The Month of March

☀️Hello everyone!

Can you believe how quickly this month has flown by? April is already just around the corner! In my last newsletter, I encouraged you to carve out a little time for yourself each day. Were you able to find something that resonated and stick with it? As for me, I made it a point to stretch every morning and spend time outside every day.

The month of March was very eventful, and I can’t wait to tell you more about it!

…

In this Newsletter:

• ACSM Recap

• Half Marathon Update

• Utah Trip Recap

• Getting Outside

🤓Central States ACSM

At the beginning of the month, the entire Exercise Science department travelled to Fayetville, Arkansas for the Central States American College of Sports Medicine Conference. Schools from Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, and Missouri were also there to present their research. I said it seemed like a sporting event/ tournament for nerds.

I presented my research on rotational symmetries in both the male and female golf teams. The purpose was to identify if the OKstate golfers experience muscle imbalances. We tested this by having the golfers perform a 90 degree rotational broad jump starting on their right side and then their left side.

We found no significant differences between the right and left sides when performing the jumps. This research shows the importance of training muscles equally on the right and left when training for strength and power. Having muscle symmetries on the right and left side may also relate to golf performance, longevity in the game, and reduced injury risk, however further research is needed to confirm those conclusions.

Winning a Research Grant

A few months ago, I applied for a student research grant to gain new technology and equipment for future projects in the GRIP lab. I knew they would be announcing the winners at the end of this conference (2 undergrads, 2 masters, and 2 PhD students would be awarded)…

I ended up winning the master’s level student research grant! This means we will be able to purchase the new equipment that I wrote the grant for which were blast golf sensors and tindeq dynomemters. The blast golf sensors can be attached to the top of any golf grip and collects swing data. The tindeq dynomemeters measure force and torque and will be used on the performance/ strength end for the golfers.

👟Midsouth Half Marathon!

The race itself went well overall! My time was 2 hours and 20 minutes which I was proud of for my first ever half. You’d think in Oklahoma it would’ve been a flat course on a dirt road, however the route was on some of the hilliest gravel roads here in Stillwater. The gravel made it a little more difficult to speed up since I couldn’t get a good footing. In addition, the winds were gusting up to 40mph by the time I had finished. 🤯

Nutrition Strategy: Before the race, I had meal prepped overnight oats, and added a banana and some honey to get in more carbohydrates. During the race, I stuck to electrolytes, water, and fruit snacks. After the race, the finish line handed us some non-alcoholic seltzers from a local brewery here in Stillwater. I was looking for water, but the seltzers were actually refreshing and tasty 😄! We then went to my favorite breakfast spot in Stillwater called Hatch. I can tell you those were the best pancakes I had ever tasted. 😋

All in all the race was one of the hardest things I have done so far! The ending was a grind, but not once did I think about stopping. I kept thinking about the fact that I didn’t have to do this, and I don’t know if I necessarily would again, but it’s the fact that I am able to and “get” to. There are so many people who are stuck in hospital beds, aren’t able to get up in the morning from being so weak and tired, or people who just can’t walk. I am so blessed to have a mind and body that wants to and is able to accomplish these tasks I set out for myself.

My biggest takeaways from training:

Nutrition is key

During training I had increased my carbohydrate intake because I was burning a lot of ATP (energy) as my running volume increased. I was trying to replenish my muscle and liver glycogen stores, so I could get back up the next day and run or strength train again. The reason carbohydrates are so important is so we don’t start utilizing protein for fuel. If protein becomes a fuel source, we would begin to breakdown the muscle that we built which we do not want to do!

Recovery and Sleep

My recovery strategies were to stretch… a lot! I incorporated 10 minutes of mobility and foam rolling every morning and every night. Sleep was also crucial. I aimed for 8-9 hours.

Keeping the easy runs easy and the hard runs are hard

This was something I wish I was better at, but now I know what I can improve on if I were to enter in a running event again. Each week, I had a schedule of what runs I was going to do and when they needed to be hard, or if it was going to be an easy/ recovery run. My running schedule looked something like this:

• Monday- Easy run

• Tuesday - Interval/ Speed run

• Wednesday -Hilly run

• Thursday -Easy

• Friday - Easy

• Saturday- Long

• Sunday- Rest

As you can see, I technically only had 3 days that were meant to be harder than the other 4 days of the week. However, as someone who struggles to take rest days, I found it difficult to do the easy days truly easy. This ended up hurting me in my long run or speed workout days because I wouldn’t be fully recovered or fresh to give those workouts 100%. Now I know for the next time, I need to save energy for my harder training days even if I am feeling good on a day I am supposed to take easy.

Supplement running with strength training

I will always believe strength training is important no matter what you’re doing or where you are in life. Strength training is how you prevent injury and although some days I would feel sore on my runs, I knew it was making me stronger and would pay off in the race.

🏔Utah! Spring Break Trip

This past week I got back from Park City, Utah where I visited 3 friends during my spring break!

The trip was amazing! This was my first trip out West (besides going to Alaska last summer). 3 of our other friends from High School also flew in on the same day so there was a total of 7 of us on the trip.

On the first full day, we went for an 8 mile hike up to a hot springs which was beautiful! It seemed like something out of a movie. On the hike I noticed that it was slightly more difficult to breathe due to the elevation change and less oxygen available.

It was nice to see friends and take some much needed days off. I wasn’t worrying about missing a workout or overfocused on what I was eating. I was able to just be present and enjoy my time with friends I hadn’t seen in a while.

🌷Spring is Here!

Spring has officially arrived! As the weather warms up (especially for my Michiganders), it's the perfect time to get outside. Nature has a way of calming and rejuvenating us, and the sun is incredibly healing. After spending so many months indoors during the winter, it's common for us to experience Vitamin D deficiencies, so now is the perfect time to embrace the outdoors!