Sock tans

Up to the zoo, then VA loop and a lap in the cemetery. 7:49 average. I have a painful cough, headache, sore throat, and bad congestion. Chest was burning on the run, not very fun. Hopefully I can get over it soon.

Happy New Year! 2018 will be a good one.

Wasatch loop to Sunnyside, 7:32 average. Felt drained of energy but headache and throat aren’t so bad. Hattie tested positive for strep so I’m hoping I don’t get that on top of what I have.

VA loop to 1300 E, over to Sugarhouse, a lap around, then back to my parents house along 1500 E. 7:47 average. Still don’t feel too great, but there is a little improvement. I’m hoping it’ll be gone by next week. I’m getting pretty pumped for track season! Our first meet is next weekend, if I travel it’ll be my first collegiate meet in two years. Kind of crazy, but this time around will turn out great!

Felt 10x better than I did two days ago. I still have a cough and congestion but I’m on the tail end of being sick, which is awesome. Energy is coming back. Ended up doing Wasatch + VA loop again, then back up to Foothill to add to 10. 7:13 average. I picked it up a lot on the second half, had 4 miles sub 7:00. 

Shriner’s run, 7:34 average. 

Last run in Salt Lake. Met Angie at Sugarhouse today, both of us felt kind of sluggish. We went along 1500 E to 900 S, down to 1300 E and to the Catholic Church, then back along 13th to the cemetery, a lap in there, and back to Sugarhouse. 7:47 average.

On an unrelated note, the Greatest Showman is a must see. Great music, best movie I’ve seen in a long time.

Had a bad sore throat and nausea, I was worried I caught Hattie’s strep. My mom caught it on Sunday too. So I went to the clinic and got tested, luckily I’m negative. Most likely I caught Tess’s cold, hooray! But Paul told me to stay home from practice and get healthy. When I asked for the workout he said, “It’s called don’t do it so you get healthy” hahaha okay then :) instead I took a nap and it was the longest and greatest thing ever. Ended up doing a few easy miles later on Main Street, 7:45 average. New shoes feel great, my others were shot.

Went to practice prepped to run the 6 minute test, then come to find out that coach doesn’t like us running with sore throats? When he told me I couldn’t run the 6 minute test I’ll admit I was pretty sad. I’ve never done it before and was really excited to do it, felt like I would do well and wanted to see where I’m at. Oh well. Positives are that I got to see the girls again and they all killed it in the 6 minute test, as did the guys!

Another day of little mileage.

5 miles on Canyon with a few girls, turned with Ashley and Alison, 7:02 average. Barely made it in time for the team meeting. Weights later.

I’ll be doing Steeplechase this season, I suppose that steeple could be my race. I’m tall (5’8”) so I think that’ll be an advantage, and I ran great times in the 3200 in high school, which I’m pretty sure is a good indicator of a time you can run in the 3k steeple. 

Steeplechase practice in the morning. I’m starting to get excited for it, I’ve only done steeple once and it was pretty fun. I have terrible form that’s for sure, but the drills and stretches we do will help with that.

Regular practice in the afternoon, today was a 60% on Dikes. We were split into two groups, I was in the second at first. First mile was warmup at 7:19 then started the 60. Our group’s range was 6:35-6:50, I think the other group’s range was 6:15-6:45. Or at least that’s the normal range? 60% pace really isn’t too bad, it got kind of tough at the end but that’s mostly because I was having bathroom issues. Feel good about how I ran considering how I felt. Hit the first mile at 6:37, then after a little into the second mile the faster group was right behind us and Coach told Josie, KaSandra and I to flip for a second and run with them. I stuck on the group for another mile-ish, then started to fade while the cramps hit but I still tried to work through it. My splits went: 6:37, 6:30, 7:15 (good uphill in this one), 6:22 (good downhill), 6:36. Worked with Ash at the end which was real nice. Then strides after. Did another mile on the track but had to call it quits after that because my stomach really hated me.

AM: 4 miles easy

PM: 90 second pickups on Cross Hollows. 6 miles total, watch died so I didn't get the pace. I was exhausted though, I don't think I've eaten enough today. Hip was tight, rolled out and stretched.

10 easy on Dikes + Canyon + Main Street. 7:39 average. 

HR 48

Canyon + Dikes, 7:26 average. Legs were tired.

What a day. 

AM: Steeple practice then 2 miles easy

PM: Probably the hardest workout I’ve ever done, not gonna lie. Definitely the hardest since returning from my mission. I was already tired because I wasn’t smart and stayed up late last night, plus my legs were still dead from I don’t know what. But I went into the workout with a positive attitude and focused on one thing at a time. It was really tough and I gave up mentally at one point, then just decided to push through it and get my butt into gear, no excuses. Reminded me that mentality is everything, I finished strong and I’m happy with that.

Warmups then a mile warmup and strides, then started the workout. Started with a 3k, Coach put me in the second group and our goal was 12:00. I hit 11:43 (6:03 mile split), I really struggled pacing because I was on my own. Splits were all over the place. Next was 6x400s with 90 seconds active recovery. Then 5x400s with 2:00 recovery. Then 3x400s with a lap recovery. I hit

1) 87, 86, 84, 84, 85, 86 (goal pace 88)

2) 91, 90, 85, 84, 86 (goal pace 84)

3) 81, 81, 82 (goal pace 78 or 79)

I know the paces weren’t that quick, but with such a long workout it definitely got tough at the end.

I’m satisfied with it, definitely didn’t do what we were supposed to but I worked hard and that’s what matters. I’m happy that I switched gears and gritted it out instead of letting the 6 more 400s (I actually thought we had 9 or 10 more at that point lol, don’t know what I was thinking) overwhelm me into running 90s for the rest of the workout and/or dropping out. That’s a win in my book.

1 mile cool down. Ice bath after. 

AM: 2 miles easy

PM: 6 miles on Canyon, 7:23 average. Legs are sore, calves and quads especially.

Weights later

AM: Steeple practice

PM: Legs are still sore but there’s improvement! Pre-meet today. 2x400s, strides and starts. Hit 78 on both of them. Cool down to 6. 

AM: 2 miles easy

PM: Race day! First time racing for SUU in 2 years. I’ve missed track meets but wow I’ve forgotten how to race lol. Had a terrible start (forgot how fast races go out), had a good first two laps then had an asthma attack so not the greatest day. Thankfully Sierra had an inhaler, my asthma’s so sporadic that I didn’t even think to bring mine (the last serious I-really-can’t-breathe attack I’ve had was in high school). It was most likely the combination of the high elevation, dry air and first race in so long. Mostly I just feel bad about letting Coach down but he was pretty positive and didn’t seem too worried about it. Altitude conversion would put my time down to about 5:47ish so ehhh. Still not good but whatever. I did what I could.

Later did the 4x400, felt a whole lot better. Ended up PR’ing for the 400 with a 66, hahaha don’t mind my distance slowness. But in all reality I actually was pretty happy with that. 

Difficult day. Depression hit hard this weekend, today was toughest. But, all in all, everything will be fine. Just need to work on mental toughness.

Goals:

Lose 8 more pounds healthily (goal weight: 127-130 pounds), which means: 1800-1900 daily caloric intake

Daily core exercises

Daily steeple stretches

Give best effort at practice every day

Feel better today, I’m getting my drive back. Just a small hiccup, ready to refocus and work hard.

AM: Steeple practice

PM: 50% on Cross Hollows + 15x100m strides at 1500 pace after. Averaged 7:03 including strides.

I have another chance to race this weekend, I thought for sure I’d just be training for a month until the next NAU meet. But I’m excited to try again and hopefully this time I can get a real feel for where I’m at fitness-wise!

Workout was 5x500s, today was rough. Legs were really heavy and I just couldn’t get them to move that quick. My times looked eerily close to the graph of fatigue of Type II muscle fibers, with that perspective I guess that would make sense though, right??  lol. No I know I should’ve been more consistent but what can you do. My legs nearly gave out once or twice, they’re a little more tired than I originally thought. I did my best though and that’s what counts.

Weights later.

I do have to say, being on a collegiate team is so amazing. It’s harder than anything I’ve ever done due to the time commitment and intensity of workouts, but I think I really lucked out. I love my teammates and coaches, the team atmosphere this year is stellar. So cool to have 20+ other girls and 30+ guys on your team with the same drive to improve, with occasional friendly competition in workouts but an overall sense of unity and positivity. Plus I get to continue to do what I love every day with some of the best people.

AM: Steeple practice

PM: 50% today, took advantage of it and went slower. Felt like my legs needed it. Also was pretty windy today, the majority of the group wanted to do hospital loop but Bino, Danielle and I were like... nah. Coming back would literally be the worst, uphill and against the strong winds. So, Canyon instead, the winds coming from the side. Haha but nope they turned so the last bit was against the wind anyway. I added on Main Street and on the track. 8 miles, 7:32 average.

Pre-meet! Warmup, 2 mile loop then strides, 400s and starts. Goal for the 400s was 81-82, hit 77, 80 lol. Just a little fast. Legs feel a little better than yesterday. Started feeling a little hip pain yesterday, but it wasn’t bad. Today after the second 400 it became kind of intense, decided to talk to Nate before going on cool down. Trainers couldn’t figure out what it was specifically but it’s nothing major, just painful. Might be tight piriformis. Ended up calling it after that, better to go easy on it for now. They still said I could race tomorrow so definitely still planning on it! I’m excited :)

AM: 2 miles easy. Hip pain is gone, strange, it’s migrated to my low back. But it’s more of an ache now, much less intense. 

PM: Did about 1.5 warmup with Ashley for the mile, then drills and strides. This time racing I had to mentally tell myself to get out fast because last time was real bad haha. That was good because my heat flew at the start, was still in the back and hit 76 first 400. Then I died but it’s whatever. At first I was really upset that I got yet another slow time, I think I’m a bit too hard on myself sometimes. I want to be back to breaking 5:20 every race, but my body’s just not ready for that yet. I haven’t broken 5:20 in three years, it’ll take some work. I improved 12 seconds from last week though. 5:44 converts to 5:36ish.

Did about .5 cool down with Ashley, then decided to try to sign up for the 3k just because. I was surprised that they let me, but I thought it could be fun. Warmed up another mile. Didn’t have any expectations going into it. Stuck on Ashley for the first lap or two, then settled into a comfortable pace (she was shooting for 10:30 and I knew I couldn’t hold that haha). Ended with 11:42, so not great but I was tired. It converts to 11:25. Good for a second race and good to race the 3k for the first time this season. 

1.6 cool down with Ashley, Bino, and Jacob Francis. 

My calves are incredibly sore from Saturday (3 miles in spikes will do that to you - especially if you normally don’t wear spikes). My legs are still dead tired from last week too, but we didn’t do much last week so? Kind of feel like I’m running myself into the ground if I’m being honest. This week is a week of effort soooo I’m just gonna die. I might talk to coach and ask for a day of recovery tomorrow if I still feel like this.

Today’s workout was 2x1000 with 1 minute rest after both, 2x800 with 90 seconds rest, 2x500s with 2:00 rest, 2x200s with 3 minutes rest. Pace increases as the intervals get shorter, 200s all out. Goal for the 1000s were 3:30-3:45. I hit 3:32, 3:45. Goal for 800s was 2:50-3:00, hit 3:23. Then coach told me to cool down. I’m kind of discouraged but at the same time I’m so dead tired and know I wouldn’t have been able to get the quality out of the workout like I needed if I kept going.

Weights later, today the workout increased.

AM: Steeple practice, did continuous jumps today for 5 minutes and it was actually pretty tiring. Think I will count that plus drills and other jumps as a mile.

PM: 50% run today, hallelujah. I definitely needed it. 8 mile dikes, 7:40 average. 

The workout today: 3x500s and an 800. Hit 94, 1:40, 1:46 and 3:25 (yikes, I gave up halfway through and just told myself to finish). So yeah, not the best, but time to move forward.

Weights later. 

AM: Steeple practice, counting everything we did as a mile.

PM: Workout was 2x50/80 at the track (mile for each), 10x100m strides at 3k pace with 15 seconds recovery. For the 50/80 it’s continuous, the miles at 50% are basically recovery. Time went: 7:22, 5:56, didn’t catch this 50 but it felt like a 7:15-7:20, and finished with a 6:20. First 80 I basically just went off the group, fell off a few seconds in the last 400 but it felt very even and relaxed. I honestly was surprised that I broke 6:00. The last mile at 80% could’ve been better, but overall I’m happy with it. Strides then cooled down 3 miles, 7:37 average.

