Point of No Return (27 April 2011)

I was well-rested coming into last night’s hurdles workout in Ultra. Thanks to the Holy Week holidays, my last technical session was two Saturdays ago. Nevertheless, there was noticeable spring in my legs. It was a feeling much different than what I had during the mediocre training sessions a couple of weeks back.

Psychologically, I was in tip-top shape as well. The fact that I’ll be competing in less than a month’s time has sunk in. The point of no return is looming ever so close. The level of fear and nervousness had dramatically subsided. In my eagerness to stage a comeback, I seemed to have forgotten the fundamental reason behind my athletic renaissance. Why do I do it? Because the hurdles are fun!

I must admit that I was a tad bit apprehensive as I lined up to clear senior hurdles. In the past months, rarely have I trained over the 1.067-m high barriers, opting to settle for the lesser heights. True enough, one can perfect the nuances of hurdling whilst clearing lower hurdles. It simplifies things and allows the hurdler to focus on his/her deficiencies. However, I’ve put so much emphasis in the philosophy that I seemed to have forgotten that training over the senior heights has been an important part of my hurdling philosophy.

It felt weird at first. The phobia of my freak hurdling injury five years ago still has faint traces. The source of the latent fear was apparently psychological.

As always, I kept things simple and focused on two important facets: (1) staying low on the approach to the first hurdle and (2) sprinting in-between hurdles. And it felt great! I felt the speed in my three-stride pattern, despite certain technical flaws. I positioned the hurdles at the tail end of the homestretch, so as to simulate the race-ending dive to the tape.

Everything seems to be in place – physically and psychologically. I just need to iron out a few things before I can pronounce myself ready for the Nationals!

Food for Thought

I am a track geek. In college, I devoured all sorts of athletics literature available at the Rizal Library. My favorite is Roberto Quercetani’s “A World History of Track and Field Athletics, 1864-1964.” I was awestruck at the feats of strength of modern athletics’ pioneers. They competed long before the days of sports science and modern amenities like the synthetic track and collapsible hurdles.

I am in dire need of a motivational boost. The Han Solo training routine is starting to get into my head at the most pivotal of times. What better way to pump oneself up than to read about the feats of the old champions?

Earlier today, I came across a rare clip of the sprint hurdles final at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. It was an American 1-2-3 finish, with Lee Calhoun winning the first of his two Olympic gold medals. His compatriot, Jack Davis, won his second silver medal in the event. Both stopped the clock at 13.5s, with Calhoun edging out Davis with a nifty dive to the tape, setting a new Olympic record in the process. Joel Shankle placed 3rd in 14.1s.

It was a heartbreaking loss for Davis. He missed out on the gold for the second consecutive time under similar circumstances. The legendary Harrison Dillard won gold four years earlier in Olympic record fashion.

To run 13.5s on a cinder track is simply amazing, especially for this Filipino hurdler. Not one Filipino had ever gone below the 14 second-barrier for crying out loud!

I’ve always loved thinking about hypothetical situations. My imaginative mind thrives on these fecund fields. Since hand-timing was the norm back in the days prior to the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, I’ve often wondered how my humble personal best of 14.9s would place me among past Olympic champions. Reading through the list of Athletics Heroes, I would have won an Olympic title had I run my personal best at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. At the 1920 Antwerp Olympic Games, my 14.9s time is good enough for a silver medal!

Track Beauty of the Week: Silvia Salis

Silvia Salis is this week’s track beauty (well, strictly speaking, Salis is a field beauty)!

As a junior, the Italian ranked 12th at the World Junior Championships in Grossetto back in 2004.  Salis has shown steady improvement in the past few years.  At the regional level, Salis is a force to be reckoned with, having been crowned Mediterranean Games champion in 2009. However, the 25-year old hammer thrower has yet land the podium in a major international meet.

   

Photos from Fidal.it, Wikipedia and Civitanews.it

In 2008, Salis had a breakout season, throwing beyond the 70-meter mark for the first time (70.42m).

