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.

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.

I entitled this blog post “Patience” because although my best jump was measured at 16.51m, I took off at least 8 inches from the back end of the board. It’s an indoor personal best by a few centimeters but not exactly the distance I was after. So I’m being patient. I know that things are coming together little by little and that they will come together exactly when they’re supposed to. A 17 meter jump at Virginia Tech wouldn’t have done much for me and I have no problem with waiting to drop that big one when it matters/I need it most. I’m also aware that the goal for me beyond the World Indoor Champs is consistency beyond 17 meters, so I tinker now so that things come naturally and effortlessly in June and beyond.

Ok ok, so if it looks like I’m jogging, it’s because I am. But in all honesty, I didn’t realize that I was coming down the runway slower than molasses! And yes…I am still stuttering before the board, but at least I got a comfortable jump in (unlike in NY). My goal for my next few meets is to run hard and fast through the board and allow my speed to push me down the runway. After this 16.80m jump (from take off to landing), I know what I can and will do in Doha once I actually run down the runway; and that’s exciting.

So in spite of the fact that the snow in Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia this week has made it pretty difficult to get to the track on some days, I’ve managed to have a great week of training thus far. My coach and I tweaked my approach once again and it feels amazing, far better and more comfortable than it did before NY. On top of that I’ve been working, little by little, fixing my left arm on my hop phase to ensure that it gets back, even if it’s just a little bit.

Here’s the product of that work from a short, very short, approach. Some more speed should push each phase out a bit more, particularly the step And please excuse the commentary from my roommate/training partner/videographer Jeff, I suppose he enjoys workin’ the camera; although he is right about the road to Doha:

And I’ve added one more meet before Worlds, so I’ll be competing somewhere next weekend, though I suppose I should figure that out ASAP; and I’ll also be taking a couple jumps in Liévin, France before heading over to Doha. I was pretty excited at hearing about the invitation to my first “pro” meet. The meet in France will act as a final systems check before the big show. Check out my meet schedule for the links and more info.

Being from NY, I competed at the Armory while in high school so it’s always great to go back, not to mention the fact that my family and a couple friends usually make an attempt to come check me out at the meet. There’s also usually some worthwhile competition and this year will be no different. It all makes this weekend the perfect occasion to put a big mark out there and let people know I mean business (although other people’s expectations for me going into Worlds make no difference in the end). So, I figured I’d briefly share a preview of sorts on what I’m aiming for, expecting and looking to work on this weekend.

Coming off of my competition down in College Station, I admitted that although I was somewhat dissatisfied, the performance marked a season opening best for me and thus something to be pleased with. Still, heading up to NY I want to jump farther, much farther…but that’s always the case right? As a result, the exact distance the official calls out after my jump becomes far less important than properly executing the things I’ve been working on in practice. Besides, that’s what will get me to jump far on a consistent basis.

The two major things for me to focus on for Saturday and beyond are my approach and my arms in my hop phase, particularly the left arm. I may or may not have mentioned in a previous post that at Worlds last year, my approach length looked like it was half the distance of some of my more experienced competitors. Now, my 16 stride approach treated me quite well for a long time, and that’s not to say that an extra long approach automatically results in better marks but my coach and I still decided to move back to 18 strides. Doing so allows me to drive for a longer period of time in my first few steps and gradually accelerate so that I can bring more speed as I come through the board. Since I’m accustomed to a shorter approach though (and 2 strides is actually significant enough to disrupt one’s rhythm), I blasted out in the beginning portion of my approach in the first couple of meets instead of gradually building through the entire 124 feet. As a result, my rhythm has been off and I haven’t really felt ready to hop once I get to the board. I’m definitely looking to work on that so that my approach isn’t something I have to think about going into Doha and beyond. Of course, NY is where I’ll be unveiling my new and improved, more patient approach; so it should be good.

I’ll save the truly technical triple jump talk about my arms for people who are really interested in the event itself. That said, I’ll just note that I had…past tense…an efficiency issue. Rather than making sure my arms were constantly moving forward and back, always keeping as much of my momentum and speed moving down the runway and to the back of the pit, my left arm in my hop phase would constantly flail out to the side. I’m sure you can imagine the problem this poses when you’re running full speed and take off on one leg to come back down on that same leg. My balance and posture tended to suffer as a result and at the same time I was losing more speed than I would have liked. I made it a point to note that I had an efficiency issue because I am certain that I’ve got things figured out. It will take more than a couple of meets to perfect what I’ve changed the adjustment will be more than enough to take care of business this weekend which will spell trouble for the rest of the field from here on out.

Time to get to work…

P.S. I did some approaches and light bounding in some new spikes on Tuesday evening and all systems are most definitely a go.

After each meet I do my own post-meet analysis and though I’ll hold off on giving y’all ALL of those details I’ll at least share how things went overall and my general feelings on the meet. Notwithstanding the fact that Ayanna and I weren’t told that unattached athletes wouldn’t be allowed to compete in the finals until she’d already completed her first 3 jumps and I was on the runway just about to start mine; this was my best season opener to date. So in light of all the negatives that I took away from my performance, and the fact that I was vexed at not knowing about only being allowed three attempts before booking my travel, I have to consider the meet an overall success and a performance that I can definitely build from.