Legs have recovered a bit, still are sore but feel much better than they did a couple days ago.

Mile warmup then 60% today. Coach had us do it on the track. Range was 6:15-6:45, I felt relaxed. First mile was a 6:18, coach wanted us to stay as a group and I just tucked in at the back. 1.5 in I started to fall off, surged to stay with the pack. Fell off about 10 meters the third lap of the second mile and when I came around by coach he told me to finish the next lap and then go on a distance run. Finished with 12:49 so 6:31 second mile. I was kind of disappointed, I was still well within the range? But coach wants us to stay as a group so I guess as soon as I fell off that was it for me. Anyway, for the little that I did I was happy. I was really relaxed and it didn’t feel too difficult. 4.5 miles cool down on Main Street.

Shout out to those who traveled to NAU this weekend! Not many distance runners went but those who did killed it! Casey broke Cam Levins’ indoor mile record with a 3:55 and Maddy broke 5:00 for the first time with 4:48! Speedy quick. Two sprinters ran the same time and set a new school record and a heptathlete I think also broke into the record book. Our team is going places! Also forgot to mention that last week at UW Angie, Madison and Maddy all broke 17:00 in the 5k. Yep, those are my teammates!

Easy distance run, 10 miles. 7:35 average.

I’m going to bump up my miles next week, I wanted to this week but because of the 4 days of “effort” coach had told us all to drop our miles a little... so I just stayed about the same haha. Going to start my 8, 10, 12  rhythm. 

Today was rough. Did a mile and a half warmup, strides then started. Workout was 5x800s with 90 seconds recovery and 4x400s with a lap recovery. Times went 2:48, 2:57, 3:14, 3:16, 3:23 and missed the first 400 but last 3 were 89, 91, 89. So yeah, really rough day but at least I finished. I was working completely alone for most of the workout. Mile and a half cool down on the turf then ice and stem on my hip/low back because it’s still hurting a bit. 

AM: Ran to steeple, I’ll count steeple as a half mile because we didn’t do as much running today, then another mile and a half afterwards.

PM: Coach’s exact words: “Don’t go faster than 7:25.” Whoops. Only the first mile was above 7:25 sooo there’s that. But today I didn’t mind the faster pace, I actually felt good. Might regret it tomorrow but what can you do. Canyon to Bicent then back to the track and did another mile to finish to 8. We actually sped up at the end haha. Mile splits were 7:29, 7:16, 7:18, 7:12, 7:23, 7:14, 6:52, 6:43. 7:11 average. 

With our failed attempt at 50% yesterday coach had us try again. No faster than 7:25. I went 8 with Madison, we kept it pretty relaxed. Averaged 7:27, then 15x100 meter strides afterwards. 

Weights later, which absolutely destroyed my left quad. Can't tell if it's sore or if I strained it, but it hurts real bad. I think I'll go lighter the next time around.

AM: 2 miles then steeple practice. Quad is fine, just sore.

PM: I’ll admit, when I first heard the workout I was nervous, just because of the rest. But nonetheless, decided to tackle it head on. 15x400s divided into 3 sets, 30 seconds recovery and 2 minutes between sets. Pace was 78-82, I knew before we started that with such little recovery I couldn’t hit that. I wanted to set a goal that seemed manageable, so I decided on 85s. Figured consistency was better than slowly dying as the workout progressed. Warmups, mile warmup, strides, then started

1) 85, 83, 85, 85, 86

2) 84, 83, 85, 86, 85

3) 85, 84, 85, 86, 85

Cool down to 7.

AM: 4 miles easy. Legs were heavy

PM: Warmups and a mile warmup then started the 60%. We did 2 miles on the track, the block lap and added to make a mile, then 2 more miles in the opposite direction on the track. Mentality was not where it should have been to start with (went into it telling myself I could drop after 2 miles) but after 2 miles I told myself to suck it up and finish strong. So I did. Splits were 6:50, 6:53, 6:38, 6:30, 6:35. Total time 33:29, 6:42 average. 

2 miles cool down

Set out when it was 48 and cloudy, 2.5 miles in it was 36 and a blizzard. I’m fine to run in the snow, but when it’s pelting me in the eyes and I can’t see it’s a wee bit miserable. So, ran back home and called it good. Might go out again later if the wind settles down or it stops snowing. 7:41 average.

AM: Got in 3.3 before class

PM: 7 snowy miles at 50%, 7:32 average.

Weights later.

Warmups, mile warmup, strides, then started. Workout was 8x1000s with 1 minute recovery (though it ended up being 1:15-1:30 because we had to run over to the 200 mark). Anyways, hit 3:39, 3:38, 3:39, 3:51, 4:05, 4:04, 4:05, 3:56. (3:52 average). I’ve only ever done 5x1000s before this and usually with more recovery so I was happy with it. My legs got pretty heavy after the fourth one so I did my best to work through it and at least keep it fairly consistent. Definitely put in the effort. 2 miles cool down.

AM: 3.5 miles

PM: Very windy day today. Workout was 3 x 1 mile repeats with 2 laps jog in between. Then ran over the overpass and to a hill for whistle hills. I hit 5:47, 6:09, 6:20. I got tempo stomach in the middle of the second mile, quick bathroom stop in between the last two. So more recovery than I was supposed to get, but oh man it was a painful rest of the workout. Cooled down to 7.5. 

Weights later.

AM: 1.65 miles plus steeple practice

PM: Mile warmup, strides then started. Workout was 1 mile and 12x400s divided into 3 sets, all at the same pace but rest decreased. First set had 90 seconds rest, second 60, third 30.

Mile: 5:48

400s:

1) 83, 81, 82, 84

2) 83, 83, 83, 84

3) 86, 98, 95, 98

Then cooled down to 7. 

Had bad tempo stomach again, was constant from second lap of mile but hit real hard the last set and I just tried to finish. I wish my last set had been better, when the cramps hit hard (felt a bit like knives) I wasn’t very strong mentally either. I probably could have hit faster times. But also considering it’s the third workout of the week it was a good workout and I’m happy with it.

AM: Felt surprisingly decent this morning. 4.5 miles easy

PM: Legs didn’t feel so great later on but it’s all good. 2 mile warmup and strides. Workout was 4x400s with 4 minutes recovery, 4x200s with 2 minutes recovery, and 8x100s with 30 second recovery.

400s: 71, 73, 74, 76

200s: 35, 34, 35, 35

100s: 17, 17, 18, 17, 18, then my watch died but same effort for the next 3.

1 mile cool down

I’m lacking in the speed department but it felt good to do a quicker workout. Maybe next time I’ll actually do it in flats, haha. Also, I’ve been trying to focus more on my recent improvements rather than compare myself so much to my teammates. It’s helped me to have a more positive mentality. I’m starting to close in on my high school fitness level, which is awesome. I’m not quite there yet but compared to a month or so ago I’m getting faster. Even looking at the miles we did this week, two were only 2-3 seconds slower than my fastest “race” this season and felt smooth and relaxed.

9.7 slow miles in Salt Lake. 7:55 average. My legs are dead. 

I’m really tired and my quads are a bit sore. 10 really slow miles in the snow back in Cedar, I know it’s not in 50% range but my legs are still so heavy. 8:03 average. 

AM: Steeple was cancelled, got in 3 miles.

PM: Regular practice ended up being on our own as well. Hooray for recovery week! I will just be covering distance until next week, which will be nice after all that speed. My legs are still pretty tired. 8 miles, 7:34 average.

7 mile 50% on Main Street at 7:19 average then 10x100m strides. Finished to 8. My quads are still feeling it. 

Weights later. 

Also, my shoulder has been hurting since last Thursday/Friday, it has been a little painful to run but luckily arms aren’t as necessary as legs. Then in weights Coach I pressed on my back (my rotator cuff I guess) and had me twist my arm for a while, it feels so much better! Like wow. I’m amazed. It’s still a little painful but comparatively it feels 10x better. I guess I’ll have to be more careful in my coaching class haha. We played badminton last week and I think that’s what did it. 

AM: No steeple, got in 3 miles.

PM: 9 miles, 7:37 average. Windy and cold. 

I’m getting sick. Was going to go 10 but cut it short because my lungs hurt too much. 7:27 average.

7:27 average. Chest is burning and hurts worse when coughing. I hope I can get over this soon.

On another note, my team is KILLING IT at conference this weekend! So many great performances. Just a summary:

Angie - Conference Champ in both the 3k and the 5k

Mike - Conference Champ in 3k, 2nd in the 5k

Kasey - Conference Champ in the mile, 3rd in 800

Matt - 3rd in 5k, 4th in 3k

Tre - Conference Champ in the 60, 2nd in the 200

Justin - Conference Champ in the 400

Devon - 3rd in the 60 hurdles

Conference Champs in Men’s distance medley (Nate, Elijah, Max, Kasey)

Plus many more great performances!

4 miles, 7:29 average. My cough is getting pretty gnarly, whenever I stop running I have a coughing fit for a solid minute. It’s painful and I couldn’t muster up the guts to go longer, so I’m pretty glad that practice is on our own until Friday because it gives me time to recover.

Apparently the majority of the team is taking a couple days completely off of running. I forgot that’s a thing. I always just feel so guilty when I don’t run and the idea of taking days off kind of frightens me, but logically it makes sense. Better not to burn out. I’ll still continue to run anyway because going on short easy runs seems like enough of a break, but I’m also wondering if it might’ve been smarter to rest and get over my cold... I know if I asked Coach he’d say yes but again I just have so much guilt when I don’t run. 

Coughing doesn’t hurt so bad anymore so the run today was a lot nicer. My energy is down though so I still only went 5. 

Windy run. Starting to feel a little better, but I’m still nervous for practice tomorrow. 

Practice today! It wasn’t half as bad as I was expecting. I still didn’t feel great but you know that’s okay. Warmups, 2 mile warmup and strides. Workout was 4x400s with 4 minutes recovery, 4x200s with 2 minutes recovery, then 8x100s with a 100m recovery. With the active recovery I avoided any coughing fits until the end (which I was worried would happen in the middle of the workout) so I was quite happy. Also, the wind was out of control, on one of the 400s a huge gust came and it literally felt like I was gonna be blown off the track haha. You know it’s windy when the football posts are leaning back so far that it legitimately might tip over, Coach told us to run on the other side of it for recovery haha. Anyways!

400s: 76, 74, 76, 84 (the REALLY windy one).

200s: 35, 35, 34, 36 (wind to our backs was nice)

Didn’t time the 100s

1.25 cool down to get to 8.

Super windy still. Tried not to look at my watch because I knew the pace would be slow, 8:01 average. I’m feeling a lot better, though my energy is still a little down. Didn’t eat before I ran, probably contributed to that haha. 

4 days of speed this week, hooray! Today was an 80% and whistle hills. We did a mile on the track, a mile on the block lap and added a little on the track (it ended up being .97), then another mile on the track. I was in the group that was trying to hit 92-95. First mile 6:10 exactly then missed the next two splits but daaaanng my calves were dying. I also just didn’t feel great. Finished with 19:42 (6:38 average). Yeah not good but decent  effort at least. Then over the overpass and did whistle hills (3x15, 20, 25 seconds), then cooled down to 8.

Weights later. 

Side note: Coach said I’m almost borderline between the two groups (Josie’s straight up borderline, yay Jos!) so that’s pretty sweet. Ever since I stopped trying to  hold myself to such high expectations I’ve been able to enjoy running more and actually run faster, so note to self: enjoy the journey and be happy with the small improvements.

AM: 2 miles plus steeple. Today Coach filmed us jumping and we rewatched it in slow motion, we get to me and Coach goes: “What are you jumping, an elephant?” Lol. Apparently I’m jumping really high but my trail leg is coming down too low so I need to work on that. 

PM: Mile warmup then strides. Workout was 8x1000s with 1 minute recovery, but after the 4th coach had a “fun surprise!” For us. Which was decreased recovery to 45 seconds, whooo! I love Coach. He’s so positive knows how to get us to have the right mentality, and even though he jokes about hard twists to workouts being a present it’s actually got some truth to it, because in the end it’ll pay off!

I was put in the second group, our goal was to hit 3:50 (92 a lap). The only downfall was that my group consisted of 800/1500 runners who were only doing 4. Which I thought meant I’d be on my own for the last 4. I did the 5th on my own then remembered that Coach had a surprise for us after the 4th and since I wasn’t in the other group I missed it, so I asked coach and he had me just sit the next 1000 and start with the other group. So really I only had the one shortened recovery time and ended up only doing 7. But it was still a very solid workout. Despite being tired and my legs being sore and heavy I managed to pull off more consistent times than the last time we did it. 

