I set an indoor personal best yesterday and felt relatively comfortable doing it. Still, by now you know that indoors doesn’t excite me too much except that I appreciate being able to “train” in a competition atmosphere and at full speed. I also appreciate indoors as a preview of what to expect for outdoors considering things like the fact that because our training is focused on June through August we are still in a bit of a strength training phase.

I got back to work today though because I’m ready to go farther, much farther. Check out the meet footage below. I wish the first jump wasn’t a foul even though the last phase wasn’t near as good as my second jump. But, there’s no such thing as big fouls…only big jumps right?

Click here to view the embedded video.

P.S. If you haven’t yet, head on over to my Facebook fan page and hit the “like” button for me. I try to put up new blog posts as frequently as possible but I am able to post smaller updates over there as they happen.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As you’d expect, even though was mostly pleased with how things went I am able to pick out plenty of things that I’m going to have to address to get where I want to go both indoors and moving into the outdoor season. Of course my body position and posture from the second phase into the final phase need some serious fixing. To be honest, I think that if I wasn’t fighting to avoid falling on my face on my step phase the above jump actually would have been an indoor personal best; especially considering where I ended up after two phases from a 41 foot board. My jump phase wasn’t half of what it typically is or should have been thanks to my being off balance and out of position but I’ll take it for the first jump/meet of the new year.

Combine the above adjustment/correction with the patience that comes from just jumping from a full approach and competing and I’ll be right where I want to be. Some other, more minor adjustments will always be necessary like tweaking my arms in my first phase but considering how my approach looked, after this meet it seems that all systems are definitely a go.

The next outing should be in 2 weeks…

I’m not big on New Years resolutions and I’m not trying to “change” so much as I’m looking to improve. I make it a point to look forward and plan my future/set new goals far more than I bask in retrospect. Of course, the past can be beneficial in shaping the future. That said, considering the fact that I see my future, in all endeavors, to be nothing less than an ascent, dwelling in the past is of little benefit. Here are some of the things I will be pursuing on the track and am thus expecting of myself in 2011. Should be a great year; both for me and my “squad”!

• Consistency in my approach and as a result consistency in my speed through the board; both of which providing me with consistency in my performances: average best jump per meet — 16.90m
• Multiple track (runway) records during the indoor season. Yea, I’m putting it out there. I’m only competing a few times indoors but intend on walking away with a couple track records namely Virginia Tech’s Rector Field House and the Armory up in NY.  I believe the records at these two spots are 16.80m and 17.00m respectively.
• Improvement of my performances at Diamond League meets. Whatever that means. I finished 6th in all of the Diamond League meets I jumped in save for that dismal ‘no mark’ performance in Brussels. I intend to just plain “do better” on that stage this coming year.
• Making the finals of the IAAF World Championships out in Daegu, Korea in August/September. The men’s qualifying round is at 10:30am on the morning of September the 2nd and I suspect that the automatic qualifying standard will be somewhere in the range of 17.10m – 17.20m. I’m not looking to leave anything to chance as far as moving onto the finals is concerned. Additionally, once you’ve made it to the final dance all bets are off and you just compete like your life depends on it (and like you may never get the opportunity to be in a global final again).
  
• Earning a medal at the Pan American Games in October. To be honest, I’m not sure how I feel about competing at a major competition all the way at the end of October but not only will I be in shape and attempt to do my best at the Pan Am Games but I’m looking to be on the podium.
• Finally, it’d be nice to have a sponsor by the end of the season (or “corporate partner,” which I think is the more appropriate title for several reasons). Of course I don’t have as much control over this as I do over the other things on this list so comparatively it’s not “as important” and won’t occupy nearly as much of my thoughts or planning for that matter.

I’ve got plenty of other, more minute and particular goals but these are the main objectives for the coming year. There are plenty of other milestones and things I will have to check off en route to accomplishing the above things but it’s all part of a process.

Workouts have been on point since these tests. Here’s a quick video of some box drills and bounds (with the weight vest) from lastweek. This was our 2nd day on the boxes this season:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

]]> http://www.samyrlaine.com/blog/just-for-fun/feed 8 http://www.samyrlaine.com/blog/leisure-reading?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=leisure-reading http://www.samyrlaine.com/blog/leisure-reading#comments Mon, 08 Nov 2010 14:06:53 +0000 Samyr Laine http://www.samyrlaine.com/?p=858 Now that I’m no longer in school and since I won’t be knee deep in bar exam preparations for about another month, I have more free time than I’ve had at any other point in my life. It’s true though, that training takes up a bit more time now than it did in previous years since I can afford to pay more attention to detail and other “little things;” so no more skipping out on ab sessions or sets of hurdle walkovers. Still, with the hours that I don’t spend at the track I’ve got a few activities that tend to help me pass the time on a daily basis so I figured I’d share some of them with y’all.

I can’t speak for other full-time track athletes but when I’m not at the track, getting treatment or sleeping (or hanging out with Ayanna of course) I’m either: reading, playing video games, watching one of many TV series, keeping up with new music, or working on a couple “legacy projects” (other than triple jumping) that I’ve got up my sleeve. Just like this is the most free time I’ve ever had, this is also the first time since my early high school days that I’ve been able to do some leisure reading and it’s been amazing. I’ve found that with putting some thought into the titles that I spend time reading allows me to learn just as much as I did when I was in school (ok, probably more); and it’s actually stuff that I think is more easily and immediately applicable. We’ve all asked “when the heck am I going to use this nonsense?!” when sitting through one lecture or another.

I tend to get through about 3 (sometimes 4 depending on the length and genre) books in a week and here’s what I’ve gotten through most recently. I’ve got a long list of books to read but let me know if you have any recommendations or if you’ve got any thoughts on the books I’ve already read.

• Now Reading: Made to Stick/Chip Heath & Dan Heath
• The 4-Hour Workweek/Tim Ferriss
• The 48 Laws of Power/Robert Greene
• The Art of War/Sun Tzu
• ReWork/Jason Fried & David Heinemeier
• Crush It!/Gary Vaynerchuk
• The Winner’s Brain/Jeff Brown
• Making Ideas Happen/Scott Belsky
• The Magic of Thinking Big/David Schwartz
• The Art of Non-Conformity/Chris Guillebeau
• The Girl Who Played With Fire/Steig Larsson
• Tribes/Seth Godin
• Purple Cow/Seth Godin

On the track this week, I may be doing some jump testing, similar to what I did last year around this time so I’ll report back on that as soon as I get a chance. Also, just for fun I jumped in with the George Mason team last week as they did some performance testing so I’ll share those results as well; even though I didn’t do all of the tests that the kids did.

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.

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!