Sock tans

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

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

AM:

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

PM:

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

AM:

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

PM:

5 miles around my neighborhood.

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

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

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

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

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

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

2.25 cool down with the team.

PM:

7.5 miles, VA loop + Shriners run.