Monthly Archives: June 2013

M40 Decathlon Title = Awesome, but Score…ah, not so much.

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Dr. Dave

gold1Last weekend I competed in the USATF Masters Decathlon Championship.  I scored “okay” and was able to take the M40 title, but I failed to reach the score I was gunning for.  My goal going into the competition was to break into the top 10 all-time m40 decathletes (World, not US).  Kip Janvrin, one of the best decathletes of all time, owns the M40 World Record by a country mile, so there was no chance of getting close to that.  Compared to the extremely thinly competed Indoor Heptathlon in which I set the American Record back in Feb, Outdoor Decathlons are common, so the number of high quality athletes who have competed in them is high.

Anyway, my quest for Top 10 failed miserably.  I was barely able to break into the top 25…and in retrospect, it’s pretty obvious why.

Don’t get me wrong, it was still a great weekend of bonding with a bunch of old guys who are as crazy as I am to still be doing this. 🙂

Competition is not Practice

I have lots of excuses I can pull from:  Weather (90 degrees with 90% humidity), jet lag, sleeping in hotels, road trip food, headwind, 45min delays right before the 100m and 110H…but those are all standard things an athlete and coach must deal with.  And, honestly, I think I planned and dealt with all those things pretty well.  The real reason I scored below my expectations was a poor training plan (I’m not willing to say my expectations were too high, yet).  And I should have expected it really, but I was lulled into thinking I was “okay” because of my practice results. Continue reading →

Categories: Decathlon, Sprinting | 4 Comments

Running like RoboCop

Posted on June 12, 2013 by Dr. Dave

As a Masters athlete, I typically workout by myself.  This means I have no one to time me, no one to watch my technique…hell, I’ve got no one to even talk to.   To help combat all these drawbacks, I have to suit up like RoboCop.

On my right arm: iPhone 5, streaming Pandora usually or using Cadence when running 1500 meter tempo work (set to 95+/-5 beats per second).

In both ears: Jaybird BlueBud X — (review to come on these awesome bluetooth headphones — here and on thewgub.com)

On my left arm: SoloShot transmitter, which is sync’d with the SoloShot tripod for video capture (with a camera…but hopefully in the future an iPad running Coach’s Eye).  I will be reviewing SoloShot for Track and Field in the near future (here and on thewgub.com).

Around my waist: FreeLap, baby!  Read my review here.

Over my eyes: Nike Sunglasses (I wear these religiously…it may be a placebo for fighting back migraines).  I like Nike because they are light and rest comfortably on my nose…but unlike the other products above, I’m not married to these.

Here’s a couple of my first test videos with the SoloShot.  These are pretty zoomed out…following the recommendations from SoloShot.  But I’ve been experimenting with getting closer.  Sometimes it works perfectly, sometimes I get in front or behind the frame…I can’t tell you how frustrating that is…especially when you do something good and want to watch it (like yesterday).  Still working out the kinks.

Categories: Coaching, Product Reviews | 1 Comment