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. | 