Eight!-Nationals 2009

I'm off to Norway this evening and wanted to post a few pics before I get out of town. Hoping to post even more as soon as I get the chance.

Ciao,
Perdita

Today I went to the last day of champs and was happy with my role as spectator. I am heading to Oslo Tuesday Night and racing there July 3.  Followed by Lausanne on July 7 and lastly Rome on July 10 before heading back home.

But before that Monday is going to be crazy because my mom is having a cookout for me and making my favorite: Oxtail! And i'll definetly earn it because I have lactic acid 200s and a weight session first thing in the morning!

Those that missed the race are asking for links so here are some I have found surrounding everything Nationals.

Semi-Final Heat 2/3 12.89, -2.2 wind

*Click Here To See 100mH Final On CBC.ca Sports*

Press Conference Media Scrum Thursday June 25 #1

Press Conference Media Scrum Thursday June 25 #2

Toodles!

P

I'm Bringing Sexy Back!

It's Sunday Morning at 123am and I haven't had a chance to sleep its been crazy. 

Thank you everyone! I'll write more later, I appreciate everyone reaching out...gonna try and sleep and return replies later.

For Now see below for your daily dose of Sexy. Eight is Great!

Grateful, humble, happy, relieved, excited and super-hungry!
Perdita-National Champ Never Felt Go Good!

Sleepless In The City...

So I thought I'd have no time to get on here, but I woke up today at 5am and rather than toss and turn I got up. I think the excitement of the final tonight has got me unable to sleep, this is very normal for me. But it hasn't happened since Osaka in 2007. Feels foreign but bang on.

In the meantime I thought I'd be productive and share some press conference photos from Thursday and give everyone this intimate look at what really goes on during 1-on-1s with Canada's sports reporters.

Info you should know before we continue:

Location: Nike Toronto inside the ever changing eye of a  Canadian media scrum

Media Outlets: Various TV, Radio, Print From The Fan590 to The Globe and Mail.

Photographer (who dared to get close): Howard Bailey

Enter Perdita & The Reporters-True Story

"Oh Jim you're making me blush... you know I can't answer that."

"Is that a chocolate timbit crumb on your chest? I'm thinking finders keepers!"

"Noo, I'm sorry. I don't think you feeling my bicep has any bearing on the story Teddy."

"So by asking that question, you're admitting you don't read my blog then. I mean that is a fair statement, right?"

"Really? I love tummy rubs and warm milk before bed too Joe, OMG!!"

"Now that's a dumb question. Who has a good one?...Nexxxxxt!"

"Ya ya totally, Colgate Total and then some diluted peroxide. Burns your gums, but you'll have the whitest pearls."

"''Fuh-Lee-see-En', not ' Feleese-Navidad' you've only been covering me for 5 years people. I mean do we really have to do this every time?"

"I'm sorry can you repeat the question...yes for the 5th time Jim--sheesh!"


"OK This is the last time I'm doing my hurdle 8 clearance face!"

The End

There you have it, how it really goes down, rarely do they ask anything about my running. Hence most quotes regarding it are usually made up,  just so you know.

Gone back to bed, then going for 8!

& please don't forget to spread the word & support my initiative: www.righttoplay.com/perdita

Perdita

"Training Is the Opposite Of Hoping"

Alright, this is it, I am shutting it down for a few days to take care of business.  And it's crazy how excited I am to be racing at nationals, its been two long years!

I'll be back when the day is done. Going for Eight!

P

P.S My girlfriend sent this to me laughing today and incase anyone from Nike read this, totally kidding guys...kinda.

What does a Track Star have for dinner 48 hours before her biggest race of the year so far?

I race Friday night at 545pm at Varsity Stadium and the two days before any big race is always the same routine for me. Unless of course I am staying in Yorkville and mere meters from one of my favorite places to eat: Sushi Inn!

This means the sustenance routine changes slightly.  Instead of the signature chewing of boston lettuce ala boiled fish,  I gave me the green light to enjoy some sushi. Yeah!

Umm No.

Because now I am sitting here super lethargic and fat as a tick bursting at the gut. I ate way too much grilled cod, Crab, Unagi, Spider roll,  Sushi inn roll, Tempura roll, this and that roll...

Like really, who does that? I know better (well at least at race time).  And this is why I don't eat my favorite foods leading to a track meet, because I simply love food too much. I cant' see it go to waste. "I paid $8.95 for that last piece of fried yam in egg batter, no you won't clear this plate!"

...I can't stand to see a waitress throw food away. Especially food that is going on my Visa card. Not one strip of seaweed not one rice grain has ever gone to waste when I sit at a sushi dinner. And herein lies the problem.

Sigh. But a lesson learned. 

Thursday night @ T-minus 24 hours, I will definitely be chewing something very green and very bland. Thinking Artichoke with a side of hay!

So So Sleepy....

Per...zzz...zzz

I Am My Mother's Daughter...

My mom will start to get butterflies weeks before I have an impending track meet. Just the thought of the upcoming race sends her tummy into tailspin.

And a week before the 2009 Canadian Championships I seem to be experiencing the same symptoms. And let me tell you heading to my national trials this is definitely a first!

No disrespect.

I have won 7 previous titles, all hard fought and well earned, but it has always been a meet I struggled to get hype for. After winning the 4th, then 5th, then 6th...you get my drift?. It becomes routine. I am grateful each time to claim the title but in the past, it was always "the house that Perdita built".

Yet this year is very different, the level of competition is the best it has ever been. And a year off has made me so hungry and thirsty for competition, I'll race anyone, anywhere, anytime.