   

Photos from Fidal.it and Zimbio/Getty Images

However, she failed to replicate her stellar form in the Beijing Olympics, where she placed disappointed 42nd place, notching a sub-standard 62.28m throw in qualifying.

Salis threw the hammer to a new personal best distance of 71.77m in 2009. A year later, she barged into the top 8 of the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona.

Scared

A month to go before the Philippine National Games, I am scared shit-less. You read that right. This is an admission of fear. Never since my high school days have I been this afraid before a hurdles race. In my college days, I was dauntless in the face of gargantuan pressure. I used to relish the challenge.

The main reason for this is my lack of preparation over senior hurdles. Yes, I’ve trained over junior hurdles the past few months. Some coaches espouse training over junior hurdles and ONLY clearing senior hurdles during competition. I do realize the wisdom of such an approach, but in the years past I’ve grown accustomed to both the junior and senior hurdles.

I know for a fact that I still have it in me. This is just a major crisis of confidence getting into my nerves. In due time, I shall get my act together. For now, it feels great to admit this fear and tell myself what I’ve been struggling to hide all this time.

Laban lang!

Pacquiao-Mosley at the Blue Eagle Gym! (8 May 2011)

The Ateneo de Manila Track & Field Program presents Manny Pacquiao vs. Shane Mosley, live at the Blue Eagle Gym on Sunday, 8 May 2011!

Under-card fights start at 9:00 AM. Tickets are at Php 250.

Photo credit:

Fightfan.com

Track Beauty of the Week: Yuliya Pidluzhnaya Юлия Витальевна Пидлужная

Yuliya Pidluzhnaya Юлия Витальевна Пидлужная is this week’s track beauty!

Pidluzhnaya burst into the senior scene with her bronze medal at the European Indoor Championships in France. The Russian long jumper, made it a 1-3 punch for the athletics powerhouse nation, leaping 6.75m in the final.

Read: Yuliya Pidluzhnaya Answers the 10-for-10 Quiz

   

Photos from Getty Images and RusAthletics.com

The 22-year old also placed 3rd at the European Junior Championships back in 2007. A year later, she finished 8th in qualifying at the World Junior Championships in Beijing. Pidluzhnaya has an outdoor personal best of 6.84m set in 2010 – a world class mark in women’s long jumping. ith her podium finish in Paris, Pidluzhnaya had solidified her spot among the long list of elite Russian long jumpers.

Yuliya won silver at the 2011 World University Games in Shenzen, China. Her best leap of 6.56m was good enough for second place behind compatriot Anna Nazarova. Her 2012 start wasn’t as impressive as the previous year. To date, the Russian has an indoor best of 6.60m. Pidluzhnaya, however, could only muster a modest 6.28m mark at the Russian National team championships in Sochi, the first major Russian outdoor meeting this year.

Additional link:

All-Athletics Profile

With a little help from my friends (16 April 2011)

The past few weeks had been quite hard. The stresses of training alone had been getting into my head. No man is an island. Although solitude is at times, beneficial, there comes a point where the silence becomes too deafening. I was becoming stale as I went through the motions of hurdling and sprinting. There was no intensity. I started to doubt myself and my ability to compete head-to-head with the nation’s best hurdlers.

I was on track to another lackluster workout yesterday afternoon when I bumped into Ninoy  Marayag in Rizal. I haven’t seen the guy in months and, naturally, we talked about all things track & field. I confided my self-doubts. The national level triple jumper was very supportive and prodded me not to scrap my plans of competing.

The mere presence of a friend did wonders to my training session. He was able to spot some deficiencies in my hurdling (trail leg doesn’t snap forward, flailing arm action). Even if he’s a triple jumper, he knew the basics of hurdling. His inputs were very helpful indeed!

Ernie Candelario, the 2003 SEA Games 400m champion, was also there with his family and some national tracksters. After one good run, I saw him clapping and widely grinning. I basked under his praise! I grew up reading about this guy’s exploits. Hell, I idolized his quarter-mile running. To see him clapping at my hurdling was simply flattering.

