Running in NYC

My next meet will be this Friday at the Armory in NYC. It will be a 60 hurdle race and ill get at least 2 races so im happy. The goal is 7.75 and regardless of the competition i think ill get it.

I have to thank the David Callum and Greater Boston Track Club because they are the ones funding the trip to NYC. They have helped me out in the past and continue to do so today.

Im going to treat this meet as a "make-up" meet. This past Saturday didnt go as planned, but Friday i have a chance to make up for it and get back on track.

I have been confirmed for the Boston Indoor games in February and id like to be in the 7.6s by then. I know that with competition ill get there, but id like to be running 7.75- with next to no competition before then.

We will see what happens.

Tiger Invite

Today i ran at a local track meet. It was run pretty bad. I thought the meet was at 4pm, So we got there at 230pm. At 3pm you can hear crickets in the place though because there were like 5 people in the gym. Come to find out the meet is actually at 5pm.

So i warm up and get ready to run, only to find out 10 minutes before my race that there arent enough people for trials and finals, so of course we only ran a timed final. I went and sat down for 45 mintues because i decided i didnt care anymore. I was just gonna run through and finish the race because i wasnt excited anymore.

We finally ran and i ran 7.32 for the 55 hurdles. It converts to a 7.85 which is decent i guess seeing as, by the time i ran, i no longer cared.

I was a bit dissapointed though. The times id been running in practice indicate i should be running 7.75 or better(60 meters) right now, but under the circumstances i wasnt able to show it. I tend to run a tenth faster in the final and maybe, had i been able to run twice, i could have ran the 7.22 that i was aiming for. Now i have to wait until next week (maybe) if i run down in NYC. I know i should be able to run my fastest in the very first race, and i believe i could have ran 7.25 during my first race had i still been excited to race, but i guess we'll never know.

So the meet didnt go as planned but i still ran decent. Not excited, but i cant really be mad either. Hopefully this will be the last bootleg meet for the year.

i would post the video of the race, but i dont want to waste another 7.32 seconds of your lives haha.

A year in Review 2008

So the New Year is here and id like to take time to look at all that happened in 2008

After graduating from ECU i accepted a job offer in Lynn, MA to do Mechanical Design work at an Engineering firm.

so I...
-Moved to Boston on December 28th 2007.
-I stayed in the living room on a blow up mattress of my good friend Dominiks Apt.
-I officially gave up on track and field
-I searched for a coach in the Boston area because i missed track
-I met and started training with my current coach Carl Valle
-I woke up at 5am daily, worked from 7am-4pm. trained from 8pm-10pm and made it home by 10:30pm in time to eat dinner, shower and sleep.
-I showed up late for work and/or left work early in an effort to have more energy for practice.
-I was terminated from work due to the above problem.
-I started training "full-time" in March
-I lived off of $800 a month that PR would send whenever they were in the mood (on average every 3 months)
-I had a very understanding Landlord in Matt Sarbanis whos sister was a former Olympic and World Championship athlete herself. I was very lucky here, as i was forced to pay my landlord on average every-other month because PR never sent checks on time and he completely understood
-I started my track season at Mt. Sac relay with an Injury, and a time of 14+
-I continued to run piss-poor until May when i ran 13.64 in Ottawa, Canada.
-Coach Valle and I got on bad terms and we parted ways.
-Instead of running in Europe for the first time, i ran in Colombia at the CAC games, due to what happened with coach.
-I posted another PR at 13.61, and won Bronze at the CAC games with a 13.55w
-I decided to continue training with Carl, despite the nonsense that caused me to skip out on Europe.
-I won Gold at USATF into a very strong head wind (which for some reason is posted as a tail wind)
-I competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
-I ran like crap.
-I came home to another "late" check from PR and was not able to pay my landlord for August rent.
-I sold him my bed, my tv, my dressers etc.. for $700 and promised to pay him the final $100 (plus utilities) in the future
-I moved in with Coach Valle and others in Waltham, MA. Coach found some local sponsorships for me so i wouldnt have to worry about rent.
-I never received my August check from PR
-I started traing for my first indoor season since 2006
-Finally received a check from PR. Not Augusts check but a "to help you get by" check.
-I posted 2 Personal Best in 2 meets.
-I sit here hanging on by a thread but greatful for all that has happened.

WOW alot can happen in a Year.

I finally feel i am in the right situation to run fast though. I have dedicated my life to training for track and field and i am finally able to do so with no distractions. I dont have school, and i dont have work. I relax at home all day, train hard on the track and in the weight room, and repeat 6 days a week.

Ive been saying all year that 2008 was my "Get in there" year, and that 2009 will be my "Blow up" year. lol.

In 2008 I made the Olympics. This year i plan on establishing myself as one of the up and coming hurdlers in the world.

The year did not go exactly as planned, but i kept my eye on the prize and i accomplished just about everything i set out to accomplish. I am an official Olympian, which no one can ever take away from me, and im on my way to fulfilling my dreams.

I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and whatever is meant to be will be.

So Happy New Years to everyone, i hope your 2008 was as good as mine, and i hope 2009 will be even better for all!


Happy New Years!

Ending the year on a good note

So yesterday 12/30 was my last practice of 2008. I ran at the track and lifted afterward as usual.

At the track I ran 2 of my fastest times in practice, and am right on pace to meet my goals for this indoor season. After the usual hurdle practice, i ran 2 flys, and 3 block starts to 18m. I was feeling pretty good so i asked if i could run one more to 30 meters in which i did and ran 3.85 which i supposed is decent after a full workout.

In the weight room i was still feeling good and was able to match my previous max on the Power Clean at 264.5 pounds (120KG) I then squatted 3x6 at 250 and got some pretty good depth on all reps.

I feel i could power clean 130 were i to come in fresh, but that will never be the case so ill jsut have to work up to getting it after a full practice.

Here are the goals i set for myself in October when i started training.

1. gain 15 pounds- this would have been 193. Instead i weighed 190 yesterday and so i was off by 3 pounds. Still pretty good i believe.

2. power clean 300 pounds. This was a goal that was a bit much. Gaining that much on my power clean would have been nearly impossible, the goal maybe should have been 286.6 (130kg) and if that were the case i feel i would have accomplished it. I instead power cleaned 264, which was my previous max, and cleaned 250+ on 4 occasions.

3. Bench 315 pounds. I havent done this, but will attempt my max on Saturday Jan 3rd after my track meet. My current best on the year is 295 which i posted some weeks back

4. Vetical jump 40" - I never got a real opportunity to do this, but after practice on a random day we had a Vertec machine at the facility i was at and i jumped 38". We will test this in Jan. BEFORE a workout to get the proper results.

So i feel things went pretty well this fall. Most importantly i broke my previous 60 hurdle record 2 times during my second meet, and my practice times show that im ready to break my records again.

The weight room work is only their to compliment my track work. So long as i am running faster on the track, the weight room doesnt matter.

here is a video of my 264 power clean attempted last night.