Sock tans

Bike and run! I felt good for about 3 miles (2 miles of running) and then started to get tired. The last two miles I was exhausted. But I felt a lot stronger mentally and was able to work through it. I didn't die like I usually do. Maybe it was because I didn't want to let Eleanor down. :) it was a little long. 5.25 running and 5.25 biking. I averaged 7:15 pace for the running, my fastest mile was a 6:31 (the second one) and slowest a 7:50. The hills were hard especially on a bike. When I got home I did the VA loop to get some lactic out and to loosen up. It was slow, 8:20 average pace.

AM:

Slept in and ran in the heat. Did Shriners run again. 7.75.

PM:

Ran with Emmaline for 5.75 and then added to get to 7. 

Today was at Sugarhouse. We went up to 21st and turned and went under the freeway and then down to Alden and backwards cemetery loop, then a half lap on the trail in Sugarhouse. Then 8 strides. A road lap cool down to get to 8. Felt kind of light headed.

Today practice started at the circle which was nice for me :) we went up past foothill to Wasatch and took it past the golf course by the zoo and when we got to the dog park we did strides. Then went up Emigration canyon and I turned early. My knee was hurting and I didn't want to go uphill. 

Today was at Cottonwood complex. We did the hospital loop for warmup then 8 strides. Then we did the region course as 800s except they were really slow. Mine were around 3:20. We had 5 minutes rest to give those who needed it more rest. Then cool down to 8. Felt better than yesterday.

AM:

Today we did JCC. I did the full 8. It started out pretty slow but on the way back I picked it up. I noticed that when I thought of the hills or the run in segments I did better. An improvement I also noticed was that when I was running with the rocks the first 1.6 uphill my arms weren't dead like I remember them being when we did the rock run in the past. The rocks I picked were about the same size too. Anywho, I ran home after that. I finished to 12.

PM:

5.5 miles. Pretty good run, took me about .6 to warm up then slowly picked up the pace and finished at a 6:55 pace. I think the downhill helped me a bit with that. Knee felt okay, plantar fascia hurt a bit but felt good to stretch. And randomly, my shin hurt. Oddly it was all on my left leg. They were minor pains but never can be too careful :)

Accidentally slept in and ran to Liberty in hopes of finding the team. I did a lap once I got there to see if I could find them but I couldn't. Then stretched by the fountain for a while to see if they'd come back there but no. Finally i figured they left the park and decided to do a fartlek. 1 minute on 1 minute off ten times. Then on my cool down I found them. Guess I should've run the other way around the park.

AM:

Ran with Bill, Tomy, Chris, Natalie, Clayton, and Taylor. We did 10 from Bills house. I stopped at the 7/11 about 7 miles into it, so I ran back by myself. I picked up the pace though to try to catch up even though I knew I couldn't. Still felt good to open up. Breakfast after was delicious, big thanks to Bill and Kim!

PM:

Got Jesse to bike beside me. Originally planned to go for 13 to get to 70. I started out feeling kind of crappy, I had pizza literally right before. We went to Sugarhouse and did an outside lap then up 21st and cut through Walmart parking lot to Foothill and went to the drinking fountain. Then went along Wasatch to the second drinking fountain, I got a side ache there. Then had a huge cramp going down 13th (this is where I decided to cut it short and just go to 65.) I learned my lesson: try to front load as much as you can so that you aren't stuck with 23 miles to do on Saturday. Maybe next time I can make it the full 13 when I don't feel like puking or keep getting cramps/side aches.

