There is no such thing as an athlete who has never had a bad competition day. Anyone can tell you that everyone will experience very good days and very bad days at some point in their career, and some of us get really lucky and can say that sometimes, you have blocks where it seems like all of the competition days are bad. Especially in a sport like distance running that is as draining as it is, these bad days can easily wear you down and make you reconsider your future in the sport. It is always devastating to put countless miles and hours into something and feel like it is not paying off. So how do you handle it when you encounter disappointments in the sport? How do you move on when you have a bad race (or what feels like an endless stream of them)? Today I'm going to share a few of the ways I deal with letdowns in workouts and races.
First, it is crucial to remember that, as every coach, teammate, parent, and motivation video will tell you, one bad day does not define your whole career. Sometimes it is just a matter of factors combining poorly-Maybe you should have taken two recovery days rather than one between your latest workout and the race. Maybe you should have hydrated better or had a bigger breakfast. If that's the case, examine what you have control over, evaluate things that you need to change, and adapt. Even if you can't put a finger on anything that went wrong and it just wasn't there for that day, don't panic and assume that your career is over. Sometimes having a period in which your workouts are going well but your races feel somewhat stale is simply part of the process while your body catches up with the level of training you have been doing, especially if you have a big jump in mileage or effort level.
Second, be patient. Those are honest to goodness my two least favorite words in the English language. Every time I had a bad race over the last year and someone said the words, "Be patient!", it triggered my gag reflex just a little, and I'm sure the look they received from me was nothing short of alarming. But seriously guys, sometimes patience is simply part of being an athlete. Results are never immediate, so if you are willing to keep working at it, even when nothing seems to be showing up, it will eventually. I was discussing this with a friend at the conference meet, expressing some of my frustrations about previous performances, thinking that considering the jump in mileage I had over the summer, I should have been running considerably fast, and he chuckled at me a bit before saying, "Well yeah, you should be able to run faster times after a substantial increase...but not until about six months after." Sure enough, that conference meet ended up being my breakthrough meet, and it occurred roughly eight months after I started increasing my mileage and effort levels.
Be willing to evaluate your passion and dedication to the sport. If running is something that truly drives you, something that you want to continue improving at and see how far it takes you, go back to step two and keep grinding. If it isn't something you are truly passionate about, you might need to accept that competitive running isn't for you. Burnout is unfortunately very common, even among people who make it as far as collegiate running, and mental strength is as much a determiner in who makes it all the way in athletics as physical strength and training. Of course, I'm definitely not advocating that anyone just give up the sport over a bad race. However, I have also had many friends who either lost or never truly had a love for or desire to continue in the sport, and they struggled through several seasons of burnout and exhaustion before accepting that this wasn't the path for them. If you are at a point where you know you have no love for the sport, and you are doing it to please someone else or for any other reason, consider reevaluating.
Finally, remember all of the reasons that you do this insane sport in the first place. What got you into it? Why do you keep doing it after all this time? What is the end goal that drives you? (If we're being honest here, one of the things that really drives me through a hard workout or a slump in racing is the desire to be a New Balance babe, and 99% of the reason I have that goal is because I'm in love with Emma Coburn and would love to meet her. JK, most of the real reason is that I want to go pro and run fast and break records and stuff. But meeting Emma would be neat.) If you don't really have a goal, figure one out and get after it. Find yourself a motivator, even if it's just one for the day, like a cupcake to treat yo self with after your race-we've all been there. Getting through the garbage days becomes much easier if you have something to chase (or something to drag you kicking and screaming).
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
The Neediest Runner on Earth: My Favorite Recovery Methods
As any trainer I have ever worked with could attest to you, I am fully confident in saying that I am the neediest runner on earth. The last two years of high school, I was very fortunate in that I worked one-on-one with a coach who also happened to be head of the sports performance lab at Intermountain in Salt Lake City-In other words, he knew quite a bit about performance, injury, and recovery. So, basically anytime something hurt for more than a few runs, I would text him and ask what it was and how I could get rid of it. I was an extremely spoiled athlete in high school (and if we're all being honest with each other, I still am). There was a brief period after I entered college that I wasn't quite as needy as I typically am. The head trainer for the track team my freshman year was not conducive to needy recovery habits, as she largely encouraged athletes to just roll out and stretch on their own rather than coming into the training room for "prehab" treatments. This year, however, we have an absolutely stellar group of trainers who absolutely pamper the athletes. Seriously, these guys are too good to us. I don't know how they do it. With increased mileage and all of the little quirks that occur with it, I am probably in the training room five days a week most weeks and they still haven't told me I need to chill out, which is really a testament to their patience.
