Running is a means and never merely an end

Easy 7 out past Converse on East St. John's + 10x20 sec strides afterwards. I felt so good! I definitely think taking Monday off was a good idea. Did my core and stretched after that.

Short little tempo on the lower fields today. 25 minutes at ~6:45 pace. I basically did this by myself, because it was really just Mell and I, but she was 20 or 30 meters ahead of me for the first 5 loops, and then she stopped because of her asthma or something. But I finished it out to 25 and it felt challenging, but not unmanageable.

Weights later. Our new weights coaches are paying a lot more attention to us now and walking us through each set, which is kind of cool. At least I actually know now whether or not I am doing the exercises right.

AM- 5 miles at Milliken with Mell & Morgan, broken up into about 3 miles out, half a mile of hill sprints, then a mile and a half back. 8:17 avg not including the hill sprints. It started pouring the rain on us during this, which I loved, but Stefani (my car) on the way back did not. Core & stretching during my p.e. class afterwards.

PM- 5 miles on the treadmill. Started at 8:30 and steadily dropped to 7:50 last mile. Wasn't a progression run or anything, I just really wanted to get off as soon as I could because...treadmill.

Ran at Milliken with Breck. Well, Breck rode her bike next to me while I ran to keep me company. Shouts out to her for doing that actually, because I know it would have been a lot easier for her to just stay at Wofford and do the eliptical. 8:01 avg pace for 9 miles, pretty consistent except a 7:45 last mile. 

Also, I have been doing so much better about my eating habits the last 3 days! I know that's just 3 days and it means nothing in the scheme of things but thats a longer streak than my usual "hey I'm gonna start eating better" tangents last. Gonna keep working on it this weekend, eventually it'll hopefully be habitual!

A handfull of my teammates and I are staying in Asheville for the weekend for the SoCon tournament at one of the boys' family's second house. So we went on our run on the mountain today, which was honestly lowkey terrible because we were at the very top, so its like wherever you went, you were either going straight down or straight back up. But on the upside it was a beautiful day & Wofford won our first game!!

Easy 5 around downtown Asheville before the game tonight! Another beautiful day. Felt good to take this run real easy, since I know we have 3 hard workouts this upcoming week.

Warmed up on the trails, then hit the track for an alternating 800 workout. We did 4 continuous miles of 800 fast/800 steady. The fast sections were at a 3:06 target pace, and the steadies were at 3:35 target pace. I think we hit 3:10, 3:04, 3:07, 3:06. That first one was hard to gauge how fast we were going, but we got the hang of it a little better after that. Not that it matters, but it averaged out to 6:38 per mile, which I thought was pretty cool. Had to get to lab right after that so I really only cooled down back to my car in the parking lot, which sucks because I think that workout warranted a good cool down.

AM- 5 miles easy with Breck to a mile down rail trail and back. It was so dark (because of daylight savings time I think)!

PM- Another 5 easy all around Spartanburg with my newly non-injured teammates on the comeback! Shoutout to Halee & Ciara. 8:24 average. 

So today's workout sucked, period. No excuses about it, I guess it happens. Coach Harris set up a 300m "track" via cones on the lower fields. The workout was 2 sets of 4x(300m, 200m) with a 200 jog between each rep. He had said he wanted us at 68 for the 300's, and 41 for the 200's. I literally didn't hit a single one of those splits for any rep the entire time, even though I felt like I was killing myself. It was like a 9.8 on effort but like a 3 on product. Legs were just exhausted, and breathing wasn't good either. Ahhhh.

Weights later. Still enjoying our new weights coaches.

AM- 5 miles recovery to/on Rail Trail.

PM- another 5 after class + core & stretching.

Awesome workout today. It was pouring the rain, so naturally we went to carriage row (long dirt road) for a nice muddy tempo. 2 miles warm up, then an 8 mile tempo (4 out, 4 back) at target 7 minute pace. I've never done a tempo longer than 6 miles, so this was quite a jump and honestly I didn't think I could hold that pace. But it went so well, and I averaged 7:02, with a 6:55 steady last mile. It was hard because I was all by myself but I kind of enjoyed it. 1 mile cool down. 

