Dear faithful Readers,
If you didn't know because you aren't obsessed with all things weightlifting (shame on you), this weekend is the Nationals in Ohio. Our very own blogger Colin Ito lifts at 2:00 on Sunday. "How can I spend my weekend devoting myself to weightlifting even though I'm not in Ohio?" you're no doubt asking yourself right now. Well, eager Readers, you can go watch the the live webcast! You don't even have to register with your real name and email, which will be potentially exciting for those of you who are big enough losers to take the time to create a sufficiently ridiculous pseudonym. (Mine was "Gregory McKitchmufflestein," so don't steal it.) "But Natalie, how do I know what time my heroes are lifting?" you might be asking. Which is a silly question because it implies that you might be doing other things this weekend besides watching the Greatest Sport on Earth. But for those of you who have lives (then why are you reading my blog?), here's the the schedule. I'm getting so good at html.
And if you didn't know because you aren't obsessed with all things Gichael Mattone (perfectly understandable), today is his 11th birthday. To celebrate, he decided to make me wake up at 6:30 (in the morning!) and train at 8:00 so that he could spend the rest of the day at the World's Largest Indoor Waterpark. I'm glad he has priorities.
Winsomely yours,
Natalie
Actually Inspirational Inspiration of the Week (in honor of Nationals):
“But should a man carry out impossible orders knowing what they lead to? Even though they come from Golz, who is the party as well as the army? Yes. He should carry them out because it is only in the performing of them that they can prove impossible. How do you know they are impossible until you have tried them? If everyone said orders were impossible to carry out when they were received where would you be? Where would we all be if you just said, ‘Impossible,’ when orders came?”
(Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls)
Well, it's time for the meet. Training this week has been mostly lighter reps in the snatch and clean and jerk and with the major focus on trying to keep good movements. There's been a lot of icing going on, helping the body to recover during a lighter week. Along with the body, I've been training my mind as well. After an intense two day period of studying, I am free of academic responsibility for the next couple of weeks. Sure, some people may be bored with having that much free time from assignments and reading, but its a little different when you're an experienced video gamer. At NMU we hone our minds with intense fast-action games of combat. Our current games include Super Smash Brothers Melee, and Call of Duty 4, where physical prowess matters very little. Well, I will get into the details later because right now, we have to drive to Milwaukee.
While gettin in a little practice down at the Wavehouse Surf Photographer Tom Carey and myself got some shots of a few of the competitors for this year's CN. Here is Jeff Ranta of SDSU getting his barrel on and the newly aquired Mesa Flow Team member Andy Gold, a former SDSU student. Then myself (T-mac) tossing some water out of the way, yes that's me under there, and lastly Derek "Zoolander" Zemen throwing down some newly learned flips for the camera of Tom Carey.
Jeff
Andy
T-mac
Zoo
Dear faithful Readers,
I'm certain you've been refreshing this page (confidential to Mom: don't worry about what "refresh" means; it's just computer jargon) every twenty seconds since Saturday afternoon in hopes that I'd updated. "Natalie," you might be protesting right now, "I simply can't go an entire three days without finding out what happens next in the fascinating life that is yours." To which I would reply, with an empathetic pat (or two, depending how long I've known you) on your shoulder, "This is supposed to be a bi-weekly blog because I actually have better things to do with my time than enthrall strangers with daily updates." To which you would probably reply (perhaps with a smirk, depending on how long you've known me), "First of all, all you do when you're not updating this blog is online crossword puzzles, a habit that is bordering on addiction. And secondly, 'bi-weekly' means 'every two weeks,' not 'twice a week,' you idiot." After which I would give you a condescending smile no matter how long I've known you and reply, "First of all, you're wrong; I also doodle a lot. And secondly, 'bi-weekly' can mean both--Look it up." (<--Do you like the link? It took me forever to figure out how to do that. Precious time I could have spent solving crosswords.)
