On the morning of July 12th, Sammi Nichols and I hopped on a plane headed to Colorado Springs, Colorado for a memorable experience at the Olympic Training Center. As always, both of us highly anticipated the training camp awaiting us.
Once the old lady who almost killed us<inside joke> got us safetly to the training center, we checked in, got settled in our rooms and awaited our other contemporaries. Once we familiarized ourselves with the others, we quickly became a close-knit family.
A normal scedule looked something like this for us:
Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays-
wake up at 6:30, train at 7:30, breakfast at 9, rest until lunch at 12, train at 1:30 and recovery at 3
Tuesdays Thursdays and Saturdays-
wake up at 6:30, breakfast at 7, train at 8:30, rest until lunch at 12, train a 1:30 and then recovery at 3.
All training sessions were done with the boys and girls training at the same time and the sessions were filled with light repetitions (the camps main focus was to better everyones technique, show proper ways to lift and to learn more supporting lifts<such as a muscle snatch>).
Resting consisted of everyone in the camp in a common area(no boys in girls rooms or the other way around) with a blanket and pillow snoring away to a movie.
Meals were done buffet style and all lifters were encouraged to maximize their protein intake. Most of the lifters had Boost contests (boost is a protein drink) to see who could drink the most.
Recovery was spent in the Sports Medicine building were most of us entered the daring cold plunge. The cold plunge was a hot tub like jacuzzee(spelling?) filled with water at about 30 degrees. The cold plunge would stop us from waking up sore the next morning so we would be able to train another day pain free. Other kids would have specific body parts worked on. I had stem done on my back. Stem sends electrical currents through your back bone and helps the aggrivation going on along your back. I have to say that it helped incredibly.
In our spare time we were aloud to hang out in the hallways, walk around the Training Center, watch the resident athletes train, eat, etc. We also had computer access.
We also enjoyed a Luau provided by the OTC in the dining hall one night.
Parents reading this, if your child ever has the chance to go out to the Olympic Training Center for the experience I just had; please, by all means possible, let him or her go.
