Perhaps this post is a bit overdue since I competed several days ago now, but better late than never. For starters, my experience in Brussels was amazing. That’s pretty tough to believe considering that if you check the results there’s a nice little “NM” next to my name for “No Mark.” Although I felt as good as I could warming up in cool, rainy weather, when I got onto the runway things were a bit tighter than they initially were on the warmup field. While I didn’t stutter step on any of my jumps, I ultimately fouled all three of them and didn’t get to take the 4th and final attempt as a result. Considering that this was my last meet of the season and a perfect opportunity to move up on the World list and open some eyes considering the caliber of competition and quality of the meet, the end result was definitely a let down. Still, I’m content with using my experience at the meet and in this final Diamond League competition as fuel, motivation and encouragement for the next few seasons. Besides, I came out of the meet healthy for the most part and often times that’s just as important as getting a good result on the track.

The meet itself ran like clockwork and outside of the two World Championships that I’ve been to in the last year, this was the most spectacular meet I have gotten to experience; and in most ways it was even better than World Indoors in Doha. Despite the cool weather and drizzle, there were 50,000+ people in the stands and they seemed to be engaged for every minute of the competition. There were musical performers performing between events and the announcer was one of the best I’ve heard at a track meet as well. After the meet, they even had fireworks to go with the presentation of the Diamond League winners. I wasn’t in the mood to stay and watch those fireworks or the presentation but it looked great from the bus that I was on heading back to the hotel. All in all, the meet was top notch and I can say that in spite of the fact that I was initially disappointed in my performance. I really hope to be competing at the Memorial Van Damme meeting again in the future! I also got to walk around downtown Brussels a bit on the day after the meet and the city managed to jump right up to my top 3 of favorite foreign cities along with Paris and Berlin (I suppose the list of major foreign cities I’ve visited isn’t quite THAT long…yet).

Now that the season is done I’m still going to be working out a little bit for the next couple of weeks. I’m going to do a light jumping workout next week just to make sure there aren’t any lingering injuries before I truly shut it down for 2010. Of course, by “shut it down” I mean drop down to just a couple days of light, emphasis on light, lifting each week along with some swimming, and biking. I likely won’t have more than a week or two of doing absolutely nothing but I’ll still be sure to get my fair share of R&R in while also supporting Ayanna since she’s powering through till the Commonwealth Games all the way in October!

Meet Advertisement Featuring Jesse Owens

I had my last “workout” workout of the year yesterday afternoon in Belgium. I say “workout” workout because my coach already let me know that I’ll still be working out a bit once I get back to the States, in spite of the fact that tomorrow is my last meet for 2010. He said that he’d rather I ease into my couple weeks off by gradually doing less work than just abruptly halting my training altogether. I agree of course, but then again I guess it wasn’t really my call to make.

As I mentioned above and in previous posts, I’m out here in Brussels now for the Diamond League final. The event happens to be the last meet of the 2010 Diamond League series and also the finale for the triple jump. I managed to get a straight flight over here which was a must considering that in spite of the fact that I was in economy plus, the 5 extra of inches I was allegedly getting didn’t have the effect on my flight that I was looking for. At least I had an aisle seat though, so I was able to get up and stretch several times. Once I made it to baggage claim in Belgium I was immediately spotted by my driver and we shot over to the meet hotel, which is in the Brussels city center: no complaints here since I’m here until Sunday.

One of the toughest things to do while out here on the circuit is finding ways to pass the time when there are only one or two television channels in English. Fortunately enough, one of those channels this time around happens to be “ESPN America,” which is pretty much just regular ESPN. Also, since I’m in Belgium I get to watch some TV in French and work on my multilingual skills a bit. I don’t mind that at all. As always though, I made sure I brought enough movies and episodes of random shows that I follow to help fill any dead space that I had. That said, after filling some of that down time with Smallville, a nap and a couple meals, I got to check out Stade Roi Baudouin/Koning Boudewijnstadion…the stadium, which is sold out for the meet. That means 50,000+ spectators; which I got to experience at the World Champs last year but I’m sure the crowd and atmosphere will be no less awe inspiring.