Last year I began the season with a 15.93m performance and was able to get out to 16.22m this past Saturday. Considering the practices that I had last week, I had a bigger jump than 16.22m in mind going into the meet so I was of course initially disappointed. My approach this year is further back than it has been in the past (like at the World Championships where it looked like I was running half the distance of all the other competitors!), so getting used to the new cadence of the approach and additional strides, seems like it will definitely take some time. I can say that without a doubt, my horrid approach this weekend was the reason for my falling short of my goal. I didn’t run entirely through the board and thus couldn’t get the hop phase my coach and I have been working on. There were other things that didn’t go particularly well but I’m certain that if I fix just my approach and hop, this 16.22 performance easily ends up being 16.70m+! I’ll consider putting footage of the jump in the “videos” section so you guys can see what I’m talking about.

I planned on competing just three or four times going into the World Championships and it’s now looking like 4 is the magic number since the meet this past weekend felt more like a practice than a full competition. I’m currently looking for a meet to compete at this coming weekend before heading to New York the first weekend of February. Odds are that I will be at the PG Sports Complex in Landover, Maryland competing at an all-comers meet this Sunday. I suppose “beggars can’t be choosers” especially since I just need a runway, a pit and some officials so that I can work on things in a meet setting. Back to work in the mean time which also unfortunately means getting ready for the first day of classes tomorrow.

Please don’t hesitate to check out www.yele.org or the Red Cross if you’re looking to make a difference in Haiti. There was always a reason for my providing the Yele link on my site’s main page, but their efforts are now several times more important than before. It really is greatly appreciated!

I attended a meet at George Mason University and watched my girlfriend Ayanna compete in her “second” meet (since she triple jumped at a small meet in December), while the kids I coach at George Mason were getting their first taste of things. To be honest, I didn’t even stay to watch the men’s triple jump and since there were no George Mason athletes competing in the event, I don’t feel bad at all. Watching Ayanna handle business in the women’s triple jump, coupled with the anxiety of some of the collegiate athletes in the field house was all I needed to get me riled up and ready to compete. So even though all I did was hit the weight room today (for what was a high quality lifting session I might add), I’m definitely ready to get this show on the road! For now, I’ll spend a good amount of time tomorrow and Monday checking meet results just for the heck of it.

All signs indicate that I’ll be opening my season next weekend, although I’m not sure on the exact meet yet. I will update everybody on the “where” once I can say for sure. 2010…let’s get it!

Taking into account the fact that I don’t have an indoor facility to use on a consistent basis, my coach suggested that I take these next couple of weeks “easy.” That said, even though when I’m home I definitely still keep my lifting up as much as possible, there’s nothing like having platforms and bumper plates so you can throw your weights around during Olympic lifts. Since I just lift at a family-type gym nearby, I usually have to bring my weight percentages down a notch or two so I can actually catch the weights after each rep and avoid getting tossed out of the place for putting a hole in the ground. Luckily, I don’t have the same problem with squats so I’ll power through in that department in anticipation of things being taken up another level in January.

Aside from hitting the weights relatively hard, I will most likely spend a fair bit of time in the pool over the next couple of weeks. I haven’t done pool workouts since college though so I’m actually looking forward to it. It will most likely just consist of drills and some sprints in the shallow end, which will allow me to get some resistance training in…not very much resistance, but it’s better than nothing. I guess you just have to “make it do what it do” when you can’t put the sprint spikes on and speed down the straightaway. I’m also pretty certain that the pool workouts will help with recovery from the little nagging soreness I have from the intensity of the past couple week’s workouts which consisted of a good amount of box drills and heavy lifting, with some light speed work mixed in.

I also try to link up with my high school coach (Coach Burks) and his team while I’m home. Not to workout really, but rather to spend some time with the kids and share some of the knowledge and experience I’ve gained since leaving Newburgh Free Academy (NFA). Every now and then,  I’ll get lucky and Coach Burks will make use of his connects and get the team into West Point’s indoor facility for a few workouts. It beats running through the high school’s hallways or shoveling snow out of a couple of lanes and hitting the track, which is what we used to do! So, I of course have no problem making the 25 minute drive out to West Point and tagging along with the team for the chance to get a quality workout (even though the pool work definitely serves a purpose during this transition portion of the season). In the event that I make it out to West Point during the break, I’ll definitely try and get some jumping in with the weight vest.

I do have a favorite hill nearby that I like to use whenever the temperature gets above 40-45 degrees during the break, BUT given that the forecast for the next week or so doesn’t mention anything above 35 degrees, I’ll stick to the weights, pool and cross my fingers for an opportunity to head to West Point. I’ll update everybody on how things are going to shape up for the early portion of the indoor season once 2010 gets here. Right now though, all things are pointing towards a January 16th start to my season and I’m looking forward to it. To quote a friend of mine: “2009 was the preparation and 2010 is the execution.” More info to come though…

Happy Holidays folks!

