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A reflection on my first year of college running

May 19, 2019 (Night)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
Now that I'm back home, here's a reflection on my first year of being a goat.

When I started my summer training in June of 2018, the task of essentially doubling my high school high for mileage (about 30 per week) seemed daunting. I had never done summer training before because of Becket, and I was nervous that I was going to increase too quickly, or conversely, too slowly, and not be ready to run alongside my teammates who I knew were going to be faster and stronger than I was. I wasn't sure that giving up Becket to do that summer training–to run in college–was the right decision. Hindsight is 20/20 though, and boy was that the right decision.

Going into the cross country season, I had been running in the mid-40s per week, with one week or so at the end of the summer at a hair over 50. At the time, it felt like a pretty big strain to get up to 50. I felt tired, and the lack of sleep during our orientation week made running difficult. Our first workout was on Labor Day, and it was 2 x alumni (which is one mile) followed by 2 x meadow loop (which is 800m). It was the most humid day of the year, and maybe like 95 degrees. After the two alumni and the first meadow, I felt like I was going to pass out, and Latenight told me to call it a workout right there. So I didn't even finish our first workout, which reinforced the thought in the back of my mind that I had had over the summer that I wasn't good enough to run on this team. The goats, however, picked me up. Nobody had an easy time that day, and I felt supported by my teammates and coaches even when I was at my worst. Going into our first race, on our alumni course (a 3 mile race), I had no clue what to expect. I ended up running a 17:18 I think which meant that I was basically in my end of season shape from my senior year cross country at the beginning of our season. Now came the daunting task of trying to extend that pace over the course of 4, and then 5 miles.

I was so nervous for that first 8k at Paul Short. I'd never run a race that long, but I knew that I was already in better shape than I really ever had been. However, the higher mileage was wearing me out, and I knew it. Doing 50 miles a week consistently was difficult and tiring for my body. The race, however, went super well. I think I ran around 29:54, which broke my goal of sub-30 which I set my sights on over the summer. Seeing some Hoppers at that race was super fun, and further reminded me that I could really do this–that I did belong on a college team. The race itself was awesome; so much fun. The rest of that season cemented my love for the longer distances (especially on cross country courses), and I was sad that my participation in the 1 and 2 mile derbies was cut short due to getting pretty sick. At least, I went on the road trip to Wisconsin to watch the goats compete at Nationals which was maybe the most fun I had all year.

Indoor and outdoor came up quickly. I had a couple decent races, and one really bad race in indoor. At this point, my mileage was really around 60. Over winter break, I got my mileage up there over 60 consistently for the first time, and I didn't feel tired out by it the way I did during cross. That was encouraging. Getting my long run up to 14 miles wasn't just good for my training, but it was super fun. There's nothing better than finishing a solo 14 mile long run and taking a hot shower on a winter day. I ran a full mile on our track in 4:59, which was great mentally for me since I knew we hadn't done any hard workouts or anything yet and I had such trouble breaking 5 during high school. I was disappointed with the 800 that I ran at Ursinus, but I was kind of sick so I let my frustration slide.

During outdoor, I had another bad 800, but I wasn't sick this time. I just got out too slowly, and couldn't make it up. I have a bad relationship with the race that I can't wait to fix next year. In the 1500, I ran two really fun races where I actually felt like I had a solid kick for the first time in a track race. Racing on that gorgeous Widener track in the quarry was so much fun. We went back there one last time during Passover for a few of us to race the 5k. I was super nervous for this one again because this time there was an expectation that I would shatter my PR. My goal was just sub-17. I knew I would be happy with that. I stuck with Nathan the whole way, and then lost him during the last couple of laps. I thought about giving up so many times during that race–for those of you still reading who haven't raced 12.5 laps on the track, it's a lot–but my teammates who weren't racing came out on that cloudy Saturday night to line the track and uplift my spirit when those middle laps got especially difficult. Those teammates also cheered me through my mile time trial on that last day of my season, a sunny day on our home track. Woodhouse took me through 1000m perfectly, and then I kicked the rest by myself, feeding off the energy of the goats lining the track, and that classic Tom grin when he showed my his watch after I crossed the finish line.

These past couple of weeks without running have been kind of difficult. My body has finally gotten used to 60+ per week, and now I've taken it away and it feels weird. I can't wait to start up again soon. In the meantime, here are a few of my goals for the summer:

1) Get up to around 75-80 miles in doubles by the end of the summer, and 70 in singles before that.
2) Get my long run up to around 16 miles.
3) Do better core and other strength work, eat and sleep well, and generally take better care of my body than I did last summer.
4) Run with friends. Whether its other GDS alumni, current Hoppers, or goats in the area, this summer will be much more enjoyable with others. However, there are naturally going to be a ton of runs on my own, so it's important that I can learn to enjoy those too.

If you've made it this far through my rambling, I applaud you. I'm only really posting this here for my own reference, but if you've made it this far, you either have a lot of time on your hands or your name is Matt Simonson. Anyways, I'll wrap it up here.

It's really easy to measure running. If you break your PR, you've gotten faster, and your training has paid off, and if you don't, then you didn't. This year could be measured by the huge PRs that I set, and the goals that I accomplished: 12 seconds in the mile (4:47), 73 seconds in the 5k (16:42), or sub-30 in the 8k (29:50). But anyone who has been a Hopper knows that this is BS. Sure, when I became a goat, I wanted to have those PRs. But I knew that they would come anyways with good college training. What you can't measure in times or goals accomplished is the bonds that you form with your teammates, or the things that you learn about yourself by putting your body through the gauntlet. You can't measure the fun that you have with your teammates on long bus or car rides, and you can't measure that exhilarating feeling you get when cheering for a teammate who's kicking down that blue Hop singlet in the last 400 of a race. It's those things that you can't measure that make this team so special to me, and what make this sport so great for all of us. I wouldn't trade anything for this experience, and I am so grateful to have been a part of such an amazing team this year. 2019-2020 can only be better, and I can't wait to see what our team can do.