Did my recovery run at Furman today because I was spending the day in Greenville anyways! I forgot how beautiful Furman was. Found some cool trails that I didn't know they had. Kind of nice to run alone actually.

Easy 6 at Fletcher Park in Hendersonville, the location of the first cross country meet I ever won! Fun memories running there. 8:14 avg pace. It was approaching 80 degrees out today, which was amazing, but I am currently as red as a tomato via racerback-shaped-sunburn, so that's not amazing. I'd call it a net gain though.

Got back to Wofford just in time for selection sunday. Wofford was picked as a 12 seed in the west bracket!!! Pretty proud to be a Terrier!

I really don't want to even blog about this but maybe it'll be useful for me to go back and look at later for some reason.

AM- 2 mile warm up, then the workout was 1600 (5k pace), 600 (3k pace), 1200 (5k pace), 400 (mile pace), 300 (3k into a kick). But all we got done was the first 3 before coach Harris just stopped the workout....that is how bad we were doing. My mile was supposed to be 6:16 and I was barely under 6:30. It was all just so bad. I don't know what was wrong. I could blame it on things all day long but it doesn't really matter, we just didn't run well. So Coach Harris said we were gonna re-do the workout on Wednesday morning before classes because this was an important workout that we needed to hit the splits for. Pretty angry about how it turned out but there's nothing I can do about it now but kill it on Wednesday. I think I'll do much better then.

PM- weights/core.

AM- This run was...interesting, to say the least! It all started because Breck and I were in the mood to explore. Ha. So I remember that there is this street called Wofford street about a mile and a half away that I've always wondered what is down, and we decide to run there and see. So we do, and we keep following for a while it until it pretty much turns into the projects. It comes to a fork and the street name sounds familliar so we figure it'll probably lead back up to the main road. Ha. A mile or two later, we're somehow at Spartanburg Methodist College, which I literally didn't even know existed (much less was so close??). We run through that campus for a bit and then take the most mainstream-looking road out that we could see. At this point we're like 5 miles in, and we were only supposed to have 7, so we were like ahhh okay time to ask for directions back or this could be bad. So we stopped half a mile away at Jesse S. Bobo Elementary school (which I also didn't know existed) and got directions to the main road, which popped us out not far from the mall (!!!)....we went straight back to Wofford but we inevitably went over. All this while its like 85 degrees out, so its all fun and games until you're running on the highway with no shade and hot pavement, already past the mileage you were supposed to do. Oops :) I'd still look back and call it a W though. Exploration nation.

PM- 3ish on my own later before dinner with our recruit!

AM- Today was the make-up workout of that disaster on Monday. Went infinitely better today! 1600 (5k), 600 (3k), 1200 (5k), 300 (mile), and then 600 (first 300 at 3k, last 300 as a kick). Hit 6:16, 2:12, 4:38, 60, and 2:09, respectively. 1600 was right on, and all the others were a bit under. So I am happy with today for sure in comparison to Monday.

PM- weights/core.

Easy pre-meet today. I am running the 1500 tomorrow night, which is pretty far out of my 5k-comfort zone, but I am kind of excited to see what I can do in something so short. Then Saturday I'm running the 3k. Coach Harris wanted this to be a training meet of sorts that I could use to get some speed under me. I've never ran a 1500 before, so I am just shooting for at or under the equivalent of my 1600 PR from high school (5:31), which would be about 5:11 for 1500. As for the 3k, hey a PR is always the goal. So sub-11:17. I also just want to have lots of fun with this meet and enjoy myself in the gift God gave me!

