Friday, July 16, 2010

What You Run Windy, You Can Run Legally...

I ran a windy 12.89 in the Olympic Trials in '08 and I ran it legally tonight here in Paris.

My coach always says that. The first time I remember him saying that was in '06 when I ran a windy 13.24 and 13.26. He said "Don't worry, you stay the course, you'll run it legal down the road". I finished the season surpassing those times on a few occasions. In '08 I ran windy 13.10 at Florida Relays and only had to wait to weeks before doing it legal. This time, it took two years.

People make a big deal out of wind, but I am a firm believer that in the men's hurdles, for most of us it's not that big of a help. There is a reason why there have only been a handful of windy sub 13 performances and only one guy has run it windy and not done it legally, but he just did it a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, that's going off on a tangent, back to the race LOL.

I knew something special was going to happen when I finished my warm up. When I came across the finish line and saw the time of 12.88, I was super excited. I then thought "I've been pretty good with getting these times rounded down this year, so maybe it'll say 12.87". Instead it was rounded up to 12.89 (+0.5w).

I remember telling a reporter at the US Championships that running 12.90's are great, but we've seen the clock stop at 12.9 about 41 times, but if you can run 80 something, then you're kind of exclusive.

Well, I made it into that exclusive area tonight, only two other people have run 12.8 (Robles 12.87, Liu 12.88) ever.

I am in a great groove right now and I can't really pinpoint what set it off. For those hurdle aficionados, you know that when you are in a groove, whether it's a good one or a bad one, it is hard to get out of it. Whatever groove I'm in, I hope I never come out of it!
Once again, I had an outstanding warm-up. Everything was clicking. Dwight and Joel had it going on as well. They both went out and ran well too, Dwight set a season's best and Joel finished fourth, .01 off his season's best. I always tell people that nobody does it on their own, I'm no exception. I am in the best training environment probably ever seen. You've got 12.89, 13.16, 13.18 and 13.30 guys all training together. If a person who knew nothing about individual hurdlers, came to a hurdle workout and was told to pick out who the best guy is, nine time out of ten they wouldn't pick me. It's just something about when that gun goes off, I have always been hyper competitive and that's something that you can't coach, no matter who you are.

When the gun went off, I felt that I had a great transition phase going in to the first hurdle. Although its not as good as Terrence's or Robles', I have to admit that it is better than it ever has been for me this year.

I was out there chopping a lot of wood (hitting hurdles) today, but I never felt like I was in trouble. The only time in the race where I got scared was when I came off of hurdle six and my hips dropped, causing me to hit the seventh hurdle. I was scared because when something like that happens that late in a race, your momentum seems to carry you down to the ground and more often than not, you see guys come up underneath the next hurdle with their lead legs trying to make up for the mistake. I have done it at practice several times.

I don't have a problem with my hips dropping, I don't know what happened either. I've only seen the race briefly during an interview so I'll have to watch it and see what was going on. I think I need to focus down better on each individual barrier.

To me, there is much more room for improvement in certain areas of my race. The learning process never ends and just because I'm running well now doesn't mean everything is where it needs to be.

I am VERY happy to be winning races. I really want to be the Diamond League champion and be the number one hurdler. I just keep my eyes on the prize, try to do the right things on and off the track and perfect my craft. A lot of fellow athletes don't realize that what we're doing is a finite time frame, it doesn't last forever. I refuse to be a guy that will look back on what could have been, I will do all I can to maximize my talents right now.

I try not to bring up when I was injured, but that gave me an awful lot of time to think about things. I tried my best to always think positively but I really didn't want to be one of those guys who showed promise but lost it all because of injury and couldn't come back. The Monday Brooks came back from World Athletic Final last year was myself and Xavier's first day of practice. You talk about a slow, arduous process! It started with walking laps around a baseball field, then progressed to walking on my toes, to being able to skip.

This went on for six or seven weeks while everybody was off vacationing after having a great season. It was very frustrating, even more so when I couldn't continue these easy workouts because my calf was too weak. I didn't touch a hurdle until eight days before my first indoor race in Glasgow, that's why after winning a medal at World Indoors, I knew I would do something special outdoors as long as I stayed healthy.

I had to come back and come back like I never left. I know how this sport is, they will sweep you under the rug very quick. It wasn't about to be me getting swept away either! Like my sponsor's slogan is "Just Do It", down at ESPN Wide World of Sports with the "Train Gang" we have our own slogan, "Just Do It, Now!"
I am staying out here in Paris for a few more days before rolling down to Monaco. I will go out and do some sightseeing tomorrow, that is if I ever get out of this bed!

