Running is a means and never merely an end

I thought a recovery run was in order for today after that workout yesterday....but I would be wrong. Haha. 5 mile tempo run at 7 flat target pace. I was pretty tired from yesterday though and ended up averaging 7:08. Still pretty happy with that considering I was once again my myself and sore from a workout and lifting sesh late the night before.

Also, today was my last day at work until February since its finals week next week! So sad! :(

8 mile recovery run (by myself again :/ ). 8:04 average. Went to/around Duncan park and back, my favorite place! Needed this.

2 miles warm up and cool down. Another workout today! 12x200 with a 200m jog between each. Not that it matters, but average pace for whole thing was 7:10 including jog rest. We went right at 40 on most of these, and Anya pushed me to a 37 on the last one. I tried really hard to work on my knee drive and form today during these too! Also, loving my new Vomero's. I think I prefer them over Peg's, the extra cushioning is so nice!

Really wanted to get a quick shake-out in today but I literally had a back-to-back packed schedule from 8am until 8:30pm. Planned on waking up early to do it but I was up till 4am so I figured it would do more harm than good. Thankful next week is finals...almost done with these crazy packed days and late nights!

First meet of the indoor season!! Boone is so awesome this time of year. Everything is so festive and it was the perfect amount of coldness...I wish it had been an outdoor meet! Without exaggeration, probably 1 in every 5 cars had a Christmas tree on top of it. But anyways!

I did a mile and a half with Rebeka for her warm up before the mile around 11:30. That was a nice little shakeout. Then all us 3k-ers warmed up 2 miles around 2:45. I felt great and excited to race and work on my new negative-splitting strategy again. I was ranked 4th but the #3 girl scratched I think so I ended up being ranked 3rd. Gun went off and I tucked in, in 3rd, behind Kat and Kaitlyn from Western. It took me till about the 800 to figure out where the 400 had been (the track is through the hall around the top of a stadium so you can't see where you are in relation to the rest of the track) but I came through at 88, perfect. 800 was 2:54, a little ahead of pace I was shooting for but I felt relaxed. Breck passed me around there and started getting some distance, maybe 20-30 meters, on me. I think my 1600 was 6:04 if I remember correctly. About 7 minutes in I decided to go ahead and start accelerating. I closed back in on breck over the next 2-3 laps and passed her with about a lap and a half to go to move back into 3rd. Closed in 11:35ish, unofficially.

I feel solid about that race. I think I ran my race but also allowed Breck to push me a bit there at the end. Obviously not a PR, but a little bit faster than this same meet this time last year, so I feel good about that! Cooled down 2 miles.

10 miles relaxed with Morgan on the trails and course at Milliken Park. 8:15 average. Felt really good to get a longer run in. Also, I'm gonna miss Morgan while she is abroad next semester!! :(

10 millas relajado con Morgan en las senderas y la camina de carrera en El Parque de Milliken. 8:15 ritmo promedio. Sentí muy bueno correr largo. También, voy a extrañar a Morgan mientras ella está en el extranjero en el siguiente semestre!! :(

FINALS WEEK.

Fast finish recovery run with Rebeka. We ran through Converse Heights a bit. 5 miles easy plus a tempo-pace last 1 mile. Well, a little faster than tempo - 6:58. We averaged 7:55. I felt a bit tired from the crazy past week of workouts/race, I can't wait to be done with finals and go home and actually sleep 8+ hours a night for like the first week all semester. Just a couple more days!!

LA SEMANA DE LAS EXAMENES FINALES.

Correr con un meta rápido para recuperación con Rebeka. Corremos por Converse Heights un poco. 5 millas relajado, y también un ritmo tempo milla final. Bien, un poco más rápido - 6:58 por esto milla. Promediamos 7:55 por milla. Sentí un poco cansado de la semana loca pasada de entrenamientos/carrera, así que por eso no puedo espero ser listo con las examenes finales y ir a casa y actualmente dormir por 8+ horas cada noche por como la primera semana en todo del semestre. Solo un pocos más días!!