Times went: 3:47, 3:46, 3:52, 3:58, 3:59, 3:53, 4:00. (3:53 average).

Then practiced going over the water barrier which I think is easier than hurdling. I’m not half as bad at it as I was expecting to be, Coach said I didn’t stand out as one that really struggled so whooo! Oh and then 2 miles cool down.

AM: 2 miles easy. I’m pretty sore. 

PM: My goodness that was a hard workout. Mile warmup, strides then started. 20x400s divided into 4 sets, starting with less recovery and increasing recovery with each set. Goal pace started slow then got faster with each set. 

Set 1: 86, 86, 86, 86, 85 (Goal pace 86-88) with 45 seconds recovery between each

2: 84, 85, 83, 83, 84 (Goal pace 83-84) with 1:00 recovery

3: 80, 81, 82, 82, 82 (Goal pace 80-83) with 1:30 recovery

4: 85, 84, 84, 82, 82 (Goal pace 73-79) with 2:00 recovery.

83.6 average. 

I was really struggling that last set, I actually wanted to drop after 15 but decided to finish. I’m glad I stuck it out. I was with the group (Angie, Madison, Julieta and Morgan) all the way up until the last set so I was pretty happy. I died at the end but I finished and that was honestly my best for today.

Cooled down to 9. 

Weights later.

AM: 2 miles and Steeple. Woke up at 4:30 this morning and couldn’t fall back asleep. Strange? Hurdling form is starting to come together. I know my form is still quite awful but it’s not as horrendous as when we first started Steeple practice.

PM: Mile warmup. 60% today at the track. I was exhausted before we even started but I just tried to power through. The first 2 miles were good (6:32, 6:33) then I died and just tried to finish. I’m just glad we’re done with workouts for a while. Finished with 34:23 for 5 miles which is 6:53 average, yikes. Oh well, I tried. Cooled down 2 miles.

8 slow miles on Dikes. My legs are dead. 8:00 average

Wasatch + VA loop and added on Foothill. 13 miles, 7:32 average. I love running in Salt Lake.

AM: Beautiful day today. 7:39 average.

PM: 2 miles with Olivia

HR 42

I’m feeling some pain in my thigh different from other pain I’ve felt before, I’m a little worried about it. I’m going to take some time off until I can get Nate to check it out and err on the side of caution. Better safe than sorry. 

Pain in thigh is gone, hip is pretty tight now. Hip has probably been the culprit all along. Now I feel a little dumb for being so worried about it yesterday. I think I was mostly worried because I realized how stupid it was to do a 13 miler after 4 days of speed... but it felt so good haha. I need to be more careful though. Dikes and Canyon, 7:43 average. Super windy and hail that felt like rocks, yay! The end was pretty nice though.

Coach cancelled practice 10 minutes before and I was already on my way yahoooo. Snowy run with Angie, Morgan, Madison and Alison. 8:00 average cause it was slick. 

Weights later. 

Tough workout. It was pretty windy and I’m sore from weights yesterday. 

Warmups, mile warmup, then 2 laps easy and straight into an 80% for 3 miles. First mile on the track, block lap and added to make a mile, last mile on the track. I tried keeping it more even this time around instead of killing the first mile and dying hard. I like this way better. Hit 6:19, 12:42 (6:23), 19:37 (6:55). That last mile I struggled, again just tried to finish. On the bright side it’s 5 seconds faster than last week’s 80. Next was 9x400s in place of the whistle hills we usually do. I seriously considered just doing 2 and dropping because I felt like crap and mentally didn’t think I could handle it. But, when it got around to it I couldn’t drop. I just couldn’t. I knew I’d hate myself too much. So I took it one at a time and told myself the pace didn’t matter, just finish. I am discouraged that my times were so slow when it felt so hard to run them, but I did what I could. I will have to work on having a better mentality the next time around.

400s: 94, 94, 94, 93, 95, 94, 94, 92, 90.

1.25 cool down to get to 9.

Hip/piriformis is tight again, stretched it out well after practice. Also, I have a minor strain in a tendon in my ankle (forgot the name). It’s been bugging for a good month but I ignored it haha. Probably not good but I knew it was something I could run through. But it flared up pretty bad today. Nate says it’s fine to run on still so sweet! Iced that real well.

Windy run. 7:43 average.

Mind was racing last night and I couldn’t fall asleep. Also was really confused when I woke up from my nap because I had a dream within a dream and I wasn’t sure if I was really awake hahaha. Inception status. 

AM: 3 miles easy

PM: 50% today! But it was still pretty quick because coach wants us to stay as a pack and my group wouldn’t slow down for the life of them (the range is 7:15-7:45). I gave up trying to keep it relaxed like coach also wants because I didn’t want him mad at me for not staying with the pack. Ahhh 50%s are always just a struggle. Cross Hollows, 7:05 average. 15x100m strides after with 15 seconds rest and added to 8. 

Weights later. I was actually amazed because pull-ups and pushups aren’t as hard anymore. Pull-ups are still friggin hard even with the bands, but compared  to earlier in the semester not too bad. 

AM: Steeple practice + 1 mile. My knee’s been bugging for a couple weeks from when I landed bad while practicing the water barrier, but it was going away. I think jumping today aggravated it more. 

PM: 1 mile in Exercise Physiology lab as warmup/cool down for the Wingate test and vertical jump right before practice

Warmups, 1.5 mile warmup, then a few jumps over the barrier before starting the workout. Today was 12x400s, we alternated repeats of regular 400s and 400s with a barrier and a hurdle. First set had 90 seconds rest, next had 60, last had 45. Paces were a little all over the place partially because of the barrier, which is much more intimidating than a hurdle I must say. On one of the repeats, I don’t even know what happened, I just lost confidence going over the barrier and slowed down and did something weird, my trail leg ended up catching the barrier and I biffed it. In front of the guy I’ve been eyeing, no less. But he’s still cute and still talked to me afterwards so. Did a few more repeats and idk if my fall twinged something more in my knee but it was killing. So I dropped, did like .25 cool down and went to the trainers. 

Times: 87 (steeple), 88, 91 (steeple), 91, 92 (steeple), 90, 96 (steeple), 93, 94 (steeple), 91. I did more repeats than I thought so that makes me happy. And considering how sore my legs are it was a half decent workout.

Today's workout was tough. 9x400s followed by an 80% for 3 miles. The 400s had 90 seconds rest and 2:00 between the last one and the 80.

400s: 78, 80, 79, 80, 81, 86, 86, 86, 89 (82.8 average). 

Coach pulled me aside and wanted me to try to stick with the group once I had fallen off, as it's the only way I'll get over that threshold. I really tried, but it was like I hit a wall after the 5th repeat. I'm sad because I feel like I let coach down by not sticking with the group, but I was really trying. But I'm glad that he talked to me because it did help me to focus, and I think that next time I'll be able to hang on longer.

The 80% was a struggle. I was already super tired from the 400s and, I know it's bad and I really just need to get over it, but I wanted to drop again. I know I shouldn't want to, but I hurt so bad. And I know practice is always going to hurt so really I shouldn't complain because what do you expect? But understanding that and pushing through the pain are two totally different things. But I'm getting better at it, slowly but surely. And even though I told myself I wasn't just going to float through workouts anymore with the mentality that I need to just finish, today was honestly such a hard workout that after the first mile of the 80 that's all I could think. Because if I thought about trying to hit a specific pace I knew I wouldn't be able to hit I would mentally lose it. So I have a long ways to go to perfect my mental game, but as for today I did what I could. I'm not satisfied with it, but everyone struggled today and no one was on pace for the 80%. That makes it a little better. 21:47 for 3 miles (7:15 average), yikes.

Weights later. Coach I took one look at us and said, "you guys look really fatigued," so instead of making us go up to workout 2 he said we could do workout 1. That was a little tender mercy.

AM: 1 mile + Steeple. Knee is painful after, probably shouldn’t have jumped. But it was fine during. Anyways, I’m finally starting to understand when I’m supposed to jump. Had a couple decent ones today, and yep I can definitely jump a lot sooner than I have been (my fall on Tuesday was largely caused by jumping too late as well as slowing down right before).

PM: Practice was cancelled due to forcasted rain and strong winds. 50% on Dikes and Canyon earlier to try to avoid the bad weather. Strong winds were definitely there, started sprinkling at the end. 7:43 average

9 miles at 50%, 7:34 average. What a beautiful day!

7:53 average. Very windy

50% today, I was expecting a workout so woo! Main Street and added, 7:08 average. Mid thigh is hurting again and shin is twinging a bit. Knee was good, hip is still tight but not too bad today. Also I’m racing the 5k this weekend and I’m super excited!

Weights later.

AM: 2.5 miles + Steeple. Today things just clicked! Coach said my form looked better than it has all year so I’m stoked about that. 

PM: Steepling while going slow and steepling during repeats feels so different. Leading up to it is so much scarier when going fast. Even though I know I need to pick up speed I’m already going as fast as I do in my speed pickups at steeple practice...it’s just different and I’ll have to practice it more. Also harder to do going into the wind, which was strong again today.

Workout was 6x1000 but wait, there’s more. 3 of them were barrier repeats, meaning each lap had a barrier jump and hurdle jump, total of 6 jumps a repeat. Alternated between normal 1000s and steeple 1000s. 

Times: 3:49 (steeple), 3:54, 4:00 (steeple), 3:57, 4:00 (steeple), 3:55.

Had some pretty intense stomach pain today. Don’t know what’s up with that. Also finally asked Nate about my thigh, it’s weird. He guided me through range of motion and it’s all fine except for one where I lay on my back and bring my knee to my chest as he resists, literally the muscle like twitched or caught both times we tried. It was the strangest feeling. But phew I’m glad it’s just a muscle tightness thing, was worried it was something else because I don’t ever feel a stretch doing quad stretches. Turns out that’s just because my quads are too flexible haha. Never thought I’d have that problem! I feel dumb for assuming that because I didn’t feel anything while “stretching” it wasn’t tight. But in the past I’ve always felt a stretch so... I guess steeple is helping in more ways than one. Nate helped me stretch it for real because I can’t get a stretch by myself and got my quad massaged out. Then iced. 

50% today! Dikes, 7:21 average. Then 10x100 meter strides at 1500 pace with 15 seconds recovery.

Weights later.

AM: Steeple practice. Dylan said not to do the 5 continuous minutes because I’m racing tomorrow, that was a surprise.

PM: Pre-meet with Jake at the East High track. 2x400s, shooting for 86. Hit 86, 84. Felt good. 

Later did 3 easy miles with Olivia

Raced at UVU! Nice day, great racing conditions. Warmed up way too soon because I didn’t realize they were running guys first, but it’s all good. I’d say I ran about a mile plus strides and drills and such. 

There were only 8 of us in the race. I just stuck on the BYU girl for a while and then after like 6 or 7 laps I fell off and died. First mile was a 5:40, 2 mile 12:06 (6:26), yep began to die. I should’ve hung on longer. One girl caught me with 2 laps to go I think but at that point I was struggling real hard, sorta picked it up but not really. Last lap I did a little and gave what I had last 150ish. Not a great race but a good learning experience, good starting point I guess. 

4 mile cool down. 

4 more miles later on VA loop

AM: Shortened Wasatch loop before heading back to Cedar with Jonah. Legs are dead, calves especially, most likely from wearing spikes yesterday for the first time in a while.

Quad has been hurting since I got it massaged out last week and calves are still pretty sore from Friday. Decided to keep today's run short because we're doing 4 days of speed this week starting tomorrow. Buckling up for that.

Went into the training room after, Nate helped me stretch out. Ice and STEM on my quad. It actually seemed to help a lot.

On an unrelated note, I finished my lab for Exercise Physiology and apparently I could be a jumper. Haha. My vertical jump was 59.69 cm (23.5 in) and above 48.3 cm is considered well above average (95th percentile). Based on the highest 5 second interval during the Wingate test, my Peak Anaerobic Power was 832 Watts, which is classified as "elite" (above 730 Watts). My Absolute Anaerobic Capacity was only classified as excellent with 520.7 Watts (elite is above 541 Watts), but my Relative Anaerobic Capacity was classified as elite with 8.3 Watts/kg. So basically if I was a smaller size I might've been elite all around! Lol. To be quite honest I'm surprised at my results, I was sure my Anaerobic power was lacking.

