Running is a means and never merely an end

2 mile warm up around campus at Western. Then on the track, 2 sets of 800/800/600/600/400 with 90 second jog (usually 200-250 meters) between each and 3 minutes between sets. Pace was 5k goal pace (92-93 sec 400's) for all. It went pretty well, except for the 2nd 800 in the 2nd set, which was a solid 4 or 5 seconds slow (3:09). 2 mile cool down around NCCAT afterwards. 

First run in Lynchburg! 7:51 average. I LOVE the running/biking trail here!!

2 mile warm up, 3.25 mile tempo, 2 mile cool down. Pretty much killed this tempo! 6:40 average, I'll have to check my individual splits later. I was shooting for 6:45 so I am pretty happy with that. 

Katie and I went grocery shopping today and I am really excited to eat healthier this month, being away from Burwell (our cafeteria at school).

AM- 2.25 miles on the treadmill (20ish minute shake out), then upper-body weight lifting sesh.

PM- 8 miles on a different route of the awesome trail here. Loved this run so much and felt so good that I accidently averaged 7:45 (usually my recovery runs are 8-8:15). I am just enjoying running so much now that I have time for it, and time to sleep, and healthy food to refuel with. Interim rocks.

Went to the track at Liberty University today for my workout! Nice track. Warmed up out-and-back for 2 miles, then did my dynamics and switched shoes, then strides. Workout was 17x300 at 63 seconds with 60 seconds rest. The rest was weird because I didn't know if it was supposed to be jogging or just like rest-rest...so I started out walking, but then a little less than halfway through I decided it was too easy with a 60sec walk, and made it a jog instead.

The 17 were continuous but I mentally broke them down into 4 sets of 4 (plus 1 at the end) - so for the first 4 I hit 60-62, second set of 4 were 61-63, and then after that is when I added the jog instead and my times went way off. 3rd set was like 64-66, yikes. I was getting tired but I just tried really hard to be awake and hammer down on each rep the final 5, and I hit 63, 63, 64, 62, 59. So I am definitely happy about that come-back after a couple 65's and 66's on the previous 4. 2 mile cool down afterwards.

8 miles on the treadmill, it was pretty miserable outside. 7:51 average on 1% incline. I did some heavy leg lifting afterwards, I haven't done legs in like 2 weeks so I will probably be a bit sore tomorrow.

I intended to run 12 but, long story short, time constraints via my irresponsibility shortened it to 10 haha. I ran through Rivermont, it was really pretty. Randolph College's campus is there and it was BEAUTIFUL. Also, they have a nice track!! Psyched because now I don't have to drive all the way to Liberty to do my speed workouts. 

On a side note, my left leg that has been bothering me this week was killing me this whole run :/ usually it stops hurting after only half a mile or so when my blood gets to flowing, but the whole upper half of it hurts every time I put pressure on it. Hopefully my off day tomorrow will give it some good time to heal.

Off day! I just did the elliptical for 15 minutes before dinner to work out a little bit of my soreness. I am genuinely having a hard time walking haha, that's what I get for slacking on weights since Christmas until this weekend. 

Anyone from Colorado by chance?? I've been doing lots of daydreaming and googling today and I've "decided" my new life plan is to move out west to Colorado one day. What a cool looking place.

8 miles easy at 7:58 average + 8x100m strides. I went down the tunnel side of Blackwater trail, then around town above the train station at the end, then back and down the other side for a mile and a half and back. Soreness is much better today! Left leg is still bugging me lots. Abs afterwards. 

My leg is just bothering me too much. I don't think its safe or smart to run on it right now. I need to get it checked out.

I ellipticalled for 3 miles, then did some upper body lifting and abs.

Still not feeling much better. I really thought it would be after taking yesterday totally off....hopefully I'll get in with a PT soon, I asked Katie to check for me. It hurts to even walk most of the time.

Pretty intensive upper body lifting, seeing as the leg isn't feeling any better :( man....can't seem to shake this thing. I'm trying to be patient still but this is really putting a damper in my training.

30 minutes on the elliptical.

4 miles on the elliptical.

Warmed up a few minutes on the elliptical and then tried to do a mile on the treadmill....nope. Ix-nayed that one real quick, leg hurt too bad. The fact that it doesn't hurt at all to elliptical but it hurts so bad to run and sometimes even walk makes me worry that it could be a bone thing, not a muscle thing because it's the impact that hurts, not the exertion. Yikes. Anyways, 35 minutes on the elliptical + weights and abs.

7.25 miles (1 hour) on the elliptical. Abs, then lifted.

First run since last Monday. I just wanted to test it out because the leg had been feeling much better while walking around at least, for the least 2 or 3 days. I started out really slow and gentle but as soon as I shifted from walking to running and started putting a little more force with each step the pain set back in. I am so sick of not running though that I pushed through it anyways, maybe not a good idea but it started feeling better after about a mile and a half. After 2 it felt fine, and I was running like normal for the rest of the run, which felt so great. I love to run! Afterwards I felt good and stretched, took a shower, but then by the time I got out it was hurting again to walk like it had been last week. Ughhhh

36 minutes elliptical, abs, upper body weights. One positive of all this is that I am really building up my core and upper body strength!

