Running is a means and never merely an end

Kinda ended up foregoing my run today in favor of a New Years hike with the fam bam. Close enough right? Spent the day hiking 7 very strenuous miles of steeeeep incline to the Pinnacle! Always a good one. Thankful for that time with my family.

AM- Supposed to be a 60 minute progression run today but I had to stop at about 50 minutes to go to the bathroom, so it ended up being about 50 + a fast leting-my-frustration-out mile afterwards. Splits were 8:34/8:09/7:50/7:30/7:21/7:30, and then the last mile was 6:29. Felt fine, minus the bathroom break thing. Then I joined Nancy inside and lifted and did some core! Good to catch up with her.

PM- Twice around Buchanan loop for 4 miles easy. Legs a little tired from squatting earlier.

Recovery day. 8:18 avg pace. Did my core too!

Good to finally be back at Wofford!! I didn't want to leave home but now that I am here I am super glad to be back. Long run with my girls. They did like an hour, and then I added on till I got to 90 minutes, with the last 15 fast. 8:08 avg pace, with the last 2 miles at 7:21 and 7:15.

I went to Dick's to try and buy some new trainers for before I got back to Wofford, but the smallest size they had was a 6.5 and I wear a 5.5-6. I know that's not a big difference at all but I figured if I'm paying tons of money for a pair of shoes, they better fit perfectly. Plus who knows, maybe half a size is enough to give blisters or something. In any event, they'll be here in 3-6 business days. This is my first go-round at Nike's (and first time not getting Brooks in years) which I never really took seriously as distance running shoes. But the Zoom Structure 18's were fire, and have had really good reviews in the running world, so I'm giving them a shot. Hopefully the stability features will help with the way my arches make me want to cry every day after I run...

2.5 out and back nice and easy with the girls. Weights afterwards, which kinda killed me honestly. I can feel that I am going to be super sore tomorrow.

Did the Oregon 10 Miler today, except modified to be 8 miles haha. 2mi, 1600, 2mi, 1200, 2mi, 800 (and there is usually another 2 miles here on the end, but thats what we took off to modify it for right now) with 30-60 seconds in between each. 2 mile sections were at 7:35ish pace, and we completed those on the trails next to the track. 1600 was at 10k race pace. I haven't competed a 10k yet but I guestimated about 7 minute pace? Hit 6:47. Then the 1200 was just supposed to be faster than 10k but not 5k, so I said maybe 6:40 pace? I can't remember my split but it was on target. The 800 was 5k race pace, which I guestimated to average out to 6:20-630, so I was shooting for 3:10-15. Hit 3:11. 

I could definitely feel the soreness from the jillion squat variations we did in weights yesterday. Coach Harris said that's the one thing he asked our strength coaches not to have us do, for that reason. My hammy's were about to give on that 800, even though it wasn't that fast. 

Short cool down (too short, admittedly) afterwards followed by a core session.

60 minute recovery run. 8:14 avg pace. Weights afterwards, which were much better today than Monday. It was absolutely freezing! I think it said 20 degrees with the windchill...I don't know what I'm gonna do when its like -5 with the windchill tomorrow morning at practice.

Oh! And my new shoes finally came in ahhh!!! I love them SO much. Cushion for days. Plus my arches weren't absolutely killing me afterwards - progress! I'm gonna add the shoe mileage thing on here now too. Yay!

AM- 45 minutes reccovery/maintainance. 8:28 pace. 12 degrees outside...that was something, alright.

PM- 30 minutes easy. 8:23 pace. "Warmed up" to the 20's, yay. Getting nice and loose in preparation for our tempo tomorrow.

Amaaaazing workout today!!! Honestly probably the best, meaning most well executed and simultaneously enjoyable, tempo of my running career.

2 mile warm up & cool down with a 10k tempo between. Core later. Target pace was 7:15. Mile splits: 7:04/7:11/7:16/7:09/7:06/7:02, averaging out to 7:07 per mile. Ran with Mell, she was also target pace 7:15 but for 5 miles instead of 6. We worked really well together and pushed and eachother at all the right places. I felt like I was working hard but at no point did I feel like I was suffering or unable to hold the pace I was going. It was fantastic.

It's cool because I was actually dreading this workout all last night and during class and the day today. I just thought it would be awful for some reason. Right before I left, I prayed that God would bless me with a better attitude and a capable body to be able to have a good workout and at least be encouraging to my teammates. I asked for this workout to not suck as much as I feel like it will (haha). But he went above and beyond and gave all of us an amazing workout with fantastic splits and a fun time with eachother. Awesome to see that goodness and continuous faithfulness play out right before my eyes.

Recovery. 8:18 avg.

Long run Sunday! Did our run at Croft State Park. Honestly I kind of hated the trails there (bad footing, super windy, wide enough for one person) but hey its good to get off the sidewalks and its always a cool thing to change it up.

Workout today at Milliken Park. 2 mile warm up to the start line. We did a really interesting workout of like continuous rolling repeats...we would do a 2000m interval (mine at target 6:50 mile pace), then the rest would be a 100ish meter jog over to the big hill (200 meters or so), and then 4 hill sprints with a jog back down, then jogged back to the start for the 2k repeats, and rolled into the next interval. All together 1 set of the hills and 2k was like 2.10 miles. We did 3. The 2nd and 3rd 2k repeats were actually really difficult after the hills. I felt like I was having to put a lotttt of effort in just to keep consistent splits. But I pretty consistently stayed at 6:45-50 mile pace, so that was good. I'm really pleased with the way our workouts have been going lately. They have been challenging, but I feel like we have handled them really well. Just feels like I am getting better every day. 2 mile cool down back to the cars afterwards.

