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Travel Diary: Portland Track Fest with Katie Camarena
An inside look at Katie's routine when she traveled to race in Portland last week!
Rachael Woodruff
June 20, 2025
What Does A Pro Runner Do When Traveling For A Race? ✈️
We’re mixing things up from our typical format to bring you a little more insight to the life of a pro athlete. This past weekend, Katie raced the 1500m at Portland Track Fest and came away with a new personal best of 4:07. Check out Katie’s weekend log of what she did during her travel, pre-meet, race day, and everything in between!
Friday, June 13th
2 days before race
12:45pm: Finish packing & get ready to go to the airport
2:00pm: Arrive at airport, go through security
2:05pm: Security only took like 3 minutes! Shout out TSA pre-check but then Drew got stopped lol |  |
2:25pm: Go to the lounge (shoutout Drew for having a fancy credit card) eat a little snack + a chai tea latte (it looks like milk lol) 3:40pm: Board flight to PDX!! excited to go to Portland - lots of good memories there for me 🙂 5:50pm: Stretch break - aisle seat is the best seat! |  |
5:45pm (PST): Made it to PDX - 1 hour time travel back to PST!
5:55pm: Uber with Drew to the meet hotel where Joey is doing a little pre meet live show!
6:35pm: Walk to my hotel & check in - Back in Portland! Fun!
7:00pm: Relax while I wait to head to dinner with Joey, Drew & Austen
7:30pm: Walk to dinner at Grassa 7:50pm: Dinner - yummmmm! carbonara pasta, garlic bread & sparkling water 8:20pm: Walk to Whole Foods with the guys (cursed pic ?) need to get some snacks and drinks for my hotel room ! |   |
8:30pm: Enjoyed the lovely weather and walked back to my hotel
8:50pm: Time to get ready for bed!
Saturday, June 14th
1 day before race
6:30am: Wake up timeeee! I wanted to sleep in - but couldn’t, laid in bed for about 45 minutes 8:00am: Walked across the street to get a pastry and coffee from St. Honore Bakery - I got a pain au chocolat and a small mocha |  |
8:43am: Went back to my hotel to work on some tasks & eat oatmeal
10:20am: Started my journey to the track for pre meet (shout out Portland public transit)
10:40am: Arrived to Duniway! feels crazy to be back - this was the track we used for training when I went to school at Portland State :) crazy how much has changed since I lived in Portland!
10:50am: Pre-meet! 4 miles + drills and strides (100, 100, 200, 200) + cool down |  |  |
12:00pm: Head back to hotel - shower, relax
1:15pm: Walked to brunch - saw cute dogs !
3:00pm: Nap time :P
4:30pm: Walked to meet Sam, Austen and Asa for coffee before heading to the track to watch Joey - such a nice day - found a little coffee spot with a nice outdoor patio
5:45pm: Drive to the track
6:10pm: Track meet! such good vibes - beautiful weather for racing. Watched the Women’s NCAA 800 final (it was crazyyyyyy!!!)
7:32pm: Watch Joey race the steeplechase!
8:45pm: late dinner post meet - more pasta (we went to the same place lol) So good!
9:30pm: Little post dinner walk back to my hotel - still so nice out
Get ready for bed! race day tomorrow :P feeling excited, hopefully I can sleep in a bit more!
Sunday, June 15th
RACE DAY! yippee
7:40am: Wake up! 8:30am: Head to breakfast at one of my favorite places!! Little River Cafe!! have to get the sweet breakfast (pancakes, eggs, sausage, fruit & whipped cream) & a mocha of course! so good! cute heart on my mocha did some work after I ate while I finished my Mocha |  |
10:00am: Little post breakfast walk - don’t like to sit in the hotel all day, feels good to do some light movement. Portland is so nice in the summer!
10:37am: Made it back to the hotel - watched a show on Netflix - Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders - kinda freaked me out and now I’m scared of being poisoned lol but was a good watch! I like true crime
12:30pm: Went to lunch - got a sandwich, TTMA ! Turkey, Tomato, Mozzarella & Avocado on sourdough with pesto mayo :P still pretty far out from the race (7 hours until warm up ) so want to make sure I get a good size lunch in - I’ve been to this place a lot at PSU so I know what I like & what works for me :)
Talked to my coach, Josh, about my race, pacing and my plan - starting to get nervous!!! I hardly race 1500s anymore and it is going to be a biiiiiiggggg shock! plan is just to find the rail, not too far up, compete and move up throughout !
