Run For The Dream- Februrary 5-6, 2010

Held at The Save Mart Center in Fresno, CA

Visit Run For The Dream Website

Simplot Games- February 18-20, 2010

The Simplot Games held in Pocatello, Idaho, offers young athletes the opportunity to go head-to-head against the finest high school competitors in the U.S. and Canada.

Qualifying Standards- Girls

• 60m dash - 7.95
• 60m hurdles - 9.35
• 200m dash - 25.00
  
• 400m dash - 57.00

Visit Simplot Games website.

NSI Championships- March 12-14, 2010

Held at The Armory Track & Field Center in New York, NY

(More information to come)

Visit NSIC website.

]]> http://echelontrack.org/2009/07/31/2010-indoor-meets/feed/ http://echelontrack.org/2009/03/25/the-mental-game/ http://echelontrack.org/2009/03/25/the-mental-game/#comments Wed, 25 Mar 2009 08:25:05 +0000 Jason http://echelontrack.org/?p=243

A few of you know that I played golf in high school. While they are significantly different games, success in both golf and track is based on the technical execution of a physical action. Golf is often referred to as a mental game, and I believe track is just as much a mental game.

If you don’t believe me, consider Asafa Powell who was the 100m record holder and has run under 9.80s more times than all other sprinters combined, but twice he was only able to finish fifth at the Olympics. If you saw him in Beijing you know he was mentally done before the race ever started.

I made my high school golf team as a freshman and played varsity for three years. My junior year, our team won our league. Unfortunately, we had to forfeit our title when we found out one of our teammates had played while he was ineligible because of grades. The highlight of my career, though, was the day I shot a 32, or four under par, for nine holes. This is something most players will never achieve and a score that is at a professional level.

The Power of Visualization

The words dream, imagine, and visualize all have very similar meanings. To visualize something is to form a mental image of it. The first step to achieving something is to see it happening.

The day I shot that 32 was very interesting. I wasn’t nervous or distracted. I wasn’t trying to fix my swing or hit the ball really far. What happened that day was I became truly focused. I trusted myself to do what I knew I could. Before I stepped up to hit my shot I saw the shot happening. I didn’t aim generally “over there.” I aimed close to the hole because I knew I could hit it there. I saw every specific detail. I saw my swing, pure and relaxed. I saw the flight of the ball through the air. I saw the exact spot the ball would land, and how far it would roll. When I was putting, I would see the ball break with the curve of the ground, and hear the sound of the ball landing in the hole.

This was my purest sports moment, the time where the mental and the physical came together perfectly. My mind saw what I wanted to do, and my body just did it.

The mind has an amazing ability to see something, and make the body do it. That is the reason we take photos of other successful runners for you to see. It is why it’s good to watch high level athletes compete and analyze their technique. Students often wish that they could learn by osmosis. Well, this is one area where you can truly learn just by watching.

If practice makes perfect, what does practicing negative habits do?

Training your body will only take you so far. In order to truly succeed you must also train your mind. All of you are doing this now without realizing it. Every time you think about how your race will go, and every time you get into your “zone” before your event, you are training your mind. You are practicing a mental state that gets you ready to run.

So back to the question, if practice makes perfect, what does practicing negative habits do? The answer is you will consistently achieve what you don’t want to.

So if you are practicing negative mental habits, you must change the way you think in order to be successful. Don’t think about what could happen. Don’t think anything negative. You must stay positive and visualize what you want to do. What you will do.

The mind doesn’t understand the word “not”

Do not think of a pink elephant!

What image just popped into your brain? Most likely a pink elephant, or an elephant you tried to paint pink in your head. The point is that you can’t tell your mind not to do something. It simply doesn’t understand.

I have proven this to myself many times when I need to hit a golf shot over a lake. If I simply let my mind and body do what I have trained it to, the ball goes into the air and over the lake. The same as any other shot where there is grass instead of a lake. Why should the lake change anything?

