Recovery

SPRING BREAK!

Today we had a team workout scheduled at the track at 2:30. When I got there at 2:30 there was nobody there so I waited 10 minutes. Sarah B showed up, and Elizabeth was there too, and I have work tonight, so the three of us ran 1 mile warmup and 1 mile speed changes together. Sarah and I ran our whole speed thingy timed together. 1 mile at 2 mile pace, 4 400s at 2 mile pace, then 3 sets of 300, 200, 100. My first lap on the mile was 1:20, on pace for an 11:20. I hit 2:41 at the 800. The wind started to pick up, then I was at 4:23 and finished with a 5:46. I ran 1 lap recovery in lane 8, then did 400s with Sarah. More people gradually started to show up and just do the workout. I liked it better this way because the starts aren't crowded and I feel more mentally stable. My first 400 was a 1:23, then my watch died. Sarah said that she watched my finishes on the next two and from her eyes I was around 1:24 and 1:23. We didn't catch my last one, but I didn't feel any faster or slower, so it was probably consistent. We didn't worry about timing our 300s, 200s, and 100s, just open stride. Between each set we did a lap recovery. Then I counted my laps and figured I was at 6.5, so I did 3 grass laps recovery. On the 3rd one all the soccer boys said "Hey Abbie!" Which made me smile :) Then I got a blackberry pineapple smoothie from Red Mango and had a lovely chat with my manager. Today has been a good day.

Feeling super lactarded this week! Tuesday and Wednesday were horrible in general, it hurt so bad to even get out of bed and make it to the bathroom. Today I finally decided to try a run. I ran along 14th east to 17th south to 15th east to Sugarhouse. I stopped at the light and considered turning around and walking home, but when it changed I kept going and ran 1 grass lap. After that lap I ran home the way I took and I'm surprised that I made it home without any crap. (Haha get it? Okay sorry that's disgusting I'll stop.)

Yesterday I went for a 14 mile bike ride because I knew it'd be easier on my tummy. It was kinda windy and hard, but whatever. My bum hurt after. Anyways, today I ran from my house up 13th south to Foothill and I did the VA loop and then ran 2 laps at Sunnyside before heading home along 17th east to 13th south and down. I felt pretty good and averaged a 7:58 so yeah, my best this week.

Today we had to go back to school. RIP Spring Break 2013. It was really cold and rainy, so we met in the commons. Rich and I started everyone on vertical laps then led stretches and drills before breaking into groups. Distance was to do a 40 minute run. Nobody wanted to go on an adventure with me :'( I ran up Sunnyside to Foothill, then over to the Library and down to 13th South. Then I went to 19th east where I ran to 9th south and into the gulley, where I did a lap. It wasn't as muddy as I thought it would be, which was nice. I wanted to do more, but people had put their bags in my car and I didn't wanna make anyone have to wait because I had my key with me, so I ran down Sunnyside and called it a day. It was nice running in the light drizzle with my bright orange pants. I hope it rains again today.

Today after warmup and drills in the really cold wind, we started our workout. I couldn't make it to the Oval tonight so I did fartlek with Garek and Hanna. It was 10 sets of 1 minute on 1 minute off, and the soccer boys were doing a 2 mile so it was a little hard when they were in my way but whatever, I laugh at their 15 minute 2 mile times. Hahaha! Anyways, it was hard to hear Bill but I managed to stay on track. I got 11 laps and did a 12th for even mileage. Then I did 2 grass laps cool down then headed home.

Today we had a meet out at Cyprus but I wasn't racing so we went and did a workout. We ran from Cyprus out to the main road then along there. It was getting boring, so Tomy led us up a dirt trail which was nice because we weren't running by all the cars. On the dirt trail, Sarah and I lost the boys and when we got back onto the main road we hadn't seen where they went, so we went on a little adventure with her garmin. When we got to the top of this one hill we saw the boys, so we turned and went back down then ran out to 4.25 before turning and starting our 30 seconds on 30 seconds off fartlek. It was hard with the wind, but the dirt trail was mostly downhill and flat so that was nice. It was also nice that I had done full minute fartlek yesterday, so I felt like I was able to go faster. When we were done, we ran back to Cyprus talking about boys and crap, then we ran by my Grandparent's old house. Oh the memories! And tomorrow is the Alpha Invitational at Timpanogos so I'm running the mile tomorrow and 800 Friday. Should be fun!

