Ashton Eaton

Ashton James Eaton( born 1988) is a retired American decathlete and two-time Olympic champion, who previously held the world record in the decathlon and indoor heptathlon event. Quotes The decathlon is unique, in that once you start doing it you realise ‘I’m not really competing against the other guys, I’m competing against myself. You’re always your own worst critic. You’re always the hardest on yourself. I didn’t get the world record. I was competing against my previous self. Almost like a ghost running on the track, and I lost against myself. And that’s a pain in the butt. There’s one TV, my Xbox is hooked up, and I want to play some video games. But I know every Monday night at nine it’s not happening, because ‘The Bachelor’ is on. I’m competing against myself, May 06 2014 Multi-events are different to any other track and field events in that because you are aiming for an overall score you are in some ways competing against yourself. However, you should not completely neglect competing against your competition and this was a mistake I made at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu. There I became fixated purely on trying to get a high score without using my competition to compete against [Ashton won silver in Daegu behind fellow American Trey Hardee]. My approach to nutrition used to be, it is only food. It can't make a difference. Who cares? As a younger athlete you are more resilient. When I look back at college, I would train in ways I would never train now; all kinds of crazy hours, lifting first ahead of running, which I would never do now, and I my nutrition was the same.Maybe, it is because I am older and more sensitive, but nutrition really does play a part. At this level it is all about making small improvements and nutrition is one aspect of that. As a former coach said ‘control the controllables’ and nutrition is one part of that. I've always been very good at listening to my body. I've always had an instinctive feel for it. Yet, this can be a common mistake which some athletes can neglect.Only once have I ever been caught by surprise when back in 2009 I tore my meniscus in my knee while sprinting. My knee had been catching for a couple of weeks, but not enough to bug me. Words of Wisdom – Ashton Eaton, May 27 2015 External Links Category:Track and field athletes Category:1988 births Category:Living people