Hey bloggers, I bet you've been wondering what I've been up to huh? Training of course! lol. Yes, we have been training for several weeks now and we just started our 5th week today. I can't believe that we are already 5 weeks into the season! I feel like we just started a week ago, well at least in my mind. My body would tell you that I've been running for near 2 months, lol. Our load and training work is challenging on our bodies at times, so we have to make sure we set aside time to get "worked on" as we call it. You know, I was talking to one of my co-workers at my part-time job and had mentioned that I had a chiro (Chiropractic) appointment that day. It was funny because he asked me why do YOU need a chiropractor with your young and in shape, vibrant (ok let me stop) self. Hahaha. I told him "naw, I mean I need it, but its not what you're thinking, its just maintenance". He looked at me funny and said you say that like ur a car or something. I thought that was funny, but partly true too. We athletes put a lot into our bodies to get a lot out of our bodies. We take care of our pains and aches by getting worked on by chiro's, physio's, therapists, etc. So in a way we could view our bodies as a car analogy and think of it as trying to get premium mileage with minimal wear and tear on the vessel. :)
Coach had hinted that pretty soon we would be heading back to the track and starting to run on it instead of around it. I just didn't know that today would be that day. All in all track workouts are usually more difficult because you have a level surface that gives feedback to your pounding footsteps and you usually don't have to worry about pot holes like you do in the grass. Here in FL we're blessed to train at a facility that doesn't have any track pot holes. With the surface, though, coach expects a lot more out of you and your body does too; its our office! I wish I could tell you that I got on the track for the first time this season for a workout and was pretty cool and did the workout on pace, but I can't. Truth is when we get to our office I can't do anything, BUT get excited, so needless to say the first 450 I did in today's workout was WAY too fast. I felt so good, my legs were light, the sun was warm on my skin, and there was only a very slight wind. I almost got lost and coach told us to slow it down a few times, hehehe.
So we're back on the track running and I hear that tomorrow we get to start some technical work...which means hurdles! I hope that between todays workout and tonight's rest I will be able to calm down enough not to get all stupid on the hurdles. With something as serious as technique, I have to slow it back and focus on the movements and angles. Besides, it just makes it so much easier when we bring all those great practices into competition. I mentioned above about getting worked on. I have a feeling that when I say this many civilians or normie's don't really know what it is, so I'll plan to have a post on it coming soon, maybe even tomorrow. Don't be alarmed by those nicknames, some characters in the track world have some funny names for those who don't train professionally, but it's not derogative, shoot I know plenty of track athletes that would love to not have to worry about what they're eating, how much sleep they get, and how many thousands of miles they have to travel just to force their bodies to adjust to the time and then perform a physical symphony on the track. Truth is, we wouldn't mind being in your shoes, but this is the path we chose, and you chose yours. :) More to come! This is...the life of a professional athlete!
Monday, November 15, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Track Teams
Hey Bloggers, whats up! First off I would like to apologize for all those looking forward to a post for a few weeks now. I have been really active in taking my body and training, and all that is on top of my part-time work schedule in "the real world". lol. Basically, I've been busy, busy, busy working hard and preparing for the challenges to come.
Even though track isn't a team sport many training groups consider themselves a team due to the facts that you spend a lot of time getting to know each other, each member usually holds some accountability to the person next to them, and when encouragement is needed everyone is right there cheering you on. Since our season's end (August)we have gathered up several other athletes from around the world to add to our roster. I was surprised and pleased to see ALL of the faces from last year plus several new ones.We now have a pretty big training group, which brings both positives and negatives. Before I get into the new team break down lets back up to the first day of practice.
Of course as an athlete the hardest part of your training generally comes at the beginning when you have to put away the nutter bars, cookies, and ice cream only to burn off those delectable treats during conditioning. It usually takes anywhere between 2-3 weeks to get into decent shape where you are able to start working on important things. Our first day was something of a challenge, but went well. We started the week off with three sets of our regular endurance intervals, which was a bit gruesome, but no one fell out (success, lmbo). We normally don't start that intense, but gotta step up for the World Champ year. By the second day we were on to core exercises that KICK MY BUTT! I have never been a big muscle guy and for that I tend to struggle with exercises dealing with brute strength and body weight. That day I really had to put my goals for the season in front of my face and go after it. The next day I can say that with every step it felt like someone was playing bongos on my butt (Talk about Soreness!). It didn't get any better from there on our Wed plyo day (another challenge for ya boy). After struggling to get my limpy noodles to move like actual legs through all of our exercises I could rest, knowing that the next 2 days were down hill. Thursday and Friday were more sprint endurance and wouldn't have been so bad if my legs didn't feel like Egg Drop soup (you know what Im talking about). Nonetheless I didn't slack at all that week and was able to create the correct outcome in my mind and force the body to do it. Like coach says: I hear it, process it, and simply DO it.
