Track runners train for district meet
April 4, 2018
The district meet for track is today and tomorrow at Leander High School.
Sophomore Jerimiah Duclos trained for the 800 meters with workouts in the morning.
“On my hardest days of training, the sun is always beating down on you, even in the morning,” Duclos said. “It’s even worse because you’re sweating. Recently, though, it hasn’t been too difficult because it’s been cloudy. Usually, it’s hard with the sun, and with that, doing all these laps around the track.”
To train for the 800 meters, Duclos does interval workouts running 10 500’s on the track. Each workout, he pumps his arms to give him an advantage in a meet.
“Eventually you get faster because of that, Duclos said. “You eventually start learning techniques and tips like pumping your arms faster to move faster at times. Or, if you land on the bear area of your foot, not your heel, you go faster. It all leads to you getting in better shape which makes you faster. It helps by knowing certain running tips and adding that to your form to increase your speed and durability in races. You mostly focus on what you’ve learned. And yes, it does help.”
Duclos has hit new personal records. His last PR was 6:46 from his previous 7:03 in the mile. He has also dropped his 5k time from 26 minutes to 24 minutes.
“The workouts help with maintaining how I breath and also helps you maintain how tired you’re feeling; you’re going to feel super tired, but you learn how to balance everything out correctly so you don’t burn out as fast. You will learn how to take the pain and just go with it and not stop however hard it is. That all is because you know the pain will go away when it’s all done,” Duclos said. “I just want to get better all around, and I think that district will give me a fair shot at proving what I could do. That goes for track and cross country. I want to be the best I can be.”
Duclos, running track, spends time training with junior Juan Gonzalez. Gonzalez’s times are in the same time span for cross country season, and has ultimately dropped due to his recent training.
“I change my mindset,” Gonzalez said. “Rather than just having to work out constantly, I set my mindset to anything I want. To me, you can’t just think about how you want to do in a race, it all has to come from you. I change the way I think,” Gonzalez said. “And I get people to motivate me. That helps me a lot. With changing my mindset, I always think: this is my last workout. Put in 110 percent of my effort into every race leading to district.”
In the four mile during cross country season, Gonzalez’s time has dropped from 29 minutes to 27 minutes repeatedly.
“Just to push myself enough, but not push myself too much to the point where I pass out,” Gonzales said. “But also, I think about improving. And my idea of improving is pushing to the point where my body is about to give up but still pushing to the point where I make that little change. I want to do my very best.”
Gonzales also prepares running the two mile, the mile and the 800 meter on the track by eating healthier.
“I tend to eat healthier. I usually drink soda or eat ice cream, but that changed. Cross country changed that. Now, I drink water every day,” Gonzales said. “I’ve been drinking that one green shake that my mom makes all the time. I call it Vega-Juan. That helps me with racing because now I don’t have to fight against a bad diet. It brings you a lot of energy and makes you a better runner.”
