London and beyond part II

Six weeks ago we were in Budapest to get a kick-start from Ferenc. As for all other Paralympians a tough few weeks followed, if I should believe their moaning tweets....Since than Ronald grew in every way you can think of. Technically, phycically, focus, determination, stamina etc. etc.

It took me back to were he was 6 years ago.Not to difficult, since I'm traning Robin now. As mentioned before; Robin is were Ronald was 6 years ago.He benifits from our experience and is eager to follow in Ronalds footsteps.

So... here's some footage from training the both of them.
Good for a laugh now... but Robin will be laughing in Rio2016

***

time to relax

Time for hard training and time to have fun.

Sure we could get back to Rotterdam in a hurry. I've got a job waiting and one look at my iphone is enough to see that I should get back. But after eight days of hard training (for Ronald) and me observing, filming and learning too offcourse, we added one more day to our stay in Budapest.

No javelin throwing, no ball throwing, no throwing weight around.... just have fun with

the World Championship: Mobile phone throwing!

Yesterday my video-camera went into a coma. But today he sometimes woke up from it:

Tweet  from @ronaldhertog: BAM! And suddenly I'm a worldrecordholder in mobielphonethrowing for amputees #expectedmore #57,42m #trickierthanyoumightthink

Our plane to Holland will leave tomorrow afternoon. So just enough time for one last training on monday-morning! Needles to say it was GREAT!

a paralympic-mode

Besides Ronald I also give training to another amputee. He's now where Ronald was 6 years ago. Just starting. Since I'm here it's all athletics (on my mind) so surely I think about his road to Rio2016. By mail we discussed how many times he's planning to train and we both spilled our wishes in terms of training.

So all I said was:

- Your training for Rio starts this winter

- There will be no excuses to skip a training.

- If you got some small wounds on your stump... we find alternative excercises

- If you lose focus on the training...be sure I will lose focus on you

He asked me: "Correct me if I'm wrong, but...is it something I said  or did?"

Oeps... no son, don't worry... just get used to it.

Ronald and Robin



Maybe not the way to go with every youngster in my group (he wouldn't be the first to flee). But I guess I just expect a bit more from a potential Paralympian. A bit harsh...but Ronald set the standard for me.

Others benefit from what Ronald and I had to find out for ourselves and from our experience in the last few years. You can't blame me for expecting something back.

This morning no training for Ronald. So we sat down at  Budapest Starbucks and together we wrote a nice schedule for Robin.  Being in a Paralympic-mode we realize he's going to need the support from both of us :-)

over before you now it

And yes... summer in Budapest is gone. Not to worry, they have a great indoor facility with 6 lanes of 60 mtr and enough room for gymnastics, throwing in nets, highjump, shotput and discus. An old facility but complete. As I said yesterday trainingschedule for throwing and weightlifting were made by Ferenc. I incorporated it in Ronalds week.

Quite a puzzle considering:

- he needs and wants to train certain hour with the paralympic team (to keep up the spirit, get inspired by others and sometimes inspire other worldclass Dutch athletes)

- I can only be available one evening and in weekends (being a clubcoach a.k.a. volunteer with a mission)

- it would be nice if he can join the long jump training once a week (since he want to jump in Londen2012 as well)

- We don't want him to train alone

But while Ronald was throwing some shots around I work my way through all mentioned above. Having a indoorhall as an office for one morning. I think we did it. I don't expect Ronald to be thrilled about it. The only thing he gets thrilled about by now is the promise we don't train tomorrowmorning. :-)

Six week will be tough but after that it's get more specific and exciting. That with planning a good rhythm in new get togethers with Ferenc, the winter will be exciting and over before he knows it.

Two champs collaborating

No time to write today. After diner at 'Champs'... the perfect place for Ronald to let his mind wander off to big things next year.... I found a new schedule from Ferenc in my inbox for the upcoming six weeks. So today I leave you with a nice view.

day 4 no worries and payback

Maybe my last post was a bit dramatic. Ronalds mum tweeted anxious...if he was doing alright....

