Memorial Day Weekend

I hope everyone had a lovely Memorial Day Weekend, celebrating all the great men and women who have served this country and continue to do so every day. I also hope you had some fun!!

This past weekend was just what I needed! I got to spend the entire weekend with my family at the beach. It was my birthday on Saturday, too!! I never know where I'm going to be for my birthday anymore, so it was really nice to actually be home for it this year! Highlights of the weekend included: jetskiing, boating, wakeboarding, playing darts and bocce ball, live music by the water, watching lots of US Soccer :) and playing with my friend Sterling's new puppy Lona! Although there was lots to do, I got to spend a lot of down time just relaxing and catching up with my family. There really is nothing like a good couple days with them to put everything back into perspective. It's nice to be reminded that no matter what happens on the hockey field, they are always supporting me and just want me to be happy.

But of course I could only take a few days away from hockey since we have National Championships this coming week! I came back from the beach refreshed and ready to go. I had practice in Chapel Hill with my High Performance team (the South!) on Monday and Tuesday and the squad is looking pretty good this year for a run at the title! We fell short in the final last year, so we are looking to redeem ourselves this year with a Championship!!

It was nice being back in Chapel Hill for a few days as well. I always love coming back to my hometown. Although my parents are in the process of selling their house and I won't officially be a Chapel Hill resident anymore... I will always be a Chapel Hillian! :)

Anyways.... we're off to Maryland today. National Championships start tomorrow! The South takes on Midwest in our first match and it should be a good one! Stay tuned for updates!

Sweep

We arrived back in the States yesterday after finishing a quick 4 game series with Canada. Overall, it was a very successful tour. Besides sweeping the series (3-1, 4-1, 5-2, and 6-1 scorelines), we effectively improved in some detailed areas we had identified. There is still a little ways to go before we are fully prepared for London this summer, but we were happy with the steps we are taking forward.

Although we were only in Canada for six days, it was a fun little trip which even included a spa day on one of our off days! This was a first for us as a team, so BIG shout out to our team manager for setting that one up!! We all thoroughly enjoyed it! We all got a good laugh when the masseuses didn't quite understand what a deep tissue sports massage was. We are used to deep, painful massages to really flush out our muscles and the spa masseuses aren't used to give those type of massages. But to be honest, I quite enjoyed a massage where I wasn't cringing and on the verge of tears! Who would have thought massages could be so enjoyable! ;) haha...

Anyways, we flew back to the States yesterday and although it was a short tour everyone was ready to get home! This is the first time for many of us to be headed back to the East Coast all year. We are all dispersed to our High Performance sites for practice in prep for the National Championships next week, but for many of us, it means we are close to home! I personally haven't seen my family since New Years and for me, it couldn't come at better timing. As selection nears, these are the people who support us and keep us grounded, so it is important to have their reassurance and positive reinforcement at such a stressful time.

Not to mention, it is Memorial Day weekend. A weekend to celebrate all Americans who have lost their lives fighting for this great country which we get to so proudly wear the colors of every game. Without these brave men and women, we wouldn't have the freedom and opportunities to pursue our dreams. I am so thankful for those who have served and those who continue to do so. I am also thankful for all the families of these brave warriors. They truly understand what sacrifice is and I admire them for that. So I urge you to enjoy the weekend of festivities, but always remember the true meaning of the holiday, and be thankful for those who have allowed you to celebrate it.

So no matter what happens in the coming weeks, at the end of the day, we are all proud to be a part of the Red, White and Blue. That is something I will never forget.



I'll leave you with this poem I found. It's called, "You Musn't Quit".

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest! If you must-but never quit.
Life is queer, with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might of won if he'd stuck it out;
Stick to your task, though the pace seems slows-
You may succeed with one more blow.

Success is failure turned inside out-
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt-
And you may never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-
It's when things seem worse that YOU MUSN'T QUIT.

Oh Canada...

Greetings from Canada!! Although I have been away from my blog for a little while (and around the world for that matter - a trip to Australia and New Zealand), I have found my way back to the world of words. This Olympic year has been tough, as any Olympic year will always be, but having gone through it before, I still could never anticipated the ups and downs that inevitably come along with it.

