UPDATE ON MY LIFE

Ok so i havent written since my birthday and there have been a couple updates since then. so here are what i can think of off the top of my head.

1) School started- im passing all classes and i graduate December 14th :D

2) Started training again- I was scheduled to start training the first week of October, but i was a little anxious so i started the last week in September. its been going pretty well. Monday is Plyo day and its the first time ive ever done plyos. the first week my legs damn near fell off, but im feeling good now and im able to get thru all my workouts.

3) My mom finally got her divorce- So my mom has been dealing with some crap from her ex-husband for the past 2 years but its officially over :) he did her pretty dirty after 12 years and it was prety hard on the entire family but things are better now. she is doing fine and life is better now :D woop woop

4) I Have a new girl- me and my ex broke up because we grew apart in the 2 months that i was traveling. but ive been seeing a new girl and we decided to start dating recently. hopefully my travels will not affect this relationship, but we'll just have to wait and see.

5)I put up 305 on the bench- haha. i finally put up more than 300 pounds on the bench press so i was pretty happy about that. i worked pretty hard in the weight room from august-october and now i can say i bench more than 300. lol. i also power cleaned 264. my goal is to power clean more than 300 by this time next year. i rarely squat, so im sure that as soon as i step my squatting game up my power clean will fly.

6)I will be an assistant coach when i graduate- So i contacted my old HS, and they told me that when i graduate i can be an assistant coach in track and field. that should be pretty cool. i will coach during the afternoons and train in the evenings or mornings with coach McGill.

7)Marion Jones came clean- I wasn't surprised at all. thats the way the game works. Lots of athletes out there are on drugs but the truth is that not ALL are. It sucks how the media in the USA picks up all the negative shit about track and field but rarely mentions anything else. When Asafa Powell broke the WR there wasnt as much publicity. And im sorry to me running 9.74 is alot more impressive than hitting 70 home runs in baseball. but yea, Marion Jones came clean. i feel bad for her, she made a shit load of money during her career and i really hope she invested a good bit so shes not in the poor house. I honestly dont think she ever needed to take PEDs to be succesfull but she did and now shes having to suffer the consequences. hopefully shes healthy and will not have any negative health problems due to the drugs she took.

8) My Bills almost beat the Cowboys- :( my heart melted when the Cowboys won in those last seconds of the Monday night game last week. Im a die hard Buffalo Bills fan and it sucks they have been so horrible for so long. i still support them and i hope one day they get back on top.

thats all i guess. just random thoughts of my life off the top of my head.

23

So on this day 1984 i was born.

I am 23 today yay for me! :D

I got a couple phone calls from friends, and i got some presents from my girlfriend.

Not sure if ill do anything tonight, might go out with the fellas, might not.

Either way its been a pretty boring day so far but its all good, because im enjoying having nothing to do.

thanks to all who called or left me facebook messages wishing me a happy birthday!

I'm now 1 day older than i was yesterday and can say im 23 lol.

ok so things didnt go as well as id hoped. i finished dead last in 14.09. my reaction was by far the worst in the field at .260 quite possibly the worst reaction ever by a hurdler. the rain didnt bother met at all so i really have no excuses. i felt GREAT (caps for emphasis) before the race. i was excited to run and felt very confident that id run fast.

in the blocks i told my self to listen for the gun. all i heard was the crowd though. they held us in the ready position forever but once we were in set the gun was fast. i did not react to the gun instead i reacted to dayron robles in lane 6 next to me. his reaction was .102 faster than mine. i actually saw his first foot plant before i even reacted.

im really upset because i feel like i did not run the fastest i could have ran this year. its a really bad feeling to know you should be running 13.4/5 but not being able to put everything together for the races.

im greatful for the experience and the opportunities though. i was given plenty of chances to prove myself and i just didnt do it.

so thats it for this year. now i head back to PR and then back to NC on the 1st. im not sure if ill continue to run next year because quite honestly its not a very profitable. if puerto rico decides to put me on the payroll then ill be at this full time starting in september. but if not then ill more than likey just work a regular 9-5 in janurary when i get my degree in mechanical design :)

i really hope to be able to go at this track thing hardcore next year for the olympics. ive already made the B standard for the olympics but we will see what happens.

only time will tell. any questions or comments feel free to email me. ill put the race up as soon as someone posts it to youtube.

here is the difference between where i am and where i wanna be


sad :(

-Cotto

Pan Ams

Today were the prelims at the pan am games. i was in heat 3 of 3 and i ran out of lane 3. I knew going into the race that it should be the easiest heat to qualify from and it was. Last night i figured id have to beat either Maurice Wignall or Yoel Hernandez to get an entry to the finals. Wignall did not show up so i pretty much knew i had an easy run to the finals. i got out bad, floated every hurdle BUT ran across the line hard to finish second and make the finals in 13.92 hernandez took the easy win with 13.91.

it was an extremly slow race but no complaining from me seeing as i go to the finals.

tomorrow i run at 4:20pm local and i am in lane 7. Dayron Robles (13.00) is in lane 6. My goal is to keep as close to him as possible and set a personal record and new Puerto Rican national record. I still have World Championships on my mind so lets see what happens.