For what is considered the second most popular sport worldwide (2nd to football…as in FIFA football, of course) as far as sheer numbers of participants and fans are concerned, athletics has suffered from relatively poor fan reception particularly outside of Europe.  So since 1998 the main staple of the IAAF’s World Athletics Tour/Series, the Golden League, was an attempt to generate interest and improve the sport’s following as fans kept up with certain athletes attempting to win a $1 million jackpot. It was eventually recognized that from a business standpoint,  the Golden League with all its meets in Europe, wasn’t doing enough to improve the sport’s appeal where it needed the most help. On top of that, fans began to scratch their heads as it seemed like the top athletes in each event would duck and dodge one another; which doesn’t seem to happen in tennis for example, which is the non-team sport people seem comfortable comparing athletics to. I feel that, unlike athletics, the fact that there is generally more money in tennis allows Rafael Nadal to lose to Roger Federer or vice versa, and not suffer as much monetarily as far as future appearance fees and winnings are concerned; but that is an entirely different issue. But let’s not forget the fact that the majority of athletes were unhappy with the “League” since it seemed to feature the saaaame “big money” events year in and year out. In comes the Diamond League – Year One: 2010.

Now, since I’m not a several or even single time gold medalist of a global event (yet?) or world record holder, the chance of me becoming a Diamond League Ambassador like Blanka Vlasic, Sanya Richard, Usain Bolt or Tyson Gay to name a few, is roughly…zero. It is easy to recognize that the concept of the Diamond League is several times sweeter if you’re an ambassador getting paid by the IAAF for your participation than if you’re an athlete such as myself just looking to get invitations to the meets. The 9 ambassadors even have it better than those other truly top tier-athletes a la LaShawn Merritt or Allyson Felix who will just be competing as part of the Diamond Race. Is it unfair? Perhaps; especially since as the series is organized now, a hammer thrower could never be an ambassador since the event is excluded from the Diamond League! However, for athletics as a whole, I think having our biggest athletes committed to a certain number of events AND committed to compete against one another in the case of the Men’s 100m is a step in the right direction. It is an easy way to generate interest in the sport and in those particular meets where these athletes will be competing. On the matter of compensation for non-ambassadors, as far as I know the total amount to be paid to athletes has been increased a great deal over the Golden League (which is admittedly due in part to the fact that there will be more events contested at each meet) and the points leader in each event at the end of the season will be presented with a diamond worth, who knows how much; but it’s still something right? As a whole it seems as if the possibility for compensation for each athlete is greater than it was in years prior.

Another positive of the Diamond League is the fact that it includes meets outside of Europe. If the goal of the sport is to generate as many fans as possible, then bringing quality competitions right to those fans you’re attempting to sway has got to be the most efficient way to accomplish that task. I fully recognize that the majority of people in the stands will be there to see Yelena Isinbayeva or Kenenisa Bekele attempt world records rather than the triple jump but once fans are in the stands they no doubt become viewers of everything going on in the stadium since, I would hope, people don’t plan on buying a ticket to watch a single event and leave afterwords! At some point, you’ve just got to get people to watch the sport, live or otherwise in order to allow them to fall in love with it. That’s assuming that improving television broadcasts is an ongoing goal, as it should be.

In addition to the fact that it is a shame that the hammer throw isn’t included, I really hope that those meets that existed outside of the Golden League and allowed athletes to get high level competition, and another means of compensation for their months and months of intense training efforts, don’t suffer. After all, the percentage of athletes who will be competing at Diamond League meets is no doubt still relatively low.

After a pretty good warmup and lots of jumping drills to make sure the legs were ready to bounce, including long jumps off of my left leg which felt awkward because I’m a right legged long jumper, we were ready to rock. The workout was pretty simple, and light as I mentioned, beginning with short approach triple jumps from 6 strides, then a few from 8, and a couple from 10. I’ll admit, my first jump from 6 strides was far from spectacular, in fact, I don’t even think I completed the attempt. Not the best way to “start” the season but that one attempt definitely didn’t define the training session. I was trying too hard and had to slow things down and calm down a bit so that I could get the most out of the workout; eventually I feel I was able to do that.

The goal was really just to ease back into things and work on rhythm. Once we got back to 8 strides I figured that if I just focused on maintaining a solid rhythm through all three phases of each jump, the strength that I’ve been working on up to this point would carry me out past 50 feet (15.24m) without much effort. As I’m sure you can guess, that’s where the phrase “Easy 50″ came from. Nevermind the fact that just hitting 50 feet was the goal for about half of my collegiate career, reminding myself that I am now just looking for easy 50s helps me slow down, relax and focus on jumping efficiently and with proper technique rather than worrying about jumping “far.” I consider Monday’s workout to be a success simply because I can’t recall jumping 50+ feet from 8 or even 10 steps, let alone in November or with such ease. It was perhaps even more of a success because I now have in mind some things that I’ll have to perfect before I can take on the rest of the world in March and beyond. Things like keeping my posture throughout the jump, my timing, my speed and being careful not to land prematurely. The first few factors will come with time, reps and as our training is geared to work on those specific things but I still like knowing what’s holding me back. All the better to correct the shortcomings.

Happy Thanksgiving y’all!