I will post the race video as soon as I get some footage.

16 comments:

Blah, Blah, Bloggin' said...

You are a BEAST on the track Mr. Oliver!

Unknown said...

rooting for you to run 86 man!

Tee Reese said...

I concur, what you run windy you can run it legally! I've run 100th of a second faster than wind-aided times I've ran. 13.22 PR over the 110m hurdles.. best wind-aided time 13.23.

You got me excited about my favorite event! Keep it up D.O. and I can say it enough. When you think of hurdles. USA USA USA!

DCBrown said...

I just caught your race on Universal Sports...
Congrats on setting another record and holding the American record solely. The world record is just a race away!!!
Good luck on your next race.

Unknown said...

Awesome run! I remember always enjoying your posts on Trackshark back in the day! You're a tremendous athlete and great writer. Keep it coming!

-Kwame
http://kwsompimpong.wordpress.com/

Alix Vallot said...

Bravo, M. Oliver !! You were absolutely magical, yesterday. I was in the Stade de France just for you, and of course you don't remember, but you shook my hand ! I admire you, and I'm sure you can be better again, even if this performance is already marvelous. Thank you for this amazing moment.
Sorry about my bad english,
Alix

RandyG said...

I've been creating this topic on some of the chat boards I frequent...I believe the American 110mH record is easily one of THE best/strongest records in athletics. I'd go as far as saying it's more impressive than some WR. The legacy this country has in this event is second to none. Let's review, Calhoun, Davenport, Milburn, Nehemiah, Foster, Kingdom, Dees, Pierce, Blake, Crear, Trammell, Johnson...Oliver. Enough said. Keep it up Mr.Oliver as your destine for greatest.

Randy Gillon

RandyG said...

I've been creating this topic on some of the chat boards I frequent...I believe the American 110mH record is easily one of THE best/strongest records in athletics. I'd go as far as saying it's more impressive than some WR. The legacy this country has in this event is second to none. Let's review, Calhoun, Davenport, Milburn, Nehemiah, Foster, Kingdom, Dees, Pierce, Blake, Crear, Trammell, Johnson...Oliver. Enough said. Keep it up Mr.Oliver as your destine for greatest.

Randy Gillon

Meagan said...

That time just keeps dropping! Amazing, but we all knew you could do it. I agree with the part about when you were injured, you never let it get you down and you just keep an inspiring positive attitude. Now you are reeping the rewards of all that great attitude. Miss you, tell Joel and Dwight I said hey. Megs

Brianna said...

Such a great race...congrats! I was glad I got to see that sitting right by the finish line. Your lean at the line was crazy too. Only a matter of time before this blog title becomes reality

Cai Ying(from shanghai)Kathy said...

Yesterday I met Joy(shanghai girl)on Internet,she told me DO have the competition in Paris ,IAAF Diamond League.And I serach the news about DO.I'm so excited to hear the good news 12"89.I made a phone call to Joy and told her the good news.She was excited.We are all excited.

and now I don't know how to express what I want to say.


Dear DO,you are wonderful.

go on ,go on next Thursday.

I'm sorry my english is poor.I don't know your next competition in which country.

cheer up!

I love you most.

you are the best althete!

make a wish, next compeition ,you will run 12"85

best regards!

joy (from Shanghai) said...

Hi~ This is Joy,I hope you know who I am. Congrats on your new PB 12.89!
I get your good news from my friend Kathy (Cai Ying),she is always my announcer.LOL. I'm very excited on this score,because it's very very fast. And you have to change your autograph from 12.95into 12.89 just in such a short time! and you just 0.02 secs far to break the WR. You always give me surprise! And I wait for this surprise news(break WR) will happen this year!

Claude said...

David, first congratulations. Great race even with the 'wood chopping.' I like your comment about "keep winning and running fast, the times will come." I'm really impressed with your quickness over the hurdles and your running speed. You may not agree but your times are coming down like they are because you are so much more quicker this year. Your hurdle technique is better, but you're just so fast in-between hurdles. I've talked with a number of folks from the Mile High City who we both know and they are just ecstatic about how your season is going. Same with us Bisons here in the DC area. Take care.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Oliver:

Just wanted to say that the 100 hurdles is one of my favorite events and I've been watching you the past few years. Keep pushing and improving and you're headed towards a stellar career. No reason you can't run 2 seconds faster (yes, 2 seconds!) than your recent PR.

Best Regards,

LaLa said...

This is fantastic! I can feel the excitement as I read your post. It must be incredible to see in person!!

Anonymous said...

Great work D.O.!