But let me tell you all: he's doing great. And no matter how you feel, I think it was a nice speech from Rocky.

Yesterday was heavy. After sprinting and throwing shots around in the morning, Ferenc planned a throwing-session. After 4 throws he called it off. It was clearly this would not be a good session. Ferenc is very clear about the quality of the training and always considering your well being. Ronald was not amused. Not amused when he started... a clear case of being nagged.

And even less amused when Ferenc made him stop! He felt like a 'quitter'.

But as said earlier; Ferenc knows when to push and when to let go.

Ronald and Petra

We took the time to see other athletes throw and had a very easy restfull afternoon. A good night sleep...and today a very good trainingday. Sprints and jumps in the morning and finally in the afternoon some javelinthrowing and weightlifting. 

After a nasty tweet about me from Ronald, I promissed a payback.

See fancy foto on the left: Sorry ronald #ikkonhetnietlaten

Our fysio Petra flew home yesterday (see did a great job) and today Ronald got a good massage from a Hungarian masseur.

Petra arranged a good gift from the Duifrunners. They made it possible we can continue our journey!

about getting hit and keep moving forward

"The world aint all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You , me and nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it aint about how hard you hit, its about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! If you know what you're worth than get out and get what you're worth but you've got to be willing to take the hits and not pointing fingers saying you aint what you wanna be because of him or her or anybody. Cowards do that and that aint you! You're better than that" (Rocky Balboa)

Day 2

It feels I'm here a week already, but luckely we have a full week ahead of us.

Morningtraining started with spints and jumps.

No....again:

Morningtraining started with breakfast.

No complains from Ronald. I was anxious to see how Ronald recovered from yesterdays training..... and pretty proud to see he was doing very well and delivered a good morningtraining.

Offcourse for me and Ferenc more discussions and tuning our coorperation. Making plans for training in Rotterdam and scheduling our get togethers, in Budapest or elsewhere in the world.

In the afternoon: weightlifting. Not as smooth  as yesterday but...very good!  In the evening....Ronald was in desperate need of a small horse.     

 We knew just the place -->

Day 1

Starting with a relaxed morning, walking alongside the Danube-river, while 3000 others are trying to run the Budapest marathon...this afternoon our training:

after the first session

After about a month of relaxing it was pretty....heavy.
First some light throwing. Nice, focussed, better than in our last visit.

Than some weighttraining:

Some main exercises and some special throwing-excercises. Although Ferenc emphesize fun should be the biggest part of the training.... the first two weeks will be with muscle ache... allover.

I guess this week is hard on every athlete preparing for the games.

I must say I almost put a stop to it today. But just before I wanted to do so I realized:  This could well be the difference between 56 and 60+ mtr.

To all athletes: Good luck these first few weeks ! have fun and keep focussed.

To Ronald: As long as you say 'I am exhausted' with a smile on your face, we're not impressed and smiling with you.

just make up your mind

And we're back in Budapest.

In the past few weeks I read a bit about the Hungarian...I had enough suprises last time :-). Having said that and being in Budapest, a few hours, made me realize: we are dealing with a unique man. And I didn't read a book about the unique Hungarian. Not yet anyway.

I read that 'the Hungarian spirit' is like an straw fire (it smolders, and you need to put energy in keeping it burning). Didn't notice it today.

make up your mind: What's it going to be?

One hour after checking in, Ferenc came to the hotel for our first meeting. Nice! after our weekly skype-contact it was nice to meet eachother again face-to-face.

He explained what he has planned for Ronald this year in general and the upgoming six week in detail. It was clearly he wasn't impressed with our objections or doubts  :-)   That felt good ! Ronald got excited. If he didn't already know...he surely knows now: It's going to be a year with no excuses!

If you get stiff from one (important) excercise, you have a choice on how to prevent it.

