Practice, practice and...practice!

I spent this week around 6 hours just practicing. I didn't jump all the time of course! I had shin splints for a while so I am taking it easy. 

Practice does not mean just to do exercise. So many people think that practice means going to the weight room and lift all the time. It's funny that when people ask me: so... do you run all the time every day? I am like nope! track doesn't mean just to run! There are throws, jumps, races... I just don't run or jump for practice. Of course I run and jump but I also watch videos of another athletes and I watch my own jumps as well of practice and competition. Doing that, I can analyze the technique, see mistakes as well as things that I do/did good. With that, I can correct the mistakes and maximize my strong points. 

This is what I did half of the time this week. Claudia and I met at the track and she showed me a lot of videos. Some were of herself and some were from different athletes of the world. I have to say that

I never practice by myself. Claudia meets me every time I need to practice. Moreover, my coach join us always that he can make it. I really appreciate it because they are the ones who can explain to me the best idea about high jump, how can I jump and what is the best way to achieve my goal. 

This week I learned the exactly steps that my approach is going to have. First of all they explained to me the bases of the approach and then I tried the approach. 

They told me I cannot have a long approach because I will get tired really easy. I cannot have either a short approach because I am not a pro and I cannot jump high without speed. So, I need a approach that give me enough speed to pass the bar as well as a not long approach, so I can save energy. Saving this energy, I will jump more times without getting tired. 

Also I learned how to run my approach. High jump has a really weird way to run before jumping. High jumpers run in curve and then...JUMP! It sounds easy but I really think is the most complicated part about high jump. They tough me that I have to do two long steps in the middle of the approach. It will give the energy I need to pass the bar. And why? They explained to me that after these two steps, the body has a good strength, better than usual, so the speed increases and I am more powerful. 

As I explained on my first post, my goal is to pass a bar (1.35 meters) and to achieve it I need to figure out every step. The first one is to have a good approach. Once I got it, I can move on. This is like a math problem. You have to figure the first step out to get the final solution. If you don't know how to do 2+2, you cannot do 3x5. 

And the good news is that, after a long two practices watching videos and running, I GOT IT!

I am ready for next week and I can't wait to start jumping!

Jumping high

I am a Spanish long jumper. I have been practicing track & field since I was six years old. I started to compete in a  high level when I was fifteen years old. Sports works different in Spain than in the U.S. Education and sports are not related to each other. I used to go to school and once I was done there, around 5pm, I drove where my club practice. Back home, I start to practice every day around 6pm. Sounds late but for us it's kind of normal. Just think that Spaniards eat dinner around 10pm... Now make sense right? Anyways, track and field is my passion, it's my other half. It is not my life tho. I know I cannot depend of a sport. However, I do love it because track has given me the opportunity to meet incredible people as well as travel, and the most important one: living the american dream.

I am an international athlete. I represented Spain in the I European Trials in Moscow, I Youth Olympic Games in Singapore as well as European and World Youth and Junior Championships as well as Under 23 Mediterranean Games in France. The most important thing, track is making me the person that I am today. Strong, brave, hard working, with perseverance and patience.

When I was little I tried every event and then I saw that I was pretty good in long jump as well as in sprints. Because of this, I just focussed myself in these two amazing events.  However, I have always had the feeling of trying high jump. It is a event that make me feel really excited and I always wanted to try it. I couldn't because I was good at long jump and my coach did not allow me to try high jump just in case I got injure. 

Since I have the opportunity to learn something new, I pick how to high jump. It is a really good time because my coach here in Akron was a high jumper. Also we have on the Akron Track & Field team the current number one on the nation. Now it's the time! I know I am not going to jump 6 feet but I want to learn the basic concepts. My goal is to jump around 4 feet 35 inch. 

This week I practiced twice a week. The first day was on Tuesday and the second practice was on Thursday. We based the first practice by talking.  My teammate and my coach explained to me some key terms: the technique that I should use, how many steps my approach is going to have, the speed that I should run, how to arch my back and how to hold my feet on the air. They want me to have the perfect idea of high jump instead of jumping. In the second practice I did some exercises on the high jump pad as well as with hurdles. 

Here I leave a short interview of my teammate Claudia Garcia Jou. She is currently number 1 on the Nation in High Jump Division 1.

- What means to you "high jump"

- High jump it's not only my passion. Throughout my whole live has become an essential part of my live as well. High jump is one of the first things that I think of when I go to sleep and when I wake up in the morning. It means challenging myself, setting goals, getting better and over all, personal growth.

- How many days do you practice in a regular week? What do you do on practice?

-I practice every day of the week except for Sundays, when I give myself some time to relax and get recovered from the week. My workouts are focused mainly in two points. Leg strength and technical skill development. This means that some days I lift at the weight room in order to gain the strength that I need to assure an explosive takeoff. Whereas other days I can spend the entire workout doing drills that resemble the different phases of the high jump, like the approach, the takeoff or the flight.

- If you have to give me a advice to achieve my goal. What would you tell me?

- Besides following an appropriate workout plan that includes weight lifting and technical development, I would definitely work on what they call invisible practice. Don't get obsessed with your goal, take some rest periods when needed, eat healthy, trust your coach and what is more important, enjoy every single jump! It's amazing how your running technique can change when you feel happy and relaxed without even noticing it!