Blog Archives
Marathon Mode
I’ve been keeping a secret and I can finally let it out.
For the past month, I have begun training for my first marathon (The Phoenix Rock n’ Roll Marathon in January). I’ve been training for this instead of track. That’s right. I am no longer an NCAA Division 1 athlete. (Not gonna lie, that was hard to type.) The decision to leave the team was all mine, and I waited until the end of cross country season to talk with my coach about my decision to leave the team. (I’m trying to avoid the word “quit” though I am fully aware that is technically what I have done.)
Quit: a word that doesn’t often come up in my vocabulary when I’m talking about myself. I haaaaate that word (more than the word “moist”…bleh).
7 years ago I was a high school freshman, dead last on the JV cross country team, and not the least interested in a future of running.
3 years ago, a senior in high school, I was being recruited by a couple dozen universities across the country and I started to like the idea of being a collegiate athlete.
Yesterday I ended that career, and today I started training for my first marathon.
When I was 17, I signed my Letter of Intent on National Signing Day in front of my team, coach and family at a little ceremony at my high school. One of my proudest moments ever!
Over the past three years at NAU, things just didn’t turn out how I expected. Overuse injuries plagued not just me but our entire girl’s team. In three years I was hit with three major setbacks and it feels like I spent more time injured and recovering than healthy and competing. Instead of training with a team and coach, I spent weeks at a time in physical therapy rehab sessions and substituted running with the bike and elliptical.
So now that my body is back to pre-injury shape, I’m not going to risk another “overuse” issue. I’m taking my training into my own hands and looking forward to my first ever 26.2 mile race in just 60 short days.
Obviously I’m going to miss having a team to train with! Since I was 14, I have had designated “practice” schedules, workouts dictated by a coach and a handful of teammates to run next to. Yesterday had a bittersweet moment emptying out my locker and realizing I’m no longer a collegiate athlete. Sigh, weird, ugh, ahhhh, what, okay getting over it.
So here come the weekly marathon training updates, protein smoothie recipes, core and strength training sessions.
P.S. I hope this post doesn’t come across as regretting my decision to join the team/quit the team. I’m so appreciative of the opportunity to come to NAU as a student-athlete, work with the amazing athletic trainers and meet some incredible athletes. I only wish things had worked out differently, I’d been able to actually compete to my full potential and take advantage of my hard work and summer training. That being said, Long-distance Training > Track Workouts. No more spikes! :D
Hiatus Complete
I realize I have been MIA from SLMC for a while. (Over 2 months to be exact.) Let’s just not talk about it? Okay :)
“I’m Back!”
The last couple of months have been a struggle of overcoming a hip injury due to “overuse” (overtraining). Remember those weeks I was running 80 miles while working 40 hours? Yeah not recommended. If you’re training for a 5k then a 16-miler every Sunday is prooooobably a little extreme. I was just following my coach’s training program! I learned better & will be listening to my own body from now on ;)
This weekend I came home to sunny SoCal for the first time since August and I can’t even tell you what a recharge button it was. When I rang the doorbell at 10:30 Friday night my mom had no idea that I was even in the same state as her. Missy was equally as surprised.
Back to Basics:
I’ve totally learned from injuries and recovery what works and doesn’t work for me. Running 80 miles a week with not enough sleep doesn’t work for me. Keeping a food journal and a training log DOES work for me. Being a student-athlete for a Div. 1 school is cool and all, but really I just want to be happy & healthy.
Current Healthy Obsessions:
- I just adopted my mom’s first SLR Panasonic camera that I’m taking out on some Flagstaff trails. Covering ground, fresh air, nature, photography. All good things!
- Sprout’s coffee beans. I got my parent’s hooked on their flavored coffee beans this year too, currently sipping on Pinon Hazelnut but my favorite still goes to Vienna Cinnamon <3 Grinding your own beans smells heavenly.
- The blog Skinny Confidential. Lauren knows what’s up!
- Eli Young Band and their Pandora station
- Nexxus Heat Protector Spray. Smells delishhhhh.
The next phase of my healthy lifestyle is to begin training for MY FIRST MARATHON. (I made a Pinterest board and everything. I mean, obviously.) This will give me so much more to blog about & keep track of. But first I’ll do a quick catch-up of the last two months:
I spent a lot of time outside.
Spent even more time with my favorite redheads:
Although this is a little more typical…….