I felt a little flat in the initial stages of my workout, which is to be expected after sitting on a plane for over 7 hours. As things got going though, I felt the explosiveness and “electricity” in my legs that I was looking for start to come back to me. I have no doubt that the massage I got following the workout probably helped out as well so I’ll be more than ready once tomorrow arrives, especially since I’m getting worked on a little bit today as well.

The forecast for tomorrow is calling for a high of 64F/17C degrees and some light rain in the morning. I don’t compete until nearly 9PM which means that it’ll at least be dry by then but I’m guessing that it’ll be a bit cooler than the high for the day. Good thing I checked the weather forecasts before hopping on the plane so I have some warmer gear with me and the temperature shouldn’t pose a problem with a good warmup before going out to the runway.

I’m ready to end the season on a high note and use this meet as momentum going into training for next year’s World Championships and beyond; first things first though…

I’ve watched this jump plenty of times and gone over it even more times in my head. As I already wrote in my previous post, this jump had me hyped to take my 6th attempt; to say the least. During the jump itself the first thing I realized was that I had landed on the long jump board. I was able to salvage my jump phase to some extent and yet there’s still some collapsing at the hips and the knee.

While watching the footage of the jump the thing even more obvious than my slight collapse going into my jump phase is of course the “stutter dance” I’ve got going with my last few strides into the board. It’s getting to be a joke at this point, but taking into account how horrible I consider this 17 meter jump to be, I can take pride in the fact that once I get things down I’ll be able to take my jumping to some crazy new levels!

** Please check Keni Burke – “Rising to the Top” for those who need a little help with the song reference. **

After being in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico since last Saturday morning, I was pretty eager to get the show on the road and Thursday night’s competition couldn’t come soon enough. I had gotten to watch Ayanna come back from injury and secure a bronze medal on Tuesday evening so I was that much more excited to join the fray. To start things off they originally had our competition scheduled to be held on the runway on the far side of the track (where there were few fans present). Of course you know that wasn’t going to stick, especially considering that the homestretch was packed with adoring triple jump/track and field fans! So after a few minutes of peaceful protesting and some walkie-talkie action between the officials, they gave in and quickly set up the other pit and runways for us.

Wow! That’s about how I feel after getting back to Virginia after my first true tour on the European track circuit; but not the sort of “wow” you might expect. For all the glitz and glamor that many outside the track and field world think goes with being on the circuit, there’s a WHOLE lot more grit and grind. As far as competitions and results are concerned for the trip, things didn’t go as I would have liked. Still, the highlights of my trip which I’ll detail in a separate post, help me give it an overall thumbs up. The competitions started off alright, with a 16.70m jump from miles behind the board in Reims, France but I couldn’t translate that performance into a 17m result like I probably should have. To give you guys a better impression of how the trip went as a whole though, I’ll take you through it from start to finish —

The Men's TJ Field During Introductions

So my Diamond League baptism came and went and it certainly wasn’t what I was looking for. Needless to say, I still genuinely enjoyed the experience, the competition and the fact that my parents, coach and friends were finally able to make it to a meet. The competition on the other hand was pretty disappointing. The track fan in me was also excited to watch the numerous world leading or near-world leading performances in other events. That said, once again I got to watch other jumpers, who I know aren’t necessarily faster or stronger than me, jump distances that I know I should be jumping. Still, as with every meet in the past (whether it goes well or not) I have to simply go back to the lab and work on what I need to work on.

In the end I finished 6th with a jump of 16.60m. The 6th place finish isn’t necessarily the worst thing that could have happened considering the fact that the 7th and 8th place jumpers only got 3 jumps as opposed to 6. Also 6th in a Diamond League competition is somewhat respectable…I just wish I had jumped farther. Oddly enough, you don’t even have to ask what it was that held me back because the easy answer is: my approach! What else is new?

Honestly, I do feel as if this weekend’s meet was  a turning point for me, although it seems that I say I’m going to nail things down after every meet. This time I realize that I am holding myself back mentally.  My mental shortcomings aren’t in the confidence department like many athletes however; and although the field on Saturday included 3 current and former World Champions and just as many Olympic medalists, it also has nothing to do with nerves. Believe it or not my stuttering problem also isn’t driven by a desire to avoid fouling! It seems that for me, my issue is that when it comes time to jump for real and I’m making my way down the runway, I get anxious at the sight of the board and concern myself with “jumping far,” “being comfortable at the board” and “making sure I can handle the first two phases.” Of course, if you’ve read any of my previous posts you would know that the only thing I want to be concerned with halfway through my approach is continuing to run.

