So I'm sure there's a bunch of questions going on over there: What's track like in college? What should we expect? How much do you train? And how am I going to compare to other athletes on the team? I'm going to do the best I can to answer all of those questions and give you a little taste of what my first year in collegiate track was like for me.
To be honest, I had no idea what to expect entering the first practice. By now I knew a few kids on the team, so we were all comfortable around each other but we were all really looking forward to see how everyone would perform. You hear about these athletes in high school and how phenomenal they are and now you are at practice with them. Pretty cool. The environment on the track is more competitive than any meet you have been to in high school, that's for sure. Some words of advice: Don't try to compare yourself to everyone in everything you do. You will drive yourself crazy and often times be faced with failure that you may or may not have experienced before in high school. I found myself always looking to compare myself to others and if I didn't do well than I would get extremely frustrated. Now don't get me wrong, I am all about friendly competition amongst teammates, however, I think that for the first few weeks don't find yourself getting caught up too much into it because you will improve more in a year than you will ever know.
You will finding yourself lifting more weights in a week than you do a year in high school. Weights is a big thing. With the track season being close to 9 months long, we become more injury prone and one of the best ways to prevent injuries is by lifting weights to make us stronger and less injury-prone. One suggestion for the summer: LIFT WEIGHTS! LOT'S OF THEM! As much as we love the beach body, unfortunately with track, a lot of those lifts are useless for the sport. Instead of curls, bench, and sit-ups, I would try doing some cleans, squats, snatches. Yes, I know, every one's favorite lifts. You actually begin to like them. But don't get too excited, it wasn't until the second year until I started liking them myself. :)
Now training folks, depending on where you go is 4-6 days a week! Most of the times you get Sunday's as your only day off. Pretty exciting right :) After the second week your body will get into a routine of going to practice and lifting weights. Just to let you guys know- it's a long season! I mean in Minnesota our season is quite pathetic. It's 8-10 weeks long, usually there's snow on the ground until the end of April, and it's very hard to perform at your best because the weather is unpredictable. Thank God for indoor track though! Usually the first indoor track meet will be sometime around the middle of December. I'm not a mathematician or anything but I'm pretty sure that's 3 months 4 months for those who start in August of training before any more at all. Pace yourself because the season is long!
Overall, the first year of track for me was great. The season was crazy long but I loved every day of it. At times you may find yourself getting disinterested and that's why I'm going to advise all of you to find a person in your event group that can be your accountability partner. This person should always have your best interest and mind and you guys should push to beat each other in any way you can. It's important to remember too, that every day you should work to get better while taking all the advice you can. There's going to be a million things being said to you your first year. Turns out guys, you may not have as good of technique and form as you thought you did. Constant adjustments will be made in your running, event, weights, etc. Just keep an open mind and remember that your coaches got where they are for a reason. If you're someone like me and may not have the greatest running form or lifting technique- ask for help!! That's what the coaches are there for. If you continue to go about doing things the same way you may injure or hurt yourself. Learn the right way the first time, it's easier that way.
Well that's all I got for ya. Work hard this summer because the indoor season will be here in no time!
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