Woke up and Coach had texted that steeplechase practice was cancelled, I gratefully went back to sleep :)

Quad hurt more today but that’s probably because I didn’t heat before. Warmups and 2 mile warmup, strides then started. Workouts were 6x500s for 800 group and 12x500s for 5k group, coach just had us all run together. Today I decided I’d try to go for the right pace and not worry about being able to finish the whole workout, it’s time I work on pacing. Coach said the goal pace for today was 1:45-1:50, which is 84-88 pace. My times went 1:41, 1:42, 1:42, 1:43, 1:43, 1:50 (consistently coming through 400 in 81-82ish on those). The last one was rough, definitely hit my threshold on the 4th. Need to work on pushing through. Coach pulled me after that, kinda disappointed but also grateful because it would’ve been a rough 6 more. Cooled down to 6.5. Then steepled a bit afterwards.

AM: 2 miles easy

PM: Best 80% I’ve done. Decided to just tackle it today. We did a mile warmup then 2 laps on the track, then straight into the 80. Mile on the track, mile on the block lap, mile on the track. First mile was 5:45, then just tried not to let the gap Morgan had on me get much bigger. The last mile was a struggle but I did better at working through than I did in my race on Saturday. Finished with 18:52, that’s a 45 second improvement. Then to the hill over the overpass and did whistle hills, 3 sets of 30, 35, 25. Worked hard on those too. Best workout I’ve had in a long time. 

Then got some really disheartening news. I might have the beginnings of a stress fracture in my thigh. Nate’s leaning towards inflammation of the periosteum but I’m going in for an X-ray tomorrow just to make sure and will get those results on Monday. It’s gotten progressively worse and while I was rolling out my hamstring I felt some sharp pain in my thigh up on top. Quad muscles seem fine, pain is deep. I’m really hoping it’s not a stress fracture, I might cry if it is. I’m finally starting to improve, I don’t want to be set back! But for now I’ll be biking and pool running, I can do a couple miles on the turf tomorrow if it doesn’t hurt it taking a couple minutes break between each mile. 

Weights later, mostly just did the core and upper body stuff.

Coach wouldn’t let me do anything today. No biking, running, or pool running. Went in and got an X-ray, should have those results in 24-48 hours. Nate says that if the X-ray doesn’t show anything I’ll have to get an MRI.

No running, biking or swimming again today. X-ray results are back, no major fractures detected. Nate said he didn’t expect there to be any, apparently stress fractures rarely show up on X-rays. Nate thinks we will have caught it soon enough so it might be a pre-stress fracture (stress reaction), but further imaging is needed to know for sure. I have an appointment with the doctor on Monday.

Core workout for a little over an hour.

Today’s positives:

1) I get to start biking and pool running next week

2) I am a lot stronger than my freshman year self. Back then I could only do like 3 proper pushups in a row. Today I did 3 sets of 15. I also would’ve called it quits after 20 minutes back then. I did well over 100 sit-ups today where 100 used to be a big accomplishment. Planks, Russian twists, wall-sits, lunges, squats, etc. all felt easier than I remember. It was only the V-ups and knee-to-elbow crunches that got me good. Can’t do any jumping but I’m grateful I can still do some things. 

Went to the doctor today and got the order form for an MRI. The doctor thinks it’s just a strain but Nate and Riley both don’t think so because I don’t have any loss of strength. Basically we’ll just see what the MRI tells us. Have yet to be scheduled for an appointment but I should have that scheduled by Thursday (just waiting on my insurance to clear it).

In the meantime I can finally bike and pool run!

Heated and got ultrasound on my quad to comply with what the doctor said. But treatment is the same regardless: rest. No running or anything with impact.

Biked for 30 minutes: 5.08 miles

Weights: Warmups, 4x10 push-ups, 4x15 each alternating V-ups, 2x14each hamstring march, 10 backwards lunges, 3x15 hamstring curls, 3x10 (R, L, both) calf raises. Then quad exercises in the training room. 

Pool: Warmup, 10 minutes at 60, 10 minutes at 80, 10 minutes at 60, and 10 minutes at 80. Cool down. Felt good to do the running motion even if it wasn’t actual running. 

Got my MRI scheduled for tomorrow, I was expecting it to take a while to get in for one so that was a pleasant surprise.

Heat and ultrasound on quad

Biked 30 minutes on a different kind of bike, ended up being 8.03 miles on that one.

3x10 quad exercises (5lbs I think) in training room

Core: 4x(10 pushups, 25 crunches, 1 minute russian twists, 10 each leg backwards lunges), 3x(45 second wall-sits, 15 glute bridges, 10 each leg raises [forgot real name], 10 calf raises).

Pool: Warmup, 5x3 minutes hard effort (imitating 800s) with 60 seconds recovery, 4x90 seconds hard effort (imitating 400s) with 30 seconds recovery. Tough workout, worked hard. Cool down. It is quite satisfying to actually get my heart rate and breathing up, the bike is great but doesn’t do that so well. Wasn’t expecting the pool to either but it actually does!

Heat and ultrasound on quad

Bike for 30 minutes

3x10 quad exercises and ice

Got an MRI on my thigh

Also ran like .15 chasing after my paper/MRI order form that was blowing away. Now my thigh hurts worse while walking. But things are looking up! The guy said they should have my results in 24 hours.

Pool: Warmup, 5x4 minutes, 3x3 minutes, 2x1 minute. All had 1 minute recovery. Cool down. I’m tired today. 

Got my MRI results back today. Well kinda, I looked them up online. It’s a stress reaction. I have yet to find out how bad and depending on that it will determine my recovery time. Will be going in to see the doctor next week to discuss a recovery plan. In the meantime I’m to do no running or impact activity (basically what I’ve been doing), will probably be out for a couple weeks. 

Pool is closed today so bike for 90 minutes. 

Pool is closed again, bike for 90 minutes. First 30 minutes I kept my HR around 125-130, then played around with the settings on the bike and settled on “race,” didn’t like that very much because I couldn’t increase the resistance. Did that for 10 minutes but HR stayed the same. Then went back to the normal setting and bumped up the resistance to 17, kept RPM around 80-85 with HR around 140-145. Did that for 50 minutes.

4x10 push-ups and 4x25 crunches. 

Well, that was a much longer bike ride than intended. Took Kamryn’s bike out, felt good to be on the road again. Ended up out past Kanarraville before I decided to turn. Was originally going for 90 minutes, felt good and went about 55 minutes out then realized I’d had a lot of downhill. Yep took a lot longer to get back. 32.56 miles in 2:22:05. Whoops. 

Bike: An hour on the stationary bike, alternated between level 17 and 19 for resistance and average HR 133. “Distance” was 10.17 miles.

Weights: Warmups, 4x12 walking lunges, 4x12 push-ups, 2x15 hamstring march, 2x7 pull-ups (2 bands), 2x12 alternating V-ups, 3x10 (R, L, Both) calf raises, 3x15 hamstring curls. 

Pool: Warmup, 45 minutes at 60%, cool down. Went in early so I could go to FHE with my boyfriend.

Also, the group of girls I came in with is now down to 4 including me. We started with 12. Granted I took a year off for my mission, so I’m technically a year behind them all, but none of the other girls that left on missions around the same time as me ever came back. Now it’s just me, Maddy, Bino and Brighton. Sad. But at least I can say I’ve stuck it out and don’t plan on ever quitting the team. 

Bike: 1 hour stationary. Alternated between level 15 and 17 today, I’m a little tired. HR 130, 10.7 miles for distance. 

Core: 4x10 push-ups, 4x10 each lunges, 4x10 calf raises, 5 squats (quit because it hurt my femur), 3x10 side leg raises, 3x10 glute bridges, 4x25 crunches, 3x1 minute Russian twists.

Pool: Warmup, 6x4 minutes hard, 1 minute rest, cool down. 

Bike: Stationary for an hour. HR 133, alternated between 16 and 18. 10.98 miles

Weights: Warmups, 4x10 each front/back lunges, 4x12 lateral raises, 4x12 front raises, 3x10 sec each dead bugs, 3x8 horizontal pull-ups.

Didn’t go to the pool today but I should have. I just didn’t have the motivation.

I was tired again. Ended up accidentally taking a 3 hour nap... whoops. Went late to the pool and just called it at that. Might be good to have a little breather anyway so I don’t get tired of doing the same thing every day. Warmup, 80% for 25 minutes, 6x1 minute hard 30 seconds rest, cool down. I’m sore from yesterday? Probably from the lunges in weights. 

On the bright side I hardly feel any pain in my femur now! Squats hurt it, but I no longer feel it when I’m walking. Except for occasionally on hills or stairs, but even then much less pain than before. I have a doctors appointment tomorrow morning to determine a recovery plan, so I’ll know how much longer I’ll be out. I hope it’s not too much longer. 

Met with Dr. Newman this morning. I have to take another 4 weeks completely off of running and then it’ll be a slow progression back to full mileage. So realistically we’re looking at another 2-3 months before I’m back to 10 miles a day. Apparently a stress reaction in the femur is one of the worst places to have one, second only to the hip, because of the femur being one of the strongest bones in the body. Dr. Newman said if it was in my shin or something my recovery time would be less, but because it’s the femur I have to take more time off. So that’s awesome. On the bright side we caught it before it turned into a stress fracture, so the recovery time in comparison to that is significantly less. 

In the meantime, I need to take calcium and vitamin D supplements, cross train and strengthen my back, butt and hamstrings. That will help me to prevent it from recurring when I do start running again.

Bike: 1 hour, alternated between 14 and 16. HR 136, distance 11.49.

Pool: Pool ran with Ashley for 30ish minutes, then messed around with core and swimming for another 30. Then went back to my house and did 10 minutes of abs. 

Bike: 85 minutes, Josie let me borrow hers :) went up the canyon for 25 minutes, then got uncomfortable with how close some cars were passing me. So went back down and took Dikes up to the backroad. Got real tired at 75 minutes. It was a good workout though, those hills were rough. 16 miles

Bike: 15 minute warmup at level 15 (HR 130-135), 30 minutes hard at level 20 (first 20 minutes HR 165-170 then pushed harder for 170-175 last 10 minutes), 15 minutes cool down level 20 (HR 150-155). Total distance 11.15.

Had a good meeting with Coach today, we came up with a plan for when I do start running again and I’m pumped for it. I’m gonna work hard to be in shape for the progression run in August. I’m hoping to finish it this year.

Bike: 60 minutes on the other bike. The HR monitor on that bike was broken so I just went off of effort. Level 11 (out of 20) keeping RPM around 90-100. Talked to coach and I should be trying to keep my HR above 150 on the bike so whoops. Running is so much easier to get HR up than the bike, maybe I’ll try lessening the resistance and increasing RPM?

Pool: Warmup, 3x4 minutes hard 40-45 seconds rest, 3x2:30 hard 1 minute rest, 2x90 seconds hard 1 minute rest. Cool down. 

Bike: 65 minutes, RPM 95-100, Level 17, Distance 13.76, HR 151

Core: 10 minutes of abs with Ashley and Morgan on the turf then walking lunges for 40 yards. 

Pool: 20 minutes at 80% then mimicked whistle hills with 15-45 second hard intervals.

Bike: 60 minutes, HR 145. It’s really hard to keep my heart rate up above 150 on the bike, my quads are just weak. 

Core: 10 minutes of abs with Ashley.

Today I took kind of a breather. I felt like I needed it, life is just crazy right now. Ended up doing about 80 minutes of Zumba with Kamryn, Kaylee and Jomel and just called that my workout for today. 

Bike: 85 minutes, about 15.25 miles (my watch died about a half mile before the end so I’m guessing). It’s freaking windy, almost crashed because a ton of dirt blew into my eyes and I couldn’t see. But I’m alive! Lol Main Street is hard to bike up against such strong winds. 

3 more weeks until I can run again, I’m halfway there.

Hiked 9.5ish miles to the C and back with Josie (steep hills, took about 3.5-4 hours).

Later played Wall-y ball for a little over an hour with a group of friends. Surprisingly nothing hurt my femur, which must mean it’s getting better :) but it still probably wasn’t smart to play. Oh well it was really fun!

45 minutes on the elliptical. 

15 minutes elliptical

Front lunges 4x15 each

Crunches 4x25

4x1 minute Russian twists 

3x10 R, L, Both calf raises

3x45 seconds each side planks

3x1 minute bicycle

3x10 pushups

3x10 glute bridges

15 more minutes elliptical

Bike 30 minutes HR 136 level 17

70 minutes of biking, canyon to dikes and backroad for a ways. 14.49 miles. 

