May Progress

Hello again! May is already half way through and we are back on track.

I started the month with a training camp in Vancouver, WA. It was my first workout back and my first camp since I started working on bulking up. The extra muscle paid off nicely and even with the long interruption in April I was able to handle the largest volume of training at one of these camps to date. It was also the amount of volume required to win a multi day competition so that is a major milestone. No more getting tired in round 2 or 3 :).

I got some excellent tips from my friend Matteo from Italy and Paul from Canada. We made several changes to my chair which greatly improved my movement and a couple changes to strategy that should funnel the bulk of the action into my strong areas. The list of things to fix is getting pretty short and soon I will be ready to break into the top 10.

The last major hurdle remaining is the sport wide reclassification. Parafencing has 3 classes based on your physical condition, with A being the most able bodied and C being the least. When I first started I was put into A and didn’t know enough about the system to question it. I now know that I should be in the B category and luckily everyone has to undergo a mandatory review before they can compete again so I have a chance to get it fixed. The paperwork process is confusing and not well laid out, and the US team does not have resources available to help. So I have a few months to put together my case to the best of my ability and hopefully find someone who can help. If I am able to reclassify into B I will go from being the most disabled A to a middle or top tier B as far as disability goes, making me far more competitive.

As always there’s a lot of work to do but step by step we’re getting there!