Andrea's Running Page

So, I'm just going to pretend that I have posted a journal entry within the last two months -- I've been running during the journal entry dry spell -- but I've just kept a written record of my miles.  I'll try to pick up right where I left off.... 

I got together with a group of friends for some good ol' fashioned speed-work at the Cottonwood track.  The weather conditions were ideal: mostly overcast with a few raindrops, and the sun peeking out on occaison.  I was impressed with the turnout last night -- there were 8 of us (Tracy C., Traci H., Tracy A., Natalie, Jason, Kat, Johnny, and me - plus, Craig showed up as we were wrapping up our workout).  Craig, those are some silly-looking shoes!!  Maybe I'll get some to try 'em out. 

 And now for the important part -- the speed work breakdown:

We warmed up for a mile and a half around the track and stretched out a bit before we began the tough workout.

6x50s -- Natalie and I hung together on these and we were right around 8-9 seconds.  I love these short quick sprints!  Next week we're gonna warm up with some ladders on the cushy Astroturf -- FUN!

4x800s -- Natalie and I hung together on these, too. She's awesome!  She keeps me motivated to push harder (gotta love that friendly competition).  We ran them between 3:05 and 3:13 (obviously, the first two were faster).  And we didn't throw-up, but felt like we should!

1x400s -- this was just for good measure.  It was fun at the end of the workout to give it all we had left.  Jason and Tracy A. were clippin' at our heels the whole time.  It was fun and painful at the same time! 

We cut our cool-down a little short (only a half-mile).  And I stretched a bit while I was watching TV. 

SNOW!!!!  What is up with that??  What was supposed to be a nice June run up in Big Cottonwood Canyon was hampered by the white stuff.  But we still loaded the team up in the big van and headed up to Brighton for some Brighton Loops. I was pretty well shocked by the number of people that showed up (and stayed for the whole workout!).  There were at least 15 of us (I'm trying to remember everyone that was there; Coach, of course, Craig, Jason, Marie, Natalie, Alicia, Amber, Maggie, Tracy C., Tracy A., Christina, Alan, Jennifer, Traci H., and Miriam -- sorry if I missed anyone!). 

Coach Bill had planned between 8-14 intense loops around Brighton (~9000 ft) but due to the road conditions, we cut it short.  I think we went a total of 8 loops, including our two lap warm-up.   Natalie and I started out really strong on the first two or three intense loops, pulling ahead but always to be passed by Craig -- finishing around 6 mins on each loop.  After we both felt a little bit sick'ish, we pulled back a little bit and stayed with the group.   Oh wait, we might have done more than just 8 laps because we went once or twice around for a cool down, too. 

The snow was brutal -- it caked up on my eye brows and lashes.  Can you believe I actually wore shorts under my pants because I thought I'd get too warm?  It makes me laugh to think that I brought sunscreen and bug spray to share with everyone.  Thanks to the person that placed licorice on the road -- that was my motivation to keep running!  

And the highlights of the run were the red-headed woodpecker that we saw (staring back at us), and our conversation about MMA on the ride home.  We had hoped for more miles but the snow just wouldn't have it. Great times!!

[Insert Pitch Fork here!]  Since our "long" run yesterday was cut short by the snow, a small group of us decided to get a few more miles in this morning (being sure not to interfere with anyone's church schedule).  In order to protect the anonymity of the other sinners, I won't name names.  We even had a good conversation about why God would want us to run on Sunday since it's something we enjoy, it relieves stress, etc.  :o)

We met at Wheeler Farm at 7:00 for a little trail run through the park (complete with a geese attack -- I have to laugh because I had never before encountered a mean goose).  Then we ran along Vine Street to the amphitheater-side of Murray Park.  Hardly any traffic along the course.  We finished the run with another lap around the park; this time avoiding the geese.  This was a beautiful run -- so serene and calming.

Highlights of this run: chilly morning with lots of sunshine, Murphy and Jaxton playing, exploring new trails, seeing the baby geese (I know; they're called gosslings), Yoga class afterwards to stretch my muscles, a two-hour nap.  Could it get any better than that!?

Monday night speedwork, woohoo!!!  What a nice evening for speed -- a little chill in the air but clear skies.  Although, I gotta admit that I was already tired even during the warm-up laps.  Let's see, who else showed up: Natalie, Jason, Tracy A., and Tracy C.  As a group, we decided to take it a little easy (thanks, guys, for not making me do 800s) so we would have some energy for our races this weekend. 

Instead, we decided to do some fun drills on the turf (skips and high-knees).  As silly as we probably looked, we really had fun!  We did 4 skips and 4 high-knees to the 50 yard line and then we started out workout.  That turf is so nice and cushy -- you can really catch some air when you're doing the skips! 

For the main workout, we decided that we would do 6x400s.  Natalie and I hung out together again and finished each of our 400s right around 1:36 (or was it 1:26? -- I can't remember).  Anyway, we felt sufficiently beat up when we were done so we knew we were working hard.  It's funny because when she showed up, I said "I'm glad you're here, otherwise I would have slacked off tonight."  She said the same.  We cooled down with another mile and called it a night.

Highlights of this workout: stretching on the turf, silly drills on the turf (I'm glad I'm at a point in my life where I really don't care if people think I look silly!), Natalie's cute, innocent remarks.