I am a proud and self-proclaimed human trash can when it comes to dietary habits. Any of my teammates, friends, or family members could tell you with dismay that some of my favorite snacks include Kit-Kats dipped in Nutella, peanut butter chocolate Oreo milkshakes, and donuts (really any kind, but if you're looking for a donut that will revolutionize your entire life, I would recommend checking out Dunford Bakeries' double-chocolate donuts. Seriously. 10/10). I get a seriously thrill from watching those cooking videos on Buzzfeed because the process of a dessert coming together is a beautiful thing. I have been known from time to time to classify a Snickers bar as a protein bar, and I had cookies for lunch before my personal best performances in both the mile and the 5k. I have a real problem.
But, lately I have (kind of) turned over a new leaf. Because I could never leave my love affair with desserts behind completely, I still make time for them once or twice a week, but I have started seeing someone new. We'll call him Health Food. For years, I avoided even the mention of health food because frankly, it is my opinion that raw vegetables are for people who hate their lives. One of my teammates used to bring sliced bell peppers for snacks during travel meets, and made the mistake of offering them to me a few times which led to some offensive comments by myself about vegetables and the types of people who genuinely enjoy them (so sorry). While I was home over this past break, someone mentioned an individual who had given up one of his vices for the sake of running and seen a huge improvement as a result and watched a video on an elite cyclist detailing what he called "marginal gains"-the seemingly tiny details that separate the good from the great when everyone has equal talent and the same volume details, and when I reflected on what small changes I could make to improve my running, eating was an obvious one. So, I started looking up healthy recipes that actually taste good. One cookbook that I would definitely recommend is The Feed Zone, a cookbook made specifically with endurance athletes in mind. It took a few weeks to really adapt to eating that many vegetables in one setting and learning how to get over the texture of chia, but I have definitely noticed a difference in energy levels, how fresh I feel, and general fitness since making some small changes. A few of my favorite recipes are for chocolate peanut butter chia pudding, chicken quinoa veggie bowls, and banana bread (I know this isn't technically super health food, but when I'm eating desserts that have fruit in them, it definitely seems noteworthy), and being the kind benefactor that I am, I've decided to share some of them with you. There will no doubt be more to come as I discover more foods that appeal to me.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Chia Pudding
Just about the easiest thing you can make, for real.
-1 cup almond milk
-1/4 cup chia seeds
-3 tbsp cocoa powder
-2 tbsp peanut butter
-2 tbsp honey
Whisk those puppies together and toss them in the fridge for a few hours or overnight if you're really feeling wild, then brace yourself for the weird texture of hydrated chia.
Chicken Quinoa Veggie Bowl
-2 yellow squash (what actually is the plural of squash? Is it still just squash? Squashes? Squish?)
-1 bell pepper
-2 medium tomatoes
-1 small can of corn
-1 can of beans (optional if you're feeling it)
-1-2 chicken breasts, depending on how much protein you're in the mood for
-2 solid handfuls of cilantro
-1 cup quinoa, cook according to instructions on bag
Dice up your vegetables and sautee them for ~5 minutes, then add in the corn, beans, diced tomatoes and cilantro. Stir in the quinoa, then cook and shred the chicken before stirring it in. Easy as it gets. Also, this is super versatile so you can heat it up and throw it into just about whatever you want. I use it as a quesadilla filling sometimes, and this morning I got really wild and mixed it in with some scrambled eggs.
I don't know if this counts as a recipe technically speaking, but I just have to share this information because it was honestly the best sandwich I've ever made for myself. You spread pesto on one side and guacamole with sriracha on the other, then fill that guy up with cheddar, some generous slices of turkey, tomatoes, lettuce, and some diced bell pepper. Fair warning, if you have an esophagus that sucks at its job like me, I can guarantee you will get gnarly heartburn from this, but just stock up on some famotidine and you'll be fine. For real, eating that sandwich was a borderline religious experience. This isn't really related to this whole "healthy eating" segment, but it is food-related and mentioning pesto just reminded me of this sensation burger I had. One of my friends made burgers and mixed pesto in with the meat before cooking them. Guys. So good. Try it, I promise you won't regret it unless you're an angry pesto hater, in which case I'm not sure I can respect you because pesto is my exotic delicious Italian lover.
