How I Drastically Turned My College Running Career Around
I woke up one day during my junior year of college and decided I was done being slow and decided to turn my running career around. I did this in one simple step. But let me give some background first.
In 2014, I joined the Northwood University Cross Country and Track teams. I had some big, lofty goals that I wanted to reach, but in that first year, I lost my way. I started drinking and partying and staying up way too late. My older teammates had a rule that the upperclassmen couldn’t say something to the freshman if they were doing something stupid, so I honestly didn’t realize how bad this was affecting my performance (It was a dumb rule and I didn’t continue it when I was an upperclassman). I ran so slow that year and I was so down on myself. I wanted to quit and transfer. I thought that I had made a huge mistake. I blamed it on my coach, but really, it was all my fault.
My second year wasn’t much better and my attitude was even worse. My coach quit right before Christmas break and with that toxic environment gone, we started to improve. But I still wasn’t where I wanted to be. We got a new coach my junior year and he completely changed my life. I gave up drinking while in season and dropped over 2 minutes from my 6k PR at the Conference XC Championships. I noticed a change and was determined to keep it rolling. But then I got hurt. I continued training, got back in shape, and ran 6 seconds off of my 3k PR in my first outdoor meet.
My senior year (second to last year), I didn’t have a good XC season and my first indoor meet was B A D. So bad that I cried. I was so frustrated and embarrassed. The next day I woke up and decided I was done. Done sucking. I was done dreading practice. I knew I only had so much time left as a college athlete and I wanted to make the most of it.
And that day, I decided I was going to be excited for practice, and when I wasn’t, I faked it. My goals kept me awake at night because I could feel that they were so close and I was so excited that I couldn’t sleep. I ate clean, I tracked my water intake, I went to the training room every day, I went to bed at 9:30 every single night (or at least I tried). And I got faster. I crushed every workout and ran a PR EVERY. SINGLE. MEET. for the rest of the year. Yup, for indoor and outdoor, I improved every race that I ran.
So what changed? It was my attitude. Attitude is everything in this sport. During XC season, I was very negative (just ask my old teammates). I was so negative that my bff and I got into a fight, before a rainy and cold hill workout, about how bad my attitude was. Once I decided I was going to stop feeling sorry for myself and took my future into my own hands, that’s when I saw results.
YOU can change your running path too-- look at your current attitude towards training. Are you dreading your runs and workouts? Does running feel more like a chore than an exciting hobby? Try shifting your energy and looking forward to your runs every day. Be positive and crush those workouts. If all else fails, fake the excitement til you make it.