I’m seriously considering joining track and field next year. I’m currently a rising sophomore and I was hoping some runners could tell me some basics about track and field. Specifically,
-How often do you run? Daily, weekly, mainly at meets, or what?
-How long do you run at a time? For how many miles?
-Do you do targeted exercises? Strength training?
-What are your PRs? And also what were your original times when you started? (mile time?)
Also, I heard there’s very few meets…?
I really want to get in some major training practice and any advice would be helpful. Thanks!
I’m an ex- track and cross country runner. Specifics about sport practices and such vary from school to school, but I can give you information about my experiences.
I was mostly a long distance runner, so I did a lot of distance. The only times I can remember are from cross country. I averaged around 8 minutes for a mile, and my best 3 mile time was around 26:30.
We had, in both sports, a decent amount of meets. I don’t remember the exact number, though.
I never cared much for running (I just did it to keep in shape for swimming), so I did not do any strength training nor did I do any targeted exercises. However, people who competed in field events did do some specific things, but I don’t know what they did.
I had practice every day after school, for around an hour and a half. Most of the time would be spent running. We had a mile warm up, and people were split up into different groups depending on what they ran.
Like I said earlier, these specifics depend from region to region (like warm weather to cold weather) and from school to school.
I hope I helped.
I’m not on the team, but I know people who are on it. A month or so before the season starts, they do conditioning (not mandatory, I believe, and I’m not sure how many times a week it is, but most people do do it) and they usually run 3-4 miles every time. During the actual season, there’s practice every day. I don’t know how much exactly they run, but I know some long distance races are around 12-13 miles. At my school you pick two of the events (100, 400, and 800 meter, mile, javelin, shot put, long jump, baton race, etc.) and compete in them.
I did short distance and hurdles. Practices were daily for 1.5-2 hours. From what I remember, the log distance group would go run for 20-60 minutes then either do their own training or join our group. This varied from running under water, going to the weight room, core work, relays, starts, etc.
What you do will depend on your events. 100 is vastly different from the 400, within is vastly different from the 3200. The preparation for each us also different, but it always includes running for quite a bit of time. If this isn’t for you, then try throws, jumps, or pole vault.
We did a total of 15 or so meets between April and June, but only the very best would go to all of them. The average varsity runners go to about 10 or so, and JV about 5-8.
If you are not currently running, you want to break into it slowly. Shin splints are not uncommon for new runners and it can crimp your season. There are several things you should do;
If you haven’t already done it, schedule your sports physical. It’s usually mandatory for participation in any HS sports.
See the HS track coach and find out what kind of a pre-season workout would be best. The coach may have some returning seniors that they can trust with giving you workout guidance.
Make sure you have good shoes. Generally, it’s going to be a pair of good cross-trainers to begin with. If you go to a Runner’s store (not one of the chains) you will usually find a clerk who can guide you in personalized shoe selection.
Please don’t do it if you’re not planning to compete in college/become professional. There is no point and it just takes up time.
I’m a current junior who was an ex runner who quit after 10th grade, I wanted to focus on academics and I had other, more important stuff to do.
Sorry to be negative but it’s the damn truth, people end up quitting if they aren’t like top 5% in the team (not an exaggeration). Ask yourself, are you really going to end up like Leonel Manzano or Matt Centrowitz, or are you going to end up quitting because you need more time for academics? Just do club, I do club cycling and my life is so much more doable to deal with.
To answer your questions though, cross country was really 5+ miles and 2-3 miles at the minimum before a race. Track consists of track workouts, occasionally long runs back from cross country. To be specific, 2x3200, 4x1600, 8x800, and 16x400. Occasionally sprint workouts and THEN a run.
You really need to consider this and think this thoroughly. I do miss cross country/track & field admittedly, but it’s just not worth it with no rewards unless if you are the top of the team (and even then, extremely slim chance that you’ll do professional).
–we run daily. 2 hrs a day everyday but Sunday.
–I’m a sprinter so I don’t really put in miles at practice aside from endurance days. But distance runs like 5+ miles on an easy day then hard days they do some long distance sprint type stuff to work on their finishes. (Idk how they do it).
–we do target training we have weight room practices, have circuit training (do a certain exercise for a set amount of time then spring).
–once outdoor season starts we have a meet every Tuesday or Thursday and varsity has Saturday meets. So I have around 13 meets a year.
@elefish82 there are plenty of reasons to run and most people don’t quit if they are not in the top 5% .
it gives you mental strength, sometimes you just want to stop running but when you push through a particularly hard workout you feel great about yourself
it’s a great stress reliever
alongside #1, it teaches you how not to quit when things get tough in your life (very applicable to school)
since there are 16 track and field events you meet so many different people
teaches you great time management skills
there’s a lot of other good reasons that I can’t think of right now
P.s. It really doesn’t take away from academics. My grades are always higher when track season/conditioning starts. Around October track conditioning started, on top of that, I had 6 ap classes (gov Econ BC CALC stats physics c and bio) and one dual enrollment (composition), tutored 6 kids during the weekday (6:30-7:38am) and one after track conditioning for NHS, and still managed to volunteer. In addition, I did get all A’s last semester, so if anything I think I learned how to manage my time for when college starts.
-How often do you run? Daily, weekly, mainly at meets, or what?
At my school we run every single day at practice.
-How long do you run at a time? For how many miles?
It depends on the workout: sometimes it’s an easy day and we jog 4-5 miles, or sometimes it’s a hard day and we SPRINT 200-300 meters.
-Do you do targeted exercises? Strength training?
Yeah, we usually have sprint workouts and afterwards we have abdominal stretches. If you’re in field then you’re usually required to lift but for runners it was optional.
Also, I heard there’s very few meets…?
Well for winter track we only had 4 meets, one of them over winter break so I didn’t attend. I don’t know if that’s different for your county/area plus if you’re doing spring season.
I started track this year (sophomore too) and just remember to condition pre-season (I didn’t, and it definitely showed when winter season started). They whip you into shape, though, and honestly that was the most in shape I’ve ever been in my life. I’m gonna volunteer in the spring though so no more track for me this year, lol.
And even though I had practice everyday it was only for 2 hours so I still maintained straight A’s (miraculously).
Good luck in your running endeavors!
I’ve done track for three years now. We run everyday at practice.
Our practice is usually structured like this:
1 Mile Warm Up Run
Stretching/ Drills
Workout( depends on hat events you run)
and some situps, pushups, striders, etc
