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

Nice run from A&R's place here in Ahrensburg. Just went out on an very simple route so as not to get lost and found some pretty great places to run. I like it here. Did my 5x30s pushes near the end of the run. This week I am planning on being MUCH better than last week: I will get 60+ miles and I will do all the prescribed pushes and hopefully some strength training to some degree or another. Probably on Thursday. It is very laid back here, so I hope to run twice on at least one day. (K3 220)

Nice recovery run around Ahrensburg and the surrounding area again. Different route this time, but not super adventurous. Tomorrow I am going to try out a cool biking trail I found. There was this map with tons of different routes all measured out for different loops around the surrounding area, way freaking cool! Running here is super awesome. I wish I could take the road and trail system here back with me to the US. But on another, less whimsical note, I will do my speed work also tomorrow. Today I felt good and relaxed, the calves are a bit tight. (K3 229)

80 minute run today in the forest by Ahrensburg. Very awesome. Warmed up for 18 minutes, then started on my 3x10:00 pushes @ 60. They went very well, might have been a tad fast. Then I did 4x1:00 pushes @ 10, all pushes were with 2:00 walk/jog between. My legs were pretty tired out for the 1:00 pushes. Not so bad though. Then I cooled down all the way back to the house. It was a long time. But I found blackberries, yum! (K239.5)

Nice easy run today, my legs aren't super stiff from the speed workout, though they are a bit from wandering around Hamburg all day. Again today, I ran in the forest, went so far into it that I came back out on the other side! It was fun, the trails were pretty great. Love running! Also, I snagged a few blackberries again. Ah, so tasty. (K3 249.5)

Nice easy run again today. Tried to get to the forest a different way and ended up going in a completely opposite direction. Pretty crazy! But along the road I ended up on, I found a trail to run on, and it ended up intersecting with the trails I ran on yesterday! Woah. It was super awesome. Today's trail was probably the coolest one ever, a nice single track in a somewhat marshy forest place. It was so green and serene and just awesome, overall. Yay! It is a good thing the trails here are so great, it makes getting up to run so easy. (K3 257.3)

Oh man, this run totally kicked my butt! Yesterday I walked around Lübeck forever and saw some super cool stuff (like the Holstentor and some awesome churches and the Lübeck Rathaus). So, then I ran 2 hours pretty early this morning: an out-and-back that ended up going through 2 Ammersbecks, Hoisbuttel,Timmerhorn and all the way to the Kirche in Bargteheide. On the way back, with about 20 minutes to go, I was very done. The slightest uphills slowed me down lots and I am certain my eyes bore the 'look of death.' But, I conquered! And I actually ran back quite a bit faster than it took to run out. Champion. (K3 272.3)

This week, I say that I did pretty freaking awesome. I didn't do strength training, but there wasn't very much available... I did do some abs one evening, but these were minimal. Other than that though, my mileage was good, I got in all the pushes and my long run for the week. It was sweet. Also, I felt like most runs were in a very comforatable groove, so next week I will be kicking it up a notch hopefully. Unless Spela runs me into the ground with touring so many places! We will see.  

Easy 30 minutes on the trail with Žiga by Špela's house after another day of traveling. Hello Slovenia!! (K3 276)

88 minutes - to the track, then from there to a lake near Celje, then back to the track and back home. Not a bad run althogether, ran by some 60 year old guy who was running a titch slower than me and he showed me which trails to take. Felt pretty good until the last mile or so. (K3 287)

Ran to the track again, then warmed up with the distance team of Špela's club team. They were doing a minimal fartlek workout and I needed to do some longer pushes, so I headed out with one adventurous guy and did my 2x15:00 pushes @ 60, then 4x1:00 pushes @ 10, all with 2:00 walk/jog recovery. Felt ok, probably pushed a bit too much on the first couple pushes, as usual. Cooled down and was pretty dead by the time I got back home. Ugh. (K3 297.5)

Left at about 2 am from the train station, rode the train all "morning," then spent all day in Venice with Špela. It was pretty awesome and I am super exhausted! We left by train at about 10 pm and got back to Celje at around 3 am. It was a very long 24 hours, especially since the train was way overcrowded and sleeping was pretty minimal. Crazy stuff. And no, I didn't run. Hate me.

Easy run along the river on the trail by the house. I apparently suck at directions. I tried to do this loop but ended up going into a random field that dead-ended and I tried  to climb up a steep hill to escape, but it ended up going noplace useful. And, I was a genious and managed to touch some stinging nettle enroute. Whee. So little spots on my hand, leg and arm were burning the rest of the evening. I am a total idiot! They went away pretty fast, but it still wasn't enjoyable. (K3 305.5)

Two hours. I died. Partially, I think because I ran kinda late last night. So, I headed out on the river trail for 20 out-and-back, then ran to the lake and back. I felt ok until the turnaround at the lake - at 80 minutes. Yes, you can tell how long my body is used to running every day. It was not super horrible until about a half hour from home I felt super dehydrated and mostly wanted to die. Last week's long run was much much better. (K3 320.5)

Didn't do super well this week, due to my laziness on Monday and the all-day trip on Thursday. However, I feel like it was pretty good. This next week is my last of training on my own! I am planning on doing a very awesome job. And then the next week I am going to die from jetlag and busyness! Woo!