Weights session later that evening. Once again, too many dang squats.

50 minute recovery run. Did my core.

Workout at Milliken again today. 2 mile warm up, then 40 minutes of 10 hard, 5 easy, 10 hard, 5 easy, 10 hard. That amounted to 5.26 miles. Our hard was just supposed to be a steady solid effort but nothing too bad, and each 10 minute sesh should be harder than the last. I paced those 3 at about 7:26, 7:14, 7:08 pace. Easy pace was a nice conversational jog, around 8:45 pace. We averaged out sub-8 though. 1.2 mile cool down + a few strides.

Weights sesh around dinner time. 

Speaking of dinner time, I have GOT to start eating better. I guarentee I could drop like at least 15 seconds off my 5k time if I just had better portion control and also ate less dessert. I say this to myself around this time every night, but now that it's in writing....I really gotta work on it haha.

Easy recovery run. Had fun exploring around Converse's campus. Nice place!

Left WoCo at about 1:30 today for our ETSU meet this weekend. We went on a little shakeout run when we got there, 30 minutes easy around campus + some strides. I'm running my first indoor 5k tomorrow! Need to gather my thoughts

My race was the first race of the day - first thing in the morning at 8am. We left the hotel by about 6:45 and got there at like 7:10, so I was a little rushed to warm up but it was alright. I was really happy to have the first race of the day, first off so that I wouldn't just sit there and think too much about it all day like I probably would have, and second of all so that I could really enjoy the rest of the day without worry. 

Well it was 18 laps. So that was pretty crazy because I've never ran that far on a track before. I guess I didn't take that into account like at all because I have ran a jillion 5k's....just never on a track. I was hoping for sub-19 today, which I didn't even think was a very ambitious goal. I was on pace for the first mile, ahead of pace actually, and came through at 6:06 I think. After that, with like 11 laps to go, I realized how long this race was. I think that really started to get to me mentally which is probably why my splits showed that I slowed down so much at that point. My last 800 was pretty good, but basically everything between that last 8 and that first mile was just a lost cause. I don't really know what happened, but I know it was definitely mental. I feel like I prepared as well as I could have mentally beforehand, but I guess I just didn't really know what I was preparing for. So now that I have this one under my belt, hopefully I'll be able to mentally prepare better for the next one.

20 minute cool down with my dad afterwards. I was really happy that he showed up to cheer me on - he woke up at like 5am just to drive over for that 20 minute race. :)

Fun little trail run with Mell and Breck on the trails behind Milliken park. Today was BEAUTIFUL. 

60 minute out and back on rail trail. Last 15 minutes fast. My calves were killing me for the first 3 miles, but then all the sudden they loosened up and I felt amazing for the rest of the run. Another beautiful day!

Weights afterwards.

Workout day! Kind of a rough one but it was 70 and sunny so hey still a W in my book. 2 mile warm up to the lower fields. We did 3 sets of 1600/1200/800 with 45-60 seconds between each. The miles were at like 7 minute pace, the 1200's at 6:30 pace, and the 800 at 6 pace. Our second set was pretty rough, which is probably why coach Harris took the 1600 off of our 3rd set, so we just did 1200 & 800 for that one. I don't really know why the second set was so slow. My knee bugged me a bit but I don't think that slowed me down at all, I guess I was just tired. 

Cooled down for a while afterwards & then did core with Ciara in the locker room.

Recovery run - took it super easy, and needed that because my legs were killing me the whole time. Did a little exploring with Mell and ran through a really nice neighborhood she said she used to run in as a freshman. I'd like to come back on my own and explore all it's ins and outs. 8:33 avg pace.

Weights afterwards, and then core. Our Wednesday weight sessions are so much better than our Monday ones. I feel like I'm sore every week from the Monday sessions from the million squat variations we do.

AM - 45 minutes solo. Had a hard time getting comfortable but I enjoyed being by myself actually. 7:56 avg.

PM- 30 minutes easy shake-out. Legs felt much better than this morning, but then again it was slower and easier.

Today was freeeezing cold rainy. But our workout was pretty good! We were going to do it at Milliken but it would have been a mud hole so we just did lotsss of circles around the track instead. Warmed up, then did 6/3/5/2/4/1 minutes hard (like 5k race pace or a little above) with a 2 minute jog between each, and a 40 second surge at some point during each one (we just did surge pace for the whole last minute since we were almost done anyways). Even with 20 minutes jogging rest essentially, we still ended up 7:20 avg pace per mile. It felt too easy honestly, maybe I should have gone faster. I was never super tired at any point. Did a cool down and some core work afterwards.

My best friends from back home came and visited me this weekend! They didn't leave till about 8 though and I didn't to waste the time they were here by going off and running, so I just ran after they left. Henceforth...late night pre-meet run on the treadmill, cause how else is a runner gonna spend Saturday night? 

We race at JDL tomorrow, a track very familiar to me of course from my senior year in high school. I'm running the 3k, which I am really excited about. I like that distance. I'm not sure what my goals should be at this point in the year, so I'm just shooting to get better and beat my first (and only) 3k time from the App meet in December.

Well, I did better today than my last 3k, so technically a PR (but eh..). I'm not super happy with it though. I was hoping to drop to 11:25 or so today. I guess I don't understand why I'm not really getting much faster when I am doing more mileage than I've ever done and harder workouts. And I'm only a little better than I was in high school, doing like 20 miles less a week and my own made-up workouts. I was hng to drop to 11:25 or so today. Perhaps I need to work on the little things more. My workouts may be harder and I may be doing more mileage, but I think I was much more disciplined about the little things in high school - stretching after practice, eating healthy, proper post-race recovery, etc. Gotta get back to that.

