My name is Nate Pestka, and I am a member of the Iowa State University Cross Country and Track and Field team. I’m also a journalism and communications student. This is an inside look at a typical workout day in my life as a student-athlete, and what goes into my running, my classes, my nutrition, my recovery and everything in between.
7 a.m. — Wake up
I wake up around 7 a.m. for my first workout of the day. I normally get up, get my clothes on, grab anything I need for practice and head out the door. One of my teammates picks me up, because I don’t have a car in Ames. I try to eat something carb-heavy before practice, like a fig bar, a Clif Bar, a bagel with peanut butter or sometimes a cup of tea.
7:30 a.m. — Practice
The distance team arrives at the Lied Rec Center a few minutes early to change clothes before heading to the indoor track. The first 15 minutes of practice are relatively calm, mainly waking our bodies with some light foam-rolling and stretching. Then, we start our warm-up with 15 to 20 minutes of jogging, typically anywhere between two and three miles. After the warmup, we’ll do some running drills, pre-workout strides, change into faster shoes and then start the workout. Tuesday mornings typically consist of tempo/threshold work, which, depending on the person, will be anywhere from 15-25 minutes of continuous running. A typical morning for me would be roughly 15-20 minutes of tempo, which is a pace that’s considered “comfortably hard.” This typically amounts to anywhere between three to five miles of running, followed by a short cooldown of five to 10 minutes of jogging. Then I shower, change and head over to breakfast.
10 a.m. — Breakfast
After a good morning of work, refueling the body is crucial to prepare for my second workout in the afternoon. Most of the team heads over to the Stark Performance Center (SPC), where breakfast is served for all student-athletes. I try to eat a mix of potatoes, oatmeal, pancakes, electrolytes and an egg sandwich. As a distance runner, getting as many carbohydrates as possible is key to fueling all the miles I run. After eating with the team, I head back home to take a short nap before class.
11 a.m.-noon — Nap
Getting enough sleep and rest is the most important thing for your body’s recovery and preparation for the next training session. I purposely set my class schedule to be lighter on Tuesdays to give me more time to recover and refuel. After about 60-90 minutes of napping, I get ready for class.
12:40-2:30 p.m. — Class
From my apartment, I take the CyRide to Hamilton Hall for my visual communication design class. During this class, I do my best to eat a light snack before my 3 p.m. practice to stack some more carbohydrates for energy. This usually consists of a peanut butter and honey sandwich, some pretzels, fruit and sometimes another fig bar or granola bar. After class, I head back to Lied to get ready for practice number two.
3 p.m. — Afternoon practice
Like in the morning, we meet in the locker room to change and then head out to the track to do some light foam rolling and stretching. Then, after a 15-minute jogging warm-up, our team usually splits up into event-specific workout groups. A typical workout for my group might be 3 by 1,000 meters and 12 by 300 meters, with the 300m’s being at my goal pace for a mile race. This is followed by another five to 10 minutes of jogging to cool down, a lifting workout in the gym and 15-20 minutes in the sauna for recovery. I normally run a total of 14 to 18 miles on Tuesdays. After showering and changing my clothes, I head to the SPC for dinner.
6 p.m. — Dinner
Most of the team heads to dinner to refuel from the workout and the long day of classes and running. Tuesdays are normally tacos, so I load up with rice, chicken and beef, cheese, guacamole and all the vegetables. I usually top this off with chocolate milk, more electrolytes or even a bagel.
7:30 p.m. — Homework
As an athlete, the only real time to get homework done on Tuesdays is at night. I’ll either stay at the SPC and use a study room or come back home and finish my homework there. During weeks when we travel, this time is also spent packing for our typical Wednesday travel. At this point, I use any free time to call family and friends, scroll on social media or watch something on TV.
10:30 p.m. — Bedtime
Depending on how much homework I have, or what I’m doing with the rest of my free time, I try to get to bed no later than 10:30 p.m., and usually earlier on most nights. Right before bed, I write in my running log, read a chapter in the Bible and read over some of my goals and affirmations.
