More soon.

Olympic Team Selection

Lots of people have been asking about the process of making an Olympic Team. I listed a short version in the "frequently asked questions" in the sidebar. But really, it is fairly simple.

First, Joe has to get a qualifying score in order to compete at the Olympic Trials. He can get this score in any sanctioned track meet between now and then. He has to score the "A" standard, which is 7850, to automatically qualify, and 7650 for the "B" standard, which should also be sufficient (they take a certain # of athletes in each event...so if only 10 have made the "A" standard, they take the next best scores down to the "B" to fill the field).

Joe will do a decathlon (he's trying to decide which one) in March, and then maybe April, to get this qualifier. Then he trains for the Trials--which are on June 29-30 in Eugene, OR. At the Trials, there will be around 18 other decathletes who have met the "A" or "B" standard, and they compete for those 2 days in a normal decathlon...and the top three finishers go to the Olympics.

The Olympics in Beijing are in August. They begin on August 8, but the decathlon isn't until Aug.21 and 22.

So that's the process.

Moving to Stockton

It was a long, hard weekend for most of the athletes here--but they got the job done! This photo was taken late Friday night, after a muddy, wet, cold day of moving lots of heavy equipment. With pole vault pits, weight lifting equipment, a high jump pit, and thousands and thousands of pounds of runways and turf....this was not an easy move. Good thing they are all in such great shape!

The Port of Stockton is an amazing location--40,000 square feet of warehouse space with high ceilings. We are very blessed to have it. The place is looking amazing (we'll get photos soon). All day Saturday, the athletes set up, unrolled mats, moved equipment, and tried to make the best use of all that space. There is still a lot to do--they have to build a long-jump pit, cut boxes for the pole vault pits, and build lots of other stuff to make it all work. But they all trained there today, and after practice Joe got a net hung so they can throw discus inside tomorrow. This is also a big blessing to not have missed any days of practice (last week was a rest week, so everyone had Fri and Sat off---although they all worked so hard, it wasn't much of a rest week!)

We have to work out some details before we move over to Stockton. Right now it's an hour's drive to get to the Port from our RV park, so that won't be doable with only one vehicle for very long. Since we don't have a free place to park our RV in Stockton, one possibility is that we will move into a house with a group of athletes. It would be less expensive for us than paying for an RV park. So we'll keep you updated.

We've been burning a bit more veggie oil than usual with all the driving back and forth to Stockton....but thank goodness it's free! I've been pumping oil into the truck from the stored oil that Joe has collected--but I had never gone hunting for it by myself (it's a little tricky with Rowan). I ventured out by myself (with Rowan...and a DVD for her to watch!) in Stockton this weekend and again today for oil--and scored some very nice oil at a Mexican restaurant today. It's a thrill to first find good oil, then get permission to take it. It's very empowering!

I also got to spend an evening with my good friend Edye in Sacramento last week. She and her husband, Rick, welcomed a beautiful baby girl named Ellyn this fall...and I got to take some pictures. If you want to see more, I posted a sampling at Flickr here. I haven't had the chance to take many photos like this since we moved...so it was fun for me.

I'm sure Joe will post more later about the Stockton facility and what's up with his training. Thanks for checking in with us.

Vids

Some vids from various workouts.

Shot


Discus


Block Start


Hurdles


Cleans. Here I am missing 310lbs. I had gotten 295lbs the set before, but this one got the best of me. Only one on video.

Training Update

Well, it's Joe here again. Lots to update on, so this entry could end up being a long one.

Since returning from Hawaii, my training has continued to be excellent. Many of the aches, and chronic issues that I had been dealing with healed while on the island. Sunshine is so important to my body's chemistry. It's like a drug. I am eager for the return of warmer weather here in Cali for that very reason. My training was top notch despite being away from Coach Pfaff. In some ways it was good to internalize some of the things I had learned from him, as there was no one looking over my shoulder. All in all, Maui was one of the best decisions that Laura and I have made since the all important decision to move to Cali. Tickets were $290, accommodations were shoestring, if not gifted to us by a friend, and we ate smart. So for a surprisingly small amount of money we were able to accelerate my winter training in preparation for the spring season.

