ORLANDO, USA — Novlene Williams-Mills can hardly wait for the outdoors season to get started as she predicts that “magical things will happen this year”.

The veteran athlete is starting her second season under coach Brooks Johnson and her excitement was obvious during an interview at their ESPN Wide World Of Sports training base recently.

After a two-hour session in cool conditions, the 2007 IAAF World Championships bronze medalist has set her sights on getting back on the podium at this year’s renewal in Daegu, South Korea.

To get there, however, she is aware of the long season ahead but says her programme is geared to peak in late August when the bi-ennial championships will be held.

“It’s a long season so we’re just trying to get everything together for long season,” she told the Sunday Observer.

When asked how she was preparing, she said the trick was to “pick your races, don’t race too much and try not to under-race either — just enough. Know when to back off or pick it up in training.”

She said it was still early and her main goal was to lay the foundation for what was to come.

The former Ferncourt High and University of Florida athlete ran once this season, at an indoor meeting in Birmingham, where she won her event in 51.87 seconds — the fastest she has ever opened up with. But she said it was “a last minute decision, just some thing we did to break up training”.

This time has given her hopes of running fast as the season developed.

Already, she has her eyes set on the Jamaica International Invitational meet on May 7, saying “Good things have been happening to me there for the past few years.”

Williams Mills joined the Brooks Johnson group last season after being introduced by good friend and Jamaican 800m record-holder Kenia Sinclair.

After her former coach Tom Jones died in 2007, she said she trained by herself but then saw Johnson in Zurich in 2008 after the Olympics.

She said she was attracted by his mannerisms and personality.

“I thought this is someone I could work with,” she said. “I saw how he worked with his athletes and was always giving feedback, which reminded me of coach Jones,” she said, adding that she was “not ready to leave Florida yet, as I have made it my home”.

She said she had no regrets working with the 77-year-old coach. “I did not want to choose just anyone… I wanted someone who had my best interest at heart.”

She said Johnson was someone who she was confident could take her to the next level, but said she was sure “magical stuff will happen this year”.

“I will be on the podium and if fast times come with it, so be it,” she said, adding that she “knows it will take a lot to win medal, but I’m ready to run”.