First 1500 today! It was actually so fun. I didn't do quite as well as I was hoping, but I don't feel awful about it because I definitely think I had it in me to do better if I was more experienced with the strategy of a short race like that. I think I could have kicked a good but earlier and been alright. First lap was an 80, then came through the 800 right on pace at 2:45, but I think my third lap must have been a little on the slow side. Closed in 5:13, which is around a 5:34 1600 I guess. It was just over so fast though! So fun. Shouts out to Anya, who ran the equivalent of 7 or 8 seconds faster than her 1600 PR! Cooled down 3 and a half afterwards.

3k up next, Saturday at 3:10 I think. I'm excited about this one too! I feel like Breck and I will work together really well during this, we've really been going back and forth in practice lately and feeding off of eachother. I'm gonna try and go with her when she throws in little surges. I've never had a teammate to work with like this before, I'm super thankful for Breck. Hopefully we'll both PR!

3k today! I didn't quite PR, 1 second off, but I am actually so happy about how the race went. I think I ran the smartest race I've ever ran, mostly thanks to Breck and Coach Harris. I was ranked 12th, and Breck was ranked 8th, so we were supposedly mid-pack I thought. So when we went out, I settled in at about 5th after the first 100, and Breck was on the inside of me. After 200m we realized that we were way too comfortable and this was actually just a really slow pack. Breck urged me to get out and go around and get in front, so at like 300m I did, and she followed and took the lead. It was me and Breck and another girl for the next 800 or so, and then I made a move and passed the girl, and Breck and I started to pull away a little bit. That felt so cool, to have two Wofford people in the front, like we were representing our school well. Then with three laps to go, Coach Harris told us to take turns leading and challenge eachother, so I took the lead and picked it up just a tad. Breck fell off within the next lap, but we were far enough ahead that she had a little room to do so. I came through the bell lap and gradually accelerated till about the 175, and closed pretty well. Coach Harris said it was a strong looking kick considering I didn't have anyone. I beat the last 2 girls in the first heat too, so that was cool. My first college heat win! I just had so much fun with that - it reminded me of high school when I was actually good, comparitively speaking. Cooled down 1.5 afterwards and got a nice little track tan!

Long run Sunday. Took this one super duper easy because Breck wasn't feeling very well. But we did a lot of exploring around Duncan Park, which was fun. We maybe did a little too much pavement in there, my feet hurt. Other than that, felt great.

8 miles with Breck (and the first 3 with Morgan) at 7:57 avg during lunchtime. It was pretty warm out but it felt nice. Weights and core before dinner.

Suchhhh a good workout today! Probably because it is way too beautiful a day to not enjoy it. 2 mile warm up, then we did a 2 mile tempo at 10k pace. We were a little fast, but not quite 5k pace or anything. 1st mile was 6:35, 2nd was 6:33. Then we did a ladder of 1000m, 800m, 600m, 400m, with the 1000 & 800 at 5k pace, the 600 at 3k, and the 400 at mile pace. I don't remember my 1000, but it was on target, and my other splits were 3:08, 2:15, and 81, respectively. After that, Coach Harris decided to surprise us with an extra 800 at the end just for kicks. 2:56 for me. I feel good about today! It was a productive workout and somehow a really enjoyable, fun one. 

AM- easy 5 miles before lunch with Breck, Morgan, & Mell on rail trail! I felt fairly tight from the workout yesterday, but it got a little better as the run progressed.

PM- another easy 5 with Breck, Anya, Ciara and Chandler at Milliken park. Weights afterwards.

Easy 5 for pre-meet with the girls. We explored a little bit, didn't see much though. 8:15 avg. Anyways, I am super excited for the meet tomorrow! Me, Breck, and Mell are all running the 5k, which is going to be late on Friday night, like 9pm or so. Always love running under the lights, so that should be fun. I really think a PR is reasonable if I run my best tomorrow. 6:16/mile is 19:30. I ran an 8 mile tempo 2 weeks ago at 7 flat...surely I can run 3 at 6:16. We've strung together 4 or 5 really good workouts these past 2 weeks, hopefully they'll translate well!