Im pretty confident i can do it so tomorrow i should be updating the blog with great news :D

im out..

-Cotto

Update

Ok i havent updated this thing in a while so here is what ive been up to.

Ive been in Puerto Rico since June 14th. been staying in a place called Albergue. The second week here i had a meet in Jamaica. Jamaican nationals. I finished 3rd with a time of 14.20. I was pretty disappointed of course but its all good. i ran in lane 7 had a guy who ran 15+ in lane 6 and i thought i was in the lead until midway thru the race when i realized i was screwed..

So my second meet was in Carolina, Puerto Rico. i finished 2nd in 13.82. I was leading the race until hurdle 8 when my form broke down.

My 3rd race was in vega Baja, Puerto Rico. it was extremely bootleg but i guess it was a good practice. when we arrived to the track there was absolutely no one there. they set up 2 lanes of hurdles for me and the other hurdler from Puerto Rico Enrique llanos. then at the last minute they set up a 3rd lane of hurdles for another hurdler. the 3rd guy was in 2 Enrique was in 4 and I was in 6. i ran a 13.74 wind aided time for second.

i am now in El Salvador now for the NACAC open meet. i run saturday morning and then afternoon for the finals. After this we go to Brazil for the Pan American games. And hopefully by then i will have ran the qualifying mark for World Champs of 13.55. That is the ultimate goal for this year so we'll see what happens.

But ive had a pretty good time in Puerto Rico so far. still some headaches as usual but its all good. Im glad to be competing on a consistent basis, and i feel as im still on target for my goals this year.


Ill try to update this blog after my race this saturday with the results and hopefully some footage.

Chillin

one of my favorite videos.

i had a decent week of practice last week.

monday and tuesday were shit. but by friday i felt like superman! lol so im back on track.

now im just chillin..

Update

Ok so here is an update for whoever is reading this.

I was forced to take last week off from training. i did not have a ride to pracitce because the buses werent running on campus and my girl went home for the summer.

i lifted weights and ran on the bike our apt complex has.

Monday i started training again.

and today my training has to go an halt again.

This morning my mom called me and told me she needed me on a plane to dallas texas to help her move her belongings back to North Carolina.

Apparently she wants to live in the raleigh area again.

so i am catching a flight a 5pm. and we should be headed back here tomorrow. i helped drive her down there with a couple uhauls back in August and it was a horrible trip. it took about 27 hrs and we slept for only 3.

going thru the mountains in western carolina is pretty tough in a big uhaul because the truck refuses to go faster than 30mph.

hopefully the trip wont take as long and i can get back to training soon.

well thats it. nothing special going on here. it seems i face as many hurdles in my day to day life as i do on the track and that sucks.

but thats life and im positive things will get better so i try not to complain too much.

-Cotto

Duke Twilight

Just got back from the meet at Duke University.

Ran pretty bad...

Woke up this morning called my boy who said he was gonna let me use his car but he didnt pick up. i was planning on leaving at noon. Around 11:20AM i talked to my boy Kevin who told me hed ask my other friend AD if he could give me a ride to the track meet.

so at 12 o'clock they show up and we leave. there is 5 of us in a Nissan Altima and we are packed like mexicans (i can say that cause im latino). i feel my right hamstring tightening up but i tell myself ill be ok and dont complain.

i got there around 230pm and immedialtely start to warm up.

The race was to be a timed final so i warmed up extra early and gave myself an hour rest. I wanted to feel as if id run a prelim because i know that my first race of the day is always my slowest and i wanted to run fast in the final.

i warmed up fine and i felt pretty good. there is no one at the meet that can run with me but i still wanted to push and run a fast time.

My goal for the meet was 13.50. it would be a pretty big chunk off my last meet of 13.72 but i felt confident i could handle it.

anyway...things did NOT go as planned. I got out of the blocks well. Over the hurdle fine my take off was off by no more than a couple inches so that was good.

hurdles 1 and 2 were good but thats where the good part of the race ends.

from 3 to the finish like i ran a big D-

I crashed 3 or 4 hurdles with my lead leg pretty good but i was still staying ahead of the pack. I did not see anyone until the finish line when a kid from App State almost caught me.

at hurdle 8 i decided i would pout about my race and had decided that i would not sprint to the finish line. so i didnt. i damn near stopped and almost ended up losing. i ran 14.24 and second place ran 14.28

i was pretty pissed. and as of right now im not quite sure exactly what went wrong.

