Rome

Upon reflecting on the title of this post, I realize that it is a little misleading.  I did not go to Rome at any point.  If we're being honest, I've never left the country.  I am a very poor college student and I would probably have to sell an organ to go on a summer trip to Rome.  So, you all deserve an explanation.  At the beginning of my first indoor collegiate season, the track team got a text from our head coach requesting that we turn in our "One Word" to him so he could make sure it was included on the team poster for the year.  I had no idea what "one word" meant, so one of the older girls explained it to me.  Essentially, it is an affirmation, a representation of the ideal that will carry you through the negative temperatures and long weeks of winter training to the end of that 5k in May, through all of the moments when you would much rather spend your winter break drinking cocoa and holding paws with your cat by the fire than slogging through miles in the snow and the last two miles of a 10k.  Throughout the indoor and outdoor seasons at post-meet team meetings, a few members would share their word and the meaning behind it each week.  For the last two years, my words were "fearless" and "rise". 
So, what does this have to do with summer training, Rome, or anything really?  This summer, when I came home from Bozeman and nationals and my first time reaching the All-American status that was my biggest goal going into college, I wasn't at all sure where to go next.  I knew for sure that I wanted to hit higher mileage again because I thrive on that stuff, but aside from that, I was a little lost.  What are you supposed to do differently as an All-American?  Do you have to run every training run at a certain pace now?  Is there a bylaw that states you have to become a paleo vegan gluten-free athlete after you run a certain time in the 10k?  And most importantly, how would I continue improving and moving forward from this moment?  I figured initially I would just train like I did last summer-lots of effort-based easy runs, doubles, and upped miles.  The problem was, I didn't remember exactly how much effort went into an easy run and I wasn't sure where to find the balance between too easy and hammering every run, so I erred on the side of hammering every run for the first few weeks until my new coaching staff sent out some emails reminding our team that this summer was about building a strong, stable base and rediscovering a joy for running, not about beating our bodies into submission.  Thus I discovered my one word for this year:  Rome.  Because I am a cliché millennial troll, the meaning behind the one word is pretty obvious.  Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was any athletic success I have ever experienced.  It's okay to take it one day or one run at a time and calm down a little.  There's no pressure to "win" every single easy run you go on, whether it is against yourself or the other locals who happen to use Strava (@ the insanely fit older ladies in PC, good grief those guys are titans).  You can take your running career seriously and chase higher mileage and greater fitness, and still enjoy the process and not be a thief of joy who restricts every aspect of their life and crushes every run whether they like it or not.

I tried to run a road 10k and my shoes came untied in the first 800m then my old PC coaches dropped me like a bad habit

With that deeper nonsense out of the way, here's a little bit of what I've been doing with my summer.  As I have for the last three summers, I've been cleaning windows in Park City this year to save money for the school year.  This Friday is actually my last day and I'm hecka excited to have two weeks before camp to hang out and maybe even get around to doing some of my rehab.  I've been slacking severely and justifying by saying that climbing up and down ladders at work is kind of like doing step-ups.  It's not the same thing at all, and someone needs to stage an intervention to make me do weights and core and rehab.  When I haven't been working, I've been running.  I upped my mileage again this year, and am currently happily residing at 80 miles a week.  I say "happily", but it's only fair to share the disclosure that for the first three weeks I was at upped mileage, I was a squinty, cranky basement hag who woke up only long enough to eat, run, and work.  It was a little unpleasant to behold, but I adapted and now I'm back to the simply hangry individual that I was before.  I spent a few weekends running with the SUU kiddos down in Cedar, and can now safely say that while there is something odd and beautiful about running down abandoned roads at one in the morning, I definitely prefer to do my long runs before eleven pm.  And that I really should stick with running because I am garbage at beach volleyball, despite giving it 110%.

My sister and I ran a half and neither one of us wore pants.  It was the best.

