After putting it on hold for a couple of months ,this monday I finally ran my first meeting, clocking a miserable 12.63.
My advice to those just new to sprinting would be - start competing as soon as possible. Dont wait till you feel “really strong”, because once you arrive at the meet you will be faced with a number of tasks new to you.
As for myself ,upon arrival I realised I wasnt even registred to run. With that taken care of I started to wonder who else was going to run .Then as the weather was cold I wondered I if I where to increase my warmup. Warming up I found the track cramped with both men and women from several diciplines sharing the same lanes ,as opposed to the usual whole stadium for myself ,which threw me off my rythm.
Finishing my warmup and getting ready to run I still didnt know which heat or lane I was scheduled for. Turned out I was running in the first heat so I scrambled to setup the blocks. The blocks was of a kind I had never seen before so I got a little exited ,but at last got ready to run.
Then when finally positioned in the blocks I didnt feel a bit nervous ,not a bit tense ,infact I was so calm that when the gun went off I rose straight up ,standing erect thinking: “what am I doing?!”. Hunching over and accelerating I totally blacked out for a couple of seconds ,regained my senses and found myself still hunched and dead last ,but where in the race I did not know. I straightened up and saw I was gaining on the guy next to me, tought “You will beat that guy!” ,and crossed the finish line two hundreds of a second infront of him.
I was so mentally drained by everything new that even though the race didnt even exhaust me I have felt more sluggish and heavy the last couple of days than ever since the begining of my training. And so once again:
Gain experience as soon as possible.
I feel ya, Thor…I have registered to run in a meet here in San Diego and I havent been training for track at all this yr…
I have ran in a couple of meets, for kicks and giggles…all comers, but now, I am wondering how i am gonna do next weekend…I dont know how i am gonna get in shape to run but i am gonna do it…lol, as painful as it is gonna be…
Tough first outing Thor!
I guess you have to learn from the experience and go on from here!
thats what can happen thor.
Ato Bolden said last nite on eurosport that sometimes he hasn’t got enough time to set up the blocks properly,thats why he dosen’t use a measuring tape.he uses his hands for reference because they are consistant and efficent.
obstacles will always be there the thing you must do is relax and make them wait on you.when you are ready then you go.don’t get caught up in the hoop la!!!
Track conditions are rarely ideal. But when you are in good shape and running fast in practice; it tends to do lots for your confidence under any type of meet condition.
Thor what is your track experience, years, age ? Everyone runs a time not up to their standards somewhere along the line. Its inevidible. Ben ran 10.9electric once in a while. That time doesnt seem so bad though, what were you planning on running. Regroup and try and run 11 something next time. I know the feeling of scattering to get a number, get registered and still warmup. I dont think I have run a meet where I have actually done this correctly.Anyways… Goodluck. Maybe post some of your training too if you would like.
Well done Thor - don’t get down mate -
a few more meets and it’ll start being more fun , less pressure .
My first run out last xmas I nearly fell flat on my face with 200 people watching lol .
Set a target for each race and forget about times and placings , and they’ll improve like ur training times did .
We all know you’ve been putting the work in .
Thor,
Sorry to read that your first meet was so tough. Is it possible to work with a club or a coach? Many of your problems would be solved if you had a coach to enter you, check the schedule, etc…
One of many of the benefits of having a coach is using HIS/HER experience.
I only just joined a club and follow a different schedule than the rest of the members this summer ,and besides I’m the clubs only senior sprinter.
With that said I would probably benefit from practicing with some of the juniors once in a while ,but the problem are that they train in the evening and that the training philosophy arent exactly <75%>95%
I found training with a partner made a huge difference pyshcologically. Really motivated me to run FAST during speedwork and crush them hehe 
My first meet back was similar to yours. I warmed up and was ready to go before realizing everything was delayed over an hour. The lack of shade, high temps and general stress made me pretty tired by the time it was my turn to race. My start and accel was good but the rest of the race wasn’t that hot.
Another race run… got caught up in the same slow rythm once more. Basically there is no increase in frequency whatsoever during the race ,and I loose all perception of actually running during the first half.
The plan now is to compete in every single race there is, from now until winter ,and then when competition starts next year I believe everything will feel more familliar.
Also I will try to have someone to run against during practice.