March 24, 2016

Hello Badger Fans!

Just like that, indoor season has come to a close. I am so excited for my teammates on their amazing accomplishments at the Indoor NCAA National Meet. Georgia Ellenwood finished fourth in the pentathlon and Zach Ziemek won the entire competition in the heptathlon and in Big Ten record setting style. Morgan McDonald also had a great showing at his first indoor national meet.

The meet did not go as I had wanted it to. I have not felt quite like I did after this meet ever before. My training had been going really well and I thought I was mentally very prepared for this competition. Athletes have bad days and everyone can have bad days in life. Even though you might think everything is under control or going to for sure go a certain way, things happen; it is just how life goes. Even though I am a fifth year senior, I still learned a lot from this competition and will carry those lessons learned forward into the outdoor season and my entire career.

Following nationals, I took a week completely off of training, both mentally and physically. After working so hard for such a long time, it is good to take a break to recharge and also to relax before the long outdoor season begins. I spent my downtime focusing on school and checking off some to do list items before I left for spring break. For fun, I also had a nice little shopping day and saw a movie during the week. It may seem odd, but sometimes taking time off can be the best thing for your training process.

This week we are headed to San Diego, California for several days of good, quality training in some nice weather. We travel somewhere for spring training every year. Past destinations include Palo Alto, CA, Disney World in Florida and Alabama/Georgia. I love spring break training because it is truly a breath of fresh air after being cooped up inside all winter. It also exciting because we add several events to our throwing crew, as well as additions in other event groups. Places like San Diego are nice because we get to go to the beach and eat everyone’s favorite thing, the incredibly fresh seafood. Our hotel is downtown and just a few blocks away from the water. We are also super close to little Italy and several other neat parts of the city. The first outdoor trip of the season results in quite a few sunburns, but we learn very fast to bring sunscreen. We will compete on Friday and Saturday this weekend at San Diego State University.

Have a great weekend Badger Fans!

Kelsey