I’ve been running cross country and track for the past eight years. And eight years later, I have learned so much from this sport. We often hear this phrase, “Run smarter, not harder,” but it’s easier said than done. In my first few years of running, I always thought you needed to train constantly to get the results you want, but that is not always the case. There is so much strategic thinking about running, and many don’t realize it, especially your first year of running cross country and track. I started off running in the 7th grade and always thought I needed to run as long and as fast as possible constantly. Later in high school and college, I learned that recovery is very important.
Here is one lesson I learned the hard way. At the beginning of 2021, my spring track training was at its peak. My workout training was doing very well, and I was in fantastic shape. It was effortless for me to run 16 miles at 6:40 pace and run workout tempos under 6 min pace. But what I came to realize, I may have been training too hard and knew that I was overtraining my fitness abilities. I first came to realize this when I discovered shin splints. If you don’t know what shin splints are, it’s when an athlete overworks their shinbone where there is sharp pain whenever they run or sometimes walk. When I discovered that I was injured, I pretty much ignored it and hoped it would go away. That was a huge mistake because I kept ignoring my body, thinking I could handle the pressure, but in reality, it wasn’t pleasant and kept getting worse. I did not tell my coach, and when I started to run meets, I ran slower than I expected.
The times I ran weren’t entirely bad, but I did expect to run faster. I had a good starting point with a 17:20 5k and a 36:25 10k, but the times weren't improving, and each meet became slower and slower. I also struggled mentally because of the number of laps I had to run (25 laps for a 10k and 12.5 laps for a 5k). I ignored my mental and physical health and kept running as fast as I could during my training. At the end of the season, I couldn’t qualify for our conference meet and felt very disappointed in myself for not qualifying.
This disappointment also affected my academics, where I struggled to focus on my work and did not do well on my finals. That brought my GPA down tremendously and has affected me going into the fall semester. When the cross country season began, I couldn’t run as many meets as anticipated. I had to take a bit of a break in competition and focus more on my academics to bring the GPA where it needed to be. I eventually achieved that goal and realized that academics are more important than my running. Like I have said in a previous blog, running is something I will do for the rest of my life, but there will be a time when my career is what matters more than running.
Even though I couldn’t compete as much, I still had chances to run in a few meets, and the meets I did run, I didn’t do as well as I wanted to. I ran the time trial going into the season, and the time I ran for the time trial did not match up with the races I was able to compete in. I ran a 7:16 5k time trial going into the season, and after that one race, it went downhill from there. I was overtraining again where I was running a lot of mileage and took my runs faster than my fitness level. I remember I took every run under 7 minute pace and struggled more on the workouts. I tend to keep repeating my mistakes mainly because I always feel good at the beginning of the season and struggle towards the end of it. In the second month of the season, I ran my first 8k and did not run as fast as I had hoped. I ran a 32 minute 8k, nowhere close to where I wanted to run. I also felt an injury coming where both my quads had this sharp pain. It came into effect in October 2021 and couldn’t run as fast. That’s when I knew I should do something to help heal it instead of ignoring the issue. I did some stretches that would benefit my quad muscles and lowered my mileage to stay in shape and continue to heal the injury. I eventually recovered and competed one more time before the semester ended. I ran a 5k that was not too far away from my school and was able to run a solid time. I managed to get first with an 18:07 5k, which wasn’t too bad.
Now, I am in my fourth semester in college, and I can compete with my team again. I am currently slowing down my runs and knowing when my body needs to recover to avoid another injury. I also will continue to keep up with my academics as well. There will be times where I will have bad races, and I shouldn’t discourage myself from other things in my life because I had a “bad race.” Life always goes on, and all you can do is recover from a bad race or injury and improve from there. When I was just starting off running, it was easy to think that if you run constantly, you’ll improve, but as time goes by, you find out that recovery is the most important thing as a runner and know it shouldn’t take over your mental health and your education. It is also important to keep a close relationship with God and know that if you continue to be close to Him; He will give you the strength to recover from any obstacle.
Here is one lesson I learned the hard way. At the beginning of 2021, my spring track training was at its peak. My workout training was doing very well, and I was in fantastic shape. It was effortless for me to run 16 miles at 6:40 pace and run workout tempos under 6 min pace. But what I came to realize, I may have been training too hard and knew that I was overtraining my fitness abilities. I first came to realize this when I discovered shin splints. If you don’t know what shin splints are, it’s when an athlete overworks their shinbone where there is sharp pain whenever they run or sometimes walk. When I discovered that I was injured, I pretty much ignored it and hoped it would go away. That was a huge mistake because I kept ignoring my body, thinking I could handle the pressure, but in reality, it wasn’t pleasant and kept getting worse. I did not tell my coach, and when I started to run meets, I ran slower than I expected.
The times I ran weren’t entirely bad, but I did expect to run faster. I had a good starting point with a 17:20 5k and a 36:25 10k, but the times weren't improving, and each meet became slower and slower. I also struggled mentally because of the number of laps I had to run (25 laps for a 10k and 12.5 laps for a 5k). I ignored my mental and physical health and kept running as fast as I could during my training. At the end of the season, I couldn’t qualify for our conference meet and felt very disappointed in myself for not qualifying.
This disappointment also affected my academics, where I struggled to focus on my work and did not do well on my finals. That brought my GPA down tremendously and has affected me going into the fall semester. When the cross country season began, I couldn’t run as many meets as anticipated. I had to take a bit of a break in competition and focus more on my academics to bring the GPA where it needed to be. I eventually achieved that goal and realized that academics are more important than my running. Like I have said in a previous blog, running is something I will do for the rest of my life, but there will be a time when my career is what matters more than running.
Even though I couldn’t compete as much, I still had chances to run in a few meets, and the meets I did run, I didn’t do as well as I wanted to. I ran the time trial going into the season, and the time I ran for the time trial did not match up with the races I was able to compete in. I ran a 7:16 5k time trial going into the season, and after that one race, it went downhill from there. I was overtraining again where I was running a lot of mileage and took my runs faster than my fitness level. I remember I took every run under 7 minute pace and struggled more on the workouts. I tend to keep repeating my mistakes mainly because I always feel good at the beginning of the season and struggle towards the end of it. In the second month of the season, I ran my first 8k and did not run as fast as I had hoped. I ran a 32 minute 8k, nowhere close to where I wanted to run. I also felt an injury coming where both my quads had this sharp pain. It came into effect in October 2021 and couldn’t run as fast. That’s when I knew I should do something to help heal it instead of ignoring the issue. I did some stretches that would benefit my quad muscles and lowered my mileage to stay in shape and continue to heal the injury. I eventually recovered and competed one more time before the semester ended. I ran a 5k that was not too far away from my school and was able to run a solid time. I managed to get first with an 18:07 5k, which wasn’t too bad.
Now, I am in my fourth semester in college, and I can compete with my team again. I am currently slowing down my runs and knowing when my body needs to recover to avoid another injury. I also will continue to keep up with my academics as well. There will be times where I will have bad races, and I shouldn’t discourage myself from other things in my life because I had a “bad race.” Life always goes on, and all you can do is recover from a bad race or injury and improve from there. When I was just starting off running, it was easy to think that if you run constantly, you’ll improve, but as time goes by, you find out that recovery is the most important thing as a runner and know it shouldn’t take over your mental health and your education. It is also important to keep a close relationship with God and know that if you continue to be close to Him; He will give you the strength to recover from any obstacle.