Here's an exclusive inside look at a typical day at WCS Mattone Sports Performance:
I usually pull into the parking lot between 1:25 and 1:35 and start grumbling to myself because a giant mountain of ice and snow has been hogging my favorite parking spot (the one that requires the least amount of aerobic expenditure to reach the gym) since November. After parking next to Mt Kilimanjaro and hiking the extra five feet to the door, I wave hello to the former FBI agent (who has chosen the blog code name "Rambo" and will henceforth be referred to as such) and dump my bag and coat on the platform. Rambo is usually always wearing Adidas pants, a long-sleeve shirt that has something to do with weightlifting, and a black USA vest. He prefers his Adidas sandals with socks but grudgingly breaks out the boots if it's snowed the night before. He's also recently begun showing great affection for a very awful jacket with shorn sleeves which, if he reads this, I sincerely hope he discards immediately.
After greeting Rambo, I meander into Gichael Mattone's office, where he is frequently on the telephone, deep in a conversation that always seems very important, even if he's just ordering Chinese. (Note: he's probably never actually ordered Chinese from the gym. Lunch is always some weird pasta mixture eaten out of Tupperware.) Gichael usually acknowledges me with a nod of his head or a half-hearted quiver in his right pinkie that I always assume is his version of an enthusiastic salutation. I check my weight and, depending on the number, decide whether to report it to Gichael. Then I retrieve the black binder that holds my workouts and try to escape the office before Gichael can subject me to one of his "jokes" that only he finds hilarious.
Before I can even touch a bar, Benito Gichael has me do various "warm-up" exercises whose sole purpose, I'm sure, is to make me look ridiculous. Then I put on my shoes, tape my thumbs, complain to Rambo about how cold it is, and pull out the Wall Street Journal I'd stolen from another dorm at lunchtime. Then I lift stuff for a while. After my workout is another round of joyous remedial exercises, followed by ten excrutiating minutes of Gichael Mattone's stretching. At this point I try to sneak out the door while Gichael is busy making his third gallon of coffee and/or green tea for the day, but he usually catches me (those sneaky Sicilians) and forces some brown "protein" sludge down my throat. The timing of my departure is crucial because my favorite radio station has a Beatles Break at 4:35.
The best of luck to everyone going to Nationals this weekend.
Also: The best of rehab to Steven Jarvis.
Also: Nominate Gichael Mattone for assistant coach for Jr Worlds.
Also: Congratulations to my IM basketball team, which finished the regular season 0-5 and still made it to the play-offs.
Winsomely yours,
Natalie
Awesome Feminist Rant of the Week:
"'I have been looking at the marriage service in the Prayer-book, and it seems to me very humiliating that a giver-away should be required at all. According to the ceremony as there printed, my bridegroom chooses me of his own will and pleasure, but I don't choose him. Somebody gives me to him, like a she-ass or she-goat, or any other domestic animal. Bless your exalted views of woman, O Churchman!'"
(Sue Bridehead, Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure)
Hi guys!! My name is Kristen Barney and I will be competing on the San Diego Mesa College flowboarding team. I am very excited for this years comp it should be a good one!! As far as training I ride as often as i can but i have been focusing mainly on school. see ya!
Hello, my name is Collin Ito and I have also been asked to talk about Olympic style weightlifting and my training for Collegiate Nationals. I train in Marquette, Michigan, at the United States Olympic Training Center (USOEC). Along with weightlifting, sports such as wrestling, speedskating, and boxing are a part of the training center. Marquette is located on the upper peninsula of Michigan (actually looks like it's part of Wisconsin) and sits on the edge of Lake Superior. It is a fairly rural area, but we do have several amenities, such as a Super Wal-mart, bowling alley, and Applebees. I attend Northern Michigan University and am currently a junior majoring in criminal justice.
The Dome (seen below) is where I train. It is supposedly the third largest wooden (dome?) structure in America. We have a gym with 5 platforms and a set of jerk blocks. There is a sport medicine service staffed by 3 employees who deal with over 100 athletes. On a normal training week, I train 9 times a week. However, I am just now getting ready for the Senior Nationals that will be held in Columbus, Ohio at the infamous Arnold Classic. Right now, most of the heavy lifting is done in this training phase and I am getting ready for my competition on next Sunday. 
