The Setting
When I heard that the Swiss Championships were in Basel, I had mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, Basel has a great ring. It is probably the second best in Switzerland after Locarno. But on the other hand, I have never thrown well there before. The cage is outside the stadium and tucked into some trees. It is not spectator friendly and not athlete friendly since the opening is so narrow that it is possible to throw in the middle of the sector and still have your wire hit the cage (as happened to me once during the meet). Together, it feels like you are throwing out of a cave. Plus, my last two meets at Basel have been poorly planned and had the competitors waiting nearly 30 minutes between attempts.

The Setting
The reason I love the Luzern meet is because of the environment. I visited for the first time in 2003 and was struck by the beauty. The stadium sits at the base of Pilatus and the mountain is so close you feel like you can hit it on a good throw. While the stadium is small, it is always packed with fans excited to be close to the stars. In 2003 I happened to find a great shot put competition with John Godina, Resse Hoffa, and a young Christian Cantwell. Watching these stars from just feet away made quite an impression on me as a teenager, especially when Godina invited me to join them for dinner afterwards.

I enjoy stone throwing for many reasons. It has deep cultural roots, it lets me meet great people, and it is a fun challenge. But my favorite aspect is that each competition is different. The only thing that remains the same is that it is open to all comers. Every competition has its own stone with its own story and even the rules differ. The famous Unspunnenstein has a several hundred year history, weighs 83.5-kilograms, and can be thrown however you want if you are able to lift in. Other stones weigh 12.5-kilograms stones are normally throwing with a javelin-like approach and one-handed put motion. Even similar weight stones have various rules. I've been in competitions with 40-kilogram stones that must be thrown with one hand from a stand throw. I've also been in competitions where there were no restrictions.

• T minus 4 Days - Train twice (lifting and throwing each session), work a few hours, and then spend six hours sitting on the train.
• T minus 3 Days - Train twice (lifting and throwing each session)
• T minus 2 Days - Train twice (lifting and throwing each session)
• T minus 1 Day - Train twice (lifting and throwing each session), work seven hours, and get a few lingering aches and pains looked at by Mr. Fix-it.
• Day of competition - Train in the morning at 6:30 am so that you are able to get to an 8:00 am meeting. After training, work six hours.

This was my preperation for Tuesday night's competition in Olten. If you can't sense my sarcasm, it was far from the ideal meet preperation. I think it gives a new meaning to the phrase "training through" a competition. The reason I took this approach was because I didn't decide to compete until four hours before the competition. Despite needing to check to see if the sun would be up early enough for me to train on Tuesday morning, I still hit 65 meters. As the day progressed, I found that I felt surprisingly fresh when I returned to work after lunch. My afternoon training called for throwing the 7.26kg hammer, so I figured I might as well do my training at a competition...at least then I can get an official mark if training goes even better.

The Setting
I wasn't planning on competing for a fifth weekend in a row, but since training has been going very well I decided I might as well get in the ring again to see if I could improve my season's best. I got an invitation to a pair of meets in eastern France, rented a car, and hit the road.