Mile wam up with Boat, right into the 5 mile tempo. Sad I couldn't get any of my girls to run with me today cause of everyone's different and crazy finals schedule...I'm running out of time (literally) with them before I'm gone till February!

Anyways, 7:10 average for the tempo. Felt better than ths same run last week, so that's a plus! Mile cool down back to campus.

Un milla para entrar en calor con Boat, inmediatemente a la 5 milla correr a el tempo ritmo. Estoy triste porque no puedo correr con ninguen de mis compañeras hoy a causa de todos horarios diferentes y locos por finales...estoy corriendo fuera de plazo (literalmente) con ellas antes de no estoy aquí hasta Febrero!

De todos modos, 7:10 ritmo promedio para el correr tempo. Sentí más mejor que este misma correr en la semana pasada, así esto es bueno! Un milla lentamente para volver a campus.

8 miles recovery with Breck at Duncan Park! 8:12 average pace. I felt quite exhausted this whole run. Mentally, muscularly, cardiovascularly, just in all ways. I have 1 more final, Friday morning, and then I can finally rest!

8 millas recuperación con Breck en Duncan Park! 8:12 ritmo promedio. Sentí muy exhausto este correr entera. Mentalmente, en mis músculos, en mi corazón y pulmones, en todos maneras. Tengo un más examen final, en la mañana de viernes, y después puedo descansar finalmente!

Fun workout today with Breck and Morgan at Milliken Park! 1 mile warm up, then 2 sets of 10 x 40 sec hard, 1:20 easy. 2 minutes easy between sets. That was 5.3 miles total. Felt really good and strong. 1 mile cool down.

Entrenamiento divertido hoy con Breck y Morgan en Milliken Park! 1 milla para entrar en calor, después 2 veces de 10 x 40 segundos duros, 1:20 relajado. 2 minutos entre los dos veces. Era 5.3 millas en total. Sentí muy bien y fuerte. 1 milla relajada.

Long run Sunday - 11 miles at 8:10 average pace. I felt like I was going probably 30 seconds slower than that, so that was a pleasant surprise to see on my watch after I finished. Abs afterwards.

Correr largo para domingo - 11 millas a 8:10 ritmo promedio. Sentí como corría probablemente 30 segundos más lentamente que esto, así esto era una sorpresa agradable ver en mi reloj después de terminé. Abdominales después. 

AM- 1.5 warm up & cool down. 3 x 4x400 at 90-92 with 60 sec rest and 3min between sets. I hit 90 for 8 of the 12, 92 for 2 of them, and 88 for the first and last ones. Felt like it should have been a little easier than it was, but I'm still happy with those splits.

PM- 4 mile shakeout. Something in the arch of my right foot is bothering me...hopefully a good night's sleep will shake that off.

Ran throughout Cullowhee again today (Rec & Western)! 1.5 miles warm up right into a 5 mile tempo at 80% of race pace, or target 7:32. I averaged 7:28. We could either do 5 or 6 miles, but I went with 5 since my foot had been bothering me a bit yesterday and still this morning. I'm gonna ice it a few times today.

Weight lifted and stretched afterwards.

Corrí por Cullowhee un otro vez hoy (Centre de recreación y Western)! 1.5 millas para entrar en calor inmediatamente en un correr tempo de 5 millas a 80% de mi ritmo de carrera, o un meta de 7:32 ritmo promedio. Promedié 7:28. Podríamos hacer 5 o 6 millas, pero corrí 5 porque mi pie había sido me molesta un poco ayer y este mañana también. Voy a lo enfriar algunas veces hoy.

Levanté pesas y estiré después.

Recovery run down North River Road, 8:12 average. High-fived some construction workers on my way back. Abs afterwards!

Correr para recuperación en North River Road, 8:12 ritmo promedio. Choqué esos cinco con algunas trabajadoros de construción en camino a mi casa. Hice abdominales después.

8 rainy miles easy, fun though! Averaged 8:01. Legs felt pretty rough going up the big Savannah Drive hill, but other than that I felt good.

8 millas relajado en la lluvia, pero era divertido! Promedié 8:01 por milla. Mis piernes me dolieron cuando corría hacia arriba la cuesta de Savannah Drive, pero aparte de esto sentí bien.

