Apparently Hips DO Lie: My Adventures in PT

After the first few weeks of training here, I noticed that my IT bands were starting to flare up again and that I had some unusual fatigue in my quads and hamstrings.  Thinking it would be a quick fix, I went in to the training room to see if they could rub me out and have me on my way.  Instead, they diagnosed me with a weak booty and lazy hip flexors that would need to be remedied as soon as possible to prevent injury and help improve my biomechanic efficiency.  To teach my hip flexors how to be contributing members of society again, I was told to come in for rehab/PT three days a week.
This is how my rehab sessions typically go:

• Walk in and look around aimlessly for awhile.  Try to decide which exercise to torture my body with first.
• Decide to "warm up" on a foam roller
• Get told I'm in the way of something important by the football team 3-4 times
• Pick a spot where I won't get crushed and roll out for way longer than necessary while snapchatting my friends to make sure they all know how hard rehab is
• Give up on procrastinating because I have class later and get my sheet of prescribed exercises from the training room
• Cry a little
• Think about how strong my glutes and hips had better be after this
• Mourn the fact that immediate results are not a thing in strength training
• Tell the trainers the exercises are "a little tough" while screaming internally so they don't realize how weak I really am and judge me for it.
• Think about how inflexible I am  (AKA cooldown stretches)
• Hobble out of the training room and lie on the floor of my dorm for awhile while pondering what I could have possible done to deserve this

In all seriousness, rehab isn't bad at all.  But I definitely am a lot weaker than I thought I was in some areas.  I've know for quite awhile that I have a tendency to run with one foot directly in front of another (Jacob always says "Lyssa, you're running on your tightrope" to let me know I'm doing it), but for whatever reason I've always just pretended that if I ignored it long enough it would just leave me alone.  I guess once you start running on a collegiate level, you're no longer allowed to pretend your problems don't exist.  I'm hoping that once I get all of my weaknesses worked out, I'll be able to drop a rock solid 4:00 mile.  Just kidding, that might be a bit ambitious.  I'll aim for a 4:01 instead.  After all of these squats, I think I should be at least that fast.  Or maybe just switch sports and be a body builder instead.

Bozeman Running Company Invitational

Well folks, I am officially a collegiate athlete now.  Montana State competed in their first cross country meet yesterday on our home course here in Bozeman.  It wasn't anything huge, but it was a nice way to start off the season.  Also, it was my first time running anything over 2 miles since last winter at NXN so it was good to get a sense for how it feels to run real distance again.  The pre-race nerves were back with a vengeance, and I can't say that I missed them, but that's all part of the deal.  This is how it feels to compete.  Your stomach turns sour.  Your heart feels like it's trying to crawl up your throat and make a getaway.  You begin to seriously question what made you think running was fun.  These are the moments you live for.

 

The race itself wasn't nearly so different from high school as I thought it would be.  I think that biggest difference was the number of people who ran under 18.  For some reason, I thought college running would be a completely new sport so I was pretty happy to find that you still just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other and sweating profusely for three miles in college.  

MSU 2015 freshies

It wasn't too bad, either.  I ended up coming in third overall and first on my team with a time of 17:33, which is my PR for the open three mile.  My race strategy could definitely use a little work.  I think I got too accustomed to racing the mile last spring because the first mile of this race felt like a jog, but I definitely regretted it by the second mile, and my legs were really mad at me by the third mile.  Also, post-race tempos are completed foreign to me.  We did a quick five-minute tempo after we finished and my whole body was appalled.  "I'm supposed to be done!" my lungs screamed at me throughout those five minutes.  But hey, I'm sure they'll thank me later.  I'm excited to see where this team and I will go after a few more weeks of training and a little bit more time in the training room to work on glute and hip strength for me.  Our next race will be on October 2nd at the University of Montana, so look out for the bobkitten crew there.  

Running in Bozeman

Well, I've been living in Bozeman for just under a month now.  I must admit I'm still a little bit lost when it comes to finding my way around town and suggesting restaurants or places to hang out to people, and I'm not as familiar with the trails as I would like, but I've been running with the team for the last few weeks and they've led me to some great runs.  So far, all of the trail runs here have been very similar to the trail running in Park City.  The last two Sundays, the trails have been the best I've ever run on.  Holy cow it is beautiful here.  Sourdough trail and South Cottonwood, the trails we have run the last two weeks, are forest trails that are honestly pretty much fairy tale runs.  They even have ideal little streams off to the side for crying out loud!  The only downside is that anytime that I'm ever running alone, I have an intense fear that I'm going to be eaten by a bear.
It's also been incredibly nice to have a team to run with again.  This is the first time in about two years that I've been on the same training program as anyone else on my team, and the difference it makes to run with other people is huge.  We had a time trial as a team on Saturday, and it made me very excited to see how our first race goes.  I'm really hoping that our team will be able to win conference this year.

Tips For Your First Few Weeks of College

Though this is a running blog and this post isn't technically about running, I just celebrated the end of my second week of school, and I believe that it would be selfish to say the least not to share some of the knowledge that I stumbled upon with those of you who are still young, impressionable high schoolers.
1-Just because the dining hall serves pizza and donuts every day doesn't mean you should eat pizza and donuts every day.  Take my word for it.  The novelty will wear off after five or six days, and leave you with a few extra pounds that you don't want.  You'll also feel like a giant slug on a bike trying to work up the energy to go anywhere.
2-Figure out your sleep schedule before the term starts.  Don't try to cram an extra season of Supernatural in on the eve of your first school day or it will become a habit and you will be so sad when you have to start waking up for 6 a.m. practice.
3-Never assume that the car sees you while you are in a crosswalk.  If by some joke of fate they don't, the back tire of your bike will get squished by a truck, your phone screen will get shattered, and you will once again be so sad because you have no way to get around until your bike is repaired.
4-Plan on studying.  You may not have a ton of turn-in assignments, but you still need to pay attention to the syllabus and do the readings, or when the first exam rolls around and you see the words "Found on pages _ - _ in the text" in parentheses next to a question, you will feel really foolish. And probably fail that text.
5-Don't freak out if your only friends in the first few weeks are your Netflix account and your chocolate stash.  Don't become a hermit just because you haven't made friends yet, either.  These things take time.
6-Ask your friends, family and strangers on the street to send you mail.  Now that you have your own mailbox, mail is so much more exciting.  And opening your mailbox to find it empty makes you feel like you are forever alone.
7-Bring snacks.  Even if you are on a meal plan, healthy snacks for early mornings and times when you just can't take any more meal hall food are heaven sent.
8-Get ahead while you can.  Especially for student-athletes, it is important to stay ahead of your school work because once season, practice, and competition get started, you won't have as much time on weekends and afternoons to get caught up if you fall behind.
9-Take naps as much as you possible can.
10-Go to your on-campus duck pond at least once a week if you have one.
If I come upon any more nuggets of wisdom in my travels, I'll be sure to share them with you lovely individuals.