EDITOR’S NOTE:
Welcome to the Athlete Journal of Olympic weightlifter Holley Mangold. Holley is part of Team USA headed to London this summer. Follow her journey here as she trains for the 2012 Olympics! Holley’s journal will be posted every Friday.
You can catch up by reading her previous journal entries!
Holley’s Athlete Journal 6:
I think that if I could put this past week into one word it would be exhausting. In every sense of the word I feel tired! This past weekend we had our biggest fundraiser for Columbus Weightlifting – working the beer tent at the Arts Festival. Definitely it was a fun time, but very tiring to be on your feet pouring beers when you can’t enjoy a single one! The funniest part of the day was that my friend, Heather, kept getting mistaken for me. People would come up to her and say congrats and she just kept smiling, saying she’d pass the congratulations on to me. Very nice to have the support, but also very funny how many people think she is me.
Along with the Arts Festival this weekend, I had tons of catering jobs to do. We were overbooked and understaffed, so there was a lot of running around! Of course, on top of that, there was training.
This week for training I was in somewhat of a taper for the State meet on Saturday. My coach, Mark, has me going about 80% Monday, 70% Wednesday, and 60% Friday. The biggest thing to comment about for training this week is that after trying the Dynamic start, Mark and I decided that the Static start, which I used at Olympic Trials, is the best start for me. Other than that, training has just been steadily lifting more and more each week while trying to stay healthy. I’ve been slowly working on cutting some weight as to not lose muscle in the process. I’m down twelve pounds this week. I can thank Chipotle for my healthy eating!
Monday and Tuesday, HBO and the New York Times came to visit me. It’s still very surreal to have so much media attention. HBO’s segment will air June 19th, be sure to watch!
Wednesday I trained at Crooksville High School. Fun change of pace as well as motivating to see excited young athletes! For the end of the week, I’m looking forward to a Clippers game, time with my sister Kelley, and a great State meet, which my sisters and mother will be attending. I hope to have a strong meet that propels me into stronger training to come. Good luck to all the athletes that will be competing Saturday!
