Sock tans

Crazy day today! Both a bomb threat at East and crazy track day all in one. Turns out the bomb threat was false. :) I was on the white team and we took second. Packed full of fun relays. Scooter relay, obstacle course (I really can't shot put...) three legged race, inflatable tube relay? Idk what to call it, and the shoe thing too :) fun fun fun, after which we did an easy 4 miler to Sugarhouse via 15th then back along 13th.

Today was BYU. It was the 3200. I warmed up for about a mile, then went over to the bull pen where we were seeded and then did some strides on the track.

I got out okay, people were elbowing like crazy that first lap. I was a bit annoyed because they didn't have anyone yelling splits and the time didn't show until well into it. I don't even know my mile split. Three laps to go I was on pace at 7:02, but that was where it started to hurt and I it separated from the pack. I should have gone with them. When Bill yelled to go around four girls right in front of me I should have, I just didn't believe I could hold them off so I didn't want to, and they were speeding up. I should have though because then I would have had energy from passing them. I slowed down a ton and got 11:41. I'm really mad at myself. I could have state qualified and I just didn't want it enough.

I did a 2 mile cool down with a ton of other 3200 runners from other teams, the group was huge and it reminded me of cross country :) although we went a lot slower than I was expecting. Huh.

I have the 1600 and 800 tomorrow, and I think what I'll do differently is prepare myself better tonight, get enough sleep, and warm up more before the race. And during the race, I will actually race it, when I was talking to Bill he made a good point and made me realize that I haven't been racing at races, I've been using them as a run. I have just tried to hit a certain time and when my plan fails I quit. I haven't had the umph that I need, the "you're not gonna beat me" attitude. I just need to figure out how to have that attitude. 

Day 2. I warmed up for the 1600 for about a mile, then grabbed my spikes and headed over to the bull pen. I stretched, then did speed changes along the far fence, going back and forth. Then did a couple drills and some strides once we got on the track. 
I was seeded 14th in my heat, right after Angie. It went out way fast, I came through the 400 at 72. I almost panicked because that is like 800 pace, but I just told myself it was okay and it would turn out alright, just don't slow down a ton. I was in the front half of the pack which was good. 800 was around 2:34 I think? I don't really remember. I started to get passed and then last lap I tried to stick with a couple of girls and told myself that was State qualifying if I went with them, but they gapped me and I couldn't close it. I was way disappointed because I really wanted to qualify, but it was a PR so I guess I should be happy. 

Then I cooled down with Angie for 15 minutes, I'm counting it as 1.75.

I stretched and elevated my legs, to get ready for the 800. Then did another mile of warmup plus strides.

It took me a little bit to get into the rhythm, but once I did I felt fine. The first lap I came through at about 70, then just focused on pushing through and kicking. I finished with a 2:25 which means I slowed down to a 75 last lap, I think I could have worked a bit harder. But it matched my PR!

Then I elevated legs and cooled down/warm up for the medley. Practiced handoffs a bit, ran about a half mile.

When I got the baton we were at 2:05 give or take a little. We were in last, I just focused on closing the gap. I caught up to the next place person and the girl in front of her, started to pass them 200 in. The next person was quite a ways up there, but I tried to close anyway. The last lap I think I was by myself and had a hard time getting myself to kick. I could have worked harder that second lap. But I was happy with how well I closed the gap. We finished with a 4:35 so I ran around a 2:30.

I cooled down for about 3 miles.

I knew I was gonna regret those hot Cheetos. We did normal track warmup, then mile warmup and mile speed changes. Then a lap and started. Workout was four 400s fast. We did a lap between the first two and the last two. I hit 69, 72, 75, 78. I did it all in trainers and man when you're going that fast they feel like weights compared to spikes or flats. On the last 100 of every one of them I felt like I was going to puke, really feeling those Cheetos. My last one was too slow but man my legs hurt and I seriously almost puked. It was a lot harder than it sounded, 4 400s sounds like cake but when you do them fast it's hard. Then did 2 grass laps cool down. 

Today we did normal track warmup, then we did two grass laps warmup, 5 X strides, then two grass laps cool down.

Today was day 1 of region. I warmed up about a mile and a half, stretched, and did another mile. Then i did strides and drills and such.

Came through the 400 at 75, relaxed and came through 800 at about 2:35ish i think. I led the first 3 laps then Lily passed me and i couldnt kick, i felt like i slowed down if anything. 400 left i was at 4 minutes then finished with 5:29 so yeah my last lap was slow. It was so cold though. So i guess for the conditions it was alright.

Cooled down a mile.

Aaaaand for my birthday I get to run 3 races :) I warmed up for the 3200 with Tilda, we ran up to Sunnyside, did like half a lap, then came back, I'm calling it a mile. Then I stretched and warmed up a little more, then did strides and drills.

