Back To Training

So, I finally made it back to Colorado Springs after an interesting flight from Philadelphia. After Trials some guys from my team, Yewki Tomita, Joey Hagerty, and Todd Thornton all came to my beach house on the Jersey Shore to hang out for a couple days. We had a great time in Belmar and it was nice to relax for a couple days before we picked up training again. For the rest of the week we were at International Gymnastics Camp in Pennsylvania. It was a fun few days and it gave me a chance to slowly get back into training. The trip home ended up being a two day ordeal, and it included a unexpected stop in Nashville for a few hours, a sick passenger who threw up a couple rows from me, and a night sleeping on the floor of the Dallas Airport. It was not the best travel day, but I am glad to finally be back in Colorado. Today was my first practice at home since trials, and my body feels pretty good. My shoulder is still a little sore after it subluxed on the first night on competition at Trials, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem for me. Other than that I am just getting ready for the Olympic Camp in two weeks. As alternate, I still have to be as prepared as any of the guys that will be competing. I am going to be training as hard as ever to make sure that if they need me I will be ready to go.

The Next Step

So Trials is over and things are starting to calm down a bit.  It was a very hectic week and the competition had its ups and downs.  On the first day I started out great on PBars, but ended up making a dumb mistake on HBar and Pommels.  I missed my layout Kovcks, which I never do and I also fell on my Wu on Pommels.  It was a frustrating day overall, especially because I was so prepared.  Along with my two misses, I also subluxed my shoulder on vault, which wasn't too much fun.  It has happened to me before, but not for a couple years so it was a little surprising when it happened.  

The second day of competition I felt like I had nothing to lose so I just wanted to go out and have fun.  I got a phone call earlier in the day from Dominic Minicucci, who was on the 88' and 92' Olympic Teams and also went to my club gym Surgent's Elite back in New Jersey.  He was real honest with me about what I needed to do on the second night and it was something I really needed to hear.  I took his advice and attacked the competition.  

I had a ton of family and friends in the stands and most of them were wearing "Team Durante" t-shirts that my mom had made up.  

I ended up having one of the best meets of my life Saturday. It was such an awesome experience and I will never forget it. The next day we were brought into a room together and they told us who would be on the team. The wait is the hardest part of the whole process and after a while, I found out I was an alternate. I think if I would have hit one more pommels routine I would have been in, but I just left the door open to much. Alternate is still an honor and I am going to prepare like I am on the team in case they need me for whatever reason. We have our Olympic camp in two weeks where we will find out if Paul can go and who will be the traveling alternates. So I still have some work to do over the next few months. I'll keep you updated.

Training at Trials

So, we got to Philadelphia yesterday after a long day of travel.  We had to wake up at 3:30am to catch our flight yesterday, so I was pretty tired by the time I got into Phily.  Today we have our hardest workout before we compete on Thursday.  I had a light workout this morning and my body is feeling good.  I am going to use the later workout to get through some routines and make sure I am comfortable with all my skills.  So far things have been just like any other competition, except for the fact that there are only 14 guys working out in the gym.  It's awesome not to have to wait in lines for a turn...I feel pretty spoiled.  I have to go now.  Italy is about to play France for the Euro 2008 match and I can't miss it!  Forza Italia! I'll be back tomorrow.  

Hi Everyone

Thanks for checking out my blog.  I'll keep you updated on what's going on in my life as I train for trials and as we get ready for the Olympic Games.  I am leaving for Trials in a couple days and by this time next week we should just about know what the Olympic Team will be.  We have one more hard day of practice, today, and then I will be packing and getting ready to fly out at 6:00am on Monday.  I also wanted to thank Lenovo for helping me put this blog together.