Yes there has been a bit of sight seeing while I've been here in Italy but I do have some business that I have been taking care of as well. I cannot believe how well the Italian federation F.I.D.A.L and my club ACSI have treated me. The people in charge have just been so welcoming and inviting to me and Kyle.
My club ACSI has a blog that they give updates about their athletes on and if you would like to view it in the original format here is the link....CLICK HERE
Thanks to google translate I have been able to read about what has been written concerning my season this year so here is the google translate version...
July 7, 2013 
Press Office
Jennifer Rockwell is serious.
On the way back from the splendid debut with the national team in the
European Cup in Gateshead and after ten days of hard training in that of
Formia with the coach / husband Kyle, went to a meeting in Switzerland
and today he ran the 400h winning them in 55 " 70, minimum B for the
World Championships in Moscow. Third Manuela Gentiles in 56 "38. Soon we will see still at work maybe even the 400 planes away where we think it might be surprising record time.
Since they mention Switzerland, I will fill you in with that meet.
Let me set the stage for this track meet. In Italy they do not determine who will be selected to represent Italy at the World Championships through their Nationals meet, like they do in the US. The IAAF (world governing body for track and field) has come up with standards for each of the disciplines in Track and Field. There are 2 standards or marks that place you in consideration for the World Championships the A standard and the B standard. Each country at most is only allowed 3 athletes per-event at the World Championships. A country can take 3 athletes who have all hit the A standard, so for my event the time for the A standard is (55.40). Countries can take athletes who have hit the B standard but if no one has hit the A standard then that country can only take 1 athlete with the B standard, and for my even that is (56.55).
So why am I getting into the tiny little details???? Competition of course. There are 2 of us here in Italy who are running about the same time. We have both hit the B standard but neither one of us has hit the A standard. So that means that only one of us can represent Italy at the World Championships. When I first arrived I raced in Turin, Italy and my competition just happened to be at that same meet. We raced and I came out as the top Italian with a time of (56.61).
Then I was selected to go to the European Team Championships meet. This meet was so fun because typically track meets are very individual but this was a team scoring meet. Each Country participating could only put 1 athlete in each of the events, points were scored by what place each athlete finished and they also had different classifications. So the top league is called the "Super League" then they have the 1st league, 2nd league, and 3rd league. The teams in each of the leagues are all fighting to get to the Super League. How do they get into the "Super League"? Well the bottom 3 countries from each league move down 1 league and the top 3 countries move up 1 league.
Super League countries this year were...
First League
As you can see the teams in red move down a league and the teams in green move up a league for the next European Team Championship meeting. So it was really a fun meet to run in, even if I was selected to be drug tested.
I ended up running even faster than I did in Turin, Italy with a time of (56.32). Apparently I like to finish 4th in my races.
Gateshead, England EUROPEAN TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS
Even with this improvement I still did not have the A standard. But I still had the fastest time of the Italians that can represent Italy at the World Championships.
Now here is where it gets really interesting and the battle really begins. I was not selected to go with the Italian team to the Mediterranean Games, so two other Italian girls went and represented Italy and one of them ran 55.89. So now the hunted becomes the hunter (that's me).
Now that I have fallen behind on my mark Kyle and I were in a bit of a scramble to find another 400 hurdles race. I did have to make the decision of sitting and just waiting for the federation to decide because even though I had a slower time they in reality could choose me over her. But not wanting to leave things to fate I decided that if I had the chance to run I would.
It was a bit of a risk for me to run again though because there are a lot of things that affect times in a track meet. For example when I ran in Gateshead, England it was very windy. The level of competition can also affect performance, if I have no one to be competitive against it is difficult to run fast. The track surface is yet another thing that affects performance, the truth is some tracks are just faster than others.
After contacting my agent Kyle found out about this meet in Switzerland!!! and so we booked our flight, found a hotel and off we went to the land of watches, cheese and chocolate (not very exciting for someone who is not a chocolate lover).