I was crashing hurdles with my lead leg, which means i was getting too close to the hurdles so i think there must of been a tailwind even though when i was getting in the blocks i felt a head wind.

either way i figure if i hadnt crashed so many hurdles and had sprinted to the finish line, that i would have ran 13.7x. not good but at least it would not have been a big step back.

i decided to run the 200 meter dash as well. and here is how that race went.

I warmed up very little. it was 58 degrees by now 7:30pm and there was a huge headwind on the homestretch.

I got out of the blocks piss poor. (C-) My plan was to catch lane 8 (i was in lane 6 and lane 7 was empty) by 20 meters. I came out of my blocks and went from the inner side of the lane to the outter side of the lane and finally back to the inner side. I didnt break stagger on lane 8 until about 50-60 meters.

around 80-90 meters i told myself i would run as if i was running a 400 meter dash. to me that would mean not going 100%, instead running about 85%

that plan flew out the window really fast because lane 5 was on my ass and i decided that i had to do what i could to win. i stayed in the lead by MAYBE 6-7 INCHES. yea it was really close. at 150 meters i told myself that i needed to pull away because i was tired of being neck and neck.

I tried to turn-over faster but it just wouldnt happen. at 170 meters i said F-this and slowed to a jog. i damn near stopped. the winning time was 22.02 so i figure ida crossed the line in 21.99 which is pretty pathetic so it really didint matter if i had finished or not. i ended up running 23.62 or something and i just laughed about it. it was a good workout for me though so at least i got that out of it.

ive decided i will run the 200 a couple more times this summer just so i dont have that slow ass 23 on my record. i figure i can run a low 21 or maybe even a high 20 if train a little better.

the videos of my races and all the other races run today at the Duke Twilight are on www.accselect.com

as soon as they upload my videos i will upload them to this blog for my 15 viewers to watch.

all in all i guess today wasnt the worst day ever. I am still very confident that my 110 hurdle time will improve and so im pleased.

it was nice to get out of the house and run.

Race at A&T

My race at A&T went ok.

I got a little over 3 hours of sleep friday night because people kept texting and calling me at 3am and when it happened the second time i couldnt fall back asleep.

It was horrible but i really wanted to run at this meet so i finally woke up at 5am, got ready and hit the road around 6:15am

We (me and my girl Alex) got there around 8:30am and i warmed up and got ready to run.

I had just realized the night before that i would have 2 races instead of 1 so i told myself i wouldnt run too hard in the prelims.

In the prelims at 9:45am i ran in heat 4 of 4 and ran 13.99 basically jogging. I was happy because i knew that if i could run 13.9 without giving much effort that i could go much faster in the finals.

After the race my lack of sleep kicked in though. I went and sat in my girls car for about an hour and tried to get some rest.

I felt horrible. I felt like it was still 3am in the morning and i had just woken up. At 11:30 though i decided to warm up again for my 2nd race.

I was to run in the slow section of the 2 heat finals.

I was not mad about this at all because at this point in the season i dont need to be running against guys who are a half a second faster than me.

I got out of the blocks good and ran the first 5 hurdles well. My lead leg floated over a couple hurdles but i kept it together to come across the line in 13.72.

I didnt get a chance to sprint off of the last hurdle because i landed off balance but i held on for a second place finish behind Jared Macleod from Canada who ran 13.58

I was upset because i didnt run the time i was aiming for which was 13.65 but i was pleased that i ran so well under the circumstances.

I watched my race and i have SO much work to do. That just makes me happier though because i am prety confident that i will set a HUGE personal best by seasons end.

here is the video of my final. the quality isnt great but in slow motion (like i watch it) its bareable.

the second video is of the 1 of 2 finals in wich David Oliver won in 13.22 seconds

Lets get started

So ive enjoyed reading Rob Bramletts and recently David Olivers blog so i decided to create my own.

im not on their level but i figure this will be nice to keep track of my progress.

So ive run 3 races this year.

Coastal Carolina 14.37

Wake Forrest 14.37

Florida Relays 13.89

This is the fastest ive ever ran at this point in the season so im pretty happy.

I decided to start training in late Jan. so im pretty happy with my progress. For once i dont have to go through an entire indoor and outdoor college track season so i feel i should run alot better this year.

I run for Puerto Rico and im planning on representing them at the world championships as well as the 08 olympics.

Ive ran for them for the past 3 years during the summer. And to be honest my times havent been too hot while representing them. Due to a very long college season. But that is all over and so now there is no excuses.

I train in Greenville, NC at East Carolina University.

I train by myself but plan to move to Raleigh in the summer to train with Steve McGill.

I have done pretty well on my own for the most part but it has been tough and i expect big things next year when i finally have a knowledgable coach.

k thats all for now.