Last week marked the first full week of track practice for the MHS team. The first day of tryouts took place two weeks ago on Monday, Jan. 27. After the snow days, tryouts and practices continued over the past week.

Tryouts for the sprint and distance teams took place on Monday, Jan. 27. Distance runners ran the 1600 meters (mile), and sprinters ran the 100 meter dash.

The next Monday, athletes tried out for long jump and triple jump while distance and middle distance runners ran an 800 meter time trial. All athletes then participated in a 400 meter time trial. Throwers practiced at the shot put area.

On Tuesday, athletes braved the rain, wind and cold at practice. Throwers tried out, and sprinters and distance runners repeated the tryout distances from the previous Monday. Distance runners went to the weight room for strengthening as well.

On Wednesday, all athletes worked out on the hill beside the lower practice field. Sprinters and throwers went first while the distance team did a fartlek workout at the track. Fartlek workouts are similar to interval training–runners run at a fast pace for a certain amount of time and then run more slowly for a ertain amount of time. That day, runners did two minutes fast, one minute slow, one minute fast, thirty seconds slow, thirty seconds fast, thirty seconds slow. They ran the set twice. The teams then switched, and sprinters did their own speed workout on the track.

On Thursday, distance runners went out for a 40 minute training run and then did circuit training in the weight room. Sprinters completed a two mile workout which consisted of running 200 meters, completing an exercise activity, running another 200 meters and then jumping over hurdles as plyometrics. Exercises included crunches, burpees, squats and push-ups.

On the last day, Friday, sprinters split up into teams of four to six runners for a mile and a half of Indian runs. After, they brought the hurdles out for training, and non-hurdlers continued with a sprint workout. Distance runners ran a track workout in groups starting at 200 meters and then worked up to 400 meters, 600 meters and 800 meters. They worked back down to 200 meters for the second half.

All athletes who tried out made the team this year. With the snow days, the schedule has slightly shifted, and the meet dates should be announced soon.