My DeVry

I'm sure you've seen the commercials and heard the slogan- my DeVry.  Well, I'm please to announce that I am going back to school at the Keller Graduate School to get an MBA in finance.  I was thinking about going back to school to study business, but had no idea how to do it and continue competing.  Most online MBA programs are executive MBA programs, which mean you have to have significant work experience in the industry.  Interestingly enough, GW does offer an MBA program for athletes, actors, and other celebrities, but unfortunately I wasn't invited to join this program.  Anyway, so I was considering going back to school and emailed one of the residence managers here at the Olympic Training Center.  She told me that DeVry University had recently signed on as a USOC sponsor to help athletes get degrees while competing.  I inquired further about this program and next thing you know, I'm registering for classes!  Crazy!

With finals next week, I would have completed my first full semester- which is two courses.   So far, I'm enjoying the process quite a bit and am really enjoying learning more about the business world.  I am enjoying this more than I did my other master's degree program and am learning tons!  It's quite exciting to be learning something and enjoying it at the same time!

It'll take me a while to complete this degree, but I'm not in a hurry.  With training full-time and working, DeVry has been very helpful in coordinating a schedule that works for me, and I'm very excited about what an MBA will mean for my future.

I will also be making several appearances for DeVry and doing different projects with them.  This upcoming week, I'll be at the DeVry campus in Phoenix, AZ, as one of the athletes on the Road to London tour, a tour that celebrates DeVry's Team USA student-athletes.  I'll also be working with them on the Mark Your Moments campaign, a Facebook app that helps you set and keep track of your goals (you can join too at http://sml.devry.edu/MYMSE).  


I'll continue to keep you guys posted on my progress with my degree.  But for now, finals are next week so I better get to studying!


Be sure to check out DeVry's website at http://www.devry.edu   I'm not listed on the Team USA page yet, but I will be.

The Diary of a Coffee Addict

If you know me you know that I absolutely love coffee!  It all started in college- those late nights of studying, juggling softball and working made the hot brew a necessity.  What started as a great way to stay awake grew into a three venti-a-day addiction!  I was obsessed and kept the habit until just recently...

Recently, my boyfriend made me stop drinking coffee.  Why you ask?  Well, caffeine can have many positive affects on athletic performance, but it can also negatively affect hydration levels.  In my case, I was often having about 4 cups of coffee before breakfast and it usually made up most of my liquid consumption for the day, which most likely dehydrated me to the point that any benefits of the caffeine were outweighed by the massive amounts I was drinking.  You see, hydration is key for any athlete.  Power output drastically decreases with dehydration (you can google countless studies that give exact numbers).  With the amount of caffeine I was consuming in the coffee, it was likely decreasing my power output and therefore negatively affecting my performance.  Of course the easy decision appears to be to decrease my coffee consumption, but as a self-proclaimed coffee addict, it's not so easy.  Knowing this, my boyfriend told me no more coffee, and I've been off coffee- cold turkey- for over a month now.

So what I have I noticed over the month?  I am definitely more hydrated and my power output has increased, but it can't all be directly correlated to cutting out coffee.  I have been working hard on the new programs and getting everything in order to train hard, so there's multiple factors to consider as far as power output is concerned.  I do miss coffee- I love the smell of it, the taste of it, the feeling of a nice cup first thing in the morning.  As an elite athlete though, there's things you must sacrifice in order to get where you want to go, and until I can limit myself to one cup a day and maintain my hydration level, I guess the coffee is another sacrifice in the name of bobsled.

One day, I'll have my coffee and drink it too...