First Indoor season

Philadelphia Master's Development Meet 1/11/15


My first indoor event, so technically I'm going to consider this still part of my rookie season.


This was a developmental meet, which means it's basically a chance for athletes to get FAT (fully automated timing) times for their events. It's the beginning of the year so it's a good place to find out where you are starting.


The venue was Glen Mills school. I believe it is a boy's school for troubled youth, but I could be wrong. No spikes were allowed because it is a high school track. The track itself was nice but due to the weather many people were bringing salt in from the roads onto the surface making it a little slick.


Because it's been so cold I have not trained out on the track this winter so far nor have I made it to the Penn State indoor facility. Which means I have not practiced sprinting on the turns. That being said, I decided not to run in the 200m and only participated in the 55m.


I got lost trying to find the school so by the time I arrived and registered in the facility I was within 10 minutes of the start of the 55m event. There was no time for warm-ups and dynamic stretching. So I did some side hops, about 10 hops, and 2 short 50% buildup runs. That's it!


I put in 8.20 seconds for my seed time which put me in the second heat. So at the start I was a little nervous. Only to find out I was assigned to lane 6 which did not have starting blocks set up. I searched for the bolt in blocks and scurried around to find the bolts. Got them to the starting line and the low and behold, the bolts did not screw all the way down into the track. They only fit half way down. So when the starter told us to get on our marks I left it loose. I figured if the flew out when I took off so be it.


When the gun went off I got out well. As usual the other runners accelerated leaving me behind but once I got my legs started turning I pulled them back in. It felt like I was just floating effortlessly. I finished with a 8.03 which was better than expected and better than anything I did last year. Also, this race was in my Saucony Kinvara running shoes, not spikes. And on a lighter note, I did run down the high school kid in the lane next to me.


So the 2-day workout weeks are serving me well in my beginning stages of sprinting. My plyos and buildups are slowly getting me faster. Patience!