Life of a College Runner
So I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while now. I got the idea from my former teammate, Tucker Horan, who writes his own running blog on this site. I love it and I’ve been reading every week, and I decided I’d like to try one of my own. We’ll see how this goes!
My name is Morgan and I run cross country and track for Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa. I’m a sophomore, and we’ve just begun out outdoor season. I want to write this to give people an idea of what it is like on a day-to-day, week-by-week basis and also to jot some of my own thoughts and aspirations down. I also wanted to start this and get into the habit of doing it before summer so I can hopefully keep it going while I’m not running with my teammates. I figure it might help motivate me to get me out the door.
Monday
Today was our first day back from Spring Break. I was so excited to get back to school and running with my team! They are what drives me to do better and push myself past my limits each day, and I love all of them. What better way to get back into the swing of things than to go on an early morning run!
I started doubling the week before Spring Break, and so far I love it! It’s just me, MK Murphy (cross country champ), quite a few members of the men’s team, and our coach, Dan Schofer. I have a great time running with them, even though a couple of the guys have a tendency to poke fun at me because of my less than perfect running form. We ran 24:15, which is 8:05 per mile. One of the longer-distance sprinters joined us as well, which was fun.
For our official afternoon practice, I ran 6 miles at 7:50 pace for a total of 47:04. Granted, this was supposed to be an easy run, but lately our easy run pace has been growing faster. I’m super pumped about this, as it means we’re getting better and stronger. As of right now, I think we’re set up to have an amazing outdoor season. I got a chance to run with Coach for a while today, and it’s always nice to talk to him.
We finished off practice by doing our usual 8 x 100 meter strides, hurdle step-over drills, and 7 minutes of core. Then we had my favorite part of practice: steeplechase drills! (For those of you who don’t know: steeplechase is a 3000 meter race (7 1/2 laps around the track) that has four barriers per lap and one water pit to jump over. The barriers are similar to hurdles but bigger and heavier, so if you hit one it doesn’t fall down — you do.)
I ran steeple last year and placed 7th at the conference meet with a time of 12:32. This year I’m hoping to get in the top 5 and have my times be in the low 12’s. I’ve been working hard all track season for this, so I hope the season is great for me. Our steeple practice consists of doing lead leg and trail leg drills, and then running over three hurdles five times through. So at each practice, we’re jumping fifteen hurdles. Today Coach said it was my best day yet for jumping the hurdles, and I was super proud of this!! It makes me hope that this season I’m going to kill it!
Tuesday
We had a workout this afternoon. Coach had us run our 2 mile warm-up out to Abbe Hills Road to do a tempo run. My group was supposed to do a 4 mile tempo at 7:25 pace. We figured it would be difficult because the route was really hilly, so we tried to pace ourselves. Unfortunately, “pacing ourselves” turned into mile splits that were as follows: 7:09, 7:17, 7:07, and 7:01.
Don’t get me wrong, it felt great. I felt fantastic, actually. It just wasn’t what Coach had in mind for us to do. Once we hit the 2 mile mark, most of the hills were done and over with. At that moment, it was like a switch flipped in me. I felt amazing. I was huffing and puffing up those hills for the first half, but then I felt golden. It was one of those moments when I felt like I could fly. So when my teammates, Marissa and Zoe, and I came flying into the finish, I was smiling the entire way. Because I knew that I could go so much faster. In that moment, I felt like I was the strongest I’d ever been and that I could go on for miles.
It reminded me of a book I read last summer — a book that’s revered among the running community, especially my team — called Once a Runner. It’s about a college runner who was trying to break the four minute mile, which is a big deal. At one point he runs this gruesome workout and he doesn’t think he can do it. But then he hits the last few reps and he felt amazing, like he could keep running forever. I imagine that’s what I felt like today, though I am by no means Quentin Cassidy. So overall, I am proud of today’s workout.
Wednesday
It was another double day for me. We ran only slightly faster this morning, at a time of 24:03, 8:01 per mile. Just another morning running and laughing at 7:30 with the people who I consider some of my best friends and heroes. I admire them so much, all for different reasons, which I might discuss another week.
This afternoon was another easy run. Unfortunately, my legs hurt like hell, so it was a lot slower than Monday’s easy run. Coach upped my group’s mileage to 7 mile easy runs today, and I have a feeling they’re going to be staying at that distance from now on. It’s at times like this when I like to think about how far I’ve come. Last year (my freshman year), at the start of cross country season, I was only running 4 miles a day for the first month. I also did 4 miles for my long runs. It’s crazy to me that I’ve come so far and only a year has passed.