Anyways, Breck and I ran the 3k, solely along with High Point's 4 long distance girls. So they went out in a pack pretty immediately, needless to say. 1 of them straggled a bit and I was able to stay within 20 or so meters of her the whole time. Breck pushed me well in the first mile, hanging on my shoulder. Came through at like 6:04 I think. After that she dropped off and I was sort of in no-mans-land for the next 1000 meters. I started catching up to that last High Point girl over the course of the last 400, and I caught her with 60 to go on the homestretch, but I don't think she realized I was that close because as soon as she noticed me she took off. I think that helped me run a little harder that last 400 though. Those girls were really sweet after the race.

Cooled down 15 minutes afterwards. My calves felt so much better today! A lot of times they hurt pretty badly after meets because I think my spikes are more mid-distance and encourage toe running. But I wore the spikes that Wofford gave me for the first time and I loved them! They were much more supportive and cushioned. Legs were still a little junky so I spent a little time on the elliptical whenever we got back home on campus, then stretched a good bit. That helped a lot. We have a workout tomorrow.

We drove up to Pauline for our little backroad workout today. 2 miles warm up. The workout is kind of hard to describe. We went out and back 2 miles, which contained several solid hills, and during those 4 miles we would surge up the hills and recover on the downhills. Then we rolled directly into a 2 mile "tempo" on the way back of the 2 miles we warmed up to. That was almost completely uphill, so tempo is a relative term...it was more like tempo effort, because it couldn't end up tempo pace. The hills were pretty tough on the out and back portion. Coach Harris said he thought I was probably struggling with those so much because I don't pick up my feet then I run - I have a very miniscule knee drive. So they definitly were killing my hamstrings and butt. Not muscles I'm used to using. In hindsight, I wish I would have gone a little bit faster on the "tempo" portion of it. I wasn't as tired as I should have been (like as I was during the hill surges) when I finished. 15 minute cool down and stretching afterwards.

Weights & core later. At dinner before weights, I talked to Hunter about my frustration on why I am not getting much better yet. He said it's a process and they're training me to be my best by junior/senior year, not really the end of each season. But he also said that "the girls" need to learn to be more mentally tough. Part of me wanted to be offended but then the bigger part of me realized that if I took any offense to that, it's probably true. Maybe its my mental game that's lacking most.

Recovery run. 7:53 avg pace.

AM- 30 minutes easy before class. 8:23 avg pace.

PM- 45 minutes moderate at 7:48 avg pace, then weights and core. Still working on this mental toughness thing, and I am feeling better about it. Excited to work hard.

Awesome workout today!! We went to Spartan High and actually did some track work for more or less the first time this season. 2 mile warm up, then we got into a 3 mile tempo. Since it was only 3 miles, and on the track, it was a pretty quick pace. Target 6:45, which I was intimidated by at first, but we ended up going 6:38 avg. I'm super happy with that. That's honestly not even that much slower than my actual race pace from that ETSU meet the other day. But I'm most happy with my attitude during it. Definitely working well with this whole gaining mental toughness deal. After a few minutes, we did 2 sets of 3x400 at 93sec target, but actually 88-90 in reality, with 30sec between each. Those were just fun. 2 mile cool down afterwards. Surprising my family and heading home this weekend!!! Might be good for me to get a few days of work in by myself anyways!

Recovery run at 7:56 average pace. I honestly don't know how it ended up being sub-8 pace...there were like 30mph winds (and of course when you're running loops, wind seems to defy the laws of nature and be againt you 90% of the time) that made me feel like I was barely breaking 9 almost the entire time. Really felt the tiredness in my legs. I probably could have taken it a little bit easier than I did, being that my legs are so worked from this week. Oh well, no meet this weekend!

100 minutes today all around Cullowhee! Averaged 8:11 pace. I probably got like 60 or so minutes of it on soft surface, so that was good. I felt really good. Passed Taylor on campus and Tori too, playing soccer with her friends, so that was cool. I'll see them later tonight though! I love being home. Abs and stretching afterwards.

4 miles before I left to go back to Wofford for the semester. It's been great to be home this weekend. 7:55 average, about 15 minutes of which was on soft surface. Threw a lot of hills in there too just for kicks.

8 miles at 8:08 average. We ran down this random backroad off Conneticut Avenue just to see where it went and it ended up connecting to the high school where our track is! Who knew. So we got in about a mile and a half of the 8 on soft surface on the trails behind the high school. Kind of had to rush back for my lab.

Weights before dinner.

Loved our workout today! Well, now that it's done anyways. Actually no I really did like it for the majority of it. Anyways! 2 mile warm up on the trails, then we got back to the track and got right into it. Basically it was 4 miles continuously, but broken up into 600m 5k race pace (2:19) followed by 1000m "steady", aka like tempo pace (4:30). Which would be 6:49 average mile pace. We hit 2:18 for all of the 600's if I remember right, and actually ended up averaging like 6:30 something (my watch said 6:24 but that can't be quite accurate because we started and stopped at the same line, after 16 laps, and it said 4.2 miles instead of 4 so it must be a tad fast). 6:30 something for 4 miles, I'm pretty siked about that. Did 4 hundred-ish meter strides afterwards, and then a 15 minute cool down.

Coach Harris said Breck and I are in the 5k at ETSU on Friday! I think good things are in store - I am feeling a lot more mentally tough and probably physically faster too than 3 weekends ago when we ran there. Hopefully another sub-20 coming up???

8 miles at an 8:20 average pace. Did the same random-road-that-connects-to-the-highschool-trails route across from Converse as a few days ago!

Weights and core around dinner time.

Pre-meet!

AM- 5 miles on my own before class. 7:56 avg.

