Sock tans

AM:

Met the team at 9 at the track. I was expecting a long run, and so were a few others. Nearly no one had flats. Just Bill and Tomy I think. I felt really sluggish. I ate too much for breakfast. You'd think I would have learned my lesson by now. We did 2 miles warmup, and a mile speed changes. Then we did 2 sets of 400, 800, 400. We had tons of standing recovery in between each one, and a lap inbetween the sets. Before today I would have loved this much recovery, but it seemed like too much. on every one I felt really light-headed on the first part. It got very annoying and i'm almost certain it's because of the recovery time. I can't believe I'm saying this but I like less recovery time. Then we did the big loop up sunnyside to Foothill to guardsman and back to sunnyside and down to the track. I ended up running with Caden for most of it because I felt slow and his shins were hurting. Got to 8 miles.

PM:

Went around my neighborhood for 4 miles. I was amazed at how many runners there were. I swear like every street I ran on had a runner on it. It was weird. I guess we runners like to take advantage of the beautifulness of spring. :)

I met with the team down at Liberty Park. Well, part of the team. Okay, just me, Bill, Natalie, Tomy, Abigail, and Dakota. We went on the wood chip part and did 1 lap warmup (which is about 1 and a half miles) and then did 2 laps fireman (where you are in a single file line and the person in the back sprints/runs fast to the front, and so on.) Yeah, it's a totally different experience when you're doing it with fast people.

Okay, I remember fireman from the summer as being the easy workout where you just jog and run slightly faster on your turn, and was not expecting it to be quite as difficult as it was. Well, okay I did it twice in the summer the first one easy and the second one hard, but that was only because I was behind a person who loved to pick up the pace a bit when it was my turn, or so I thought until today.

The first lap was good. It wasn't super easy, but I could live with it. I was getting a bit tired when we started our second lap, but I was alright. Of course, we picked up the pace that lap. With like 3/4 of a mile left I started having a mental battle. I was considering doing what Dakota did and fall back from the group (the negative zone) or keep up with the group and suck it up (the positive zone). I tried for the second option. But I was falling back quite easily. I tried to focus on Abigail in front of me and stay up with it. And I was the one who had to finish it off. I had fallen back from the group like 8 to 10 meters maybe, and I had to get to the front. I really focused and then I almost had it, but then I mentally lost it again with maybe 50 meters to go if that. I have got to work on that.

Then we did a lap cool down. I wasn't in the mood to try to keep up with the group, and I think they got the message because they weren't telling me to keep up with them like they usually do. Maybe it was because I did so bad. But I pushed myself and so that's all that counts, right? Did a little extra to finish it off with 6 miles. At least I wasn't feeling as horrible as yesterday. I think just an energy bar before a morning workout is best for me. 

Yet another speed workout. You know, 2 in one week normally is horrible, but because of how crappy monday was, I felt like it was actually okay. Yes, I ate a huge breakfast before I came, which was not smart, but I was with my ward and...yeah, whatever. It doesn't matter. I'm just happy that it wasn't RIGHT before, or i'd be in trouble. But I definitely felt it on the warmup.

2 laps and stretching and drills. Oh how I hate drills. They were fine before but now I just don't like them. Maybe they feel nice for others but today I would've been just fine if we didn't do them and got the workout over with. Oh well.

Sprinters and Distance combined today (a bit of a surprise) and we did a workout I remember well from Cross Country season. I was really bad way back then. I think it was during one of the morning workouts. Ha. Anyway, we did 3 sets of a 400 and 200. We had partners and you were supposed to chase them. One would start the 400 and the other, lined up at the 200, had to wait for them to pass a cone a bit further than the 200 mark, and when they did, try to chase them. The 400 runner would try not to let them pass and the 200 runner would try to pass. It was practice for regions and getting in the top 4 and blah so we could qualify for state and all that jazz. My partner was Dominique. I was supposed to hit 1:22-1:25ish.

