Tips On How To Prepare For Track & Field

Get 9-10 hours of sleep the night before. As an athlete, you’ll need to sleep more in order to give your body the proper amount of rest and recovery time. This will allow your body to perform as well as possible.

• Try to get a minimum of 8 hours of sleep the night before you compete in a meet. Getting 9 or 10 hours is even better.

Drink at least 6-8 glasses of water throughout the day. Exerting yourself will make you sweat and lose a significant amount of the water in your body. Fill up your water bottle before starting your day and keep it on you all day long so that you can stay hydrated.^[7]

• Once you drink it all, refill your water bottle and continue drinking it throughout the day.

Eat healthy, light snacks before the meet. If there’s a lot of time between the last meal you ate and the event you’re competing in, eat a healthy snack or 2 to keep yourself strong, focused, and energized.^[8]

• Go with something small and light, like a piece of fruit and/or a granola bar, to avoid getting lightheaded or upsetting your stomach.

Try to keep a positive mindset. When you’re about to compete, it’s important to think optimistically. It can be easy to let the pressure get the best of you, but that will only stress you out and possibly hinder your performance. When negative thoughts of self-doubt pop into your head, give yourself positive reminders, such as:

• You’ve prepared the best you can, and that’s what matters.
• You are capable of doing well.
• Everything happens for a reason.

Jog 2 laps slowly. Before you start exerting your body, you’ll need to get your muscles loose. Start off by jogging around the track 2 times at a very slow, conversational pace.^[9]

• 2 laps is the equivalent of 800 metres (0.50 mi).

Do static stretching for at least 15 minutes. Static stretching involves holding a position for 10 seconds while staying still.^[10] After you’ve done a little jogging, static stretching will help you continue to loosen up your muscles. Stretch for a total of at least 15 minutes to get your body properly stretched. Some basic static stretches you can do include:^[11]

• Standing hamstring stretch
• Standing quadriceps stretch
• Side lunge stretch
• Butterfly stretch
• Prone calf stretch^[12]

Do dynamic warm up exercises for another 15 minutes. After doing some static stretches, move on to dynamic stretches, which involve movement. These have many benefits in addition to activating your muscles, including improving your range of motion and body awareness. Some dynamic stretches include:^[13]

• Knee to chest
• A-skips
• B-skips
• High knees
• Butt kicks^[14]

Get a sports physical. Before you start running track, go to the doctor and get a physical to make sure that it’s safe for you to run. During the physical, you’ll fill out information about your medical history and be examined physically by the doctor.^[15]

• You may have the opportunity to get a physical done at school. If not, make an appointment with your primary care physician.

Get athletic clothes, shoes, and equipment. You’ll need to get a few different things to wear and use at practices and meets. Get some athletic clothes, such as gym shorts, athletic leggings, moisture-wicking shirts, moisture-wicking socks, and sports bras, that make working out comfortable.^[16]

• Be sure to get some running shoes that have proper support to prevent injuries, a water bottle, and a water-resistant duffel bag to keep everything in.
• It would be a good idea to keep a sweatshirt and sweatpants in your duffel bag to wear while you warm up.

Try sprinting if you can run fast. If you prefer sprinting shorter distances to jogging long ones, then sprinting events might be for you. The sprinting events in track include the 100 m (110 yd) dash, the 200 m (220 yd) dash, and the 400 m (440 yd), each of which you can run on your own or in a relay with 3 other people.^[17]

• In a relay race, the first runner in a team of 4 starts with a baton and passes it to the next person immediately after they’ve finished running the required distance. Then, the second person runs the same required distance and passes it to the third team member and the cycle continues. The 4th team member crosses the finish line with the baton.

Go for middle or long distance events if you have endurance. In track, there are several different longer races that your school or running program may or may not offer. Typically there is a 800 m (0.50 mi) race, 1,600 m (0.99 mi) race, and a 3,200 m (2.0 mi), but the options vary by school and track type. Consider doing one or more of these events if you feel stronger and faster as a distance runner.

• Especially at the collegiate level, there are farther distance options, sometimes as long as 10,000 m (6.2 mi)!

Try jumping events if you can jump high and/or far. If you consider yourself agile and athletic but not necessarily a runner, then a jumping event might be a good fit for you. While practicing for these events, you’ll probably do a mixture of different exercises, including cross training, weight lifting, sprinting, and jumping drills. Consider trying one of the following jumping events:^[18]

• Long jump
• Triple jump
• High jump

Try hurdling events if you love both running and jumping. If you can’t decide between running and jumping events, hurdling events incorporate both types of movement. Typically, you can do the 100 m (110 yd) hurdles, 400 m (440 yd) hurdles, or both. Either way, you’ll have 10 evenly-spaced hurdles set up on the track in your lane that you have to jump over on your way to the finish line.^[19]

• You can do up to 4 events, so if you love both running and jumping, you could do a running event, a jumping event, a hurdling event, and you’d still be able to do one more.