“As well as winning, I came though with no injuries, which is always good.
“But I’m definitely aiming to run faster next time out.”
Paying the price for a hard startSmith went out hard, running the first 200m in 23.8 seconds, but he paid the price for his start.
“I started to fade in the third 100m and struggled to bring it home in the last 100.
“The guy who finished second did 49.8. There was a bit of a headwind on the back straight, which made it hard to plan my race. But that’s no excuse, I should have done better. I shouldn’t have gone out as fast as I did.
“Angus says he will introduce more 300-metre sprints into my training programme to help me prepare.”
Smith said Ross made changes to his training over winter — introducing longer reps of 200 to 800m with the aim of maximising his speed, endurance and anaerobic capacity.
“But Angus feels more 300m reps is what I need.”
Smith’s main goal for summer is to win the national 400m title and he is also looking at competing overseas.
“I need to get overseas experience, racing against quality opposition, which is why we’re looking at Australia and Europe.
“But it’s all about taking one step at a time, using every race to build towards the next one.”
The next step is at Hamilton’s Porritt Stadium this weekend in round one of the Auckland versus Waikato/Bay of Plenty series.
Smith is living in Auckland but wears the colours of Gisborne Athletics Club when he races.
