I can do it. I will do it NINE times!

What an AMAZING day! I love wonderful days, they just make crappy ones (like yesterday) seem not so lame. After having an awesome day at school (or not, since I only went to about half my classes...hahahaha...), I had a pretty awesome workout. Since I ate Durangos for lunch, I wasn't sure how well that would sit, but it was ok. And I was a little nervous for our first track workout of the season, but mostly just excited! 

So, warmed up on the DI loop with Kenz and Ash, then we did 6x800m repeats on the track with gp 2:35 for first and last and 2:42 for middle 4 (goal mile race pace and current mile race pace) and full recovery between each. They went really well, times were 2:36 - 2:43, 2:40, 2:39, 2:40 - 2:35. First two mostly were easier and flew by, the middle ones were good but harder sticking on pace, then the last one was pretty hard. I need to be more consistent on my first lap/second lap times, since they were not very even (usually something like 1:18, 1:22). Great workout, though! Legs really tired, but in a good way. Then two backwards grass loops cooldown.

Knee is getting tight and sore again, and foot is bugging me more, esp. on uphills. So, I tried calling April and left a message for a massage, then talked to Mark about the foot and he's going to try some metatarsal pad and maybe a bit of taping tomorrow. (DS3 36.3)

Easy slow Summit-light 3 from my house in the AM. The metatarsal pad made the last half of the run less hurty, but the first half was worse. So, maybe we'll try something else. A bit sore and quite tired from yesterday. (Adrenaline 84.2)

Between some performances, I had some time, so I went and did our workout at around 4pm. Ran out to Foremaster and did hills. They were pretty pathetic. My legs were spent and I didn't have all that much confidence going into it, so my times at the start were really lame and they got better as I went. Times: 2:16, 2:11, 2:11, 2:05, 2:01. I really need to work on my first few. Then I ran back. Foot still lame, getting a massage tomorrow morning, so hopefully that'll help. (DS3 43.3)

Got the massage this morning, ouch ouch ouch. Now that the muscles are mostly back in place and not insanely knotted, my hip, knee and foot should be feeling better.

Slow slow slow easy Foremaster run this afternoon. Ran with Ashley for the first 4 miles. We were sick of the Foremaster hill from doing it lots yesterday, so we ran backwards up it. I wouldn't recommend it: it took us almost 5 minutes and made our calves, quads and glutes really tired. But it was fun to do (after the fact) and now we can say we did it! Foot felt lots better than yesterday, knee still a bit sore, but it was more of sore, not tight and painful like before. Yay for the massage! (Adrenaline 90.8)

After, I lifted. It was so hilarious, there were these guys in there that were so full of themselves - they'd lift a bit, then flex and admire themselves in the mirrors, then they'd flex at a different angle and prod at their muscles and make 'intense' faces in the mirror and admire themselves and each other some more and lift a little. I laughed at them a lot. And they thought they were cool. Ha ha ha... what idiots.... :) Then I ran a couple laps on the track barefoot for a cooldown.
 

AM Summit light run, legs feeling really sore, but oddly enough the running part felt way good. Ran watchless and just enjoyed it. Foot was sorer. Angry face. (Adrenaline 93.8)

Dogpound AT in the afternoon. Legs still feeling pretty beat up and dead, though weird and ok-ish for running. I think backwards up Foremaster and lifting made me even sorer. Plus getting my legs attacked in the massage. Miles were 6:31, 6:23, 6:44 and 6:22 pace; 21:15 total time for 3.25 mile AT part. Excited for the long run tomorrow! (DS3 47.8)

Ran with Marcie and Jamie this morning, we started out in Green Springs and ran across town on River Road to Little Valley, they were going 18 miles, so at that point, I split off and looped around S. Bloomington Hills and back home. Turned out almost perfectly 10. Legs dead, but the company was great and they made me run faster, so thanks Marcie for letting me come along! Nice to end the week on a reasonably good note and hopefully I'll have my legs back come Monday. Avg. 7:43/mi; total time 1:18:23. (Adrenaline 104)

