Morehouse College Pre-Race Post

Morehouse College Relays...Today marks day 2 of this prestigious event and tomorrow marks the day that I hit the track attempting to set it ablaze. This week I basically going to keep everything bundled to myself as far as expectations. No need to really speak on the race.
On another note this entire week has been a bit of hell...Monday, Tuesday and partly Wednesday i was suffering from a small stint ( i guess you can call it small) of food poisoning. I spent most of my week retracing what i had eaten in the days prior; I later found out about 6 or 7 of my teammates were also suffering from my symptoms. If you have never had food poisoning you really don't want to experience it...its a mix of the flu and being in a car accident is all that Ill say.
If you have a better explanation then, I'd love to hear them; there is not too much more that I have to post on just wish me luck on tomorrow. Here's the lineup: 11omh, 100, 200, 4x400, 4x100 another jam packed workout session...

CHAMPIONS VIEW EACH CHALLENGE NOT AS AN INSURMOUNTABLE HURDLE, BUT AS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ANOTHER VICTORY!!!

P.S.: Stay tuned for tomorrow's post race update...pictures & media will be provided by my personal photographer and #1.5 fan (mom dukes holds the top spot) Ms. Aynsley Kent! lol

SC State Bulldog Invite Post Meet

Rainy and cold but overall another good meet. This was another meet where progress was the overall biggest factor. At this point in my season I am not worried about top meet performer, or winning a t-shirt (because that's all the recognition u get)the only thing on my mind is running the time needed for me to qualify for the D-II national meet. And that means making the necessary adjustments after every race to make the next better than the last! A theory and a mindset that should be applied to all things in life.
Like I mentioned in my prior post this weekends race was all about being agressive, technique was out the door this time around but...out of mind did not mean out of sight! A little backwards but u get the just. My start out of the blocks this week was a lot stronger than last weeks and it felt as if I pulled from the field around hurdle two and led until about 8 where I faded and fell back to 3rd in my heat, aggression proved to be a much needed factor but there's still work to do. Any great hurdler will tell you that hurdling is a bit like sewing ( I can almost guarantee that just like myself a lot of great hurdlers have never sewn) it takes more than just one thread to put together the complex but beautiful pieces that seamtress compose. Like Coach Brooks Johnson said training an athlete is like a complex jazz piece u have ur simple underlying melody and your complex patterns. Way too much to explain one thing but whatever, things are coming together for me and now its time to build on the foundation.
My 100 meter race proved to be another race that's coming along gradually even though my drive phase was a bit stronger it still needs work, I have to take myself out of the hurdle mentality and place myself in the sprint mentality...more agression keeping the head down and driving down the track.
4x100-baton drop...
4x200-(I)got disqualified??? How in the hell does this happen right? Well we checked in nearly 3 times and before our heat the heats were modified and combined when we were asked to check in again I show w/o my 3 other members to check in and she scratches us...so I'm like WHAT WHY! And then they DQ me lol I ws a bit heated about the issue but my fiasco got the team put back in the race I was just unable to run...buncha bs if u ask me. We are there to compete and any competitor should be passionate about it...my passion got me DQ'ed I figure that every race is important even if it isn't the hurdles so I put forth the same effort for each.
I was reinstated for the 4x400 and popped it off running for my life out of lane 7...that's pretty much all I can say 2nd in our heat due to a baton fumble but hey...next week is a new week so stay tuned.

Welcome Back to The Burg/ SC State Invitational Pre-Meet

As of RIGHT NOW! I am on my way back to my birthplace Orangeburg, SC home of the SC State Bulldogs...I believe. Today is going to be a big day for yours trully, it marks the second meet of the season, an opportunity to perform in the presence of my father and a bit of a homecoming(not really).
Here are the day's duties: 4x100 (a basic warmup w/in the hurdle warmup); my MAIN EVENT the 110 hurdles (definately planning to make the necessary improvements in order to drop a good time) I plan on running an aggressive race today...technique will take the backseat I'm pretty confident that at this time in the season I should be technically sound enough to let that take the backseat. I've been practing hurdles and perfecting technique without the necessary aggression for 2 years so now this year and today mark the agression phase (check the post meet for the results).
Next on the agenda is the 100: agression again...explosive out of the blocks and drive down the track working on arm drive and turnover...I plan on running a half-descent race today show em that hurdlers are some of the best sprinters on the track.Following the 100 I believe I get a bit of a break until the 4x200: this race is all about rhythm and strength I'll probably be popping this one off to my preference because it allows me to work on that block start and drive phase for the hurdles. Even though the two drive phases from the hurdles and the 200 are quite different they compliment each other well. The 200 calls for a drive phase that is made up of about 8-10 strong power strides in order for the slingshot effect out of the curve...in comparison the drive phase to the first hurdle is 8 strong aggressive steps which build the runners momentum in order for the desired attack on the first hurdle. Hurdles (strong,fast,powerful) 200(strong, gradual, powerful, building).
To cap off the evening ill be running a leg on the 4x400: conditioning...Conditioning...CONDITIONING. Nuff said
The weather conditions are quite different from last weekends warm coastal weather forecast predict that it top out at about 55 with a 60% chance of light showers. Crappy conditions but the track is still 400 meters, the hurdles are still 42inches and the distance is still 110 meters so I have to execute the same as I would if it was 85 and sunshine. I'm about to call it a trip tho and get some z's during the bus ride.