Today practice was at Sugarhouse. We ran to Tanner Park and got on the trail and went to Foothill, then down Thunderbird to 21st and back to Sugarhouse. I ran with Eleanor for the first part, then stopped to stretch my calves because they were super tight. I had to run by myself on the way back. Went I got back to the park I added 2 miles with Bill and Jakob to get to 10. Felt kind of sluggish like I usually do on mondays. :/

Practice was at Wheeler farm. My carpool got there late so we did warmup while they did strides and such. Got in 1.75 warmup. Then we did fartlek, 3 minutes on 2 minutes off 6 times. My first half was awesome but on the 4th I slipped a bit and fell off Eleanor, Toph and Jakob. My 4th and 5th weren't as good as I wanted, the 6th I told myself to catch Toph. I got close. I caught him on the recovery. I think on the ons I averaged about a 6:20 pace. My first few were closer to 6:00 and last few more like 6:40. Ha. I need to get used to doing speed and fartlek workouts. Cooled down to 9. I was going to run tonight but it was a lightning storm and thought I'd better not.

AM:

Pipeline. We went to the end, then when we turned I was told to be in the front. Being in the front sort of woke me up a bit. When we got to rattlesnake we started a 1 minute on 1 minute off fartlek. 10 times. I was fine until about the 6th one. Then I started to get tired and could only think negatively. I guess I just had the wrong mindset. I was sort of a drama queen when it got to the last 3. Sorry about that, I really didn't want to do it. I tried to walk on the recovery bits but Bill wasn't having that. Haha I just need to think more positive, thanks for keeping me going. Added up the road to 10.

PM:

3 miles. I felt like I was going to puke. Chick-fil-A before running: never again.

AM:

4 miles warmup, we went to the park by the complex and ran around there. When we got back to Cottonwood Complex we did strides then Bessie twice and the apple tree hill twice. Then a mile cool down.

PM:

5 miles around my neighborhood.

Practice was at Liberty. We did a lap and a half warmup, then strides and a lap and a half cool down. First race is tomorrow... That's weird. 

Race today. Warmed up with JV girls, then later with Varsity. Total was 3.25. Strides, drills and stretching before the race. 

Well I sort of took it out too fast. When I realized I was in second I sort of panicked cause I was planning on gauging off of Mary Millika and Eleanor cause I knew they'd be up there. I held it off until about .25 into it then slowed down. Then people were passing and it was uphill and I wasn't matching. It was the hill that screwed me up. That long first mile of uphill. When we got closer to the top I motivated myself to start passing people and told myself that it would be easier if I could get myself to go even a little faster. So I did just that, passed a few people right before the trail. For a while I just stayed at that pace and recovered a bit. Then I told myself to start passing people so I used the downhill and passed a few. There were a couple of places that I twisted my ankle on a rock, luckily none of them hurt it. There was one girl who passed me on the trail, she was going really fast and didn't go with her. She caught up to the girl in front of me and the girl fought her, so I thought I'd try to go with both of them even though they were 10 meters ahead. The girl that passed me gave up and I passed her back. Half mile left came faster than I expected. The gravel sucked and I felt like I wasn't moving. Bill yelled at me with 300 left to catch the two girls in front of me. I debated for about 10 seconds. I was exhausted but tried to, but eventually gave up and focused on just finishing. Plus at the end I almost passed out, I think I might have been dehydrated and it was super hot.

Regrets of the race: the first mile I should have gone out a little slower, but even then I should have gone with people when they passed. I could've pushed the trail part a little harder. The last 300 I should have kicked. Top 7 get shirts and I ended up 8th. I didn't believe in myself. I didn't think I was even in the top 10. 

What I'm happy about: when I wanted to quit I forced myself to keep going. I passed people on the trail instead of getting caught. And, even though I was hoping for top 7, I was 8th when I thought I was much farther back.

This race wasn't what I wanted. But it showed me what I need to work on. I need to be consistently working on core and work on being positive. I sort of have a feel of what XC is like again and it's woken me up and motivated me.

2.25 cool down with the team.

PM:

7.5 miles, VA loop + Shriners run.

AM:

Cemetery run. Felt good until about the 6th mile. Stayed with Bill, Eleanor and Jakob. We started out slow but brought the pace down. My quads hurt. When we got back into Sugarhouse I was really tired, but we added to get to 10. The last mile was really slow.

