I moved to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista California five weeks ago and I couldn’t be happier for the change.

The training center definitely has its perks and its downfalls, most notably the dorm rooms you have to live in, but they haven’t bothered me as much as I thought. The “Suites” as they call them here, are 400 square foot apartments with two bedrooms and two bathrooms, which sleep two athletes in each room in separate twin beds. As a 28 year old who has been living in a 2,800 square foot three bedroom house for the last three years this is quite the different living situation.

I was worried at first I would be bunked up with a young punk athlete with no manners and no respect for another person’s privacy but actually got one of the most calm, cool mannered and respectful guys at the training center; long jumper Jeff Henderson.

Jeff won the 2014 USA Championships and has been really progressing the last couple years. He’s quiet but works hard which is how I am too, so I like it.

On the other side of our suite is a nineteen year old archer, and another long jumper Mike Hartfield. They both seem like pretty cool guys but I don’t get to see them as much.

The perks of being here are the unlimited access to all things training. If I want to go lift… I walk to the weight room. If I want to run some strides on the track… boom I am there. If I am hungry…. I go to the cafeteria and eat. And if I get hurt… I see sports medicine.

I have heard a lot of bad things about the training center before I arrived; mostly that there is nothing to do but train, and it’s a really boring, so athletes tend to over train or get cabin fever. But a lot of guys here have part-time jobs to get them off site. And almost everyone is doing something on the weekends, whether it’s going surfing on the beach, or going downtown to shops or restaurants.

I am still figuring out stuff here but this is actually a really good lifestyle for me. I pride myself in training my butt off. I am on a diet, so I am not over eating at the full time cafeteria we have here. And I am a little bit of a recluse, and I don’t mind the grind of training every day. And I am also still working remotely for TrackTown USA. So I still get mental stimulus outside of training.

And did I forget about the weather? The weather here is amazing! Not to rub it in to anyone from the Northwest but you don’t have anything on Southern California weather. Oregon may have the trees and green, but they also have rain 10 months of the year where nothing looks that pretty. Here we have beautiful blue skys every day and I get my fair share of green grass every day when I am training!

All and all it’s been really good so far. I am excited for things to come, and excited to see my ability grow in this new location.