1:31pm: Did a little walk through the park blocks! Hey PSU!
Started to get a litttttle bit of a scratchy throat and itchy eyes - Oregon allergies are no joke!!!
2:30pm: back to the hotel to hangout - watched more of the Tylenol show - reminded me I need allergy medicine haha
3:30pm: Take a little nap - mostly just closing my eyes and not actually sleeping! I like having a little bit of calm before I go into race mode - usually starts 4 hours before race time for me where I do my shakeout, eat one more time and then get ready & go to the track!
4:15pm: I put the Dodgers game on! Some background noise that can distract me while I get antsy and just want it to be race time - Go Dodgers !! |  |
4:30pm: Start to get my stuff ready to go, uniform, bib, spike check etc. 4:50pm: Shakeout!!! 8-10 minutes Allergy medicine run! Faced my fear of being poisoned by the medicine thanks to the show I’m watching haha & get ready to head to the track! |   |
5:25pm: Pre race playlist !!!!! just remembered this song existed lol |  |
6:15pm: Head to the track
6:30pm: Find a spot in the shade to hangout, check in for my race & pick up hip numbers
Watch some friends race ! definitely nervous now!
7:20pm: Start drinking my caffeine (yerba mate ! started doing this at UCSB - go Gauchos!)
7:50pm: Warm up time!!!! activation, 15 min easy jog, 3 min uptempo, drills, and strides (1x200, 4x100m w walk back between)
Got something in my eye lol spent like 10 minutes trying to get it out with no luck
8:30pm: Watch Sam and Drew run the 5k ! Fun !
8:50pm: Race time!!!!!!!!
New PR 4:07 - just a baby PR by about 1 second but still very happy with this! my previous PR was from PTF in 2023 so 2 years old - I was injured in 2024 and only ran one 1500m as my first race back from injury and it did not go well ( I got last and ran 4:20) which was not fun haha
so it feels good to be healthy and to know I am better now than I was in 2023 when the 1500 was my “main event” and so crazy that the 1500 isn’t my main event anymore haha
I think I executed the race plan well - I probably went out a litttttleee too slow - I was in last (14th) at the first 300 split, but then moved up each lap, 12th at 700m, 9th at 1100m, and 6th at the finish
Splits were 50, 66, 66, 64 - pretty even running
9:15pm: Post race workout - 2x(4x200) w 200 jog rest - and cool down 10:00pm: Leave the track and attempt to find food! hungry and tired but caffeinated at the same time 11:40pm: So tired but finally ate- chicken strips and tater tots with ranch and a ginger ale ! yum |  |
12:00am: Drive everyone back to their Airbnbs and get back to my hotel
I drank about 180mg of caffeine so I am not tired but also very tired at the same time
2:00am: Finally fell asleep? Got about 6 very restless hours of sleep lol
Monday, June 16th
Day after race
9:00am: Finally get out of bed - made some oatmeal and got a coffee from the lobby - didn’t have a fork or spoon so ate with two stir sticks haha |  |
9:40am: Venture out for my run - bridge loop! beautiful morning in Portland legs are actually feeling pretty decent!! little 6 mile jog |  |
11:30am: Check out of the hotel & go get some brunch 12:00pm: Brunch time!! had to go to little river cafe one more time - sparkling apple juice and a cranberry muffin appetizer while I wait for my food. Got the savory breakfast this time - eggs, sausage, kale & sweet potatoes, avocado and toast ! Ran into my friend Emma Gee who just happened to be waking by so she joined me. So nice to see her and catch up - she also ran a 1500m PR the night before yippee!! |   |
1:20pm: Back at PDX - time to get back to Colorado :)
5:50pm: Landed back in denver - held on the runway forever :/ took a very long time to finally get off the plane and out of the airport
8:00pm: Very hungry - convinced Anthony to stop at In-n-out !!!! its the california in me lol I get a cheeseburger (with onions!) and animal style fries !!!! |  |
9:00pm MT: Finally home! so tired! Ready for bed and ready to get back to work for a few more weeks before another race on July 12th!!!
⚒️ Get Coached By Katie ⚒️
We’re thrilled to have Katie’s expertise and joy for the sport here on our coaching staff. If you’re looking for a coach to help you build a sustainable, successful, and fun training plan - with tons of mentorship and support along the way - apply today to work with Katie!
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