I spent this year getting my technique right, starting out slowly and then just increasing intensity as I got better, to the point where I could just run, without a second thought. I thought this would transfer directly into how I fared in competition, but found it was not so.
My question is: Do you think the same approach would work when it comes to competition? Basically just holding back at first and easing my way into it?
You must always relax in competition but get used to performing in the exact same way every time. The rise in performance will then come from increased readiness.
I don’t think it should be about holding back so much as just not doing anything differently to what you do in training - e.g. don’t physically try harder.
The whole point of training is to prepare for competion. Ideally you want to prepare for every fast run the same way (be it training or competition) so your body knows when to turn it on. If you are doing somthing different on race day that you never normally do then what is the point of spending months preparing to race?
As Charlie states above simply being in a proper race is enough to make you better so long as you don’t defeat yourself by trying to win it. Don’t think, just do it.