Friday, March 3, 2017
Big Sky Indoor Championships/Indoor Season 2k17
Man, what a difference one season can make. When I opened my second indoor season, frankly it was a fiasco. I arrived back in Bozeman after a month at home the night before classes started and two days before the first home meet. The following morning, I felt a little under the weather, but I chalked it up to being worn out from the stressful journey from Utah that had changed from a six hour scenic drive to a ten hour snow-induced nightmare, so I proceeded to do my morning run as usual. By the time I got to my first class, I had a splitting headache and a slight fever. I spent the next day in bed with the flu and a fever, but determined that I would still be totally fine to race that Friday. When Friday came, I made a valiant attempt to race the 5k, but ended up dropping out of a race for the first time in my life with over a mile to go. A few days later after a visit to the student health clinic, I was informed that I had the flu, and as a result, my breathing was only at about 70% of what it should be, and that I shouldn't expect to feel completely better for at least two weeks after the period I initially started feeling sick. I spent the next week wheezing my way through easy runs, and didn't even attempt to race again for three weeks, briefly even considering taking the rest of the season completely off from competing.
My first race back was nothing to write home about. It was my first time racing the 5k indoor, having focused on the mile and 3k my first year, and though nothing went noticeably wrong, my time was nowhere near where I felt it should have been (Actually, it was significantly slower than the time I ran in time trials on a dirt course before the cross country season started) and I still didn't feel much like myself. I was incredibly frustrated, especially because my workouts indicated that I should have been significantly faster. I was plagued with doubts about whether the training I put in over the summer and the big jump I had made again over winter break would really pay off or not. The following week however, things started to get back on track. A Wednesday morning workout went much better than I had anticipated, and my second 5k in Poctello that weekend cut 24 seconds off of the converted time I posted just one week earlier, putting me only three seconds behind my all-time personal best. The next weekend, I raced the 3k and finished just two seconds behind my converted personal best, giving me some hope that I would be back and functional enough to race my best for the conference meet.
My last pre-conference workout definitely had me feeling like myself again, and I went into my first race of the weekend calm and confident like I haven't been since cross country season began. I ended up earning my first all-conference honors with a third place finish in the 5k, getting a 22 second indoor personal best and a 19 second overall personal best, and blacking out on the track immediately after. Racing the 5k indoors is an entirely different beast than running it outdoors. Somehow those 25 laps, though they come out to the exact same distance as the 12.5 on an outdoor track, manage to feel substantially longer, and since I focused on the mile/3k indoors last year, coming through the 3k and realizing I still had a full ten laps to go was quite a shock to the system the first few times I raced it. (Actually, I've only raced the 5k indoors a grand total of three times, so I have to admit it's still a shock to the system). The following day was when I got to experience some of the rewards of the fitness I worked for over the summer and winter break. Changing my mileage from 50 a week to 70 a week over the course of the year didn't feel like such a huge difference until the day after the 5k when I lined up for the 3k feeling as fresh as daisy. I ended up doubling back with a second place finish in that, and an eleven second personal best. I finished the conference weekend finally feeling like I was seeing some of the breakthrough I had been anticipating since last summer, though I still have a long way to go before I reach my goals.