Coach Pfaff had a contact in Maui that was an old friend and colleague. His name is Scott Sanchez and I was able to train at his facility and discuss training with him on a regular basis. Scott works mostly with downhill skiers, and windsurfers. He is a quiet man that is slow to warm up. Over time, we really connected and he shared much with me about what he has learned over the years working with many world champions in sport. Scott is a very knowledgeable and talented guy, and after working out one day I asked him what it was that he was best at. “Making people great!” was his response. The next day, I pushed him on this and he finally explained it this way. In downhill skiing, if you took the top 10 skiers and gave them unlimited runs on the mountain for a day, they would each eventually run about the same fast time. But in competition, when everything is on the line, there are only a few that are capable of pulling that same performance. Why? Distractions. They are great at eliminating the distractions, right? Nope. They use them. Scott claims that it is impossible to remove them. They are facts, and are part of the landscape. The key is to know how to recognize and identify them, gather them up, and channel them into a proper outlet or cue. I could go on, but you get the point. Scott has really started me on a path toward mental control and strength. Probably more important than physical strength at times.

Speaking of the physical. Dan is getting me flat out striped ape strong right now. This guy's understanding of how body chemistry works is amazing. He also understands that many people choose to use drugs, but feels that they are taking a cheap and uneducated route to excellence. Yes, steroids are powerful and scary in their ability to take people to the next level. But there is a price to pay in damage to body and soul. Dan has always believed that with a proper understanding of the human physiology, we can come close to the same effect, but without the baggage of guilt and fear that accompany illegal substances. There would be no way for me to explain how Dan accomplishes this at this point as it is way over my head. The best I can do is to say that he knows what each particular type of workout does to the body's chemistry (atp production, lactate, calcium ion depletion, testosterone levels, cortisol, etc.) and then knows how to order the workouts to maximize performance and recovery of those systems. The bottom line, cleans and bench are over 300lbs, and squat is over 600lbs. These are not my max, but rather workout weights. At 6' 4” and 200lbs these are huge wattage numbers. The crazy part is that it is only January, and these numbers will go up quite a bit as we taper toward competition season. Now let me say that these figures mean nothing if I can't channel the force properly into a shot put or high jump. But I am with a coach who is daily helping me to be able to do that too. Exciting.

Coach Dan Pfaff

Things have been a bit stressful around TigerBar sports for the past month. The man who began the non-profit and spearheaded the training facility has come upon hard times. His fortune was made in real estate and as you know, California has been hit hard. Despite doing everything he possible could to fund our program, he will no longer be able to do so. It kills him to not see his vision completed. But he needs to put his family first at this point and get back on his feet. We are forever grateful for Tony and can honor this indebtedness by making Olympic teams. There are a potential 15-18 athletes from this training group who could find themselves on the 2008 team. That is staggering, but illustrates why the energy is so good day in and day out while we train together.

The burden falls to the athletes to come up with the money to pay Coach Pfaff and maintain operating expenses. A similar non-profit track organization out of Livermore, CA has stepped up to aid us in this journey. Tri-Valley Vault Club has been working with highschool athletes for the past 7 years. They are in the process of incorporating us and changing the name of the non-profit to Tri-Valley Athletics (or something similar). The scope and purpose of the organization will change and evolve to meet the needs of Olympic hopefuls in the Nor Cal area.

On Friday we will be moving the entire training facility from Isleton, CA to Stockton, CA. The Port of Stockton has offered us one of their warehouses to use as a training facility. We have an incredible amount of work to do to accomplish this transition, and much of the load will fall on my and Tye Harvey's shoulders. I am leery of the toll it could dish out, but grateful and aware of how fortunate we are to have an option for location at all. I'll get some pics together once we get the new facility together. In the meantime, there are some more photos of general training (and a few of Rowan) at flickr if you click here.

