Running is a means and never merely an end

Honestly I was just lazy today and slept all day because I was up so late for NYE... I didn't go for a run, but I did a full-body general strength circuit.

Nice, easy 8 miler today with a 600m accelerating kick at the end. My legs felt really good, ready to go fast. I can feel my body whipping into much better aerobic shape from my upped weekly mileage this past month or two. I'm still very thankful that is hasn't really gotten cold out yet!

1 mile warm up, 3 miles tempo (about 6:56 per mile), and then a messy 5 mile cool down?... I parked on campus at WCU about a mile away so that I could jog a mile to the rec, do my workout, and cool down back and around Western. I locked my car and put my key in my key pocket in my gloves, but took off my gloves at the rec because I got hot. I only remebered my gloves and key after my 2.5 mile cool down when I couldn't get into my car at WCU...so I had to run all the way back to the rec for my gloves/keys and then all the way back to my car again. I was so upset with myself - my 2.5 mile cool down turned into about 5 miles just because I was stupid. I won't make that mistake again.

7AM - 3 miles with Nancy: 1.5 up tempo on the treadmill and 1.5 on the eliptical (.75 fowards, .75 backwards). Very easy, relaxed morning workout!

3PM - 1.5 mile warm up, 3 miles of track work, somwhere around 2 mile cool down. Track work was 2x800, 1x1600, 2x800 at 3200m(ish) pace. Splits were 3:06/3:01/6:15/3:08/3:05. I felt pretty great for all of these except for the 800 immediately after the mile, when my legs felt very heavy. I am also finding that my laps go by a lot faster if I keep my eyes up instead of in front of me on the ground. 

Did a night run on a loop of my neighborhood I've never ran on before...saying it now it sounds obvious but at the time I honestly didn't even think about any danger involved there until I passed a man in a bath robe with hair as long as mine in his face standing in the road when I ran by. Better believe I got some sprint work in today. Other than that though, it was a really good, hilly run. I felt really strong on the uphills and had so much energy I kicked the last half mile. Overall, 7:30ish pace.

5 miler, 8x100m strides afterwards to shake my legs out. It was like 15 degrees out today! I didn't mind it too much though except for the wind. My first indoor (well, polar bear) meet is in 2 days! There has been a lot of talk that it may be cancelled soon though because of the weather...I really hope that is not the case because I organized my whole week of training around wednesday and I really want to see where I am right now.

Single digits outside today so I ran on the treadmill. 3 miles at 7:10, 6:45, 6:30. My meet got cancelled for tomorrow which I'm not very happy about, but I'm trusting God's plan on this one.

Since my meet got cancelled, I decided to time trial today instead. 2 mile warm up, 1 mile time trial, 2 mile cool down. I hit 5:53.8, which I felt pretty good about. That is only a few seconds off of my PR, and without any competition or adrenaline. I hope to be consistently in the 5:40's and dip into the 5:30's in outdoor!

Hilly 5.1 miles today. I felt absolutely euphoric. No muscle pain, and I never ever felt like slowing down. I got faster as I went, with the first mile around 7:45, progressively speeding up until the last mile around 6:25 pace. I am especially satisfied with that considering all of the hills! I also think it is worth mentioning that I doubt it's any coincidence that my best runs (like today) occur when I spend a mile or two of the run praying! God is so good. 

Nice and easy 10 miler today, about an 8 min average pace. My legs started off feeling really heavy and tight but once they loosened up 3 miles or so in, the rest of the run was solid. Long run days are my favorite!

2.2 mile warm up, 8x400 at mile pace (1:26-1:28), 2.2 cool down. 400 splits were 1:28/1:27/1:27/1:27/1:28/1:26/1:28/1:25. The weather today was so amazing! I really didn't even need a shirt, that's how nice it felt out! I can't wait for spring. Anyways, I felt solid during my quarters. My form felt strong today. 

I have 2 meets this coming week so I took today off from running to let my legs get nice and rested. 2 mile walk and a little bit of stretching!

.5 mile warm up, 4 mile workout, .5 mile cool down. My workout was a continuous ladder of 5-4-3-2-1-1-2-3-4-5 minutes, each set alternating between easy and hard (ex. 5 minutes easy, 4 hard, 3 easy, 2 hard...etc). I felt good, but like I was getting a good workout in. I am a little frustrated that I had to stop and go to the bathroom on the second 3-minute rep, but I guess you can't do much about that. Tomorrow will be nice and easy, then meets Wednesday and Saturday.

I was supposed to just have an easy 20 minute jog and strides today to rest for my meet tomorrow, but my meet got cancelled yet again. So...2.2 mile warm up around campus, speed workout, 2.2 mile cool down. Speed workout was 2x(5x200m) fast, with 30 seconds between reps and 3 minutes between the two sets. I'm disappointed that the meet was cancelled but I'm trusting God's plan on this. Hopefully this just means I will just have a few more days to get ready for Saturday's indoor meet in Winston Salem.

4 mile tempo run on the treadmill starting at 7:13 mile pace and gradually speeding up to finish at 6:33 pace. I am not a fan of treadmills but it is always nice for tempo runs to know exactly what pace I am going and exactly how far I have gone. Half mile cool down and some abs afterwards.

6 miler with a few striders afterwards to begin my taper into Saturday for my first indoor meet!! I am very, very nervous, but excited!

