A famous medieval poet once stated, "Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy." I thought this was the perfect metaphor for reaching your PRs in track and field. I always believed the early invitational in the beginning of the season serve a purpose for technique and race strategy purposes, but never expect to get your fastest times in the first few track meets.
The reason for this is your body has to adjust to your race regime and how you race and once you've perfected your race strategy... then BOOM! By your tapering phase (high intensity/low volume training so your muscles can recover for the big time meets) in training will be around the qualifying period of the season and that's how you will reach your destined goal of hitting that time. I've seen some athletes run their fastest times in the beginning of season and towards the qualifying meet they will either stagnate their times or they will have little improvement.
My coaches always told me don't try to chase times because he explained that's how athletes get hurt. Also, he said something that stuck with me, "A relaxed, comfortable runner, Is a fast runner". The moment I hit my PR it didn't feel like I ran as fast as I did and I became living proof of that quote and I'm here to relay the message to you guys, no pun intended.
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