Day 1 review

Today was filled with some high highs and some low lows. Fortunately it averaged out to be a pretty solid performance.

100m: Getting in to the blocks things felt completely wrong. "RUNNERS TO YOUR MARKS" ... I was crowded on the start line and had this horrible feeling I was going to face plant. "SET" ...'just bust through, just bust through... aggh something's off'... "Bang"...

somebody false started, hallelujah.

Back to the line I reset my blocks, feel solid, and get a great drive phase going. I was patient for my hips to catch up with my head until opening full stride. With thirty meters to go I'm neck and neck with Jake Arnold (last year's #3 guy in the nation). I bust a good finish and take him.

Lane 3 in red:


A quick turn to the score board... #1: Collins, 10.84 seconds.
A personal best by .21 seconds and a big boost of confidence for the day.

Long Jump: Wmups are decent, but didn't quite get the 'pop' off the board I was looking for. With ever changing winds (mixed head and tail) I take a bit of a close run to get one in the books. I go a disappointing 21 ft but at least have a safe mark to play with. On 2nd jump I scoot back my step a foot (head wind turned to tail) and end up jumping from 8" behind the board. Both jumps were frustrating as I slowed to hit the take off. Jump #3 I shook loose, scooted my step back up and went for it. Winds were steady, my approach was great, and I powered through the plant the best I've done all year. I turn for the result and see a red flag... "SCRATCH"... by 1mm. Most of the spectators and athletes I talked to disagreed, but there was no contesting it. All I can say is it felt like a big pr. There's no legitimate argument to it other than the video shows a large margin between my 21 ft landing and my scratched jump landing. Ugghh, the difference in points between jumps 1 and 3 would be over 100, dismissing the point advantage of my break through 100m.


Shot Put: Warmups were solid with overhead throws going past the 50' line and a standing throw over 40'. Full throws were landing just short of 45' which I haven't seen since the winter. (I've been in a bit of a slump). I end up throwing around 41' which made no sense at all. Nothing special, nothing detrimental, still on pace for projected goals.



High Jump: This one would be tricky as I have been resting/healing my knee by not practicing high jump for over a month. We had one day of a handful of short approach work that was mostly ugly, and one day of run-throughs without jumping. However, my first warmup from a short run I cleared 5'9" no problem. I went on to clear three heights on first attempt and then started opening some speed out of the back that I wasn't ready to control. I cleared 6'1" on third attempt with about a dozen responses of "ooohh, you had that by 3 or 4 inches" and the overly-encouraging-Danny saying, "you had a good 6 to 9 inches on that bar!" I love you Danny. A few run-throughs at 6'3" because my speed outweighed my skill forced me to calm down. My final attempt at 6'3" had the dialed-in approach I was looking for but my plant foot went toe first instead of heal first. My foot buckled, my jump lost control, and high jump was over. 6'1" ties my p.r. in a decathlon and is an event where my coach is still very much needed, so I felt good with the results. The big clearance on the 6'1" bar has me pumped to sharpen this up. That kind of clearance would quickly turn a bad weakness in to a strong performance.



400m: 15 mins. before this race I could literally feel the fatigue glowing around my whole body (it was about a half inch thick, according to my tape measure). I was a bit nervous stepping in to one of my best events while feeling my worst. The mid 90's texas weather added to the fun as I started doing accelerations. It's a strange feeling when a 20 meter acceleration has you sweating and panting, and all you can think is, "Okay, so 20m is kicking my tail, and I'm about to race 400m? hmmm..." I was in lane 8 on an 8 lane track which meant visual competition was not going to be an option. This would have to come from the gut. A fast and fun back-stretch tailwind quickly turned into a quit-slapping-me-in-the-face headwind. I heard somebody breathing behind me on the back stretch but that was gone after 200m. All alone on the homestretch, I look to the clock and realize 40sec is a good number to see when there's less than 80m to go. I clocked a 48.66 which made for a lifetime best of .41 seconds! Unfortunately, lane one guy (mustafa abdur-rahim) had a come from behind finish and beat me by .06. What's funny is that it nagged at me hours and all think was "Broncos don't get passed." One our high school cross-country motos.

(I'll get the video up later)

So a huge p.r. in both the 100 and the 400, a tied p.r. in the h.j. with no coach present, an okay shot put, and a possibly robbed long jump. Not bad, but not exactly what I had in mind. Tomorrow will have to be sharp if I am able to accomplish what I have set out to do. This will require:

-maintaining my much improved form in hurdles... at top speed
-connecting solid form with good power in the discus at least once
-running powerfully in pole vault and getting inverted
-bringing a fast hip through the javelin while maintaining long levers
-bustin' a gut in the 1500m like I have been trained to do for the last 15 years

these are all possible and probable individually, and I am believing for nothing less.

That would give me:

a low 15 to a high 14 second hurdle race: ~850 points
a 140-150 foot discus: ~760 points
a high 15 to mid 16' vault ~890 points
a 180's to 190's javelin ~710 points
and a 1500 in the 4:20's ~780 points

That's right around 4,000 points on a capable day 2 after 3,760 on day one. Put the two together and we have ourselves a winner.

This is all easier said than done, but they also say that about marriage, and mine couldn't be happier.