Running is a means and never merely an end

Recovery run at Milliken, mostly with Breck. 7:57 avg.

Breck and I made a nice loop to the high school via Converse Heights, on the trails, and back out down east main street the way we drive in for a good 9 miler today. Halee, Morgan, & Mell were there for the first few miles before they turned back. This run felt so good, and it went by so quickly. I felt like it took half as long as our 6 miler yesterday for some reason. Maybe because it was a way we hadn't ran before, and good running weather.

Pre-meet with Breck! 6 easy + strides. So Coach Harris is using this meet as a workout-meet, which is cool, except it's definitely out of my comfort zone. I am running the 1500, 4x800(what?!) and one of the legs of the DMR, although I still dont know which one, but obviously its a 1600 or shorter. So definitely a good bit shorter and a lotta bit faster than I train for, but good training for my kick and what not in the 5k. I'm still just really excited though, because the pressure to PR is off since I've never really ran any of those things (dabbled in the mile in high school some but that's all) and everyone knows Breck and I are out of our bounds. I'm especially interested in the 4x8, because I haven't raced an 800 in 4 years. It's gonna be crazy. My goals, for what they're worth, are 2:40 800 (lol at my lack of fast twitch) and sub-5:10 in the 1500. In any case...spring break starts the second I'm finished!!

The 1500 didn't go quite as well as I had hoped. I forgot what it was like to get out so fast, and I was in the back almost immediately. I felt frantic, so I sped up and passed a few girls. First lap was 80, so right on pace. After that, I tried to calm down a little bit, but I think I went about that the wrong way and settled in pace-wise too much. Next two laps lagged a little, although I don't know my splits. I just know I felt too comfortable during those laps, looking back. Happy with the way I closed, passed a girl or two on my kick. Finished in 5:17, which was a little slower than my 5:12 first 1500 ever, two or three weeks ago, which was disappointing. I think it is really important for me to know my splits, the way my mind works. Every race I haven't had anyone to tell my my splits, I've lagged during the laps that I didn't know how fast I was going. Idk.

The 4x800 was crazy. I haven't ran that fast in so long. Once again, no one got my splits. But Chandler was the same leg as me on our A team, and she finished maybe 4 seconds ahead of me with a 2:31 split, so I am thinking I ran about a 2:35ish. Which I'm pretty happy with, considering I wasn't even sure if I'd break 2:40! My arms were exhausted....these short races are a whole nother type of tired. Not used to my muscles hurting after a race!

Lastly, I ran the 1200m leg of the DMR, which is the first leg. I don't know much about 1200m times, but I think I did pretty well because I started us off in 2nd place, which we were able to hold on to. At this point I was kind of just happy to be finished. It was a super fun meet with my team, but I was definitely tired after all these fast events that I'm not used to. I'll definitely be tight tomorrow. Final cool down was 2 miles.

Coach Harris gave me a choice for next weekend at Western to either do the 5k or 10k. I'm still thinking about it, and not sure what to do. The 10k would be a really good workout to set me up for a possible 5k PR at conference, and good experience if I am going to run more of the 10k next year. But I haven't really been training for that, mentally more than anything....6.2 miles of circles?? I don't know if I can do that yet without going mad. And as for the 5k, it might be good to have another opportunity to cut my time down before conference, and see where I am at going into these next 2 weeks of hard training before the taper, but the last thing I want is to get sick of running the 5k. I have ran it a good bit this year. So I'm not sure, I'll have to think a little more about it.

Easter Sunday long run! 13 around Cullowhee at 7:55 average pace. I felt pretty at ease throughout the whole run today, and even hit a nice little runners high for a while there. Also just super nice to be home.

More importantly....shouts out to Jesus for taking the wrath for every screwup I've ever had (slash thought about having) and ever will have! Through his resurrection God made a way for us to be able to spend eternity with him, despite the fact that we don't deserve it. "It is finished"....that's a pretty radical love. Happy Easter everybody!

