After weeks of intense training, recovery and steady improvement, new and returning track members had the chance to show off their progress at the FAA meet on Thursday, April 16, held at Greene field. Masters athletes competed against students in The King School, Sacred Heart School, Greenwich Country Day School, School of the Holy Child and Harvey School. The meet marked a moment for runners to reflect on a season of growth, dedication and support from their teammates.
Junior Anastacia Alexander has been a member of the track team since her freshman year. She is usually involved in winter and spring track, but this school year she joined the cross country team during the fall. She has dealt with shin splints over the past few months, but said the pain has not been as intense as new runners who may not be used to the track.
“If you’re training every day, then the impact that your feet are gonna have on the track and how it resonates in your body is not going to hurt as much. Someone who is new to track is going to have a bit more of a harder time,” she said.
While the beginning of a season can be difficult for new runners as they get used to the intense workouts, freshman Adrienne Girzone said she believes she and other new runners have improved their stamina a lot in the past couple of months.
“In the beginning of my OCA runs, I felt I would take a lot of stops. I’ve been getting better at taking fewer stops and [running] longer,” she said.
On meet days, runners complete a series of drills before the race begins. Sophomore Natlie Ambrosio said drills usually consist of stretching and then jogging at the Old Croton Aqueduct (OCA) trail near Masters for 15 minutes. Then, runners do strides and prepare for the race. However, the practices before a meet are structured to be less intense in order for runners to conserve their energy before a race.
Alexander said Mondays and Tuesdays usually consist of harder exercises, such as block starts and two hundreds, and Wednesdays are usually reserved as recovery days after the intense workouts. She said that runners’ training and journey throughout the track season not only depends on the workouts that they’re assigned, but also the amount of effort they put into the work.
Alexander said, “[Runners do] write down [their running] goals at the beginning of the season, but really, [a lot] depends on the amount of effort they put into each workout. If you really want something, you’re going to be putting in the effort into any workout that you get, so [training] really depends on the person.”
Despite the hard work and dedication that is involved in being a part of the track team, Girzone said she is still glad she joined because of the positive community.
“[Track is very] non-competitive, I think, because it’s kind of like a sport against yourself. A lot of people work hard, but also, there’s no competition within the team. We’re all cheering each other on. [Even with] our competitors, we were all cheering for each other,” said Girzone.