I am so greatful for everything I went through last year because I feel that it made me much tougher and I realized how soft (for lack of better words) I was acting when faced with a challenge. I have broken out of that mindset and am much stronger mentally, which will make all the difference this year. It also helps when your teammates are there doing the drills and hurting just like you are, but pushing each other to finish, and finish well.
Overall we have, I think I counted 18, people in our group with 3 of them being new and 4 others who were back and forth about joining the team late last season. Pretty much have 6 new people starting the season of with us, and I feel that they are all good additions to the squad. They are 3 Ameican sprinters (2 male), 2 sprinters from Curacao, and 2 high hurdlers (American male, and female from UK). Everyone is positive, full of energy, and as most track runners are, quite the character. Despite the big group coach has assured me that I, being the only 400 runner, won't be neglected. That was a big issue for me when I was picking my training group and I believe he will honor his word. I know this was a long post, but now you have the very details of the season's start, so holla @cha boy and drop a comment. This is the life of...a Champion!
Even though track isn't a team sport many training groups consider themselves a team due to the facts that you spend a lot of time getting to know each other, each member usually holds some accountability to the person next to them, and when encouragement is needed everyone is right there cheering you on. Since our season's end (August)we have gathered up several other athletes from around the world to add to our roster. I was surprised and pleased to see ALL of the faces from last year plus several new ones.We now have a pretty big training group, which brings both positives and negatives. Before I get into the new team break down lets back up to the first day of practice.
Of course as an athlete the hardest part of your training generally comes at the beginning when you have to put away the nutter bars, cookies, and ice cream only to burn off those delectable treats during conditioning. It usually takes anywhere between 2-3 weeks to get into decent shape where you are able to start working on important things. Our first day was something of a challenge, but went well. We started the week off with three sets of our regular endurance intervals, which was a bit gruesome, but no one fell out (success, lmbo). We normally don't start that intense, but gotta step up for the World Champ year. By the second day we were on to core exercises that KICK MY BUTT! I have never been a big muscle guy and for that I tend to struggle with exercises dealing with brute strength and body weight. That day I really had to put my goals for the season in front of my face and go after it. The next day I can say that with every step it felt like someone was playing bongos on my butt (Talk about Soreness!). It didn't get any better from there on our Wed plyo day (another challenge for ya boy). After struggling to get my limpy noodles to move like actual legs through all of our exercises I could rest, knowing that the next 2 days were down hill. Thursday and Friday were more sprint endurance and wouldn't have been so bad if my legs didn't feel like Egg Drop soup (you know what Im talking about). Nonetheless I didn't slack at all that week and was able to create the correct outcome in my mind and force the body to do it. Like coach says: I hear it, process it, and simply DO it.
I am so greatful for everything I went through last year because I feel that it made me much tougher and I realized how soft (for lack of better words) I was acting when faced with a challenge. I have broken out of that mindset and am much stronger mentally, which will make all the difference this year. It also helps when your teammates are there doing the drills and hurting just like you are, but pushing each other to finish, and finish well.
Overall we have, I think I counted 18, people in our group with 3 of them being new and 4 others who were back and forth about joining the team late last season. Pretty much have 6 new people starting the season of with us, and I feel that they are all good additions to the squad. They are 3 Ameican sprinters (2 male), 2 sprinters from Curacao, and 2 high hurdlers (American male, and female from UK). Everyone is positive, full of energy, and as most track runners are, quite the character. Despite the big group coach has assured me that I, being the only 400 runner, won't be neglected. That was a big issue for me when I was picking my training group and I believe he will honor his word. I know this was a long post, but now you have the very details of the season's start, so holla @cha boy and drop a comment. This is the life of...a Champion!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Conditioning
Here it is!! The World Championship season is just down the street and the olympic year is soon approaching as well. As you may or may not know this coming 2011 year will be a world championship year, where many outstanding athletes will once again come together represent their countries and compete for medals. This championship event comes around every other year and you can think of it as a lesser publicized Olympic Games competition. Many people will be stepping up their training schedules and coming out of their hiatus' to perform their potentials this season, so everyone must be prepared when they step into that lane aiming to earn a spot on their country's championship team.
Speaking of training harder, I began my second week of fall conditioning yesterday, and am pretty encouraged. Last week was not too bad considering I took a complete month to do NO RUNNING WHATSOEVER!! lol. If you have had a chance to read some of my last posts, you'll know that I did stay pretty active, so I believe that had a large part of my conditioning start. Anyways, the soreness period is slowly leaving (Thank God) and I should be back to running at regular conditioning pace without any soreness. It will be just in time for our official season start on Oct. 25 (2 days after my birthday*). I am ready for this season and have a lot of people pulling on me to stay strong and "keep moving towards my goals". I can tell you from what little experience that I have, that your support team can really get you through some tough times, so I want to personally thank all of you all who have been there for me and will continue to push me toward greatness.