PM- 5 miles at Milliken Park with Breck + a few strides. 8:08 avg.

Breck and I will be running the 5k tomorrow night at ETSU! I'm actually so excited, I feel like both Breck and I have gotten so much better these past few weeks. I think we will both run well.

Time is unofficial (just based off my watch) and place was irrelevant, but I don't know anyways. Really just disappointed and confused. I don't want to keep thinking about it much longer because I haven't stopped since the race. But basically, my legs were so tired and I still wasn't strong enough mentally to make up for it, and I am just sick and tired of practicing harder and harder and not getting any better. I don't know what else to do.

Positives: Breck aboslutely killed it. Like she was only hoping to break 20, and she shattered it - 19:36! I wish I could have been there with her of course, but nevertheless I am so so so happy for her! She 100% deserved that, the way she's been practicing. Also, my family came to watch so I got to see them and have dinner afterwards. My mom gave me a really good talk after the race when I was so upset and she reminded me how little this is in the scheme of things and how much bigger God is, as well as how much I have to be thankful for. She said it's all I can do just to thank Him for the opportunities He gives me and blessings I have and just ask Him to make me better because I can't do it on my own. I needed that so desperately.

Solo today! 1 mile warm up into a little 4 mile progression run. Coach Harris said start at 8:30 and work down to 6:45, and that's pretty much how it went. Then 1 mile cool down. 7:49 avg, including warm up and cool down.

7 miles on my own on the trails by Millikan. It is such a beautiful day! February 8th and 70 degrees...I'll take it. I felt really good initially, but eventually my legs were just absolutely exhausted and I cut the run from 8 miles to 7. Maybe a day off would treat me well. Oh well.

Church was really good this morning. That, in conjunction with my talk with Nancy afterwards, got me thinking about my mindset during races. Perhaps I make it too much about me. How often do I pray or give thanks during a race? Next to never. Nancy said a cool way to keep your mind constantly defaulting back to God is to choose a specific portion of the track to dedicate to prayer every time you go around it. I'm really excited about trying that!!

8 miles easy on my own, 8:12 avg pace. I loved this run - lots of exploring in the rain around this neighborhood area I've been wanting to explore for a while. Had to rush off to lab right as soon as I finished so I couldn't stretch (or shower, or eat..). But I am headed to weights right now so I'll be able to loosen up and roll out after that!

2 mile warm up, then a little track work today! 2000, 400, 1200, 400, 1000, 400. The 2k was at 10k pace, the 1200 at 5k, and the 1000 a little faster than 5k, maybe just over 3k pace. The 400's were just as fast as we could do them, but keeping it under control. We got a 1 minute jog between the long reps and the 400, and 3 minutes jog between the 400 and the next long rep. I don't know my long split times, but for the 400's I hit 87, 86, and 85. After that we did 3 "X" strides on the infield, and a (too)brief cool down because several of us were about to be late for class.

AM- 5 miles recovery. 8:15 avg pace.

PM- another 5 miles easy with Breck. We explored a lot around parts of Spartanburg we hadn't been to, it was so fun. 8:22 avg. Weights afterwards.

Warmed up 2 miles, then did a 300 workout on the track in honor of our meet this weekend on a 300m track in West Virigina! The furthest I've ever been north, wowwie. 2 sets of 5x300 with a 100 jog back to the start in between each. Kept these fairly consistent. Cooled down.

I was so productive on the 6 hour drive over with my homework, it was crazy. And we had the best night in the hotel, so many laughs. So I was already coming into this meet with good vibes! Then I also absolutely loved the track, 300 meters was such an awesome length. And it was so nice to run the 3k again. I really enjoy this race.

So Coach Harris wanted Breck and I to hit 11:20, and said we needed to run 67-68's for each 300 lap to do that. The first few laps were under, maybe 65's or so. Then we evened out to a few 68's and maybe a 69, and then the last 2 were faster of course. I was never really in no-mans-land during this, I was always either right with Breck or right in front of another girl or two. Breck stayed on my shoulder for the first 2 laps, then took the lead and ran 10 or so meters ahead, and gapped to 15. Stayed like that for a while, and during that time the girls from Marshall behind me were being SO rude as far as racing ettiquite goes. They were like stepping on the back of my shoes and hitting the back of my elbows every time my arms came back. That was kind of annoying but if anything it kept me from slowing down, so I don't really know what their goal there was. With maybe 3 laps to go, Breck and I were back together. I think we both knew we were gonna PR. We both ran the last lap nice and hard, not sure what the split was but it didn't really matter, and I went 11:17, she went 11:18. Which is a 18 second PR for me and a 24 second PR for Breck!!! Mell ran the 3k with us too and PR'd as well, and went sub-11! What a good day for the distance squad. Super thankful for the good mindset and fun weekend in general that God gave me, and then threw in a PR just because He can. :)

Long run Sunday with Breck and Mell on the trails at Millikan, and also on the course. Legs didn't feel nearly as post-meet-y as I thought they would. Morgan came with us for the first 6 or 7 miles too that we did on the trails, then we dropped her back at the cars and finished out on the xc course. Good run.

8:12 avg pace. Mell and I just ran out past Converse for an out and back. It started freezing rain/snowing during the last 2 miles!! I'd kill for cancelled class tomorrow....but slim chance. Weights later.

10x400m, starting at 86 and getting faster. For how not mentally prepared I was (we had thought it would be a treadmill run today because the track was covered in ice and snow all day), these went really well. I don't remember my exact splits but they started at 86 and stayed 86-85 till about 5 to go, then steadily moved down to 81. It was good, and didn't feel very hard. Just cold!!

