Wisconsin State Journal — Nearly every day for the better part of three years started at 5 a.m. for Heather Miller-Koch. A 45-minute subway ride through Manhattan to the lone indoor track in New York City followed by training for the 2012 U.S. Olympic track and field trials.
Miller-Koch, who competes in the heptathlon, would hop back on the train to her home, shower quickly, then work the noon to 8 p.m. shift at the Hospital for Special Surgery as part of her nursing residency. Sometimes, another training session or lift followed.
Although Miller-Koch, a Columbus, Wisconsin native and 2005 graduate of Columbus High School, failed to qualify for the 2012 Games in London, finishing ninth at the trials, she chose to scale back her time as a full-time nurse and begin training more.
“I tried to improve my situation and improve my training schedule each year (since then),” Miller-Koch said by phone from the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California.
A move was the first order of business. After all, New York isn’t the best place to practice javelin, which is one of the seven events of the heptathlon. So, Miller-Koch and her husband, Ryan Koch, who also serves as her coach, moved back to Minnesota near St. Cloud State, where they attended college.