I found a little half mile loop on the block of Timpanogos High School, so I ran that twice. Then I ran a lap in the soccer field with Bill and the Sarahs. Then I still had a ton of time to do some more running before actually racing. At the start, I was double elbowed by the two girls and got a horrible start. Luckily someone false started (I feel bad that she was DQ'd, but hey I got a second chance at starting) so on the second start I kept in mind that I had some fierce girls on both sides. On the second start I elbowed them both, then the really tall Orem girl kept trying to run me into the inner lane, perhaps hoping to get me DQ'd? I don't know but I beat her so it didn't matter. I spent the first 2 laps boxed in and managed to break from the box 3rd lap, but I was already really far back in time so I really had to hit a big negative split in order to get a good time. Nope. This wasn't really a race. More of a giant catfight. Some girl was tripped and grabbed my shoulder to keep balance but I kept mine and kept running. People kept stepping on the back of my spikes and cutting me off and elbowing me, it was way too physical. Okay sorry I really need to stop ranting but I really hate the mile because it's so physical and I waste all my energy in self defense. Ugh. Stupid. I did a 2 mile cooldown and then froze to death. I'm going to have a good 800 tomorrow.

Day 2 of the Alpha Invitational. I ran a nice 1.5 mile warmup for the 800 and checked in. I did a couple of strides before my race then started. I was seed 9 in my heat and ended up 3rd so I'm happy. I PR'd too :) the first lap I had to get myself in front of the main pack because I didn't want to be boxed in because the 800 is the worst event to be boxed in first lap. Going into my 2nd lap I picked it up and made it a goal to catch up to the Murray girl. When I passed her I tried to catch the Jordan girl and I got closer but didn't quite catch her. Oh well I still ran hard :) I ran a little cool down and elevated my legs on the fence. I had been begging Bill all meet long to let me run the 4x400 with Ellie, Ellie, and Eleanor, and he finally let me do it! We checked in a little late but the lady still let us run it. Ellie J started for us because she's the best with the starting blocks. She did really well! Next was Eleanor, and she also did really well considering she had just ran a really good 3200! Then it was me, I started out really fast and wondered if I was going too fast for myself, but when I was halfway through the backstretch I decided I was going to keep this pace and pick it up. I ended up PR'ing by about 6 seconds, 68 :) I handed Ellie L the baton and it was a beautiful handoff! She beat her 63 goal with a 62, way to go! I did maybe a quarter mile cool down while watching the boys 4x400 before heading to the bus to go to sleep and get home. Congratulations to everyone today! And a big shoutout to our boys Medley, only .60 seconds away from qualifying for state! Next week for sure!

Today was iffy. I wasn't feeling good, but I wasn't feeling bad either. I went for a short 5 mile loop averaging a 6:56 pace. Weird thing was I didn't really feel like I was going that fast but hey I trust my Garmin. I ran along 14th east to 17th south and along 15th east to 21st south, where I went up to 17th east and went back to 17th south. I was tempted to go down and go home, but I wasn't feeling terribly sick and I felt like I should do more.  I went up to 19th east and over to 13th south, where I went down. I planned to go home from here, but I was only at 3 miles and wanted to do more, so I ran over on 17th east to 9th south and entered the gulley. It was fun to run there, I felt really relaxed. I exited the gulley at 15th east and then ran home from there. I feel pretty good about this run and I think I'm gonna run in the gulley more often.

Today I had to leave workout after warmup and drills because of work. Should be fun.

I'm currently blogging at work because there are no customers and all the dishes are done. I ran my speed earlier during my free period. I ran from my house along 15th East and Greenwood Terrace down Sunnyside to the track. I ran 1 mile speed changes and payed close attention to the wind. I knew it was going to be horrible. My mile splits were wupposed to be at 2 mile pace, so I hit 1:27, 2:49, 4:26, and 5:51. Fun stuff. I ran a lap recovery and then went into my 1200. I didn't pay attention to my splits, but my final time was a 4:27. Screwy. I ran another lap recovery. My 800 was a 2:55. The wind was also getting worse. I ran another lap recovery. The wind was horrible on the 400 start, but once I got past the first 50M I picked it up a ton and flew. I got a 78, not bad. For a cooldown I threw my sweats back on and ran home. I feel okay about this workout, I just wish it hadn't been so windy. But I do prefer doing speed alone, I always do better because I don't feed off of others paces. I know, bad race technique but whatever helps me get my speed up I'll take. Now I need CUSTOMERS. Erghh.

