BGSU senior hammer thrower Brooke Pleger will represent the Falcons when she competes for Team USA at the U-23 North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) International Athletics Championship in Kamloops, British Columbia Aug. 8-10. Pleger will compete in the hammer throw on Aug. 8 at 7:20 pm. But prior to that, she has the unique opportunity to train at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. During that time, Pleger will be checking in with BGSUFalcons.com and blogging about her trip. This is her second entry.-- Photo gallery of Brooke's Trip -- Part One of Blogging With BrookeMatt Conly and Brooke at the ocean." alt="33157" src="/common/controls/image_handler.aspx?thumb_id=13&image_path=/images/2014/8/2/inside2.jpg" />Assistant coach Matt Conly and Brooke at the ocean.Thursday, July 31 Thursday started off with another early morning since I was still not adjusted to the time zone. Brittany (Funk) and I went to breakfast and ended up sitting with the American record holder, Amanda Bingson, as well as a couple other top American hammer throwers (Gwen Berry and Brittany Smith). It was really awesome chatting with these girls and hearing stories from their season.
After breakfast, Amanda and Brittany (Smith) came back to my and Brittany's (Funk) room to hang out. We just watched some TV and talked more about the challenges of being a post collegiate hammer thrower. Around 1pm we all headed over to check in for the prelims part of the throwing meet that the training center was putting on. Basically, USATF wanted to simulate what it would be like in an Olympic year. In the prelim, each thrower gets three throws. There is a qualifying mark, and if a thrower hits that mark in one of their three throws they automatically make the final. If they hit the qualifying mark in their first throw, they don't have to take the next two. For this meet, since it was just a "mock meet" you just needed a legal mark to move on to the final Saturday.
The men and women hammer throwers all threw together in one flight of 10. I went into the prelims with a goal of hitting a mark over 60 meters, and thankfully I achieved that goal and went 61.32m. I think my first throw was farther, but it was a foot foul because I fell out of the front of the ring. I wasn't too concerned with the results from the prelims because my main goal is throw far on Friday, Aug. 8 in Kamloops. ?After the meet finished we had some dinner and then went back out to watch the final for the mens and womens shot put. It was pretty awesome to watch the best throwers in the U.S throw. The rest of the evening was spent exploring the training center and relaxing.
 Brooke hangs out with the sea lions.Friday, Aug. 1 Friday morning I finally slept in until 8:30am. It felt good to know that I was finally starting to adjust to the time zone some. After some breakfast, I headed down to the throwing field to take a couple throws. My coach and I decided to keep things light today since I was going to compete again tomorrow, so we just took seven throws with the competition weight hammer (4k). We also incorporated a light speed lift to help stimulate my nervous system and prepare my body to compete tomorrow.
It felt really good to get a work out in. After I finished up with that, Matt (Conly), Brittany and I all went off the campus for lunch. We drove over near San Diego and had lunch at a little Mexican place called Hermano's Taco Shop. It was authentic Mexican food, and it was delicious. After we stuffed our faces with tacos, burritos, enchiladas, and beans & rice, we drove over to Coronado, Calif. Coronado is like it's own little island, so it was a pretty cool drive out there. We got to see some pretty awesome views of San Diego on one side of the island, and on the other side we got to walk along the beach and stick our feet in the Pacific ocean.
After we left Coronado, we drove to Old Town San Diego. It ended up being really touristy, but it was still a good time. We just walked around and looked inside some of the shops. Once we left Old Town, we decided to venture up to La Jolla to check out the sea lions. I must say, it was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen. People on the beach were just swimming with the wild sea lions. We actually got within less than 10 feet of the sea lions. There was nothing separating the sea lion from viciously attacking us either, it was insane. We spent a good hour just watching them play, fight, swim, and soak up the last bit of sun. We also got to watch the sunset before we started our journey back to the training center. Of course, on our way back we had to stop for some In & Out Burger. You can't come to the west coast and not eat In & Out. Once we got back, we came back to the room and crashed. Another successful day in Chula Vista.
