compact way to plot "duration" elements, with different colors

Do you know a compact way to plot a set of duration elements in different colors, without the loop for ?

% input (set of durations)
a = duration({ ...
   '00:01:10'
   '00:01:35'
   '00:01:09'
   '00:04:40'
   '01:32:36'
   '00:01:16'
   '00:01:38'
   '00:13:52'
   '00:01:28'
   '00:01:02'
   '00:01:35'
   '00:01:11'
   '00:04:21'})

a = 13×1 duration array
   00:01:10
   00:01:35
   00:01:09
   00:04:40
   01:32:36
   00:01:16
   00:01:38
   00:13:52
   00:01:28
   00:01:02
   00:01:35
   00:01:11
   00:04:21

% colors for the input elements (duration)
color = jet(3);
index_color = [1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1];

% plot both line and points (durations): this is the part I would like to
% re-write in a more compact way!
hold on
    plot(a,'-','color','black') 
    for i = 1 : length(a)
       plot(i,a(i),'o','markerfacecolor',color(index_color(i),:)) 
    end
hold off

Answer 1

[Steven Lord]

a = duration({ ...
   '00:01:10'
   '00:01:35'
   '00:01:09'
   '00:04:40'
   '01:32:36'
   '00:01:16'
   '00:01:38'
   '00:13:52'
   '00:01:28'
   '00:01:02'
   '00:01:35'
   '00:01:11'
   '00:04:21'});
index_color = [1 1 1 1 2 1 1 3 1 1 1 1 1];
scatter(1:numel(a), a, [], index_color, 'filled')

[Sim]

thanks @Steven Lord!! So, with the plot function is not possible such a thing, right ? Only with the scatter plot function...?

[Steven Lord]

All the markers created by one call to plot with one set of data inputs must have the same color. You could call plot with multiple sets of data inputs to create multiple lines at once with different colors as long as those colors are from the standard list available for use in a linespec. In the example below I use red circles, black plus symbols, and cyan triangles.

a = duration({ ...
   '00:01:10'
   '00:01:35'
   '00:01:09'
   '00:04:40'
   '01:32:36'
   '00:01:16'
   '00:01:38'
   '00:13:52'
   '00:01:28'
   '00:01:02'
   '00:01:35'
   '00:01:11'
   '00:04:21'});
n = numel(a);
plot(1:3:n, a(1:3:n), 'ro', 2:3:n, a(2:3:n), 'k+', 3:3:n, a(3:3:n), 'c^')

[Sim]

many thanks @Steven Lord ! great !