Now that indoor is officially over for my team, we have already set our sights on outdoor. Immediately upon arriving in Bozeman, my teammates Weezy and Andrew joined me for a late-night run to herald the arrival of the outdoor season. This week I'm back up at seventy miles after a short taper pre-conference, and holy cats ya girl could use a nap and some dessert. (Seriously, if you make dessert anytime soon and have extras, hit me up for my address and send it my way). But when it comes down to it, I love running so the effort will always be worth it for the opportunity to continue improving and chasing my goals. This outdoor season, I am planning on seriously competing in the 10k for the first time and aiming for a 34 minute converted time, which will ideally be enough to take me to the national meet. I am also shooting for a sub-16:30 5k, which would be good enough for a Montana State school record and another step in the journey towards that sub-16 5k, which is strange to say considering that my freshman year of high school, all I really wanted was to go sub-20 during the cross season. But hey, always gotta stay chasing improvement.
My first race back was nothing to write home about. It was my first time racing the 5k indoor, having focused on the mile and 3k my first year, and though nothing went noticeably wrong, my time was nowhere near where I felt it should have been (Actually, it was significantly slower than the time I ran in time trials on a dirt course before the cross country season started) and I still didn't feel much like myself. I was incredibly frustrated, especially because my workouts indicated that I should have been significantly faster. I was plagued with doubts about whether the training I put in over the summer and the big jump I had made again over winter break would really pay off or not. The following week however, things started to get back on track. A Wednesday morning workout went much better than I had anticipated, and my second 5k in Poctello that weekend cut 24 seconds off of the converted time I posted just one week earlier, putting me only three seconds behind my all-time personal best. The next weekend, I raced the 3k and finished just two seconds behind my converted personal best, giving me some hope that I would be back and functional enough to race my best for the conference meet.
My last pre-conference workout definitely had me feeling like myself again, and I went into my first race of the weekend calm and confident like I haven't been since cross country season began. I ended up earning my first all-conference honors with a third place finish in the 5k, getting a 22 second indoor personal best and a 19 second overall personal best, and blacking out on the track immediately after. Racing the 5k indoors is an entirely different beast than running it outdoors. Somehow those 25 laps, though they come out to the exact same distance as the 12.5 on an outdoor track, manage to feel substantially longer, and since I focused on the mile/3k indoors last year, coming through the 3k and realizing I still had a full ten laps to go was quite a shock to the system the first few times I raced it. (Actually, I've only raced the 5k indoors a grand total of three times, so I have to admit it's still a shock to the system). The following day was when I got to experience some of the rewards of the fitness I worked for over the summer and winter break. Changing my mileage from 50 a week to 70 a week over the course of the year didn't feel like such a huge difference until the day after the 5k when I lined up for the 3k feeling as fresh as daisy. I ended up doubling back with a second place finish in that, and an eleven second personal best. I finished the conference weekend finally feeling like I was seeing some of the breakthrough I had been anticipating since last summer, though I still have a long way to go before I reach my goals.
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| #DramaQueen #WhenYouSeeYourGPA |
Now that indoor is officially over for my team, we have already set our sights on outdoor. Immediately upon arriving in Bozeman, my teammates Weezy and Andrew joined me for a late-night run to herald the arrival of the outdoor season. This week I'm back up at seventy miles after a short taper pre-conference, and holy cats ya girl could use a nap and some dessert. (Seriously, if you make dessert anytime soon and have extras, hit me up for my address and send it my way). But when it comes down to it, I love running so the effort will always be worth it for the opportunity to continue improving and chasing my goals. This outdoor season, I am planning on seriously competing in the 10k for the first time and aiming for a 34 minute converted time, which will ideally be enough to take me to the national meet. I am also shooting for a sub-16:30 5k, which would be good enough for a Montana State school record and another step in the journey towards that sub-16 5k, which is strange to say considering that my freshman year of high school, all I really wanted was to go sub-20 during the cross season. But hey, always gotta stay chasing improvement.
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Why Keep Running?
Two of the most common questions I get asked as a distance runner (behind "Are you actually crazy?" and "why do you hate yourself that much?") are how did you get into running and why do you keep running?