As far as conditioning I would say Im about where I need to be for now and that the next week and a half will get me into the shape I need to be in for practice with Coach Mitchell. This will be my sophomore year in the Pro life, but I feel like it is a rookie year all over again. I had so much confusion and anxiety last year that I didn't know what to expect. Now that I have been through a season and understand what is expected of me and what I should expect, I will be able to have better practices and ultimately better performances. As the season roars to an exciting start I am ready to take the reigns of this opportunity and carpe diem (Latin. seize the day). The life of...a warrior
Speaking of training harder, I began my second week of fall conditioning yesterday, and am pretty encouraged. Last week was not too bad considering I took a complete month to do NO RUNNING WHATSOEVER!! lol. If you have had a chance to read some of my last posts, you'll know that I did stay pretty active, so I believe that had a large part of my conditioning start. Anyways, the soreness period is slowly leaving (Thank God) and I should be back to running at regular conditioning pace without any soreness. It will be just in time for our official season start on Oct. 25 (2 days after my birthday*). I am ready for this season and have a lot of people pulling on me to stay strong and "keep moving towards my goals". I can tell you from what little experience that I have, that your support team can really get you through some tough times, so I want to personally thank all of you all who have been there for me and will continue to push me toward greatness.
As far as conditioning I would say Im about where I need to be for now and that the next week and a half will get me into the shape I need to be in for practice with Coach Mitchell. This will be my sophomore year in the Pro life, but I feel like it is a rookie year all over again. I had so much confusion and anxiety last year that I didn't know what to expect. Now that I have been through a season and understand what is expected of me and what I should expect, I will be able to have better practices and ultimately better performances. As the season roars to an exciting start I am ready to take the reigns of this opportunity and carpe diem (Latin. seize the day). The life of...a warrior
Monday, October 4, 2010
Magic!
Hey hey bloggers whats up!! So the off season continues to bring all sorts of fun, and Im LOVING IT! What have I been up to that has me so excited? Im glad you asked :) This past weekend I had the privilege to secure tickets to the event "enter Legend". this was the theme of the newly built Amway Center where the Orlando magic NBA Team play. I had heard so much about it from the state of the art technology to the comfy seats to the exquisite restaurants on site.With all the hype I couldn't help but be excited. they said they did a great job and boy did the city SHOW OUT for their Magic basketball team! The stadium is 2.5 times bigger tan the old Amway Arena and has more than 3 times the bathrooms available. (I guess that was a major issue at the lat arena). It has the largest center court screen in the country (which is comparable to the Dallas Cowboys screen, in relation to the stadium of course, in Texas). It has 2 restaurants that I saw, 2 lounges to hang out at, 2 open area bar and food locations on the upper levels, and a pretty happening kids zone too. Thats not the only thing though...their practice court is connected to the stadium as a wing that connects right to the back of their locker room. News channels had been interviewing the players prior to the grand opening and they seemed REALLY authentically hype about it.
When you walk into the Amway Center you are welcomed by a gigantic lobby area with 50 foot posters of the several star players on the team. The lobby itself is 80 feet tall and fans must take escalators to the first level. I believe I remember hearing that it has 5 levels in and of itself for seating and entertainment, and every seat has a great view of the court. Even the nosebleed$5 seats that they offer for magic games have a really good view in my opinion. Needless to say the Orlando Magic has a new home and they aren't looking back for one second, except to say "I never would have imagined something this great"! they are enjoying every moment of it and I did too. Im hoping to snatch up a couple home game tickets and check out the live action in the new Center for myself. Even if they're against crappy teams sports venues are fun to attend and can leave you with great experiences. I suggest that everyone who is able to check out the arena at one point or another. Because after all, who knows who you might meet?
When you walk into the Amway Center you are welcomed by a gigantic lobby area with 50 foot posters of the several star players on the team. The lobby itself is 80 feet tall and fans must take escalators to the first level. I believe I remember hearing that it has 5 levels in and of itself for seating and entertainment, and every seat has a great view of the court. Even the nosebleed$5 seats that they offer for magic games have a really good view in my opinion. Needless to say the Orlando Magic has a new home and they aren't looking back for one second, except to say "I never would have imagined something this great"! they are enjoying every moment of it and I did too. Im hoping to snatch up a couple home game tickets and check out the live action in the new Center for myself. Even if they're against crappy teams sports venues are fun to attend and can leave you with great experiences. I suggest that everyone who is able to check out the arena at one point or another. Because after all, who knows who you might meet?
Monday, September 20, 2010
Off-Season
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!
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!
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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