8 mile recovery run. Kinda rough because it was so windy and with lots of snow on the sidewalks. Glad I didn't slip!

Weights in the PM.

5 miles in the AM and another 5 in the PM, both on the treadmill. It was way too cold and windy to have a productive run. I almost forgot what it was like to sweat!

6x800m workout today at the track! They were supposed to be paced "slightly faster than 5k pace," or target about 3:05 for me. I hit 3:03, 3:05, 3:06, 3:06, 3:06, and 3:03. So not too shabby I guess. I did the last 2 on my own because Breck's leg was bugging her (she might have a stress fracture). Cooled down afterwards and did my core when I got back to my dorm.

Fun little 10 miles today featuring Anya for 7, Mell, then Breck Ciara and Marcus on their bikes with us! 8:03 average. I didn't feel it or realize it at all but according to my watch we threw down a 7:38 last mile, oops. Anyways we went down University drive out of Millikan Park, then turned around at the fourlane and came back and headed towards USC Upstate, then turned around once we were there and came back to Milliken and dropped Anya off. Mell and I finished up with a loop around the XC course.

Also, I watched McFarland USA tonight!!! Ahhh. I loved it so much. Lowkey cheesy and super predictable, but so exciting because RUNNING :) 

6 miles easy at Millikan. 8:15 pace. Legs kind of hurt for most of it, not sure why.

Weights & core later.

2 miles warm up, then our last workout before conference Saturday! And in the snow! 12x200m with a 200m jog recovery between each, starting at 42 and steadily working down to 36. Went really well, split-wise. Did some good stretching afterwards.

6 miles easy. Loving this little taper for conference this weekend!

This sounds like just a bad excuse...but we weirdly didn't have any time to run today. Had class all morning, then left at 2 for Birmingham. We got here around 8 (although now it is 7 here, because of the time difference), then went to the hotel and checked in our rooms, then finally out to dinner. Got back with full tummies and about enough time for a team meeting and a shower before bed. I'm not worried about it though. I think that not running at all is not much different then the super quick, super easy jog we would have hypothetically went on.

I am love love lovvvvving this weekend already. What a fun time. Our hotel is fantastic, we're in like suite-style rooms with the extra living room & desk area and everything. Dinner last night was so yummy. This morning was great as well, we got to sleep in?! Just keeps getting better. Anyways, Breck and I did a little pre-meet jog on the treadmill this morning before breakfast. Then we all headed to the track around noon. Also warmed up with Mell around 6pm for her DMR mile leg. 

The track here is electronically banked, which should be really interesting...I feel like one side of my body is gonna be aching real hard after 25 laps (50 curves) of leaning during this race tomorrow haha. I'm excited though - I think coach Harris is having Mell pace Breck and I on sub-19:30 pace, for the first 3k anyways. After that I think she will either choose to drop out (if her injuries or whatever are bothing her) or choose to race the rest of it for herself. I'm betting she'll do the latter. I'm a little nervous about that just because I know she's gonna pace us too fast, but I don't wanna just not try and go with her because of that. I'm gonna try my best. It's conference!! Last shot, for the indoor season anyways.

I'm praying tonight for joy during the race tomorrow, not just when it's over. I want to enjoy using all of my gifts out there, and the feeling of making myself weak so that God can show his surpassing strength. Also for excitement and positivity regarding my teammates - that I could account for their desires and worries as more than my own & serve them tomorrow instead of getting so wrapped up in "my" race.

So when we got up to the start line, they took the last 4 on the waterfall and took us up to the double waterfall 2nd line in the outside lanes. That was interesting because of the high bank, but we got into it quickly. The first mile went by surprisingly fast. As I had expected, Mell didn't pace us anywhere near 6:15 pace, but I guess that's how it goes in the first mile of any 5k. Came through at like 5:55. Second mile wasn't too bad either. I'm not sure what my split was, all I know is that my 3k was 11:38, so I guess that might be like a 12:20ish 2 mile? 3rd mile I could feel myself getting really tired, moreso mentally than physically. I think the laps started getting to me, and Breck too, and we both slowed down a bit during this next half mile. Coach Harris kept telling us we were still on pace for sub-19:50 if we could finish well. Finally the last 400 meters came around. I think I was feeling a little too good on the last lap (200m), and maybe could have started kicking with 300 to go. Anyways, finished in 19:47, Breck in 19:46, and Mell in like 19:16.

Not really sure how I feel about this one. I was happy to get back under 20, but a little bummed that I didn't PR and definitely bummed at how poorly I placed. I'm honestly just so happy that indoor season is over. I don't think I'm a fan. I think outdoor may treat me a bit better because the biggest thing I struggle with is getting past how many laps a 5k is (25 on most tracks indoors!). So maybe just mentally, if nothing else, 12 laps will be a little better. I don't know. I think I need a few days off to let my body recover, but more importantly to let myself miss running.

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.

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.

First run since conference. 10pm on Saturday night....turn up. Felt good except for some strain in my lower back, probably just from sitting around all the time lately, or not having stretched in 2 weeks.

For a little pre-season cross-training, I biked a little over 8 and a half miles on the stationary. Felt it burning in my glutes...not a muscle I am used to using! Don't they say you divide it by 2 to get "running miles"? Idk. Abs afterwards.

8:23 average. Last run in Spartanburg! Tomorrow is my birthday & I also move out for the summer! The year absoluely FLEW.

2 loops around Buchanan loop, and added on to get to 5. 

5 easy on North River Road. Felt pretty sucky still. I hate being out of the swing of things.

7:57/mile. Pretty day at Lake Junaleska! Finally got out schedules from Coach Harris so runs will be a tad bit more structured from here on out.

