Gearing up for West Regional & recovery tips

Hello Runners!

Last week the Rams had a successful conference meet in Fresno and now we're getting ready for the NCAA West Regional Championships!

There were great performances across the board, with men and women loaded up in distance events, and 2nd place team finishes on both sides, both coming down to a handful of points! To recap my race, all four 1500m women cruised through the preliminary round to the final within fractions of a second of each other! Sadly I was the only Ram in my heat of prelims, but I was a big girl and made it through in an automatic qualifier spot! Championship races like these can be tricky because there is more emphasis on place rather than time, which means the race often goes out slowly and comes down to the last 800-400 meters. These races are very exciting to me, they go by so quickly and you are constantly jostling around and thinking about your next move. Because the focus is trying to win, the first couple laps went by much more slowly than usual and then I ended up closing in 2:15, my 800m PR from high school, haha! The first couple laps were just about getting position, I was working up from the back of the pack, trying to keep contact with my teammates, who feel like my security blanket in stressful situations. From there, my teammate, Lauren Offerman, took the lead with 800m to go and I followed her to the front, then the last 400m I gave everything left in the tank and finished behind four women from New Mexico, with Lauren right behind me to be in scoring positions!

While the time was not quite fast enough to get me into the 1500m at Regionals, I was so happy to be able to compete and feel like myself again! I have been focused on recovery and getting my iron levels back up, and know I am in a good place physically and mentally going forward. As far as what’s next, I have qualified for the 5k at Regionals on May 28th, and am looking forward to getting to race a longer distance! See you soon, Fayetteville!

In these last couple weeks of the season we will have a few more workouts that are hard efforts but we are focusing on fine tuning and tapering at this point. Especially with warmer weather, recovery is super important in order to have fast races. This includes hydration, proper fueling, and sleep, among other things.

1. Hydration

Drinking water throughout the day is a good place to start for being hydrated during tough sessions, but I’ve found that including electrolyte drinks like Nuun, a low sugar electrolyte drink and Skratch Labs, an electrolyte drink only flavored with fruit and local to Boulder, help give me a boost for extra hot days to prepare and recover.

Shalane Flanagan has a recipe (attached!) for her homemade electrolyte drink that is super easy to make and makes you feel good knowing the ingredients are so simple.

2. Fueling

Fueling to recover means getting enough food during the day, one of the most crucial times being post-run. Eating enough protein and carbs within 30 minutes of finishing your workout is important for replenishing glycogen stores. I like to bring a bag of trail mix, a protein bar, or a PB&J and banana with me to practice so I can eat right after I finish my run while I am stretching and rolling out before going to classes or going home. This holds me over until I can eat my next meal, which I try to do within two hours of finishing a run. Some foods that help with recovery include:

• Grass-fed Beef: Rich in iron

• Beets: Contain nitrates, which help blood vessels dilate allowing more oxygen to get to muscles to recover

• Quinoa: High in protein, easy to add to salads!

• Avocados: High in vitamin E which fights inflammation

Check out the Run Fast Eat Slow website or the RFES cookbooks for more details, they are my favorite!!!

3. Sleep

Sleep plays a big role in recovery through repairing damaged tissue, protein synthesis, and strengthening your immune system. Sleeping enough is an important habit to keep up throughout all your training stages so that your body is able to recover and perform at its best, allowing you to get the most out of your runs. I like to use the equation 8 hours plus a minute for every mile you’re running during the week, and also try to squeeze in naps when I can!

Recipe: Marathon Bolognese

This week’s recipe is from the cookbook, again by Elyse Kopecky and Shalane Flanagan, “Run Fast Eat Slow,” and it works well for the theme of recovery! The recipe uses ground beef and spinach or kale to replenish iron stores and gets in extra veggies with bell peppers, tomatoes, and mushrooms! It’s even on my menu for the week!