At North Central, there’s a select group of women who run both track and cross country year-round. Seventeen to be exact. These women participate in cross country during the fall before shifting their attention to track and field during the winter and spring. Two runners in this boat are Jamie Rohn and Meredith Wells, both fourth-year students.
“We run 5k and 6k races in cross country, which aren’t too fun,” Rohn said. She would rather be running track, due to the competitiveness of the sport she said.
“There’s just more riding on a track race, you know? I love the adrenaline of it all,” she continued.
As for training, Rohn and Wells say it can get a bit tedious, which is understandable given the mileage and lifting several times a week.
Mahesh Narayanan is the head women’s cross country coach and serves as the distance coach for the women’s track and field team, meaning he works very closely with these women. He explained that while the year-round training can take its toll, he tries to find a plan for each team member.
“Basically, we have training trees and schedules for freshmen, sophomores and the higher-level girls. It’s just about finding what each runner is capable of and improving on that. Some girls are already at a high level when they get here and others are almost there. It’s why we use adaptive training,” Narayanan said.
He also brought up the danger of overloading the athletes and the dynamics of the team: “You have to assess and then spread out the intensity of the workload. There are leaders among the juniors and seniors who’ve come to me when we’ve tried out a new training schedule and said it’s either too much or they aren’t being challenged enough. Communication is paramount and I’m glad some of the girls step up into that leadership position where they’re able to speak for the team.”