Anyway, the route today was also pretty hilly (not so great after yesterday’s tempo), and we finished with a time of 57:35, 8:14 per mile.
We did steeple practice again today, which was a surprise. Today was a big day too — it was the first day we’ve gone over the barriers this year! We have a bunch of new recruits who want to try steeple this year, including two of our top runners on the men’s team, Austin Bach and Mason Wicker. These two are awesome, but they’ve got a ways to go before they’re good at jumping barriers. It’s been really fun to see them try it. They’re so determined and are really hard workers. They told me this week that they want to keep jumping until they’re good at it. I admire their spirits, but it’s not something you can nail down in one day (believe me, I’ve tried!). Anyway, it was great to finally get to run over some barriers again. We practiced both stepping them (which is literally stepping on the barrier and sort of rolling your foot off the top of it in one fluid motion) and jumping them, which I think is easier. It was a good practice for everybody.
Thursday
Another easy run in the books. My legs, thankfully, feel rested again. We went 7 again for 7:55 a mile, which was 55:25 total. So it was a lot faster than yesterday, but it felt good again at least. We got stopped by a train with a mile to do, which was annoying. But it gave us a chance to stretch our legs before hammering the last mile in.
Today was an exciting day for my best friend (and roommate) Maya Peske. She is also a cross country runner, but she is mostly a shorter distance person for track. She ran mostly 800’s in indoor this winter. So today Coach had her do a workout with the sprinters going over hurdles. He’s thinking about having her run the 400 hurdles race for our first meet next week. This is super exciting for her because it’s something she’s wanted to do for a while now, but also really scary because it’s her first time and she’s really nervous. But if there’s one thing I know about Maya, it’s that she doesn’t give up, no matter what happens to her. I know she’ll be perfect for the 400 hurdles.
Friday
Today was our second workout for the week, and this one was significantly harder for me. We did a 400 workout with decreasing time every four reps. I did 12 at 91 seconds for the first 4, then 89, and 87 for the last 4. The steeplechasers also had to jump over one hurdle per lap.
I thought I was so ready for this. I thought I was going to destroy this workout, with all the work I’ve done. But it did not go that way. If the tempo run was my Quentin Cassidy moment, this was the exact opposite of that. My times were good for the first half, but the last half I suffered. I ended up doing around 89, 91, 94, 92, 89, 90, 89, 90, 90, 90, 91, and 88. I gutted out the last one with no energy left.
So it didn’t go the way I wanted. I can accept that. I just have to work harder to kill it next week. I found out that I’m running steeple for our first meet on Wednesday, which scares me a lot. It’s going to be the first time in ten months that I’ve run that race. (Also I included a picture of me running the water barrier at the top) But today was also really windy, and I’m coming off of a really solid week of training. So I’m not too worried about it, but I’m also prepared to work really hard to finish where I need to. To run a PR next week, I have to average about 98–99 seconds per lap. I believe I can do that. I have to believe that.
Saturday
So last night there was a snowstorm that continued this morning for our long run. Coach gave us the option to do it tomorrow instead, but all of us opted to gut it out today. It was also a special day because our buddy Tucker Horan has come to visit for the next few days! So we might get mentioned in his blog as well.
Anyway, my goal for today was 10 miles. My friends and I decided to suck it up and run outside. The wind was awful, blowing snow into our faces for a good chunk of the run. We had to get really creative with our running route. We ended up doing the town loop, which is 4 miles, with some add-on’s along the way. Our time was not fast at all (1:27:32/8:46 a mile), but we did it!
This was one of the toughest long runs I’ve ever done. It was tough both physically and mentally, because my legs — especially my hips from steeple practice — were hurting, and it was mentally tough to tell yourself to keep going when every step was hard. Running through the snow is always tough, but today was even harder because we could barely see. It probably wasn’t the safest decision we’ve ever made to run in this weather, but it was definitely a run to remember!
That run brought my total for the week up to 50 miles, the most I’ve ever done. I’m actually really proud of myself. I think I’m going to have a great season ahead of me.
So this ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would. I’m going to do my best to keep it shorter next week. I tend to be really wordy, but I also had quite a bit to say this week. It was a really exciting week for training for me! I had both ups and downs, and we’re getting ready for our first meet of the season in a few days. So I apologize if this was boring for anyone. I promise I’ll get better at this!
Until next week!
Morgan Barnard