My new coaches don't have the team running any workouts until we all get together for camp on the 21st, which has been pretty nice, and they also encouraged us not to race too much, so I've only run a few road races and I have done anything all-out since nationals.  This definitely seems to be a solid strategy, because rather than coming into August already sick to death of tempo runs and mile repeats, I am positively chomping at the bit for some good solid workouts.  I am so overeager to race again, which is a nice change from being petrified to race as I was going into the indoor season. 
ALSO I am over-the-top excited about Utah State.  Guys.  I got added to the GroupMe for the women's distance team at the beginning of the summer which was, of course, a tremendous honor, and I already love my team way too much.  I had the opportunity this last weekend to have a few of my teammates up to the homestead and go for a run in Park City (on one of the trails BTC runs, which I think/hope basically maybe makes me the next Colleen Quigley?  Except I never modeled and I can't run the steeplechase even a little and I'm a little bit in love with her?), and it was, in a word, litty.  I'm way too stoked about the people I will be working with, the meets we will be going to, the gear, the training room, the cute little cows logos we have, so many dang things.  I'm looking forward to this cross country season so much it's borderline obscene.  Great things to come, but in the meantime, I'll try to be patient, continue growing my love for the sport, and enjoy the process.  Also, I'm on the prowl for good running/sports psych/related books, so if you have any recommendations, please slide them into my DMs.

Taking the Next Step

I know I promised that once I had completed my final season with MSU and was officially a Utah State athlete, I would share the complete story behind my transfer back to the Mothership.  This was not a decision that was made easily or taken lightly.  I have many friends at Montana State that I value a great deal, and am going to miss more than I can say.  It was my intention when I signed my NLI to complete my full five years of eligibility here, but sometimes things come up that you can never predict and you have to adapt accordingly.  Rather than address the reasons why I chose to transfer and dwell on the negativity, I would just like to clear up some misconceptions and rumors that are most definitely NOT why I chose to transfer.  If you feel as though this is not enough and would like to know all the nitty gritty details that led up to my leaving Bozeman, feel free to reach out and contact me in a person message.
I didn't choose to leave as a result of any disagreement I had with the coaches.  The individuals I worked with were understanding about my need to move on, and supported me through my final season of competition, even after I informed them of my decision to transfer, nor did I choose to leave because I thought I was superior to the individuals I worked and trained with in any way.  I adore the teammates I had at MSU, and consider them all to be admirable and hardworking women that I was privileged to be around.  I didn't make the decision to leave because of the size of the program, or due to any one injury or setback I experienced while there.  The decision I made came after serious consideration and a great deal of time and experiences in Bozeman.
I am eternally grateful to the friends and teammates at MSU who made the experience I had there a more enjoyable one.  Many of you supported me through this decision, even though it wasn't one that you wished for me, and I cannot state enough how helpful that was.  Those of you who stood by me, even after it became clear that I would be leaving this program, made my last semester with you much better than I ever could have hoped for.
Sometimes, even if it's terrifying, you just have to close your eyes and take the next step forward.

Hayward Magic

Well, I'm currently in the Eugene airport for the next three hours because our connecting flight got cancelled, so I suppose I have no reason to not whip out a quick writeup on the weekend.
One scarcely hears Hayward field mentioned without the word "magic" entering the sentence somewhere.  Having never previously raced there, going into nationals, I was very excited to see if it lived up to the legends.  And folks, it certainly did.
I arrived in Eugene on Tuesday evening with Dale and Lyle, already probably far too hyped up about the whole atmosphere of being here.  The usual travel-ugly troll that takes my place on the first day of travel meets had yet to rear its head, and I was thrilled to even be here.  We had our first opportunity to practice on the track and get out on Pre's Trails.  If you ever have the chance to run those trails, I would definitely recommend it, but I would also recommend bringing a map.  Lyle was my trail guide, and if we're all being honest with each other here, for someone who has been to Eugene for his own trips to nationals and the Olympic Trials so many times, I am not at all convinced he knew where he was going.  Sorry coach, there were just a few moments when you sporadically dipped off and said, "This looks like it goes somewhere!" that I genuinely believed we would never find our way out of the forest.  I was prepared for my fate of living amongst the wolves.  Despite at one point ending up on the wrong side of the fence of a gated community, we did eventually make our way back to Hayward and it was probably the best I've ever felt on a post-flight shakeout.  (It may have made a slight difference that I actually remembered to pack both of my compression sleeves this time.  In Texas, I forgot one of them and ended up with one leg that was comically larger than the other after the flights).
The vast majority of Wednesday after my morning shakeout was spent watching Harry Potter and New Girl in my hotel room, which is the standard pre-race routine.  We did have the chance to watch the men's first day of distance events, and I got to see one of my high school teammates qualify for the finals in the 1500m.  Love you @ Ben.  I also got the news that my friend Courtney and her dad Mark would be making the trip out to watch finals, and that four of my high school teammates were driving out from Park City to watch, so the pressure to perform was on for sure.  Disaster struck Wednesday evening when the store was out of every flavor of Pedialyte other than grape, but I soldiered on and powered through the bottle anyway.