AM- 3x1600 targeting 0-10 seconds over race pace (6:20) with a 400m jog between. Kind of a rough workout for lots of little reasons, I felt really slow and got progressively slower each lap and each mile overall, which is a bad sign. Splits were 6:20, 6:29, 6:30. I stayed within 10 seconds (barely) but I wish I had been consistently around 6:25ish. Oh well. 

PM- 

Opted out of a recovery run today in light of the fact that I accidently increased my mileage this week by like 30% over the past few weeks. I think I was just really excited to be home and have all this time to run as much as I want. At school my schedule really does limit my mileage, which sucks. Anyways, I played Just Dance - the workout version - for a while with Abby and did core work while she was dancing. Fun way to get my blood moving a bit still!

Long run Sunday! 12 miles averaging 8:02. Got down to 7:39 for mile 9, not sure what happened there haha, otherwise pretty smooth and consistent. Form drills and stretching afterwards, and Just Dance with the fam when I got home to shake out my stiffness a bit :)

Ran from my house down to the high school and around, then around Ashe Loop and up around Fairview, and then back around the high school and up to my house. 8:13 average, nice recovery run, albeit lots of tough hills in there that got me breathing. Light core afterwards.

AM- 1.6 warm up around campus. 25x200m at mile pace, or 42-43ish. I hit 41-42 for all but 3, which were a 43, a 40, and a 39. It went by much faster than I expected! 25 is a lot of reps for anything so I imagined I would get really bored, but breaking it up mentally into 5 sets of 5 200's made it easier to feel like I was making progress. I felt strong and ran consistent, happy with it! 1.55 cool down. 

I went to the Rec afterwards and lifted, then did core and stretched. Productive morning.

PM- 2.1 miles quick & easy shakeout before a Star Wars marathon with my friends!!

Ran with Caleb today on campus at Western! I was planning on 7-8 miles but we ended up a bit short because of time restraints. Oh well. I didn't feel very good today, I guess I'm a bit sore from weights yesterday but that's in order. 8:16 average.

7 mile steady-state run throughout Cullowhee. 7:32 average. I did a mile warm up and cool down on the track as well. It was absolutely flooding! The track (which is elevated up probably 10 feet from the river, 20 or so meters away) was about to be submerged. All bridges were closed and it was just totally pouring the whole time. I don't mind running in the rain though. Effort level felt closer to 7 flat than 7:30, but I was shooting for 7:30-7:40 so whatever the effort it all worked out.

Also....Christmas Eve!!!!!!!!!!!

Intended to do 8 miles buuuut about a mile and a half from home all the sudden it started thunderstorming and I had my phone on me playing music and could hear it starting to short circuit, so I had to get out of the rain. Awkwardly huddled on some rando's porch hahaha. My mom came and picked me up. Merry Christmas!!

2.5 warm up, then 12 x 1 min on, 1 min off. The on's were probably 6:15 pace or so, the off's were regular recovery run pace, so probably 8-8:15 pace. Averaged 7:19, not that average is really the point in a fartlek. Cooled down to 8 miles. 

7 miles on North River road. 8:03 average.

Rainy day. 8:02 average. 

Headed to Greenville today till Friday for Campus Outreach new years conference!!! I am beyond excited!

First morning in Greenville! Didn't know/plan where to run or anyone to run with so I didn't feel very safe just exploring on my own yet. Went to the fitness center and biked 7 miles and lifted.

Met up with Rebeka this morning to run!! Rainy run so my hair morphed itself into a giant tangle nest. Anyways, she showed me the way to Swamp Rabbit trail. 2 mile warm up onto the trail, then a 3 mile tempo at 6:51 average, shooting for 6:50. Splits were 6:49, 6:58 ("settled in" a little too hard), 6:42 (tried to make up for it). 2 mile cool down. Good tempo! I think I could do 4 miles at that tempo pace if it were still flat like that.

Rainy run again, with Ripley! She runs for Presbyterian College and was here at conference too, and we sort of made friends last night which is super cool! She's awesome. We ran 8 miles, mostly down Swamp Rabbit. 8:11 average.