As I've started running higher mileage, I've learned more and more just how crucial recovery is. You may be able to get away with not rolling out and stretching after workouts on a thirty mile week, but when you try to on a seventy mile week, it doesn't really work out. You are going to feel like your joints and muscles aged ninety years overnight. So, because I don't want any of you to feel like eighty-five-year-old arthritics, I'm going to share some of my favorite recovery methods with you. Yeah, you're welcome. I do it for the fans.
The first and most basic method that most of you probably already utilize is the one-two punch of stretching and rolling out. If the basic foam roller isn't doing it for you, I would definitely recommend upgrading to a PVC pipe because those puppies are absolutely savage on the IT bands. Also, tennis/lacrosse balls are the best and worst. Just roll around on one of those until you hit a tight spot, then use it to really dig in.
The next step up from just rolling out is scraping. During cross country, I had a plethora of bizarre issues crop up, including cramping in my calves so bad it resulted in the father of a teammate informing her that I closely resembled a lame animal at the end of a race. No matter how much I stretched and rolled out, upped my calcium intake, made a few sacrifices to minor deities, and stayed hydrated, my legs kept sabotaging me, so the lifts coach recommended that I ask the trainers if I could try scraping. Holy cats, guys. It was a game changer. If you've never been scraped out before, basically it just involves using a curved plastic tool to scrape your muscles, breaking down scar tissue and resulting in some pretty gnarly bruising if you're lucky. The experience of scraping out my IT bands was once compared to driving down a gravel road, so I guess you could say I'm the grossness standard every athlete should hold themselves to.
Recovery boots are BAE, which I think goes without saying. I tried those for the first time this year and my life was completely changed. The NormaTec website says their function is to "mobilize fluid out of the extremities", which is a fancy way to say that they flush the junk out of your legs and make you feel fresh as a daisy. I probably overuse them, if such a thing is possible. If I could, I would live in the recovery boots. That's how much I love them. Contrast baths are also up there just because going from cold to warm is probably up there with crack cocaine in terms of instant euphoria, and similarly is supposed to help improve blood flow in the area and get the trash out of your muscles.
DMS is the living WORST. I hate it so much, but there's no denying that it's magic. This weekend, someone on the team was an idiot and ran all of their races (which were supposed to be used as a workout) at paces significantly faster than what their coach recommended, then accidentally ran their long run faster than they should have the following morning. This person then convinced themselves that they had re-strained both of their hamstrings, and entered the stages of grief in preparation for their coach's reaction when they had to tell him what their actions had done. (Okay, spoiler alert this person was me.) I went to the training room on Monday after having entered the Acceptance stage, and asked if there was anything at all that could be done. First the trainers established that I had not, in fact, strained anything and that I was dumb as it gets, briefly shamed me for not following the recommendations of my coach, then took the DMS to my hamstrings. Initially, I wasn't sure if it was actually meant to help or punish me for my disobedience because I have never known pain like that. I probably would have teared up a little, had I not lost my tear ducts in the war. But the next day it was confirmed that it actually was supposed to help. Both my hamstrings and the tendonitis that has been showing up off and on since cross felt significantly better and I wasn't walking like the old man in a Scooby-Doo movie that you think is the villain but just turns out to be a super creepy old dude anymore.
Prehab/rehab is my recovery/prevention jam. I have a scheduled time to sass the trainers twice a week, and honestly, it makes me feel absolutely shredded. I can accept that in reality, I am still a distance runner with little muscle mass and should probably not fight anyone ever in my life, but rehab definitely boosts my confidence and makes me feel like if I did have to get involved in gang activity and start fighting people in the streets, I totally could.
I have to say, though, of all the recovery methods, blood doping is definitely my favorite. There's just something about getting that fresh stream of erythrocytes illegally before every major competition. More efficient oxygen transport is such a rush, and knowing that it's a violation of both NCAA and IAAF regulations really gives one that extra drive to succeed.
