Just one race at a time

Rest day

Today called for 4 X 800 meters at 8.0 (7:30) speed 1% incline.  It was really hard I had to really talk myself through these.  I wanted to quit so many times but did not so I am proud of that.  I came up with a new mantra to help me out "pain doesn't effect my performance or form"  I would say this over and over when I wanted to quit.  Every time I said the word form I would mentally make sure it was correct.

Lifted for legs.

6 easy miles one big hill in the middle but didn't push it too hard (you can tell by the spilts where it is)  I could tell I did a hard work out yesterday.  My legs felt tired but in a good way.

Splits: 8:46, 9:17, 8:53, 9:44, 9:01, 9:08, 

3 miles on a 3% decline first two miles were at 9:13 last mile was at Wasatch Back race pace 8:27 sprinted the last .2 at 7:00

Lifted for legs

Spin

Today was scheduled to be a 6 mile race pace run I ended up doing only 3 with 2 of them at race pace.  I have not really cut down any of my St. George training to taper for the Wasatch Back and today I paid for it big time.  My quads are really sore I just couldn't get moving at all.  I really don't have the Wasatch Back as a goal race however leg 6 had kicked my butt for two years now and this year I wanted to kick back,  I don't run it until 5:30 on Friday so maybe that is enough time to rest I hope so.

splits: 8:49, 9:08, 8:53

Well I have finally come out of my much needed sleep coma, and am trying to write this report.  I hope I can remember what happened two days ago.  I was really sad that we came in almost 40 minutes slower this year than last year until Kim reminded me that they added 7 miles to the course so at out 9:15 average pace we really came in faster this year!

The race really started Thursday night when Kim and my Mom came down and we decorated the vans.  Dan (the driver of van 2) was coaching his son’s baseball game so we decorated his suburban and our van at the same time.  It was really fun and I think they turned out great.  Our team is the ROAD CREW and we had huge DO NOT PASS signs on the back windows.  When we were driving to Logan Kim was laughing at all the cars that were not sure if they could pass me or not!

We drove up Friday morning and got to the start plenty early. We ran into our cute niece Rachelle who was asked to run this race last minute.  She was so cute and happy I would love her to run this race with us next year.  We got everything ready and we were off. 

I started running my first leg at 5:02pm it was not nearly as hot as last year and I was hoping really improve my performance on this leg.   It is seven miles on a really bad dirt road with the first two going straight up and the next 3 straight down.  Right from the get go I could tell I was in much better shape.  I had my first road kill right away.  Soon after that I was passed by a guy in a mullet wig wearing denim over all shorts (team hillbilly) this is where I decided I was only going to race myself.  I knew there were some really fast runners out on the course and I was not going to get down every time I became road kill.  I wanted to run this portion of the race at a 8:27 pace however I could not look down to see how I was doing because the road was so bad every time I tried I about fell.  I really felt good the whole run I think I finally kicked this legs butt even though I didn’t meet my time goal I have really gained some confidence in my training.

Splits:  10:05, 9:40, 8:16, 8:10, 8:25, 9:04, 8:31

My next leg I started at 1:00 am on the dot.  I saw Jeff before I started the leg and asked him not to cry when I “Chicked” him…like that was going to happen!  They changed this leg from last year so I had nothing to compare it to.  They added two more miles to an already hard uphill run.  I have always loved this part of the race though,  it is in the dark so even though it is all uphill you can’t see the hill enough to get psyched out by it.  I just turned on my head light and ran.  I wanted to average 9:50 for this part of the race here are the splits.

Splits: 9:02, 9:35, 9:55, 9:54, 9:51, 10:19, 11:35, 8:47 (.86 mile) I started my Garmin late!

I could really feel the extra two miles at the end of this leg.  Next year I want to improve that 11:35 mile for sure!

By the start of my third leg I was really feeling the race.  I am not sure if it was the rain or what.  Normally by this time in the race we are all hopping out of the van cheering on the other runners and just being silly girls this year we would park the car Mark would hop out and give our runner support and the rest of us would rest in the van and stay warm (thanks Mark!!!).  At this time we got a text from Rachelle (my Neice) and she had blown out her knee one mile into her last run…. So sad!  When I started my run it was raining but it was a warm rain so I just took of my jacked and just ran in my singlet and shorts…I am sure you all know where this is going.  SGM all over again!  When will I learn!  This was only a “flat” as flat as you can get in Utah anyway 3.1 mile leg through the town of Heber.  I was very cold and at one point I saw a cute little shop and though “I could get warm in there and my team will never know” but I didn’t.  I wanted to run this part of the course in 9:00 minute miles.

Splits: 9:03, 8:58, 8:43

After the second mile I had to stop at a stop light that I just missed and two other runners caught me at the light.  I am sure they would have caught me anyway but I was mad that I had to stop an!  My Garmin turned off automatically so I am not sure what my last mile split really was.