Summit light from my house again. Some of the longest 3 miles I've ever run. Foot was pretty sore and I was just feeling off the whole time. But the stars were awesome! (DS3 50.8)

Went on a run out and around Shinob Kibe and back with the guys; it totaled about 7.4 miles. In the middle there was this crazy fun roller-coaster-type hill section for about a half mile on a skinny, dusty path and got nice and dirty for the way back. The wind on the way back was no fun and the run was tiring, but all in all it was lots of fun and I'm excited to do it again sometime! My legs are going to be sore tomorrow! (Adrenaline 111.9)

My prediction of sore legs I made yesterday was correct, and I'm tired. And cold! Long sleeves and shorts was definitely not enough to stay warm this morning, so I froze. I ran the Q-loop; I thought it was shorter than 4, but now I know it's 4.1. Avg. 7:54/mi. (Adrenaline 116)

Today's meet doesn't really count as a race, since we were just running relays and used it as more of a workout than anything. Warmed up with the team, then I ran the 1200m leg of the distance medley (400,800,1200,1600). Was aiming at 3:59 split and got a 3:57, so that was fun. And we won by almost a lap! Then I cooled down and helped run the meet, then warmed up and ran the 800m leg of the sprint medley (200, 200, 400, 800) which was what I actually cared about doing well in and my split in that was 2:26 (though our total time was bad because our 400 runner had to adjust her shorts and accidentally drop the baton in the process).

Then, I randomly ran in the 4x200. It felt really odd to run less than a lap and be done, but it was cool to run such a short race! Later on, I ran in the 4x400m - I ran the first leg and I actually was in first place when I handed off the baton! Sweet! I don't know my split, though. (Shucks.) Total workout today: 1/2wu, 3/4, 3/4cd, 1/2wu, 1/2, 1/8, 1/2wu, 1/4 - I'm rounding this to 4 miles total. Wanted to cool down a bit after, but had to finish putting in results and needed to go home and do my heaps of homework. And eat. (DS3 53.2) (V spike 2.6)

AC in the AM w/Austin and I am so sore! My entire legs and even my forearms and shoulders are dead. So, this morning's run was really slow. (DS3 56.7)

Afternoon bank/mall run with Ashley and Hayley. And it was faster than this morning's run! But my foot still is hurting me, dang it. It was really fun to run with the girls today and I'm way proud of Hay for staying with us the whole run - she's been working really well and I'm excited to see her improve lots! Avg. 8:01/mi. I'll probably be still way sore tomorrow at the meet...oh well! (Adrenaline 121.5)

Goals: Qualify for state in both 800m (< 2:24.85) and 1600m (< 5:22.3) and make it to my choir concert on time after I'm done. :)

WOO HOO! I qualified for state in both the events I ran today!

The 1600 went ok, warmed up way too early because the meet was going SO slow; I felt sore, tired and overall really crappy, my splits were all over the place (something like 1:14, 1:22, 1:24, 1:19 ?), but at least I'm qualified, won the race and broke 5:20 - my time was 5:19.87. So, another season's best but no PR yet. Only 3 seconds off though! 

The 800m was AMAZING! I have no idea how I felt so good with the wind, cold and after feeling so crappy during the 1600m, but this was the best-feeling race I've ever had in the 800m - and a PR! I took off and it just flowed the whole race, splits were 1:10 & 1:12 - sweet! So, I won and qualified in this one, too, plus a PR this early in the season, I'm so excited!

After, I cooled down - first running to get Holt and Mik'L some Reese's at the gas station - then I went off in the neighborhoods of Hurricane and kind of zoned out, so I ended up running 4 miles out there. Oh well! (V spike 4.1) (DS3 62.7)

AC in the AM with Holt. Tired. Didn't wear any watch. Felt slow and dead. Hot shower - woo! (Adrenaline 125)

Afternoon Green Springs 6 with the boys, again easy and good recovery for the sore and tired legs. Boys are weird. But funny! (DS3 69.2)

