Running is a means and never merely an end

Ran downtown today. Katie ran with me for the first 3 miles, then she went to the pool. I went on for 2 more and then met her back at the pool for a pool workout.

Did 200m of freestyle and then aquajogged (full body weight, no flotation helper) for 5 minutes. Then I did a set of 50 kicks each leg holding the side, focusing on pushing up to work my quads, and 50 pulling down to work my hammy's. Then I did 3x1min treading water using only my arms, which was actually really difficult for me. I am still feeling it in my triceps! 5 minutes normal treading as a sort of cool down. I feel good about today! Felt a lot better running than yesterday, that's for sure!

Good run down north river road and back up to my house! Best run in a long time actually. There was no point in the run that I was just wanting it to be over, I genuiniely enjoyed it and just paid a lot of attention to the feeling of my breathing and of the wind and how blessed I am to experience these things. And for maybe only the second time ever, the hill back up to webster didn't even phase me. I felt so strong and confident up it, and that doesn't happen often because that is one of the worst hills in sylva that I run anywhere due to its combo of steepness and length. Just super thankful this morning for all of God's blessings on me, especially running.

Also, I just changed my goal type from "Highschool Champ" to "NCAA champ"....how symbollic. Finally moving on up! It's so real. I also just got phase II of my summer training last night. It's definitely stepping it up a notch starting next week. I am excited though!

5 on campus at Western. Did the first mile and a half with Duncan and Evan, but they had already gotten like 4 in beforehand so they stopped. I felt really great the whole run. I am seeing such a difference lately in how I feel on hills. I thought yesterday might have just been one of those random super good days but honestly I felt the same on the hills today! Hardly phased me. Anyways, probably held up about a 7:35 avg pace.

Easy run through Webster.

6 miles of exploring new parts of campus I've never been to for some reason! I really, really enjoyed this run. 7:50ish pace.

I am leaving for camp today! I am going to use my day off for one of the days I'm there but that means I'll still have to run for 2. Yay for waking up at 6am before all the other campers.

Estimating on the distance. Woke up at 5:30am to go run before breakfast at camp! Chelsea Treadway, one of the counselors who runs at Samford, has to run in the mornings too, so I went with her to campus. She did a bike workout actually (coming back from injury) while I ran. It was surprisingly cold for this time of year, but I warmed up eventually. I'm glad I got that out of the way though so I don't have to dread waking up so early tomorrow.

38 minute run throughout Webster. I am so completely worn out from camp, in the best way possible though. I had a hard time keeping my eyes open at times during my run. That's when you know it's bad! Still, I am just so thankful for the awesome past few days the Lord has blessed me with. It was really cool to see other people there who I know don't really know Jesus just begin to blossom and to watch the way God was drawing them nearer. As a believer though, it really reinvigorated me and overwhelmed me at times with just how good and faithful He is. I needed that!

Ran from my house, down to the high school, then did about 2 and a half miles there, then back.  Pace varied a lot depending on hills but I'd say maybe 7:45 average. The first half of my run was really good, but then I really began to start feeling lots of fatigue in my arms all throughout the second half, especially on hills. They are still really sore from tubing off the jet-ski's at camp Sunday. Thank goodness I wasn't having to do speedwork or something instead today! One plus though is that the weather was absolutely fantastic this morning. I'm having lunch on the parkway with our local journalist for the sports section of the paper, so it is shaping up to be a beautiful day to be up in the Smokies!

Core workout later on in the night.

Fairly easy run throughout downtown. Threw some solid hills in there, but they felt alright. All I know is I've gotta start waking up earlier and getting my run in at like 8 instead of 11. I'd probably feel a lot better if I wasn't burning up!

7 miles easy around Cullowhee, then finished up at the track with 6x(20 seconds hard, 40 seconds easy) barefoot in the grass, and threw in an extra 20 seconds hard at the end. Felt nice to do a little bit of speed, even if it was only for 20 seconds at a time.

5 miles around campus with Joseph! Probably about a 7:30-40 pace. He is staying with me for the weekend so it was really nice that I had someone to run with for once!

Did my run right in the heat of the day, which was a big mistake of course. Had to stop a few times because my lower calves were so tight. It hurt to even stretch them, and then when I tried to massage them they were so tight they felt like metal.

Crossfit workout afterwards really kicked my butt! Warmup of 10 pullups, 10 situps, 10 airsquats. Workout was 3 rounds of 100 jump-rope jumps + 15 hang cleans....5 minute rest...3 rounds of 30 sit-ups + 10 pushups...5 minute rest....3 rounds of 20 backsquats + 20 handstand pushups. The handstand pushups killed me having already done all the other arm stuff. Upper body is just not my forte. Typical distance runner probs I guess!

Worked from 5:30am-8pm today, so when my 5 mile run afterwards felt so good that I threw in another mile just because, you can imagine I was incredibly pleasantly surprised at how not tired I was haha! Plus, it was at a really solid pace. Probably about 7:20-30 avg for the 6 miles. 2 things I love are early morning runs and late night runs, and this is why! I don't think I've ever ran really early in the morning or really late at night and not had a good run. Praising God for this awesome ability/sport tonight.

2 mile warm up, 10x30 second hill sprints with 90 sec jog in between, mile cool down. I made that 11x30sec repeats actually. This was our first structured workout of the summer! I feel pretty good about it. I'm going camping tonight so I probably won't get my long run in tomorrow until nighttime unless we leave really early!