We like to grab coffee and hang out in a field…..
Escaped to Sedona for a day of hiking, which was all fun and games until the “Bear Sighting” signs popped up (and you knowww how I feel about wild animals):
And many mornings started out enjoying the little things. (Oh and the lovely sounds of construction out my window.)
Because of my injury, I spent a couple weeks just “resting” with no exercise, and about 6 weeks slowly progressing back to running. This blog post is sparked by my increasing inspiration to get back in shape! While it might not be obvious or noticeable, I can tell that my body has changed after more than 2 months of limited exercise and more than a few splurges on frozen yogurt, homemade pizzas, Sprout’s chocolate-covered blueberries/almonds/cashews (OBSESSED.) and of course peanut butter ;)
Tomorrow I will climb back up to a 12 mile run and I feel like myself again. Long runs are my thing. And I’m working on a lot of goals for myself:
- Build back up my long run (the difference this time? Proper rest and recovery. Duh.)
- Eat clean (95%…..girl’s gotta have her coffee creamer). I’m cutting out processed peanut butters (actually all nuts for a few weeks because they are so addicting that I can’t stick to a serving!), crackers/granola bars/cereals (because honestly they are sugar & flour clusters) and definitely avoiding the chocolate bulk section at Sprouts for a little bit. I’m a scale-avoider and I don’t like weighing myself so I will base my progress on how my clothing fits and how I feel about myself when I look in the mirror :)
- Two consecutive pull-ups (currently at 1.5!)
- Plank for 4 minutes
- Stay injury-free
- Stress less over things I cannot control
- Take a new fitness class every week
- Try a new recipe every week from my new Pinterest board “Domesticated” ;)
It’s good to be back.
Happy Healthy Home
My two years of shared-bedrooms are over and gone. (Sharing isn’t natural for us only-children!) Over the summer, I took to Pinterest to plan out my own room in my new apartment. I hopped on the Chevron bandwagon and got some sunflowers & picture frames to brighten up the place. I wasn’t expecting so much space and white walls to fill though! My 4″x6″ pictures take up barely any space on the walls! So I plan on replacing them with some 8″x10″ pictures and adding these little frames to my nightstands. :) 
At the beginning of the week, I didn’t look forward to returning to my apartment. It was empty and quiet, it didn’t feel like mine, and I missed my home. Living by myself is not something that appeals to me, so even just a temporary few days was hard. Slowly over the week I got more comfortable, especially knowing that my roommates were coming soon and my parents would be back with the rest of my stuff.
Your living situation can affect your mood. If you come home to a place with bare walls, a dirty floor, dark lighting or no reminders of home then you can become sad and detached. Oppositely, a room that fills you with energy, reflects your personality and has a homey-quality with the addition of some personal accents can brighten your mood and make you feel more comfortable.
My room is reflective of the mood I want to be in: bright and happy. After a day of classes, cross country workouts and studying I want to be able to relax and feel comfortable. This apartment is an anti-stress zone: Sunflowers are gorgeous and candles smell amazing. Music is relaxing. We’ve got plenty of fruit, fresh air, good views of the pine trees, friends right next door. And Ellie, my stuffed elephant since 1993. :)
Third time around, we are professional at the whole moving-in process, and my room was set up pretty smoothly. Thanks to rubber-maid bins, 3M tape and command hooks :) Yesterday the student-athletes of our school worked 4-hour shifts at the freshman residence halls to unload cars and help any first-timer parents figure out how on-campus living works. Adding to the chaos was some on-and-off rain. Thanks Mama Nature!
After the madness of Freshman Move In Day my teammates and I got together to cook dinner and check out the Welcome Back concert on one of the grassy lawns on campus.
I really only cared about seeing The Maine. I’ve seen them three times now…once in 2009 when they opened for Cobra Starship and Boys Like Girls. Then again last summer at a show they headlined in SoCal. Fun fact! The singer John’s little brother moved into our school yesterday!
The Maine Concert, 2012
It’s currently raining, has been since I woke up. I love it. We run rain or shine, so at 7am I threw on my white running hat and embraced the weather for our team long run. We headed out on some trails for a 12-miler, jumping over plenty of puddles until our shoes were so drenched we just ran through them.
Fortunately my new “happy healthy” home had a coffee pot waiting for me post-run. ;)