Today was a really cold day. I ran the team warmup and then my own warmup in my sweats because I was so cold. I did not feel my muscles getting warm. It was awful. For the mile they weren't going to let us wear hoodies or anything, so we were all cold, even while running. Mariah and I took the race out pretty fast, and I figured I could just stick on her and draft and go for the last 300 pass. I passed her, but then my arms froze even more and she passed me back with about 150 to go so I just let her have it today. Ugh. I didn't catch my actual time. I didn't even bother changing out of my spikes because I was in every other event. I ran the 400 in the same heat with Sam and another Bountiful girl, and I was lane 3. I didn't run as fast as I wanted to because I was so frozen. After that I had some time to go take a POTTY break and be a lactard on the toilet. Then I ran the 800. Another Bountiful girl took the race out hard, and I tried to go with her but started feeling sick, and going into the second lap I felt really sick and considered dropping out. The finish hurt really badly and I had to wait in the finish chute for 5 years before being able to go put my sweats back on and cry about my tummy, and Bill still wanted me to run the 800 in the Medley. I basically jogged the whole thing, sorry team. As soon as I finished I went and sat in the bathroom for a while before it was finally time to go. I really hate this weather too. It's too cold and it's April. It needs to be sunny and warm.

Today I didn't have a ride to practice so I ran there. I thought I was going to be late but nobody was ready when I got there so I was able to do the full warmup and drills thingy. Tomorrow is crazy track day! After all that fun stuff we ran down to Liberty. Emmaline and I ran together the long way, going about a 6:45 pace oops. But we felt good. When we got to the drinking fountain, we heard our workouts. I was doing a 4 mile tempo at 6:12 pace. We ran to the starting line and did 4 strides on the grass before starting. My first mile was a 6:09. My second one went down to a 6:19. Ugh. On the next mile my right calf tightened up, so tight I felt like it was going to burst. Then it went really numb, something that's never happened before. What. The. Heck. Leg. Why. Are. You. Doing. This. To. Me. My next mile was a 7:24. Ew. Then I finished my last mile an 8:48, doing all 4 miles in exactly 28 minutes. Poop. We ran to the drinking fountain and I massaged it a bit before running up 13th south to home, since I was already at 9.25. Later I massaged it some more and hopefully it won't ever spaz out again.

Today was Crazy Track day. Black and Blue team is better than Red and White team. Just throwing that out there. We won the Shoe relay, the boys and girls tube run, the obstacle course, and girls 4x100 scooter relay. I was the girl running in the tube relay and the anchor of the scooter. We lost the sponge relay, 4x400 scooters. So yeah the whole thing was a tie so the teams had to play tug of war to determine a tie breaker. Well the rope broke, so we'll just say that Black and Blue won, deal? Okay everyone's cool bye bye. Then we sang Happy Birthday to Austin and Justin before having cake and leaving. Great day!

Yay for speed. We did the usual warmup stuff and then 1 mile warmup 1 mile speed changes. The speed that I was told was a 3:15 1000 and then 5x500. I wasn't feeling too good because of the heavy wind down the backstretch. We were supposed to start at an 800 pace for the first 200, then run the next 600 at 3200 pace, then back up to 800 pace for the last 200. Blech. I didn't even hear my time because the wind was so strong. For the 500s I wasn't mentally into it. I had a really negative attitude but right before the 3rd 500 I decided that I needed an attitude adjustment so I went out hard with the boys. It really helped me, and when the sprinters jumped in at the 300, I was able to draft off of Leo. Thanks Leo! I did this for the rest of the 500s, started strong and drafted. I felt so good to finally be done, until Bill said to do another 1000. What? Nope. I was furious. As we started I yelled "I hate you Bill!" and then my anger fueled me so I guess it's a good thing. I always run better when I'm angry :) After the 1000 I didn't want to do my 200s so I took my shoes off and had a negative attitude. But then I told myself that I could do it, so I put my shoes back on and ran over to the 200 start, where I ran 4 200s with Emmaline and the boys. Emmaline ran them because she wanted to draft the wind for me, but seeing as she's half my size it didn't really work. I appreciate her effort though! After the 3rd 200 I was suddenly very happy. I felt so good and was ready to take on this last 200. When I was done I ran a backwards grass lap barefoot with Emmaline then she had to go so I ran my second one on my own. The grass felt amazing, especially when the water would splash up my shins. I love running in the mud barefoot :)

