That’s why since the origins of competitive running, cross country has been a fall sport and track has been in the spring. All those winter and summer months are needed to recover, recharge and lay a foundation for the next season.

But for high school runners in Washington, 2021 will be unlike anything before because 2020 was unlike anything before. With all fall sports moved to March and April due to the coronavirus pandemic, cross country and track will be staged back-to-back for the first time ever.

Compacting an entire school year of sports between January to June will create unprecedented challenges for everyone, of course, but distance runners and their coaches face extremely tight timelines that will require unconventional approaches. How does a runner train and compete at a high level for four continuous months with the potential for two state competitions separated by less than two months?

That’s obviously a tall task for the elites, but all runners will be greatly impacted and it starts with the timing of the WIAA’s newly created Season 3.

“That’s the golden question we’re all looking at,” said Selah girls coach Kelly Mattson. “There are a lot of things to consider and adjust to and the first one is having kids ready to go on March 1. Ordinarily, we’d be building through the summer, getting in good base miles, having team camp at Bumping Lake and preparing for that first race in September. Now that time comes in the middle of winter.”

“The preseason work is definitely what’s harder about this,” said West Valley’s Jamie Nordstrom. “It’s fairly easy to get out and run in the summer. But in the winter, who knows what that’ll be like?”

To help bridge the gap to Season 3, the WIAA’s Executive Board approved an out-of-season coaching period from Sept. 28 to Nov. 30 for all fall sports that were moved. If we’ve reached Phase 2 in the state’s restart plan, coaches would be able to work with kids outside in groups of five. But for schools with full-time remote learning, districts have been left to make their own decisions whether or not any coaching can be done during that time.

“That’s a big question since coaches haven’t been able to work with kids since March,” noted Eisenhower’s Phil English. “Hopefully we’ll get to Phase 2 soon. We can’t just march into a season with no contact for a year.”

Fortunately, cross country would have the most workable COVID-19 restrictions of any sport. As English put it, “If you can’t have cross country you can’t have any sport.”

Based on current protocols, Phase 2 would be required for practices to start on March 1 and competitions could begin a week later if in Phase 3. That the shortened season will allow only 70% of the normal contest schedule isn’t a big issue for cross country, which rarely uses its total allotment of 10 racing dates.

What is very likely to change is the size and number of weekend invitationals and possibly the format of the state championships. English said that the Sunfair Invitational has secured April 3 for its date and that the scale will be much smaller. The WIAA’s “culminating event,” scheduled for the week of April 26-May 1, could be modified with staggered starts and possibly held over multiple days to spread the schedule out and minimize the exposure risk.

Track and field currently has the same guidelines — Phase 2 for practice and Phase 3 for competitions. The difficulty is the transition period between sports.

Track practice is tentatively scheduled to start on April 26, two days after district cross country meets. The first track competition could be held May 3 with the countdown to state-qualifying meets just six weeks away.

A rest period for distance runners is paramount, but the clock on the next season will be ticking. Loudly.

“Kids will absolutely need to take some time off,” Nordstrom stressed. “Runners are fairly resilient but they’re also different. Some could probably plow right through while others need quite a break. I’m thinking of a challenge that is not so much physical as mental. With such a short period of time to progress, there’s going to be a need for emotional support that hasn’t always been needed.”

Rest between seasons isn’t just crucial for recharging physically and mentally, it’s key to avoiding injuries.

“That’s something (boys coach) Shane Polley has done a lot of research on, and we’ll be emphasizing injury prevention more than ever,” Mattson said. “We’ll be doing drills with bands to help kids be stronger, making the likelihood of an injury less. With so little downtime between seasons, staying healthy is some important.”

“An injury at the wrong time,” English warned, “could cost you not just one season but two seasons. If anything, our kids will be under-raced in cross country with fewer big meets to go to and schools traveling a lot less. That’s not a bad thing with these circumstances. But a break after a hard season — that has to be managed and care has to be taken.”

The Valley is home to some of the state’s best coaches in these two sports, but this will still be some serious uncharted territory. There’s no template to follow for what awaits runners and coaches next year.

“Honestly, we’re still just wrapping out heads around cross country,” Mattson admitted. “We don’t have much of a plan after that other than knowing some recovery will be needed and injury prevention will be big. I’ve reached out to (CWU coach) Kevin Adkisson since they have indoor and outdoor track back-to-back. It’s something he’s used to and we need a guide to make that quick a transition.”

More than just back-to-back seasons, if the 2021-2022 school year returns to normal then returning runners would roll right into cross country in August. After a year with no racing at all, some runners would be looking at a tripleheader of seasons spanning eight months in 2021.

But, all coaches point out, at least we’re talking about actually running, racing and competing. And teams being together again. If saving a cross country season means moving it flush up against track, then you take it and be glad it didn’t get canceled like spring sports did.

“Runners who missed track and cross country this year, that’s a huge gap,” English said. “But what we’re looking at, difficult as it may be, is doable. A fall season just wasn’t going to work so moving cross country was the best alternative. It might not be ideal, but it gives cross country kids a season.”

“We will try to treat January and February like we would July and August, which seems like a crazy thing to say,” Mattson said. “But the truth is, we’ll embrace it and do the best we can. We’re just thankful to have the opportunity.”