In track there is no offseason. Constantly you’re working to improve, no matter the time of year.
You have to be prepared coming into the winter season. You can’t take a break. That’s hard to do when faced with the near month long winter break.
The winter break has been a challenge for this Rowan team. Of course the athletes have been away for almost a month.
“I am at the mercy of them, hoping they do what I ask them to,” said Head Coach Ringo Adamson.
Rowan athletes do not come back early, as athletes would at a Division 1 school. For almost a month the team cannot fully train and prepare as they would in the spring, as the cross country athletes have all fall. That month gap really hurts the squad, especially as they try to prepare for track season.
For the sprinters and hurdlers, this is the beginning of their season. They haven’t been training and getting into shape like the cross country runners did all fall.
With the delay in schedule, Adamson is looking at it through the long game. This is what separates track from other sports like football. In football there is one season, once it’s over, it’s over until the next year. Everything is riding on that one season.
In track it is different. There is winter and spring track. Despite the setbacks, Adamson is looking to use this early part of the winter season to get back to the level he knows his team can be at.
“That’s why I use this [meet], and by the time outdoor comes we’re just about ready,” Adamson said. “That’s why we’re able to do things. We don’t have a choice to miss meets … so some of these kids i’m using some of these events as a high powered [test for them] just so I can get them into racing condition.”
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