Decathletes

I had a little time on my hands so I figured I would shout out to all the decathletes in the athletic world. Now the decathalon is an event that I've known about I guess for the majority of my track and field career. One of my homebois and big brother figures teddrick brown was a decathlete at Albany State University. All I ever heard about was how grueling it was but the point I want to get across is how talented these men and women (heptathletes) are. To think they train in 8 and 10 of the events that u or I run and eventually reach a level of mastery.
That's something that I think needs a little recognition, for someone to train in my event which is one of the most technical events on the track and for some of them to even be halfway competitive is Wild!
In our most recent track meet my teamate jameel jenkins (sorry if I screwed the name lol) participated in 8 events...in one meet! I didn't see this kat until I began to warm-up for the 4x400 lol he was a lil darker and looked tired as all hell lmao.so this is my shout out to each of those athletes who spend an entire meet running back and forth from track-to pit- to ring keep holding it down. Your team points, hard-work, and talent are deserving of the utmost respect.

Savannah State University: Post Meet Synapsis

To say the least I am exhausted! EXHAUSTED lol Today proved to be a very productive day a 4x1,the highs, the 100, the long jump (approach), the 4x200, and to bring the day to an end that good ol 4x400.
I guess ill run it down after laying out the days festivities, by this time you probably are thinking...is this guy really a collegiate runner or was he at a high school meet lmao
Well to begin we got to the meet around 11 first race being at 12...excuse my english but it be dat way sometimes lol so there wasn't a lot of lolligaggin going on with me, it was time to go to work.My warmup went relatively well not too much to complain about there I warmed up with my relay teamates which was a little different than our regular hurdle warm-up routine nonetheless it got the job done :-). The 4x100 popped off and katz were dropping like flies, we were placed in lane 8 (shitty) and before I got the baton at 3rd the guy in lane six was down, my teamate at 2nd leg tweaked a hammy so our handoff went from a 4x100 hand back exchange to an open in fear of running out of the zone, after getting the baton I had to make up a bit of a stagger (how from lane 8) lmao but we finished well not sure of the place I didn't really care; the hurdles were up next can u feel the excitement. So I knocked out a few strides and started going over the hurdles to get the muscles ready. I ended up in the second heat in lane 5 not bad at all my first 6 hurdles looked really well techniquely I have found more than a few flaws though or simply imperfections that can be perfected through practice. Definately wasn't aggressive enough down the straight or out of the blocks it was a little more cautious than anything so the plan for the next meet is to explode out of the blocks run aggresive and controlled putting the two together will definately drive me down the track at the speed that I need. I also need to drive the lead down over the hurdle I caught myself without the slight bend in the knee that goes hand in hand with great hurdlers. Another thing that I felt was that my arm drive was a bit weak further down the track definately a determining factor in running fast times.Moving on...that was followed up by the 100 which was strictly for block and power work mission achieved here but still a few things to point out and work on in practice arms and knee-drive.Two things that I tried to implement in my leg of the 4x200 which had me bak in the blocks...arms and knees were good but my shoulders where hunched out of the blocks another very small but technical portion of my race that needs tweaking...4x400 went well overall I haven't seen any tape but I went balls to the wall cuz if you know me I hate that damn race...I was supposed to pop off the b team but moments before the race I was switched to 3rd for the A either way I was forced to run hard (coaches gameplan) but overall this meet was a definite opener next week will be quite a different race day.On a lighter note I got to see my Mom Dukes :-) haven't seen her since my birthday in january and trust she brought the goodies I got a new laptop today and I have brownies on DECK!!! Lol until the next post get at me! The road to olympia has begun u can catch me on vacation in texas on the 23 of May if you don't know what that date means yet u will soon

Savannah State University Tiger Invitation Pre Meet

This week has been an extremely long one for me. I've been away from the computer and haven't had the energy to type up anything on the crackberry because I've been under the weather for the entire week, but I am feeling much better at the moment. Definately preparing myself mentally and physically for the debut this weekend. As I type I am in the university training room chilling (literally) in the ice tub getting the legs all set for tomorrow.

Overall the week has been pretty extensive training wise, monday I sat out due to sickness, tuesday we had weight pulls and both wednesday and thursday we hit the hurdles hard so you can imagine how the legs are feeling right now.The bus rolls out early tomorrow morning so ill see if I have the energy to update if not consider me out! Till then keep khillin I know I will lol.

Fort Valley State University

Now I would like to start off by letting all the readers know...that I was not in an actual tornado but...it was a pretty cool picture to use to explain my first track meet yesterday. My team and I traveled to Fort Valley, Ga to compete in our season opener which turned out to be the exact opposite. The travel down from Atlanta was filled with rain and minor thunderstorms and not much changed when we finally arrived. We ran down in Peach county (never heard of it...note that i am a native of GA) high school in the middle of nowhere just as the image above shows lol. The track wasnt in horrible shape but was located basically in the middle of nowheresville I actually could spot a barn off in the distance.

So i hop off the bus to get a couple of laps in and I felt really good overall the best that I have felt my entire collegiate career before a competition. Training has been very extensive and i accredit that to my Training partner and Coach Pamela Page. So I hopped back on the bus to stay out of the rain and rest a little before my actual warm up...soon after all of the jumpers and throwers who were out warming up come back to the bus due to lightning in the distance...soon after we here tornado warnings and are transported to the gym where we waited about an hour and left shortly after to come back to Atlanta.

Pretty interesting....I know; I'm actually a little upset about the situation because this sets me one meet behind in the attempt to qualify for Nationals...but we will just go back out to practice monday...(if it ever stops snowing) and revamp the gameplan for next weekend.