3x25 crunches, 3x10 push-ups. 

Crazy crazy day today, Caleb and Savannah surprised me with an early birthday breakfast (neither of them will be in Cedar next week) so that was really sweet. Then was stressing to turn in 2 assignments I had procrastinated (lol) and went to Ashley and Renee’s graduation, then left early to go camping with Caleb, Savannah, Alysa, Kelly, Kaydon, Jake and Ethan. It was seriously the best time! We hiked to the cliffs (about a 45 minute hike I’d guess) and got the best view of the temple, totally unexpected but really really amazing view. So basically that hike was all I could do today, but it was worth the fun day. Our friend group is so much fun, I’m so sad that most of them are leaving for the summer, and Caleb and Savannah won’t be coming back to SUU next year. But it’s all good, I’m grateful to have had so much fun with them, it helped my upbrupt end to the season not seem so bad. 

Another crazy busy day, got in 30 minutes of biking. 6 miles. 

60 minute bike ride about 12 miles. Pretty hilly. Also, felt some pain today for the first time in a couple weeks. I think it was from not being careful at work (I jumped down from the truck a few times). Now it’s all good,  no pain. I’m so frustrated though because I’m used to running through pain and this is an injury you can’t push through, doing so will only come back to bite you. Anyways, time to be smarter and continue to heal up. 

Today marks 1 full month off of running. Just a little more to go.

Bike: 45 minutes. 

Bike: hilly and windy, 14 miles. About 70-75 minutes. 

3x10 pushups

3x25 crunches

3.5 pull-ups (lol I’m weak)

Forgot my watch again but biked Canyon + Dikes + Cross Hollows again, which I believe was 12-13 miles. Maybe it was 14 haha. So about an hour, maybe more. 

Bike: 10.78 miles, 63 minutes. There’s a storm blowing in, it was pretty windy. Also I’ve biked the steep hill on Dikes every day this week, it’s tough. I’d rather run it. I’d rather run than bike in general, haha. But I’m trying to be patient, I’ve made it this far and can handle another month or two of biking. I’ll be able to add running here shortly, if it doesn’t cause my femur any pain.

Bike: 93 minutes, 16.75 miles. 

Bike: 60 minutes. Level 15, distance 11.8, HR 142.

Nothing today.

First time running in 6 weeks! It felt so good. I was hesitant to try because I was scared my femur would hurt and Nate would tell me to take another week or so off. But I felt no pain in my femur!! I was expecting to be really out of shape too, and I mean it was a bit harder than it should’ve been but I could easily have run 6 or so miles today if I was allowed. It was a 7:06 uphill mile (walked back home) and I felt pretty relaxed. So I know I’ve lost some fitness, but it’s not all gone. And really I’m just stoked I got to run.

Bike: 60 minutes on Canyon + Dikes + Cross Hollows, borrowed Madison’s bike. 12.91 miles.

I’m sore from yesterday’s mile, what the?! I’m using different muscles for the first time in 6 weeks so I guess that makes sense. Because of that Nate wanted me to do an 800, take a break and then finish the last 800. So I started with 15:30 of biking (up Main and back down to the track) which ended up being 3 miles exactly, then did an 800 staying on the turf for the straights and one curve (the steeplechase pit is on one curve so just back to the track for that curve), ended up being 2:57. Would probably add a couple seconds to make it the full 800. Then stretched for a bit and did another in 2:55 keeping to the inside again on the turf. It felt good, and weird, to be running again. Then finished out with 47 more minutes of biking, 9.68 miles. So total biking was 12.68 miles and 1 mile of running. 

Biked for 21 minutes on Canyon then stretched and did a mile running on 200 N. Then finished biking 46 more minutes

Bike total: 14.23 miles, 67 minutes

Running: 1 mile in 6:20 (a little faster than I meant it to be but it felt good).

Total biking: 67 minutes, 14.05 miles

Running: 1 mile in 6:22

I’m feeling some minor off and on pain in the same area my stress reaction was located. Can’t tell if it’s stress reaction pain or if my sartorious muscle is tight again. No pain while doing the fulcrum test with my foam roller though so that’s a positive sign. Unfortunately, I work during the training room open hours but can go in on Thursday. To be safe I’ll be taking another week off of running.

I can feel myself getting impatient with how slow my recovery is coming. It’s very frustrating when all I want to do is go out for a run. But I do recognize the need to be cautious and come back slow. There’s nothing I can do about it.

Biked for an hour.  

Couldn’t get hold of a bike and the training room was locked. I’m hoping I can fit my bike in my car this weekend and bring it to Cedar so I’ll always have access to one. Still waiting on Paul for a pool pass too, but it’s all good. He’s been busy with getting the team ready for conference and regionals. 

Ended up just doing a bunch of core for an hour. Circuits, push-ups, pull-ups, front lunges, crunches, planks, alternating V-ups, glute bridges, calf raises, dead bugs, bicycle, Russian twists, and so on.

Just took today off. 

Went to the training room today, the other Nate did the fulcrum test with his fist and I did feel some pain. Not as bad as 6 weeks ago but it’s still there. So the plan is to take another week off of running and check back in next Thursday. Nate’s going to get me a pool pass (hooray!) and I will start up aqua jogging again next week. But this time Nate wants me to actually touch the bottom of the pool with the water at chest height, so that I’m still getting some force of impact but easing back into it. I’m actually kind of stoked to try it.

Biked for just under an hour up Emigration canyon in Salt Lake. 37 minutes up, 20 back. 13.25 miles

Bike: 14.06 miles, 67 minutes on Wasatch

Bike: Up to the top of Emigration canyon and back. 20.5 miles, 93 minutes. 

Bike: went to the top of Emigration canyon again. I wasn’t nearly as worn out this time around, probably because it was a lot cooler. It took me less time to get up there too and it felt a lot easier. 60 minutes exactly up to the top (10.2ish miles) and then took a bit of a detour once back in the valley, 22 miles and 99 minutes total. 

Bike: 20.09 miles around Cedar, 86 minutes.

Biked up to the C, it was a lot harder than I was expecting. A lot steeper than Emigration canyon. Kasey said he bikes up there about once a week, dang. But he is one of the top runners in the NCAA so... there’s that. Anyways, good workout, it might be a little bit before I try that again haha. I was dead once I reached the C and had to walk about .5 at one point because I was exhausted. 97 minutes, 19.46 miles.

Nate tested my femur again today, NO PAIN! I’m so stoked. But to be safe he doesn’t want me to start running again until Monday, and this time I’ll start out with 5 minutes instead of a mile :/

Bike: 11.75 miles, 52 minutes. VERY windy  

Pool: 30 minutes touching the bottom (water chest height), 15 minutes not. Might have to buy smaller water shoes, they kept slipping off.

Bike: 14.41 miles, 63 minutes

Pool: 30 minutes

Bike: 40 minutes, 9.16 miles

Running: got a little excited and started running today instead of Monday. 5 minutes on the turf, 0.88 miles (5:41 pace). Felt great. 

Bike: 67 minutes, 14.34 miles

Running: 5 minutes on the turf. Paid more attention to how far I went because I remembered my garmin isn’t reliable when running around the track. Also tried to keep as close to lane 1 as I could to make it more accurate. I made it about 1360 meters in 5 minutes which is about 5:55 pace. My 800 split was 2:55. I’m not really setting out to go sub-6:00 pace, it just kind of happens... it’s comfortably hard and I can only run for 5 minutes so what the heck?

Short on time today. Biked about 10 minutes and did 5 minutes of running, this time made it about 1350 meters, 800 split 2:58. It was windy and I wasn’t very warmed up.

Hiked in 101 degree heat for 30 minutes with Kaydon in Toquerville, got saved by some friends in a Jeep. 

Bike: 6.52 miles, 30 minutes (short on time again)

Running: 5 minutes, made it about 1340 meters? Idk this is a good guessing game. To the 40 yd line. Lap splits 89, 2:59, 4:30. I didn’t feel as great, probably because it was hot and windy. 

Bike: 62 minutes, 13.78 miles.

Running: 5 minutes. Today's lap splits: 84, 2:53, 4:23. Made it to the 30 yd line closest to the 200 start (30 yds farther than yesterday). Thought for sure today's was going to be slower because I was tired and hot after an hour of biking, but nope!

Bike: 30 minutes

Running: 5 minutes. Lap splits 84, 2:52, 4:21. Made it to the 15 yd line so maybe 25 meters from the 200 (1375 meters).

Bike: 13.52 miles, 64 minutes. 

Running: bumped up to 10 minutes! Made it about 1.6 miles (6.5 laps on the turf right next to the track), I kinda died at the end but oh well. The wind had picked up a ton too so that didn’t help. Didn’t feel great but I was happy I could run more. Lap splits were 87.4, 2:57 (89.9), 4:29 (92.4), 6:05 (95.6), 7:37 (92.1), 9:15 (98.1), 45. Haha not consistent at all but you know we’ll work on that. 

Running: 10 minutes, 7:08 pace

Bike: 8.19 miles, 36 minutes

Running: pushed it to 2 miles, 14:15 (7:08 average). Felt good and relaxed. I was kind of surprised that it was faster than 50% range if I’m being honest, thought it’d be more like 7:30-7:45 pace.

Bike: 57 minutes, 12.69 miles

I might regret this run later on but I don’t care. I needed a pick me up, it’s been a really tough couple of days. But God is so good and there’s a positive to everything. 

I was surprised by this run actually. I expected it to be a whole lot harder than it was. It wasn’t easy but I wasn’t dying so I’m in better shape than I thought. 7:11 average for 7.5 miles (53:55). Slowest mile was 7:28 at the beginning, fastest 6:58 at the end. Felt relaxed and awesome to get out again, but probably not smart. I’ll back it down to 2 or 3 for a week or so. Didn’t feel any pain in my femur so I’m crossing my fingers I didn’t just screw everything up haha. 

Bike: 8.6 miles, 41 minutes. 

Running: 2 miles. Took it easy at 7:36 average. It was at the hottest and windiest part of the day, that’s when I’ve been biking/running like all summer haha. But today it wore me out a lot, I think it was in the mid-90s. Maybe it’s time to stop sleeping in and get it done before work. I’m also sore from yesterday but it feels good. 

I’m pretty sore, DOMS is real haha. Took it easy today, then was short on time so no biking. 3 miles, 7:30 average. 

Running: 3 miles, kept it relaxed and didn’t push it too much. 7:18 average.

Bike: 57 minutes, 12.46 miles

Running: I was hurting today but I didn’t realize what pace I was running. It felt good though. 5 miles on Dikes, 7:00 average (35:01). I was expecting 7:20 so I’m happy about that. This’ll be my longest run this week, I need to have more restraint. Can’t come back too quickly. 

Bike: 53 minutes, 11.19 miles

Running: 3 miles, 7:22 average

Bike: 57 minutes, 12.35 miles

3 miles running before work, 7:18 average. Planned on biking once I got to Salt Lake but that flopped. Busy day. 

VA loop in Salt Lake (4 miles), 6:58 average. I am always surprised by how good running feels in Salt Lake compared to Cedar. Didn’t think a 1500 ft elevation change would make that much of a difference? Oh well I love it. It feels so great to come back down. Or maybe I just love being back in the city haha.

It was another really busy day, this is just a busy weekend. And it’s not the weekend yet but it feels like it for me haha. I nannied all day and then had my best friends bridal shower in the evening. I squoze my run in before it got too dark. Unfortunately no time for biking. I feel like a slacker, life is just crazy sometimes. 

Running: Wasatch loop, 7:03 average (5.5 miles). It was quite warm. Everything feels so good, I don’t feel any pain in my femur and I’m stoked to be running, I’ve missed it so much. I wish I could run farther but I’m already pushing it as it is. 

Bike: an hour up Emigration canyon (timed on my phone because my watch died. Didn’t catch how far it was).

VA loop again, watch was still dead so didn’t get the pace. Hiked Grandeur Peak beforehand and decided to call that good, I was tired. So no biking.

4 miles back in Cedar, 7:08 average. Had pretty bad cramps so I opted out of biking and did core instead. 

Felt really crappy again. I think I’ve been dehydrated and that’s why I’ve felt so awful, plus it’s hot. Dikes, 7:11 average. Surprised again by the pace, I thought the mile on Main Street was an 8:00 or slower for sure but no it was 7:39. I did have 2 miles in 6:53 and 6:55 so I guess that made up for it.  