Good run! Sort of. It wa supposed to be a progression run, and ended up being more like relaxed tempo....but anyways the progression should have been from ~8:00-->7:20, so averaging out at 7:40. I kinda went 7:40 till the very end, so averaged out 7:38. But its okay. I felt pretty good, just got a little excited. Hurdle work and stretching afterwards.

40ish minute run at 8:01/mile from my house down through North River road. Felt great to run early in the morning again!

40 minutes at 8:02 average + 6x15 sec strides, mostly at the rec center. Felt great. Played tennis with Skyler later!

Ran downtown & through Dillsboro. 8:05 average. Felt easy and smooth, minus the part where I tripped on the curb and wiped out of course. Ouchie.

5.75 (45 minutes at 7:50 average) + 6x15 second strides. Full body circuit afterwards, which my abs are already a little sore from! I actually think I missed being sore.

Day off. Hiked & swam with the fam bam.

55 minute progressive tempo at Western & the rec. Averaged 7:36 which came up to be 7.24 miles. Slowest mile was the first, at 8:07, and fastest was the 6th at 7:25. Last mile was close though, at 7:30. 

Going hiking at Joyce Kilmer later! A little sore from yesterday's hike at Chimney Rock but nothing substantial.

45 minute run downtown / throughout Dillsboro. 

Not sure how many people actually read my blog but I figured I'd put this out there. This summer (starting in 8 days) I am spending 8 weeks in Myrtle Beach living, working, and receiving ministry training together in community with a bunch of other college students for a program called Leadership Project through a campus ministry called Campus Outreach that I am involved with at Wofford. I'll be running in the mornings during the designated time for athletes to practice, then working a job off-site for a few hours during the day, then returning to our site and doing bible study activities, going to seminars, and learning about evangelism tactics. I would majorly appreciate prayerful and financial support!! In prayer, things like the overturning of distraction, adequate energy and focus, and a moldable heart would be awesome things to pray for me for. Financially if you would like to help me out a little with my fundraising, you can go to https://cogreenville.infellowship.com/OnlineGiving/GiveNow/NoAccount/ and make a tax-deductible donation to my fund to be able to pay for things like housing and training supplies at the Leadership project.

I would be so grateful for your support financially and through prayer!! & if you even read this all, I am also super grateful for that as well! :)

45 minutes in the dead heat of the day! Nevertheless, 7:59 average for 5.64 miles. 6x15sec strides afterwards. 

35 minutes easy along South River Road for the first 25, then the last 10 on North River. 8 flat per mile. Felt great.

Straight up blissful run today! I was actually sad it was over. I felt like I could have happily gone at least another half an hour before I would feel like I was bored or tired or something. I know we are easing back into it and trying not to get anyone injured now or burnt out later, but I'm ready to get back into my big girl mileage. Anyways, 8:12 pace + full body circuit afterwards. 666 calories according to Genevieve (my watch)...I always suspected counting calories was satanic

(sometimes I think I'm funny)

45 minutes easy (5.66 miles at 8:08 average) + 8x15sec strides. I ran Buchanan loop, then finished the rest of the time with an out-and-back on River Road. Walked 4 miles with my family after brunch later.

In other news...3 days till LP!!! Also in other news, by the looks of our next schedule set for training these next 2 weeks, I'd say stuff just got real. I'm psyched to get mileage back up, and for fartleks on Wednesdays! 

35 minute progressive tempo, from 7:40 --> 7:03. I started out more like 7:30, though, and thus ended up with a 7:16 average for 4.82 miles. I feel like I worked hard (but not too hard) and relatively enjoyed it though. Then, full body circuit followed by a mile cool down. Hiking/swimming with my little sister later! 2 days till LP

AM- 6 miles easy all around Western. 8:05 avg.

PM- 5 miles easy at rec and back down Speedwell Rd/Tilley Creek. 7:56 avg. 2nd run was only supposed to be 4 miles, but I am gonna be super crunched for time tomorrow morning and I'd have to wake up at like 5:30am to get my full warm-ups and cool downs in for the workout before I drive 6 hours to Myrtle Beach (LP tomorrow!!!). So I figured I'd start at 6am instead and just do a mile warm up and a mile cool down tomorrow instead of 3 warm up and 2 cool down. There's just no way I could wake up at 5:30 and do a workout and then drive 6 hours without falling asleep. Adding a mile today just made me feel a tad better about that because I hate missing out on mileage.

Fartlek run before I left for LP! 2 mile warm up into a fartlek of 5min, 4min, 3min, 2 min, 1 min "comfortably hard" with a 1 minute jog between each. Cooled down back to my house. 

6 miles easy - first run in Myrtle Beach. Kind of sucked, to be honest. It's hard to breathe this humid air and there isn't really anywhere nice to run that I've seen (I hate running on the beach) so I just out-and-backed 3 miles down the sidewalk. In any event, LP is AWESOME so far.

9 mile progressive tempo. Worked my way down from a 7:39 first mile to a 7:23 last mile. Again, felt pretty sucky from the combo of it being hard to breathe and just not having a good place to run other than sidewalks. Averaged 7:31.

6 miles easy. Not really enjoying running this week. Luckily, I think part of that is because I am enjoying my daily life so much that running almost feels like it's just something in the way. LP is soooo fun. 

I don't have wifi at our hotel, though, so I may be pretty inconsistent about updating my blog on time for the next 7 and a half weeks. I'm gonna have to do mass updates when I get to this coffee shop with free wifi that I'm at right now.

8:20 pace

Mile warm up, 40 minute progressive tempo run, 1.14 mile cool down. Went from 7:40 down to 7:00 for the tempo, averaging 7:19. Ran smoothly and felt good! 5.48 miles for that.