Ran the "Sprint to Finish" leg (probably 400m or less) of the Great Race at DSC and it hurt. Not only did it hurt my legs, it hurt my ego! The last 15-20m my quads cramped up and I hit a wall and some guy passed me up and beat me by 1 second. Dang it! So, we got 7th overall instead of 6th. Sorry team. (DD spike 43.4)

Met up with Jeff at the school for our long run. My legs were way dead, but I had this harebrained idea that we should go out on the GS/Desert/Middleton loop, so we went out that way. On the first half, it killed me dead(er). The second half was better, but it was still pretty slow tough going for a lot of the run. I had packed along some almonds to see how they were on the run and to test my stomach's ability to handle food while running, so at around 7 miles when I got hungry, I ate 2 of them and they were pretty good! Except they left lots of little bits in my mouth after. I'll keep experimenting! Tiring run, but I'm glad I got it done early and finished off a good week. Avg. 8:04/mi. (Adrenaline 135)

And Senior Ball was AWESOME! (Thanks Jeff!)

AC in the AM with Holt. Ran pretty fast for a Monday morning! Not quite so dead anymore. (DS3 72.7)

Afternoon 5 miler out in Washington to the end of the RV park and back. It was hotter out than I'm used to, I've gotten wimpy with all these balmy 60-70 degree days. I guess it had to come sooner or later... too bad it wasn't later. (Adrenaline 140.5)

400's! I was actually pretty excited for these today, which is kind of psycho! Warmed up on DI, then 10x400m with 1 min jog between (two sets of 4 and one of 2 w/5 min. breaks) GP 1:17 (on 1, 4, 8, 10) and CP 1:20 (the rest). And there was some insane wind attacking us during the repeats which hurt. This is how they went:

1:13 - fun and maybe a bit too fast
1:18 - settled into a pace
1:18 - cruisin'
1:15 - not quite as fast as #1, but still 2 sec under GP

1:16 - with spikes now and had to rein it in a bit
1:18 - still having to remind myself to go slower
1:15 - for fear of the #3 sag, I pushed it - oops - closer to GP
1:15 - dang. getting tired a bit, same as before

1:17 - aimed for 77 and 74 for these two and got better
1:12 - hard last one, the wind was strongest on this one. But done!

Surprisingly, these were easier than I thought they would be and all were at between 2 and 5 seconds under goal pace! Maybe I just am good at making it hurt without noticing it because the cooldown to Harts and back killed me dead. Ha. (DS3 78.2) (V spike 5.6)

AC in the AM at 6:30! Yay for no zero period class today! There were lots of people. I ran with Ashley and Haley and we went pretty fast. 7:53, 7:42, 6:45, so avg. 7:26/mi! I think the ice bath last night after the 400's helped me not be as sore today. (Adrenaline 144)

In the afternoon, we did Dogpound AT. Legs were pretty tired out, but the first couple miles (when we were with the wind) of the AT section felt great and were pretty fast - 6:12, 6:08. Then I hit the hill and the wind and died - 6:31 for the next mile and 6:51/mi pace for the last .33. So total time was 21:06 and average was 6:21/mi - not too bad. I'm actually kind of glad that last 1.3 miles weren't slower. They did not feel nice. Glad we're going easy tomorrow! (DS3 82.8)

Bank run with Austin this morning. Nice and easy! I got the speed sign to get (barely) up to 15 mph on my way down Mall Drive - sweet! Mostly, a nice relaxing run. Except that I had the "Dead Puppies" song stuck in my head the whole run. And my foot's killing me. Oh well! Avg. 8:01/mi. (Adrenaline 149.5)

Ran the Summit light 3 miler in after weeding all morning. Just took it easy and ran w/o the watch. The weather was completely perfect - just warm enough and a light breeze to cool off - I love the spring! (DS3 85.8)

Hills this morning. Last week's were pretty pathetic, so I was determined to make these lots better. And they were! I still think they could've been better, but a solid workout nonetheless. Times were 2:04, 2:03, 2:02, 1:59 and 1:57 (really good compared to last week's 2:16, 2:11, 2:11, 2:05 and 2:01). Pushed it well enough that I was going lots slower than I thought on the way back. Nice out. (DS3 92.1)

Right after that, I went on a 13-mile bike ride with the sprinters. It was really slow and not really much of a workout at all, but I had a fun time talking with people and goofing around. Took forever. Then IHOP!!!!! Yummo!

