Blogs : Joshwyn Abrams

It Takes Hard Work To Reach Perfection

What's up everyone...I hope you guys/girls had a great weekend.  For all the athletes.... I hope you ran,jumped, and threw well.   Well let's not hesitate any further let's jump into this week's blog.

Thursday March 27, 2008

Got to practice and did my normal stuff, you know the drills, stretches, etc.  I headed over to Nigel and ask him what's today workout.  He explains that he wants me to do 1x250 in 29 seconds and afterward 10x60meters.  The boys were working on 4x100 exchanges today so I thought to myself....I'll run my 250 with them.  So I'm standing next to Oso who is anchoring his relay....His third leg comes to hand off the baton and Oso and I take off together...I started to drive out and as I come out my drive phase I see one of the girls standing in the same lane that I'm running in...It was to late to call out track so I jumped into lane one and brushed against her...luckily we didn't have a head on collison....By this point Oso is about 10 meters in front of me...So I had to play catch up...He crossed the line and I hit the curve and pressed on the back stretch to the 250 mark, I then the click the switch on my watch and see 30.14.  I walked over to the girl to make sure she was okay...she said "Sorry Coach A." I told don't worry about it...Just make sure to never stand on the track.. I then walked over to Nigel and said...How did I look...He said you looked strong..."you might be able to do something this week" but what you run..I told him 30, and explained why I ran the time I did.  I know I woulda ran 29 if I didn't almost run into the girl.  

Afterwards I pulled Justin M. and Justin A. and Aaron W....for some block work.  We did  5 starts on the 200m curve and 5 starts on the straightaway. 

Friday March 28, 2008

Got to practice a bit early today. Today was an easy day...due to my competition on Saturday.  I had (6) one minute runs with a 30 second jog in between.  Afterwards 4x40 meters starts on the curve.  After practice headed down to Delaware and called a few buddies of mine and spent the remaining of the night at the casino.  And no I didn't gamble...

Saturday March 29, 2008

I woke up to a telephone call from my soon to be training partner Nicholas Brown...He asked me where I was...I explained to him still in bed.  He had to be at the track early because he had to work the meet.  I'm still in bed...and he texted me... bruh...it's cold outside.  I looked out my window and saw that it was sunny...So I thought to myself it's better then the weather prediction for icy rain and high winds.  I must admit it was a bit chilly outside, but what do you expect for a late March day in Delaware.  I got to the meet and immediately I felt at home...Just seeing the guys, and spectators I've seen over the past five years.  Kelli Thibou who I coached last year was the first person I ran into....It's funny to see how people develop/change in one year.  It's weird...he looks older then me now.

I walked up to Nick who was wearing his USA track and field jacket and probably 200.00 oakley sunglasses on his face and said bruh...you should be out here...He said "you see me in December"....As I was warming up....I notice how brisk it was outside...and windy... Everyone was asking me what are you running today...I was like the 200m....I had this urge to run the 100m....so I jumped into the 100m. Ironically...there was this guy in my heat that blasted me earlier this year in  the 60 meter dash, but that's when I wasn't training...Runner on your marks...Set.... Guns goes off...as I come out the blocks one of the runners screams...I guess they were trying to scare the rest of the field....I had a great start...after my third or fourth step out my drive phase I was in first....and I coasted all the way to the finish line and even broke it down...with at least 10 meters to go.  My old high school coach who coaches at Delaware State now was like..."Josh I see you still got"  I laughed and said...I guess so coach.  That race was a good warm up for me... FYI(Unattached athletes can't run in the final at this type of meet...so that's is another reason why I broke it down so early). I never got my time...people were like what you ran I told them 12.6.  I'm sure it was something slow...with the 2 mile head wind, cold weather and the slowing down in my race, but remember folks it not about running blazing times in the beginning...It's about monitoring your progress.  If I had to grade this race I would give it a B-....I had a great start (Thanks Andrew Murphy for the extra starting blocks practice and the drills)...Drive phase was good too.  Afterwards I asked Nick how I looked...he said you got out, but you looked like you was running a 400m after the first 30 meters..."It looked like you weren't using your arms".  It's always great to get feedback from others.  All feedback is good whether it's positive or negative.

