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

Out to the canal trail, then we did two 5:00 push sections at 3.5 with two minute recovery between. They felt relaxed and good. Knee felt about the same as yesterday, so hopefully it'll stay under control. Tomorrow at 4:30 AM we're leaving to go to NOTRE DAME! Yay! (Not yay for leaving at 4:30 am, but for going to Notre Dame.) Easy as PEASY! (GT 332.5)

After a long long morning of traveling, some amazing Chicago Deep Dish pizza and more travel, we went on a little shake-out around the campus of Merrillville High. Thirty minutes with a five-minute push at 3. It would've been easy had I not eaten so much pizza earlier... but it was SO tasty! The race tomorrow is at 4:15 pm. Whew. (GT 336.3)

The race today kinda sucked. And so has typing up this entry!!! This is my third go at it, I had better not have to do it again. So, the race: I started out too fast and died on the last mile. Not a great one, but oh well. I need to get better at these huge, far away races. Anyway, it was fun to be at Notre Dame and run in such a big, crazy, fun race! The first place girl got 16:something. That's insane! (GT 338.8) (DD spike 80.2)

Seventy minutes out-and-back on a paved biking/running trail in Merrilville. As we were running, the SG Marathon was happening, so my brother texted me updates and results as people came in - and I found that it's way hard to text and run at the same time!! We ran pretty quick since we weren't going very far, at least for a Saturday long run. No watch, so a guess on mileage. My hamstrings cramped up tons on the way back, especially my left - no fun! (GT 348)

Hard workout today! We ran way out to Mount Logan Park and did three 2ks. They hurt. That park is so hilly and from this weekend's rain, the grass was really soggy, which made the repeats way hard. On our first one, I accidentally spiked Kim and she has an intense gouge on her ankle - I feel so bad! She did way awesome today, though. I didn't have a watch, so I don't know any of our times, but they felt pretty crappy. The first was pretty good, the second one was really bad and the last one was ok. On the way back to the track, we ran a bit faster and I was glad to be done. It didn't kill me, though, so it'll make me faster!!! :D (GT 354.8) (DD Spike 84)

River trail out-and-back. Most of me felt really good. My hamstring is still super tight, though. (GT 362)

Out on the canal trail with the team today. We did three 7:00 push sections with 2:00 recoveries, then three 45 second sprints with 1:00 recoveries. Pretty average: not amazing, not sucky. So I'm happy - I'll take a not-sucky day anyday! Sleep helps, I think. (GT 368.2)

I need to cut back on my trail running - it's fun, but I don't think it's all that great on my legs. The hills and unevenness don't feel so great on my hamstring and knee. Today, I ran on the canal trail behind Lundstrom park, then got onto the Bonneville trail until it ended, then ran around Kings Nature Park until it connected with the Green Canyon trail. It looked (and smelled) amazing with the colorful leaves on the trees and along the trail. I love the fall! (GT 375.6)

Before the get-go, I was a bit nervous for today's workout, but it turned out really well! We ran out 4 miles on the time-trial course, then back at 6:30/mi pace. My tummy (the quesadillas were a bad idea) and hamstring/knee gave me a bit o' trouble, but my time was somewhere around 25:20 - 6:20/mi pace. Happy with today's workout and glad for the weekend! (GT 384)

It is so COLD! I wanted to cry this morning on our run - it was 36 degrees with windchill down to 26 degrees (25 mph wind with gusts up to 40 mph!). And it's not even Halloween yet. I'm gonna DIE! Anyway, we ran an out and back toward the north - once we got past Hyde Park the wind calmed down and it got to be tolerably cold. Still... brrrrr! We picked it up a bit on the way back, and I wanted to curl up and die, I felt so crappy. But I'm so glad that I got it done early. Yay! And Donna's breakfast was amazing, so that brightened up my morning. :) (GT 394.7)

A surprisingly good Monday workout! We ran to the Lundstrom park and did one 2k, two 1k's and three 600's. The grass was pretty soggy, but at least the snow had melted! The knee only bugged a little, no nasty stomach issues, and no cough. Good stuff. I just realized I left my mittens there... hopefully I can recover them later. I'm excited for the meet this weekend, (my first ever 6k race) 'cause it guarantees a PR, yay! (GT 398.2) (DD spike 87.6)

The road was boring. Ran an hour around town. I'm proud of myself - it was 52 degrees outside and I wore only a t-shirt and shorts - and I didn't freeze! Legs felt kinda crappy. 7:49/mi avg. (GT 405.9)

Easy canyon canal loop this morning (with the Old Main Stairs - ouch). The wind was chilly, but the rest of the run went really well. No GPS, just went by feel. 36:30 total time.

