The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Westlake’s Peer returns from injury
Senior: ‘It taught me to not focus on running as the centerpiece of my life’
The last time we saw Sarh Peer, the Westlake senior was tooling around the state cross country course on a scooter, watching her teammates run without her.
That was nearly six months ago, as the University of Virginia signee suffered a stress fracture to her left tibia after fighting her way through the regional meet to help her teammates qualify to compete in the state meet.
Fast forward to April 13, when Peer returned to racing in the Bay Rocket Invitational, winning the 1,600-meter run with a time of 5 minutes, 6.57 seconds. She’s back, and now she can continue her quest to win an individual state title after anchoring the Demons to first in the 4×800 relay last year and also finishing second in the state once in cross country and three times in track.
“I’ve always wanted to win a state title,” Peer said. “It’s been my goal ever since I stepped on a cross country course in the eighth grade. I’m excited for this season. Whatever happens is going to happen, but I think I’m going to win. I’m going to go in with the mindset that I’m going to win because that confidence is what’s really going to take me far.”
If she does win a state title, she will do it as a runner who is different from the one who took all those second places. The old Sarah Peer was someone who was obsessed with running, but after going through the first major injury of her career, she has gained a new perspective on her running.
“Honestly, I’m kind of grateful for (the injury) in a way,” she said. “I think any athlete, in general, will get their injuries, from the very worst to the very easiest of injuries. I’m happy that it happened before college. I’m not saying that I’m not going to get injured in college, but I’m glad I experienced it before I really hit my peak, which I want to be in college.
“I’m grateful for it because it taught me to not focus on running as the centerpiece of my life. It was hard. It was really hard watching my teammates run at the state meet and I couldn’t run with them. I wasn’t able to compete in my last indoor season or go to indoor nationals. That was hard. But at the end of the day, I realized that running is a part of my life, not who I am. Being injured really taught me that.”
The past six months have been a trying combination of rest, cross training on stationary bikes and specialized treadmills, running in water, and physical therapy. She has gradually worked her way up to running about 40 miles per week.
“It was tough,” she said. “It wasn’t ideal. It was a lot of cross training. It was very exhausting. It was very draining, mentally, to just keep showing up every day. And there was the worrying about if it’s going to come back, what do I do if there’s some soreness. But it also taught me all the aspects of running that I really need to focus on. I can’t just go into the sport and just run the miles. I have to work on recovery and fueling and all the other aspects. Being put in that position opened my eyes a little bit.”
The new Sarah Peer also has changed her approach when it comes to her training.
“I’m trying to be less hyper-focused on my miles,” Peer said. “In cross country that’s what I was really focused on because I wanted to work harder. ‘Oh, I want to run this extra mile because it’s going to make me better.’ But, in this track season I’m just listening to my coach and whatever he tells me to do, I just do. I don’t do more. I don’t freak out about how many miles I’m running or not running. I’m realizing that pushing is not going to help at all. More doesn’t mean better just because other people are doing it. It’s more a matter of what works for me.”
One of the things that Peer and Westlake distance coach Steve Stahl have discovered is that cross training really works for Peer. It allows her to save her legs from all the pounding while still getting in quality work.
“She’s working as hard as she ever has,” Stahl said. “Her perspective is to point to the end of the year. We’re doing a lot more cross training and being smarter about her training. We want to keep her healthy. We’re taking it one day and one week at a time. She has her eyes on the prize at the end of the year, and if she’s healthy, she’s got as good a chance as anybody.”
Despite the long layoff as she recovered, Peer is confident she can return to the form of a year ago in which she ran times of 4:50.09 in the 1,600 and 10:25.04 in the 3,200, both of which were good for second place in the Division I state meet.
“My mindset is a lot better because of the injury that I had,” she said. “Going forward, it’s more what can I do, not, I have to hit these certain times, I have to be this good, I have to impress this many people, I have to show these colleges what I’m capable of. It’s more like, I’m going to go out there, I’m going to have fun, I’m going to enjoy what I’m doing. I think this better mindset is going to make me faster because I’m enjoying racing and getting excited just to be on the track.”
As a result, her goals for this season are different from the past. As a fierce competitor, she still is driven by the goal of winning a state title, but her new approach has her viewing the end of her Westlake career in a healthier way.
“I don’t have specific goals in terms of times that I want to achieve,” she said. “We want to bring our 4×800 to state again. But for me, this season is more about enjoying my senior season and enjoying it with the coaches and all the girls on the team that I’m going to say goodbye to after the last meet of the season. I also want to go out of every race knowing that I did my best and really showed up.”