DECATUR, Ga.—Buzz. Buzz.
A beep accompanies the brief jolt on the wrist of Agnes Scott cross country head coach Molly Carl as she rounds the final corner of her recovery run, another miles-long adventure in the books. The run is not out of the ordinary for the second-year program leader, aside from the empty roads and occasional early-morning walker donning a brightly-colored facemask.
So, maybe it is a little out of the ordinary. After all, not much feels very normal in the grasp of a month-long stay-at-home order.
And for the rest of the Agnes Scott cross country program, this scene is quickly becoming one with which they are accustomed all over the globe.
Adapting to new circumstances and challenges are not novel ideas to a collegiate cross country runner. In fact, it’s one of the key characteristics Carl looks for when recruiting prospective student-athletes to the quickly blossoming program.
“Adaptability is extremely important as a cross country runner because without it, it’s hard to prepare for each race,” says Carl. “Often times we won’t even know what a course looks like until we arrive on site. We have to accept the challenge as we see it and do our best no matter what the conditions on any given race day.”
No two races are the same. The conditions change, the courses change, and the competitors change. Some days a runner might feel on top of the world both physically and mentally, while the next weekend might hold a race of a thousand mental hurdles.
The challenges the COVID-19 pandemic have presented to Agnes Scott cross country are the same thousands of collegiate programs are facing across the country.
Only, Carl feels the steps the program has taken in this time of uncertainty will greatly prepare them for the challenges ahead.
Keeping a Team Connected
Cross country is different from most of the athletic programs Agnes Scott offers in that athletes are often viewed through the lens of individual efforts.
Knowing this, Carl has been intentional in building comradery and relationships amongst her Scotties to promote a cohesive team-centered atmosphere. The second-year coach has made great strides, taking eight student-athletes of various running backgrounds and earning a seventh-place finish in the USA South Athletic Conference Championships last fall. Perhaps the pinnacle of a year’s worth of working at teamwork was evidenced in a quick trip to Midtown to watch USA Olympic Marathon Trials around Centennial Olympic Park just weeks before the halting of time as we knew it.
A virus might have taken their normal in-person spring training period, which ends at the end of April, but Carl was not about to allow it to disconnect her program.
Gone are the primitive stopwatches usually used to track mile splits and pace, instead replaced by the Garmin Forerunner GPS Running Watch.
Through the Garmin app, Carl is able to share information and build out challenges for her athletes. The student-athletes can check in on each other’s runs and offer information as to how they were feeling during and after their exercise that day.
“They can see what I’m doing as well so I have to be out there running too,” adds Carl. “We’re all in this together.”
The watches offer all the bells and whistles owners of a top-of-the-line model should expect. Carl is excited for the opportunities the program will have to learn more about important aspects of running such as pace, elevation change and cadence. All components the student-athletes and coaches speak about often, but it is the visual representation of these ideals that will hopefully generate even better results come fall.
“I’m excited these watches will be able to log all of their activity so they will have a running log to look back on for personal reflection purposes over the course of a training period,” exclaims Carl. “For our younger student-athletes, they will have results spanning years in the program.”
Adjusting to Life and Training Apart
While the new watches are a symbol of a team united, it still took awhile for the Scotties to get used to their new lives apart.
“Despite cross country being a sport one can do on their own it is still quite difficult being separated from the Agnes Scott team,” said junior Hannah Brendell through email. “My teammates don’t only get me through the workouts, but they push me to work harder and enjoy the process.”
Carl acknowledges the adjustment has been harder from some than others, but the coach has been thrilled with the team’s willingness to support each other though those difficult spots.
First-year Monica Neely had an optimistic view of how the new tech will help both individually and as a whole.
“The adjustment to remote training has been quite nice because I enjoy running by myself at my local trail. It’s also nice to see what the team is doing while at home and still being able to connect with them during this situation.”
Brendell hopes as the offseason wears on the watches will start to show the fruit of their labor.
“I think accountability is so important when doing something alone and having a goal in mind,” adds the rising senior from Namibia. “This system allows for exactly that and I believe it will challenge us to be at the top of our game once we start competing again.”
Carl echoed the sentiment of her captain. “My hope is that they come back and have a better feeling of connectedness after having been able to keep up with each other. I want them to feel more motivated to keep up with offseason work knowing the whole team is working at getting better together.”
“Maybe, just maybe, this will work out for the best and we can come back stronger this fall than any year prior,” Carl continues. “I think we can make something special come out of a really bad situation.”