Tap-City!!

Damn. That's all I can say about today. All of us have had that one workout that puts us on tap-city (aka out of commission). I had five sets of 16 hurdles on women's spacing, I do this workout regularly, but I don't know what happened today. After the second rep, I went and called Ralph (threw up). That was only the second time all year I have had to do that. I don't know what was going on or what got in to me. But being the "G" I am, I went on ahead and completed the workout and had my best reps after that. I really felt like stopping, but Aub-Rida (Aub Herring) hit me with this line "Robles didn't stop his workout today, and you gotta go see about him next week, so you better load up your gun because he's ready!" I guess that's another plus in having training partners, but since I am done with training, it's about to be a short night for your boy! I'm tapping out.

USA Indoor Championships 60m Hurdles Video

I only slept for about three hours Sunday night, I think my body was still full of adrenalin or something, so I tapped out early last night. I got that first class action again on the way back to the house, so that was cool too.

I was granted a rare day off today from Brooks, so Kenta and myself went out to Poinciana High School and talked to the coaching staff and kids as well as watched their practice, they are opening up the outdoor season tomorrow. I know that's hard to fathom for a lot of people reading this who are probably somewhere where it's still snowing and 10 degrees outside. I had a good time out there, it's always fun to be around athletes at the ground floor, I find that by helping them out, I pick up on a few things myself. I always feel that you can learn new things from other athletes, no matter what their particular skill set is, they might have a piece of the puzzle figure out already and the probably don't know how they came about it, so it's always fun to lend a hand.

Here is the video from this past weekend's race. After watching the footage that I had DVR'd, I was very disappointed in the fact that the announcers seemed sort of shocked that I could have pulled out the victory. They must not have been paying attention to what was going on this season or last season, but I don't need the gratuitous attention they bestow upon the select few they pick and choose from pre-race, I will just take the earned attention afterwards.

After A Hard Fall, A 2nd Shot At Glory

Here's a story about one of my training partners John Capel that ran today down in the St. Petersburg, Florida area. It's a very good one too, check it out.

John Capel Article

Here is an interview I did with a French reporter, if you speak French, you'll like it, I thought I would post it anyway.

Fevrier 2008: David Oliver

D.O.T.K. = 2008 USA Indoor Champion!!!

Wow. That's all I can say. Although the race and the time went as to what I expected coming in, I never considered myself that good of an indoor runner in the past because I am more of a finisher than I am a starter. I always have thought that to run fast indoor, you have to be one hell of a starter, but I found out that you can get it done just as well on technique. Well here is the run down of the day:

I woke up nervous, which was a good sign to me, ate breakfast and walked over to the meet headquarter hotel. I got to the track and opened my bag and I had half a bottle of my glutamine drink, spilled in my bag! I spend most of my time before the first round in the men's restroom, washing my uniform and drying it, along with my spikes under the hand dryer. They got dried, so I had no worries on that end, it was just time consuming. I just figured it was another hurdle I had to get over.

In the first round, I ran a very comfortable 7.61. Anwar Moore cranked one up on us, dropping a 7.50, while slowing through the finish! I was right next to him, I was in 6, he was in 7. When he got out, I said to myself "He got it." I wasn't going to press to catch up, we were only dropping one person from the semi's to the finals, so I figured I will just work my lead leg action and get ready for the finals and not make a mistake trying to press needlessly. I was feeling very good and I figured a bonus of finally getting to run a second race after my initial effort was in store.

I had a very good warm up for the finals, I hit two starts and just sat down because I was feeling ready. I was back again in lane 6, which was funny because I told Kenta before the race that it was sort of symbolical in the fact that Ron won the meet last year out of 6 and I made my first team last outdoor season in 6. In that final, I probably got the best start I could have asked for. I wasn't ahead, but I wasn't behind like I normally am, I was right in the midst of the pack. I executed my race strategy and my lead leg was very efficient. The only problem I had was my trail leg still isn't synced up with my lead leg, which is causing me to drift to the right of my lane, I need to work on that in order to really run as fast as I know I am capable of running. But I can't complain one bit, I won the meet with a time of 7.47, which is a new person best, bettering my previous one of 7.55 from one week ago. Ironically, that time has won the indoor championships the past three years. A great part, post-race, was seeing some of the kids and parents that Lolo and myself spoke to with the Win With Integrity program on Friday. AT&T was thoughtful enough to give away tickets to the kids and they came in full force.