PM:

Ran 4 miles with Emmaline from my house.

Today practice was at Wheeler Farm. We did the big loop warmup then strides on the grass. Then we went over to the smaller loop and did a fartlek, 2 minutes on 1 minute off, 1 minute on 1 minute off5 times. I ran with Bill for most of it, I kept up until the 5th set. On that set I was trying to stay close though. Felt better about this workout than some of the other fartleks that I've done. Then we cooled down with a big loop and more to get to 10.5 (I forgot that I started my garmin late in the fartlek workout because I was still setting it up when we started, so I was a half mile behind according to my garmin, added more but then realized that I didn't need to. Oh well.)

Today was just a recovery run. We did Shriners run and change the route on the way back to go up by legacy bridge and come back down to foothill and Sunnyside, then added to get to 8. Felt pretty good, didn't push the pace at all and averaged 8:11.

AM:

Morning practice at Sugarhouse. We did the course, then strides and cool down to 4.

PM:

Race! Did warmup with the girls then later with Eleanor and it all totaled 3.25. My legs were a bit tired and I was hungry but whatever. 

I didn't have great position going up the first hill right at the start, it narrowed right before and slowed down and I had a hard time moving up. The hill was slow even though I was trying to pass people. Finally passed along the road at the top, had to do short speed changes to move up. Going down the hill I passed a few, downhill is one of my strengths I think. Then getting close to state hill I flashed back to state last year where I tripped and hurt my knee, which was my breaking point at state, and told myself I was not going to break today. Going up state hill I feel I could have worked harder a few passed me there. Going down I recovered a bit and then around the pond stayed about the same. Going up poker hill was the hardest part, I slipped a bit right there and a few passed me. Bill told me at the top I was close to Mary and sure enough I saw her, I couldn't believe it. Obviously she wasn't having a good race but it kept my spirits up. It took me a bit to recover after that and it wasn't until the downhill that I started to feel good enough to push again. Then the small uphill was again difficult. But I worked through it and pushed all along the pond. Coming at the end of the pond I was struggling, across the bridge and really struggled to get myself moving. I picked it up a bit though. Then I started to kick where I told myself I wa going to start kicking which was where we made our final turn. I passed a girl, my kick was slow and steady. The girl sprinted past me right at the last second so that was disappointing. But overall I'm happy with it it's my best on the course, best this season, and best this early in the season (I think.) I stayed mentally tough and worked through it when I wanted to quit.

Cooled down with Bill, Eleanor and Chris. 

Ow. My Calves. They're dying. Wearing spikes for the first time in months is probably what did it. They hurt so bad, I didn't do the mile of speed changes we were supposed to do. I ran to Liberty and then we ran over to the granite track I think it was, and then that's when I split from the group and went up to 7th and back to liberty. Added a bit at liberty to get to 8. Last Summer practice :(

Nice little run with Bill, Chris, Eleanor and Garek. Okay little was the wrong word. LONG. This was the longest run I have done EVER. Previously it was 15. We did rail trail, my first time doing that as well. So we got in elevation training and a long run all in one run. I felt fine until about the 10 mile mark, where I started to get tired. I started to fall off, but didn't let them get too far until about the 12 mile mark, where I stopped for the first time. My legs were tired and I just wanted to walk for a sec. After about a minute I started to run again. Stopped once again around mile 15 cause I was tired. Got to 16 then Bill added a half mile with me to get me to my weekly mileage. Man I'm tired now, but it was a good run. I didn't walk as much as I thought I would, twice is much better than I expected :) and each were only for a minute. My pace was probably way slow by the end, but while I was with the group we were averaging 7:30, for 10 miles of it. Guess the downhill helped with that. It turns out the group had actually picked up the pace when I fell off. So I'm hoping I stayed somewhat the same for at least some of it. Glad I did it, but now it's nap time.

