Hey fellow bloggers! It has been a little while since I've had a chance to chat with you all. I've decided to give myself a complete rest from track and didn't think much about the sport or what was going on with track, etc, etc. I did keep up on a few of my favorite blogs, but that was about it. Since putting this decision into motion I have had a COMPLETE BALL. I haven't been doing a great plethora of things, but I've done some things that have kept my attention. For example, I've had the pleasure to visit 2 of Disney's many theme parks (Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom). The last time I've been to the theme parks here in Florida was more than 20 years ago when we had a huge family reunion and, sadly, I barely remember anything we did. Even though Disney is more for kids and families, I did enjoy the "magic" that the place has to offer, and it was pretty exciting. I have been twice now and have been blessed to have not paid a dime for parking or admittance to the park...you know, I've got people lol. Nonetheless, I'm waiting for one of my roommates to come through for some tix to Universal Studios so I can get on some of those roller coasters.
I have been working a good deal more than I was, but I end up having more time to myself still. I've noticed that track season takes up a lot more time than I thought until my season came to a halt. Now I do fun stuff like study or read books on things of interest like nutrition, finance and investments, cars, and the Bible. I love to learn and since being away from the college environment my brain has consistently pleaded with me to feed it something. Plus I've realized after all the years my parents forced me to read semi-interesting novels as a child, that reading is THE WAY to learn outside of formal education.
Aside from reading up on things of importance to me I've had the pleasure to stay active as well. Since season's end I've been choosing to walk or bike to work which is a good source of exercise and way to stay active without 'working out'. After talking with one of my mentors I decided to do something I had always been at least remotely interested in...dancing. Don't get me wrong...I CAN dance and have good rhythm, but I have always wanted to learn partnered dances and maybe to a hip-hop dance class. I finally mustered up enough guts to go out to a salsa spot and enter in to the unknown. They had a beginners class where I learned the Salsa basics and had some great instructors. One young lady also took me under her wing, seeing how I was pretty rhythmic and decided to teach me a touch of another style (I don't remember the name now). I can assure you that I am by all means a salsa beginner, but some of the movements came pretty easy to me. The issue was involving your partner into the dance because in salsa, and many other Latin dance styles, the man leads the woman almost as if he were a puppeteer. The basics are pretty easy to get down, but with all things practice, practice, practice is the key. I hope I can turn this new interest into something that I will enjoy for many many years to come.
I have some more fun things in the works, and hopefully I can knock them off the list before practice starts back up in full force. I'll keep you posted on the rest of the fun. This is the life...of the off-season!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Friday, September 3, 2010
Season's Recap II
HELLO Bloggers! As I stated in Recap I the season has come to an end. Needless to say this will probably be the last post for a little bit, but who knows I may throw a few off season posts in to keep you caught up on my happenings. Recap II is about the struggle this year.
A few weeks ago I was thinking about this past season as a rookie in the professional realm of track and field. How did it go you ask? Well, I can honestly say that it wasnt something I will run through the streets jumping for joy about. I had a lot of awesome experiences that made for a great learning season, but there were a few hickups that caused my season to be less than expected too. For starters I had to learn how my new coach operates, and the type of workouts he prescribes, lol. Its not easy leaving one program only to start a totally different training philosophy. It took almost the entire year to understand how to run his practices well. Next issue was the unexplained injury during the middle of indoor season. I had a huge problem with my knees for about 2 months during a CRITICAL period of training! I tried almost everything to get better. Went to doctors and specialists, chiropractors, and even an acupuncturists and NO ONE could tell me why I was experiencing this excrutiating pains in my knees. After many bills and evaluations later with yet no answer we "called it" tendonitis. During that time training was supposed to be focused on the first half of my hurdle race, working on block starts, and increasing speed in workouts for quickness and getting faster. Well, unfortunately I wasn't able to get those aspects of my race tuned up, and as a result it showed in my competitions throughout the season. So after the injury subsided I came back only to start where we left off: at the tail end of basework. We had to go back to longer slower workouts and weren't able to train for the speed factor like we were scheduled to. I believe this is the SOLE reason I didn't PR this year because our goal was to break 50 seconds over the hurdles, and prior to, all signs pointed to surpassing the goal.
