By Lauren Cawley | Colorado MileSplit
Editor’s Note: Ella Johns graduated from Fort Collins in 2023. She ran personal bests of 2:14.19 in the 800, 4:46.45 in the 1,600, 10:27 in the 3,200, and 17:15 in the 5k. She finished inside the top-10 of the State Championships – cross country and track – (despite no 2020 outdoor season) a staggering nine times, stretching from the 800 up to the 5k.
Lauren Cawley caught up with Johns for our series The Transition, and talked to her about her journey from Fort Collins to Duke.
LC: Overall, what was it like transitioning from high school to college?
EJ: Obviously, your social life definitely changes because you just don’t have the same friends at all – it’s like a whole new life. However, honestly, it’s been awesome.
I chose Duke for so many reasons, but the main reason being that I thought it was just very different from the rest of the schools I visited considering the team aspect here. The team is just so awesome, and just to live with my best friends from day one, guys and girls… Both teams are so close and having them is just so awesome.
Break is only three weeks long for us and we already couldn’t wait to come back. I never would have thought that every single girl on the team would end up being my best friend.
In terms of academically, it was definitely a very hard transition – just kind of learning how to study and how to go about my classes, but by the end of the semester, it definitely was all falling into place.
The running aspect has also been so awesome… However, I unfortunately ended my cross country season with a stress fracture, so it definitely was not what I was hoping for. It’s been a long process to come back, so I didn’t really get much racing experience this fall. You feel like such a small fish in such a big pond, but I am here to support my team at this point – I am so young and I’m racing against people so much older than me and I have so much more to learn.
LC: When you first got to Duke, what would you say was the biggest shift that you noticed in your training? Was it difficult to re-adjust?
EJ: I was definitely a lower mileage person in high school. I played competitive soccer through my sophomore year, so running wasn’t even really a priority of mine until around junior year. I would say that I didn’t track my mileage in high school… So when my coaches asked during the recruiting process what my mileage per week was, I genuinely didn’t know what to tell them. However, I would say it was 35 to 40 miles a week, so definitely somewhere in the middle range.
Coming to Duke, though, I was trying to run above 50… And I think that honestly just exhausted me. So we came back down from that, but I think that overall the higher intensity just got me… Our workout days are 10 to 12 miles long.
So, although at the end of the season, I was only running around 40 miles before my stress fracture, it was just so intense. I really think it just takes adjusting to, and obviously my body just kind of struggled with that at first.
However, it definitely is a learning experience. I also learned a lot more about fueling my body – such as eating before practice rather than after. Getting enough sleep is also so important – everything just kind of crumbled with school and running because of my lack of sleep.
Overall, it’s just been a learning process. I know some people that thrive – they went through their cross country season and didn’t get injured. Everything worked out for them, and that’s amazing. I’ve never had to deal with something like this, but so many other girls on the team have, so it’s been really nice to have them as a support system because they understand.
Click here to read the full interview on Colorado MileSplit.