Starting next week I think I’m going to start doing some percentage runs, maybe slow down my easy days to 50% pace and start trying 60% and 80% pace again. I’m a little nervous to, but if I’m going to be ready for the progression run I need to start training for it.

7:32 average

AM: 5 with Josie, 7:50 average

PM: 3.25 just because I felt like it. 7:03 average. 

Biked 4.22 miles (20 minutes)

Haha, I’m updating a week’s worth of posts. I’m pretty sure this was one of the days I was feeling overwhelmed and stressed, so that’s why the sudden increase in activity. I should be better at biking though... it’s hard to go out now that I’m running. I need to stay motivated. 

7:24 average

7:24 average

7:29 average. Felt short of breath. 

Felt pretty crappy again, but figured it’s time to stop making excuses and start training. I think I’ve been dehydrated and that’s why I’m feeling so awful, it’s been pretty hot out when I’ve been running. 

Today I attempted 80% pace. Felt awful. Warmed up 1.25 to the bike path. 2 miles going up and back on Canyon, finished in 12:50 (6:25 average so yeah slow end of 80% pace). Then cooled down to 5. 

7:37 average. Started feeling pain in my femur on Monday, very very slight and thought maybe it could just be a minor ache and would go away but I guess in my gut I knew it was my stress reaction again. So today when it was more painful and I could definitely pinpoint it as stress reaction pain, well I rebelled and ran on it anyway because I didn’t want to accept it for what it was. But then yeah, afterwards I chided myself and here I am beginning to accept the fact that I’m injured again. Sigh. 

Feeling really discouraged. My femur is hurting again and I know I just did it to myself, I should’ve come back slower. I’ve been feeling pressured to get back because Coach increased the cut off for the progression run, basically saying if we don’t finish it we’re on our own until December and can try out again then. He said that last year too but the cut off was progression 3, then still didn’t cut anyone who didn’t make it past progression 3... but in our team meeting at the beginning of the summer he said he was relaxed last year and this year is going to be firm and cut whoever doesn’t finish. Including the slower injured folk like me. He basically said he’d give our top girls leeway if, say, Angie rolled an ankle because he’d be stupid not to let her on the team, but implied that the slower folks like me who are borderline traveling might not be given that leeway. I’m going to see if I can meet with him soon because I’ve been stressing myself out about it, and at this point it’s just seeming like an impossible goal for me. I could’ve prepared and trained for it this month and I know I would’ve been able to finish it especially if I hadn’t gotten injured and could build base mileage on top of intensity of training, but I have to take the rest of this week off then drop back down to 2 miles so basically I’m screwed. My motivation has gone out the window, I know if I work hard on the bike and in the pool I still might be able to finish it but... my headspace right now isn’t great and I just want to give up. So I might take a couple of days completely off of biking, pool, core, running to try to give myself a break and remotivate myself to work hard. 

In all reality if I did get cut it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, I’ve already signed my scholarship/financial aid contract so I have that for one more year. But I guess at this point that’s all I’m running for- to save my scholarship/hopefully stretch it out another year after this one, maybe take my 5th year out too if I’m doing well at that point. I love running and the joys that come from it, but I guess what I’m saying is I’m not motivated by competition anymore. Maybe that’s my problem. I’m motivated by trying to better myself and achieve/exceed the goals I have set for myself, but when it comes to competition I really just want to be able to travel and compete. I’ve settled for training goals and bettering myself in workouts because in all reality traveling is an opportunity that I don’t get very often. It’s also hard to dream and have these big goals for yourself when you’re struggling to convince your coach that you still have potential, sometimes I need that encouragement and to have someone else cheer for me, motivate me when I’m doubting my own ability, and sometimes I’m frustrated because I always feel like I have to prove my own potential to coach and show him that I have the drive to work hard, that I am motivated and so on. I’ve been doing that all of this year. I’ve had to be my own mental coach, and I guess I’ve gotten pretty good at it. Even right now there are things I’m telling myself to coach me through this. But some days, like today, when things aren’t looking good, I just wish Coach would tell me that it’s okay, that I’m going to pull through and when I do get back, if I work extra hard with what I can right now, I can come back stronger etc. I tell myself that but sometimes I have a hard time believing it. And I have a tendency to run more than I should because I worry about not being back in time, and I really can’t do that. If I want to heal completely I need to not rush it. 

Running collegiately is extremely stressful, if you can’t already tell. I just hope it’s worth it. So far I’ve managed to stay completely debt-free and I’ll have two degrees by the time I’m finished, so I’d say it is. Plus, I’ve made so many friends and I really do enjoy running and being on the team. And there are so many perks to being a student-athlete that do make it worth all the stress. Sometimes I just need to clear my mind and stay positive. Hopefully when I look back on all of this I can be grateful for the grit and determination that I do have, if I didn’t have them I’d have quit a looooong time ago. 

I guess I can be proud of myself for sticking it out this long, even when things were really tough and Coach was telling me my scholarship might be lessened or completely taken away. When that happened I had a day like today where I was stressed out of my mind and really questioned whether or not it was worth all this stress. I’ve had probably 10 of those days this year if I’m being honest, but two where I really actually felt like it was too much. But I pulled through last time, I toughened up and worked as hard as I could, took it one day at a time and found joy in the smallest accomplishments, and eventually I did start to improve in practice. I’m pretty sure the 80% right before I got injured, the one that I shaved 45 seconds off my time, saved my scholarship. And if I did it once I can do it again.  

Biked for an hourish

Well, I’ve officially hit my lowest. I talked to coach this morning, I’d been holding out the hope that he’d be lenient with me since I’m injured but nope. Basically I have to finish the progression run on August 16 or I have to train on my own until December, then can come back and basically try out again. Coach said I’d still be part of the team but... nope I really wouldn’t be. The only difference from being completely on my own is that I still would have access to the training room and athletic trainers. I’m just having a really hard time believing that I can finish the progression run, it already was going to be hard had I not gotten injured. I’ve never finished it before and it’s a tough one. Yeah I’ve never just given up like this before... and I haven’t given up I think I just need time to think and remotivate myself, to try to believe in myself again.

I don’t know if I should start running and increasing my miles, pushing through the pain while knowing I’m going to have to stop again eventually, probably mid-season but at least I’d be able to run with the team, or if I should accept it for what it is and allow myself to heal, risking not being fit enough to finish... if I ran I could get some faster workouts in and be able to feel what paces felt like. It’s different on the bike because it’s all effort based so I won’t have that confidence that I can run fast if I’m only biking and running like 3-5 miles. The progression run is 7.75 miles. I just don’t know what to do.  

I also really need to look at my life and figure it out, I don’t know what I should do... at this point I’m wondering why I’m still at SUU. If I get cut, I mean I’ll be here for another year because of my scholarship, but next year I wouldn’t have one, unless I miraculously recover from this injury and have a stellar year this next year. So... why am I here? And what do I want to do with my life? I‘m not too sure about my career anymore either. Time to figure things out.

Ended up running 5.25 miles at 7:24 average

Ran 2 miles, 7:24 average. Then biked 25 minutes, 4.8 miles

Things are looking up. My manager let me off work early yesterday because it was slow so that was amazing, I was able to spend the rest of the day trying to figure things out. After a solid 4 hours of thinking and praying and a long phone call with my mom, I asked one of my friends to come over and give me a priesthood blessing. Holy cow it was one of the most powerful blessings I’ve ever received. Right after James was like whoa and said he’d never felt that while giving a blessing before. God is real.

The situation hasn’t changed at all but I’m feeling a whole lot better about everything. I know that SUU is where I’m meant to be, at least for the time being. I was told that God is aware of my stresses about my femur and about something else very personal (and there’s no way James could’ve known about that). That was really, really amazing. It was also said that God doesn’t always change our circumstances because he has to respect others agency, since it is his gift to us and essential to his plan, but he will help us to overcome them. That applies to a couple different things in my life right now. But I don’t know what exactly that might mean for running, if that means God will help me to finish the progression run or if he has a different plan for me in mind, but I do know that whatever happens now is in God’s hands, who ultimately knows what is best for me. There was a whole lot of other revelation too but I think that’ll suffice for this blog entry.

So going forward, I will work my hardest on the bike and with the couple miles I can run and then hope for the best. I’m not going to push my recovery, I’m going to listen to my body and to my athletic trainers. Running myself into the ground isn’t going to do anything, I’ll still find myself in a tough spot with coach when the pain becomes unbearable to run on and it could end up pushing me back further than if I just let myself heal.

After all is said and done, I’ll know that I worked my hardest, did what I could, and if that’s not enough then I’ll know that God has something different in mind for me this next semester. Running isn’t everything, after all. Perhaps a new opportunity will open up in place of running, if it comes to that.

Still have to figure out my career plans, but I’ll save that for another day and just enjoy this moment of clarity for a bit.

Biked 46 minutes, 9.62 miles. 

Dikes, 7:24 average. Apparently my body really loves 7:24 pace lol

Decided to slow it down. Dikes again, 7:58 average. Felt myself wanting to speed it up but I forced myself to go slow. It felt nice, no pain in femur where yesterday I felt slight pain.

I’m going to meet with Coach again on Monday, my goodness things just totally flipped around. Coach texted and said he’d thought about what we talked about and said he’d have no problem, because of injury, making sure I train with one of the main groups on the team. SO MUCH RELIEF.

Training wise, though, I know I need to make an adjustment, I guess I’ll talk with Coach about it Monday. Either decrease mileage or slow down the pace, I’ve been injured three times in the two years I’ve been at SUU. Twice this past year. To avoid further injury, and maybe help me improve from here on out, I need to change something and right now I’m leaning towards slowing down the recovery runs but we’ll see what Coach says. 

6 miles easy, 7:45 average. No pain again in femur and I actually felt great. Got a little tired at the end but it was a different kind of tired, felt good. It’s been a while since I’ve felt that. 

Coach never ceases to surprise me. I met with him this morning expecting him to shut down the idea of longer and slower recovery runs, but no! He’s totally okay with me trying it out. I thought he’d be more concerned about the team’s reaction, about girls seeing me go slow and thinking they can, too, and not working as hard. But even when I asked he shrugged it off and said I was fine, just to mention that it’s an adjustment my body needs.

Wow. I’m so grateful to have a Coach that will accommodate my needs, who is patient with me and is still giving me a chance to rise up. I know a lot of other college coaches would’ve just cut me. Maybe he hasn’t given up on me after all. He mentioned that I am an exception, that he’s still going to be cutting people from the team who don’t finish the progression run (or, to be more precise telling them to train on their own until December) but because I am injured and have been dedicated and a hard worker he’s going to let me stay with the team. He’s expecting some of the girls to be upset with him that he’s allowing me to stay but he’ll be cutting others, even if they have been injured... or that’s what I gather? Idk. So I mean, I feel bad about that... but I’m really, really grateful that Coach is still giving me this chance.

We talked for a while about positivity and the atmosphere of the team, how he’s weeded out most of the negative ones but there are still a couple on the team and he’s going to try to fix that (haha but he made a point to say I wasn’t one, that was really nice. I have tried to be a positive influence so I was happy he noticed). What I found really interesting was that he said he would much prefer a girl that can run sub 5:20 but hasn’t broken 5:00 yet to a girl that has because they’re more humble and not full of themselves. They’re more willing to listen to Coach and adapt to his program, take the necessary steps to be successful, listen to Coach’s advice and apply it rather than say “it’s my way or the highway.” Those who do listen and take things up with Coach are usually the ones that see the most success, that still contribute to the team in positivity even if they’re not a main player. That’s what Coach said with me, he trusts me and thinks he’s made what he believes and expects of me very clear, which he has. I think that’s why he’s allowing me to try adjusting my training, because he knows I’m not just trying to get out of working hard, that I actually want to be here and I’m willing to do what it takes. I’m grateful that Coach can see that.

So from here on out, I can slow it down on recovery days. He said not too slow, said to make it a point to never drop below 8:30, but I can run 7:50-8:30 if I feel like I need to. I was surprised that was the range Coach suggested. I think 8:30 is pretty slow, but for the hills I think that’ll be good. I really do think this will be good for me. I think my body wasn’t able to handle the stress of the faster paces all the time, hence why I kept getting injured, so I think slowing it down a little for recovery but still pushing the workouts hard will really be beneficial in preventing injuries, and who knows maybe my body will respond better and I can finally have a break-through.