While I think that my “problem” is one that can be worked on in practice by getting down an approach rhythm that I am comfortable with and that becomes 2nd nature; what I really need to do is simply compete. By getting on the runway more often in competition settings I’ll be able to get used to the feeling of turning off my instinct to worry about the board or my first phase during the approach and in turn I’ll get used to running allllll the way down the runway. For as long as I can remember I’ve always been concerned with actually jumping in the triple jump. Who would have thought that thinking about jumping and actually trying to jump was, for the most part, the wrong way to go about things?! Wherever I end up competing next, I am excited to try just running the whole way down the runway and not even thinking about my jump until I’m halfway through my hop phase (or even until I hit the sand, that would be ideal since most of the jump is instinct anyways). I’ve felt it before and it did feel pretty odd, not to mention I fouled all of those jumps…but fouling is the least of my concerns. At this point I think I’d rather see a bunch of Fs or Xs (for fouls) next to my name on a results sheet as opposed to sub-16.90m jumps.

As always though; on to the next one…

So in a total of about 4 days, I made it to Daegu, Korea, competed at the IAAF World Challenge Meet and made it back to my home base in Virginia. To give a brief recap of the experience: it was tiring; not as tiring as you might expect, but still very tiring nonetheless. I, along with a good number of other athletes who competed at the meet, arrived in Daegu on Monday evening after a total of 15 hours in the air on my end. After catching dinner with my agent and a couple of his other clients, I had to hit the streets of Daegu for a quick jog/shakeout since the fitness center was already closed (it was after 11PM by that time). I got a massage the next morning and just hung out around the hotel, spending most of the time on Skype with Ms. Alexander, until the skies cleared a bit and I was able to hit the warm up track without getting soaked. I like to get my pre-meet workout in around the time I’ll be competing the next day anyways though, just to help my body get used to things just a little bit more; especially since most of these events begin after 6PM which is rarely the case with meets in the States. There was also a pretty nice welcome reception and dinner for us the night before the meet buuut I missed the presentation and performance portion of that and made it just in time for the 4 or 5 course meal.

Presentation at Athlete's Reception

Huh?!?

Can ANYONE tell me what the heck an “Express” Drive-Thru is??! We figured it had to be something like Express E-Z Pass lanes on the highway where you don’t have to slow down and the toll amount is still deducted but didn’t get a chance to try ordering chicken nuggets at 25 mph. There’s probably a somewhat more sensible explanation, but I still don’t think the sign makes any sense.

Now that I’ve gotten that out…I opened up my outdoor season this past weekend at the Mt. Sac Relays, right outside of Los Angeles. This is two weeks later than I’ve started things out the past couple years but the extra time was necessary given how long my indoor season was and the magnitude of the changes I’ve made since then. After trying an 18 stride approach for a season, my coach and I decided to go back to 16 strides + a slight modification.

Outside the Aspire Dome

So the meet I had in France this past Friday went alright…I suppose. I set an indoor personal best of 16.64m and came in 4th behind three jumpers who went 17 meters (one of whom was Christian Olsson, the indoor world record holder in the event). As you can imagine, I had higher aspirations for my first meet on the “pro circuit,” especially considering how things were looking before I left the States! But hey, I won’t complain with a personal best after having just hopped off the plane a couple days earlier. Not to mention the fact that the point of the meet was to get a solid jumping session in ahead of the World Indoor Champs, and to cut down the amount of traveling that I had to do to get to Doha. Oddly enough, leaving from Brussels to Doha on Saturday after the meet wasn’t the piece of cake I had anticipated and I only made it to my room in Doha after about 22 hours of traveling from start to finish! But that’s an entirely different story.

