I have been training hard since last September to give myself the opportunity to be one of these individual athletes again.  It’s been an experience full of ups and downs, emotionally, physically and mentally.  Luckily with the support from all of you and from my sponsors it’s been more ups than downs.  No matter what your goal is, you need a support team, you need people to help you, and you need to know that it takes an army to win a war.  I want to thank my “army” for getting me to this point again this year.

First of all…thank you to ALL of you here at Norcal Strength and Conditioning for giving me a “thumbs up” or “high five” or just cheering me on as I struggled to push through the last part of a workout.  Thank you for caring enough to ask how my training was going.  You will never know how much that means.  It’s hard to train as an individual athlete for months at a time, so to know that you have a “team” behind you makes all the difference.  Our Norcal family is like no other team!

Secondly, my clients!  You know who you are!  You all have been so dedicated to me through all of this.  You are always supportive and understanding if I need to reschedule or combine sessions in order to make my life a bit more doable.  The flexibility you have all given me is irreplaceable.  Oh, and I apologize for the several sessions that I have coached you right after a workout when I may be smelling a bit “fresh”.  You all are the best!

Third, a HUGE thanks to the coaches here are Norcal.  My training has become a second job.  In order to keep my health up, my body functioning, and my head in the game, I’ve had to cut back my hours as a coach.  Shawn, Chrissy, Katie, Matt, Justin, Glen and Jaime have all helped me at one time or another to cover classes or clients when my body needed the break/recovery.  For that, I cannot thank you enough.  Also, training on your own, it’s hard to push yourself sometimes.  Justin, Matt and Shawn have all stepped in at one point or another to sweat it out with me during a brutal workout.  Again, something that I can never thank you enough for.

Now for my ever-so-loyal and generous local Chico sponsors.

John Fragoso and Fragoso Chiropractic is seriously a life saver.  Putting my body through what I do day in and day out isn’t doable unless I have someone to keep it moving as it should.  This year I have unfortunately been fighting a few injuries, but John’s magic work has kept me in the game and able to train.  For those of you that don’t know, Dr. John is an ART practitioner and is someone that I believe EVERYONE needs to see.  If you have any aches and pains or lack some mobility, make an appointment with this guy and you will feel better!  Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart John!

Olivia Peters-Lazarro from Chico Community Acupuncture has provided her services to me through my training as well.  I have been seeing Olivia for about 1.5 years now.  I started out extremely skeptical about the eastern medicine of acupuncture until I started seeing results.  I tried to go in with an open mind, but honestly I was more on the “this is hokie” side of things.  That’s why I know this works.  To have a bad attitude toward something and to still see results from it proves something.  For me, the pain relief, the energy work, and the scheduled nap keep me looking forward to each appointment with her.  Olivia, thank you for your continued support and generous work.  Please read this post I wrote last year about what Olivia offers and make your appointment now.

Tori Zellick from In Touch Body Works is a rockstar!  About 2 or 3 months ago Tori offered up her massage therapist services to me.  I can’t say that it is always a pleasant experience having someone dig their elbow into your locked up piriformis or grind out your ITBand…but I can say that it is so beneficial and afterwards I feel like I can conquer the world.  For that Tori, you are a irreplaceable…than you!  I  Regular body work is key for anyone.  Whether you’re training for the games, a weekend warrior or sit at a desk all day, Tori will help you feel better and move pain-free.

There are so many more people I have to thank for the support through my journey so far this year…my parents (Cathy Desautels and Jeff LaBaw), my boyfriend (Marcus Brown), my family, my friends, my coach (CJ Martin)…the list goes on and on.

I will do my best to make you all proud this weekend!

http://whole9life.com/2012/05/rest-vs-recovery/

If you want to have better reaction time, get faster, increase athleticism and just do a lot of really fun things this class is for you.  If you want to strengthen your legs and butt, this class with do that.  If you want to learn how to run correctly, you will learn in this class.  Please come join the speed and agility class on Monday nights at 5:30pm.  We skip, we jump, we sprint, basically we get to play…all while getting a really good workout.

This is typically an intermediate to advanced level class, but if you’re a beginner and interested in getting into the class please email me at jenny@norcalsc.com or talk to me in the gym and we can see if this class is up your alley.

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

*Note that on Monday 5/21 this class will be cancelled.

Please check out my blog from my personal site www.jennylabaw.com for a bit more information, resources, and examples of mobility.