A little over 8 miles easy, first 5 with Katie. Strides afterwards. It rained pretty much the whole time but it was still enjoyable. 8:14 avg.

Raining again today. 2 mile warm up, then the workout was 9x300's alternating between 5k & 3k down to mile pace. So 5k splits were target 70, 3k were 66, and mile would be like 60. But my actual splits were a little bit haphazard, at least initially. 60(for the 5k one...whoops), 64, 68, 62, 70, 63, 68, 63, 68. That's all we had, but that was over really quickly and I wasn't even that tired, so I threw in 4x200 just cause. 39, 40, 39, 39. 2.2 mile cool down, my dad joined me for a mile of it. Abs when I got home.

Recovery run today, although it didn't feel like recovery. For some reason this run was like a level 8 effort, even though it was just an easy 8:19 paced jog. I just felt so weak and like I was trying super hard to not all but walk. Glad its over.

Side note- I've been looking around at a lot of people's blogs today because, you know, its my spring break and what better way to live it up than blog stalking, right? Anyways I feel like I could count the number of people on one hand that aren't from Utah on here. Got me wondering how I even found this site, all the way over here in North Carolina.... nevertheless, it's pretty cool feeling like if I ever head out west to Utah, there'll be some sweet runs awaiting me with some of y'all that I keep up with on here!

8:19 AP. Didn't feel good at all. 8:01 but 7:01 effort type of feeling. My legs are just tired right now I think.

Pre-meet with strides. 8:04 average. Another sucky run...man, I don't know why I am having such a hard time this week with the easy runs, even though workouts and long runs have been good. I was honestly having a hard time finishing this easy 5 miles.

We went out pretty fast, but it felt fine. First mile was 5:58, and I was feeling good, then it sort of dropped off and I got real tired real fast. I don't really know what happened. My legs were so locked up, the same kind of feeling you get after you run the 4x4 or something, except this is the 5k and they were like that for a solid mile and a half. I don't know if that's because I went out a little faster than usual or just because my legs have felt sucky all week. But maybe it's a good thing I had a good first mile to help a little to make up for such a bad 2nd mile. I think the 2nd was like high 6:30's. My last lap was solid, 88. But the whole middle of the race was just a death march it felt like. I thought for sure I wouldn't even break 20, because it felt like I was going so slow. Somehow still came out with a 19:45, but I didn't like it. Breck didn't run well either, and Mell dropped out after 5 or 6 laps. Weird, weird race.

I'm really not sure how to feel about this meet. I really wanted to PR but perhaps this isn't a bad thing, and it'll give me some extra motivation for these next 2 weeks of training before conference. And 19:45 isn't awful. Just definitely not where I want to be. I'm dying to get sub-19:30, it's just that 1 barrier I keep hovering over but am having the hardest time breaking this year. Hopefully we'll get some good hard workouts in this week.

Easy 30 minutes with Breck and Ciara. 8:17 average. Basically a day off, and we needed it.

Our recruit tonight has been awesome, I really hope she comes here! I'm happy I got to be her host. Good day back on campus, although I don't know how I feel about classes starting back up tomorrow!

6 easy with almost all the girls (its been a while). 8:04 average. Strides afterwards. then weights. Legs felt much better today.

Good little workout today; I even wish it had been longer. 2 miles warm up, then we hit the track. It was 3 continuous sets of 90sec/60sec/30sec hard, with equal jog time inbetween. The 90 was supposed to be about 3k effort, and then the 60 and 30 just faster relatively. Averaged out to be about 6:40 pace for a little over 2.5 miles. The 3rd 90 seconds, after the 30 second rest, was challenging. Other than that, I felt good and probably would have been fine with one more set, or some 400's or something afterwards. 2 mile cool down.

Rather miserable outside so we went for our 5 easy on the treadmills instead. 8:06 pace. Weights afterwards. This is such a low mileage week it's crazy....taper taper taper.

