Have you ever wondered what it takes to compete at the D1 level? We caught up with former Holy Cross standout Cade Martin about how a typical day looks for him during race season. First, a few stats about Cade:
High School: Holy Cross Class of 2019; Student Body President
College: LSU
Future plans: Admitted to LSU Medical School
What time do you wake up on a regular basis?
6:20am for 7am practice.
What is the first thing you do upon awakening?
Start the coffee maker and drink a glass of water.
What do you put in your body first, hydtration or nutirion?
Hydration!
What's for breakfast?
If we have morning practice, just apple sauce. For afternoon practice, I eat at our athlete dining hall; I eat a huge breakfast with plenty of carbs.
How many times do you work out on a non-race day?
On recovery days, we run twice. On speed workout days, we do a run session and a lift session. so usually 2x per day.
How often are you in the gym or doing PT?
I'd say 4-5 hours of practice/lifting/PT/running related activites per day.
What's your favorite event?
Favorite event is the indoor mile or the outdoor steeplechase.
How many meals/what time do you eat? What's typical (be honest)?
Breakfast depends on practice as discussed previously. Lunch is usually light, pasta/sandwiches/veggies around noon. Dinner I cook with my girlfriend -- most nights, we usually eat around 8pm and it's whatever we feel like cooking. Last night we made gumbo.
Do you ever "carb load"? Why? For what type of race/meet situation?"
Yes, I'm a huge biochem nerd (pre-med) so I read a lot about glycogen storage and carb loading makes me feel more confident for races. I think it's important for all races but especially in cross country 8k/10k. Those are brutal distances, and you need to have a good store of glycogen to perform at lactate threshold for 24-30 mins.
What's your daily training shoe?
Nike Pegasus
What's your racing shoe for XC/Road/Track?
Nike Dragonflies for xc and track. Nike Zoom for road races/tempos
What's your MPW in-season versus out-of-season?
Out of season: 80; in season 70; championship season:50/40
Do you take a recovery period after races? After championship races? Between seasons?
We usually have a day-off after a race; a week off between seasons; day-to-day adjustments can be made if we're really beat up
Do you nap?
I LOVE naps. I think they're the absolute best thing you can do for your training after a hard session (if you have the time lol)
How many hours of sleep do you routinely get at night?
8-9; it was less when iIwas overloaded with school, but now I get in 8-9 routinely
Do you cross-train or participate in any other athletics? Did you as a kid?
I bike on our off-day. some of my teammates swim or play basketball. I played every sport you could imagine until highschool; I quit the football and baseball team to get serious about running in 8th/9th grade
Why do you run?
I like the feeling of accomplishment and delayed gratification that months of training can give you. there's no better feeling than pr'ing or crushing a workout and going "Damn I'm in shape"
What's your pre-race meal of choice for the night before and pre-race nutrition?
Night before: pasta alfredo with chicken and brocolli; morning of: black coffee, apple sauce, Honey Stinger waffle
What do you eat after a bg race? After a hard workout?
Candy, beer, fast food😭 gotta reward yourself for a good race. After a hard workout, protein shake & fruit smoothies for immediate energy/protein to fuel your body into making the adaptations from the session. Without proper post-workout fuel, you gain nothing from the workout
Do you have any pre-race rituals that you don't diverge from — i.e., socks, stretch, hair, favorite song, etc?
Iused to in highschool, but i don't anymore. i try to stay calm and upbeat until it's maybe 10 mins before the gun goes off; then it's time to get serious
What's your major?
I graduated in Biochem and just got accepted into Med School!
Do you plan to keep competing post-collegiately?
Yeah! One of my lifelong goals is to see how close to 4 mins in the mile I can get, and all my friends are runners, so until I'm too old to run I'Ill be around!