My Under Armour Run Summit Trip To Portland

This post-collegiate running adventure has had so many highs—and working with Under Armour is among the top of these experiences.

After spending a few days in Portland at the UA Headquarters there, I'm feeling extra grateful for this journey and inspired for more learning and more growth. (There was so much learning and so much growth in this trip that I'm sharing below!)

My teammates and I—along with other UA runners—had the opportunity to fly out to Portland for a Run Summit full of information about fueling our mind and body for high-level performance.

This is my second time visiting the Portland HQ, an amazing facility with athletic performance and recovery labs where UA is working hard to advance athletics and help us perform better.

While my last visit was more focused on the photo shoot we were there for, this time we

• attended lectures on high performance habits and ideas

• learned from coaches and each other

• saw techniques and new technology for recovery

• and heard from guest speakers

After the event, I went through the notes I had ferociously been writing during each presentation, in order to really absorb the content and come up with a few ways to implement things I learned into my training.

I‘m going to share them with you in this post!

What Went Down At The Runner's Summit

Going into this trip, I knew it would be pretty cool.

After all, almost everything Under Armour does is incredibly cool and pushing the limits of athletic performance. Plus, since I've been attached to the brand for a few years, I'm really interested in the product lines and how things are being developed.

But I didn't know that I was going to walk away with insights about some really crazy athletic performance research or that I was going to get to try some of that technology for myself.

Plus, we got to workout on the headquarter's track facility (imagine having a track and a giant gym at your office!) While we were doing that some photographers documented it and we got some really cool photos out of it which is awesome.

The majority of what we did was broken down into segments, so I've outlined them below and given some of my key takeaways.

So here's what really went down:

1) Nutrition for Optimum Performance & Athletic Success:

Diet was already something I was really trying to focus in on this year, as I talked about earlier in my Inside Tracker blood test post.

When I heard we were getting an in-depth presentation about the what, why and how of eating for athletic success, I eagerly grabbed my notebook and went full student-mode.

A biological understanding of why we should eat certain things is really motivating because you see way beyond the reason “it’s good for you.” When eating is backed by purpose and proven results, it feels so much more intentional and worth figuring out!

I learned a lot of complex information that I wouldn't capture perfectly if I tried to write it out here, but here are some of my big takeaways from types of food!

• Dark Chocolate- anti-inflammatory, rich in magnesium which promotes vasodilation of blood vessels (better oxygen to tissue)

• Cardiovascular support- Flavonoids (antioxidants, help immune system, vasodilation): berries, green tea, grapes, cinnamon, turmeric, citrus)

• Tissue Repair- For protein, you should aim for 1.5-2g/kg bodyweight per day! Fats, Vitamins C and A, and zinc are also good for recovery. Focusing on getting a good variety of these in my diet will hopefully make a big improvement on how I recover.

2) The Science of Sleep

This informative conversation handed me many tips for improving sleep habits for better recovery.

Although I know it's infinitely important, I've conditioned myself to certain lifestyle habits that aren't conducive for getting the best sleep. I often stay up to try and extend my day. Or avoid the inevitability of the next morning, which brings a new set of activities to attend to, some of which I might not be looking forward to doing.

I often rely on catching up, convincing myself that I can sleep in another day or find time for a nap on another, instead of just getting the 8-9 hours right then and there.

It really hit home during this lecture when someone said,

“Staying up late doesn’t extend your day, it ruins your next one.”

Here are my biggest sleepy takeaways:

1. Understanding Circadian Rhythm

Understanding our circadian rhythm is important for getting the best sleep. Going to bed and waking up at the same time everyday (30-40min range) keeps the body in a routine—knowing when to sleep and when to be awake.

I plan to get more used to doing this, along with another tip:

Seeking light when I first wake up. (aka- opening the curtains)

2. Neuro-Associations:

Doing the same things before bed can help you get a better night's sleep because your body associates this with getting ready for bed.

For me right now, I always go to bed after watching TV.

While this is a routine, we know that blue light disrupts sleep. Recommendations are

• reading

• writing, or

• using mindfulness techniques like meditating on the day

I do think I'm going to invest in blue-light blocking glasses though—not sure I'm ready to 100% give up my nightly Netflix 😊

3. The Role Of The Parasympathetic System

Your parasympathetic system restores the body to a calm state and prevents it from overworking.

Rolling your stomach helps activate this system! Thought this was a cool tip.

Next time you're having trouble falling asleep, try rolling out your stomach and see if that helps.

3) Mindfulness

The mental side of track and field has always been something that I shy away from.

I dislike confronting my feelings, shoving the stressful/anxiety producing ideas of racing under the rug instead of dealing with them head on.

This conversation about mindfulness wasn't necessarily revolutionary, but I walked away inspired to try being more mindful about my training and with a few ideas for how to manage my thoughts.

I now understand what mindfulness really means:

Mindfulness is being in the moment, being aware of thoughts, emotions, physiology, and the world around me. If I am more aware of these things, I can better prepare.

Some mindfulness tips and things I'm going to start doing:

• Using mindfulness to "bookend" my days:

Finding a time at the begining or end (or both?!) to sit and observe my thoughts with open awareness, process the whole day, and see which direction my mind goes.

This can help you feel more control over the day, and address things for closure.

• Understanding my relationship with challenge and stress.

How do my thoughts and emotions effect me physiologically? Finding out which productive thoughts I can have when things don't go as planned or when I start to doubt a situation.

We have destructive thoughts that shift the mind into negative mode and get in the way of success.

Being aware of these thoughts (I'm not good enough, I can't do this), allows you to find new ways to think about your situation that are more productive (I deserve to be here, I've practiced for this).

• Turing negative thoughts into positive thoughts: "I can't wait for this challenge."

A quote that really resonated with me during the mindfulness lecture for improving athletic performance:

"...playing in the space of what's possible, instead of what's probable."

Playing in the space of what's probable, is what I like to do.

Although I do believe big things can happen, I am very much on the conservative side of "dreaming" and see things too realistically, which pushes me towards the 'negative thinker' end of the spectrum.

This quote is some good food for thought.

In Conclusion...

I could write for HOURS about the things I learned at this summit, but I plan to continuously reflect on this experience and implement these techniques into my lifestyle.

Thanks for reading about my experience—I hope there was a takeaway in this post that resonated with you or seems like something you want to try.

Let me know in the comments what you think about some of these ideas and let me know if any of them have worked for you!