I ma like you craig, i really need the big meet and pressure to run fast; early season meets i run slow. In 2009 i had ran 10.99 (+2.0) in May, my other races then ranged from 11.2-11.07. Then at my first English Schools i suddenly dropped a 10.99 at half 10 in the morning in cool conditions, 5th time of asking out the blocks! In the afternoon i ran 10.88 (+1.7) but with a very bad start. I was absolutely pumped up beforehand; swaggering, bouncing, listening to angry music etc (schoolkids were doing the officiating in the pens so they werent going to tell us to turn our iPods off!). For the final i was so pumped that i literally felt energy flowing out of me, it was on sky sports so my first live tv appearance, we went into the blocks and suddenly i wasnt nervous – i knew i was going to fly out these blocks – and i did! Best start of my life, unfortuantely some other lad flase started so it was called back. Then i felt this strange feeling flow out of me and i was flat as a pancake … ran 10.96 with a +0.8
Last year i barely got any meets where i was pumped, i was a bit for the northerns, and then for my semi final at AAAs but i took too much caffiene and cramped up … i ran a pb the week later in Ireland – 10.73. It was the first race of the day, no caffiene and i knew i was going to win, so maybe that puts a spanner in my theory. Or i was just rounding into some great shape and had i had some pressure on me, and some caffiene in my system i couldve gone 10.6x …