I took it easy today with a 20 minute jog, strides, and some good stretching. I'll be racing in the 1600 and 3200 of the JDL Mini-Meet (#3) tomorrow night! My main goal is just to qualify for state, which calls for a 5:50 and 12:50. Theoretically, though, I really want to PR! And I really think I could, I don't know how my speed is right now but I am positive I have more endurance than I've ever had before, so I hope that base will help me on the 2nd half of those events. We'll see!

I am so excited to write about today!!! So, today was my first indoor meet ever (I've always played basketball in the winter up till this year). It was at the JDL Fast Track in Winston Salem, which is where indoor states are for NC. My main goal going into the meet was honestly just to qualify for states in the mile and 2 mile, which means I needed to run at or below 5:50 and 12:50. My previous PR's were 5:48 and 12:26...and I say previous, beause I am so happy to finally say that I PR'd in both with a 5:45 and a 12:17!! This was the most competitive meet I've ever been to, probably just because no one really does indoor track "for fun," its really only comprised of serious runners. Given that, I was 7th out of 26 in the 1600 and 5th out of the only 5 in the 3200. Today is the first day I have ever in my life been last, but honestly I don't even care about the placing because I am so ecstatic about my PR and qualification for state! The track is 200m, so it was obviously many more laps than I am used to. But I actually really enjoyed it, I felt like it went by faster. I couldn't get in a very long warm up because they closed the track when the 4x8 began, so I only warmed up half a mile, then cooled down half a mile after the mile and before the 3200, and then cooled down another half mile after the 3200. Overall,  consider today a success for sure. It is so awesome to see all of this winter training paying off.

60 minute recovery run with Harrison. My legs are beyond sore today, which makes me feel even more accomplished about yesterday. Soreness is never too bad of a thing to me because I like to think it just shows improvement. I think I may take tomorrow off to really recover though.

Started pouring the snow when I got home from school and my mom wouldn't let me drive to the Rec to treadmill or bike, so I didn't get any mileage in today which I am upset about. But I did what I could in my house. Full body circuit with lots of core, especially. There is already several inches of snow but hopefully it will clear up enough tomorrow for a run!

Made it out for a snowy run today! I did somewhere around 6 miles, then 6 100m strides. I felt good and warm after about a mile and a half. I'm thankful I didn't slip on the snow-covered ground!

Ran on the treadmill today. I did a mile warm up, 3.5 mile tempo (7:13/7:03/6:53/[6:43 pace last half mile]), a short walk break, and then another .5 at 6 minute mile pace. Mile cool down. I felt strong today except for the side stitches I got from not hydrating well beforehand. That is easily fixable though! I would like to get in a lot more mileage over the weekend to help make up for my lack of any miles Monday and Tuesday. 

AM - 2 miles 

PM - 9 miles around my school. It was very cold but I felt pretty strong! I love long runs.

1 mile warmup, 4.2 mile fartlek with Katie, .6 mile cool down. Our fartlek consisted of 3 continuous sets of of .8 miles 5k race pace, then .6 miles easy. It went by pretty quickly. I am going to a recruiting trip at WCU today and spending the night there with Michelle! I can't wait!

1.4 mile warm up, 3 miles of track work, .6 cool down. My track work was 4x800m at 2 mile race pace, then 4x400 at mile race pace with 90 seconds between reps and 3 minutes between the two sets. Splits: 3:01/3:03/3:06/3:03 - 1:26/1:26/1:26/1:23. I was up pretty late last night on my recruiting visit at Western and didn't get to sleep in very much either, so I was really tired going into this workout and during my warm up. But as soon as I started my intervals, I felt like I found a new flash of energy and ended up really enjoying the workout. Weather permitting, I have a meet Wednesday, so I will taper down these next two days.

Terrible "workout" today. Planned on going 6 miles but I had to cut it super short to make it back to my school for this thing where they honored winter athletes. Poor planning on my part. I'm really upset I didn't get in any mileage today.

Full-body general strength ciruit at home before I went to bed.

Yet another unsuccessful workout. I planned on 1 mile-2 miles-1 mile at 10k at tempo pace with a mile warm up & cool down. We got let out of school at 10 because of snow, but it had just started to come down. So I hurried over to the Rec center to do the workout on the treadmill and then get home before the snow got too bad, but it started coming down so heavily that I only got in a mile warm-up and then had to cut to the 2 miler and then call it a day. I did up the speed from about 6:55 tempo pace to 6:25, so I still got decently tired, but I think mileage is more important than speed right now in preparation for outdoor (not in-season outdoor) so I am still disappointed about all of the mileage I've cut out the past 2 days.

We had another snow day today but I wasn't about to let that make this the 3rd day with a cruddy workout! I did a little distance/speed mix today on the treadmill. 5 miles at 7:50 pace, full recovery, 2x1600 at 6:35, 800 at 3:07. The 5 miles felt suprisingly good, I wasn't as bored as I thought I would be because I decided to listen to a Louie Giglio sermon for the distance half of the workout, so I ended up enjoying it! Half mile cool down afterwards. I will say I feel completely exhausted mentally and physically after that workout. But I feel like I got better today, which is always a great feeling.

45-50 minute run (ended up around 48:30) and 10x100m striders. I felt so good today! I felt like I never really got tired. Perhaps my body needed the few easy days I had earlier this week. Saturday is race day so tomorrow will be nice and easy!

Race day is tomorrow!! 30 minute jog and some striders for the day, just before loads of stretching of course. Haven't decided whether I'll run just the 1600 or both the 1 & 2 tomorrow, we decided I'd play it by ear. Regardless, a PR would be magnificent!! All in God's hands though!