7 miles easy throughout Cullowhee. I'd guess about a 7:45 pace average. I felt great, felt like I ran really smoothly. 6 20/40's afterwards (20 sec hard, 40 easy) barefoot on the infield at the track.

Orientation is tomorrow!! I'm hoping to get my run in on campus sometime in the evening, maybe even with one of my older teammates who is down there already. I can't wait!

5 miles easy on campus at Wofford with one of my new teammates, Stacey, after orientation! Really easy conversation pace, kind of exploring around campus. Man I can't wait to move in!!

After the run I had to go get my physical, so I just ran back to our hotel after that.

Ran after I got home today...pretty sad to leave Wofford.

2 mile warm up, fartlek run, and a little over a mile cool down. The fartlek was 30 sec easy, 30 hard, 60 easy, 60 hard, 2 min easy, 2 hard, 5 easy, and then back down the ladder. 19 minutes total. Didn't feel great, I haven't really ran a workout of drastic pace-changing since outdoor track! Still getting back into things I guess!

I wanted this to be a recovery run between my fartlek and possibly hills tomorrow, but it ended up feeling like one of the hardest workouts of the summer. Just felt like I was going 2 miles an hour and it felt like it lasted hours when it was really only like 47 minutes...ever have those days? It was just bad bad bad. Not sure what went wrong.

2 mile warm up, 10x60sec hill repeats with 2 minutes jog recovery, 1 mile cool down. These got me, I was definitely feeling the burn. I did them on the big hill of buchanan loop. But I never stopped or noticeably slowed so I am pretty happy with my efforts!

Did a little out and back through Western and down into Cullowhee a little bit! I actually purposefully waited until mid-day when it was hottest because I am worried about not being acclimated to Spartanburg when I move down for training on the 20th. But it ended up feeling fantastic, so I guess I'm not so worried. About a 7:50 pace I'd say.

Funny side note - at one point a post office car drove past me and the guy shouted out "oh hey, girl who runs everywhere!" I got a kick out of that haha.

Tempo workout today, once again in the heat of the day. I warmed up a loop on Western's XC course (1 loop is about a mile), then did my dynamics and tempo on the track. 4 miles, splits were 7:03/7:06/7:15/7:07, which I was pretty happy with. Doing tempos on the track is always SO challenging for me mentally. Definitely a lot of circles. But because of that, it's always so encouraging and motivating when I finally make it through the workout and can look back and know I didn't give in. 

Full-body strength circuit (bodyweight) afterwards, then another XC loop for a cool down. Ice bath in the river after that!

Supposed to be a 6 mile run....ended up being a little less, and with 2 breaks. Not happy about that. Not because I was tired, but because what I ate at this restaraunt last night just made me feel so sick and my stomach felt really upset during most of the run. Had to stop twice to go to the bathroom. As far as the running goes, I actually felt really good! Legs felt great.

Doing a little hiking and swimming later, maybe that will compensate (at least mentally, if nothing else).

7 miles easy, with 6 20/40's (20 sec hard, 40 easy) thrown in torwards the end to wake up the legs. Ran smoothly at an easy 8:00ish pace, maybe 7:50 for a few miles.

I am leaving for camp this afternoon till Wednesday, so I will have to get my runs in each day at like 5am.......not sure how I feel about that. I'm excited right now but I feel like I may be taking that statement back tomorrow morning :) just gotta do my best though!

Side note - I weighed myself at the rec 2 days ago for the first time in a few weeks, and I was like 133.5lbs, 8 pounds heavier than I've ever weighed myself at. I know weight can vary from day to day and there's a lot of variables there, but say that varied even a generous 3 lbs, that's still 5 lbs I've gained at least. I haven't been doing heavy lifting or anything that would put on muscle bulk, so I'm pretty sure it has to be fat weight. Feeling pretty crappy about that. I made this account on the livestrong.com website to log my meals and workouts and track my caloric intake. So far its been holding me a lot more accountable. My problem is not that I eat so badly...it's that I eat waaaay too much. I may have multi-grain cheerios for breakfast, but I'll have like 3 servings. So hopefully if I can adjust my serving sizes and skip a few desserts per week, I can hover back around 125 (or less, with any luck) by the time I head over to Wofford for training in a few weeks.

7 mile negative split run. Did an out and back through Cullowhee and turned around at 28 minutes (guessing that's about 3.5 miles, halfway, if I was going 8min pace or so) and made it back the same distance in 24:34, so I was pretty satisfied in that. Had to stop and go to the bathroom in the woods about 2 miles in...this is becoming somewhat of a regular habit now for my body and I'm kind of frustrated about that. It feels like I'm cheating when I have to stop.

6 miles around WCU around 6:45am before a jam packed camp day. Felt good, refreshing, and fun!

Back from camp! I was pretty tired but I buckled down and headed out for a long run. About an 8 minute pace with 6 20/40's (20 sec hard, 40 sec easy) mixed in torwards the end. It ended up feeling absolutely fantastic, not just running-wise but also just environmentally. It was like fall today! I was just so happy the whole time, a) because I felt so good out there and b) to just be able to soak in how awesome it is that God gave me this ability and this beautiful place to use it in. This is why I love me some long run days!

Good, easy run around the rec center & speedwell. 8 minute pace or so, maybe 7:50. Did some lifting afterwards, all legs, and then stretched. Made a nice little protein recovery shake when I got home!

My calorie ratio has been good since I got home from camp. I really let go of it for 2 days at camp though...one of the days, I consumed like 3,600 calories?! But I've been in the negatives (intake verses exercise) for the past 2 days so I feel good about that.