I am heading back home to Orlando tomorrow, getting some last preparations for the IAAF Indoor World Championships in Valencia, Spain. My roommate Kenta Bell made the team in the triple jump as well, so that was exciting. The only problem is that he, myself and Aub drove to the airport in my car and it was already packed with luggage, now Bell and myself have two FULL USA Track and Field suitcases that have to fit in the car. Not a bad problem to have if you ask me!

Men 60 Meter Hurdles
================================================================
Advance 8; top 3 each heat + next 2 fastest to final
World: W  7.30  3/6/1994    Colin Jackson, GBR
American: A  7.36  1/16/1987   Greg Foster/Allen Johnson, WC
Meet: M  7.38  2/27/1999   Reggie Torian, Asics
Name                    Year Team                    Finals
================================================================
Finals
1 David Oliver                 Nike                      7.47
2 Allen Johnson                Nike                      7.53
3 Joel Brown                   Nike                      7.54
4 Antwon Hicks                 adidas                    7.56
5 Dexter Faulk                 Nike                      7.58
6 Anwar Moore                  Nike                      7.71
7 Aubrey Herring               unattached                7.77
-- Jerome Miller                unattached                 DNF

Boston Action

Well, it's been snowing ALL day today. I'm glad I got in yesterday, because I don't know what the flights would have been looking like if I had left today.

Joel, Aub and myself hit the track early this morning for a workout. It went well and I'm feeling pretty fresh. As I was doing my warm-up, someone who I believe was a high school coach had the audacity to ask me "Are you always that lazy?" I said "Excuse me." He then said "Do you always do your drills lazy like that?" I said "Sir, you're suppose to be a coach right?, well then you would notice that I am being very efficient with my heel to butt on my lead and trail leg and I'm hitting my clip step. I don't have to have the "grit face", I try to run as relaxed as possible." I then walked away and I was HOT!!

A highlight of my day was when I went to a local school with USA Track and Field's Win With Integrity program (formerly know as Be A Champion). Lolo Jones and I talked with the kids on a range of topics from peer pressure to our favorite places to travel. NBC announcer Lewis Johnson was the host. I have several nice pictures from the event, thanks Vicki and for those shots and Susan for having me. I didn't bring my cord to upload the pics now, so I'll have to wait until I get back to the house the pics I have now are from Errol Anderson, and thanks for those!

SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS

BRAVED THE ELEMENTS!!
I found out later in the afternoon that our first round tomorrow has been canceled, so we will just have two rounds on Sunday. I'm in heat two, highlighted names in my heat are Allen Johnson, Anwar Moore and decathlon champion Bryan Clay. Aub and Joel are in the first heat. I have no clue on what I'm going to do tomorrow, I might catch that movie Vantage Point, if so, I'll hit you with a review of it.

D.O.'s In Boston!

I have just arrived in Boston, getting ready for the USA Indoor National Championships. I got upgrade action to first class on the way up, so I got that extra pillows and seat back love! (shout out to Young Hughes).

I don't know how many races we will run here at the Championships due to the low amount of people entered in the competition. I am hoping that some how we will still run three rounds, but I think the powers that be will have us just run twice. I have been coming to the indoor championships since 2004 and I have never seen this few people entered. The funny thing is that even with the 10-12 people we have entered in, we still have seven people that possess personal bests sub 7.60. You never get an easy run in the hurdles in the U.S., ever!

When they produce the heat sheets or how many rounds we are going to run, I will get back.

Birmingham 60m Hurdles Video

After watching the video of the race, I came to the conclusion that that race was by far one of my most ragged ones I have ever run. I think the race came down to me just competing my behind off. I don't know what was going on with my trail arm or trail leg. As well, it just reinforces my feelings that if I execute things that I do normally, I am more than capable of running my time goal for this season which is sub 13.00.

I can't seem to upload it from my computer, but follow the link and you will be able to watch

Birmingham 60m Hurdles

It's on wcsn.com under the Media Showcase Section

Birmingham Grand Prix Post-Race

The competition in Birmingham went about as well as I hoped it could have gone. I ran a new personal best and won the race in a time of 7.55. I beat my previous best by .01 seconds, not a lot, but it still shows improvement. I got a bad start once again, although it was better than the one I had at the Millrose Games a couple of weeks ago. That was the only negative of the race I experienced. I failed my cue for the race from Brooks, which was, "Don't fall asleep at the start because you know the Brits are going to try to catch one." They definitly caught one on me as well. Andy Turner and Alan Scott were clearly away from the blocks before me, but I just stuck to my race strategy and dominated the critical zone of the race and pulled the win out.