I would say that I came into the program fairly prepared for everything coach had for me on the track. Prior to the injury I was showing excellent fitness and was able to focus on other things like form, stride length, and frequency. With Coach D there is a definite system for training the body to succeed at each phase of a race. If you miss one of those phases you will be missing an element which will alter your progression or results on the track. There are usually 3 general phases (starting, top speed, and maintaining or finishing), but with a more technical race like hurdles you add at least a few more (hurdle approach, front side hurdle, backside, and hurdle-ground transition). After the injury I was a mental wreck unaware. I started to doubt a lot of my training, and my confidence on the track was pretty low. I was just nervous about getting back out and pushing my body on account of the injury especially since we never found out what it was. It ended up playing a serious role in my races and practices hindering me from getting what I needed out of them. It made coach's job about 3 times harder because he had to train me physically and also mentally.
Dispite the sob story, Im taking it as a learning experience and can only focus on the future now. I learned a lot about the sport, my race, and myself as an athlete. I was mentally weak, but my body has always been in shape to run fast. My coach and I know that the ability is there, I just need to get out of my own head on the track and stay healthy off the track. I allowed my body to dictate the success of my race when I should have been pushing my mind to MAKE the body perform. When it comes down to your race, in front of either ten or ten thousand people, it doesn't matter what you feel like. Your mind will can get your body through nearly anything. Once you can allow your body to just go, do, or react without any connection to your emotions only then will you become an elite athlete. I've only recently discovered that so I have to keep it in mind and at heart. As for now, Im looking for some ideas for cross-training. Even though Im not practicing I need to find something to keep me active. I was thinking about joining a dance class or maybe martial arts? If you have any ideas drop a comment. As always thanks for checking me out yall! This is the life of...an athlete - Keep your focus
A few weeks ago I was thinking about this past season as a rookie in the professional realm of track and field. How did it go you ask? Well, I can honestly say that it wasnt something I will run through the streets jumping for joy about. I had a lot of awesome experiences that made for a great learning season, but there were a few hickups that caused my season to be less than expected too. For starters I had to learn how my new coach operates, and the type of workouts he prescribes, lol. Its not easy leaving one program only to start a totally different training philosophy. It took almost the entire year to understand how to run his practices well. Next issue was the unexplained injury during the middle of indoor season. I had a huge problem with my knees for about 2 months during a CRITICAL period of training! I tried almost everything to get better. Went to doctors and specialists, chiropractors, and even an acupuncturists and NO ONE could tell me why I was experiencing this excrutiating pains in my knees. After many bills and evaluations later with yet no answer we "called it" tendonitis. During that time training was supposed to be focused on the first half of my hurdle race, working on block starts, and increasing speed in workouts for quickness and getting faster. Well, unfortunately I wasn't able to get those aspects of my race tuned up, and as a result it showed in my competitions throughout the season. So after the injury subsided I came back only to start where we left off: at the tail end of basework. We had to go back to longer slower workouts and weren't able to train for the speed factor like we were scheduled to. I believe this is the SOLE reason I didn't PR this year because our goal was to break 50 seconds over the hurdles, and prior to, all signs pointed to surpassing the goal.
I would say that I came into the program fairly prepared for everything coach had for me on the track. Prior to the injury I was showing excellent fitness and was able to focus on other things like form, stride length, and frequency. With Coach D there is a definite system for training the body to succeed at each phase of a race. If you miss one of those phases you will be missing an element which will alter your progression or results on the track. There are usually 3 general phases (starting, top speed, and maintaining or finishing), but with a more technical race like hurdles you add at least a few more (hurdle approach, front side hurdle, backside, and hurdle-ground transition). After the injury I was a mental wreck unaware. I started to doubt a lot of my training, and my confidence on the track was pretty low. I was just nervous about getting back out and pushing my body on account of the injury especially since we never found out what it was. It ended up playing a serious role in my races and practices hindering me from getting what I needed out of them. It made coach's job about 3 times harder because he had to train me physically and also mentally.
Dispite the sob story, Im taking it as a learning experience and can only focus on the future now. I learned a lot about the sport, my race, and myself as an athlete. I was mentally weak, but my body has always been in shape to run fast. My coach and I know that the ability is there, I just need to get out of my own head on the track and stay healthy off the track. I allowed my body to dictate the success of my race when I should have been pushing my mind to MAKE the body perform. When it comes down to your race, in front of either ten or ten thousand people, it doesn't matter what you feel like. Your mind will can get your body through nearly anything. Once you can allow your body to just go, do, or react without any connection to your emotions only then will you become an elite athlete. I've only recently discovered that so I have to keep it in mind and at heart. As for now, Im looking for some ideas for cross-training. Even though Im not practicing I need to find something to keep me active. I was thinking about joining a dance class or maybe martial arts? If you have any ideas drop a comment. As always thanks for checking me out yall! This is the life of...an athlete - Keep your focus
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Season's Recap I
Looking back on the season Im pretty satisfied. Not with everything, but for a lot. For example, I had enough guts to take a leap of faith, literally, and pursue a dream of mine with no excuses. I ended up learning a whole bunch from my new coach as well as the seasoned veterans in the sport that I run with.
