I am the least technologically savvy athlete out there. I never run with my iPod – I did for a few weeks my first year of the cross-country season at UVa, but when a fellow teammate ran me down on the Rivanna Trails while I was running alone with my ears plugged up, I freaked out and never wore one again (disclaimer: I will listen to my iPod before warming up for a race and occasionally while I’m stretching. But never while actually running). A running watch? I didn’t own one until well into my first year at UVa. Getting my blood levels tested for iron? Only when I was forced to by the training room. Understanding the importance of supplements? Nah, I never did that either.

So when my coach had me do a blood profile test early this fall, I had no idea what to expect. Would this just tell me I was out of shape (which I already knew) or would this data actually do anything to affect my training?

The test consisted of me wearing a heart rate monitor (which I have never done before) while running 800-meter intervals on the track at certain paces. At the end of each interval, I got my finger pricked and told a girl with a notebook my heart rate. The paces were ridiculously slow to begin with, then picked up quickly. I made it further along in the test than I expected – I thought after a few intervals, I’d be done (to be fair, I hadn’t done anything fast since my race in Korea at Worlds).

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