Afternoon/evening run - Summit light 3. The weather was good, but that was about all that was. Tired, headachy, dehydrated,  and drained. Glad I'm done! (Adrenaline  152.5)

Didn't really want to run when I first left for the run, but after a couple of miles I was really glad I went! Decided to keep all my miles under 8:00 and it felt great just cruising along. Ran the Man-O-War route from my house. Avg. 7:45/mi. (Adrenaline  160.5)

Ran to the Stake Center and back this morning. Kind of zoned out and went too long - 3.4 miles, but oh, well. Tired, took it nice and easy. (DS3 95.5)

Speed work this afternoon. I'm an idiot and I'd just assumed that we were doing a longer run today like we usually do on Mondays, so I brought my slow shoes. They turned out to be really heavy for speed work. Anyway, we did a DI loop warm up, then 2x1200m at mile goal pace - 3:51 (5:08). They ended up pretty lame.

1- 3:57, got a little thrown off by the lack of a split on lap 1, (blaming Holt is fun to do, fun to do, fun to do... ;) took it too easy on the second lap  and it would've been worse except Jeff really helped me push it - thanks! Not great.

2- 3:56, legs were wobbly and tired from the get-go on this one. I pushed really hard, but still didn't get the time down where it was supposed to be. Frustrating and tiring. Though passing Wet Willy was fun... tee hee.

Whiny time! (I put it in Wingdings so you don't have to read it!) My shoes were way too heavy and I felt like they slowed me down lots. The guts were hating me in a starving way and my foot is still hurting and has been for what seems like forever. Mostly I don't feel like I'm getting faster with the speedwork and I should be. Argh. Ok, now I'm done!

Then I did a slow slow backwards DI loop cooldown, tried doing some clapping pushups (failed), got to shoot the gun and scared Mik'L half to death! (Adrenaline 166.5)

AM Summit Light in my sleep. Felt ok, mostly just the same as usual. (Adrenaline 169.5)

Meet this afternoon. Originally I was supposed to do the 400m, 800m and 1600m, but I ended up doing the 100m, 1600m, 400m and pacing Ashley in the 3200m. Green taught me how to use starting blocks for the 100m (I've been begging the coaches to let me do one forever) and I won! But, I didn't beat anybody... :) I was hoping to get less than 15 and I was close, but didn't get it - 15.03. Fun, though!  

Then I did the 1600m. Mostly I wasn't feeling all that great from my gluttony at lunch (so much of Famous Dave's!) and from the hard workout yesterday. So, I was pleasantly surprised to pull off getting .25 slower than my PR, though I felt very very crappy, wobbly and slow. Still, I got a season's best! And I won!

Tried qualifying for BYU in the 400m - and missed by .13 - dang it! But I finally broke 1:05! My time was 1:04.7 and I PRed! I was pretty beat after this one, so I convinced Holt to let me pace Ashley in the 3200m instead of running the 800m.

So, then I ran the 3200m with Ashley. She got a PR by 2 or 3 seconds and did really awesome. My time was around 12:55. Now I'm dead and want to sleep. (DS3 99.3) (DD spike 45.2) (V spike 6.9)

Summit light, so tired and slow. No watch to make me depressed! Done and done! (DS3 102.3)

Another slow recovery run, Chuck-a-rama, first half with Ashley, then picked it up a little on the way back. Sore legs. (Adrenaline 174.1)

Exactly ONE MONTH until Graduation today!!!!!! 

AM Summit light 3 as usual. Freakishly tired as usual. Get more sleep, Ruth! Still sore, but not quite as awful as yesterday. (DS3 105.3)

Afternoon Green Springs 6. Everybody wanted to do Foremaster, but I rebelled. So, I went all by my lonesome! It was a great run. The way out wasn't the best, kinda tiring with all the uphill, but on the way back it was awesome! I just cruised at about 7:00/mi pace the whole way. And I visualized my State Championship 3200m race - it was sweet (I won)!  Glad I went out by myself. Avg. 7:38/mi. (Adrenaline  180.6)

Meet a SUU today; I ran the 400m, 3200m and 2000m steeplechase! First off was the 400m, it went really well - I got 14th overall and PRed with a 1:03.13! Now I'm qualified for BYU in it, so I'll probably get to run it next weekend at the BYU invite. Excited!