First run in my new shoes! Love them! Also, first day of ADP. Not sure how I feel about it....the program really just isn't fit for cross country runners. I was exhausted from the weight lifting place by the time I started my run. We'll see how that all shakes out eventually.

3 miles warm up, fartlek run, mile and a half cool down. The fartlek was - in minutes - 5, 4, 4, 3, 2, 1 "comfortably hard" (around 6:45 pace) with 1 minute jog between each hard section. Did this on the track at Myrtle Beach high school at ADP. Pretty sore from yesterday.

Aqua-jogged today because I am so sore, and it is so hot, and I just felt like it. Did it by time for the equivalent of about 5 miles, plus some wall kicks for leg toning via resistance.

Run sucked. Supposed to be 10 mile progressive run from 8 down to 7:20 (averaging 7:40). My splits were 7:59/7:35/7:40/7:46/7:48/7:56/7:54/8:03/7:49/7:33, averaging out to 7:48. Never got below 7:30, and had to stop at least 3 times from side stitches. I must not be hydrating well. I do sweat a lot more here at the beach than I do in the mountains of course...I need to be more dilligent about that. It was just all-around miserable and felt so long.

7 at 7:51/mile

7 at 8:25

rest

watch died in the middle. not sure what pace, guestimated on distance

3 mile warm up, 3.25 mile fartlek at 7:23 average, .8 mile cool down (ran out of time).

7 at 8:22

10 mile easy tempo at 7:37 average. Had to stop a few times cause I was side stitching.

??? not sure. Not saved on my watch

Guestimating on distance because watch died after a mile. Ran with Ryan, first bit on the beach and then down to the bridge and back. We kept a good pace, maybe 7:45-7:50 average.

Top 3 worst runs of my life. Terrible on every level. Warmed up a mile, then felt fine for the first 3.75 miles, slowly dropping time on pace with how I should have been, then all the sudden got these awful side stitches I couldn't run through. Walked half a mile or so and then gave up and didn't try to keep tempoing. Jogged a few trash mile back to project.

Jeremiah died last night. Today is awful

8:22/mile. Explored all around and found the dopest new (albeit sketchy) backroad a mile and a half off of the interstate where ISI is. Can't wait to run it again.

Missing Jeremiah but I'm not angry anymore. Today has been a little better.

On continuous on the treadmill. 20 minute warmup, then 3x10min comfortably hard (7:15 pace), 5 min easy (8:55 pace). Workout felt pretty easy, but productive. Maybe should have done my easy harder.

8:22 pace

Had to leave for work at 6:30am, so I didn't want to wake up at 4:30am in order to run beforehand, so I figured I'd run after. After though, it was like a 105 heat index and straight sun. Honestly not even safe to run in, much less for my hard workout day of the week. So I moved my easy day to today, which was 6 miles. Cross-trained and did what I considered the equivalent by treading water for a full hour.

6 easy + 6x15sec stride. Watch must have short circuted or something in the pool yesterday....I can't get it to do anything but tell time. It won't link or show my my previous workouts or even stopwatch. Had to run with my phone as a stopwatch today so I'm really not sure on distance. Hopefully my watch will come to.

10 mile modified tempo on the strip from 8 min down to 7:20, target averaging 7:40. I didn't really progress in the tempo, but I did average like 7:43 so that was close. I shouldn't feel like this but I was really just happy I finished without stopping - it was soooo humid. Well earned nap!

8 miles easy. 8:15 pace. Did the first 5 on the beach, then a mile on the strip, and the last 2 miles on the boardwalk and back to project. Felt alright. I haven't really enjoyed running in a while. Really hoping I get out of this funk.

Missing Jeremiah today 

1 mile warm up outside, then did my progressive tempo inside on the treadmill (long story but my watch doesn't really work much anymore...). 50 minutes from 7:40 down to 7. I just cut it about 10 seconds every 10 minutes, averaging out to 7:19. Felt challenging but good! Mile cool down outside afterwards.

9 miles easy from ISI back into the woods & trail that I love. Fun run! I explored a bit and took my time and felt well. Not sure of my pace because the button on my watch that lets me press stop on my runs doesn't work anymore.... so it just keeps tracking and GPS-ing all the way back home till I plug it in, which skews my average pace. I could have looked at the time right when I stopped and calculated it out that way but I didn't so I don't really know.

Core work and agility afterwards.

Awesome run this morning. I feel like I'm starting to enjoy running again, at least as of these last few days. Ran to Broadway, back into the Plantation Point neighborhood across the highway onto Deerbrook rd, and back. Workout was a 20 minute warm up right into 3x10min comfortably hard (~7min pace) + 5 min easy (~8:15 pace) between each hard section, bringing it to a total of 65 minutes. Felt really strong during the hard sections. Averaged 7:45 overall, including warm up and easy sections. 

Long run mostly in the sprinkling rain. Felt good, enjoyed myself! My feet kind of hurt though, there's just no grass here. Had a huge chicken rice bowl right before I ran and began the run painfully full, sloshing all the food in my belly, so I did have to stop for 2 potty breaks, which was annoying. Oh well.

Wallet and keys got stolen so I am carless, ID-less, and moneyless. So I've been dealing with that most of today and honestly just don't want to deal with the stress of running right now. Taking today off.

5 at 7:28 avg

8:21 avg

treaded water for an hour

sucky golf course run. 8:22 avg. lots of breaks

10 on the treadmill. Felt good...probs bc of A/C

No clue what I actually did this day, just making an educated guess

Last run off of ISI

Fartlek workout on teh treadmill

Can't actually remember what I did but I wanna say it was 8?

pool workout

pool workout

Long run sunday! Averaged 8:10. Felt pretty good, but my left arch is killing me. Can hardly walk on it. Yikes.

