Newbie Question -- Exposure Calculator and Reality?

Hi All,
First post here, I've been enjoying the forums for a while though!

I recently purchased a Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 lens with the intention of using it to take pictures of my kids sports (cross country, indoor track, outdoor track). I have a Rebel Xsi body.

I got the lens last week and played around with it outside for a bit to get used to it, then on Friday took it to my first cross country meet. From reading online, I expected to be able to get reasonably high shutter speeds in bright sunlight and full shade.. but what I experienced wasn't exactly what I expected.

This picture was shot in full shade with the following settings: f/2.8, 1/250, ISO1600, 160mm, 0 ev :

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1/400s at F/2.8 and 1600 iso is EV 11, so I guess that is open shade. The question is whether the environment you were shooting in was really open shade. A forest with tall trees tends to be darker, as it has little if any reflective surfaces, and that was what the camera indicated. It looks like light was about EV 7, based on your exif info, which means it was 4 stops darker and close to low light type shooting, which I consider to start at about EV 6. Open shade and a city may give you more light.

!/250s at 160 mm with a relatively fast moving object will make for both camera shake blur and movement blur, indeed. Just a monopod is not necessarily going to help either. You'll need a faster lens and/or higher iso in addition, to get a faster shutter speed to freeze the moment.

In cases like these it may be better to select a spot for photography where the runners get into proper daylight.

HTH, kind regards, Wim