I wish I could accurately capture all of the sensations of Thursday evening.  There was an overwhelming sense of support from my teammates, friends, and coaches, both here and at home.  There was obviously a great deal of excitement to be competing at this legendary track with such a talented field of athletes.  There was immense gratitude to those who helped get me this far.  But more than anything, there was a strange sense of calm.  The meet schedule was behind by about fifteen minutes, so after we were called to the marshaling area, we were released back to the warm-up field for a few more minutes, and I remember looking out past all of the girls who were about to go through this twenty-five lap battle alongside me, seeing the mountains in the distance, and just thinking how happy I was to be here.
The race itself was incredible to experience.  Typically in a 10k, I let myself stay calm and ride the pack for the first 5k.  In this race, I was much more alert and aware of the little changes taking place in the pack, not wanting to lose focus and be caught unaware when people started to break off.  The pace was faster than I have ever maintained over 10k before, but Lyle and I had already discussed this a bit.  Since my fastest race at Mt Sac was so strategic and the first half went out so slowly, we both believed that I had yet to show my true potential in this event.  We came through the first mile, and as I always do four laps into a 10k, I took a deep breath and told myself that I was just fine, I was comfortable and I was still in this race.  Each time a group broke off, I attempted to go with them.  The main pack dropped me, so for the last eight laps, I was in a no-man's land.  I couldn't believe where I was.  I came into this race hoping more than anything to become an All-American, but after the struggles I experienced with my running career over the last two years, I was not anticipating that I would place as well as I did.  I ended up wrapping up my career at MSU with a fourth place finish at nationals and a forty-seven second personal best from my previous at Mt Sac.

I have already started receiving a lot of questions about what changed over the last year-I went from running a 17:05 5k to running two 16:29 5ks in a row.  I made a lot of changes from this time last spring.  The first change was in my training and my mindset towards it.  When I didn't even qualify for regionals last year, I came to the realization that if I wanted to meet my goal of signing a contract after college, I would have to make some changes.  At the end of last spring, I was running fifty miles a week.  This spring, I maintained seventy miles a week consistently, and intend to get up to eighty this summer.  I started taking each run more seriously, and really hammering long runs.  I changed my mindset a great deal to the point that almost every run, rather than just thinking it's just another run, I see it as one more step that can either take me forward towards my goal of becoming an Olympian or backwards away from the fitness I need.  It's all what you choose to make it. 

Another change was in the way I approach my races.  In the past, I have struggled a great deal with my anxiety, especially before races.  I have to make a conscious effort to calm down, but I have finally started to reach a place of calm, peace, and self-assurance when I run.  This race was oddly the most calm I have ever been because I felt I had truly earned the right to be there with my miles of trials and unseen efforts over the last two years.  This performance may seem to some to have come out of nowhere, but it is a moment that I have been working for over many years and trials. 
Every race, I write three words and phrases where I can look to them when my body starts to hurt and tries to encourage my mind to give up.  The first is "calm", finding its place on the back of my hand where it is just a turn of the wrist away, for obvious reasons.  The second things seem to be going south, my silly brain likes to buy a one-way ticket to panic town.  It's always nice to have a quiet reminder that things will be okay no matter what.  The second is, "Not a pretender", marching its way down the side of my index finger where it can point me forward should I ever question whether or not I deserve to be there.  The miles, workouts, and heart that I have put into this sport have transformed me into someone who has earned the right to compete, and doubting that midway through a race has never helped anyone.  The final word is "Tough", always marked on my left wrist where I can see it throughout the race.  Distance races take a tremendous amount of mental effort, and each time I run one, I remind myself that I am tougher than I even know.  After all, if I can finish a medium long run under seven minute pace just an hour after finishing a truly thicc Chipotle burrito, heaven only knows what I'm really capable of. 
So, now that I've competed at my first national meet, I am hungry to come back and continue advancing.  Right now, I am planning on taking the weekend off to reset and allow the shin splints that currently feel like angry badgers have been gnawing my tibias to calm down a bit, then I'm hoping to swan dive back into a sixty-five mile week, building up by five a week until I hit that sweet spot at eighty.  I will also be training back in Park City this summer, so no doubt my lungs are going to hate me more than just about anything for the first two weeks.  Thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated.
   