I ran my first race when I was about seven years old. I don't mean to brag, but I was basically a natural. I posted blazing times of 3:39 in the 800m and 7:45 in the 1500, and I hated every second of it. Initially, I got into it because my older siblings were all runners. We grew up in a very small town and I have six older siblings, so by the time I came around, it was basically expected that I would be a runner. I enjoyed running about twice a year, when the middle school track and cross country races came around, but the rest of the time it felt largely like a chore. I would get out and run two miles a day Monday through Friday if it was a really good week, and I was not especially good at it. Around eighth grade, my perspective towards running started to shift. I began looking into transferring to Park City High like my sister had to run for their nationally ranked distance program. In May, my decision to join the cross country team and run for Park City solidified, and I ran my first workout with them a few weeks into the summer.
My freshman year, I started falling in love with running. I was running for a team for the first time in my life, and I found the drive to compete for them. I still wasn't entirely serious about the sport-often, myself and the other freshmen would run to the Starbucks a mile from the school and get hot cocoa to pass the time before running back, and I didn't even own a basic stopwatch-but I started seeing more success with it than I had in the past. My coaches introduced me to the idea that running could pay for a college education if I kept at it and improved enough, and kept me motivated through 400m repeats and ten mile long runs with bribery in the form of donuts and promises of faster races to come.
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#HeelStrikeClub
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The picture above is a taste of the moment and the season when I had my first real breakthrough with running. My sophomore year, I upped my mileage to a whopping 30 miles a week and dropped over a minute in the 5k. Suddenly, after finishing my freshman track season with better times than I had ever expected to see in my life and qualifying for the state meet, I had a real belief in the phrase that my coach repeated countless times-Running can take you places. The idea of becoming a professional athlete and representing the USA on the world stage started entering my thoughts and motivating me to train harder and take running more seriously. The sophomore 3A state record was reasonably close to the times I had been racing all season, and it was my goal going into the state cross country meet. After I reached that goal, I set my sights on winning the freshman/sophomore allwest race at the Footlocker West regional meet.
Once I realized that I wanted to run professionally someday and began to really love the sport, I started preparing more for the prospect of running D1 in college. I upped my mileage again, this time to 50 miles a week, and started contacting coaches. I qualified for NXN for the first time my junior year, set a school record in the 3200m at Arcadia, and signed with Montana State before qualifying for NXN a second time my senior year. Since coming to college, I have set personal bests in all of my events and brought my weekly mileage up to 70 miles a week, placed sixth at the USATF juniors with a personal best time in the 5k off of a month of base easy runs, started going to rehab or weights four times a week, and set my sights on becoming a D1 All-American. I have an all-consuming desire to continue improving, and turn some heads before my five years of eligibility are spent.
Between all of these events and successes that encouraged me to keep going, there were also some fairly large blows. After each one, I have had several friends ask when I am going to give up this whole running thing and pursue something worthwhile or suggest that perhaps I should stop abusing my body and just relax for awhile. The first time I ever questioned my future in running came when I got overtrained my sophomore year and spent the last month of the track season exhausted and barely able to race. It came again when I got sick for my junior cross country state meet, overtrained for the track state meet, had an anxiety attack before my senior state meet and spent the first mile hyperventilating, and got whooping cough for my final state track meet-one of my coaches used to joke that I should get the "Most Qualified Athlete to Never Win a State Meet Award". My first year at MSU, I got injured for the first time in my running career, straining my hamstring just two days before the cross country conference championship. The same injury came up a year later in my most recent cross country, with overcompensation for my left hamstring at the conference meet resulting in a double hamstring strain for the last two weeks of the season. Laced into most of my running career have been anxiety and depression, lying dormant at some times and making life in general but most especially trials in running doubly as difficult.
There were several times throughout my running career that I seriously considering quitting. Going for that first run again after the end-of-season break at the end of my junior year was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I entertained the idea of finding some other way to pay for education, and considered how much easier academics would become without athletics eating up so much of my time.
So why do I keep running?