I love Coach so much, I’m definitely so glad that I chose SUU over any of the other schools that recruited me. I don’t think any of them measure up to what we have here, a team that could potentially win conference this year, a team that is (for the most part) very positive and hard working and grateful for the opportunities we do get, and amazing Coaches with a program that has brought incredible success. Both Coach and Paul are absolutely amazing, honestly they’re the reason I’ve wanted to be a coach myself one day.

As for my training from now until the progression run, Coach wants me to switch off hard and easy days of effort on the bike, and do what I can with running until I’m finally up to full mileage. As I increase my running mileage I’ll decrease my biking mileage. Basically bike the miles I can’t run, up to full mileage, which is 10 for me. I’ll probably add a couple miles to the biking though just because biking a mile is easier than running a mile.

Lol I’m going to have to start up biking again tomorrow, I’m moving into a new apartment this week, spent a lot of time doing that after work and didn’t get out and running until late so now it’s dark. I’ll do some core instead.

6 miles, 7:19 average. I guess I was excited and forgot to hold myself back, haha. At the end I could tell I’d picked it up but it felt good and not forced. Femur was fine. I think when my muscles are tight, I don’t feel smooth and I’m pushing it still, that’s when I overdo it and my femur hurts.

7:35 average

7:45 average

Biked 7.02 miles (35 minutes)

7:43 average

7:42 average

7:55 average. Felt out of shape

7:26 average. Felt a little better, but still not great. Probably just feeling the time off.

VA loop. Up in Salt Lake this weekend, finally felt good. 7:31 average. 

Shriner’s run. Felt pretty good, feel slightly out of shape still. I know I’m not it’s just me trying to get back into things.

Wasatch loop, 7:20 average. 

Okay I don’t know what’s up. Breathing hurts and my chest feels tight while running. Could be exercise induced asthma. Or I could just be out of shape. Or both. But hopefully I get over it soon. 

Got the most painful cramp or side ache or something of my life 1.5 miles in and couldn’t breathe it hurt so bad. So I hobbled home and called it. Felt like I’d been stabbed. Still managed to average 8:00 so that’s surprising. 

Wow today felt AMAZING compared to the last week or so. Breathing was good, everything felt great, nice and relaxed. 7:52 average. 

Extremely stressful day. Car wouldn’t start, was late to work, borrowed Maddy’s car after work to get a part for my car, she’s seriously so kind. Maddy’s car then wouldn’t start and I felt so so bad cause I was like this isn’t even my car! Spent 20 minutes trying to get it to start to no avail. Eventually walked home and James came back with me to try to help me out, what a guy. He was super stressed out too because of school so that was very kind of him. He couldn’t get the key to turn either and neither could an auto guy. I fumbled with it for 5 more minutes then one lucky time got the key to turn! Blessed. Then went to the post office downtown to track down a package, I ordered a dress a month ago for my best friends wedding, which I’d planned to go back up to Salt Lake for tomorrow. It was supposed to be here last week. I’m one of her bridesmaids so I kind of need that dress. Then got told it was sent back to China a couple days ago due to me moving houses a couple weeks ago, I guess I hadn't filled out the forwarding slip correctly. Also super stressed because money’s tight for the rest of the summer until my scholarships kick in, and I had a falling out with the guy I dated last semester this past weekend sooo yep life is life. Anyways then tried tracking down jumper cables to jump my car cause the battery was dead, finally found some and got my car to start. Went for a run afterwards because I knew I needed a breather.

Yeah so the run was great! Good to let off some steam. It’s a bit strange how putting yourself through some physical pain helps relieve the internal stresses and pains ever so slightly. But I’ll take it. 7:29 average. 

6 in Cedar before heading to Salt Lake. My car is fixed and got a different dress so it all worked out!

Wasatch loop

Wasatch loop. 

I’m always reminded of how different Salt Lake and Cedar are, and yet I love them both so much. Cedar’s small and more easy going, laid back and relaxed. Salt lake is big and has more to do, is faster paced and busier. Up until now it was like they were two different parts of my life, I had a lot of friends in Cedar and only a few in Salt Lake but had my family, and now they’re starting to mix together since a couple Cedar friends moved up north, and I’ve met more people through them.

I wasn’t very social in high school. I used to only care about running and looking back that was kind of a sad existence.

Now, it’s different. I find meaning in so many other things such as family, religion and the relationships with those around me. 

I’m still extremely passionate about running, but it’s not my whole world anymore.  

I’ve kind of turned into a social butterfly. I’m more relaxed and comfortable meeting new people. I’m more down to have fun because I’m not as worried about it, or I’ve realized that it doesn’t matter what people think. I’ve been lucky enough to have carefree friends who tell me not to worry when they sense I am. 

I realized this weekend that I have anxiety on top of my depression. That’s what kept me to myself in high school and still limits me in other things. I worry too much, about what’s going to happen, about offending or upsetting people, about literally everything. And I think stress heightens them both.

I think that’s why I choked so bad when Coach told me he wouldn’t let me on the team if I didn’t finish the progression run. Because I didn’t believe I could do it with my femur hurting again and worried about the worst possible outcome.

I think it’s good to challenge yourself and face your worries and fears. I’ve never regretted it. Every time I’ve taken a risk, did something despite my fears, I’ve gotten something out of it. I think pushing yourself beyond what’s comfortable helps you to grow and improve, not just in running but in all areas of life. Never giving up even when it seems too hard, but also learning to let go of the hopes and dreams that are unrealistic and only make you depressed. Finding where your efforts should be placed, what is going to help you the most. I love the lessons that both life and running have taught me. 

VA loop before helping with my friend’s wedding. It was a beautiful venue, the sealing was so special and they both were so happy. 

Wasatch loop again, I love it so much haha

Up to the zoo trail and took it over to red butte then adventure run back home. Forgot how hilly it was but the view of the valley is so beautiful so it’s always worth it

7:34 average

7:45 average. These past couple runs have been in the middle of the day and it’s been so hot

Back in Cedar, felt surprisingly good. 7:23 average. Still feel out of shape though and I’m nervous for the progression run on Thursday. Thinking about trying to hold 4 miles of 6:15 average (6:30 down to 6:00) is a bit terrifying. I haven’t done any speed or tempo in 4 months... that’s really scary to think about. Except the 2 miles of 80% I tried right before my femur started hurting for the second time. I haven’t wanted to risk it again but now I’m wondering if I should have? Ahhh. I’m just really nervous. I realized today I’ve been half expecting my femur to hurt again, I guess I’m still just scared to reinjure myself. I started feeling some pain in the same thigh today but I think it’s a tight muscle. That’s what it feels like. Went to my foam roller to try the fulcrum test and found myself tensing up because I was expecting pain haha but of course it’s fine, it’s almost been 4.5 months so yeah it should be completely healed by now. I’ve been kind of babying it, sometimes I’ll step or jump up onto a high ledge at work and I surprise myself with the ease at which I can do it. Then I remind myself I used to jump hurdles and I’m tall so of course I still can haha. My range of motion is still great and I kind of surprise myself with how much more energy and ability to focus I have now that I’ve pulled out of depression. Also, my appetite is coming back so that’s a great sign. 

7:34 average. I'm really nervous about the progression run...I just ran the same distance today and it's fine when I go slow but I'm not sure that I can hold a fast pace for that long. I might try to talk to Coach tomorrow after all the team meetings, he'll know what to say to help me relax. I just hate feeling like a disappointment is all.

Today was full of meetings for the new season to start and form training and such. It actually got me kind of pumped. I’d forgotten how much fun it is to be with the team and to have practice. The last time I did warmups/drills was back in April and today yet again I found myself almost babying my femur, expecting it to hurt as I did drills but no pain of course. That actually got me really pumped because it felt so great to be back and able to do everything with no pain. Kind of surprised me too because I realized how negative my attitude has been coming into this season, I’d basically given up all hope of ever being able to run fast again.

At the meetings we were introduced to the sports psychologist (I didn’t even know we had one to be honest) and I ended up meeting with him before the form training, it actually really helped. I realized that while, yes, I might not be at my best physically at this moment, I still have this whole year to work hard and improve. I’d had kind of the mindset that my hard work went unnoticed, that it’s been all for nothing, but that’s not true. There’s a reason I’m still on the team. There’s a reason Coach is giving me leeway. There’s a reason I got a scholarship in the first place. And that’s because of my hard work, and Coach can see that. That’s why he let me keep my scholarship for another year. That’s why he’s letting me stay with the team. Because he knows my heart is in it and he knows I’ve been putting in the work.

I realized I’ve been stressing that Coach will go back on his decision. That if I do terribly on the progression run he’s going to shake his head and wonder why he’s cutting me some slack. But that’s out of my control and worrying about it will do nothing but limit me. So, instead, I should focus on what I can control. I can work hard. Even if the worst happens and coach goes back on his decision, which I don’t think he will, I still have until December to get into the shape I need to be in for track season. I can perform well in track and secure my scholarship for another year. I can still improve, I can still be fast. It wouldn’t be the end of the world. 

Well, glad that’s over with! And I feel pretty good about it actually. I mean I sucked wind but I showed up and did what I could, and now I’m actually really pumped because Coach stuck with what he said, I’m still good to come to practice on Monday. And I’m pumped to be with the team again, I’ve missed everyone. I love it here so much. Coach said that this is the best team we’ve ever had, including the 2012 team. Our top 6 girls all secured top 7 on the all-time list, Angie set a new record with a 5:15 last mile. I frickin love my team. 

Coach decided to only take 12 girls to camp this year, I was 12th but he’s taking a freshman instead of me. Which is cool, she deserves to go. And it means I can go to Salt Lake for family pictures so my grandma will be happy. 

I ran a consistent performance, exactly the same as last year. Ha, both years I’ve been out of shape. But it’s still better than my freshman year. Made it 4 laps of the second progression, so basically 2 progressions. Started with 9:00 mile, 8:00 mile, 7:00 mile, then the progressions start. First progression is a 6:30 mile, second 6:20, third 6:10, then 3 laps idk what pace, and one mile all out. So I made it the 6:30 and 6:20 then got pulled. 

I just stuck on the pack for as long as I could and that was that. Also, my shoe became untied before the first progression so that was slightly annoying, and almost fell because someone behind me stepped on the shoelace but I didn’t so it’s all good! The whole pack was fast. I ran one lap by myself because I was technically still on pace, but after that I was done. 

I could’ve made it one more lap at least, but for what shape I’m in I’m happy with it. It wasn’t half as bad as I was expecting. 

Got our new gear, it’s like Christmas in the summertime! Mile cool down. 

Ran along Foothill, 7:24 average.

I’ve realized I hold myself to really high standards. I think part of me expects everyone else to hold me to that as well, so when I don’t meet them I set myself up for discouragement and feeling like a failure.

I think I need to tone that down a little and cut myself some slack. I need to remind myself that I can’t be perfect in everything. That yes, my standards and expectations for myself are high for a reason but if I fall short of them it’s not the end of the world.

For example, with the progression run I’d held myself to the standard that I had to finish it. Sure, Coach told me that was his standard, but I took it to heart and when I realized I couldn’t reach that goal I faltered. I didn’t think he’d give me any leeway because I wasn’t giving myself that leeway. So even when he said he’d still let me on the team if I didn’t finish it, part of me felt like I didn’t deserve it. I was still holding myself to high expectations. 

KNow I think that’s great, if you don’t have high expectations you’ll never achieve anything. But I think I need to learn how to lower them when they’re unrealistic. To cut myself some slack, to know that it’s the drive and motivations inside that count. Not always the physical proof of what I have or haven’t done. It’s not always so black and white. 

I went back and watched the progression run (it was videoed and posted on Facebook). It was kind of eye opening. I realized there were girls that fell off before I did, and while I knew that I kind of shrugged it off at the time because I still expected more of myself. Paul’s encouragement sort of registered while I was running it and I used it to try to stay positive, but it didn’t really set in until I watched the video. I guess I never really considered that Paul might be able to see my efforts, too. I was really only concerned about Coach. But Paul has always had my back and even if Coach doesn’t believe in me, Paul does. I always feel like I have to prove myself to coach because he’s the one I report to, the one that decides the logistics of the team. And while he’s patient and motivating and lenient with me, he has a team to run and has to worry about the bigger picture. Also, the last two times I’ve talked with him he’s been surprised to be reminded I still have 3 years left of eligibility. And then he’s a lot more open to believing I still have potential.

