I have a feeling that this will be the title to a lot of my future blog posts!  Ok, I take that back…I’m sure that I’ll be using this title many times!  We have a banner in the gym that reads this, and it is something that our coach tells us all the time.  However, it’s totally true…training is never easy and we need to push through the difficult practices in order to get stronger.  I especially need to remind myself of this as I go through the specific training phase that I’m in right now.  Even though I’ve been keeping in shape after finishing NCAAs, I did take a bit of break from doing routines (one month), and wow, I can’t believe how quickly your endurance goes.  The particular phase I’m going through is focused on getting back in routine shape and I must say, it’s not a fun time (I think a lot of gymnasts will agree to this).

strength comes in the struggle!

With our current code of points (rule for gymnastics) we are required to put together 10 high level skills in sequence for each routine, which means we need  a lot of endurance in order to finish our sets strong.  Hence, the last couple of days have been focused on getting this endurance back.  Better start now though!  High altitude training at the Olympic Training Center (the training center is in Colorado) is right around the corner!