Since arriving after 1 am Sunday morning, my time in Doha has been amazing and my body is finally getting acclimated to the time zone and the travel. The hotel is top notch, as are the food (fortunately enough) and the service from both hotel and IAAF staff. Additionally, I was one of the first few athletes to arrive so for the first few days I had my own driver taking me wherever I needed to go. It’s quite easy to see that Qatar/Doha is pulling out all the stops for the event and that their top priority is the comfort and satisfaction of athletes; after all they do have their sights set on hosting the 2022 World Cup and I’m sure that this event is a small stepping stone towards that. The city itself is beautiful and the 85 degree weather doesn’t hurt either. Whatever stories you’ve heard of Doha and its rapid growth, if you’ve heard or read such stories, are all true. There is construction EVERYWHERE and many people have told me that they’re attempting to play catch up with Dubai which is for the moment the top tourist/business spot in the Middle East. As nice as it is here in Doha now, I’d love to see what things are like when their plans are even further along, although it means that the traffic that is already horrendous for a city of less than 400,000 will no doubt be several times worse.

As far as athletics facilities are concerned, everything is top notch to say the least. The grounds of the “Aspire Zone” are pristine and the stadiums, fields and even shopping areas included in it are all amazing. We’ve been using an outdoor track as our practice area for the past couple of days, but I managed to sneak my way into the Aspire Dome itself and it too is spectacular! I’m glad I got my “jaw dropping” moment out of the way nice and early though so that when I’m in there later in the week, it’s truly all about handling business.

While there is of course “track and field after World Indoor Championships,” I’ve had my eyes set on making this final since my first global level competition (which was admittedly just 7 months ago). I am certainly more excited than anxious to get this show on the road, mostly because I know what needs to be done and how to do it. These last couple days leading up to Friday are just about fine tuning things with some speed work and explosive lifts, while enjoying the fact that I’m here! Rest assured, I’ll definitely enjoy the competition experience as well.

P.S. Congrats to the George Mason track and field teams on their performances at ECACs and IC4As this past weekend; particularly the men’s 4 by 4 with their 3:07.43 and qualification for NCAAs.

The indoor season is quickly coming to an end with the World Championships just over a week away at this point. This has been the most extensive indoor season that I’ve had since about 2005, and that’s because the plan all along was to build on things from meet to meet. I definitely think I’ve been doing that and fortunately enough, things are coming together at just the right time. Before heading to Doha I’ve made a stop in northern France for a meet being held in Lievin on Friday evening. As I’ve said before, the meet on Friday will be a “systems check” before the first round of Worlds on the 12th. Speaking of “systems checks” though, I competed at a relatively low key meet at George Mason this past Sunday and although I had planned on taking just one jump (because I had a weight session afterwords), I ended up taking 4 and managed to run ALL the way to AND through the board on 3 of them. 2 of the 4 jumps produced “big fouls” but as we all know, there are no such things as “big fouls,” only “big jumps.” Still, the meet was definitely a success for me, I was able to actually feel what my approach should be like from here on out and on Friday I’m just going to duplicate what I did on Sunday so that I truly get it down before hopping over to Qatar.

Back to the subject of the fake World Tour that I’m on at the moment though. Ayanna and I spent some time in Paris in August and as you can imagine, northern France (our hotel is in Lesquin) is nothing like Paris and certainly not during March when its only 40 degrees. Everybody has been quite helpful and very hospitable though and they seem to love the fact that I speak French (to some extent). On top of that, the hotel isn’t bad and although I wish there was more water available to us, the meals are free and even edible so you’ll hear no complaints out of me. I got to do a little bike/treadmill workout once I got here so my body feels pretty good for having just flown for 7+ hours, but I’m looking forward to getting a track workout in today.

Check out the startlists for Friday at: http://www.meeting-pasdecalais.com/6LIEV10StartListau3mars21h00.pdf. It seems as if all of the events are packed with top level talent and my guess is that everybody is trying to get a meet in before Worlds, like myself. As far as the TJ field is concerned; I think all but maybe 2 of us will be heading to Doha over the weekend so as far as test runs go, Friday’s meet will likely produce something relatively close to the competition atmosphere I’ll get next week. At the end of the day though, it will still be just another meet where I’ll be trying to bring as much speed in my approach as possible and work on my hop phase…much like I have all season.