• Drink water, drink water, drink water!!!   Plan to drink about a gallon of water a day, and don't wait until you're thirsty.  Avoid drinking a lot of pop, coffee or other drinks with caffeine.  Not that it's bad, just that it causes you to pee out what you put in.  Regular coffee has enough caffeine that you can actually dehydrate yourself if that's all you drink.  Sports drinks (Gatorade, Powerade, etc.) are generally not particularly helpful at this level.  They are best for athletes performing strenuous, continuous activity for more than an hour.  Drinking too much when you don't need it can lead to electrolyte imbalance.  Water is much cheaper; drink lots. If, as a middle school track athlete, you think you just have to drink sports drink: Save some money buy making Kool-Aid, putting in just a pinch of salt and some lemon juice. Not much difference!
• Warm up carefully, and stay warm.  Practices and meets toward the beginning of the season can be really cold!  I'm fairly strong, but not strong enough to force 30 junior high kids into 60 pieces of sweat clothing. But a good March wind is!  Bag the fashions and wear what's comfortable and warm.  Don't show up to a meet without them.  To do so invites painful and debilitating muscle and joint injury.  We will always  warm up carefully before pushing hard.
• Eat well.  Use the food pyramid as a rough guide.  Essentially, try to include vegetables, fruit and grains in what you eat.  Don't bother eating a lot of Power Bars, Clif Bars, etc. at this point.  Just focus on eating regular, good food.  Click on the image for a larger view.
• Wear decent shoes.  Good running shoes are expensive, try hard not to skimp.  Take your current shoes to a sports store and ask them watch you run in them, and make recommendations.  If they look clueless, excuse yourself and go someplace else.  Consider whether your foot tilts in or out, and how good your arches are.  You can get along fine with one good pair of running shoes.  Spiked shoes are great for sprinting, but cost more money, and are not necessary.
• Get enough sleep.
• Stretch carefully.  See my page on stretches for more specific recommendations.
• Keep strong abdominal muscles.  We do a lot of work that strengthens the hamstrings, glutes, and lower back.  Keeping your abdominal muscles in good tone can help avoid lower back soreness, now and as you get older.  See my page on ab strengthening for more specific recommendations.
• Self-massage.  You will have times when your legs are really tired and sore.  Taking a few minutes after a workout to stretch and massage your leg muscles can really help.
• Stay caught up in your classes.  Obviously you want to stay eligible by keeping your grades up.  But more than that, keeping caught up reminds you that athletics is an important thing, but not the only thing that you do.  It also keeps the stress level down as the season goes on.

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