With that being said, I have some absolutely wonderful times along the way and have enjoyed the journey. Learning not only tons on the hockey pitch, but about my teammates and myself along the way. In the end, this is what it's truly about.

Despite all of this, the true time is now. Every moment of this journey counts. As the days quickly jump faster and faster towards the game, it seems like a high-speed train speeding towards the final destination: London 2012. But with just 70 days left, every day becomes more and more important to focus in on the details of the tasks that still need to be completed. And right now, our focus is on Canada. Although, they did not make the Games this year, they are a strong side that has put in a lot of training over the past year in hopes to qualify. So here we are, in Victoria, with beautiful scenery all around us, ready to put some final touches on our individual and team preparations.

It is a quick trip with 4 games in 6 days, but at least for once we didn't have to change timezones! :)

And I have to say I'm excited to face a fellow Demon Deacon on the pitch as well. Shout out to Anna... bring it on!!

Follow us this week and the rest of our Olympic prep on US field hockey, my blog, and of course (my favorite) twitter! @mkasold18

As always.... GO USA!


PS- Rachel Dawson was all packed and ready to go this morning as we arrived at 4:30am at the airport.... check it out!

Eat, sleep, play hockey (not in that order)

I know it has been a couple weeks since I last blogged. I've been trying to recover from everything we've been doing. The amount of hours (and intensity) we were training the week our guests coaches were here was double what we did the following week. So even though we tapered the volume and demand of our training, it still took us a while to fully recover.

With a trip to Spain approaching quickly, we wanted our bodies to be recovered and ready to perform in tip-top shape. This was not an easy task. Although our coaches plan our work outs to maximize this fact, we also must maintain the levels of fitness and strength we have gained during the hard working periods. On top of that, we had to assess the levels that we have reached. So to start our "taper" week, we ran the beep test and an agility test. Doesn't that sound like fun??

Though, the most important part of all our training often times is not the training itself. I know that may sound funny, but despite the fact that doing the work on the field and in the weight room is extremely tough, doing the work off the field is where we really reap the benefits of it all. What I mean by this is sleeping, eating right, and taking care of our bodies.

I am constantly asked if we have a particular diet we adhere to and I always laugh at the question because "diets" seem silly to me. In order to perform our best, we of course must put the right things into our bodies at the right time. We must intake the right number of calories, with proper proportions of carbs, proteins, and yes, even fats. But it is not an exact science and yes, we are still allowed to eat what we want. No, this doesn't mean a cheeseburger and fries every night because we definitely burned enough calories. But it does mean that if you want to have a cookie or a piece of chocolate every now and again, that is okay. (Although we just did a skin folds test this past week and maybe they will come back and tell us we are eating a few too many M&M's! haha).

Lately, I have been in the training room a lot as well. (Along with many of my other teammates!) Fortunately, there aren't any new major injuries on the team, but we all know at this level of competition the importance of not only taking care of our bodies post-practice, but before as well. Often you will see a handful of players using heat to warm up muscles before practice. You will see people getting taped, whether its ankles that roll easily or a nagging muscle that's just a bit tight. After trainings it gets even crazier. From rehab, to ice, to stim (which is short for Electrical Muscle Stimulation), to massages, ice baths, to (what we like to call) Magic Pants (they use air to compress the muscles in your leg). If your body isn't feeling good, it's hard to perform well on the field. I have to give a big shout out here to our trainer Katie who oversees all of our recovery needs and keeps us healthy and on the field!

Finally, I think the most important part of recovery is sleeping. Your body does a lot of it's rebuilding when you are asleep. If you are not getting the adequate amount of sleep, it can be very detrimental to training. If you have a hard couple of sessions and your body doesn't get the sleep/recovery time it needs, the next hard session can be damaging to your body instead of building on top of all the hard work you've already put in. Now with that being said, I am an expert sleeper! I love sleep! I get anywhere from 8-10 a night, preferably closer to 9 or 10 hours when I can. Lately, we've all been going to bed extra early (as long as we make it past 8pm then we say it is acceptable to go to sleep!) and napping during the day as well. We just can't help it either, we're tired. I think this is a sign saying our body needs all the time ir can get to repair and rebuild itself, in turn making us stronger!