Because at the core, I am a competitor. I have a love for running that outweighs any trial that it could bring. I have a need to push my body to its limits, and seek improvement every day. I was sick a few weeks back, and the few days that I had to miss runs just about drove me crazy. Running makes me happy. It gives me something to strive for, it brings me a greater respect for my body and what it is capable of, it grants me clarity of mind, and makes me believe in myself to a level I never knew was possible. I will never settle for anything less than I know I am capable of, and could certainly never let a setback make me hang up my running shoes forever. As my AP Bio teacher once told me, we as distance runners are warriors, and it is simply not in the heart of a warrior to give up.
Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Moving Forward
Apparently, according to what I've seen on Buzzfeed and Twitter recently, 2016 was one doozy of a year. We've all taken some losses, some greater than others, and we've all had our triumphs. Some of our favorite celebrities passed away, and some of us (@ myself) tripped over steeple barriers. But 2016 was also the year that Emma and Evan both medaled in the steeplechase, the latest season of New Girl brought us all to happy tears, and I learned how to light a lighter (which is apparently a very basic skill that most adults already have, but whatever). So where does this leave us going into 2017?
For me, 2016 definitely was a doozy of a year. I lost and gained several close friends, met some truly incredible people, watched a Nazi zombie movie on the recommendations of a trainer, and had some huge ups and downs with running. As you all know, my most recent season ended with some heavy disappointment. Despite my new level of fitness and the summer of hard work that I put in, I never had a truly great race, and I finished at region weighed down with injuries. But going into 2017, I have no intentions of losing my drive to compete and succeed. Every time I have a setback, I like to think I learn something from it or renew my desire to become better. As a result of the setbacks I faced this season, I decided to increase my mileage and the intensity with which I go after workouts. As always, I have goals that are scary big, but I've spent more time reflecting on all of the little details of how I'm actually going to get to those goals. Most of them should probably be centered around eating better, because in the spirit of full disclosure, I am probably going to get diabetes in the next two weeks. Christmas season has been too kind to me. To start off the indoor season, I decided to bump my mileage to 70 mile weeks. Let me just tell you, I have been enjoying it too much. My break has consisted mostly of me waking up, running, eating, and taking naps until it's time to eat again. I absolutely adore high mileage, and it seems like the higher I go, the better I feel (after a few weeks to adjust, for the first few weeks I mostly just feel like roadkill). Another small fix which is easy enough to remedy is my ferritin level. At the beginning of the season, it was at 113. By the time I got it checked for indoor, it had dropped to 69. While this is still fairly high, especially for a female athlete, seeing that kind of drop over one season is not ideal. I will also be rehabbing religiously for my badly behaving hamstrings, which have been improving pretty well after their escapades at the end of the season. Also, the training room staff told me I can use the NormaTec booties whenever I'd like, as long as the training room isn't too busy, and I honestly might go mad with power. I tried them once before break, and I loved it too much. There's a very good chance I'm going to start spending 10+ hours a day in those boots. 10/10, would recommend to a friend.
So, going into 2017, I am going to do just like I always have. Take the next step forward, and trust in good things to come.
