Recovery Phase
With USA Championships approaching in a couple of weeks, the main focus of my training has taken a slight shift. While getting through the grind was the main focus over the last several weeks, I’ve now entered the recovery phase. This is the phase when I let my body rebound a bit so that I’m ready to take on the two full days of intense competition.
One of my biggest supporters that’s been helping me achieve this is Jacon Chun at Elite Sports Physical Therapy. I’ve mentioned him a few posts back but I can’t be more appreciative for all that he’s been doing for me. From the everyday pains to caring for aches related to overuse, his support has been tremendous, and a huge part of why I’ve been able to keep up with my training cycles.
Below is a picture from a couple of weeks ago when I was trying to fix a jammed finger. Apparently using paraffin was to treat jammed fingers is fairly common but it was the first time I’ve used it so it was definitely rather interesting. Either way, he’s got a ton of cool tricks up his sleeve to keep me in the best health possible!
Warming up my hand with the wax!
A couple more weeks to go. Looking ahead but keeping it one day at a time!
Some R&R
In my latest post, I wrote that my life has been slightly busy these days especially with the combination of work and training. But when things get hectic in my life, I make it a priority to do something completely unrelated to gymnastics and work to get my mind off of things. Experiences have taught me that when I get too focused on a certain thing, my performance drops. Doing something unrelated and letting off steam helps me recharge my batteries.
Last week, I went to another baseball game played between the Oakland A’s and the Seattle Mariners. I was totally stoked to see my two favorite baseball players (Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui) play against each other. Watching a high performance match definitely got me motivated to get back in the gym and train hard again!
Ichiro at bat! He had some good hits that day!
Matsui at bat. He also played well but I'm still waiting on his 500th home run!
Over the weekend, I went off to napa after my training to celebrate my old teammate’s birthday. It was held at a vineyard and we had an awesome time. Good food, good music and overall good time. The drive up and getting away from the hustle and bustle definitely helped me relax a bit!
My buddy Ambert's bday was held at the Trefethen Winery!
And most recently (on Sunday), I spent the early afternoon watching the women’s world cup final against Japan and the US with my mom. Honestly, being a Japanese-American I was in a weird position as I didn’t know which team to root for. There were also a couple of Stanford alums on the US team as well, which made choosing sides that much more difficult. However, it was awesome seeing Japan win and seeing the reactions of the people in Japan. It was a great moral booster for the country that has had to deal with so much after the tsunami/earthquake hit the northern region in March. Definitely congrats to both teams though for playing an awesome match!
Happiness! Congrats to the Japanese team!
Finding that Balance!
Huge apologies for the lack of updates recently! Although I’ve been telling myself that I’ll get on and write a new post, with all that’s been going on recently, it’s been getting placed on the back-burner.
With USA Championships coming up in about a month or so, my training has gotten quite a bit more intense. Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been focusing on putting together the routines that I’ll be performing at the national championships. There are of course some challenges with putting together new routines with added difficulties, but I’ve been making sure to take things one step at a time and trusting that my training will get me to the next level.
I will however admit that it’s been tough training in the summer heat lately. Although it rarely gets that hot in Northern California, there are a few days out of the year when you feel like you could just melt. The tough part is that most gyms in this area do not have A/Cs. Luckily it’s been cooling down a bit and I’m hoping that this trend continues. One of these days I’ll appreciate the summer heat when I’m no longer training long hours in a closed gym!
Lately I’ve been busy outside of the gym as well. My work load at the start-up firm I work at has increased a good amount but it’s been interesting to learn about what it takes to grow a company. All in all, I’ve found that the combination of work and training has provided me with a good balance in life!