1) don't do the exercise

2) do some extra excersises to relieve the stiffness

If you hurt your back while you are throwing, again two choices

1) don't throw like that

2) do some extra exercises to prevent the hurting

If you're a woldclass athlete going to the Paralymics you have three choices. What is it going to be ?

1) bronze

2) gold

3) silver

hint: Two, two and two / twee, twee en twee /két, két és két

Tomorrow we start our first wintertraining!!!

Getting ready for the launch

In July I said we had liftoff and although it felt like a good start it was just a trial run. The real launch will start in a few days. It's nearly October. As written: in July we met Ferenc Paragi and ask for help. You probably read about it. Since then Ronald got used to new exercises for technique, sthrengh and flexibility. All easy, light and healthy. This week we do some tests.

The results will be viewed by Ferenc and he'll be waiting for us next week....
The plan is coming together

Date:  1 till 10 October 2011

Location: BUDAPEST

Occasion: The start off a long, hard, exciting winter.

THE LAUNCH OF UNIQUE COOPERATION

Our goal: Gold at the Paralympics 2012, javelin men F44

Training for a Worldrecord

It's pretty weird when someone invites to to throw a WorldRecord three weeks from now.

But yes; we did got that request this week.

Luckily it's not about javelinthrowing.That would really be weird anytime before august 2012.

September is a month of recovering from last season and getting ready for the next. So no hard training and some tests to get a good picture of what we need to do for the first six weeks from octobre 1. Test will be done every six weeks. Last week we threw some shots and some  baseballs.

Today we threw some mobile phones. Preparing for the

     WORLD RECORD mobile phone throwing for amputees !!!

The most important dates in 2012!

I think a can plan a long weekend London.....

A sneak preview

It feels strange not to let you know how we are doing between two session in Budapest. So here's some footage from our training today in Rotterdam. Working towards our next get together with Ferenc in October! Showing how we picked up on his comments last July and hope to build on that.

Training is going well. New exercises are integrated in daily training. We expected some technical problems because Ronalds body needed to get used to the exercises but....since every throw is very concentrated its sometimes scary to see the progression.

Here's a sneak preview of what to expect in september 2012.

With a bit of imagination.... you know were it will end.

Throwers amongst you will surely see what we need to do.... so do we...don' t worry.

There's footage of every throwingsession since July and we're very happy with weekly comments from Ferenc.  

We can't wait to get back to Budapest!



And we have liftoff

Home again,
working my way through a lot of film with comments and new excersises.

No time to give a daily update.

Time to plan...

and make sure this team will work!

It's all about focus, the rest is easy

..with one exception... getting up wasn't easy...as I could see at breakfast. Elbows on the table head low and eating with minimum effort a bowl of cereal. Is he hurting or is it the fear of an third throwing session in two days? I guess a bit of both.

So this is what happened in the morning:

Question from Ferenc (and George translating and being sincerely interested):  How do you feel?

Answer from Ronald:   Good, it's just hot and I can feel my back, my belly, my leg and shoulder....

Solution:   Ok..than it's going to be a light throwingsession. Just on the grass,  not throwing hard but focussed and repeating everything you heard yesterday.

And focussed he was...as always. With no complains and no pain starting to feel what we are working on.

After that some indoor excercises and knowing the same will happen in the afternoon.

The day ended with a nice diner with Ferenc and George. Getting to know eachother better and setting up the framework for our route to the Paralympics 2012.

Ronald will end this season with 3 more competitions to go....but already focussing on the Paralympics. We'll be back in Budapest in October. Better, because of what we learned these few days and fit to focus, plan and train for the GOLD.

Tommorrow just one more training in Budapest before we fly back. Undoubtely more of the same...but never enough.

No way back

So today it got serious. The first two sessions were inspiring. I expected some new exercises and some confimation on my understanding of the javelin. Sometimes it helps a lot when somebody tells you things you already know but in other words.

This morning we learned more than that and I think its a big change. A change that will hurt. All new exercises will hurt but also adjustments to the technique. Not mayor adjustment but enough to hurt.....a lot.