We landed in the Geneva airport and met other fellow athletes going to the same meet. One of them Marina Tomic a 100m Hurdler was from Slovenia. She filled my head with wonderful thoughts. She told me that everyone runs fast at this meet, she had theories about the track being shorter than a standard track and that was why everyone ran so fast. She ended up running the A standard for Worlds in her race and we got to see it happen before I raced. So positive feelings all around.
Before this race I told Kyle I didn't want to know who was in my race. I just wanted to "stay in my own lane" and run like mad. I was just about finished with my warm up when Kyle came to me and said "do you need some motivation?". We have been married long enough, and he has been my coach long enough that I knew what he meant by this phrase - my competition for the Italian World Championship Team was at the meet and we would be racing again! - I must say it takes a really good coach who knows his athletes well to know what they need to hear before racing even if the athlete thinks they know best. I responded with "well it's going to be a good race".
I don't want anyone to think that I dislike this other Italian, on the contrary, I would love nothing more than for both of us to be able to run at the World Championships, in fact I would love Italy to have 3 girls all with the A standard racing at the World Championships, but perhaps another year.
So this meet in Switzerland was like a mini "Trials" meet for the Italian spot at the World Championships for the 400m Hurdles. The weather was a bit windy but the thing about going head to head is that the conditions are the same for everyone and you can really compare the 2 athletes side by side and it is a fair judgment.
Kyle filmed the race and I don't know how he did. I think he took all my nervousness from me and placed it on his shoulders and I was completely relaxed and felt totally in control of my destiny. The race was a battle to the very end, most of the race we were neck and neck with a South African in the lane between us. As we came around the turn and onto the home straightaway we had 3 hurdles before the finish line. I was running extremely well focusing on only the next hurdle and I had transitioned well (no stuttering). I felt like I was accelerating with each hurdle that I crossed and before I knew it I found myself crossing the last hurdle on a dead sprint to the finish line, in my peripheral vision I could see my competition, still there still fighting. So with one last surge of energy and trying my hardest to maintain good running posture and form I.....
La Chaux De Fonds, Switzerland 2013
RESULTS
....not only beat the other Italian in the race but I also ended up winning the race completely!!!
So now the hunter moves back into the hunted position again. I was really wanting to hit that A standard but who can complain about a season best time right? Here is the video of the race, Kyle was standing where he needed to yell at me to transition so its difficult to see who crosses the finish line first but because you read the above you know how it all ends. Now we just wait to see what will come next.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE RACE
I'm in lane 2 and all 6 lanes are full
My club ACSI has a blog that they give updates about their athletes on and if you would like to view it in the original format here is the link....CLICK HERE
Thanks to google translate I have been able to read about what has been written concerning my season this year so here is the google translate version...
JENNIFER FA 'SERIOUSLY: 55 "70 MINIMUM AND B TO THE WORLD!
July 7, 2013 Press Office 
Jennifer Rockwell is serious.
On the way back from the splendid debut with the national team in the
European Cup in Gateshead and after ten days of hard training in that of
Formia with the coach / husband Kyle, went to a meeting in Switzerland
and today he ran the 400h winning them in 55 " 70, minimum B for the
World Championships in Moscow. Third Manuela Gentiles in 56 "38. Soon we will see still at work maybe even the 400 planes away where we think it might be surprising record time.Since they mention Switzerland, I will fill you in with that meet.
Let me set the stage for this track meet. In Italy they do not determine who will be selected to represent Italy at the World Championships through their Nationals meet, like they do in the US. The IAAF (world governing body for track and field) has come up with standards for each of the disciplines in Track and Field. There are 2 standards or marks that place you in consideration for the World Championships the A standard and the B standard. Each country at most is only allowed 3 athletes per-event at the World Championships. A country can take 3 athletes who have all hit the A standard, so for my event the time for the A standard is (55.40). Countries can take athletes who have hit the B standard but if no one has hit the A standard then that country can only take 1 athlete with the B standard, and for my even that is (56.55).
