Angelo Taylor | Steady Training Plan Has Angelo Primed for U.S. Trials

06/28/2012 - 06:07
Steady Training Plan Has Angelo Primed for U.S. Trials
by Devon Jeffreys

Injuries haven't impacted Angelo Taylor often throughout his track career, but in 2011 a foot injury kept AT from being at his best at the IAAF World Championships.

The injury was a learning experience for Angelo and he entered 2012 determined that it wouldn't happen again ahead of the London Olympics.

"This is an Olympic year, so this is a very important year, and one of the (crucial) things to me is not missing training, and the way you not miss training is making sure you're not injured," he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Angelo has been training consistently this year with the Olympic trials and, subsequently, the 2012 Olympics in his sights.

Thanks to an altered training regime, Angelo believes that right now he's ahead of where he was at this time in 2008, when he took bronze at the U.S. Olympic trials, but won Olympic gold in Beijing.

"Training is going well, a step ahead of where I was in 2008," he told Atlanta Black Star. "[Age] plays a factor, it takes me longer to recover, but I believe I'm still in the upper echelon of competitors."

Angelo gets to prove it on Thursday as he begins his run at the Olympics with a preliminary round in the 400-meter hurdles at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Eugene, Oregon. Entering trials, Angelo has run the 400mH competitively just twice, but he won both events and has raved about his training and the way he's feeling.

"I feel like I'm in the best shape of my life right now," he told the AJC. "The times I've been hitting in practice, the races I've run so far this year are all great indicators of what kind of shape I'm in. So I'm excited."

Preliminary heats in the men's 400 meters begin at 9:00 p.m. on NBC Sports Network. Angelo will run in the first of four heats.

RELATED STORIES

Bookmark/Search this post with:

Add new comment