Zero to hero: How I survived preseason

Hi everyone! Welcome back to my Zero to Hero series! So far I’ve talked a little bit about the prep work to get to my first NCAA Cross Country season, here and here, but now its time to talk about getting back on campus and ramping up training.

I had to survive “fall” in the south

Just getting back to campus was a struggle. After a grueling 24 hours of flying from Switzerland to Washington DC, Washington DC to San Diego, San Diego to Houston, and Houston to Alabama, I was exhausted. The heat, jet lag, and fear for my first day of practice was a lot to take in, and I was worried that all of the training I did wouldn’t be enough to keep my spot on the team.

When I first arrived back on campus, I was in shock. The heat in the south was worst than I remembered it being. When I’m talking about Alabama heat, for those of you who have never been there, picture running in a mix between a steam room and a sauna, but with the added heat of the sun, that’s the south. After spending my summer in the Alps with perfect sunny days that weren’t too hot, and plenty of chilly mornings to run, the Alabama heat and humidity hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew running at altitude would help my fitness, but I wasn’t sure if it’d be enough to get me through preseason on campus.

Time for Action

But day one came,

and it wasn’t that bad.

It turned out, practice times were so long because the coach talked for almost two hours at a time. He went through logistics, techniques, training, motivation, everything and anything he could think of. And all of this was in a COOL, DARK, GYM. Not in the Alabama sun! It was a dream come true.

By the time our coach would realize how long he lectured for, he would cut our initial morning workout time. One of our morning efforts was only 15 minutes of running because it was already so late in the morning, we wouldn’t have enough time to recover before our second practice of the day if the morning effort was any longer.

The week of two a days went by in a flash, and I survived! It turned out that my training had kept me in shape to run with the rest of the pack. Thankfully, our workouts were more focused on getting everyone adjusted to running in the team atmosphere rather than focusing on speed, so I felt right on track with everyone else. It was so nice to run with old friends while making new ones, and it made being in the Alabama sun so much easier. Pack mentality is an excellent tool for any runner as well as anyone exercising in general. Social (extrinsic) motivation has been associated with positive exercise outcomes for all ages and skill levels, college runners being no exception to this rule. Forming a family atmosphere (at shown belown, at Wendy’s, is also SO important to keeping your team together and performing its best…even if it involves eating ice cream.

Macaroni Mondays

When you think of southern cuisine, you may think of shrimp and grits, crawfish boils, and oysters.

Or you might think of biscuits, fried chicken, beignets, and MAC N CHEESE.

I love talking nutrition, I love eating healthy, cooking good meals, and I love that perfect full feeling after eating a satisfying meal. But I also love mac n cheese. We all have our vices, and one of mine is I can not resist a good mac n cheese.

Now you’re probably wondering, why does macaroni have to do with me surviving cross country season?

It’s funny actually, you see, Monday afternoons were our speed practices. That meant a two mile warm up, any given amount of 800s, additional speed drills, and a 2 mile plus cool down. Whether this may seem like a huge workout/ wimpy workout to you, to me it was HARD. I always thought of myself as the “slow and steady wins the race” type of gal, so competing in speed workouts was rough.

And a lot rougher after Macaroni Monday’s at the cafeteria. I couldn’t pass up the extra mac n cheese! Even though I knew I had a rough workout ahead of me, macaroni was my vice and I couldn’t pass it up. This was SO BAD for me! It got to the point where at practice (on a Monday), my coach pulled me aside and asked, “Sarah, is everything OK?” and I responded, “I’m sorry coach, it’s Macaroni Monday at the cafeteria,” with equal amounts of shame and humor in my voice.

“I’m sorry coach, it’s Macaroni Monday at the cafeteria”

I’m all for indulging in food, but looking back on my pre season, the way I ate significantly hindered my performance. I think this is one of the many reasons why I am so passionate about my health and exercise studies now. When I look at myself as a former NCAA athlete, I wish I had real guidance in sports nutrition. My NCAA Division II institution offered ZERO nutritional guidance to their athletes. So, the cross country team, like other sports teams, wound up eating heaps of everything except the veggies at the dining hall. Not to mention, this was a traditional southern school, so the salad bar was limited, and the homestyle and dessert sections were large.

Although I am no longer competing at the NCAA level, I am SO much fitter than I was doing multiple practices and weight lifting sessions a day. Eating clean balanced meals have been a huge contribution to this success and I am so excited to keep growing as a runner and a human!

Preseason comes to a close

As the days in Alabama got cooler and summer came to an end, it was time to compete. School was in full swing, I was learning how to be fast, and my first meet was right around the corner. This is when things got crazy. Competition got stiff, I made some enemies, and it was a mentally challenging time for me and my team.

Stay tuned for my next post as I dive into all of the twists and turns of the season and how everything came together! Our team got smaller, we fought hard, and things went far from what we expected.