Some girls got out good in the first 100, but after 100 I took the lead :) Then I just hung on until the end. Haha, slow time but hey I am REGION CHAMPION! I feel bad, I only won because the people seeded in front of me are injured, but hey it feels good to be Region Champ :)

Then I cooled down / warmed up for the 800, I did about 1.5 miles warmup and strides, stretching, and drills.

I got a pretty bad start, everyone flooded in front of me and I got boxed in. But I made my way up, 400 to go I was in 4th. I knew that if I could hold on I could qualify for state, I started to catch up to the girl in 3rd, then with 200 to go told myself to catch her, so I did with like 5 meters left :) I got a 2:28, so it was okay, not my best but it got me qualified! 3rd overall in that.

Then I warmed up for the 4x400 for about 1.5, then strides, stretching and drills again. I feel like I could have done better in it, I didn't run the first 200 too hard, sort of just sped up every 100. I feel bad because I screwed up the handoff, I went too soon which cost us a couple seconds, sorry team :( I think we got 6th.

Then did 2 grass laps cool down.

We went down to Liberty, then did fartlek. It was 10x 1 minute on 1 minute off. We ran on the sidewalk and in 2 laps I was around 19:30, I finished the last "on" at the white square right before the fountain. Then we went long way back up to the track. Legs were a bit tired, but I'm surprised that they haven't been sore lately. Last Saturday I think, I might have overstretched and hurt my knee, it has hurt a little but not much, only when it gets stiff or bend it weird. It's a minor pain though so I'm not really worried about it.

Good workout today. I ran to the track, which is 1.4 miles, then did 3 laps of speed changes, changed into spikes and started. Bill timed me, it was one of the workouts that you don't know whats next until you do it. It was 1000, 800, 2x600s, 2x400s, and a 200. I was supposed to pick it up with 500 left each time to work on a kick, then the 400s with 300 left, and 200 all out. I hit 3:20, 2:38, 2:02, 2:00, 73, 73, 33. I felt a bit sick to my stomach but I find that happens a lot now. My legs were tired by the end :) then I changed shoes and ran back home. I feel stronger now than I did a couple weeks ago, and Bill says I look stronger too :) I think I will do awesome at State. I would love to be around a 5:10 for the 1600, I think I can do it. For the 3200 I'm hoping for a PR, maybe even get it down to 11:20? Who knows! And the 800, I'd like to PR in that too so break 2:25 and get as close to a 2:20 as I can. High goals but if I set my mind to it I can do it, like I did in the workout today. Before the 2nd 600 mentally I was losing focus, but Bill said it was the hardest one and to focus on it so I did, and got a better time than the previous one :) And once I got that one over with I felt good about it and the last bit was easier. Glad to finally have a good speed workout.

Normal track warmup, then mile warmup and mile speed changes, then changed shoes. We did the speed today in relays, my partner was Emmaline. First we did a 4x400 with two people, so shorter recovery between the 2 400s. Then we did a lap and did it again. Then we did a lap and did just one team this time, doing 200s (some of the sprinters did it with us! I've always wanted the sprinters to try a distance workout...) we did 4 200s each. We were supposed to do all of it fast, they weren't timed because it was about effort. Felt pretty good, it was really hard by the end but I worked through it. Felt like a good workout! Mile cool down.

Went to JV Regions to cheer everyone on! At the beginning I went with Garek and Dakota for an easy 6 mile recovery run around Woods Cross. Calves were tight.

Mile warmup, mile speed changes, mile cool down. 

State today! I didn't get as much warmup as I wanted, but oh well. I know what to do tomorrow. I did two laps around the grass and stretched, did two strides, and raced. I didn't feel ready to start but tried to push that from my mind. Came through 400 at a 73, then slowly started to die. My last lap was an 84 even though I was trying to kick.Ug. Really mad about it, that means in the mile I stayed the same speed this year as last year. But I will prove tomorrow in the 3200 that I may be the same speed but I am stronger and can hold a pace longer. :) I've got my strategy all figured out, and this time I am going to race it and not just run it like I did today.

I did about 2 miles of cool down.

Day 2. I got more warmup this time, about 2 miles plus strides.

My plan was to relax first lap and not go too fast, even though I knew I was going to be towards the back. I came through at about an 80, then just told myself to stick with the pack. What I didn't anticipate was the group splitting into two groups, once I realize the pack I needed to be with was ahead I tried to catch up. Then I was by myself between the two groups, I should have just done a quick surge and caught up. But I didn't and I crashed and died. I got 11:56, really slow.

Cooled down 1.5. Warmed up 1.5.

I was tired even before I started warming up. I was in third alley with a bountiful girl, they should have just combined third and second alley into one because they only had two each. Oh well. I started too slow and when I cut in I was way behind everyone. Came through at I think a 70, I started to kick with like 200 left, but really kick with 100. In the last 100 meters I caught the bountiful girl, then closed on another girl but she fought and barely beat me. 2:27 which I guess is okay for how tired I was. At least I wasn't last. 