Take care,

Joe

Port of Stockton

After Holiday Happenings

I've taken a bit of grief from faithful blog-readers about that lack of posts in the last few weeks. It's nice to know people are reading! And sorry for the delay.

The biggest thing in our life the last few weeks is that Joe's dad got a new kidney! The transplant was on Jan. 4...and everything went great. He's home, recovering, and supposedly looking 15 years younger! You can check out details about their journey (and the amazing story of the woman, Stephanie, who gave him her kidney) at www.caringbridge.org/visit/cebulski
Just make sure to go back and read some of the previous journal entries. We are so thankful for a smooth surgery...and the promise of improved quality of life!

Other than that, we survived a big storm that rolled through here a few weekends ago. We are living in the "Delta" region--and there are a ton of levees all around us, holding back water in the rivers. The area is supposedly "at-risk" for a Katrina-esque type flood if the levees aren't improved. So of course, lots of attention is paid to storms. We had huge winds, lots of rain, but no flooding. We did, however, manage to flood the inside of our RV on our own. Our electricity was out for a few days....and the water is pumped electrically at the RV park, so we had no water either. At some point during this time, Rowan must have tried to brush her teeth (and turned the faucet to the "on" position)--and also decided to put the plug in her drain. We were at some friends' house for dinner when the electricity came back on...and the water, gushing into Rowan's plugged sink. We got a call from the managers at the RV park that they had heard water running OUT OF our RV. Yikes! We had a tense drive home...expecting to find the whole RV under 6 inches of water. LUCKILY, the water stayed in Rowan's bathroom and didn't do any damage.

Oh, the picture up above. That's from Christmas morning....much to Joe's dismay, Rowan asked for a princess dress for Christmas. Which her Nana (Joe's mom) was glad to provide...along with earrings, necklace, princess shoes. Rowan has worn this get-up every day since. This shot was the first time she checked herself out in the mirror--it cracks me up. I promise that I have not encouraged the whole pink, frilly, glittery, princess thing (to be fair, I haven't overly discouraged it, either)....it amazes me how little girls will just pick this up!

Joe continues to train amazingly hard. It is hard to describe how much fun it is to watch him get to train so long and full-heartedly. I am really proud of him for working through the pain--for showing up every day even when he is sore and tired....for getting out of bed on Saturday mornings to run challenging sprint workouts. His body is changing...he's always been pretty ripped, but it's at a whole new level. And more importantly than the changing body is the changing technique and understanding of events. Joe is daily impressed with and thankful for Dan's insight, teaching, cues, and commitment to seeing Joe improve. Being in California is undoubtedly the right place for us this year....and Dan is a huge part of that.

Rowan and I continue to bomb around town looking for things to do. We've been going to story-time at the library every week, got hooked in with a play group on Thursday mornings, play hard at the building with the athletes several times a week, play with Zailey at the RV park, do laundry with the regulars on Monday at the laundromat (Rowan is a big help with the quarters and the detergent), and just get to spend loads of time together. She is funny, smart, quick, and doesn't miss a thing. Lately she's been saying "I have a great idea!" when she really wants to do something (as in, "I have a great idea! Let's have hot chocolate! That's my great idea!") This morning she told me I was "diriculous" instead of ridiculous and lots of things have been happening "accidentally." Plus she's sleeping better, and has rediscovered her love for baths.

She is delightful, truly, but I have a growing need for time away from her, too. Because she doesn't nap, I am literally with Rowan 13-14 hours a day without a break. Lots of this time is a treasure and I wouldn't trade it for the world, but I think I underestimated how much I appreciated working a few mornings a week in Jonesboro. I've been looking into pre-schools in the area, but everything has a waiting list...or is mind-numbingly expensive, even just for 2 mornings a week. There are a few co-ops that are more reasonable, I'm just waiting for a space to open up. I suspect Rowan could use a bit of a break from me sometimes, too!

I posted a few random pictures to a set at Flickr. Click here to see them.