Then I ran the 3200m. Warmed up way too early (twice) and finally got to race. Overall it didn't feel very good. Splits (from memory, off in a few spots, but I can't remember) 1:20, 1:27, 1:29, 1:30, 1:28, 1:27, 1:25, 1:19? I dunno. Summat like that. Basically pretty pathetic. Felt sluggish the whole way, like it took all my effort to even go fast at all. Oh well. Glad it's over and glad I won!

And then, finally, the event I'd been waiting for all day: the steeplechase!! By then it was really cold and we had lost our minds almost completely. All us girls running it went crazy at the start line waiting before the race - we were yelling like insanity and playing "Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?" with a button I'd found. Lots of fun! And the race was crazy! We were all so tired from our other races, so it wasn't fast at all. And the water jump was FREEZING! By the end, my legs were totally numb and my arms were well on their way. Then all of us winners did a victory lap and cannon-balled into the water jump! It was SO cold! Sooooooo Gooooood! Oh, and I won this one, too! Lots and lots of fun! Time was 8:03.50 (DS3 107.6) (DD spike 48.5) (V spike 7.2)

Sad I had to miss the second half of the meet for State solo and ensemble festival, but it went well. Our duet got a I- and both our double quartet and Trilogy (madrigal choir) got I's! Sweet!  

Ugh. Out-and-back in Alpine, first half against this insane wind. Legs sore and guts very disagreeable for most of the run and just not into it. First half was pretty slow (8:12/mi avg), then lots quicker on the way back - because of the wind at my back (finally) and my excitement to be DONE. So, total average min/mi ended up 7:52. Not bad for how crappy it felt, I guess. (Adrenaline 190.6)

AM AC with Holt. We went fast. At least fast for the morning. Not too bad. 7:17/mi avg. (Adrenaline 194.1)

At afternoon practice I sucked. Don't want to write about it. My times for 12x400m: 1:19, 1:19, 1:19, 1:16; 1:16, 1:19, 1:22, 1:18; 1:18, 1:19, 1:19, 1:15. Right now I'm just really mad/depressed, but hopefully I can get something out of these later. (DS3 114) (V spike 8.4)

Ok, so I just really felt tired from the get go on these. I tried to keep a good attitude, but that soon went down the drain as well. Last time we did these, they turned out awesome and obviously these weren't so much. One odd thing was the feeling of my throat being really small when I was trying to breathe for most of this workout. And that made me panicky in a hyperventilating way, which probably didn't help matters. Hopefully that never happens again. So, this workout was not what I could've wished for, but I guess sucky workouts just happen. I think I might be starting to get sick, so that could've been a problem in trying to run fast. Whatever the reason, I probably shouldn't have gone so emo after them, but what's done is done and I am better now!

Dogpound AT this afternoon. Another sucky workout! First two miles went well, then I died. Total time was 22:03 (avg. 6:45/mi) with miles at 6:12, 6:21, 7:29 and .25 at 7:31/mi pace. Ouch. Wind was really temperamental and killed me on the last uphill parts. Dead and dead. I'm hoping that this sucking streak of mine runs out before this weekend! (DS3 118.5)

AC in the AM with Holt. Easy and slow. Feeling kinda tired out. (DS3 121.8)

In the afternoon, I first did some handoffs for the medley, then went on a crazy 4-miler with the boys. We ran out to the half-buried car past the Dogpound and back around through some neighborhood to the school and finished up on half a grass loop. Somebody must've paid Rob to sabotage me, since he took me out halfway into our run and I got a nice gouge down my shin for it. Battle wound! But later, I tripped again, so maybe I just have issues... oh well!  Fun run and nice and slow. (Adrenaline 198.6)