Former North Bay Haven standout runner Margaret Bartlow is reflecting on her freshman season at Florida State. The News Herald caught up with Bartlow to talk about how she has adjusted to life as a collegiate athlete.
“You think it’s going be like high school, and it really isn’t,” Bartlow said. She quickly learned that daily life as a collegiate athlete looks very different from what she expected, and the biggest changes came in how workouts are structured.
“In high school, all of my workouts were pretty much time-based so I had to run a specific distance in a certain amount of time,” she said.
That system shifted once she arrived in Tallahassee.
“In college, it’s a lot more related to perceived effort and heart rate zones,” she said. “Sometimes we’ll be given time ranges, but the goal is actually VO2 max work, tempo work or threshold work.”
She said the rhythm of training also changed significantly.
“In high school we would have all of our hard work concentrated in a couple of days and then in college it’s maybe a little bit of hard work almost every single day,” she said. “There’s a lot more consistent effort.”
Bartlow said the biggest adjustment has been the range of freedom that being in college brings.
“What’s most shocking about the switch is just most of your stress and day-to-day energy isn’t focused on training or schoolwork but about living life as an adult.”
She added that the transition to independence came with unexpected challenges.
“You’re in control of all these little bits and pieces of your life, and there’s no one to pick up the slack,” Bartlow said. “That’s just a lot of people who are going to college for the first time, especially athletes, who don’t anticipate just how difficult it is to add all of the little moving parts to their big plan.”
Bartlow also noted a major change in competition frequency compared to high school.
“You don’t get as many competitions; you don’t get as many races in college,” she said. “College coaches are typically a lot more selective.”
That scarcity has changed how she approaches each race.
“You might only have four or five races in total in a track season now,” Bartlow said. “You don’t have a lot of room to mess up, so you almost have to approach every race like it’s a championship race.”
Bartlow’s first collegiate race came at the UNF Invite 5K, where she opened her freshman season with a 6th-place finish (17:23.5).
“It was probably actually the race I was least nervous for,” she said. “It was on the Cecil Field course that I had my high school PR on.”
She said coaches encouraged her to ease into the season.
“My coach was very much like, you know, just stay relaxed, go out there, see what you can do, see how long you can stay in the front,” Bartlow said.
It wasn’t the race itself that gave the biggest lesson, but what came before it.
“I fell off a little bit after two miles because I learned you do not eat campus teriyaki noodles before going to a cross-country meet,” she said. “Do not ever do that; you will think, ‘Oh, I’ve got five hours,’ but it is not enough time.”
She said the experience made her feel like she was starting over.
“You feel like you’re a beginner again,” Bartlow said. “I know you don’t try new foods on meet day.”
She also went on to place 135th (21:56.1) at the ACC Championships and closed with a PR of 21:13.6 at the NCAA South Region Championships. The level of competition stood out immediately.
“For the first kilometer I was in like the last ten people in the race,” Bartlow said. “It’s such an honor and also so humbling to run with so many fast girls.”
She added that the depth in college racing is unlike anything she experienced in high school.
“The competition in college is incredible,” she said. “You’re shoulder to shoulder with schools you never thought you would be running with.”
Bartlow said her freshman year was also affected by injuries.
“I was injured all throughout the indoor season with a stress reaction in my lower leg and with an Achilles injury.”
She said recovery brought its own challenges as she had to find other ways to stay active.
“Cross-training is worse,” Bartlow said. “Cross-training takes more time than I was expecting.”
Despite the challenges, Bartlow said she has enjoyed being on campus and in the classroom. Academics, however, have added another layer of pressure.
“There is a lot of stress, especially since most of your grades are in one or two baskets,” she said. “There’s really no room for error.”
Still, she said she has found her academic fit at Florida State.
“I’ve really been able to get into the math program and take these really awesome classes,” Bartlow said. “My professors and classmates are really fantastic.”
Looking ahead, Bartlow said her offseason is structured around both academics and training.
“We don’t really have a lot of time to fit in bulky classes during the school year,” she said. “So right now I’m in a physics and statistics class.”
Training, however, continues year-round.
“We still have summer training programs,” Bartlow said. “Lots of miles, increasing mileage steadily and with threshold work mixed in.”
With sophomore year on the horizon, Bartlow is already amped to take another step in her running journey.
“We have cross country camp early in August right before school starts and then it’s full go.”
Adebanji Bamidele is a sports reporter for the Panama City News Herald. He can be reached at abamidele@gannett.com or through X, formerly known as Twitter, @AdebanjiBamide1.
This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Former North Bay Haven star details freshman season at Florida State
Reporting by Adebanji Bamidele, Panama City News Herald / The News Herald
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Adebanji Bamidele, Panama City News Herald | USA TODAY Network