Well seeing as my Junior year pretty much sucked, it has motivated me to train really hard this next year to finally do well. I didn't improve much this year, so I think what I'll do differently is be more consistent with mileage and core. I need to have a good tear next year, so a hard summer of training here I come. A goal I have is to have 4 consecutive weeks of hitting 80. :)

Easy 3 by myself. We're taking this week easy then we'll start up with Cross Country. Can't wait for summer practices! It'll be fun to meet the newbies :)

Bill, Garek, Jakob and I went for an 8 miler today. We went up through the U campus to legacy bridge, then went over to JCC a different way, then through the parking lot over to Red Butte. Then we took the trail to Sunnyside and through This Is The Place and down to the track. It was hilly and I was way tired by the time we were halfway along the trail. My lower calves were killing me when we got to Legacy Bridge so pretty soon into it, which is where I fell off the guys :/ they waited at the trail for me, which was nice, I hung on for a little bit but fell off again. Time to build up strength again, I really felt it today and it was only 8 miles! Oh well. When I got home I rolled out my IT bands and my left one KILLED so I think that's why my knee has been hurting. I also did my core, I'm gonna make that a habit.

Another run today with Bill, Jakob and Garek. Today we went to the gully and did a lap, to Sugarhouse and a lap, then back to the gully and another lap coming out by the church. I fell back after leaving Sugarhouse. I took a wrong turn a little after the church and just came out by guardsman and went down, they went up a little farther and to the drinking fountain at sunnyside. My quads and calves were really hurting today, but I did manage to stay with them longer than yesterday. 8 miles should not have been as hard as it was, it felt like an eternity. And it wasn't quite 8 miles for me. I hope I can get my strength back soon. We were going at a pretty easy pace, they averaged 8:00 miles so I was a little over. Did my core when I got home.

8 miles on Pipeline! The trail felt good, except for the rocky parts. Felt like a good run. I stopped at the turnaround when everyone left cause I needed to go to the bathroom :) so unfortunately I had to run alone on the way back. But I tried to keep a good pace. I felt a lot better than I remember feeling last year, which is good :) did my core when I got home.

Easy 8. I went along Foothill to Thunderbird, along Wasatch to the zoo, down Sunnyside and back home. Felt pretty good, except I think I'm catching a cold because I woke up with a sore throat. At least it waited until after State. My quads hurt too. But I felt like I went at a good pace. Did my core.

Only had time for a little, I feel like it doesn't even count but I thought some would be better than none.

Today I just felt awful, I kinda picked a bad time to run and I'm sick, my throat was burning the whole time. I also felt really short of breath.

Wasatch loop. Felt really good. I couldn't make it to the run after school because I had to go to graphics for extra credit and I had a staff meeting for the summer camp at 4. Can't wait for summer, for the Cross Country morning runs and I'll finally have some money :) I went later when it was cooler and it felt so much better than running in the heat, like yesterday. I actually felt like I went pretty fast, probably the best run I've had in a while :) when I was coming down wasatch for about a minute every time I step I had sharp pain in my knee, went a bit slower at that part, but it went away quickly. Rolled out my IT band and did my core.

Today we drove up to 11th and went from the second drinking fountain to city creek, then went up the road past the gate, then turned around and I stopped at 6.25 with Jakob and Nate cause I didn't feel good. 

Ran up to the track, then went up to foothill to the fountain on foothill, out on the trail to 4 and back a slightly different way. Felt a lot better than yesterday. 

I started out feeling not so great, my calves and quads were hurting. But after about a mile and a half I felt better, I'm starting to feel stronger. The hills don't hurt so bad. We went up to foothill and took adventure run to red butte and then over to JCC through the parking lot. When we got to a building Bill said to go around back, turns out there were a ton of stairs and it didn't quite go through, well I don't like heights very much so I took a slightly different route to avoid the drop onto the stairs, I should've gone where Bill went cause I ended up having to go up more stairs. Oh well. That put me back a little ways, but I caught up. When we got to JCC we went to Popperton and took Shriners run. They turned off the fountain! Not cool. When we got to the bottom of the hill Garek took off and I felt good so I thought why not? I picked it up and was ahead of Bill, Jakob, Nate, and Chris and didn't feel like I was dying, just going at a good pace. I think the difference was that I didn't think of the run as a whole, just what I was doing right then, like when we got to hills I focused on getting my knees up, and going downhill focused on leaning forward, or whatever I felt was  necessary. We did a lap at sunnyside and added to get to 8. It was a pretty good run.

Good run today. I went with Bill and Garek up to pipeline. I ran a mile with Garek first, it was 7:18. Then Bill picked us up and we drove up the canyon. We went to the gulch and back, Garek said I was around 54 minutes so it would have put me around a 7:20 average pace, which I'm pretty happy with, I haven't gone that fast for that long in a long time. Then I ran up to the bathroom but missed it because I had a blond moment, I was looking for it on the left side but it was on the right :) Glad to be having good workouts again.