Today Susannah came and ran a little bit with us! :) We did the usual 2 laps warmup with stretching and drills, then distance ran 3 laps warmup and 3 laps speed changes. I ran them with Susannah and afterwards Tolbert said that my form was better when I ran with her. :) Since she was just doing a run, she left at that point. I went over to the asphalt hills with everyone else and we ran 12 hills. Tomy's Garmin was being stupid, so he took it off and totally destroyed it. It was actually really funny. Once we finished that I ran a grass lap to bring my 4.5 miles up to 5, then I ran 3 more miles barefoot around the football field. Then I did a few Steeplechase drills by jumping up onto the boxes. I really wish we had the screws for the barriers, because we have barriers and stands, we just can't put them together. It's hard because the boxes are too wide. Oh well. I'm going to do some more step-ups this week.

Today I ran a mile of warmup for the 400 with the Ellies. We stayed on the grass because it's softer. When we changed our spikes, the three of us were put into heat 1. I was lane 3. It was slightly windy at the start, which I wasn't too happy about, but I still started fast, flew down the backstretch, and kicked hard. I don't like the open 400, I prefer being the 2nd or 3rd leg in the 4x400, I always run faster with a baton in my hand, and if I have a bit of a running start. Plus I have more adrenaline because I'm doing it for a team. Anyways, I jogged around in my trainers for a little bit before the medley. We had to change around my team because Sophie's shins were hurting, so we threw in Eleanor for a 200 last second. Emmaline was our 400 runner and she never cut into lane 1, always lane 3, so I had a lot of ground to make up. I didn't make it all up, but I still closed quite a bit. I was really ticked off after because my coach didn't catch my 800 time because he was too busy keeping track of his favorite. But I do know my 800 was faster than that. I ran a little bit of a cooldown and was too ticked off to stay, so I went home and picked up my sweats later.

Today we did the usual stuff and then the distance workout. We ran 6 laps of the bleachers and drills, starting with high knees then buttkicks, powerskips, grapevines, lunges, reaches, and calves. I stayed relaxed and drafted from the boys. Once that was done we ran 2 chasing 300s. My first one was a 51 and I caught the person in front of me and wasn't caught by the person behind me. We switched the order we were in on the next one, and one of the guys passed me. I ran a 50 on this one. Then for the 15 minute cooldown I ran barefoot laps on the football field just because running barefoot is the best.

The usual half mile warmup and drills. Then we ran 1 mile warmup, 1 mile speed changes, and 1 mile cooldown. Simple.

Today was the Davis Invitational! I was in the open 1600, Medley, 3200, and 4x400. First I ran a 1 mile loop warmup by myself in my sweats to warm up for the 1600. Once I checked in I did a couple of strides and got to talk to Miranda. We were both in the 2nd heat. I was seeded 18. I was in the second alley at the start. I went out the hardest in my alley and when I got to cut in I was about 4th or 5th place. My first lap was a 77, then my 800 a 2:41, on pace for a 5:22. I ran my next lap at a 4:04, then I felt like I was dying. Everyone around me was kicking and I slipped a little and ended up with a 5:35. Oh well, it gave me a better 800 time.

I went to our team tent and elevated my legs on the fence for a few minutes, which helped drain the lactic from my legs and helped me save my energy. I was in the Medley with Sam, Merry, and Ellie L. I ran 1 mile warmup before checking us in. When we went to the field we did some strides and then it was time to race. Sam got a really good start, then Merry helped take us up a few places. Ellie held our 5th place position then outkicked the girl in 4th so we were in 4th when I started, and I didn't have that much ground to make up. I didn't want to make it all up in the first lap then lose it all on the second lap, so I took it one girl at a time. When I moved up to 3rd the girl was pretty good about trying to stay with me, so I used one of my better surges on her and focused on 2nd and 1t place, who were battling like crazy. I caught up to them then the Copper Hills girl started to kick like crazy when she realized that I had her. I tried to stay with her but she had a better kick. Oh well, we PR'd and were 4 seconds away from qualifying for state, plus we all got silver medals!

