Track and Field NOT WASTING ENERGY HELP PLEASE?

Question

Hi there I am a 16 year old male living in Canada and currently Im in track and field. Im a long distance runner running 1500 and 3000m for track, and today I ran 1500m...and sucked. Ok so I need tips, facts, any help that will allow me to be able to waste all my energy while I run that event because its my only one of the day. I did 1500m today and I ended with a slow time and I didnt even break a sweat because I didnt push myself hard enough. I can run long distances like 12k and I have a good pace on a treadmill (speed 9 for 2mile run) but I need help tommorow on being able to burst my energy on my 1 event the 3k tommorow. PLEASE HELP

Answer 1

You need to split the race up into sections in your mind. Instead of running a 1500m, run 5x300m, or 3x400m and a 300m kick at the end. Doing this will allow you to focus on a shorter distance, one at a time, rather than thinking about how many laps you have to go or how much energy you need to reserve.

I would offer you more advice if I knew what kind of pace you run on the track, but you haven't specified what your PR's are.

So I'll give you an example of what I used to do in practices:

If you wanted to run 4:02 in the 1500m as a time trial, you would probably want to go out at about 62-63 seconds for the first 400m, and come by the 800m at 2:06-2:07. Then you'd want to work the 3rd lap hard and come by at around 3:11-3:13, and kick for your last 300m in about 48-50 seconds.

Answer 2

Run every race as hard as you can, as if it were your only race...In my experience you 2nd and 3rd race will only be off your best by a few seconds