Check the results here

I had a great time out in Birmingham as well. After the meet, Joice and Philips Idowu (GBR TJ) showed Kenta and myself a great time out. The way they treat their track and field athletes out there is off the hook. Everyone in the spot knew who they were, it was sort of like how NBA players are out here in the States.

I'll be getting ready for the U.S. Indoor Championships this week, I will be trying to improve upon my bronze medal performance from last season. I will keep you updated!

Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix

I'm getting ready to head out later on the morning, on my way to Birmingham, England for what will be my last indoor competition before USA Indoor Championships.

I'm not too sure who all will be there competing in the 60m hurdles, but I know it will be a strong field. I'm looking to go out this weekend and execute much better than I did at Millrose and get the job done.

I hope that the travel will be smooth and uneventful, but that might be asking for a little too much. I'll talk to you later from Birmingham.

Internet Thugs

"Internet Thugs" AKA "E-Thugs" are defined as a group of people who spend all of their time threatening people over the internet to compensate for their lack of a life and hatred of humanity for not accepting them etc. (as defined by urbandictonary.com)

Basically they talk tough on the internet, most to all of the time anonymously. Please do not attempt to get in to an argument with an "E-Thug" because all they will do is bring you down to their level, it is best to ignore this type of individual.

So for the record, Mr. or Mrs. E-Thug, please refrain from posting anymore on my website. But like I say all the time, if no one is hating or attempting to hate on me, I must be doing something wrong in the first place.

P.S. get a life though!

Brooks' St. Petersburg Times Article

Thanks to the St. Pete Times and David Scheiber for the recognition in a nice article about Brooks. I was happy to be a part of it, and a special shout out to our PR woman at Disney Amber Godfrey for setting everything up for us!

Check it out here

Calling Out Greg Lott!!

We have a practice meet this weekend and I'm hitting the 200, I'm calling out one of my training partners Greg Lott! He runs the 400. In the weightroom, he questioned the integrity of my 200 running skills, wondering if I can run 21 seconds. I told him will will race at practice today, so I made a shirt for him last night and told him we can put up the coaching fee for this month on it. So when I win, I will sign the shirt and get it framed for him. Needless to say, he didn't want none of me and I took a friendly quit. Everybody got one hell of a laugh when they saw the shirt though.

101st Millrose Games 60m Hurdles

1 Antwon Hicks,USA,7.53
2 David Oliver,USA,7.59
3 Joel Brown,USA,7.66
4 Anwar Moore,USA,7.69
5 Aubrey Herring,USA,7.75
6 Henrique Llanos,PUR,7.89

Perfectville

Best Commercial On T.V. Right Now!!

Destiny Denied!!!!

I'm so happy right now because the Giants went on ahead and tapped out the New England Patriots. Everyone knows I am a DIE-HARD Miami Dolphins fan, and we still stand as the ONLY undefeated team in the history of the NFL. I done popped a bottle of champagne at the house in celebration. Big Aub was hoping the Patriots would have won, he's a Buffalo Bills fan, so I don't understand his thought process but well..........whatever. My brother is a die hard Giants fan and I called him maybe 10 minutes after the game went off and he had already ordered the memorabilia off of SI.com. I don't blame him because if it were the Dolphins I would have done the same thing. I absolutely hate the Patriots all of them aside from Randy Moss and especially Junior Seau. I hate him because he retired from the Dolphins to only come back and try to piggy-back a championship with the Patriots, I hope he never wins one either. Well I'm going to go and hit some of this glutamine so I can recover from drinking this bottle of champagne before I have to go to practice tomorrow.

Millrose Games Recap

The bottom line with my performance at the Millrose Games this evening is it boiled down to poor execution, that resulted in me getting my ass kicked.

I ran 7.59, which again is a "calendar PR" for myself, but I left much to be desired. I basically fell asleep in the blocks, floated hurdle number two, which in turned threw me off of the "breaking up the race" portion of the race. The only thing I executed well was the "critical zone" of the race, the last hurdle through the finish line.

I had what I considered the best warm-up of my career too. I didn't go to the track instead I hit the hallway at the hotel and was able to do what I normally do at practice. I thought of the gameplan because my previous experiences with warming up in the Garden haven't faired too well. I only got to do one start, but so did everyone else, so that's another instance of poor execution.

After the race, I of course had USADA track me down for yet another drug test too. I spent over an hour in there, at least it is a few other athletes were with me, we always have fun in the "holding area".

I am recording the meet on my DVR tomorrow and I am going to watch it probably 100 times. I will dissect it from every angle imaginable. I just have to go back to practice and work harder at my craft.