Did a suprisingly challenging workout on the elliptical today. 5 minute warm up, then a sort of fartlek of 5/4/3/2/1/2/3/4/5 (minutes) hard, with equal recovery after the rep. So it was like 5 hard, 5 conversational, 4 hard, 4 conversational, and so on. It wasn't too bad on the way down the ladder, but on the way back up, oh boy. I've done this one running, and it's definitely challenging to keep the same hard pace all the way through, but having my pace and strides per minute right there in front of me to hold me accountable was helpful. 5 minute cool down. A little over 8 miles total.

Actually ran today! On the treadmill anyways. 2% incline to mimic outdoor effort. I started out real easy, like over 9min pace, and over the course of the first mile and a half as my leg warmed up a little I worked my way down steadily to 8:20. Hung out there for a while and then felt good enough to drop it down to 8 for the last mile. Cardiovascularly I'm totally fine still, I just don't want to rush things too much and keep making my leg worse. It hurt again after I cooled down a bit and walked back up to my room. 

Elliptical again today. 5 minute warm up, then 10x2min hard, 1 min recovery, then 5 min cool down. Except I extended the final 2min hard to 3min hard, just cause. Felt good and strong. I tried to keep my strides per minute over 210, and my recovery over 190. My watch tells me on most actual runs I do like 196-200 strides per minute. So since I can't lengthen my stride to speed up on an elliptical, I have to go off strides per minute. 210+ feels like a hard, fast pace, and 190 feels like jogging.

Elliptical

Elliptical + weights and abs.

Biked for 30 minutes before church. 

Went to see the trainer today and he gave me a sleeve and told me to go try running today and see how I feel so we can gauge it for the rest of the week. Breck and I did a run to Converse Heights at 8:04 pace, felt closer to 7:45 though. Still, not a bad pace considering how long it's been since I had a workout or a full run. Leg feels pretty unstable, especially when I try to change directions on a turn or go downhill. Breck said she can see me favoring it a good bit when I run, like a light limp.

Warmed up 2 miles with the team. Leg was feeling real crappy. I told Bomar I didn't think I could do a workout seeing as I could hardly do the warm up, so he said to do a 3-4 mile progression run. Really mentally degrading session that was....I planned to start out around an easy 8:30 and slowly cut down to a safe 7:15-7:30. An easy progression, a recovery run even, on any other day. But today I don't know if I ever even went under 8, and I was genuinely trying. I just haven't run in a long time and now I'm both in pain and out of shape and it's just really hard mentally to know that. 

I had some really downer thoughts but I made a decision that no matter what I am a child of the King and I want to worship him through whatever I do. I don't know what it looks like to worship God through an injury, but it sure doesn't look like giving up.

45 minutes on the elliptical. Weights later.

Tried to run. Fail. 45 minutes on the elliptical.

14.5 miles of biking + weights and abs.

3 miles easy at the meet (during some of the sprinting events, lol). Leg pain was the least it's been in a while. Actually felt fairly good! I'm very aware of it, especially on downhills, but it wasn't anything that made me feel like I had to stop. Moving in the right direction!

4 miles at 8:08 pace with Breck. Leg still felt okay! Not 100%, but okay, and I for now I will happily take that!

8:13 average. Leg felt really good! I'm psyched to finally be seeing some progress, woohoo! Weights afterwards.

First run in our new team shoes for this semester! They're not bad, they'll be great to swap out my Vomeros with when they are feeling a little flat. 

Ran to Converse Heights, 5 miles. 7:54 pace! Finally starting to feel more comfortable with my usual recovery paces. Leg still feeling much much better! I just don't want to jump into anything too fast but I'm just so excited about finally running that it's gonna be hard to not overdo it again, so I need to be careful. I'm gonna keep it around 5-6 right now, and then I thought maybe this weekend I could try a longer run of like 8 miles (my usual recovery) and see if I can still feel okay doing that. 

3 miles outside, then came inside real fast and finished 3 on the treadmill. I realized real quick outside that I didn't have enough layers on for the wind chill. Averaged 8:01 outside, then 7:48 on 1% incline on the treadmill. It's funny how treadmills tend to make you speed up a bit faster just to get done a whole grand 30 seconds sooner.

Weights later! Leg felt great today.

Snow run!!! 7:55 average.

Ran with Leah today! Faster than we intended, idk why. Watch died at 4 miles but we were at 7:35 average, I'd say overall we probably ended up about 7:30 average because we kept getting faster.

Longest run since the whole hamstring injury deal happened! Lol at how this is usually my recovery run but this week it was my "long run". I'm getting there! 7:55 average, but didn't feel great. I felt like I was struggling, but its good that I felt that way going a decent pace instead of feeling rough going slow. 

