COVID-19: Loneliness of the long-distance runners – Vacaville Reporter

They would gather each day for practice on the Vanden High track after school, scores of young runners, hurdlers, pole vaulters and shot putters, enjoying the sunshine of the mild winter, laughing and enjoying each other’s company.

Now the track lies silent and may stay that way this spring, as California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Wednesday that schools will not reopen until the fall. The Vacaville Unified School District has not yet made an official pronouncement on sports, but track, particularly running, is not a sport one can let lie dormant, even if runners won’t compete again until the fall cross country season.

“I attended a level 2 USA Track and Field coaches certification,” said Shannon Bubar, head track and field coach at Vacaville Christian High. “After just two weeks off there’s a reduction of 6 percent of VO2 max (the maximum amount of oxygen a person can utilize during intense exercise), a 19 percent reduction and a significant decrease in power after 30-63 days off, and a 25.7 percent reduction and a severe decrease in power after more than 63 days.”

Larry Hogue, head track and field coach at Vanden, echoed Bubar’s thoughts.

“With track you do have to condition,” he said. “Even if you go out and jog around the block once a day, at least it gets your heart rate and stamina up.”

High school athletes and their coaches cannot meet up, but they can stay in touch.

“I get a lot of texts and some parents do call me on suggestions of what they can do,” said Hogue. “Most of the kids know our routine.”

“Despite the COVID-19 outbreak,” said Bubar, “the health officer recommends outdoor activity so long as athletes are smart and practice social distancing. They can still run outdoors or inside on a treadmill.”

“Our kids are trying their best to stay in shape,” said Wood head track and field coach Frank Kapele. “They have been doing workouts out at Al Patch Park and I’ve seen some of my distance runners running around town.”

Vacaville High seniors, neighbors and teammates Daniel Hernandez and Cooper Sandahl run together every day. The pair keep distance between them, though they stay near enough to talk. They generally run around eight miles in their neighborhood, but each Saturday is a 13-mile workout.

“Thirteen miles around my neighborhood is not fun at all,” said Hernandez. “There’s like nowhere to go.”

Hernandez stays motivated from having recently accepted a scholarship to run at Chico State.

“I’m super excited for that, and that’s just been keeping me going,” he said.

Hernandez’s and Sandahl’s teammate, sophomore Kellen Steplight, has had to go solo.

“Doing workouts alone is really difficult,” said Steplight. “Especially with the season not going on right now, it’s been pretty difficult because it’s hard to think of reasons to run. But… I still need to keep my training up for the duration of the spring or I’ll lose a ton of fitness going into summer and into the fall for cross country.”

Vacaville Christian long-distance runners sophomore Laura Everett and junior Joshua Shelby get daily workout assignments from Bubar as well as running plans from cross country coach Mia Sarah Douglas. Everett runs on the treadmill or in her neighborhood 3-5 miles per day, Shelby around his local streets a few miles a day. Both runners work out on their own.

“That makes it harder for me to practice because I don’t have anyone to push me,” he said.

Everett has been cross-training by riding her bike around the neighborhood. She lifts weights at home for conditioning. But mainly she just keeps on running.

“If you stop running you’ll just kind of lose it,” said Everett, who keeps motivated regardless of whether spring sports continue because she is looking forward to next season.

Senior Gulab Singh of Will C. Wood runs with friend Aiden Schraer, a Vanden grad who is running as a senior for Sacramento State. Since Lagoon Valley Park is often crammed, the two head out to the American River Trail in Sacramento or Rancho Solano for their runs.

“We have to go seven days a week,” said Singh. “Even if we don’t get to run this last year of high school track, I still have to run in college as a freshman in cross country, which is in four months, in August.”

He and Schraer run seven days a week, an average of 8-9 miles a day, 14 on Saturdays or Sundays.

“We can look at (the quarantine) as a positive thing because we’re getting so much time,” he said.  “We can get our online schoolwork done in about two or three hours. Then we have the whole day to run and recover like professional athletes. And we can have these good meals… We can do high mileage. College athletes run about 70-100 miles a week, and in high school I’m only running about 60-65.”

If spring sports are canceled, it will mean heartbreak for a lot of young athletes.

“I feel more for the seniors because for some of them this could have been their year to go to state,” said Hogue. “We had some talented underclassmen last year and we were looking forward to them really prospering this year.”

Kapele has five seniors at Wood.

“Gulab was a state meet qualifier in cross country this past season,” he said. “Daniel Brombacher was a top league finisher last year in shot put. Roger Ordonez was learning triple jump and was a member of our 4×100 team. Clay Kapele (my son) was competing in shot and discus, and Erick Haro was competing in hurdles.”

The coaches bemoaned the layoff. But all understand its necessity.

“I know the statewide shelter-in put a damper on a lot of stuff,” said Hogue. “But it makes sense. If we can slow down the process it will help us to recover quicker.”

“This is the hand that’s been dealt and the safety of our kids and everyone else comes first,” said Kapele. “I was extremely excited with how many of our new boys and girls had been coming along. If we don’t continue this season, my hope is that they return next year, as I feel we will be a potential contender.”