Oct. 5, 2004

Hello everyone. This is Ben Askren and I will be giving you journal entries every week for the season to keep you updated on the Missouri wresting program.

Last week, on September 26, we started our official season. Prior to that week, we had three weeks of preseason, which consists of a lot of runing and lifting, etc. On Monday we started two a days. Every week, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday we lift and wrestle. On Monday and Friday we also run in the mornings, which isn't the most fun, but it is necessary.

Practice last monday went well, we do a lot of technique early in the season to get all of the new guys caught up with the technique we have. This year we have a lot of new comers, somewhere around 15 so we have to get a lot of guys on the same page. We just wrestle a little bit of live at the end of each practice 20-40 minutes or somewhere in there. By the end of last week I was feeling a little run down becuase of the extra practices and the extra early mornings, but overall it was a good week. I am getting a lot of confidence back on top. I lose it every summer, because of the amount of freestyle I wrestle, but I am starting to ride really tough again and getting some good pinning combinations back.

Overall I had a really good week getting back into the swing of the season, which is sometimes hard to do after a long summer. This next week will be a lot of the same, so hopefully it goes very well too. I am sure glad the season is upon us, because I can now see my long quest back to the NCAA finals beginning to take shape.