Dear faithful Readers,
Since I'm still not sure what the purpose of this blog is, I thought I'd regale you with a description of a typical journey to the gym. Hold onto your hats. (<--that was actually an answer in a crossword puzzle I was doing yesterday instead of writing my utilitarianism paper)
I, like every other person in the world, believe in the importance of goal-setting. Before leaving for each workout I try to focus on my goal for the day, which has actually been the same one since November due to its difficulty: making it to my car without slipping on the ice, which is everywhere. Back where I come from, the great state of Georgia, ice exists for only two purposes: to cool one's drink or to come before the word "queen" to describe a particularly stoic female. Up here it's probably responsible for at least six broken arms a week just within campus limits.
After defeating the ice and making an average of twelve unfulfillable promises to God so that my car will start, I'm finally on my way. (Note: "unfulfillable" is not a word, but it should be.) (I could say something nerdy right now about the glory of morphemes, but I'll resist for your sake.) The drive from Evanston to Buffalo Grove usually takes about 35 minutes. You might be asking at this point, "But Natalie, 70 minutes of driving? Doesn't that get dull?" To which I would reply, "No, young grasshopper." The kind folks at the Illinois DOT have foreseen such a predicament and cleverly provided entertainment during the trek: potholes. I'm not talking about your typical hole in the road; these babies can get up to four feet wide and two feet deep. The police routinely have to rescue cats and small dogs that have foolishly strayed too close. To hone my pothole-dodging skills, I like to pretend I'm playing one of those driving games at a video arcade. Every time I successfully avoid a pothole, I imagine that I just drove through a large green jewel that made an annoying sound effect and gave me an extra power boost.
Tune in next week for an even more thrilling account of a typical workout.
Winsomely yours,
Natalie
Inspiration of the Week:
"To Yossarian, the idea of pennants as prizes was absurd. No money went with them, no class privileges. Like Olympic medals and tennis trophies, all they signified was that the owner had done something of no benefit to anyone more capably than everyone else."
(from Joseph Heller's Catch-22)
Dear (soon to be very) faithful Readers,
I don't wish to alarm you, but CSTV (the lovely ladies and gentlemen in charge of putting the Collegiates on TV) is in a desperate situation. So desperate, in fact, that they have asked me to write a blog (confidential to mom my technologically unsaavy Readers: "blog" is slang for "web log") about my training for the Collegiate Nationals in April. Please send your thoughts and prayers in their direction. I think they live in New York.
First, a brief introduction, which I'm sure is unnecessary because the only actual Reader is my mother. I'm nineteen. I'm in my first year at Northwestern in Evanston, IL (the setting of Mean Girls). I'm a Scorpio, so I can't be held responsible for my various personality flaws. I participate in Olympic-style weightlifting. Why is it called "Olympic-style," you ask? "Olympic" is an ancient Greek word that roughly translates to "that which only really cool people do." I train under a former FBI agent (totally not kidding) and a fascist but charming coach whose name I'll change to Gichael Mattone to protect his identity.
I'll try not to stray too off-topic since I've been informed that the "appropriate and intended manner" of my posts is "to promote CSTV's 2008 Collegiate Nationals." Obviously CSTV didn't do too much research about me beforehand. But in an effort to follow directions--you should all go to the Collegiates and give CSTV lots of money.
Winsomely yours,
Natalie
Grammar Tip of the Week:
It's less weight, fewer kilos. Less fat, fewer calories. Less money, fewer dollars. You get the picture.
Hey everyone. My name is Tyler McIntyre from San Diego Mesa College's flowboard team. Over the next few weeks leading up to the Collegiate Nationals I will be blogging to keep everyone updated to what is happening around the venue for this years competition, the Wavehouse in Mission Beach. Also I will get you up to date with some posts of pictures and videos of the competitors from most of the schools and athletes competing in this years CN's. I look forward to sharing some of the stoke to make this years CN a great success. Late.
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