Out and back by the river, then the loop I'd attempted last week. Turned out to be 8k, not 12k. Ugh. So I went exploring to the other end of the river and toward Laško. Also did my 5x30s at 800 effort. Not great, not horrid, just an ok run with a bit of frustration due to having to extend. (K3 330.5)

Just a straight out-and-back on the river trail again. Once the trail goes single track - after about 2.5 miles, it gets really beautiful and I could've run out forever I think. Since it seemed to go on for a few more miles at least, I think I'll try it out for my long run this Saturday. And, best of all - no nettle incidents! (K3 340.5)

Whew. Hard workout today! Mostly was my fault though.... Headed out toward the lake via the track with a warmup of 20 minutes. Then I started on the workout: 20:00 @ 60, then 5x2:30 @ 30 with 2:00 walk/jog rec. Ended up running faster than the prescribed effort, but I felt good so I just wanted to throw down a sweet workout for my last week of solo training. Definitely wore me out, the cooling down sucked out the rest of my dwindling energy and I felt pretty wiped out the rest of the evening. (K3 352.5)

What a horrible run today! I was absolutely exhausted. It didn't help that I ran the crazy workout last night and I ran this morning too. I think I was dragging along at about 2 mph. I was going to run a bit farther, but I couldn't get it out of the legs. Ugh. And my legs really appreciated doing over 550 stairs to get to the Savica waterfall later that day. Yep. (K3 360.5)

Out to the lake again - last time for me. It is so beautiful, I couldn't resist! Stopped and waded in for a bit at the turnaround, then headed back home. Legs started off pretty tired out like yesterday, but felt pretty good by the end. Tomorrow's run is going to be awesome, I have decided. (K3 368.5)

Last long run before XC camp, done and done. My legs felt really fatigued and horrible for the first 30 minutes or so, then finally started to like me for the middle hour and were a bit tired out for the end. So, excepting the first hellish 3-4 miles, it was a pretty great run. And the trail by the river went on forever. It was great. And there were these carved logs that were crocodiles and fish and frogs and lizards. They were great too. I would've taken one home with me if they weren't 20 feet long. All in all, my last run in Europe was great! And so was Europe in general and now I am excited to go back to Logan and have an awesome semester and XC season! WOO! (K3 383.5)

Travel day. Flew for a total of 14 hours, and drove for 3, then went to xc meetings all night. Yuk. (K3 383.5)

Whew. Another tiring day. Slept hardly at all (yay jetlag, again) and woke up early with a sore throat! My favorite.

Met up with the team bright and early and we headed out to Willow Park for the annual time trial. We did it on ~2 mile loop, each lap we increased the pace. Started at GP 7:30/mi, but it was in actuality ~7:10/mi and we did that for the first two laps. Then we picked it up to GP 7:00/mi (actually ~6:50/mi) for the next lap. These first few laps, I felt pretty terrible. My legs felt fatigued and my throat was really raw.

As we started lap number 4, with 19 minutes left of the 60 minute time trial, coach gave us the ok to go as fast as we wanted. Jessie took off like she'd seen a pot of gold ahead and Kim made chase and I attempted to do something similar. I quickly realized that their pace was too much for me to take, so I made chase at a slightly more reasonable speed. A few minutes into this pace, I started feeling really good for the first time and kept pushing it (in hindsight, a bit too much) for the first 10 minutes or so. Then, my exhausted legs started doubting the 5:50/mi pace I'd been throwing down and pulled me back down to a really painful 6:10/mi pace as I prayed for the last 5 minutes to go by faster. Not so! That was possibly the longest 5 minutes of running I've ever done. But, I ended up running ~9 miles and came second to Jessie. It was hard, but fun in a strange way. I wish I'd chilled a bit for the first mile of the "fast as you want" section, but alas, it was still pretty great.

After a long day of unpacking, repacking and traveling, I tried to loosen up my legs with a shakeout at our lodge for camp at Altamont. = Failure. I felt really horrid, with a splitting headache, fatigued everyplace and muchos congestion.  (K3 395.5)

I don't remember how long this run was, I just remember that it was straight uphill near Moon Lake on the rockiest/sandiest thing I've ever seen called a trail. Ran with Hannah for the most part. (400.5)

Again, my memory fails ever-so-slightly. We did a morning workout at camp, still feeling pretty sick. Warmed up on the road and did 3x1 mile at 6:45? then 6:40? and 6:30? I think. Then we cooled down on the way back. I felt pretty horrid. Yay sick! (K3 408.5)

Easy run with the team in Logan. Still feeling sick, though not as bad as Wednesday and Thursday. Did an out-and-back on the canal trail out toward Hyde Park. Buddied up with Steph for the second half. (K3 414)

Long run up Logan Canyon on my own, 100 minutes. Took the river trail and up the single track, then I took a right fork in the trail up and over and it looked like it headed around to connect to the Crimson Trail. I'd like to do some more exploring there! Felt better than I have in few days. Still, not great. (K3 426)

Coach excitedly told us on Friday that this workout was "designed to take us to failure," so I'd planned on an all-out, nearly-pee-your-pants kind of a workout akin to this or this. So, I was actually pleasantly surprised by this one. Warmed up for 20 minutes with the team, then did 9x1k @GP 3:52 (6:08/mi) with 75s rest between. Times ranged from 3:48 to 3:54, mostly right on though. Felt really good for the first 4-5, then had to push for the last ones, the trainers and the huge puddles did make for a tougher workout. Still, I had some juice left after and just chilled with Kim on our 15 minute cooldown. No biggie. :) (K3 436)

Lots of drills with the team before an easy run with Hannah around on the temple/Canyon loop. Stopped by the ATM in the TSC to get dollars to pay for the package as we finished. (K3 442)