XC Journal 2016: Sam Peterman of Sweet Home (Week 6 & 7)

Kyle Brazeil


We're checking in again with Sam Peterman, a senior in Section 6.  She'll be blogging for use all season long, letting us know the ins and outs of training and competition.

Catch up with all prior entries here



Week 6


Monday September 26, 2016:

Today I had an easy hour run. It was a day before a dual meet, so practice wasn't too enduring. I felt really good today was well. 

Tuesday September 27, 2016:

Today I had a dual meet. I ran in the meet in a pack with the rest of my teammates. We kept the pace at about tempo pace and worked together throughout the race. It was a lot of fun to be able to be in a race and work together with the other girls on the team. We also won the meet which made everything that much better! After the race, I did a 20 minute cool down, which is a little longer cool down than normal, but it was just to add on a little bit more mileage.

Wednesday September 28, 2016:

Today was supposed to a workout, which was 6x1000 with 4x200 at the end. Unfortunately, my right hip got really tight and I had to stop the workout after the second 1000. I began to feel the tightness in my hip flexor when I was warming up, but I just thought it would go away as I continued to warm up. It never did, and as I was running the workout it became more tight and sore and I began to have some more soreness in the side of my hip. So after I stopped my workout I went into the trainers office and they stretched me out and I rolled out as well. I also iced and later that night I stretched, rolled out, and iced again. 

Thursday September 29, 2016:

Today I cross trained in the pool so I could let my hip recover more. I would much rather be running of course, but I know that I need to give my body some rest in order to be better. I was in the pool for an hour, then I went in and did the lift that we had in the weight room, but I only did the upper body exercises. Afterwards I stretched and rolled out, and later in the evening I did the same and iced as well. My hip was already feeling much better today which made me really happy!

Friday September 30, 2016:

I began the day with my hip feeling pretty good, but once I went to gym class I began to rethink everything. It was the first time I ran since Wednesday and when I did I realized I had some soreness along the side of my thigh which was my IT band. With that being said, after school, the trainers gave me an IT band massage (it was more painful than anything else) and then we heated it and stretched. Afterwards I did 40 minutes on the elliptical and then stretched again. 

Saturday October 1, 2016:

Today the team and I went to the McQuaid Invite. I woke up this morning feeling great, no IT band or hip soreness! Ultimately though, it came down to how I felt on my warm up to determine if I was going to race or not. So, I went on my warm up and I felt great and ready to go, so I ended up racing. In the race, I felt so good the first mile. I felt really strong with the pace I was going and I was positioned with the leaders of the race. The McQuaid course has some smaller-end hills, but going up and down those began to irritate my hip. Once that started happening, I slowed down the pace hoping that maybe it would go away, but it never did. At about the two mile mark I was running by my coach, and he asked how I was feeling. I pointed at my hip and he motioned for me to step off of the course. I was very frustrated that I wasn't able to finish, and that I have been training so hard and well and I have been making sure I am recovering and then all of this happened. Yet, I listened to my body and I did the right thing by ending my race early. I didn't want to take this soreness to a full blown injury, so I was smart about it. I had to remind myself that It was only the first of October, and I still have over a month until the sectional and state meets.  

Sunday October 2. 2016:

Today I did two hours on the elliptical. Doing that was totally the highlight of my weekend. Elliptical-ling for that long though was a good way to keep my cardio up, and I also got to catch up on Grey's Anatomy, so it wasn't all that bad.Today I continued to stretch, roll out, and ice. 

Total Mileage: 20.22 miles

This week's lesson: It's always a good idea to listen to your body. I did it this week with my hip, and although taking it easy for a few days isn't always the easiest, it is the best thing to do in order to get your body healed. I absolutely hated getting a DNF, but I know getting one now is better than getting one in November. I also know that I have been training well, so it's not like I'm going to lose everything by cross training for a few days. So the takeaway from this week is also to listen to your body even if you think it's no big deal. It is better to cross train for a day or even a few days than to cross train for a few months if you push yourself too much while not feeling exactly right.


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Week 7




Monday October 3, 2016:

Today I was still cross training, so I aqua jogged in the pool for an hour. I honestly do not like being in this situation, but I'm looking at it as a way to let my body recover for a few days. I really have been training hard the past few months, so I believe that the hip pain is just a way of my body telling me I need to scale training down for a few days. So, that's exactly what I did, and I really do not want to push it too much since I do not want it to linger. I would much rather cross train for a few days now than be out for multiple weeks.

Tuesday October 4, 2016:

It was senior night today, and a dual meet. I didn't run in it though, I cross trained on the elliptical for an hour before everything began. I went pretty hard today, I was upset that I wasn't able to race on the home course one last time (we couldn't race on it last year because our school was building new athletic facilitates-but I shouldn't complain I got a new track out of it!), and I just wanted to run again. Even though I didn't run, I still had a great time watching the girls on the team race. They all worked together and won against the opposing team. I was proud of what they did!

Wednesday October 5, 2016:

Today I had a day off and the team and I flew down into Hurricane Matthew, because why not! We actually went down to Disney, expecting it would be somewhat of an adventure. We go every other year to run the cross country invite there, and then have fun at all of the parks. Unfortunately, while we were heading down there, our race got cancelled. When we arrived at the airport we decided to stay and that we would have to go on "house arrest" while the hurricane passed. We flew down after school and arrived at our resort late, so we never had a chance to run today.

Thursday October 6, 2016:

Since I don't have a race to run in this weekend I ran a workout in the morning at the resort. It was 10x60 seconds hard with 60 seconds rest. I was so happy that I was finally able to run again, and my legs felt great. I started the workout a little too fast (I was just a little excited to run) so I had a little bit of a hard time at the end dealing with the NCS, but that was fine and I finished the workout. This was our first speed-based workout of the season. After the workout we headed over to Hollywood Studios (there was barely anyone there, all the lines for the rides were short) and returned from there around 3pm. We then went on the lockdown/house arrest at 5:30 since it began to rain pretty hard, and it got very windy. The lockdown was lifted at about noon the next day.

Friday October 7, 2016:

After we were able to leave out rooms and roam around the resort, we had a 40 minute run. Just leaving the room and getting some fresh air was nice. The hurricane didn't hit us too bad, we just got rain and wind. I felt pretty good on the run, my legs weren't too sore from yesterday. We just ran around the resort again in case the weather got bad again.

Saturday October 8, 2016:

Long run today! The sun was shining bright, and the weather was nice and warm and it couldn't have made the run any better. I absolutely love running in the heat! On the run we got to leave the resort and run around the Disney area. We ran to some different resorts such as Saratoga Springs and Old Key West, and we also ran to Disney Springs. It was fun to explore the area, I kept an eye out for alligators, but I didn't see any. On the run I felt good again, my quads just got a little sore at the end, but that was fine. After the run, I jumped right into the pool and it was the most refreshing thing ever!

Sunday October 9, 2016:

All we did today was a 30 minute yoga session on the beach. The idea sounded relaxing until we started and sand got everywhere. This week hasn't been strenuous, and I believe it was a good break in the middle of the season. I still ran or cross trained, but the mileage was low. I definitely think my body needed it.

This week's mileage: 21.84 (not counting any cross training.)

This week's lesson: It is always good to relax. Coming out of this week, I feel refreshed and ready to go. I took a few more days this week let my hip get itself together (it wasn't bothering me, we just didn't want me to come back too early and mess myself up again), and when I was in Disney my mileage was a lower than normal. I take training very seriously, but I also think that giving your body some rest is very beneficial.