So although we train hard, we rest even harder! Sorry to say that I don't have too many exciting stories of our adventures outside of hockey in the past couple weeks... but sometimes that just the way training goes.

And I haven't forgotten to mention Valentine's Day either! My roommates and I, along with Caroline, spent a fabulous dinner at the high-end burger joint called In-N-Out (yes, it's on our "diet"!). We even dressed up, all decked out in sweatpants and sweatshirts. I would have to say we all enjoyed our evening.

Guest Coaches and Superbowl

This past week has thrown us all out of wack! Our normal, weekly routine has been altered this week so that we have practice on the weekend. Not only are we sad about losing our weekend, we now have practice on Super Bowl Sunday!!

Let me take a step back and explain. Our coaches, Lee and Nick, headed down to the Champions Trophy this week. They went down to scout the top 8 ranked teams in the world, all of which (except one) are already qualified for the London Olympics this summer. So obviously, these teams are at their best for a top, world ranking tournament and will show much of what we will expect to see from them this summer. But of course practice must go on here in Chula Vista!

So Chris Clements, the Men's Head Coach, as well as Pam Bustin, a former National Team Assistant Coach, gladly stepped into the roll of coaches. Since Pam now coaches at Duke and is normally coaching all week (and I think so Lee and Nick missed the least amount of days with us), we moved practice to the weekend. We practiced normally Monday and Tuesday with our usual run on Wednesday, but then took Thursday off. We got back into it Friday, with practice today, and another tomorrow, in addition to a run Monday before we have off on Tuesday. A little confusing, I know, we had to double and triple check the schedule this week.

But we are happy to have Chris and Pam out helping with the team. They are both great coaches with a lot of knowledge for the game. It is nice to have some fresh faces with new insights to how our training is going, even if it is only for a few days. Big shout out to them and a big thanks for helping us in such an important training period!


Finally though, it is the SUPERBOWL!! One of the most anticipated and watched sporting events in America every year. Who doesn't love a good Superbowl party? Great food, exciting game, with even better company! Oh and who could forget, those ridiculous commercials that finally air! Whether you watch for the game or for the commercials, it is bound to be a good time! I have to say I am pulling for the Giants (my dad's favorite team), but the Patriots are looking pretty good lately! Who are you rooting for??

As long as you are rooting for the red, white, and blue, then I think you picked the right team!! ;)

6 months and counting....

Today marks 6 months out from the Opening Ceremonies of the 2012 Olympic Games. To some it may still seem a long ways away, but for us, time is winding down! Six months of training is not a whole lot left for all that we still want to accomplish. We are a determined bunch and there is no doubt in my mind that we will be ready 6 months from today.

Training has returned to our normal schedule and routine this week as we wound down from the intensity of matches against Australia. Most of us laid low over the weekend as it was much needed recovery time. My roommate, Maren, and I, along with her husband Ryan, enjoyed our all-day sports watching extravaganza on Sunday with back to back NFL playoff games, as well as US Women's Soccer Olympic Qualifying. We barely left the couch all day. It was perfect.

We got back to work this week though. With some tough runs, heavy lifts, and intense practices. Everyone has been staying pretty healthy. We've had a few niggles, bumps, and bruises, but all in all just the product of a hard week of work.

I think the most exciting news lately is some of the pre-Olympic press we've been getting. (read: Trust me by no means is it A LOT, BUT it is more than we've gotten in the past and it will be exciting when it airs/appears closer to the games.) For those of you watching the Superbowl next weekend (I know this is pretty much everyone!) keep an eye out for a spotlight feature on one of our very own!!


That's all for now. Just a little update. GO STATES!

Perfection

I stumbled upon this quote yesterday and I wanted to share it because I think it really says a lot about what I believe and how this Olympic year should be approached.

We are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it, because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentlessly chase it, because in the process we will catch excellence. I am not remotely interested in just being good. 

-Vince Lombardi

To me, this quote just speaks for itself. If you constantly try to be perfect, despite the errors along the way, excellence is bound to prevail. It is not the idea that you are never good enough, but that there is always something to improve and work towards. For me, it is an insatiable appetite for knowledge and improvement. To be the best I can possibly be means that I must keep working every single day.