Inbetween the fall cross country season and spring track and field season, runners bring their talent inside. During the winter season, many cross country runners and sprinters combine to build the indoor track team. With the team not being fully associated with Holy Trinity, Coach Marc Bailey, who coaches cross country along with track and field, helps prepare the athletes for competition.

“We work out seven days a week, consisting of two-speed workouts, one to two tempo runs, and one long run on the weekends,” sophomore France Hale said. Hale runs cross country in the fall and finds that training for indoor track during the off-season helps her prepare for spring track and field. “Running the 800 and the 1600 is always more enjoyable on an indoor track than an outdoor track,” Hale said. While a normal track length is 400 meters, indoor tracks are only half the length, meaning 200 meters. This makes the races seem faster due to the smaller loops you are running. The indoor season is significantly shorter than the outdoor season, with there being only three meets. 

With there being only one indoor track in the state, located at the University of Florida in Gainesville, it attracts competitors from various regions. Holy Trinity sits in District 1A, but with indoor track not being a school-sponsored sport, the team gets to branch out and run against schools they normally wouldn’t get to. “Running against quicker competitors allows us to improve and become stronger,” Hale said. The season being composed through “Track Legends,” Coach Bailey’s AAU Club, gives several HT runners an idea of what it’s like to run in a different environment.

While the runners have trained for several weeks now, going the extra mile to stay fit for indoor track, the season is underway. The indoor track in Gainesville is ready to see great athletes get set in their blocks and “GO!”