Ibero-American Champ

I am the 2010 Ibermo-American Champ!

First an update on whats been happening..

After the meet at Duke, i traveled back to NC A&T to run a not very pleasing 13.67 in the hurdles. I then traveled to Mt. Sac Relays in California to run a very disappointing 13.73.

At NC A&T i ran the 100 meter dash for the first time EVER and ran 10.65 in the prelims, and 10.55 in the finals. I knew i could run a lot faster because in the first race i popped up after 10 meters, and in the final i sat in the blocks and had to chase everyone down. So i decided id run the 100 again at Mt. Sac to see if i could improve upon the 10.55. I ended up running a 10.37 with a perfect start and so i was very pleased. I have not ran the 100 since though, because running the 100 causes problems with my 110 hurdles. In the 100 meter dash you want to have a very high knee lift so as to gain lots of ground with every stride. But the hurdles limit you to only 3 strides every 9 or so meters, and getting your knees very high is the LAST thing you wanna do. And so my 100 meter running days are over.. For this year at least. I will run the 100 again next year, but only through April. My goal next year will be to break the standing record of 10.28 seconds in Puerto Rico. I am pretty sure i can do it, i just need to get a couple more opportunities.

After Mt. Sac i headed to Puerto Rico for 4 weeks and then Spain for another week. In Puerto Rico i ran at the Ponce Grand Prix, and ran a very horrible 13.8 to finish 5th in the hurdles. I also ran the 4x100 meter relay (first leg) and we ran a National Record of 39.15 seconds. I will continue to run the 4x100 meter relay as we are certain we can get well into the 38s and we are looking forward to running at some bigger meets such as the Pan Am Games, World Champs, and of course the Olympics... While in Puerto Rico i also competed at our National Track meet, where i won the hurdles in 13.73 seconds.

From Puerto Rico i headed to San Fernando, Spain for the Ibero-American Championships. The meet is held every other year and this was my first year competing. In the semi-final i cruised to a second place finish behind Spains jackson Quinonez and a time of 13.84 seconds. I tried to focus on technique and used it more so as a practice session than a race.

The final was the following day and i had to put all thinking aside and simple compete. I was first out of the block and over the first 4 hurdles (as usual) but over the 5th and into the 6th i did what i have been doing all year long. I ran up on the hurdle and made an adjustment in midflight to keep from crashing the hurdle, and it allowed the pact to catch up. I did my best to stay ahead and ended up crossing the line in 13.54s for Gold and a New National Record.

I had been addressing the mid-race issues before heading to Puerto Rico, but while in Puerto Rico i was forced to train by myself with no coach and so i still have yet to fix the issues. So although i have made some progress, i still have a lot of room for improvement and so i am not content!

I am finally back in Raleigh with Coach McGill and things are getting back on track. I am finally getting that immediate feedback during practice sessions and these issue are getting fixed.

Next on the agenda is a local meet at UNC Charlotte. Its not a big meet, nor is it a very fast track, but its another opportunity to get over 10 hurdles and work towards my goals. After Friday i have no guaranteed meets other then the very important Central American and Caribbean Championships in late July, that will be hosted by Puerto Rico.

The goal is Gold there, and so its time to get it in.

Duke Invitational

I ran at 2 different meets this past weekend. On Friday i headed to NC A&T to compete at the Aggie Relays. I headed up there with a training partner Carrington Queen. He ran in the first heat and in the prelim he crossed the finish line in 14.9x seconds, and the first thing that crossed my mind was "thats wrong". I brushed it off though and figured theyd quickly fix it as im sure they knew we werent running that slow. My prelim went off after his, I ran a decent race felt good technically wise but stopped the clock in 14.73 seconds. I knew immediately something was truly wrong with the timing system. I know what a slow time feels like, and despite the -2.5 wind i knew i wasnt capable of running so slow without making some serious errors. Last year in Colombia i did a complete front flip and ran half a second faster than 14.7 so i knew something was off. I thought about speaking with someone at the meet about it but decided not too. I knew not much would come from it so i just left it alone. The final was supposed to be run on Saturday at Noon but we decided to not run as we didnt wanna take a chance with another faulty system.

On Saturday i got the opportunity to race 2 more times, this time at the Duke Invitational. Im not a big fan of this track as it is very "spongy" and not suited for the sprints, but i figured they would at least have their timing system in check.

I ran a decent prelim in 13.87 seconds. I hit hurdle 6 nearly stumbled but was able to keep it together across the finish line. Hurdle 6 has been causing me problems lately but we are taking the proper steps towards fixing that. In the final i ran 13.62 for the win but felt it was a very bad race. My technique was not what it was in Raleigh last week and my last 2 hurdles in particular were just extremely slow. The only good thing i did in the race was compete, as i was neck and neck with Jamaican hurdler Eric Keddo over the 8th hurdle, but was able to keep my cool coming off the 10th to secure the win, as Eric pressed, hit the hurdle and crashed.

I actually learned from last weeks race not to rush. I knew it was gonna come down to the last 2 hurdles and the sprint to the finish line, so i just kept my cool over the second half and allowed that to keep me from making mistakes. Overall it was a pretty ugly race, but coach and I are pleased with how things are shaping up. We know i have a lot of room for improvement and whats even better is that we are certain most of my improvements will come within the next couple months.

I race again this weekend at NC A&T. I hope this time around the timing system is fixed.