At practice, we did 2.75 out at 8:00/mi pace, then 2.5 back at 6:20/mi pace, and a .25 mini-cooldown - all on the time-trail course. The tempo section felt really relaxed and fast, lots of fun! Then abs and ice and all that joyous stuff. (GT 416)

Easy 45 minutes from the dorm by myself. Chillin'. (GT 421.5)

Ran around on the race course in Terre Haute. It's so cool, the course there is only for cross country! Not a marked-off golf course or park, a place where the sole purpose of all the grass and trees is to be part of a varied-length (4k, 5k, 6k, 8k or 10k) cross country race course. So awesome! Anyway, the run was ok, just way stiff from all the travel. Knee was kinda sucky, too. But I'm way excited for the race tomorrow! Goals: 22:15 or faster, top 5 on the team, top half in the race. Here goes nothing! (GT 427.3)

Got to the race a bit later than we'd planned, so we had a short (15 minute) warmup and a slightly stressful time getting race ready and checked in on time. But we made it!  The first 2k of the race went by really quickly, 7:00 or something similarly fast. Probably was a bit too quick. My next 2k I was a bit weak mentally, just didn't focus as well as I should've and let myself settle a bit too much. The last 2k went reasonably well, though, especially the last 1k . I came across the 5k mark in the 18:40's (that middle 2k really messed up my time, shucks) and started picking off people. As we came down the final stretch up to the finish, I think I passed 20 or more people, plus got to hurdle a couple of girls who went down. Crazy stuff!

So, the overview: overall, it was a solid race. Goal-wise, I was 34 places behind halfway and 17 seconds off my goal time, but I did stay top 5 and ran pretty well. I wasn't totally dead at the end, so I know I could've pushed harder, and I'm really going to work on that middle section. Next race is Conference (in 2 weeks) and I'm ready to start peaking! (GT 431.8) (DD spike 91.3)

Long warmup (to 19th and on the Bonneville trail) to Lundstrom Park, then two 1800s on the grass. We did them in three laps of 600 - first two laps at 6:40/mi pace, then full out on the last lap. First one was 6:57, second was 7:02. Cool down back to the track. Not awful, but my legs are still stiff and tired from Saturday's race and all the traveling. Bleh. (GT 437.3) (DD spike 93.5)

Sixty minute run with three 5:00 pushes at 3.5 pace and 3:00 jog recovery between each. Ok, I guess... still feeling dead. The last fifteen minutes or so, my knee/hamstring was really sucky. Glad for the day off tomorrow. (GT 444.9)

Ran to weights and back. 

Coach told us to take a day off. I went and watched State XC. It was really really odd not to be running there.

Yesterday, I made it past 2000 miles this year - one of my New Year's Resolutions! 

Easy run around town for an hour. Then weights. After, we got all sorts of USU gear: bag, t-shirt, long sleeve dri-fit, short-sleeve dri-fit, spandex, long shorts and warmup pants! Sweet stuff! (GT 452.3)

Ran to 2nd dam at 8:00 pace, then ran back. Coach let us think we'd be running the whole way back at tempo (6:45) pace, but about a quarter mile after we crested the huge hill, he had us stop the tempo. So, first 3 miles back were at 6:13 (trail), 6:18 (trail and road) and 6:50 (big hill). Then we just ran the short way back to the track as our cooldown. Knee still sucky, but a pretty good workout. (GT 461.3)

Slept in late and went for an easy run by myself. Just meandered around to Providence with some detours at parks and trails, then back to my dorm until my time was up. Nothing spectacular, just happy to be done. I need new shoes. (GT 471)

Warm up to the middle school, then three 1k's and one 1800m acceleration. 3:38, 3:33, ~3:30 for the 1ks. Then 7:09 on the 1800m -we started at 8:00/mi pace and increased pace every 200m- the last 200m we were going at about 5:15/mi pace! Knee gave me more trouble, but it'll be ok for the rest of the season hopefully. Definitely I'll be ready for Conference on Saturday! WAC Champs! (GT 474.5) (DD spike 96)

Easy out-and-back on the time-trail course by my lonesome. Beautiful morning + tired legs + perfect weather + sore knee = average run. (GT 481.6) 

Forgot we were meeting at the middle school today, so I ran really fast on the way there and I was still late. Oh well. We did grass 800's (2:47, 2:42, 2:45) and some 20 sec strides after. Pretty good. I feel lopsided. :( (GT 484.6) (DD spike 97.8)

Go get it! WAC CHAMPS!

Easy fun run with lots of Logan FRBers at early AM!

Once we got to Las Cruces, I ran around for a few minutes with Ash and Ali to get a bit of stiffeness out of the legs. (GT 490.8)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Ran the course at NM state for tomorrow's meet with a 5-min push in the middle. The course seems pretty sucky, so that's just all more reason to go kick some serious WAC butt tomorrow! (GT 494.5)

GO AGGIES!