Chelsea's on the Hunt for Health

 As a distance runner, the amount of hard workouts, weekly mileage, and physical strain my body goes through calls for ensuring I am getting the proper amount of rest days in as well. Too often runners overdo it and it eventually results in injury. Taking mental health days is extremely important not only for this sport but for life in general to make sure that you are able to show up on the most important days. I had a race this past Friday and took the rest of the weekend off to rest my physical body and my mind. Running is 90% mental, so to prepare for a good race, it is important to account for adding in designated rest and mental health days. 

Running everyday will get you far but will not take you to the end result if you do not know how to “show up” when it comes to race day. What I mean by this is that in order to perform to your full ability in a race, there are several crucial factors that come into play and greatly impact how you run. These include but are not limited to, the food consumed days/moments prior to race, amount of sleep from previous days, recovery methods (such as icing, stretching, rolling out), and the last and most important: your mental game. If all of those factors are met to their full potential, the chances of being able to “show up” on race day are positively impacted. Good preparation is the first step to success. Oh, and actually showing up will lead to a good race too ;) 

For me, running has a deeper meaning than just staying physically active, competing on a team, or being apart of something. Running helps me to survive . Now maybe I'm being overdramatic, but it truly does greatly impact my ability to eat. When I run, I burn calories, obviously. Therefore, I get hungry much faster and my innate desire for food and nourishment increases. When I do not run for long periods of time, I find it very difficult for me to eat enough and as often as a 19-year-old growing woman should. When I am running everyday, I remember to take care of my body and fuel it so that it can work to its full potential, allowing me to run the very best I can. Eating and nutrition can be a very sensitive topic amongst female distance runners, which is why I myself speak carefully in hopes of not upsetting any readers. However, talking about my own personal views on it helps to spread awareness and expose another point of view that maybe others can relate to, which is worth it ...

Hello, my name is Chelsea Hunt! I am on the Hunt for health and wellness! Welcome to my blog! I am currently a sophomore in college, running cross country and track for good ole Slippery Rock University. I have been running since I was in elementary school through doing fun runs and 5k's, and have been running competitively in sport since 7th grade! Running is not only my passion, but it is how I am able to eat enough, stay physically active, improve my mental health, and impact others in my future career. In this blog, I am going to focus on three crucial topics when it comes to being a runner: nutrition, rest & mental health days, and race/performance days. I hope my fellow runners and athletes will find my page helpful and beneficial to their own races or performances.