Ready For Outdoors

World Indoor Champs didn't go so well, but i came away with a lot. I was finally able to piece together the technique coach has been teaching me since September and i finally got the hang of it. I wasn't too disappointed with the results at WIC because i know that was not the technique id been learning all year. I honestly did nothing right over there, yet my very first week back it all clicked again. Just goes to show that i really do need a good hurdle coach out there reminding me of the things i need to do. I am finally grasping things though so next time i have to travel 5 weeks and be without coaching i should be good to go.

After world champs i wanted to get away and just relax without thinking about or training for track for a couple days. So i decided to head to Ft. Lauderdale and visit my Brother Alex. It was a good time and i enjoyed spending time with my nephew. He is 16 months now and is running around getting into whatever he can get into. He likes to hide in the cupboards beneath the kitchen counter, and hide cell phones and keys in various places around the apartment. He is a cute kid and i hope i can head back to FL to visit before 2011.

While in Florida i did not train a single day but decided to compete at a meet down in Miami. I figured i might as well stay somewhat active and i figured running over 10 hurdles would be a good way to do so. I didnt run anything special but it was nice to get out there, and it was also nice to have my brother at the meet. It might actually be the first meet he'd ever seen me run at.

As soon as i arrived back in NC i headed straight to practice from the airport and jumped right into things. We had 8x110 meter runs in 12.4 seconds and i was very surprised to see that i was able to finish the workout without feeling as if i was out of shape. I had never been so happy to arrive in Raleigh, NC and practice made me feel even better, because it showed me i could pick up where i left off in February.

Last weekend coach had me run at the Raleigh Relays, and i will continue to run as many weekends as i can. My prelim race was on Friday, we had beautiful weather, and for the first time i raced with the technique id been learning during the Fall. My start was not as aggressive as i would like, but we are making some minor adjustments to it and i wasnt comfortable going all out to the first hurdle. But i did manage to do a lot of other things correct. I felt good until mid race and when i found myself standing up off the hurdle and forgetting to lean. I felt i was clear of the field and so i put it on cruise control and did my usual (horrible habit) jog to the finish line. I crossed the line in 1st place with a time of 13.74 which is without a doubt the fastest ive ever ran in March.

The final did not go so well because i didnt keep my composure midway down the track. I am used to getting a great start and being out in front, but as i was still not comfortable with the adjustmens i wasnt able to get out as aggresivley as id like. I was neck and neck with Drew Brunson over 4 hurdles but i tried pressing over the 5th and finally reverted to old and (bad) techniques over the 6th. I started standing up over top of the hurdle and my lead-leg hamstring came down on the hurdle. It a was clear sign that I wasnt executing what id been taught, but it was a good lesson learned that i have to keep my cool in tight situations. I pulled up at hurdle 6 and continued to walk down and move hurdles with my hand to finally cross the finish line in 21.8 seconds. I was given a DQ though because you are not allowed to push hurdles over with your hands lol.

I wasnt upset with it though and neither was coach because we finally saw a lot of things executed correctly in a race. Coach also realized that i hadn't even started training for 10 hurdles as i had just finished with my indoor season.

I also ran on a 4x100 meter relay at Raleigh Relays (my first 4x1 ever) and we finished 2nd in 40.32. It is not an especially fast time, but is very impressive when you realize that 3 of the legs are hurdlers, and we got no more than 10 minutes worth of relay-exchange practice in. I was very pleased and im certain we will run under 40 seconds and we ever decide to run it again.

So i am very happy that the outdoor season is here, and im feeling confident about the way things are going and where they are heading. Indoor did not go as planned, but it is behind me, i learned a lot from it, and am now focused on this outdoor season.

I run this Friday and Saturday and NC A&T, ill be running the 110 hurdles and for the first time ever the 100 meter dash. We finally have great weather again in NC so im looking forward to a great weekend.

Here is the Prelim race (13.74)

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

And this is the 4x1 relays (40.32, Lane 2)

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

Yet another change in plans

After speaking with a couple people down in Puerto Rico, I've decided I will still run at World Champs in March. I am NOT in the shape I hoped to be right now (because of freezing weather) but I am still in pretty good shape.

So far all year Coach McGills time trials have been within 0.05s of my actual FAT times. In late December my time trials were consistently 7.8x and i ran 7.84 in my first meet with about 90% effort. The 60 Dash trials were always 6.8low and 6.7high and i ran 6.85 and 6.83 in the dash. If his timing skills are still on par then i am currently well under 7.70 in the 60 hurdles.

In practice coach gives us two whistles. The first is SET and the second is GO. He starts the clock as he blows the whistle, and stops the clock when one stride clears the finish line.

When you start the watch off of movement you will get varying degrees of accuracy because the timer is starting anywhere from .2 to .3 seconds late. Same goes when one person starts the athletes and another times the athletes. The timer is having to react to the starter just like the athletes, which causes a loss in accuracy.

Through trial and error we have found that having the person timing, be the person giving the commands gives the most consistent times and also brings us as close to FAT as we can get without setting up the actual electronic equipment.

The last meet i planned for this indoor season was to be at Vtech on the 19th and 20th of the month. After emailing them though i found out that only unattached athletes who currently train at the school are allowed to compete in the meet. So I wont get a chance to compete again before the championships.

I will instead head to Puerto Rico to train in the warm weather for 2 weeks before i head to Qatar. I might run at a meet in Puerto Rico next weekend, if i get down there in time. But seeing as they dont run the shorter distances, it will be over a full flight of 10 hurdles and 110 meters. Should be interesting to see what i can do.

So I guess im still on for this indoor season. I will be going pretty hard these next 3 weeks in practice and although this indoor season did not go according to plan, i still plan on doing big things when i get to Qatar.