Sock tans

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.