As I've started running higher mileage, I've learned more and more just how crucial recovery is. You may be able to get away with not rolling out and stretching after workouts on a thirty mile week, but when you try to on a seventy mile week, it doesn't really work out. You are going to feel like your joints and muscles aged ninety years overnight. So, because I don't want any of you to feel like eighty-five-year-old arthritics, I'm going to share some of my favorite recovery methods with you. Yeah, you're welcome. I do it for the fans.
The first and most basic method that most of you probably already utilize is the one-two punch of stretching and rolling out. If the basic foam roller isn't doing it for you, I would definitely recommend upgrading to a PVC pipe because those puppies are absolutely savage on the IT bands. Also, tennis/lacrosse balls are the best and worst. Just roll around on one of those until you hit a tight spot, then use it to really dig in.
The next step up from just rolling out is scraping. During cross country, I had a plethora of bizarre issues crop up, including cramping in my calves so bad it resulted in the father of a teammate informing her that I closely resembled a lame animal at the end of a race. No matter how much I stretched and rolled out, upped my calcium intake, made a few sacrifices to minor deities, and stayed hydrated, my legs kept sabotaging me, so the lifts coach recommended that I ask the trainers if I could try scraping. Holy cats, guys. It was a game changer. If you've never been scraped out before, basically it just involves using a curved plastic tool to scrape your muscles, breaking down scar tissue and resulting in some pretty gnarly bruising if you're lucky. The experience of scraping out my IT bands was once compared to driving down a gravel road, so I guess you could say I'm the grossness standard every athlete should hold themselves to.
Recovery boots are BAE, which I think goes without saying. I tried those for the first time this year and my life was completely changed. The NormaTec website says their function is to "mobilize fluid out of the extremities", which is a fancy way to say that they flush the junk out of your legs and make you feel fresh as a daisy. I probably overuse them, if such a thing is possible. If I could, I would live in the recovery boots. That's how much I love them. Contrast baths are also up there just because going from cold to warm is probably up there with crack cocaine in terms of instant euphoria, and similarly is supposed to help improve blood flow in the area and get the trash out of your muscles.
DMS is the living WORST. I hate it so much, but there's no denying that it's magic. This weekend, someone on the team was an idiot and ran all of their races (which were supposed to be used as a workout) at paces significantly faster than what their coach recommended, then accidentally ran their long run faster than they should have the following morning. This person then convinced themselves that they had re-strained both of their hamstrings, and entered the stages of grief in preparation for their coach's reaction when they had to tell him what their actions had done. (Okay, spoiler alert this person was me.) I went to the training room on Monday after having entered the Acceptance stage, and asked if there was anything at all that could be done. First the trainers established that I had not, in fact, strained anything and that I was dumb as it gets, briefly shamed me for not following the recommendations of my coach, then took the DMS to my hamstrings. Initially, I wasn't sure if it was actually meant to help or punish me for my disobedience because I have never known pain like that. I probably would have teared up a little, had I not lost my tear ducts in the war. But the next day it was confirmed that it actually was supposed to help. Both my hamstrings and the tendonitis that has been showing up off and on since cross felt significantly better and I wasn't walking like the old man in a Scooby-Doo movie that you think is the villain but just turns out to be a super creepy old dude anymore.
Prehab/rehab is my recovery/prevention jam. I have a scheduled time to sass the trainers twice a week, and honestly, it makes me feel absolutely shredded. I can accept that in reality, I am still a distance runner with little muscle mass and should probably not fight anyone ever in my life, but rehab definitely boosts my confidence and makes me feel like if I did have to get involved in gang activity and start fighting people in the streets, I totally could.
I have to say, though, of all the recovery methods, blood doping is definitely my favorite. There's just something about getting that fresh stream of erythrocytes illegally before every major competition. More efficient oxygen transport is such a rush, and knowing that it's a violation of both NCAA and IAAF regulations really gives one that extra drive to succeed.
Friday, March 3, 2017
Turns Out Eating Healthy Doesn't Have to Make You Hate Your Life
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.
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.
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.
 |
| #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.
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