For me, 2016 definitely was a doozy of a year. I lost and gained several close friends, met some truly incredible people, watched a Nazi zombie movie on the recommendations of a trainer, and had some huge ups and downs with running. As you all know, my most recent season ended with some heavy disappointment. Despite my new level of fitness and the summer of hard work that I put in, I never had a truly great race, and I finished at region weighed down with injuries. But going into 2017, I have no intentions of losing my drive to compete and succeed. Every time I have a setback, I like to think I learn something from it or renew my desire to become better. As a result of the setbacks I faced this season, I decided to increase my mileage and the intensity with which I go after workouts. As always, I have goals that are scary big, but I've spent more time reflecting on all of the little details of how I'm actually going to get to those goals. Most of them should probably be centered around eating better, because in the spirit of full disclosure, I am probably going to get diabetes in the next two weeks. Christmas season has been too kind to me. To start off the indoor season, I decided to bump my mileage to 70 mile weeks. Let me just tell you, I have been enjoying it too much. My break has consisted mostly of me waking up, running, eating, and taking naps until it's time to eat again. I absolutely adore high mileage, and it seems like the higher I go, the better I feel (after a few weeks to adjust, for the first few weeks I mostly just feel like roadkill). Another small fix which is easy enough to remedy is my ferritin level. At the beginning of the season, it was at 113. By the time I got it checked for indoor, it had dropped to 69. While this is still fairly high, especially for a female athlete, seeing that kind of drop over one season is not ideal. I will also be rehabbing religiously for my badly behaving hamstrings, which have been improving pretty well after their escapades at the end of the season. Also, the training room staff told me I can use the NormaTec booties whenever I'd like, as long as the training room isn't too busy, and I honestly might go mad with power. I tried them once before break, and I loved it too much. There's a very good chance I'm going to start spending 10+ hours a day in those boots. 10/10, would recommend to a friend.
So, going into 2017, I am going to do just like I always have. Take the next step forward, and trust in good things to come.
Make it Count
This post is going to be a bit of a variation from my usual narrative, so if you're here to get tips on what gear to buy or hear about what it's like to run D1, feel free to keep scrolling.
A few weeks back, I received the news that an individual who was once very close to my family and played a major role in our lives for many years had passed away. His death was very sudden and unexpected, and brought with it many questions. Even though I personally had not been in close contact with him recently, he still had an impact on my life at different points in time, and his passing has made me reconsider a lot of things.
First and foremost, you never know how long you have to let someone know how much they meant to you. If someone is important to you, there is no reason not to let them know. There is nothing to be lost in letting people in your life know that they have made a difference to you, however there is a great deal to be lost in keeping these things to yourself. You can never know just how great an impact your words can have on someone, or how you can help someone who is struggling through something. Even if they're not currently facing any demons, it's always nice to have a reminder that you are cared about.
Secondly, you never know how long you yourself have to pursue the things that truly matter to you and make a difference. You should never waste a moment of your life on the things that don't matter or don't make you happier in the long run. Take chances, and chase dreams that might seem absolutely insane. Don't let the things that other people deem "possible" hold you back in any way. Decide now was is important to you, and go after it with everything you have. Whatever you decide on, you only have one life to make it happen, so much every moment count. Don't spend your time on people who hold you back or wish you to be less than you can be, or on goals that are just there to be placeholders to keep you occupied until your life is up. Live with a passion, and don't let anyone or anything steal the joy that you find in it.
A few weeks back, I received the news that an individual who was once very close to my family and played a major role in our lives for many years had passed away. His death was very sudden and unexpected, and brought with it many questions. Even though I personally had not been in close contact with him recently, he still had an impact on my life at different points in time, and his passing has made me reconsider a lot of things.
First and foremost, you never know how long you have to let someone know how much they meant to you. If someone is important to you, there is no reason not to let them know. There is nothing to be lost in letting people in your life know that they have made a difference to you, however there is a great deal to be lost in keeping these things to yourself. You can never know just how great an impact your words can have on someone, or how you can help someone who is struggling through something. Even if they're not currently facing any demons, it's always nice to have a reminder that you are cared about.
Secondly, you never know how long you yourself have to pursue the things that truly matter to you and make a difference. You should never waste a moment of your life on the things that don't matter or don't make you happier in the long run. Take chances, and chase dreams that might seem absolutely insane. Don't let the things that other people deem "possible" hold you back in any way. Decide now was is important to you, and go after it with everything you have. Whatever you decide on, you only have one life to make it happen, so much every moment count. Don't spend your time on people who hold you back or wish you to be less than you can be, or on goals that are just there to be placeholders to keep you occupied until your life is up. Live with a passion, and don't let anyone or anything steal the joy that you find in it.
