Finally fell asleep last night around 9:30 after this amazing weekend. I didn't have class today till 2pm, so I left the alarm off and slept until 11am. 13.5 hours straight, this is my new sleep pr. I did an easy run around Lake Padden, taking the hills gingerly since my right knee is acting up. Apparently it's not happy about all the fast cold weather runs. I'm planning to take the next few weeks for some easy mileage, icing all my sore spots, and upping my mileage to pre-championship levels. I'd really like to test the upper limits of my mileage potential, so I'm hoping to get up to 100 mpw this winter, and healing up in the next few weeks will be important. Just wanted to jot down a few thoughts from this season. I can't believe how fantastic the last few months have been. It's been a long, tough journey from the physical therapist in March to 80 mile weeks over the summer, to meeting my new teammates and getting integrated into the system, to struggling through 10k in the snow on Saturday. First thought is that my body likes high mileage. I improved a lot on 80 mpw. My best 10k prior to this was a 32:32 on the roads on a course that may or may not be accurate (it isn't USATF certified, anyway). My first 10k this season was 31:31 on a hilly course. Good things are in order with consistent mileage. Second is that training on a team is incredible. After going mostly solo since high school, it was a weird adjustment running with 20-30 guys every day. I still like to run on my own every now and then, but nothing beats a group of runners. That's a level of crazy you can't get anywhere else. I've got more good memories coming out these few months than I could have hoped for. Third, I understand very little about how to train myself. After feeling invincible at our home meet on Oct 7, I felt like a completely different runner at NCAAs. And I have no idea why. I never felt as good as I did that day at Padden, and it was my 7th week of 80+ miles. I even cut out my Sunday run that week and made up for it on the early part of the week. Why would I feel that good? It doesn't make logical sense. I did 7k of very fast running on Tues, 5 miles of fartlek on Thurs, and raced Sat. And I never felt that good the rest of the season. My sleep habits stayed the same all year, I improved my diet starting in Sept with more vegetables and fruits, and this stayed the same through the season. I took iron supplements starting in Sept and this continued to the end. I don't get it | 