7 Years.

3 Takeaways:

• Always be prepared to be unprepared.

• The process of doing the hard work is always worth it.

• Coaches believe in you for a reason. If you can’t believe it, believe them.

2 Quotes:

• “From the beginning, I wanted to be the best. I had a constant craving, a yearning, to improve and be the best. I never needed any external forces to motivate me.” Kobe Bryant

• “Events are objective, we tell ourselves what they mean. We make the story.” Ryan Holiday

1 Story:

May 8th, 2016

7 years ago I stood on the platform to compete at Olympic Trials. 6 months prior, coming off having a poor showing at the World Championships, I took a leap. I changed coaches. I would have one writing the program from afar and one proctoring it in person. We had to be able to work seamlessly. It was insane AND we knew it was the right thing to do. Dean and I had committed to this journey the second we first arrived at MDUSA in Fort Mill, South Carolina in 2013.

We were going out making sure that we did everything in our power to get to the biggest stage in the world. This led to insane hours at the Olympic Training Center with PT and Recovery, adding three training sessions a day. It was rarely pushing weights until the movement was proficient to hit the numbers at Olympic Trials.. Everything was in the details. We were all in. Keep doing the doing. Outwork everyone. Be intentional.

4 weeks out of trials, I was hitting numbers that had seemed like a steep hike six months prior. I believed everything was falling into place. No one had outworked me. I felt that deep.

When you deeply feel something, you understand that the outcome is just the icing. I was at complete peace standing on the stage getting introduced in the women’s session. I had never felt so present in my life.

65K in clean and jerk warm up my leg cramps. Panic sets in. 

It all comes back to having the right people in your corner. My coaches, doctors, and Olympians came to support me by rubbing my legs, speaking kind and inspiring words to get me to be able to finish. 

In the clean and jerk, you must lock your legs and come to a complete stop before moving on to the jerk. My leg would cramp when it would lock out. It was all or nothing, most lifters hadn’t even lifted yet.

Make the lift and put it out of reach. Find a way.

8 kilo competition pr, 17 kilos under my training total. It didn’t matter, the work was done. We had done it. Key word: we.

Let’s be great,

m