The slew of frustrating training sessions were stopped, thanks to the mere presence and support of Ninoy and Ernie.

Ninoy shared an Ilonggo saying, which loosely translated into Tagalog: “Hindi pa nagsisimula and laban, panalo ka na.” In English the line means winning in your mind before the start of  the actual competition. It was a wake-up call. I realized how soft I had become in the years I spent away from the track. Self-doubt is the worst thing an athlete can do to himself.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be gradually reaching my peak in time for the National Games in Bacolod. Everything is on target.

The Blade Runner

I first read about Oscar Pistorius back in 2007. The decorated Paralympic athlete was targeting an unprecedented appearance in Olympic athletics competition*.

Photo from Wikipedia

The double-amputee’s carbon fiber legs attracted much attention – and speculation of an unfair competitive advantage. What ensued was a months-long legal process with Court of Arbitration for Sport. By the time Pistorius was cleared to compete, he only had a couple of months to meet the entry standards for the Beijing Games.

I found the controversy particularly unnerving. Carbon fibers aren’t cybernetic appendages for crying out loud. We’re still few generations away from science fiction becoming reality. Nevertheless, I drew much inspiration from Pistorius. His times in the sprints were particularly impressive, comparing it to Filipino standards. His 2007 PR in the 100m dash is good enough for a UAAP podium finish. His 2007 best in the 200m dash is almost as fast as Ralph Soguilon’s national record.

It is in the quarter-mile where the 24-year old South African is most deadly. Pistorius recently shaved off a big 0.4 seconds from his 400m personal best, stopping the clock in 45.61s. With this new clocking, Pistorius had bettered the Olympic “B” standard. To solidify his slot in the South African Olympic team for 2012, Pistorius would have to move heaven and earth just to meet the new Olympic “A” standard of 45.25s.

Read the Universal Sports article on Oscar’s 2012 Olympic hopes here

Pistorius had a particularly bad-ass Nike advertisement. Many a time had I turned to the video for an adrenaline boost. It’s my favorite advertisement of all-time.

In a country where sports aside from boxing, basketball – much less Paralympic events – take a back seat, it’s amazing to see a differently-abled athlete compete at a much higher level than the best Filipino athletes of today.

It is, in every sense of the word, inspiring.

*- A South African Paralympic swimmer, Natalie Du Toit, competed in the able-bodied games in 2008.

Brand Conscious

Back in college, we had the luxury of corporate sponsors. In the five years I spent donning the Blue and White, I never had to pay for our provincial meets, board and lodging and, of course, racing kits. Now that I’m training solo, I’ve learned to appreciate those benefits even more. Case in point are my track and field apparel and footwear.

My athletics wardrobe took a drastic turn after my college track days. I traded most of my old kits to former competitors. I’ve been quite stingy with my Ateneo clothing until then. Facing retirement, I saw no point in hanging on to those mementos. What better way to honor my adversaries than to exchange race kits. Little did I know that a serious athletics renaissance was bound to take place.

As a kid, I drooled for all things Nike. Michael Jordan and the popularity of the Air Max series played a big part fanning the fires. This love affair with the swoosh endured well into high school and the early parts of college. The Adidas-sponsored Ateneo kits were the turning point. I found the three stripes particularly bad-ass. And the Adidas stuff kept on coming, albeit in relatively modest terms compared to the Seniors’ Basketball team! Nevertheless, I was very content with my form-fitting Adidas tank tops, sleek short shorts and my aggressively-designed Demolishers!

Now that I’m paying for my own track stuff, I became less brand-conscious. In the months since my comeback, I’ve bought Mizuno and Nike tops; Nike and Umbro running shoes and New Balance spikes. The only new Adidas stuff in my repertoire are Techfit compression shorts, Response tights and a Japanese football jersey – a prized find from a used clothing shop.

Professional athletes (and talented collegiate basketball players) are fortunate to have corporate sponsors. I do not have the luxury of free stuff, so I make the most out of every buying opportunity with my limited budget. As they say, beggars can’t be choosers!

