What to Know Running at Middle School Illinois State Track Race

I ran at state for track in 3 races in 2023, 1600, 800, 4×400. There were many things I didn’t know that I then learned after running there. Some knowledge that I didn’t know cost me a bit and others did not. Running there made me nervous and it was my first time running there. It was way bigger and way more important than all the other races I’ve raced.

One thing that I learned was that there are two oversized clocks you can look at while you race. One on the stadium’s Jumbotron and another that is smaller but it is correct at where you start and finish races on the track. If you are used to having coaches calling your time splits you won’t be able to have your coaches call that out for you while you run because they do not let coaches onto the track or field. So these clocks will be useful to look at to know your splits while you run.

Another thing that happened to me is I was way too nervous and in my first race, it was not the best that I could have done. Going into your first race you should try to be calm as possible and find your pack in the beginning. Make sure you don’t get boxed in, I made the mistake of that. Make sure to go out hard and don’t get boxed in because if you do you will run more and waste more energy accelerating to get out from getting boxed in.

How to Improve Without Running

I run a lot but just running hasn’t made me the way I am today. There are other things that go into it. One is stretching and mobility, another is strength training. These can make you faster and prevent injuries later on in the future

Strength training is important because it gives us more power, strength, and durability. The top 2 important things to train are your legs and your core in my opinion. I think this because having strong legs is a great foundation to have when running, it also prevents many injuries. Core training is also important, gives us better running form and helps the body to prevent injuries from the hips, back, and ankles. You should train core a few times a week and legs a couple of times a week if you want to be optimal in my opinion.

Stretching should always have a big role in running because of mobility and injury prevention, since running miles a week can take a toll on the body.

Stretching will help relax your muscles after you run. It will also make you not sore the next day after you run. I recommend stretching every time after you run.