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Sophomore Season Recap
Thanksgiving is tomorrow which means two things: First, I will be getting diabetes and probably heart disease #sorrycoach, and second, cross country is officially over. While this is wonderful news because it means that it's time to play track now, it's also a little difficult to see my second cross season end. I'm one of the strange breed of collegiates who actually genuinely enjoys cross country, and especially the way this season ended, it was hard to let it go.
Coming into this season, I obviously had some big goals. I put in a very hard summer, upping both my mileage and the intensity of my training, so I was ready to do some damage on the cross course. My fitness was definitely the best it's ever been, and I fully expected to break all of my personal records, as well as place in the top three at conference and qualify for nationals. Unfortunately, things don't always go as we would like them to. Throughout the season, my races were consistently decent, but I never had the breakthrough that I was expecting. There were several small issues that impacted my performance the first few races, but I was hoping to see the results of my effort at the championship meets at the end of the season. Alas, my hamstrings did not have the same plan in mind. Just as it did last year at this time, my left hamstring decided to sabotage me a few days before the conference meet. I ended up being unable to do anything but easy run in the two weeks between conference and regionals, so though I felt well rested, my legs were highly uncooperative when the idea of running fast was presented to them. I finished better than I did last year at both conference and region, but nowhere close to where I feel I was capable of.
So, where do I go from here? Exactly where I planned to before this season. A few setbacks are to be expected in every athlete's career. I've started rehab to #savethehammy2k16 so that I never have to deal with this particular setback again, and I am 100% dedicated to meeting my goals during track. I still have an amazing and supportive team, and a coaching staff that is willing to work with me moving forward. We have made plans to individualize my training a bit more in the future to work on improving my anaerobic capacity in such a way that it will not put too much strain on my weak bb hamstrings and focus in more on the true distance events. Coming at you, 5k/10k double. Also, I get to up my mileage again over winter break which I am TOO excited about. Seventy miles a week=seventy excuses a week to eat more holiday snacks and buy more running shoes on Black Friday.
Coming into this season, I obviously had some big goals. I put in a very hard summer, upping both my mileage and the intensity of my training, so I was ready to do some damage on the cross course. My fitness was definitely the best it's ever been, and I fully expected to break all of my personal records, as well as place in the top three at conference and qualify for nationals. Unfortunately, things don't always go as we would like them to. Throughout the season, my races were consistently decent, but I never had the breakthrough that I was expecting. There were several small issues that impacted my performance the first few races, but I was hoping to see the results of my effort at the championship meets at the end of the season. Alas, my hamstrings did not have the same plan in mind. Just as it did last year at this time, my left hamstring decided to sabotage me a few days before the conference meet. I ended up being unable to do anything but easy run in the two weeks between conference and regionals, so though I felt well rested, my legs were highly uncooperative when the idea of running fast was presented to them. I finished better than I did last year at both conference and region, but nowhere close to where I feel I was capable of.
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| Teamwork makes the dream work #rule3 |
So, where do I go from here? Exactly where I planned to before this season. A few setbacks are to be expected in every athlete's career. I've started rehab to #savethehammy2k16 so that I never have to deal with this particular setback again, and I am 100% dedicated to meeting my goals during track. I still have an amazing and supportive team, and a coaching staff that is willing to work with me moving forward. We have made plans to individualize my training a bit more in the future to work on improving my anaerobic capacity in such a way that it will not put too much strain on my weak bb hamstrings and focus in more on the true distance events. Coming at you, 5k/10k double. Also, I get to up my mileage again over winter break which I am TOO excited about. Seventy miles a week=seventy excuses a week to eat more holiday snacks and buy more running shoes on Black Friday.
