For some athletes, training never stops. Members of the track and field team know this struggle.
Some members of the track team also participate in cross country, which only makes training that much more difficult and important.
With training consistency, running and other forms of training become part of the team’s daily life, even when they are in the off-season.
For some, like senior Anna Boardman, running has become a part of her routine that she feels unlike herself when she does not run.
“If I’m having a bad day, running is something I rely on [as well as] if I’m having a good day… It just fits into every part of my life,” Boardman said. “I structure my life, like the times that I eat, around when I’m going to run, so it just affects all aspects of my life, and I just love doing it.”
While training all year brings close positive friendships and structure in daily routines, it can also be hard to avoid burnout.
Running is just one aspect of these athletes’ lives—they have other things outside of their sport to focus on. It can be really hard to avoid burnout from something that you do every day.
The amount of time track athletes have without competing or training is about a month throughout the year.
Coaches have worked to support their athletes by modifying workouts and helping their athletes find ways to cope when struggling to avoid injuries and burnout.
The team also tries to find other ways to avoid the negative consequences of constantly running.
“I think our coaches do a pretty good job of sensing [burnout] and trying to get ahead of it,” senior Hannah Johnson said. “And then down to the teammates, just the whole structure of it is very supportive. You have to be [supportive]. You’re with each other all the time. It’d be harder if we weren’t supportive of each other.”
The athletes cope with the positives and negatives of being in season all year, though the connections team members feel with one another pushes athletes to continue to improve.
“I’ve never entered a team like this where I felt welcomed—by upperclassmen,” junior Mckenzie Reser said. “You think that seeing the same people every day gets boring, but it does not with track because you’re all going through these super hard workouts together and it brings you closer—we’re like a mini family in a way.”