Well, what happens if I see the lake and think, “I hope I don’t hit it in the lake”? My mind has to see the image of me hitting the ball into the lake in order to process that thought. My body will do what my mind sees, and so my body does exactly what it needs to in order to hit the ball into the lake! I was effectively telling myself, “I hope I hit it in the lake.”

Your body will, 100 percent of the time, without fail, do what your mind tells it to do. This is why it is so important to stay positive and stay focused on what you want to happen, and why you need to visualize, and replay in your head, over and over, what you want to do.

When someone is successful at doing this, it is referred to as, “being in the zone.” What is the difference between “being in the zone” and normal? There is no training difference; no physical feeling that is different. What happens is the negative thoughts and doubt fall away. The what ifs and the I can’ts disappear. All that is left is the mind seeing and the body doing.

A great example of this is a player making a basket to win a basketball game at the buzzer. First the player must practice shooting, and develop proper technique. Then the player begins to dream of hitting a shot at the last second. The player begins to see the visual of hitting that shot. The player may even act it out, counting down the clock as he shoots, and making cheering noises from the crowd after the shot goes in, further reinforcing the positive visual and making it even more real in his mind. When the time comes in real life to hit the shot, the player has no nerves and no doubt, he simply replays the visual in his mind and does what he has done countless times before.

Practice Positive Visualization

You can practice getting mentally prepared for your race. In fact, you are always practicing and reinforcing habits even if you don’t know it. Make sure you are practicing the right habits.

Visualize how you want your race to go. If you want to run at Stanford, CCS, or at the Olympics, see yourself there. See how you will look running the turn, or going over the hurdle. See your goal, and how you will cross the finish line. Visualize the reaction you have after the race. Hear the cheers of the crowd, and the congratulations of your coaches and teammates. Just stay positive and focused on what you want to have happen.

Remember that this is a process and you need to practice it. Obviously, doubt and questions will sometimes pop up into your mind. The important thing is to quickly let them go and refocus. Change your thoughts and see yourself doing the positive thing. Make sure the last thing you see is the image of yourself doing what you want. If you are worried about being tired at the end of the race, see yourself powering through it, having your mind tell your body what to do, and responding with a strong and relaxed finish.

You guys have put in the work. You have trained your body. Now see yourself accomplishing your goals. Be mentally strong and block out the doubt and negativity. Focus your mind solely on the image of your success.

Now go out and RUN!

It’s time to take a look back at the winter all comers meets. There are some really good photos. This is also the first time we are posting a lot of photos so you guys can see what you look like in motion. There are also photos of some of the competition so you can evaluate their technique as well. Let me just say that it is amazing how far you guys have come in the last month and half. You will really notice once we post the photos we get this weekend at K-Bell.

We were lucky enough to be able to photograph Rubin Williams block start at one of the meets. Click the read more to see why that is exciting and get the gallery links.

We got some great photos of Rubin Williams start in the 60m. He ran two heats back to back and won both. He is in the red shirt, although, he ran the first heat with a black weight vest on. He is from San Jose and went to Valley Christian High School. He ran for the University of Tennessee and competed at the Olympic Trials last year in the 100 and 200, where he finished sixth overall in the 200. So check out his start!

Los Gatos Winter All Comers 2009

Technique Evaluation 1 - Block Start

Technique Evaluation 2 - Hurdles

I have opened the registration for the website. Register here to leave comments and post on the wall.

The website is still being updated, but we will start posting now. Look out for Bell Invite pics soon.

I also want to make a plug for Firefox if you aren’t using it as your web browser. The website looks better in it, and Internet Explorer has caused me all kinds of grief during development. I will also suggest that Firefox is a safer/more secure browser as well.

So here it is. I hope you guys enjoy the website.

Welcome everybody.  I figured since the track season is starting we should get the website running finally.  (Thanks Ryn!)  Stay tuned cause I am going to try and really work on this. Hopefully, pictures should be up soon and you guys will be able to register and post comments. The look will be changing as well as I learn more about this stuff.

See you guys at the track.