I took my spikes off and walked around barefoot for a minute before putting them back on and running some strides before the 3200. It was really hot outside at this point. I was seeded 1 in the 3200, and at the line some nice lady gave me a cup of water to pour all over myself before starting, which helped. The girl next to me at the starting line ran out hard, but along the first backstretch I took the lead. On the homestretch my cousin Michaela came up to the lead with me, which was fun because I was running with my cousin:) On the 3rd lap Emily from Park City came with us on the backstretch and went for a pass. I tried to tell Michaela to come with, but Emily was moving, so I went with her. After about 100 meters with her I lost her and was on my own and the race suddenly got a lot harder. I think the heat was getting to me. On the 5th lap another girl passed me and I couldn't stay with her for the life of me. Then on the last 200 2 more girls passed me while trying to outkick each other. Yeah, no this heat is bad. Oh well I still got a medal and I'm pretty sure I broke 12:)

During the boys 3200 I didn't bother changing out of my spikes because I was in the 4x400 with Leo, Ellie L, and Savannah. It was enough time for me to prepare. Leo gave us a really good start. I was the second leg, and on my 400 we were in 3rd and the 4th place girl passed me but instead of letting her go I held onto her and had a great handoff with Ellie. She gained on the girl, but their 4th runner was really fast and Savannah had to battle her the whole time. She still did amazing though! I've heard that I ran a 67, but I'm not sure yet.

I was finally done with all my events! My legs are so dead right now. I'm exhausted. I ran 1 mile cooldown on my loop, then put my medals on and went home. Now it's time for a massage! 

Today was speed. It wasn't really that hard, but there was a ton of lactic in my legs and they just felt super heavy, plus I didn't have my flats and my trainers were just weighing me down. It got pretty mental. I just didn't want to do 1000's today which gave me a negative attitude. We did our usual warm up stuff and then 2 sets of 300, 1000, 600, 3 x 300. My first 300 was a 57, then on the 1000 I ran a 3:45. Ugh. 10 seconds too slow. My 600 I felt better about it mentally because it was like the 1000 minus the worst lap. I ended up running a 2:02, about 15 seconds way too fast. My next 300's were 56, 57, 58. Then we jogged 2 laps before the second set. I ran my 300 in a 55, then lost it again on the 1000 running a 4:25, ugh. Once again my 600 was too fast, 2:04. I don't know, I'm better at shorter distances mentally. My last 300's were 59, 65, 59. Once I was FINALLY done, I took my shoes off and put my legs up against the wall to drain some of the lactic. Then I ran 2 barefoot grass laps cool down and went home.

Today after the usual warm up and such, distance went to the asphalt hill to run 6 hills. I focused on my form on the hills. After that we went to the football field and took our shoes off for 4 laps of barefoot X strides. It was tough because of the wind. Once we put our shoes back on, we did 3 progressive 300's. On my first one I was chasing Emmaline and trying to run away from Rigo. I was barely behind Emma when I finished and ran a 51. On the next one I was chasing Rigo and being chased by Dakota, and I caught Rigo but then got caught by Dakota. I still ran another 51. On the last one I was still chasing Rigo, but this time I think Patrick was chasing me. I caught Rigo again and Patrick didn't catch me, I ran a 49. After the 300's, Bill took us steeplechasers for BYU on Thursday to the shed where we did some stretching. Then I took Olivia, Sarah B, and Flower to run 1 lap and show them where the barrier marks were for steeple. After that lap we did some hurdle drills, jumped over the hurdle a few times, and did wall step thingys. Next we took the barrier and 2 hurdles (since we don't have screws, we have the stands just no screws) over to the sand pit where we set the barrier on the hurdle. It was hard because even though the hurdle was on the lowest setting, putting the barrier on top of it added a few more inches and it was harder to step up onto and over. If I knew what size screws we needed I would just go buy them myself and donate them to the school. After that we all had to go home because we have things to do.