Today we did legacy bridge run through the U campus. I ran with Bill for the first half. We went all the way up to the second gate, then got on a trail instead of the gravel, then went back the same way. I went with the boys when they came up behind me, for those two miles I hit 6:51 and 7:04 using the downhill. When we got back to Sunnyside, I started to go back to the track because I was following Jakob and Toph, then remembered that we were going to add on. So I turned around and took 15th to 17th, (at this point Bill was in front of me, I could see him ahead) and stopped at the fountain on 15th just past 17th. Down to 13th and took it back to 9th and up to the track. I slowed down a lot on 13th. This run felt short, at least compared to Saturday. Felt more like 7 even though it really was 9. Guess that's good though :) 8:10 average pace.

Mile warmup, mile speed changes. Then changed into flats and did two strides on the track. Then we did 3 x 1 mile repeats. I sort of did backwards of what we supposed to do. I was supposed to hit 6:15, 6:10?, 6:00 or a bit under. I actually hit 6:01, 6:10, 6:19. Whoops. But our pacing was terrible, the first one we started too fast with an 82, second we started too slow with a 95, and third I hit 87 while the others were faster, but I didn't want to go with them. Maybe I should've, it would have made the last one easier to hit. Man my core hurt the last one. Time to crack down on core after workouts. Mile cool down.

AM:

VA loop with Eleanor and Jakob. Easy and relaxed.

PM:

Pre-Regions was today, but because of the race on Saturday I didn't race. We want to do well on Saturday and this meet was not very competitive. So I ran to Cottonwood Complex with Eleanor and Jakob. Garek, Chris, and Toph ran there too but they started before us. It was 5.3 miles, averaged 7:13 for that part. Then we added and did the regions course, and 8 strides then to the hospital and back. Finished to 10. I need new shoes BAD. They squeaked on the downhills at the course, Eleanor and I were making fun of them :) I think maybe they're a bit worn down.

I decided to switch shoes cause I noticed my orange ones have 100 miles more than my blue/pink ones, and even though my blue/pink ones aren't new I actually felt a difference. They felt like they had more cushion. We went down to liberty and went long way to the fountain, then did 8 strides and a fartlek around the pond. I ran with Toph. I pushed myself and was happy with it. It was 1 minute on 1 minute off 10 times. Then we went back to the school the long way and added .25 to get to 8.

Went up to Sunnyside and did a lap then to the white tree. We did 8 strides and then 2x800s at about 80%. My times were 2:54 and 2:46. Then finished the lap and back down to the track.

Did about a half mile at the Grass Relays race cheering the team on. Then we hopped on the bus and drove over to the Utah County race. I only got in about a mile of warmup because we got there late. Did a few strides at the start.

In the race I started a little slow, but made my way up to Eleanor and Mary. I ran with them for about a mile, then I started to fall off. First mile was 5:50. I stayed focused and tried to close the gap but I think I just made it stay the same. Then I fell off even more and they got away. I kept working though. Two mile was 12:12. At one point I was trying to hold off some girl I could hear behind me, I held her off for about .75 I'd guess. She passed and I tried to match but she was going fast and I wasn't mentally in for it. Last half mile I tried to catch up to a girl in front of me, she started kicking and I tried to kick too. It's hard for me to switch from the rhythmic run to the full out sprint at the end. I may have been out kicked but I don't remember. I only got passed by 3 girls though, placing 7th.

At first I was disappointed with this race, mostly because it was a slower time than Highland, but then I realized it was over 3 miles while Highland was short of 3. I wish I would have worked the last mile harder though. I feel like I am pretty strong and I have more mental toughness than last year, I have been more focused and have worked through. I still need to work on pushing through pain, I am getting better at it but it gets me sometimes. I did feel kind of tired coming into this race, my quads were a teensy bit sore and my legs a bit worn out. I know my times aren't as fast as I'd like them to be but I hope that by the end of the season when I start to taper they'll go down. 

Did cool down with Eleanor doing loops by where they were giving out awards. This time I was happy to get a medal and a shirt :) no more barely missing one.