Track and Field Blogs - Jenny Barringer

I wanted to take the chance to explain a little bit about racing at the World Championships. I feel like I could write a novel about the experience of one race morning at a meet of this level. I know some of my posts are already pretty long but this one might take the cake.

The hotel that we stayed at this championship was very close to the competition track but Osaka is a very congested industrial city, so despite the actual distance (which, I believe was about 4 miles as a crow flies) it took our bus sometimes over an hour to reach the track. That being the case, USATF was very concerned that there might be unexpected delays getting to the track competition morning. I raced the first day, so we were the test group as it was. Between that and the additional traffic concerns they decided to have us depart from the hotel 3.5 hours before our event. That meant that steeplers, scheduled for a 10:40am race, left the hotel at 7am. It seemed kind of excessive at first but it really wasnÂ’t that bad. The bus ride ended up only taking about 30-40 minutes and when I arrived at the track I found a corner in an air-conditioned medical room and nestled in for a little nap.

The medical room is too vague of a description. Each country is assigned certain areas where they can set up massage tables and stretching areas. In general, itÂ’s a claimed area to assure that each country has a little space of their own. We had our tables set up but believe it or not, there wasnÂ’t much massaging going on. People cluttered the tables in order to watch the TV which was also close by showing coverage of the menÂ’s marathon. It was really interesting to see how many of the athletes in the warm-up area were really focused on the marathon underway. It really expressed the unique team spirit around a championship like this. Literally dozens of amazing athletes warming up for qualifying rounds were totally absorbed in the final miles of the menÂ’s marathon.

After my little nap and watching the first few finishers in the marathon I began my pre-race routine. I tried to eat a substantial breakfast earlier at the hotel because I knew I was going to be racing several hours later and I was going to be battling less-than-perfect weather conditions that might take a toll on my body. I think a little extra fuel is important when your body is about to take on a stress beyond what itÂ’s used to. Now, a little over an hour out from my race I had a trainer help me stretch out and I did some on my own. I warmed up for about 10-15 minutes very easily out on the grass infield of the warm-up track. After a little more stretching I used some ice and cold water to try to cool my core before gathering my things to go into the first call room. Oh, I also went over a few hurdles after warming up. Nothing too intense; I didnÂ’t even change into my spikes.

I had to be into the first call room 30 minutes before my race. They donÂ’t mess around either. ThereÂ’s no checking in and then doing strides until they take you to the track. I walked into a trailer for the first call and I had all of my stuff with me. At this point they check all of your three numbers (front, back, warm-up shirt) and look for logos. Any logo that is oversized or inappropriate must be covered up with tape. My spikebag, which was inside my back pack, had to be taken out and the Nike check had to be covered. I donÂ’t know if theyÂ’re always this thorough but it seemed that the Japanese were not going to miss anything. They also check you in and at the point have you sit until the second call room is ready for you. You donÂ’t sit for long. Next we were ushered out of the call room, across the scaffolding and into the outer ring of the stadium. The next room was sort of like the hipping tent. They checked all of our numbers again and assigned us hip numbers. I donÂ’t remember any other checks at this point but it wasnÂ’t long until we were all herded into the final room directly off of the track. Here we all sat down and switched into our spikes, threw on water and took off the last t-shirt or sweat pants. All of our stuff went into numbered boxes corresponding to our hip numbers and we were walked out to the track.

This whole process is orchestrated and executed by the host country. The Japanese checked us in and told us where to go. Most of them knew enough English to communicate what I needed to know and IÂ’m sure they knew key phrases in many languages in order to smooth out the process. However, no matter how smooth it went, this was my first senior championship and I was going through the whole process for the first time and without a USA teammateÂ…. It seemed like chaos. At least 15 different countries represented in my heat alone and weÂ’re all keyed up for the biggest race of our season, if not career. ItÂ’s pretty chaotic. I got the feeling that a lot of our movement between rooms was more by our numbers than by names or anything. Numbers are much more universal and very easy to see. IÂ’m sure thatÂ’s why weÂ’re required to wear a competition number even on our warm-ups.

Once we were on the line there was no explanation of the barriers or the water jump or the laps or anything. We were told our start commands in a meeting the night before and they consisted of “on your mark” and then the gun. When you see everyone at the line you get in order by number and it’s history from there.

I remember all of the race and I remember feeling good and thinking I was racing much faster than I really was. There were several challenges to my race that I wasnÂ’t really expecting. First, when I stepped out onto the track to do a stride or two a minute before the race, that was the first time I had been in the stadium. For me, who has never really raced a track event in a stadium like that, even though the crowds werenÂ’t out in amazing numbers, just the size of the place was overwhelming and quite a bit to take in 60 seconds before my race. Also, with a barrier coming less than every 100 meters I didnÂ’t ever find a good spot to look up at the clock to see my splits. I never enter a race relying on someone to read my splits but theyÂ’re always very helpful and there always seems to be somebody doing it. That wasnÂ’t the case in Osaka. The stadium is an incoherent roar and officials donÂ’t announce splits. I think if I knew how far off I was at 1k or halfway I might have kicked my butt into gear a little earlier. Lastly, I think I went into the race too timid and didnÂ’t think I was good enough to be up front. When you watch the race you can see I go strait to the back and sit there for a while. The truth is that my heat when out slow and I should have been in the front from the beginning pushing the pace. I found myself making up ground the whole second half and while that can be a good race plan itÂ’s not a good place to be when youÂ’re in a slow heat.

You race and you learn. No experience is useless if it is learned from right? So, IÂ’ll try to take these lessons and adjust my race and my mindset for the next challenge in Paris.

I hope this answered a lot of peopleÂ’s curiosities about my experiences racing internationally. If I didnÂ’t cover anything just make a comment and IÂ’ll try to fill in the gaps next post.