First Track tomorrow. Please help! I have no clue what to do!?

Question

I am in the 8th grade, and I am a girl and this is the first track meet of my life, and it's a tri-meet at a high school, and I am participating in the 4x4? it's a full lap and I am the first one of my 4 members, and I am really really nervous, it's like a 3 hour meet and unfortunetly my event is the last event, and I am only participating in this event.
My track team is SO unorganized and I missed a few practices and we have only been practicing for about a week! I am extremley slow and the worst on the team, so I got placed on this event....

I am nervous so how do u think I should prepare, and how should i run with the baton, and how do I pass the baton off to my next team member?
I AM SO NERVOUS PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME!
:(

Answer 1

Awh, well calm down. You probably aren't that bad. You are first, so even if you do screw up (I doubt you will) your teammates can cover it! It's only one lap so run your little heart out!! Make sure you and the second runner have the handoff down (I assume you're using a baton) and you'll be fine. You won't get last place. Think positively and try not to miss much practice, it really helps.. Oh and by the way, eat healthily and get a good night's sleep.



Happy running! Good luck!

Answer 2

first off, take a breath and calm down...it's not going to be as stressful as you think because you're still in middle school. if you've run on a high school track before, you'll notice that for the first leg of the race, you'll be running in your own lane for most of the lap separate from the people around you. there's no special way for holding the baton as long as it feels comfortable in your hand while you run. remember that the race is 400m long so don't sprint out the first 100m and then die. run as if the race is really twice as long and slowly build up your speed as you get about halfway and then turn on the speed around the second turn. the biggest mistake anyone makes in track is to go all out for the first 300m and hit what's called "the wall." i've seen it all the way through high school and even college sometimes because of poor coaching.



in all honesty, i was just about the slowest kid when i started freshman year in high school (and by far the shortest at 5'4") a lot changed through high school and i was 8th overall at the state championship by the end of cross country.



remember that the 400m is a relatively long race for sprint and that you should pace it knowing you'll be able to finish just about as fast as you were running the first 100m. the best way to pass of the baton at the end is (if your coach taught you this) to let the second leg runner know you're coming up so they can be ready to receive it as you come to the line. just hold out the baton to them as you get closer.



that's about all i got, and i hope i helped. it's not life or death so remember to have fun and pace yourself so the race doesn't feel like a mile

Answer 3

no offense but you need to calm down, you have already lost before you even ran if you keep thinking like that, other kids are thinking the same thing if that makes you feel better. I reccomend that you listen to music to calm your nerves and get into the zone and just focus on your race, hope that helps