Something that impressed my with this interview was her take on Nutrition. Athletes need to focus on fueling their body for their sport and not worry about staying lean. I don’t know any athlete who never went through a time where they worried more about their looks than performance. As a Strength Coach and gym owner I’ve had a lot of “athletes” tell me how they want a six pack so they’re going to lose weight while gaining strength, it just doesn’t work that way.
Good Luck this season Kara, thanks for taking the time to speak with our Athletes!
1. How did you get started in your Sport?
I grew up in Washington state, which is one of about 20 states in the U.S. that sanctions javelin throwing at the high school level. I played tons of different sports growing up, and had focused on softball (I was a first base(wo)man) each spring until 8th grade, when I tried track for the first time (high jump, middle distance, and a little bit of discus). I still had never heard of javelin until my freshman year, when my geometry teacher, Mr. Heidenreich, mentioned that I should try it. I resisted for a bit, but then ended up second in state that year and won the next three, and kept improving from there!
2. What was a major struggle for your training and/or success.
Injury has been my major struggle, but I don’t believe I would still be here without any of the injuries I’ve suffered. The first really major one was a back injury that sidelined me for an entire season, but also offered an opportunity to focus on weaknesses I had ignored for a while and mature in a lot of different ways. In the season I finally came back from that injury for, I made my first Olympic team and set the Purdue school record (a goal I had set four years prior). The other major struggle (that I’m enjoying right now) in my career that always brings success is purposeful change. You have to be brave enough to make changes if things aren’t working for you, and to give difficult things honest, really hard effort. In order to grow, you have to be vulnerable in new situations at certain points, and then you’ll be stronger in all aspects on the other side of those challenges.
3. What is your current goal?
Long-term: Making a fourth Olympic team in 2020. My shorter-term and more specific goals are things I like to keep fairly private between my coaches, family and myself. Life goals that I’m happy to share are to play the piano more and write more (this includes blogs specific to my career and training, so stay tuned!). Another one is to make an Olympic peninsula trip happen for my husband and I in March.
4. What advice would you give a young athlete?
Try everything. I’m a huge supporter of variety in young athletes’ sports experiences. Keep playing in as many different ways as you can for as long as you can. I swam, played basketball, and did track and field in high school, and played basketball all summer. Growing up, I played softball, soccer, and volleyball on top of basketball, and tried rowing one summer. I also simply LOVED playing games outside with my neighbors and brother. I think involvement in lots of things is so important for not only athletic development, but for relationships with teammates and simply FUN.
5. How big of a role is nutrition when it comes to your training?
I pay attention to my nutrition, and I actually did my undergrad in Nutrition, Fitness and Health. As a thrower, it’s definitely important for me to recover from taxing workouts with specific foods and the timing of my consumption of them, but I took it too far from a lean muscle standpoint in the time period of 2011-2012. I didn’t throw well because I was too light and lean during those two seasons. I didn’t feel strong, I had a hard time recovering, I wasn’t powerful on the runway, and I ultimately tore my ACL. I firmly believe that inadequate nutrition and a focus on leanness contributed to that injury, and I always encourage people to eat healthily, but listen to their body rather than their vanity. I paid too much attention to the pressures of being a female athlete and not enough to what my body should feel like to perform at its best.
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