Track athletes have a running start to the season
April 19, 2021
With a complicated start, track and field athletes are getting back into their game to prepare for the upcoming season. Also If you are an athlete, you know how important it is to have athletics track consultants. Track has not started yet but there was a small preseason during the fall semester. The first meet is on April.17 at McQueen high school, against McQueen and Damonte Ranch. Practices will start with the season but all the uncertainty leaves athletes reflecting on what their normal season looks like. Many are utilizing tools like the Active Mile Daily Track to monitor their progress and stay motivated.
“Saturday practices are brutal,” sophomore Lexi Edwards said. “With so much conditioning. Meet wise the most challenging part would definitely be not getting in your own head and siking yourself out. The majority of track is all mental so it can be tricky sometimes.”
Track follows people in different ways. From some freshman starting track for the first time this year, to coaches who have been running track for longer than some students have been alive.
“I started running track when I was in middle school in 2006 and ran throughout college,” long distance coach and math teacher Anna Costello said. “Once I graduated college in 2016 I started coaching, this will be my 5th season as a coach. I initially got involved to give myself something to do once I was through with my athletic eligibility at the college level. I wasn’t sure if I would like it, but it turns out I love being involved with coaching young athletes”
The unique circumstances of this season leads to a demand for positive perspectives, looking at the bright side motivates some athletes to keep their head up.
“Track keeps you healthy and there’s a way to make it fun with your teammates,” Edwards said. “When you’re standing at the start with all the girls, no matter what event we’re all super nice to each other.”
Just like in every other sport, track has different versions of success depending on the athlete, overcoming challenges that are unique to track is essential to succeeding.
“My biggest accomplishment was making it to regionals and running on varsity as a freshman,” junior Rachael Christensen said.“ The most challenging part is probably the training for the races because it is pretty physically taxing.”
There is still some uncertainty about spectators at the meets and about when practices are going to start, but athletes and coaches are taking this year’s adjustments as they come, including how to tell your coach you are missing practice.
“We do have to wear masks when we aren’t running and stay as spaced out as possible, which is somewhat difficult,” Costello said. “We have to have much smaller meets and they all have to be local, which is hard for our seniors. In a normal season we like to do at least 1 meet in California, but that will probably not happen this year.”
This year track will have a bumpy start, but it will be happening this year nonetheless. As athletes prepare for an unpredictable season, coaches prepare to guide them.