Start to finish - what a great day! Killed my spanish quiz and biology test this morning, so it was just good vibes already. Anyways, when we got there, the weather was very cold and rainy, so we drove over to Winthrop's student center and hung out for a while until it was time to warm up. Warmed up 15 minutes, and then as I was doing my agilities, Katie surprised me! Always a good meet when she's there :)

So we went out well, first lap at 91 (93.6 was 19:30 pace), 800 at 3:03, mile at 6:08. After the first mile, I think I fell asleep a little bit and got a little lost in my pace, which I thought was good, but was apparently too slow, which I realized when I came through the 2 mile at 12:36 (12:32 is 19:30 pace). I felt like I had a strong last mile because of that though, and I picked up a good bit of slack and passed a few girls. I still wasn't sure where I was though, and I had this weird problem where I couldn't figure out how tired I was. I could have been about to die or about to kick for the entire last 3 laps? It was weird. So I just picked it up, and when the last 200m came around, I switched gears and realized I definitely had some left in me. I kicked really hard and passed 5 or 6 girls, which made Coach Harris really happy. For better or worse, I think I'm way more competitive with the clock than I am with other girls, but sometimes those things are basically one in the same. Oh also, shouts out to Breck who PR'd by like 19 seconds tonight!! Talk about motivational!

I was happy to PR by a few seconds, but I'm still really hungry. It was a good confidence booster to finally get a PRin my first 5k of the outdoor season. But I am definitely ready to hit the ground running (literally. ha) next week and get some more good workouts in and get closer to 19 flat soon. I think this meet was reassuring, but also motivating, which was cool. Regardless, it's all about using the gifts that God gave me and lifting them back up to Him. I'd call this fun day a W!

Went to Greenville today for our run! I researched for forever this morning until I found a place that I thought would be good to run at in Greenville, and it definitely did not disappoint. Awesome trail system with lots of variety and fairly even footing. Couldn't stop coughing afterwards for like 3 or 4 minutes straight...my cold or whatever this is is definitely getting worse before it gets better. I also only slept a few hours last night, despite the fact that I was in my bed for 9, because I just layed there curled over and had those awful coughing fits once or twice a minute. Ugh.

7 miles easy with Breck to converse heights, down a few boulevards, and back. 8:16 avg. 

First 2.5 miles with Breck, Morgan, & Halee, then Morgan and Halee turned and Breck and I stayed in Converse Heights again for the rest of ours. 8:01 avg pace. I felt really good today, even hills felt pretty effortless. Coach Harris says we have a double workout tomorrow? So hopefully this will carry over!

Weights before dinner.

Piggybacking 2 workouts today! 

AM- 2 mile warm up, then to the lower fields for 3x2k repeats at 10k pace. I hit 8:20, 8:14, 8:17, or by mile paces the equivalent of 6:45, 6:35, 6:41. We seem to always have a difficult time hitting times on the lower fields...I don't know what it is. I guarentee if we did the same workout on a track, all of those splits could have been at least 15 seconds faster. Luckily we'll be on the track for our second workout, later tonight. Cooled down a mile.

PM- 1 mile warm up + 2 laps of speed changes. 10x400 starting at 5k pace and progressing into 3k pace with a 200m jog between. Splits for the first 6 lingered around 91-92 (5k pace is ~93), then the last 4 were 90/91/89/89/85 (3k pace is ~89). It was kind of interesting because there was a soccer game going on in the field of the track, so there were a bunch of spectators in the stands while we awkwardly ran our workout during their game. The worst part was when the national anthem was playing, but we were in the middle of a rep and couldn't just stop...I've never felt so unamerican. I think someone in the stands yelled at us after it was over for not respecting the national anthem. Obviously he was never a runner. 

I feel really good about these. 2 good workouts, and I feel fine for the most part. I think the day was really productive, and is going to give me a little more confidence for doing so many events in Saturday's meet.