Even though I look at the results from all of my meets and don't see all of the times I was shooting for, I can say that on this journey I've started to realize what it is that I want to accomplish. Upon discovering what you want you just have to put life in motion to get that goal done. This year I've learned about my coach and his training techniques, myself as an athlete (what things help me or discourage me), and the sport of Athletics (as the Europeans call it) from a technical and professional side. One thing I would have never imagined is how small the sport of Track & Field is. I've seen and met A LOT of big names that have stood out for years in the collegiate enviornment. These athletes are just regular people, some have attitudes, some are really nice, others you probably don't want to try to make eye contact with, lol. All in all I've started to take the fan out of myself as a runner and start to put strictly comptetion down on the track. After the meet, if I have a chance to chat or hang out with someone new thats cool, but if not I still have to handle my business at work (since my actual JOB is to RUN).
I've had an opportunity to find out that there is, like everything else, politics in the sport, and that a lot of times you are chosen to enter meets based on who you know or who your agent is. Some agents get together to try to blacklist athletes they don't like, and others just want to see some good races. I personally don't have an agent yet, but when the time comes I'll make sure I choose wisely.
Another thing I've noticed is that Track athletes don't get half as much, heck...a quarter, hype and press as other sports do. We are kind of on the "starving artist" employment. I've had my struggles this year financially, but I kept my eyes on God and watched his grace fill my life, which is pretty exciting. When the only thing you can do is to REALLY trust God, you see "miracles" all the time and your faith grows because of it. All in all, I've met some really interesting people like Tyson Gay, Natasha Hastings, Veronica Campbell, etc. Some really wonderful people Rodney Greene, Shalonda Solomon, Damu Cherry, Debbie Ferguson-Makenzie, etc. And have hung out with some big names too: Dave Oliver, Bershawn 'Batman' Jackson, Dwight Thomas, and Dennis Mitchell.
Taking this year as a learning experience will only help me explode into the realm of greatness next season. I know how to train, how to take care of my body, what to expect this next year of training, and I have a great support team of people in and out of my training camp. Everything is great because things could ALWAYS be worse. I'll delve a bit deaper into the ups and downs next post, SO stay tuned in! The life of...a rookie; DK
Even though I look at the results from all of my meets and don't see all of the times I was shooting for, I can say that on this journey I've started to realize what it is that I want to accomplish. Upon discovering what you want you just have to put life in motion to get that goal done. This year I've learned about my coach and his training techniques, myself as an athlete (what things help me or discourage me), and the sport of Athletics (as the Europeans call it) from a technical and professional side. One thing I would have never imagined is how small the sport of Track & Field is. I've seen and met A LOT of big names that have stood out for years in the collegiate enviornment. These athletes are just regular people, some have attitudes, some are really nice, others you probably don't want to try to make eye contact with, lol. All in all I've started to take the fan out of myself as a runner and start to put strictly comptetion down on the track. After the meet, if I have a chance to chat or hang out with someone new thats cool, but if not I still have to handle my business at work (since my actual JOB is to RUN).
I've had an opportunity to find out that there is, like everything else, politics in the sport, and that a lot of times you are chosen to enter meets based on who you know or who your agent is. Some agents get together to try to blacklist athletes they don't like, and others just want to see some good races. I personally don't have an agent yet, but when the time comes I'll make sure I choose wisely.
Another thing I've noticed is that Track athletes don't get half as much, heck...a quarter, hype and press as other sports do. We are kind of on the "starving artist" employment. I've had my struggles this year financially, but I kept my eyes on God and watched his grace fill my life, which is pretty exciting. When the only thing you can do is to REALLY trust God, you see "miracles" all the time and your faith grows because of it. All in all, I've met some really interesting people like Tyson Gay, Natasha Hastings, Veronica Campbell, etc. Some really wonderful people Rodney Greene, Shalonda Solomon, Damu Cherry, Debbie Ferguson-Makenzie, etc. And have hung out with some big names too: Dave Oliver, Bershawn 'Batman' Jackson, Dwight Thomas, and Dennis Mitchell.
Taking this year as a learning experience will only help me explode into the realm of greatness next season. I know how to train, how to take care of my body, what to expect this next year of training, and I have a great support team of people in and out of my training camp. Everything is great because things could ALWAYS be worse. I'll delve a bit deaper into the ups and downs next post, SO stay tuned in! The life of...a rookie; DK
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