So 45 minutes or so pass by and and I hear Uncle Josh from the stands...Tell me why my mom, sister, grandmother and my little nephew were sitting in the stands...It was funny because they were all dressed up like it was snowing outside....We chatted for awhile and then I went back to warming up.  I walk over to check in for my 200 meter race and I was immediatley upper cutted in the jaw.  Tell me why I got lane one....I haven't ran in lane one since probably 1997 and back then it was cool to run in lane one if you know what I mean. Just in case you don't know what I mean..... in high school I would run in lane one cuz I thought it was an advantage to see everyone in my race.  It's a shame that I was so uneducated about track and field then.  Bobby Young who is an consistent  45 second quarter miler, and who's just ran a few weeks earlier at the world indoor games and not to add a crusied 47 second 400m open race earlier in the day asked me if I was running the 200..I was like yea...you...he was like yea.  At this point..I'm like how in the world do you run from lane 1....So I had to figure out a strategy...These were the folks in my race....Larone Moore(DSU)...whos' ran 6.69 in the 60 meter earlier this year, Lee Barnes(DSU) who's ran 21.20 in the 200 indoors and Bobby Young who's run 45 seconds and runs for Liberia's national team and a few other guys I had no clue who they were.

I must admit..I wasn't nervous...because I felt like the odds were't in my favor...So I just had to run for my life.  I figured out of all the athletes in the field.... Larone had the fastest foot speed...I knew Bobby was strong as an ox...and I was somewhere in the middle with speed and strength.  My strategy was simple...Get out the first 30 meters hard...sit for 70 meters and run as hard as I could for the last 100m.  So I'm at the blocks...joking with a few guys at the line explaing to them how I'm gonna get blasted....in this race....I step into the blocks... Set....then gun goes of...I cruised pass the runner in lane two... I got to the the thirty meter mark and I'm shoulder to shoulder with Bobby Young....everything was going as planned, but Larone is a bit further then I expected.....At the 80 meter mark...I geared up to switch gears...and as soon as I hit that straightaway...I gave it everything I had....I gradually pulled closer and closer to Larone... but at the 150 meter...mark...I started to clench my teeth and I my arms started to tighten up...my neck tensed up...arms began to locked...and there was no knee lift going on either might I add.  Bobby Young pulled next to me...and I tried to maintain...I mean I really did, but these legs and arms weren't hearing it...My form totally broke down.... at the 180meter mark....my right leg stumbled to the point I thought I was gonna fall...I ended up fourth in my heat...Larone, Lee, Bobby, then little o'l me 

I've been running for almost 11 years and that was the hardest 200 meter race I've ever ran. I'm sad to say that only one of us ran 21 seconds .  Well you have to include the head wind/the cold and of course everyone's knowledge of who else was running in the race.  I thought I never would reach the finish line.  I asked Nick how it look besides the me getting smoked part....   He said you got out well, and you just had no knee lift on the straightaway.  He said...you were in the race the whole time...I told him it didn't feel like I was.. 

If I had to grade this race I would give it a C. I mean I got out well...and I was comfortable the first half of my race...but I I tightened up the second half.  Next step is to go back to the drawing board and evaluate the pros and cons of today's races.

Thanks for taking the time out to read another blog.  Feel free to leave a comment.

Your number one fan

Joshwyn Abrams

Track Meet

6:48 PM, March 30, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

Hey Josh I saw you run yesterday and you looked good. Coach Bell was right you still got it. I can't wait to see what you do later on in the season.

ughh.

11:21 PM, March 30, 2008 .. Posted by missbri

i remember i had to run a 200 in stockholm about two years ago and it was the longest 200 ever. it's weird because in practice i always choose to run out of lane 1 but in a meet i feel like it's the worst thing that could ever happen. but i remember when angelo taylor won the gold medal at the olympics in 2000 out of lane 1. he said it never phased him and he knew he could win out of lane 1.

which brings me to my other point...

i know it's super early and you are probably just out there having fun, but it's important to realize how easy it is to speak things into existence. when you say to yourself (and to others) how you're going to get smoked, you raise the probability of that happening exponentially. i know all of us do it and it seems harmless enough, but our mind is so powerful and our bodies will often do what our mind expects to. so maybe this isn't applicable now, but down the line when it matters and you are looking to NOT get smoked, just keep that in mind. power talk can be a huge advantage when used correctly.

Hey Bri

1:19 AM, March 31, 2008 .. Posted by joshwyn

Lol....Didn't that 200 seem so so long. But your def. right about t angelo taylor and the speaking into existence...I appreciate the love on the wall keep em coming....and yea I downloaded the firefox could't you tell?

Untitled Comment

4:08 PM, March 31, 2008 .. Posted by ULMSpeeddemon

I know its tough to run in cold weather. Stay on the grind.