Rebound (11 April 2011)

I slept for a good 7 hours the night before. My legs felt well-rested! However, there were ominous signs. While at the hospital visiting my dad (he’s halfway in his chemotherapy), I learned from Twitter that a huge fire had gutted the slums near my place. It was tragic, with hundreds of destitute families left homeless. Traffic was heavy as fire trucks from all over the Metro scampered to put out the blaze.

I was supposed to head straight to Moro as soon as I got home from the hospital. However, we had to carry our old refrigerator into my dad’s Elf truck (for transportation to Quezon province!). I was delayed yet again! The training window narrowed to a little more than one hour.

But still, I soldiered on! Juggling work, training and other commitments the past year, I’ve become well-versed in the art of quick workouts. Hell, I was dead set on redemption. Last Saturday’s session was just way too crappy. I did a few starts and intense, all-out sprints. I was satisfied at my leg speed. I was a little tense throughout the sprinting motion though, perhaps due to my eagerness to eke out one helluva great workout.

At the end of the short session, I still had quite a lot in my tank. Even if I wanted to push on for another hour, Moro’s closing time was fast approaching.

Cut Loss (9 April 2011)

There’s this term in securities trading called “cut loss.” Simply put, cutting your losses means selling a particular losing position. It ends the blood-letting potentially bigger losses and enables the trader and the institution to absorb the trading loss outright – to start anew with a clean slate.

Last Saturday, I did just that in my hurdles session in Rizal.

I couldn’t seem to find the speed in my legs. I was having a hard time maintaining good form over the hurdles and in-between the barriers. At first, I wanted to blame the bunch of joggers loitering around the 50m mark. They were distracting, all right, but I know for a fact that it takes so much more to put me out of my hurdling groove (hell, I train in Ultra at night, where joggers literally crowd the track). I had to clear youth hurdles again, just to enable my body go through the motions. But still, something felt horribly wrong.

I sat on the moist track, just to compose my thoughts. I did n0t have the luxury of time. I had a seminar for work scheduled on 8:00 AM (I got to Rizal at around 6:30 AM). Soldiering on will be counterproductive, I told myself. Moreover, I was feeling a sharp pain in my right calf. My ego wanted to push through, of course. I’m not the type to shirk from a challenge.

But then again, I’ve been through the same situation before. The best move is to cut one’s losses, to retreat and fight again another day! I’ve put a tremendous toll on my body the past week as I juggled training with commitments at work. A botched training session was the price I had to pay.

I rued the missed training opportunity well into the remainder of my weekend. I felt the frustration seep into my very bones. I shut out my ears to the screams of my overwrought head. I rested the entire Sunday, opting to skip my gym and plyo’s workout.

Track Beauty of the Week: Marie-Laurence Jungfleisch

Marie-Laurence Jungfleisch is this week’s track beauty!

The 20-year old Jungfleisch was the youngest member in the German contingent sent to the 2011 European Indoor Championships. With Ariane Friedrich absent due to an Achilles injury, it was up to the youngster to carry the cudgels for her country in the high jump. She finished 12th in qualifying, notching a 1.89m mark.

Read: “A Future World Beater”

Photos from Leichtathletik.de, Lkz.de, Zimbio/Getty Images and Lukk2008′s Flickr

Jungfleisch has had a stellar 2011 season. Pitted against a crack lineup of veteran high jumpers, young German ably put on a firm challenge. She leaped a new absolute personal best of 1.92m, finishing behind the Russian duo of Svetlana Shkolin Светлана Владимировна Школина and Irina Gordoyeva Ирина Гордеева.

Jungfleisch was born in Paris to a father from Martinique. Hence, the 2011 European Indoor Championships was a homecoming of sorts for promising German talent.

The 20-year old had won the 2008 and 2009 German Youth titles, as well as the 2011 German indoor senior title. Expect Jungfleisch to do better in the coming years.

