TJ is awful- like running on a wood floor.

It seems like there will be two meets at George Mason this year (and that has not happened in years so not sure why the change). It is a good change because of proximity but their indoor track is also not great.

Some local coaches take their teams places to compete but not all the coaches do this. One particular coach refuses to leave the area.

Anonymous wrote:OP, few quick adds to the great advice up above.

Indoor track is a misnomer in FCPS - it's really winter track. There are outdoor practices and likely outdoor weekend meets.

We are in the Liberty District, so our in-district meets are held at the TJ Rec Center in Arlington. Which leaves a lot to be desired.

That said, our track coach does manage to get all the kids competing over the course of the season. They won't run every meet/every event, but they should get some running time.

The TJ rec center is one of the worst indoor tracks I have run on (all comers meet). In my competitive days I wouldn’t have run on it.

There are a shortage of decent indoor tracks in the area. Thankfully running outdoors here is not difficult.

I know coaches take athletes up to the Armory in NYC to compete. A fast track. Again in my competitive days I wouldn’t have peaked for an Armory race as the goal was to run fast (and win) in the national outdoor races in June. So indoor track has to be done with a purpose.

My kid started track as a freshman with no prior experience.
He enjoyed it and wanted extra coaching and more targeted workouts.

He joined Spartan Chosen this summer and it’s been good for him - they are well organized and coach all ages.

St James, Spartan Chosen and VA House of Speed have programs in Virginia

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any suggestions for winter track for a fast 8th grader? Are there any non-school-based winter track programs? Her middle school doesn't have winter track, only fall cross-country and spring track.

Bumping this because this is where we are this year. PP, if you're out there, did you find anything?

It’s been several years since my kids did it, but SYC has winter track.

Anonymous wrote:Any suggestions for winter track for a fast 8th grader? Are there any non-school-based winter track programs? Her middle school doesn't have winter track, only fall cross-country and spring track.

Bumping this because this is where we are this year. PP, if you're out there, did you find anything?

Anonymous wrote:It's a misnomer. You'll be outside a lot for meets and 100% outside for practice.

We had 2 meets inside and that was all the way in Alexandria on a Friday night to boot. Tell me how much that sucked to drive, find parking, and then pay $7 entry fee to watch my kid run for 90 sec.

That is better than going to Virginia Beach so your kid can run the 100m and 300m and they are on different days

Yeah, distance running is super annoying because the 3200 is either the beginning of the event or at the end of the event. It just takes a while to run 16 laps around an indoor track!