So i got the first month of training out of the way. Things have been going well so far. Been doing a lot of technique work and I started working on a 7 step approach to the first hurdle.
So far things are looking pretty good. Here are a couple things we are working on as far as technique.
1) Taking off closer to the hurdle.
2) Getting into position before the hurdle. The goal is to be in hurdle position before reaching the hurdle, so when we get to it, we can focus on coming down. This requires the trail leg to come into position as soon as it leaves the ground, rather than having it "trail" behind as most coaches teach.
3) Bent lead leg into the hurdle. We want to keep the lead leg bent as long as possible, not opening up and extending towards the hurdle, this takes up room and forces us to take off too far away from the hurdle.
That is pretty much it. Sounds weird and different, and it is, but it isnt at the same time.
It actually feels better than the old way. I no longer lean to one side, and my hips dont open up when clearing the hurdle. I should also never have problems with hitting hurdles again. I also feel like i run off the hurdle a lot faster.
But of course only time will tell. I have big goals for this indoor season, and i think its going to take this drastic change in technique to achieve them.
As far as running, i have been doing the most i have ever done since College. I do hurdle technique once a week, and saturdays i work on my 7 step approach. Every other day of the week i have running workouts and a Plyometrics day.
Last week (last week in September) we tested in the 150 meters and the 60 meters.
in the 150 meter test i ran 16.04 and in the 60 meter test i ran 6.80 and 6.73 seconds. We test again in another 4 weeks so ill update the blog when that time comes.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Monday, September 7, 2009
Back to training
So World Champs didnt go as well as id hoped. I did not make it out of the first round. I got out well and with the pack, was in the mix until hurdle 5 where i smacked my trail knee then landed off balance over 6 and was out of the race. If i had 10.1 speed i could have easily gotten back in the mix, but i dont.
I was not disappointed though. I trained on my own since early January minus the 3 weeks i trained with McGill before WCs. So there was not much to be upset about.
My teammate Javier Culson on the other hand, had a tremendous World Champs. He became the first Puerto Rican to make a World Champ Final, and then went ahead and became the first Rican to win a World Champs medal when he finished 2nd in the 400 hurdles. We all went nuts when he won the medal. I was extremely happy and proud of him. He has come a long way and it felt incredible to see his hard work finally pay off. He will now be one of the 400 hurdlers to beat in the future and i am very excited for him.
Its funny though, because last year when he didnt perform as well as the Puerto Rican Federation had hoped, they begged him to switch coaches or change events. They just didnt see him progressing with the same coach. LOL. Now his coach is claimed to be the greatest track coach in PR history and they act as if they were always there supporting him.
But we know the truth. Javier and his Coach Hector Cano achieved success on their own. They put in the work over the years, and didnt quit when the world told them to hang it up. They have come a long way and i am extremely happy for them.
I am sure we will see much more from them in the future.
AS far as myself. I start training for the 2010 season tomorrow =D
i am extremely excited. I will be learning to hurdle with a different style. I will elaborate on the new technique as we get going in the next couple weeks but it is something we feel will have me in the mix with the very best hurdlers in the world in 2010.
Expect to see a leap frog, as i drastically drop my times in 2010
I was not disappointed though. I trained on my own since early January minus the 3 weeks i trained with McGill before WCs. So there was not much to be upset about.
My teammate Javier Culson on the other hand, had a tremendous World Champs. He became the first Puerto Rican to make a World Champ Final, and then went ahead and became the first Rican to win a World Champs medal when he finished 2nd in the 400 hurdles. We all went nuts when he won the medal. I was extremely happy and proud of him. He has come a long way and it felt incredible to see his hard work finally pay off. He will now be one of the 400 hurdlers to beat in the future and i am very excited for him.
Its funny though, because last year when he didnt perform as well as the Puerto Rican Federation had hoped, they begged him to switch coaches or change events. They just didnt see him progressing with the same coach. LOL. Now his coach is claimed to be the greatest track coach in PR history and they act as if they were always there supporting him.
But we know the truth. Javier and his Coach Hector Cano achieved success on their own. They put in the work over the years, and didnt quit when the world told them to hang it up. They have come a long way and i am extremely happy for them.
I am sure we will see much more from them in the future.
AS far as myself. I start training for the 2010 season tomorrow =D
i am extremely excited. I will be learning to hurdle with a different style. I will elaborate on the new technique as we get going in the next couple weeks but it is something we feel will have me in the mix with the very best hurdlers in the world in 2010.
Expect to see a leap frog, as i drastically drop my times in 2010
Friday, July 24, 2009
Sticking with the Old
Ok so we decided i wont be "learning" to hurdle just yet. Coach and I decided that we dont have enough time before World Champs to ingrain the new stuff and so for now we will stick with the old, only make sure we do things better.
so for the rest of this year, i will still look like everyone else. which is pretty much lead leg dominant and running sideways down the track haha.
The plan now is to throw out the old way and go with the new stuff in time for World Indoors in 2010.