Sources:

Jungfleisch’s Leichtathletik.de profile

IAAF Biography

Toby Stevenson speaks to Flotrack

Toby Stevenson is unique because of his ever-present helmet. In some places in the United States, a helmets are required equipment for the pole vault for safety reasons. Stevenson, in fact, is the only top tier vaulter who wore a helmet in competition. Naturally, this made him standout.

Stevenson’s best year came in 2004, where he joined the elite 6.00 meter club. At the Olympic Games in Athens, Stevenson came in 2nd (5.90m) behind the ageless Tim Mack for an American 1-2 finish. The Texas-born athlete never did replicate the successes of his 2004 season. Stevenson missed the 2008 Beijing Olympics. A year later at the Berlin World Championships, the American finished 12th in qualifying (5.40m).

The U.S. athletics website, Flotrack, offers an in-depth glimpse into track & field. In the interview below, the now retired Stevenson talks about life as an elite athlete and life after it. The way he describes living 50m from the track and free services like physio made me drool with envy! You don’t get that by reading IAAF articles or watching Youtube clips. The Flotrack interviews have an intimate, friendly feel.

What struck me the most was how passionately Stevenson told of the sacrifices he had to made. Career, family and friends took a backseat in the years he spent among the pole vault elite. He lived a life that epitomizes living, eating and breathing everything athletics. His parting words are poignant:

“There is no right or wrong in track & field. There is righter and wronger… So find out what’s righter for you and go there. Do whatever it takes to go there. Move. Sell you house, sell your car. Walk if you have to. The Olympic dream is actually an Olympic dream. While you’re doing it, there is no sacrifice big enough.

I’ve been feeling quite down the past few days. Despite the steady progress I’ve achieved in training, the balancing act is becoming increasingly harder to bear. Sometimes, really, I’m tempted to just quit the sport and live out a normal life. But compared to the struggles faced by great athletes like Stevenson, my life’s hurdles seem grossly minute. I draw inspiration from the lives of others, and channel it into my own.

Game Face (2 April 2011)

My right Achilles was acting up yesterday. I surmised that it was from the hurdles workout last Thursday or from wearing leather shoes all week long. I felt crappy during warm-up. I wanted to err at the side caution and simply go home. I can ill-afford another injury.

But lo and behold, the pain disappeared once I wore my spikes! During my hurdling warm-up, the pain was totally gone. My weekend Rizal workout was saved.

Rizal was almost devoid of people. The pole vault guys were competing in the Filipino-Chinese meet in Ultra, so I was left training alone. I must admit that it was an eerie feeling, having the stadium all to myself. In the middle of my hurdles workout, a few training pool members  and a national team decathlete hung around the 1st hurdle mark, to kill time before their training.

I’m not used being around real track and field athletes anymore since I train around fitness enthusiasts and recreational runners most of the times! I was quite dazed and distracted by the national team guys. After all, they are much better athletes than gym buffs and joggers! Since a couple of those guys also do the hurdles, the pressure to perform well naturally built up.

I shrugged off those irrational emotions and buried the my inferiority complex underneath a new-found confidence in myself. I told myself that hell, I was once one of the top hurdlers in the Philippines. It’s just right to walk with some swagger. Putting my game face on, I had my best hurdle workout to date.

I was satisfied with my starts since I didn’t slow down before the first hurdle. Again, I had some difficulty transitioning from hurdle clearance to sprinting. More importantly, I’ve found my hurdling rhythm albeit a considerably crude version of it. It was a decent effort altogether.

Rico Blanco – Yugto

I didn’t like Rico Blanco’s Yugto when I first heard it a few years back. In recent weeks, however, I’ve developed a certain fondness for the song in those 20 minute walks from my office to the MRT station.

In my pre-training visualizations, Yugto is the perfect soundtrack. The line “lumiyab ka” (loosely translated, this means “keep the fires of passion burning”) is an apt by-line for my much-delayed comeback. “Saksi ang langit sa ikalawang yugto” (heaven is witness to the second chapter) is an even more straightforward depiction of what I’m going through. After my ignominious exit in UAAP 70, I’m on to the second chapter of my track career.