Winning inside and out Girls track team practices, trains in indoor, outdoor venues Andrew Haughey
T
haughand000@hsestudents.org
rack and field, unlike other spring sports, has the unique opportunity to schedule both indoor and outdoor meets. This gives the sport inherent flexibility, as outdoor venues can be utilized for larger meets and indoor venues can be used at the beginning of the season when weather tends to be more difficult to work with. Although having flexibility in where to practice and compete can be helpful, Sophomore Marina Agapios participates on the sprinting team and said that workouts and practices are often shuffled around or compromised to work indoors instead of outdoors. “With one of our hardest workouts, 200 repeats, if we were outdoors then we would just do it on the track, which is pretty simple,” Agapios said. “When we’re indoors, sometimes we have to split up into groups and do it down the diagonal hallway between A and B.” In addition to the rearrangement of practices that athletes are used to, Agapios said running indoors can be hard on an athlete’s body, while training outdoors makes practices less stuffy. “Practicing indoors is not terrible, it’s just that when you have to turn so much, it’s hard on your hips,” Agapios said. “Being outdoors, everyone is just spread out so much more and it’s easier to do the workout.” Although Agapios has a preference for practicing outdoors, she emphasized the importance of being able to adapt to whatever situation is necessary. “You have to be flexible with how the coaches run things,”
Sports
Agapios said. “You can’t try in one setting and then not try in the other because it will end up screwing up your times in practice, and that’s what they go off of [for choosing rosters for meets].” In addition to practices being rearranged to fit indoors instead of outdoors, meets must also be organized in a way that maximizes efficiency, due to the limited space indoors. Because of this, senior distance runner Elizabeth Barrett said some technical aspects of meets are different depending on their venue. “For outdoor meets, the order is a little different,” Barrett said. “We’ll usually start with the relays and a 4x800, and then the last events would be the 3200 and the 4x400, but it’s a little flipped indoors. When indoors, there are a lot more laps around the track just because the track is only 200 meters, rather than 400 meters. Some events also don’t have an event when indoors, either.” Since athletes are required to run more laps when meets are indoors, Barrett believes longer races can begin to feel slow and repetitive. Because of this, she emphasized the importance of keeping a strong mentality no matter the environment the race is held in. “When we’re used to a certain dynamic or situation, and then we have to change the way we train or the way we do the meet, it can be difficult for people to make that change fast,” Barrett said. “It’s important to keep that open mindset. We try to keep it positive and not think ‘Okay, well I have to go run a lot of laps around the track,’ but think more like ‘Okay, it’s the
same amount of distance as it was outdoors.’” Sarah Riordan, the girls head coach and coach for the sprinting and jumping team, said that another factor to take into account is the immediate change felt by runners when they are used to a specific schedule. “Every once in a while, athletes can, rightfully so, make excuses once we come outside just because it’s a change right away,” Riordan said. “A workout that we would normally do outdoors, but we have been doing indoors might bring up things like ‘Oh, but there’s wind today, so am I supposed to be able to still hit my same target time?’” In spite of the troubles some athletes face immediately after making the transition to outdoor practices and competitions, Riordan said outdoor competition is the truest reflection of what conditions athletes should be preparing for. “Ultimately, outdoors is our arena,’’ Riordan said. “Our athletes are extremely used to how
Sophomore Anna Williams and freshman Jurnee Hall race against Pendleton Heights in the 100 meter hurdles at Fishers High School on March 30. Photo by Lily Thomas
track season starts in February; they know this beginning time is indoors, and I think they do an excellent job of utilizing the facilities that we have and we make the most of the space that we do get.”
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