Apparel & Shoes - Outdoor Track Girls

Note that team members are expected to wear only FHS apparel at meets and will be issued a team racing jersey for use in all our meets. Athletes should provide their own solid black shorts. Varsity members must wear the shorts from this website (officials will check at many of the meets). See Coach Odell if finances are an issue. JV members may wear these shorts or any solid black shorts from a local sports retailer. These spiritwear items are for your use in practices and during meet warmups and warmdowns. Highly recommended are the shorts, wicking t-shirt, 1/4 zip fleece and pants.

RUNNING SHOES

2 Local stores that offer free stride analysis (video record you running a few steps on a treadmill), advice from actual runners, and a 10-15% discount when you tell them you're on a high school running team. We will have special FHS team night at each store.

Pacers Running Store, 10420 North St in old town Fairfax, (703) 537-0630 Team night: Tuesday, 7/31 from 6-8 pm

Potomac River Running, 11895 Grand Commons Ave at Fairfax Corner, (703) 988-9700. PRR will give our team $5 for each pair of shoes you buy, so be sure to mention our team code: FAIRFAXXC2018 when purchasing in the store or online. Team night: Tuesday, 9/4 from 6-8 pm

For track training, we recommend that athletes wear running shoes designed for training on roads and trails. This means they’re made of lighter materials than basketball or tennis shoes, and have strong shock resistant properties to protect against leg injuries. Running shoes are adapted to 3 kids of feet/running styles. Those with high arches (requiring more flexibility), those with flat feet (requiring more stability), and those with severe pronation (rolling of the foot). Most running stores can watch you run a few strides around the store or on a treadmill and assess your running style. Then they can recommend shoes according to your style and foot strike. Most training shoes are designed to provide proper shock absorption and wear for 500 miles which equates to 3-4 months for our veteran distance runners and 1 year for sprinters and new distance runners.

I recommend training shoes which are moderately priced ($70-100). Popular brands are Asics, Saucony, Brooks, Nike and New Balance. Nike tends to run more expensive.

For outdoor track races, athletes can wear one of many special racing shoes:

Sprint spikes - have stiff plastic spike plate and little if no padding.
Distance track spikes – usually a lighter, thinner sole than x-country spikes, , removeable metal spikes (1/4-5/8”), ¼ inch of cushioning, and sometime a plastic spike plate.
X-country spikes – have rubber tread, removeable metal spikes (1/4-5/8”), ¼ inch of cushioning, and no plastic spike plate.
Road racing flats – very light weight, blown foam, very little rubber, ¼-1/2 inch of cushioning, flat or very little tread on the sole

Racing shoes range from $50-100+. The $50 models are ok for most high school runners, though some top runners prefer some of the more expensive models.

If you know your sizing in a specific model, you can look for discounts from the following websites: