Ready to start competing

Ok i can finally update this thing.

So training has been going great. Ive felt really good at practice except for the last 2 days at tha track. Ive had a pretty serious shin splint on my left leg (trail leg) and it stems from bad form. Coach decided that we would use this week as a de-loading week and give my body some rest.

I will be opening up at NC A&T on April 5Th and i feel ready to go. I feel as if i am already better than i was last year. I am very confident about this season. I am finally hurdling correctly.

the biggest focus we've had this year is running off the hurdle. In the past i was simply clearing the hurdles but i was not running off of them. therefore i was having to re-accelerate after every hurdle.

Am am now focusing on getting tall once i have landed and making sure my hips dont drop. you need to have a very active landing.

its a bit complicated if you dont know the event but its a HUGE flaw in my running. and i feel it is going to contribute a whole lot to my times this year.

I have also been focusing on alot of other things but for the most part this is my biggest flaw.

I am surprised i have ran so well in the past seeing as i was on my own for the most part. it is such a big difference when you have someone out there everyday. You need the immediate feedback in order to get better. in the past i was recording my practices and then reviewing them later that night, but by the time i had done that i had already ingrained the bad technique for that entire practice.

i think the biggest factor in succeeding in this sport is finding a good coach and im lucky to have found one. everyday i am learning something new at practice and im sure it will show this season.

ill update this again after my first meet and continue to update it as the season progresses.

2008

Hello to the 15 people that have read my blog. haha.

ALOT has changed for me since my alst update. So lets go down the list of what is happening in my life.

1) I graduated college on December 14th, 2007. Definitely the happiest moment of my life. HS graduated was nothing special but damn i was happy to be done with college. After 5 1/2 long years i did it :D it was free so i cant complain.

2) I moved to Boston, MA.
So i live in Boston MA now. Its a crazy story how it happened but its working out. I am a Mechanical Design Detailer at a company called TK Engineering. The company designs and details Jet Engines for GE.

So far i like Boston. Its not 70 degrees like im used to but its not bad.

3) I found a coach.
I honestly think everything happens for a reason. And how lucky did i get to have found a coach when i moved up here to Boston. His name is Carl Valle and he knows his shit. So for the first time i have a coach. Its just me him and another kid everyday so i am getting lots of attention and we are fixing alot of the mistakes that i developed over the years.

The plan was to train with Steve McGill in Raleigh but of course that was not possible. I pretty much had to move to Boston because i had a pretty nice job offer and could not afford to sit in NC and wait and hope for something better to come along. It sucks i was not able to train with him, because i had honestly been looking foward to it for so long. He is a very much under-rated coach and i was hoping we could do big things together.

but it all happens for a reason and im sure this was no different.

So Boston has been treating me well, work is great, and im training again.

Life is pretty good right now and hopefully will continue to get better.

Not sure how often ill get to post on here but ill try to keep it pretty regular for my 15 fans! :)

-Cotto

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.