Yayyy good workout today. 4x1600 with 2-3 minutes between each at a little faster than 5k PR pace. Coach Harris said 6:12 for me. I hit 6:11, 6:10, 6:09, and 6:04. I was really happy with how those got faster, and I was feeling really good. The first one felt like a brisk jog - honestly - I was hardly even tired. More effort to cut down the splits as they went on, but I still felt good physically and really focused throughout each lap. Glad to get a good productive workout in with conference in mind just around the corner.

Easy 7 through Converse Heights at 8:16 average. Legs were a little heavy, but regardless, today has been a pretty great Friday! 

Explored some new territory in Spartanburg with Breck...probably not the safest but oh well. Also it was prom night tonight for the high school I guess, so every park or semi-pretty area we ran through was packed with groups taking pictures, which was fun to see. We ran into Alexandra 7 or 8 miles in and finished it out back to campus with her.

Reciprocal shout out to Sarah Sargent for shouting me out. Hahahaha kidding but really, shouts out for an awesome meet this weekend & for following me on instagram!

Rainy run through converse heights. Mile splits were mad inconsistent...I don't know. But averaged out to 7:59 per mile.

7 on rail trail. Last little workout tomorrow before conference this weekend!

2 mile warm-up, then a quickie workout. We're just "sharpening up" at this point, as coach Harris says. 800, 2x400, 2x200. 800 was 2:51 I think, then 86, 82, 35, 36. Got the blood flowing, and then we were outta there. Cooled down a little.

Coach Harris is entering me into the 10k for conference (along with the 5k of course) in case I can score points if very few girls run it. So when the rankings come out Friday, we'll see if I'll be running it or scratching it!

6 easy with everyone. 8:11 average pace. ily tapering.

Warmed up on the trails. 10x200 with a 200 jog at our leisure today, still just shaking out and sharpening up for this weekend. We gradually progressed from 44 to 39, really just striding out and focusing on form. Cooled down afterwards on the trails too. 

Shout out to my teammate and best friend, Breck, who made an account on here this week!!! Go check her out (link in my favorite blogs section!)

Suuuupa easy pre-meet shake-out and strides here at the track in Birmingham. The drive over wasn't as bad as it was for indoor season. We did Cracker Barrel for pre-meet dinner so....I guess there's a first for everything, just like the 10k I'm running tomorrow!

Well, first 10k. Definitely didn't go as well as I was wanting. I was shooting for sub-42, and I thought I might could even get sub-41. I wanted 6:40 pace and I averaged out to 6:56. But I don't know how fair it is to expect anything from a race you've never ran, so maybe I shouldn't beat myself up. First mile was good, 6:25. I was holding back, trying to make sure I didn't just instinctively go 5k pace. 2nd mile was a 6:50, which surprised me because I had thought I was still on pace. After that it just went downhill....5k split was like 21:30 which is just juvenile, and after that I was just trying to finish honestly. Didn't feel good at all. But I did finish, and I got the experience, and I'm glad for that. And on another positive note, I am betting this will make the 5k tomorrow seem so much shorter mentally. Hopefully my body will recover well and I can be there physically, too. Who cares if I just ran the 10k, this is my last race of my freshman year and I am ready to PR and beat some people.

Not really how I wanted the season to end. But I don't think there is much sense in dwelling on it now. I don't know. I went out well, 6:04 first mile and then still on pace at 1.5 in. After that I guess I just got really tired and definitely started feeling that 10k in my legs, although I was still feeling alright mentally (probably in comparison to the 10k). Closed in 19:52. I guess we all kind of peaked a few weeks ago at Winthrop.

Regardless, I think these next few months without seriously racing will treat me very well mentally. I am really sick of racing right now. I'm excited for the extra time this upcoming week without practice to sleep and study. I'm also super excited for XC training in a few weeks, and the idea of XC in general. Yay for no more laps. Also, it really is a blessing to be able to run and learn through this sport more about how weak I really am and how much I need God. So even though I just feel rather weak and a little demoralized right now, I also feel like times like these are super prime spiritually speaking. I'd like to think more about that this week and use this break mentally as much as physically to rejuvenate and see running as a blessing and as fun.