With Paul, I’ve never had to convince him of anything. I could tell in the video that he saw I was still fighting even when I hit the wall, he believed in me and can maybe see the potential I do have. And then when I did fall off pace, man it gets me every time. Paul was trying to get me to stay on pace and I let him down. I wish I had worked harder because I did give up after I’d fallen so far back from the pack. I could’ve gritted our another lap or two if I was more focused. But I think this was good, it’s something to learn from and got me back into the more competitive mindset, I’m ready to buckle down and work hard.

Extended VA loop, 7:45 average

First official practice! It was a 50% on farm run. I went out 2 with the group and came back 2 with Danielle. 7:37 average

Weights later, it’s been a while. My body felt it. Did 30 extra burpees and like 20 extra lunges and dead bugs because either someone on the team yawned or was using the wrong leg or didn’t count out loud with everyone at the end of each rep. We’re stepping it up a notch this year lol. It’s crazy the difference now from what it was my freshman year (everything was so relaxed back then), now things are so much more structured, expectations are higher, but it’s so great because our team atmosphere is so much better now. And our resources are growing. We have amazing coaches, a nutritionist, weights coaches, athletic trainers, a sports psychologist, an academic coach, an athletic lab, athletic training room, brand new weight room, even a doctor at the hospital that works specifically with SUU athletes. And everyone previously mentioned is actually taking things more seriously, there’s more respect all around. Everything and everyone is stepping up their game. It was kind of a joke my freshman year, at least compared to how things are run now. And it’s also the best team we’ve ever had according to Coach, including the 2012 team Coach has been talking about and using as an example since before my freshman year. Kind of crazy how much can change in 3 years. 

Stretched, rolled out, and Drew elbowed my piriformis and dug into my illiopsoas, hurt like heck. Didn’t realize I was so tight. Now my hips are sore

Came home from work and was itching to run again. It’s been a while since that has happened, I think I’ve finally 100% pulled out of depression. Also, I lost weight this summer without meaning to. Just a couple pounds, but still. I think it was my lack of an appetite. Or loss of muscle mass. Or both.

Ended up biking 8.6 miles, 42 minutes.

Sat down with Coach last week and made a plan for building up mileage until I’m back to 10 a day. I’m starting that up this week, and I’m going to actually stick to the rhythms this time. 

Was pretty sore today. 80% on the track and whistle hills, 3x15, 20, 25. To get back into faster paces I’m going to start small and work up. Just so I don’t reinjure myself. So I only did 2 of the 3 miles. First mile was 6:00, second (block lap + a little on track) was 6:30. Worked hard on the hills. Felt surprisingly good, I could have easily finished the 3 miles but I think I should take it slow coming back just to be safe. Cooled down to 6.5

Felt great. 50% on Cross Hollows, out and back 2 miles. 7:37 average. 

10x100m strides at 60% of mile pace with 15 seconds recovery afterwards.

Weights later, yep I'm going to be sore tomorrow. I actually kind of like weights though. It's hard but it's worth it.

Talked with Coach after practice, he gave me advice on what I should do if I want to be a coach. He said I should try to get a teaching degree. I'd been thinking along the same lines, I've thought about being a teacher since 8th grade but once I started running I veered towards coaching instead. But I can do both :) Ended up deciding to change both of my majors later in the day, both suit me better and I feel good about them. Switched Psychology to Mathematics Education because I love math and ever since middle school I've kind of had in the back of my mind that if I were to be a teacher I'd teach math :) Psychology really interests me, but I'm not as confident I'd be great at it. Math just clicks really well with me. Switched Physical Education Teaching/Coaching for Exercise Science because the PE - Coaching major sets you up to be a PE teacher as well as a coach and I don't want that. I just wanted to coach. I'd rather be a math teacher. Exercise Science would also open up more job possibilities if coaching didn't work out. And I think I will stick with these majors, I feel really good about them both. I feel like they set me up for what I want.

4 miles on Dikes. Felt good, pretty sore.

Met with a math advisor and our athletic academic advisor to get my schedule changed and everything squared away. Turns out my ACT score from high school was high enough so I don't have to take like 3 classes, which saves me a year. I get to go straight to Calculus I :) And with my Exercise Science major I will remain eligible for track/xc, I'm well through that major so I'll have to start taking it a bit slower and get more math and education courses completed.

I'm actually really excited about this, I'm doing something I know I'm good at and putting it to use, so it's not a wasted major like psychology might've been. I really enjoyed my psychology classes and got good grades in them, psychology fascinates me and I love learning about it all, but I had no direction or path paved out for what I'd do with it, except for maybe counseling. But to do that I'd have to get a Master's, and I didn't feel as stoked about it as I should. None of the paths I considered taking like psychology, english, art, or family life/human development really stood out to me as something that'd secure me the kind of job I wanted. I love all of them and have interest and skills in all of them, but I think math is the way I want to go. I'm more confident I'd secure a job with it as a major, I'm more passionate about it and it goes well with my desire to become a track/xc coach. The emphasis in education will get me certified to teach it, which allows me to help others learn, grow, and improve. Which is the reason I've picked coaching and teaching over higher paying careers. And if I'm up for it later on, I could get a Master's and become a college professor. That I'm a whole lot more like YES to than Psychology.

Road Race!! I was on Paul’s team and we won! Oh yeah!

Mile warmup and strides before starting

Just went out with the group trying to stay relaxed. I’ve always gone out quick in the past and I decided to try to keep the first mile more under control this year. Also the course has always been like .1 short in years past but this year it was exactly 4 miles. It’s slightly downhill which is nice. Came through the mile right behind Brighton and Sam, then tried not to let them go. Eventually fell off and just tried to stay positive and work through it. Told myself it was gonna hurt no matter what so might as well run hard, there was no getting out of it. That helped me finish and continue to work hard. 

Splits were 5:51, 6:12, 6:45, 6:47. So like 5:51, 12:03, 18:48, 25:38. Ish, the splits were all high.

Feel good about it, worked hard, did what I could. I never gave up and worked through it, tried shutting off my mind and gliding through and that helped me not focus on the pain so much. Started counting down the minutes left and kept the end in sight, helped me to continue on. When Haley came and passed me I sort of fought but gave up quick, more just wanted to stay relaxed but I should’ve gone with her. Struggled the last mile and a half but I stayed consistent so there’s that. The last mile I started feeling some pain in my femur I think so I might be cross training tomorrow and see how it feels on Monday. It was very minor so I think I just need to get new shoes and be a little more careful, give it some rest and I’ll be fine.

Overall I’m happy with how it turned out! Compared to last year I was 1 second slower,  but that’s not really true because it was longer this year. The full 4 miles, all the other times I’ve run it it’s been about 3.9. So it’s still about a 45 second improvement.

When it came down to it I really didn’t want to bike so I ran instead, didn’t feel any pain until like the last .5. That’s encouraging, probably just means the fast pounding on the road yesterday aggravated it so I’ll just have to be careful. 8:01 average

Decided to tell Coach about my femur to be safe, if I’d have told Coach about it when I first started feeling pain back in March I would’ve avoided a lot of time off. I did tell the trainers but only kind of selectively because I didn’t want to take time off. Time to be honest with everyone and follow the injury prevention plans in place. Since I’m feeling no pain, today I’m at 20% of mileage. I’m going off of 10 a day. So 2 miles today, we’ll see what Coach says to do tomorrow. It’ll be a speed day. 7:23 average

Bike and weights after

My quad was feeling sore, couldn’t tell if it was a sore muscle or if it was my stress reaction. I guessed that since I was feeling some pain in the road race and since it’s right in the same area as my stress reaction it was that. So I told Drew and Paul cause they were both right there, Paul said I couldn’t do any of the workout and Drew said to do the warmup, see how it feels then do 20% again if it was alright. Did the warmup, it felt fine still just sore, so I did 2 miles. 7:14 average. Then told Drew it was fine and wanted to do more, I honestly just felt like it was sore, but then another part of me said well it’s only tender in that spot and not on the other leg... ehhh I always just like to push through things. Anyways Drew said I could do another mile, was going to do it on the grass slow behind the girls, did one lap then Drew stopped me and said I was going to bike instead cause a birdie told him I like to run through injuries until it’s too late. I think it was Paul. Yeah I can’t really deny that so... bike it was. 30 minutes, threw in 2x8 minutes hard to mimic the workout. 

Then rolled out, stretched, and Drew took a look at it. MY MIND IS SO BLOWN RIGHT NOW. Drew asked me to contract my quad, keep it contracted and flex my foot, raise my leg up keeping both contracted, come back down, relax my foot, then relax my quad and I was having the hardest time doing it individually like that. I just wanted to contract and release everything at once. I just took motor learning last semester and my mind is so blown, it was like everything I learned applied in real life. Whaaat. Apparently my VMO hasn’t been firing and my other muscles have been taking on the forces instead. It took a whole lot of concentration and mental focus to get it right. So I did 3 sets of 8 of that to learn how to properly fire it and start making those neural pathways.

This could be the reason I got a stress reaction in my femur of all places, the strongest bone in the body. Either that or my vastus medialis was just weak, but it definitely stopped firing at one point. Basically the rest of my muscles picked up the slack until the forces exceeded what those muscles could take, the weakest muscle was the VMO so that helped develop a stress reaction in my femur. I am shocked at how difficult it was to do such a simple task like that. Also my left quad is visibly larger than my right, indicating a muscle imbalance.

That gives me some hope, I was pretty sad before practice because it felt like I was never going to recover from this. But now, if I can learn to fire the VMO properly and restrengthen it, then ease back into things like planned, I’ll be back for track season :) there’s no need to rush. I think being in the afternoon group is good for me because I won’t be as pressured to come back fast, I won’t be tempted to run farther and hit faster paces than I can handle. So for right now, I’m content with it. And I won’t get so competitive trying to prove myself every day. I need to be better about relaxing and allowing myself to recover on the days I need to.

Rapid rebooted and iced after.

Weights in the morning 

I’m seriously so blown away by this. What the heck? How long have these muscles not been firing? Did I just never learn how to properly contract them?

Drew says it will happen after injury. But both of my VMOs, right and left, weren’t contracting properly. Drew checked my left today and it’s better than my right but still not great. There’s slight improvement in my right from yesterday. It’s going to take time to teach my brain to use those muscle fibers. 

Out of curiosity, Drew wanted to check my glutes. Turns out I’m not contracting them properly either. I contract my hamstrings with them and it takes a lot of focus to contract them individually. Drew’s kind of amazed because I’m a collegiate athlete, how is my neuromuscular control so off? It’s fine. 

Good thing is I know now and can work on getting those muscles to fire properly. I’ll be doing a lot of exercises over the next couple of weeks.

3 miles today because I accidentally went out a half mile farther than I was supposed to. Got talking with Heather and was distracted. Felt good though.

Biked 30 minutes, stretched, rolled out and did exercises. 

Got new shoes! It was like running on pillows. My others were definitely shot.

Quad/femur/whichever it is was feeling great today. Drew only let me go 2 miles again, I was really hoping to go 4 but it’s alright. I should listen to my trainers, even if it’s frustrating to have to stay at such low mileage. Patience is a virtue. And it’ll ensure I have no more hiccups. 

I actually really like Drew. He knows what he’s doing and is very involved with me and my recovery and comes to check up on me throughout practice to make sure things are good, and I think to make sure I don’t push through anything I shouldn’t cause I have a history of that lol. But it’s kind of nice to have him looking out for me and being firm about what I can and can’t do, it relieves the stress I put on myself to be that judge. Often times I’ll push through pain because if I don’t I’ll feel like a wimp, running is pain after all. But that thinking ran me into the ground until I nearly fractured my femur. So I guess it’s just nice to have Drew tell me not to push it if I feel anything off cause I definitely would’ve already had he not. Anyways I know he’s going to help me get back and stay back, I’ve learned my lesson and won’t be trying to push through things I shouldn’t anymore.

2 miles and Paul said I could do 5 strides. 7:00 average

Biked 35 minutes

Drew had me do a glute/hip workout with Bino and Ethan, wow it was hard. It was fun though, the trainers just watched us struggle and it was kind of hilarious. I’ll be doing a lot of hip stuff to strengthen them on top of the exercises for my VMOs. 

He also said no running this weekend, just bike. He wants to make sure my VMOs are ready for what we’ll be doing next week. Also, the point of staying at low mileage right now is that I need to wait for my brain to learn how to properly fire my VMOs before I try increasing mileage. To make sure I’m ready for it. They’re already a lot better than before we started but still aren’t contracting fully. The stuff we do next week should help with that.

2 miles then biked. 60 minutes threw in 8x4 minutes hard 3 minutes easy. 

Biked 50 minutes