CHRIS CODUTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat Sophomore hurdler Dan Cook stretches after running sprints during an afternoon practice. Cook and his fellow track and field athletes train six days a week for nearly the entire year.

Arizona track trains nearly year-round

For some UA students, climbing to the fourth level of Sixth Street Parking Garage is hard. They'll suffer from a shortness of breath and fatigued legs.

Those students aren't on the track and field team.

Although the Arizona track and field teams' official season only runs less than five months, the work the team puts in lasts nearly the entire year.

Assistant coach Dawn Boxley said the athletes on her team would be lucky to get time off of training in a year.

"You're talking, I mean really, just time off? Maybe a month," she said. "The longest they might have is probably two months."

The Wildcats consistently practice six days a week, and that's when there's not a meet.

"We can always be doing something," said sophomore hurdler Dan Cook.

Whether they are lifting weights, honing their speed or working on their stamina, these athletes are required to be among the most dedicated at the university.

Cook said a typical day consists of weightlifting, followed by classes, where he stays until the afternoon before heading to a 3:30 p.m. practice.

Following a few warm-up laps, Cook and his fellow hurdlers perform their hurdle drills.

Then, depending on the day, the hurdlers will either work on their starts, and race 60 (practicing for indoors) or 110 meters.

Practice usually lasts for nearly two hours.

Cook said the hardest part of the season comes during winter break.

"We go off for winter break, but it's not really break, more like kill week," he said. "That's when all hard practice starts."

Sometimes, Cook said, the required dedication begins to take a toll in the classroom.

"It's not too hard when we're not competing," he said, "but as soon as we get into the spring semester it gets real tough.

"For instance, we left on Thursday last week, so we start missing classes. You get back at like 3 o'clock on Sundays, and you're like, 'crap, I have school tomorrow.'"

UA head coach Fred Harvey said he encourages his athletes to work their schedules around practice.

"What we really work on doing, because every day is important, is make sure that you schedule your life accordingly," he said.

The hectic schedule is tough on coaches too.

"Within a week, we're doing all different types of things," Boxley said. "It kind of all works into a pattern."

"It's kind of a complex thing," Harvey said. "We usually get out here anywhere in the area from 1 (or) 2 o'clock, and then we're out about six."

One detail the average student might not know about the track team is the level of weightlifting that they do each day.

"Most people would look at them as mostly just running, but...they literally lift like power lifters," Harvey said. "We have some females that can power clean upwards of 180 pounds, and they only weigh 128, 130 pounds."

Boxley said the coaches are mindful not to push the athletes too hard.

"You have to know when to load and unload in order for their bodies to adapt," she said, but most importantly, the athletes need to be consistent with their training.

"They have to keep conditioning and doing things so they don't just come back and start from square one. Most sports at this level go just about all year round," Boxley said. "Any coach you talk to...is doing the same thing."