So why am I getting into the tiny little details???? Competition of course. There are 2 of us here in Italy who are running about the same time. We have both hit the B standard but neither one of us has hit the A standard. So that means that only one of us can represent Italy at the World Championships. When I first arrived I raced in Turin, Italy and my competition just happened to be at that same meet. We raced and I came out as the top Italian with a time of (56.61).
| 1 | 5 | 42 | Muhammad | Dalila | USA | 54.66 | |
| 2 | 7 | 45 | Spence | Christine | USA | 55.99 | |
| 3 | 3 | 39 | Ebersohn | Annerie | RSA | 56.39 | |
| 4 | 8 | 44 | Rockwell | Jennifer | ITA | 56.61 | |
| 5 | 4 | 43 | Pedroso | Yadisleidis | ITA | 56.86 | |
| 6 | 6 | 40 | Gentili | Manuela | ITA | 56.94 | |
| 7 | 2 | 38 | Doveri | Francesca | ITA | 57.05 | |
| 8 | 1 | 41 | Latini | Giulia | ITA | 1:02.10 |
Then I was selected to go to the European Team Championships meet. This meet was so fun because typically track meets are very individual but this was a team scoring meet. Each Country participating could only put 1 athlete in each of the events, points were scored by what place each athlete finished and they also had different classifications. So the top league is called the "Super League" then they have the 1st league, 2nd league, and 3rd league. The teams in each of the leagues are all fighting to get to the Super League. How do they get into the "Super League"? Well the bottom 3 countries from each league move down 1 league and the top 3 countries move up 1 league.
Super League countries this year were...
Final Standings
| Pos | Country | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Russia |
354.5 |
| 2 |  Germany |
347.5 |
| 3 |  Great Britain |
338 |
| 4 |  France |
310.5 |
| 5 |  Poland |
305.5 |
| 6 |  Ukraine |
291.5 |
| 7 |  Italy |
260.5 |
| 8 |  Spain |
251 |
| 9 |  Turkey |
197.5 |
| 10 |  Belarus |
155.5 |
| 11 |  Greece |
152 |
| 12 |  Norway |
137 |
First League
Final standings
| Pos | Country | Pts | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Czech Republic |
351.5 | Promoted to 2014 Super League |
| 2 |  Sweden |
311 | |
| 3 |  Netherlands |
299 | |
| 4 |  Romania |
297.5 | |
| 5 |  Portugal |
269 | |
| 6 |  Finland |
251.5 | |
| 7 |  Ireland |
242 | |
| 8 |  Belgium |
236.5 | |
| 9 |  Hungary |
226 | |
| 10 |  Estonia |
211 | |
| 11 |  Bulgaria |
206 | Relegated to 2014 Second League |
| 12 |  Switzerland |
206 |
As you can see the teams in red move down a league and the teams in green move up a league for the next European Team Championship meeting. So it was really a fun meet to run in, even if I was selected to be drug tested.
I ended up running even faster than I did in Turin, Italy with a time of (56.32). Apparently I like to finish 4th in my races.
Gateshead, England EUROPEAN TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS
400 m hurdles | 22 June, 2013 | ||||||||
| 1 | Eilidh Child | GBR |
20 Feb 87
|
54.42
| |||||
| 2 | Hanna Yaroshchuk | UKR |
24 Nov 89
|
55.27
| |||||
| 3 | Vera Rudakova | RUS |
20 Mar 92
|
56.20
| |||||
| 4 | Jennifer Rockwell | ITA |
18 May 83
|
56.32
| |||||
| 5 | Elif Yıldırım | TUR |
11 Feb 90
|
57.07
| |||||
| 6 | Christiane Klopsch | GER |
21 Aug 90
|
58.00
|
Even with this improvement I still did not have the A standard. But I still had the fastest time of the Italians that can represent Italy at the World Championships.
Now here is where it gets really interesting and the battle really begins. I was not selected to go with the Italian team to the Mediterranean Games, so two other Italian girls went and represented Italy and one of them ran 55.89. So now the hunted becomes the hunter (that's me).