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| It took the whole season, but we finally got the bun hugger booty pop down |
Saturday, October 8, 2016
Eat, Run, Love
I've had some struggles with eating is a sentence I have heard far too often as an NCAA D1 distance runner. From friends, doctors, trainers, and strangers, it's very common to hear some variation of, "You distance kids are all just too skinny. You need to eat something." To an extent, the petite frame of your typical endurance athlete is to be expected. In these competitions, the point is to move yourself over a course faster than your competitors can, and that becomes much less difficult if you are carrying less weight. On top of that, if you consider the fact that the average person burns 100 calories for every mile run, and our metabolisms are often amped up to levels much higher than the average person, it's no wonder that we have to work fairly hard to get the calories that we need in a healthy way. So, if you struggle to get the calories you need for any reason, it can wreak havoc on your body. When you put these types of demands on your body and give it nothing to recover on in return, a multitude of problems can develop. One of the first things I ever learned about in my exercise science courses is called the Female Athlete Triad. Basically, this is a pattern in female athletes that starts with low energy intake levels and/or disordered eating, and can lead to bone loss and osteoporosis, making the athlete vulnerable to stress fractures. Muscular atrophy is another common symptom. Because the body isn't getting its energy from outside sources, it literally starts to break itself down just to fuel the everyday processes necessary for life. It can also lead to menstrual disturbances, and if that is left unchecked, infertility. How much are those extra few points worth to athletes and coaches, that they would keep allowing this to happen to their bodies?
So why is this so prominent in collegiate athletes? Well, there's a simple formula some people erroneously follow. Less weight means faster times, so if an athlete drops weight quickly, they can perform at whole new levels. Often, you'll see athletes on the national stage who seem to come out of nowhere to drop times that they hadn't come anywhere near previously. They get their moment in the spotlight, and if they're lucky, stay healthy long enough to compete for their team at the championship meets. What the coaches don't mention in interviews, and what the running channels don't cover, are the intermittent months of injury that precede those great performances and immediately follow them. When you are sacrificing your own health to run a faster 5k time, your body will not hold up for it. Doctors, coaches, and trainers habitually overlook their athletes' unhealthy weights and eating habits as long as they are still performing and making the school look good.
The first time I had to buy a shirt in a size medium, I cried. As stupid as it may sound, at the time I felt like I could never be a real distance runner if I wasn't meeting a certain BMI. There is such a pressure on distance runners everywhere to be at an "ideal" weight. These days, I'm actually pretty proud of that size medium because it just reflects the #gainz I've been putting on in the weight room. I was very fortunate in high school to have the type of coach who encouraged a healthy body and normal eating habits, and am still fortunate in college to have a coaching staff who would never prioritize the health of their athletes below a championship. However, though I personally don't have to deal with coaches pressuring me to lose weight or turning a blind eye to blatantly unhealthy habits, it is still a clear issue on the national competitive stage. When you consider the years it can take for these individuals to develop healthy eating habits again, and the lasting damage that is done to their bodies for the sake of shaving a few seconds off in the 10k, it's extremely upsetting. This is one of many reasons why I believe the NCAA needs to establish a minimum BMI or body fat percentage for athletes to be eligible to compete. Regardless of whether an athlete has "always been skinny" or they are running fast times, there are certain percentages below which healthy metabolic function, bone density, and brain function simply cannot be maintained. Glorifying unhealthy habits is only going to continue perpetuating them in future generations of young athletes, and that is a reality that I will not stand for. Coaches, please stop asking your athletes to set "weight goals" for the season, and turn your attention instead to ensuring that they maintain a healthy body composition. Weight does not necessarily indicate health. Right now, I weigh more than I ever have, but my body fat percentage is also lower because since coming to school, I've been incorporating strength training and injury prevention into my training. I've put on weight, but I've also significantly decreased my chance of injury and am running better as a result. If a coach pushed me to lose weight right now, the only place I would have to lose it would be from muscle mass, which is unreasonable and unhealthy.
So, whether you are a coach, an athlete, or a casual bystander wondering what on earth I'm talking about, please always remember to #eatrunlove.
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