Yeah, the sprinters don't know how to pace. Sad but true. I started with a 400, and my group was me with sprinters. Great. We were in the groups based on what we were going to be trying to hit. They all started way fast and I was like "whoa guys we're going kinda fast" but they didn't pay any attention. I just tried to stick with them. we passed the 200 mark and I knew Dominique was coming so I tried to move. Yep, too fast. But I guess that's all right. I ended up out-kicking all but 1 girl in my group. And I think our group was the largest, too. :) got a 1:17.

Yeah, I didn't have a watch, so all of my 200s weren't timed. But I liked them because I could outkick Dom on all of them, which is good I guess. I like outkicking people :)

The next 400 was hard, but I still got it faster than I was supposed to. 1:21. 1 second fast. My legs had started shaking just after. I don't like it when they shake. 2nd 200 was good. It felt better than that 4. Last 400 was really hard and I could feel the lactic building up. got a 1:27. 200 was a bit better.

Then we did 4 grass laps around to get to 6 miles for the day. A few lucky individuals get to go to Arcadia tomorrow. Lucky ducks. 

I went for my own run today because the group I run with (the dedicated part of the East High track team) went to California for a meet called Arcadia. I went to sugarhouse park and did a big grass lap around and a road lap and then came back to my house and added a little bit on to get to 6.

Something weird happened to me. When I got home, I looked at the clock, and I had been thinking a lot about qualifying for state and that I had to get a 5:18 in the mile, and it was 5:18 PM...I thought it was weird. It startled me a bit. Then later I looked at the clock and it was 5:58 or something and then I started to panic because I was thinking about race times that I wanted to get on saturday, and for some reason I thought that I was  going to get THAT time. Did that make any sense? Probably not. I just think it's a bit weird that the clock is freaking me out.

My calves have been feeling great!!!! I have high hopes for Saturday!!! I feel like I'm going to do really well!!! This week is the first week that my calves haven't been a problem. They were pretty good last week, with a couple of days there being hard because they started to hurt. But they've been great this week!!! No pains!!! :) I have decided to break 5:30 and get as close to 5:18 as I can!! (5:30 would be the slowest I could run) and then for the 800 I'm hoping to break 2:40.

So I decided to wear different shoes today because there's something on the back of the foot of one of my shoes that's like part of the shoe that's poking me and it was bothering me yesterday. They actually felt like really good shoes, even though I'm pretty sure they're past their mileage.

I ran to the Highland track to meet Patrick, which was about a mile and a half, just a bit more. I mapped it. Then we did 2 miles of speed changes, and it was quite nice to have someone to talk to. Yesterday I got bored on the run and was about to go crazy. Ha. Then we ran part of the way back together and I ran home. I got to 5 miles for the day.

Tomorrow I'm going to PR and get below 5:30 in the 1600m, and as close to qualifying for state as I can, I've decided. No exceptions. :) 

          So today was the race at UVU. Well, the team didn't show much interest in it. Some went to the Arcadia Invitational in California, and I wonder if some of the sprinters thought that since most of the distance kids aren't going, then they don't have to either. It seems like they would do that. Anyway, so it ended up being just Patrick, Caden and I.

          We were signed up for both the 1600 and 800, but we decided not to stay for the 800 because it was so much later in the day. So I warmed up with a mile, and a half mile of speed changes. Then I did drills with Patrick and Caden, and then went to the Bull Pen. I was in the 3rd heat, so I had some time. Did a few more drills and ran around a lot. Counting drills and the running as a half mile.

           It was so unbelievably cold!!! The first lap was awful. Some girl cut me off right at the beginning, and I started late. That cost me 2 or 3 seconds. My actual time was probably like a 5:42 or 5:43, but whatever. I ran an 80 first lap, and realized I should probably pick it up a bit. Not sure about the 800 split. I just knew I needed to pick it up. I made my way to the front. I got to 2nd or 3rd. With 1 more lap I was at a 4:30something, so not too good. I kicked with 400 to go, got in first, then with 200 to go I could tell that girl was starting to kick, so I just tried to go faster. But she had a really strong kick and I felt like I had nothing. Pathetic. I need to work on that last 200.

           Then I did a 2 mile cool down when I got home.