Until told otherwise, high school distance runners continue to train as if there will be a cross country season starting no later than September.
However, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has made it necessary for coaches and athletes to make adjustments. What should be track and field season now serves as an extended preseason for girls and boys cross country runners.
A preseason that could amount to six months.
"It’s kind of nerve-wracking, like, what if the cross country season gets canceled?" Franklin junior Lillian Lacy said. "The thought of not having my senior season is kind of daunting, but right now I’m controlling what I can control, which is my training. The way I stay motivated is to think of cross country season."
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
One that could be special considering the Grizzly Cubs bring back Lacy and junior-to-be Jenna Newton. The team is also expected to benefit from the arrival of a talented freshman class led by Lauren Klem, an All-American in her age group.
With social distancing continuing to be encouraged, athletes are mostly training alone. In some cases, there are websites on which coaches post workouts, runners list their times and can even offer encouragement to teammates.
“It’s affected us a lot. I can’t meet with my coaches and my teammates, and I think my motivation is a little off just because there are no competitions,” said Whiteland junior Will Jefferson, the Warriors’ top runner since the start of his freshman season.
“There’s no evidence of the training I’ve been putting in.”
Jefferson runs every day, with each workout being slightly different. Once a week he’ll go on a 12-mile run; twice, his distance is between five and seven miles. Jefferson mixes in some speed work as well in order to maintain his ability to possess a strong kick at the end of races.
Even as experienced a runner as he is, Jefferson knows he runs the risk of becoming bored with training given the unusual circumstances.
“This is such a long period without races that I’m going to have to find different ways to mix up my training,” he said. “What I’m trying to do right now is enjoy it. If I don’t enjoy it, I’ll stop, but just for a few weeks. I don’t want to burn myself out being only a junior in high school.”
Center Grove girls cross country coach Wes Dodson gauges the training of his runners to the best of his ability. Dodson has incoming juniors and seniors running between five and 10 miles more per week than those expected to be part of the team as sophomores and freshmen.
All runners, he said, run four times weekly.
“It is a very small variation. I separate it between older girls and younger girls,” Dodson said. “I just send out an email to them and a schedule of what they should be doing. I also have a virtual running log online.
“They run and then come home and enter the distance they ran and can add any comments. I can’t communicate with them, really, so this is a way to monitor their progress.”
Franklin girls coach Ray Lane, knowing the importance of track season, continues to train athletes as if the season was never canceled.
“We don’t have meets, but we’re trying to do the same things as if we were having a season,” Lane said. “We can’t just not do a phase of the year, so we’re trying to simulate a track season so there isn’t a gap in our training going into summer.”
The process is one that team leaders Lacy and Newton have embraced.
“We are keeping our heads up for cross country, and we’re getting excited, for sure, but we’re not neglecting the speed work that track season gives us,” said Newton, the Daily Journal’s Runner of the Year last fall. “A lot of it is building that endurance and the confidence that comes with it. It gives us a good foundation for cross country season.”
Franklin runners and coaches can post times, photos and messages regarding workouts on a Google Classroom web page.
“The girls have been awesome,” Lane said. “They’ve come up with different ways to keep each other accountable.”
Conner Watson, who’ll be a junior at Greenwood, hasn’t deviated much from his normal routine. The uncertainty of whether there will be a season is the primary obstacle.
“I try to train at least five days a week. That’s usually been the norm. I do hill workouts at Freedom Park and go on long runs, usually six or seven miles, three times a week,” Watson said. “The real struggle is to find the motivation to keep going.
“What it’s going to come down to is whoever works the hardest in this long offseason is probably going to have the most success in cross country season.”