Things are still feeling pretty good though and i plan on big things in August. I have about 9 days left before i fly to Berlin, so i have to learn as much as possible, because once i get to Berlin ill be back on my own.
The Federation is too cheap to fly Coach McGill out to Berlin so we just gonna hope i can retain as much in these next few weeks as possible.
so for the rest of this year, i will still look like everyone else. which is pretty much lead leg dominant and running sideways down the track haha.
The plan now is to throw out the old way and go with the new stuff in time for World Indoors in 2010.
Things are still feeling pretty good though and i plan on big things in August. I have about 9 days left before i fly to Berlin, so i have to learn as much as possible, because once i get to Berlin ill be back on my own.
The Federation is too cheap to fly Coach McGill out to Berlin so we just gonna hope i can retain as much in these next few weeks as possible.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Learning to Hurdle
I finished 4th down in Cuba at the CAC games. Dayron Robles, the world record holder, was there running in front of his people and ran away in a comfortable 13.18. I ran 13.63.
I then came to Raleigh and trained with Coach McGill for a day before heading to NYC for Club Nationals. I am learning to hurdle a new way and im pretty excited. i actually didnt run very well in NY because i am trying to ingrain this new technique and ran a bit scared. Im still not comfortable with the new things ive learned and so i held back alot at the meet.
But i am officially with Coach McGill now. I have known him for 7 years now but have never been able to work with him one on one. Every time i was ready, something would come up that would prevent it from happening. But im finally here and we can FINALLY get to work.
He is one of the best hurdle coaches in the world in my eyes. He has coached 3 of the fastest high school hurdlers of all time. Johnny Dutch, Malcom Nunley, and currently Wayne Davis. All three have broken 13.50 in HS, Johnny also ran 50.xx in the 400 hurdles under coach McGill, and Wayne Davis broke Terrance Trammells indoor 60 hurdle record, Liu Xiangs 110 hurdle youth world record, and recently ran 13.16w, and 13.30 legal over the 39" barriers.
Its clear coach McGill has been doing something right down here, and now its time to show the world that he can do even more with a post-collegiate guy.
so im excited. ive been un-doing alot of bad technqiue so far with him. my trail leg lags way behind, my lead leg kicks out instead of down, i dont lean enough and i dont hold my lean coming off the hurdle.
Coach has a real eye for picking up on the little things, and ive been feeling really great training with him so far.
I have one more meet before i head off to Berlin for World Champs. I run in Bogota, Colombia in 2 weeks. I will be doing as much as i can to ingrain the knew techniques coach is teaching me, and hopefully it will be enough by August 19th to run some fast times at Worlds.
Coach feels that once i fix the minor issues in my hurdling i should be in the 13.3/13.2 range, and he feels it is still very possible to get there before Worlds.
so we'll see what happens. I'll update the blog after my meet in Colombia and before Worlds.
if you are interested in getting to know Coach McGill more check out his website at HURDLES FIRST its without a doubt the best hurdling website on the internet.
I then came to Raleigh and trained with Coach McGill for a day before heading to NYC for Club Nationals. I am learning to hurdle a new way and im pretty excited. i actually didnt run very well in NY because i am trying to ingrain this new technique and ran a bit scared. Im still not comfortable with the new things ive learned and so i held back alot at the meet.
But i am officially with Coach McGill now. I have known him for 7 years now but have never been able to work with him one on one. Every time i was ready, something would come up that would prevent it from happening. But im finally here and we can FINALLY get to work.
He is one of the best hurdle coaches in the world in my eyes. He has coached 3 of the fastest high school hurdlers of all time. Johnny Dutch, Malcom Nunley, and currently Wayne Davis. All three have broken 13.50 in HS, Johnny also ran 50.xx in the 400 hurdles under coach McGill, and Wayne Davis broke Terrance Trammells indoor 60 hurdle record, Liu Xiangs 110 hurdle youth world record, and recently ran 13.16w, and 13.30 legal over the 39" barriers.
Its clear coach McGill has been doing something right down here, and now its time to show the world that he can do even more with a post-collegiate guy.
so im excited. ive been un-doing alot of bad technqiue so far with him. my trail leg lags way behind, my lead leg kicks out instead of down, i dont lean enough and i dont hold my lean coming off the hurdle.
Coach has a real eye for picking up on the little things, and ive been feeling really great training with him so far.
I have one more meet before i head off to Berlin for World Champs. I run in Bogota, Colombia in 2 weeks. I will be doing as much as i can to ingrain the knew techniques coach is teaching me, and hopefully it will be enough by August 19th to run some fast times at Worlds.
Coach feels that once i fix the minor issues in my hurdling i should be in the 13.3/13.2 range, and he feels it is still very possible to get there before Worlds.
so we'll see what happens. I'll update the blog after my meet in Colombia and before Worlds.
if you are interested in getting to know Coach McGill more check out his website at HURDLES FIRST its without a doubt the best hurdling website on the internet.
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