Texas and Turtlegate

I've been getting hassled lately for being a negligent blogger and not updating frequently enough, so I apologize for that. In my defense, I think a piece of me died over finals week and it's taken me this long to completely recover from the trauma of taking my physiological psychology, anatomy, and physics final exams all on the same afternoon. I drank so much Dr. Pepper that day I think the caffeine may have actually stopped my heart at one point and I was just staying alive out of spite for whoever decided to make higher education a thing.
First and foremost, I just want to let you guys know that hammocking is the best. Holy cats. I don't know how I made it twenty years without ever trying it. (Okay, I guess I technically tried it before now, but it was one of those weird ropey hammocks that looks like a net designed to trap people like me who don't have a lot of street smarts or coordination. It took me ten minutes to get out of, and I was traumatized). When I found out that my season would be extended another two weeks after Texas, I decided to make a point of getting outside more to keep on top of my mental health and avoid morphing into a bedroom-dwelling Netflix goblin. The natural first step after that was to get a hammock and commit to visiting Bozeman Beach with some teammates. Also to go driving and look for bears because I still haven't seen one since moving to Montana, and I desperately want to before I move back to the motherland. As I write this, I am on my third hour of sitting in this hammock, and I have no intentions of leaving ever. It is my home now. 

Since I last posted, life has gotten pretty wild. Both the Big Sky championships and the NCAA west prelims took place, and despite the fact that I was missing the piece of myself that died during finals week, they both went surprisingly well. The week of Big Sky kicked off as any good week does with a sixteen hour bus ride. I am not the type of person who typically travels well. At one point on the trip out to Sacramento, we drove past a gas station and I actually started tearing up because I thought we weren't going to stop for several more hours. Fortunately, my teammates and trainers realize how terrible I am with travel, so they made the trip much easier to get through than I thought it would be. Also, we had a Harry Potter marathon on the bus so I guess you could say I was living my best life. Madi, Diego and I got the opportunity to do our final workout on the host track after dark on Tuesday, and Madi and I tried Run Gum for the first time, which may have been a mistake. Our energy levels are already several times higher than most, so the added caffeine no doubt made us delightful to be with. 
My first event was the 10k on Friday night. Most of us running it were also entered in the 5k Saturday afternoon, so it was much more strategic than fast. I honestly don't remember most of the race beyond turning to my coaches every lap to see if they wanted me to start making moves yet or nah, and one of my teammates yelling solid advice like, "Move your legs!" and "Always chew your food before you swallow!" I ended up taking my first conference win in the 10k, which still feels a little unreal. After several months of frustration and feeling like my training wasn't paying off, it was incredible to have a weekend like that, and I'm beyond grateful to the coaches and teammates who supported me through it all. The 5k was the following afternoon. I was chasing a school record, which would be 16:29, but came just short of that with a win and a conference meet record. It was the most fun I've had racing in a couple years, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to represent MSU there one last time.
Two weeks after Big Sky, several teammates and I got the chance to compete at west preliminaries in Austin, Texas. If you've never been to Austin, just imagine you're in a large sauna with a lot of barbecue and the most incredibly polite people on earth. The food and people there were both great, but the running made me consider switching to shot put. Also, I can never go back because I humiliated myself, my ancestors, my team and my country. We went on a shakeout the day before competition and found an on-campus turtle pond. Naturally, because I always have to be into everything, I had an all-consuming need to touch a turtle, so I poked one on the shell. Then touching was no longer enough and I couldn't leave until I had picked one up. The turtle I accosted definitely did not want to be picked up. It was trying to latch onto the concrete with its little turtle claws, but I wanted it to love me, so I insisted on holding it anyway. After successfully getting it off the ground and Lion King-ing it up into the air, I felt a single turtle claw reach out and gently graze the back of my hand. Folks, I was not ready for or expecting that, so naturally I screamed like a monster and hurled the turtle like a discus. Fortunately it landed safely in the pond, but I don't think I have ever embarrassed my coach that much. He immediately said we had to get out of there. I'm 90% sure an elderly Asian man captured the whole incident on his phone, and I just pray that video never sees the light of day. 
Between the turtles and the bottle of Pedialyte I consumed pre-race, there was some kind of magic in Texas because despite the fact that it was 85 degrees and one million percent humidity at the time of the 10k, I managed to place eighth and qualify for nationals in Eugene. It was probably the happiest and sweatiest moment of my life. Mostly because I'm stoked to try Voodoo Donuts in Oregon, but also because running is cool I guess. If anybody has good dessert recommendations around Eugene, hit me up for real.

Dealing With Demons: Moving Forward From a Bad Race (Or 20)

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).

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.

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.