<p>I thought I’d add another anecdote to highlight how tough the road can be for an athlete.</p>
<p>When D’s coach learned of her planned summer internship in NYC, he was NOT happy at all. He said “I know how those New York City internships go. You aren’t going to train.” He worried that either the long i-banking work hours or the distractions of the city would impede her. He then decided to take her off the “highly likely” list and put her on the “only maybe” list for attending the pre-season camp in August. D assured him she would train faithfully, and she did.</p>
<p>Every morning she was out at 5:30 AM getting in her miles, so she could arrive at the office before the senior people. It was better to run in the morning because she was not guaranteed to be able to leave work before dark. However, she obviously was not always at her best then and was sometimes rushed. No doubt her training suffered a little. In contrast, some kids on her team do nothing all summer but hang out and train. With no job, or maybe just a low-stress part-time one, they can run mid-morning, take a long nap, do some cross training in the afternoon, maybe run again, make themselves good, nutritious meals, etc. Anyway, some days D had to do a second run after work too and on others she had to go lift weights. Then on weekends she’d take the train to Central Park for her run. It’s also possible that running on the city surfaces caused/contributed to her current stress fracture.</p>
<p>It was a productive summer, but to quote her, “I certainly wasn’t able to take advantage of what NYC has to offer.”</p>