In my opinion we have a choice.
1) we continue what we are doing for the last year and have a chance of a medal in Paralympics 2012.
2) we take it a level higher and let Ferenc lead the way to GOLD.

Ronald and I discussed both option over diner. While I was eating my salad and Ronald a small horse... we knew it can only be option 2!

Will it be the end of us working together ? Maybe just the opposit. We take a big chance. Not only wil he train his ass off, but he must realize that also the time between the trainingsessions will get him were he wants to be in 2012. He need to make sure he has a good diet, he will rest enough, he doesn't get distracted, keep focused and above all.... keep fit. Listen to his body, expect and endure some pain but knowing when to stop or slowdown to avoid injuries.

In other words.... we started a seriously exciting journey. Let's hope Ronald still feels like this tomorrow morning :-)

Arrival at Budapest

Ladies and gentlemen we arrived at Budapest. The weather is hot, the city is beautiful and we are glad to be here.

Luckely we had an early flight. So today we had some time to do a bit of sightseeing. Maybe not the best preparation for a the upcoming three training-days, but neccesary for the upcoming year. We need to know something about the city. How to get around and were to get supplies if needed.

And as everyone told us:.... Budapest is beautiful... astonishing beautiful. 

A mixture of Paris, Brussels and Rotterdam.

We took the subway to the centre, walked along the Danube-river, crossed over twice and enjoyed the walk, coffee, beverage (a small beer is most suitable in this weather) and meal.

We agreed; it's very well possible we can get used to Budapest as our second training-site. It's maybe to early to say "it feels like our second home".... but we can't deny it so why not say it.

Tomorow at 10 we start training !!

The Kick-off

The day before our (first) departure to Budapest. Finally! A month working towards the start of an exiting Paralympic journey. An adventure towards a Gold medal in september 2012.
A month of keeping contact via email, dropbox and youtube.

Sharing history, plans, ideas and one goal.

Not used to writing in english emails got unnecessary long just to be sure the receiver understood.

But again.... finally monday we meet up with Ferenc Paragi. I expect three intensive days. We need to get to know eachother so there will be no misunderstanding in future digital contact.

For 5 years now Ronald trained under my supervision.  He went from 28mtr in 2006 to 56mtr in 2011.

He's European Champion and European record-holder.

Our National coach (Guido Bonsen) kept him fit. I 'm responsible for his technique.

Yesterday he threw 53,65mtr in Leverkusen. A bit less than expected. 

Monday June 18th 2011, Ferenc Paragi completes our team !

Lets not beat around the bush: We're all working towards the Paralympic Gold in 2012. Yes we mention de GOLD ! GOLD ! and nothing but the gold.  We don't hide. Keep reading this blog and follow us towards september 2012.

Help from a hero!

Ask me who my hero was when I was little (was I ever?)...I mean when I was young and  I have to think very deeply. The last two weeks brought me back to those days and it refreshed my memory.

I was in search of a way to help Ronald ( http://www.ronald-hertog.nl/ )  reach his ultimate goal in 2012.

I though of a clinic with someone who would be an inspiration for him.

In the Eighties we would look for foto-series in magazines like: the German 'leichtathletik' or the Dutch: 'atletiekwereld'.  Nowadays.. google and you'll find.

And so I stumble online on a hero from my youth. I remember him throwing 96,20mtr. My first training after this throw I remember very well. We (my training-buddy and me) didn't speak much. We were speechless.

So now I thought.... why not send an e-mail to FERENC PARAGI and ask for a trainingsession ?

To cut a long story short: Now, two weeks, a few e-mails and some research I think, later we've booked our tickets for a few days Budapest in July.

We are very excited ! and this could well be the start of an longterm coorporation.
I look forward to discuss the technique with Ferenc. I expect to learn a lot. But more important: I hope Ronald will get inspired so it will help him TRAIN HIS ASS OFF.

My first blog in English. The first of maybe many.
A report from our first sessions with Ferenc will follow undoubtedly... a month from now.