AP&ES Track and Field Competition Day 1Today was day 1 of competition at the Games. I had 6...

AP&ES Track and Field Competition Day 1

Today was day 1 of competition at the Games. I had 6 events that would take up the whole day, namely high jump, shot put, 400 metres, long jump, 100 metres and javelin.

Arrived at the track at 8:30 to check in and get my race number. With the initial check in out of the way, i had time to settle down and watch the 5000 metre events, which started at 9.

After a quick warmup, it was time for the high jump. As a precaution, I opted to wear my normal runners, rather than spikes to lessen the impact on my injured foot. I hoped that, combined with the softer grass surface would avoid aggravating my foot. As it turned out, this did work well.

Anyway, I elected to start jumping at 1.20 metres, which is my highest “safe” height. As expected, I cleared it first jump, same for 1.25m. at 1.30m, I missed clearing the bar by a mm or two, and narrowly missed equalling my PB. Still, this was enough for bronze.

Next was supposed to be shot put, but this was running behind time, and I ended up running the 400m first. After getting some blocks organised (I was the only one who chose to use them), I was ready. Started well, then settled back into cruising pace. By this time, I had already made up the stagger on half of my competition. In the back straight, the headwind forced me to make a minor speed adjustment, so I could go harder in the final bend and home straight. Finished first in a time of 1:06.80, 17.3 seconds in front of second place! With the tough windy conditions, I was happy with that time.

Back to the shot put, I threw 5.95 on the first throw and a bit shorter on my second, with a no throw third. This was a fair bit short of recent throws with the 6kg shot.

Long jump was next. I got in a 3.87m first jump, then put a good 4.10m jump for my second attempt, before going off to the 100m. I came back for a third jump but the sprint had changed my run up so much that the jump was a foul. Finished with the silver medal

In the 100m, we had a full field of 8. Again, I was the only one to use blocks. But this time, had a bad start, but still ran a season best time of 13.34, narrowly missing out on bronze.

Final event for the day was javelin, where I threw a season best 17.65. not yet sure of placings.

So far, a successful trip. Day 2 is set to be a busy one as well.

- Tony via Tumblr https://ift.tt/2Jnh2Ew