1 mile warm-up, 7 miles tempo averaging 7:29, 1 mile cool down. Felt harder than it should have been for that pace (should have averaged at least 10-15 seconds faster).

Pool workout. My left arch is still bothering my regularly, and the heat is so miserable. I really look foward to pool workouts in place of recovery runs these days.

10 miles at 7:43 avg with Reid and KJ. Felt great, for one of the first times all summer. Nice to have someone to run with today!

Packing day

Move-out day

First run back home in my mountains!!! Felt SO good. Everything is so beautiful, I was entertained the whole time just by the route around me that I've seen thousands of times. And it was so cool and crisp out - none of that Myrtle Beach 95% humidity business. 

8 miles easy + 8x15 sec hill sprints. First hill sprints all summer seeing as there wasn't a hill I could find anywhere in Dyrtle besides the slight incline of a parking garage. Beautiful run again this morning, I'm way too happy to be running here again!

1 mile warm up, 60 minute up-tempo run, keeping it between 75-85% of race pace (7:40-7:02). Averaged 7:29, but quite honestly suffered through it. I was dying the whole last 25 minutes or so. I definitely slacked on a lot of these tempo runs this summer because it was so difficult for me to do them (unless I was inside on a treadmill) in Myrtle, and I can feel that now. I feel like a 60 minute tempo averaging 7:20 shouldn't be too much to ask right now. Gotta get it back. Half mile barefoot cool down afterwards & creek time.

AM- 7.2 miles easy. Drove to work with Mommy, then ran about 3 miles downtown before running the 4ish back to the house.

PM- 4.8 miles easy in Webster, bringing it to 12 for the day. 

10 around Cullowhee. Started at Western then ran to CVS and got most of the miles there and 2 or 3 miles up Tilley creek and back. Heat of the day made me a bit lathargic, but still no where near as bad as even the mornings in Myrtle! I'm still so happy to be home in case you can't tell :) 

7 nice & easy in Webster. Ran Buchanan Loop, then 2 and a half miles down North River Road and back. Did a lot of thinking on this run so it went by pretty fast, but I was zoned out the whole time so I really don't know how fast (or rather, how slow) I was going. Still working on getting things sorted out with the warranty on Genevieve, my broken GPS watch. Hopefully I'll get that on lockdown so I can start tracking my paces and exact mileage again.

Long run day in Cullowhee. Felt great! Stilllll thankful to be back in the mountains.

5ish miles easy with KJ - a sort of jogging tour of Pelion! Lot's of cool trails, but the ground is made of like sand, not dirt, which was weird (Pelion isn't on the coast). Fun stuff though.

After what turned into quite an extensive weekend roadtrip, I figured I might as well make one more pitstop on the way home to get a run in at Lake Junaleska in Waynesville. Beautiful 8 miler, plus 8x15sec hill sprints afterwards. Gotta love Junaleska!

Mile warm up, 8.2 mile tempo, .8 mile cool down. This was such a great tempo!! Best of the summer! Still don't have my gps watch, but I did it at the rec so I could know my distance on the loops and divide that with my time to get my pace, which worked out to be about 7:14 per mile assuming the distance they say the loops are is accurate. Anyways, I just felt really strong and fast and never too tired or too ready for it to be over. Workouts like these remind me why I love running.

AM- 8 miles. Started in Webster and ran down to and around the high school, threw in an Ashe Loop, then back up and around Webster for another mile or two. Feels nice out!

PM- well shoot, ended up in Cashiers all evening so didn't get a second run in.

Started out running loops at the rec, but I only got about 3 and a half miles in before I ended up running inside to the treadmill (twas quite toasty out) to finish to 10. Did abs and lifted afterwards, mostly legs today.

8 easy miles with a good bit of hills thrown in.

13 around Cullowhee, mostly Western though, at an easy 8:21 pace. Felt great, enjoyed every bit of it! Well, till about mile 11 and my feet started hurting pretty bad. Turns out I also had a bad blood blister. Can't wait to go ahead and get my new shoes and socks on our way to the beach tomorrow!

Left for the beach at like 5am this morning so didn't have any time to run of course. Did a bit of a pool workout in the evening when we finally got to our condo! But more importantly, finally got my new shoes! Had intentions of getting the Pegasus 32's but ended up walking out with the 31's, kind of a long story. Still super excited to try them out tomorrow morning!

First run in my Pegasus'! Loved them! Workout wasn't great, mostly just because I had to stop and go to the bathroom right in the middle of it, which always annoys me because it's like I might just as well have takena random break to stop and walk or something. Anyways, fartlek workout of 20 minutes warm up + 3x10min hard/5min easy. Went about 7:05-7:10 on the 10 minute hard sections, and just recovered nice and easy on the easy ones. Felt like I got a pretty good workout in. I'll probably mess around a little and do some pool exercises later too when we get back from the beach. 

10 miles on the beach at 8:00 average. Felt great for the first 7 miles or so and then I started to get pretty toasty...but finished it out. I think before today, 8 miles was the furthest I've ever ran on the beach (not a big fan of beach running). Gains, woohoooo!

6 + pool workout and body circuit. Feeling really strong & fit today. I feel like all of my pool workouts and circuits this summer have strengthened a lot of supporting muscles that will help prevent injury in these coming weeks when my mileage climbs up to 70 from here on out. Can't wait to get back to Wofford with my team and really kick off the season!

15 mile bike ride in the sand on the beach with my dad! Isn't the conversion for bike-to-run effort type thing like 1 mile ran for every 2 miles biked? Not sure, but I'm just gonna log 7.5 for today.