Mediterranean Games 2013 Results
400 meters hurdles
June 27, 2013| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
4 | Hayat Lambarki |  Morocco |
55.27 | PB |
 |
3 | Lamia Lhabz | Morocco |
55.51 | PB |
 |
6 | Manuela Gentili |  Italy |
55.89 | SB |
| 4 | 7 | Francesca Doveri | Italy |
56.65 | PB |
| 5 | 5 | Birsen Engin |  Turkey |
57.72 | |
| 6 | 2 | Özge Akın | Turkey |
58.13 | |
| 7 | 1 | Mila Andrić |  Serbia |
1:01.33 |
Now that I have fallen behind on my mark Kyle and I were in a bit of a scramble to find another 400 hurdles race. I did have to make the decision of sitting and just waiting for the federation to decide because even though I had a slower time they in reality could choose me over her. But not wanting to leave things to fate I decided that if I had the chance to run I would.
It was a bit of a risk for me to run again though because there are a lot of things that affect times in a track meet. For example when I ran in Gateshead, England it was very windy. The level of competition can also affect performance, if I have no one to be competitive against it is difficult to run fast. The track surface is yet another thing that affects performance, the truth is some tracks are just faster than others.
After contacting my agent Kyle found out about this meet in Switzerland!!! and so we booked our flight, found a hotel and off we went to the land of watches, cheese and chocolate (not very exciting for someone who is not a chocolate lover).
We landed in the Geneva airport and met other fellow athletes going to the same meet. One of them Marina Tomic a 100m Hurdler was from Slovenia. She filled my head with wonderful thoughts. She told me that everyone runs fast at this meet, she had theories about the track being shorter than a standard track and that was why everyone ran so fast. She ended up running the A standard for Worlds in her race and we got to see it happen before I raced. So positive feelings all around.
Before this race I told Kyle I didn't want to know who was in my race. I just wanted to "stay in my own lane" and run like mad. I was just about finished with my warm up when Kyle came to me and said "do you need some motivation?". We have been married long enough, and he has been my coach long enough that I knew what he meant by this phrase - my competition for the Italian World Championship Team was at the meet and we would be racing again! - I must say it takes a really good coach who knows his athletes well to know what they need to hear before racing even if the athlete thinks they know best. I responded with "well it's going to be a good race".
I don't want anyone to think that I dislike this other Italian, on the contrary, I would love nothing more than for both of us to be able to run at the World Championships, in fact I would love Italy to have 3 girls all with the A standard racing at the World Championships, but perhaps another year.
So this meet in Switzerland was like a mini "Trials" meet for the Italian spot at the World Championships for the 400m Hurdles. The weather was a bit windy but the thing about going head to head is that the conditions are the same for everyone and you can really compare the 2 athletes side by side and it is a fair judgment.
Kyle filmed the race and I don't know how he did. I think he took all my nervousness from me and placed it on his shoulders and I was completely relaxed and felt totally in control of my destiny. The race was a battle to the very end, most of the race we were neck and neck with a South African in the lane between us. As we came around the turn and onto the home straightaway we had 3 hurdles before the finish line. I was running extremely well focusing on only the next hurdle and I had transitioned well (no stuttering). I felt like I was accelerating with each hurdle that I crossed and before I knew it I found myself crossing the last hurdle on a dead sprint to the finish line, in my peripheral vision I could see my competition, still there still fighting. So with one last surge of energy and trying my hardest to maintain good running posture and form I.....
La Chaux De Fonds, Switzerland 2013
RESULTS
....not only beat the other Italian in the race but I also ended up winning the race completely!!!
So now the hunter moves back into the hunted position again. I was really wanting to hit that A standard but who can complain about a season best time right? Here is the video of the race, Kyle was standing where he needed to yell at me to transition so its difficult to see who crosses the finish line first but because you read the above you know how it all ends. Now we just wait to see what will come next.
CLICK HERE TO SEE THE RACE
I'm in lane 2 and all 6 lanes are full
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