My last three races have all been to the wire where I was hundredths away from the winner. A sign that I am on the upswing and my training is working well. My plan is just to work hard while focusing on Berlin and patiently wait my turn.

So excited am I, that I have already started packing. Hoping this anticipation will make the days pass faster. After nationals I am heading right to Europe for a few Golden League races for the first time in two years! I have never been this happy to be getting on the road.



And the early onset of Monarchs must just be confirmation that this is what I was born to do.

Ciao,

P

Eureka!

So for months now my coach and I have been trying to improve my start and first two hurdles. There is no reason for them to be as passive as they have been early in the season. Last week my girlfriend Nic drove up from Michigan to be at the Festival of Excellence and she attended one of my practices. We used to run track together in college and roomed and trained together for years, so she's hip to the game.

The menu: starts over three hurdles.

 

Nic is one of my closest friends and I love her to pieces. But I had to look at her crooked when she later revealed she wanted to just scream and shake me after each start. " Because there was just NO urgency!!" (If she had ever laid a hand on me, so help her God...)

I had no idea she was that frustrated while watching, she gave her two cents but for the most part was quiet and just watched as coach tried to get through to me. I always value her input and know if she was that affected, imagined my coach after all this time. Poor Gdub. Every week teaching this professional hurdler to execute a skill and having to start from scratch each session.



I pride myself in being an Academic-All American, graduating with honors and most importantly, being "coachable" a word Gary has often used to describe me.



So basically I'm not stupid...so why then can't I execute this skill the way I'm supposed to. I'm strong, proficient, and have some talent.



And yesterday we may have discovered it...
In Champaign around 1145am walking back after a start, coach approaches me and says: "I wonder if I'm just beating a dead horse, here".

Woah! Do I really look that outta shape Bubba. Sigh*

But I didn't say a thing and just let him ponder some more. I appreciate his ability to adapt to what he is seeing and make changes on a whim. For all I knew he'd can the starts and have me doing a 600m break down if that made sense.

The truth is I have actually been trying to make this part of my race better, so I'm not playing catch up during a race. It is just not translating and he sees that. I braced myself as he stood on the starting blocks in silence with his head down. Gdub giving birth to a bright idea.

Wait for it....wait for it.....

And then he told me to forget everything we have been working on, abandon the cues completely, they're history.

What? Really?! Because I have only been writing notes and making mental movies in my head for months about executing those cues perfectly. What a waste of paper and space in my brain. But OK.

He then directed me to execute the start the way I do a drill we use to warm up. It's the same thing he said, except you're using the blocks and not a box. The instant he said that, I knew exactly what he meant and how to actually execute that skill. I got in the blocks and the entire run felt sharper.

Eureka!

I walked back and we both were laughing!  I felt it. He saw it. The execution we both know I am capable of. I repeated it three more times and it stuck each one. What I couldn't do wasn't that complicated, it's perfect physics. Many others have learned it well and can do it without thinking. My brain just can't get a handle on it.

I don't care what that says about me, because we have finally found a way that my mind can understand what my body needs to do. And to quote Gdub yesterday: "forget science!".  

Right on brother, when it comes to coaching me, very basic is the new science!

Steady on the grind, 

Perdita

(See Nic no need for violence there was a slight mental issue at work!)

Cheer For Perdita, Cheer For Right To Play!

I am very excited to let everyone know about my fundraising initiative with Right To Play this season. I will be donating my Personal Best & my Canadian Record of $12.46 for each race I run this summer and asking Canadians and others to do the same. My season began in early April and my goal is to raise $7000 by the end of my season in late September, but I can't do it without you.

Visit  www.righttoplay.com/perdita to contribute. The site will update you on my races and results and I would appreciate you forwarding the link to everybody you know.

Racing For Right To Play 

I first became an ambassador for Right To Play after I won the silver medal at the World Championships in 2007. I love everything they stand for, helping disadvantaged children around the world experience sport and play. Especially children in refugee camps and young girls who are marginalized because of their gender.

Play A Right Of Passage

Play growing up in Pickering, ON was the everyday staple for me, I never thought twice about it. My sister Wanda and I would always play in the park even though our mom said we weren't allowed because of how dirty we got afterwards. We got so filthy playing in the sand and gravel that we would hop our neighbour, Mr. Allen's  fence and use his hose to  rinse our dirty legs and feet, then air dry on the walk home for dinner.  Our mom had no clue how much fun we just had and how great the dirt was!

Grateful to Be Back & Give Back

Sport has been a part of my life ever since I was nine and nearly twenty years later it has always been so important to me. Last year I unexpectedly had to miss the entire track season including the Olympics due to a very serious Lisfranc fracture. A part of my world that was so natural and constant was suddenly interrupted. I was told that racing again was very questionable and that any return could be unpredictable and less than world class.

That was heavy news and I worked hard to defy the odds and now have greater appreciation for this season and having my career back at the highest level. Through all of this I have also realized how essential it is to create opportunities for others who would never get the chance to play or experience sport. This is truly a special endeavor to me and I am so happy to be in a position to share Right To Play's message.

My next competition is The Canadian Championships/ World Trials in Toronto @ Varsity Stadium next weekend. 

Semi- Final: Friday June 26 @5:45pm & Final: Saturday June 27 @4:50pm

If you are in town please come out, I would really appreciate the support.

Thanks to everyone & please spread the word!

Perdita

XO

www.righttoplay.com/perdita

Look After Yourself, Look After One Another - Right To Play