Today we had a tempo on the treadmills in light of the freezing rain and ice outside, but I am definitely not able to do a 6 mile tempo at sub-7 pace currenty....so I was shooting for 4 miles at 7:15. I did 1 warm up, then got into it at 7:13 pace. I felt good for about a mile, and then it started to feel really rough. I was struggling bad by a little over 2 miles, and bumped it down to 7:18, but still felt just as bad. I ended up stopping to take a break after 3 miles, then getting back on to do the last mile (7:08) after I'd recovered a bit (which is somewhat pointless, but if nothing else good for me mentally so I didn't have to walk away having cut the workout short mileage-wise). Blahhhh.

Weights afterwards.

Easy run around the neighborhoods near the high school and on cottonwood trails. 8:34 pace. I was crawling and I felt it, but that's to be expected the day after my first not-easy paced run in 3 weeks.

7 miles easy on my own. I needed a good run by myself today, I was just feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of my classes and obligations! And it was an AWESOME run. It is super beautiful outside, and I went exploring and ended up at Cleveland Park where I picked up probably 4 of the 7 miles. That place is awesome! All the geese were swimming around and everything was suprisingly green. Just what I needed today :) 8:02 average.

Weights later after lab!

AM- 5 miles at Milliken park with the gals. 8:08 average. Strides afterwards.

PM- 3ish solo miles around campus after work!

Pretty sleepy all day today. I need some more sleep!

Tempo with Jamie!! Super encouraging run! I was reluctant to even do a tempo after my disastrous attempt on the treadmill on Monday where I couldn't even hold 7:20 for 4 miles. But Jamie really pushed me and we just run super well together and I was just feeling really good, I think Monday must have just been a funk. We warmed up to Rail Trail, then went down the 2 miles and back. We hit 6:47, 7:00, 6:55, and finished with a 6:37! Averaged 6:49!! I couldn't believe it! That would have been a really solid tempo this time a month and a half ago when I was in pretty solid mid-season shape! I definitely couldn't have done it without Jamie there.

Recovery run in Greenville at Swamp Rabbit Trail this morning with the girls! 8:02 average. We all started together but little by little wound up seperating off into twos and threes, which is to be expected. I ended up doing the last 3 or 4 miles with Jamie, which was once again awesome. Weather was great. Also I got to see my family afterwards!

12PM- 1.5 warm up and cool down + a 4 mile tempo at 7:02/mile with Breck. Felt good & strong, I definitely could have gone faster if I really wanted to but I feel good about it.

5PM- 20 minutes shakeout (2.4 miles) on the treadmill + weights

1.4 miles warm up, then my first workout in like a month and a half!!!! Woohoo! 4x800 at 5k race pace with 60 sec between each. Targeting 3:10ish, but I hit 3:08, 3:07, 3:05, 2:59! Pretty psyched about that. Shannon pushed me on the last one. Felt great! 2x100m strides, then cooled down to 5.

Ran the first 5 miles with Breck, Shannon, and Boat to/on rail trail and back, then Breck and I added on to get to 7 because we aren't racing this weekend. Good, super relaxed run. 8:34 average.

Ran mostly around Cleveland Park today. Man I love that place. Watch died at like 6.5 but I am pretty sure it worked out almost perfectly to 8, by my calculations!

Workout at the track with Breck. 2 mile warm up, then 2 sets of 400/600/600/400, 2 mile cool down. Reps had 45sec between, then 2:30 between sets. Goal was 5k race pace (~93-94 per lap) but it ended up being more like 3k (90/lap). Also, we got progressively faster as we went, which I always like to see. Good little workout!

8:14 average. Tripped on a root and fell and got a little cut up because I was too busy looking all around and above me at how beautiful of a day it was!! Can't even be mad. :) I ran a few miles on the course at Milliken, then went out to Upstate and back down through the course.

8 miles by myself on this beautiful day, kind of just all over the place. Ran into my friend Kassidy at Converse! 7:59 avg.

2 mile warm up, 4x1000m repeats, 2 mile cool down. I was shooting for ever-so-slightly faster than race pace, so 3:56 (95 a lap). I hit 3:56, 3:57, 3:56, 3:59. Really had to fight for those last two...in fact I'd planned on doing 5, but I had slown down so much on #4 (6 seconds slow at the 800) and only managed to get sub-4 by bargaining with myself that it should be quality over quantity, and that if I kicked really hard the last 200 then I'd call it a day. I feel bad about that, but I think it was a good choice. Had I tried a 5th, first of all I wouldn't have kicked so I probably would have ran well over 4 minutes for the fourth, and second of all the fifth would have definitely been even slower. So that would have been a jab to the confidence. Oh well, ya win some ya lose some! 

7:52 average. Great run around Duncan Park!

.75 warm up, 6 miles tempo at Milliken at 7:12 avg. Happy with that given its so hilly!! .25 cool down.

AM- 1 mile warm up, 4x1 mile repeats, 1 mile cool down. 6:52, 6:52, 6:44, 6:48. Felt rough, I think I'm tired from that tempo for sure.

PM- 5 miles easy. First run in my new Ghosts!

Awesome long run on a trail off the parkway with the whole team! We had our cross country mountain weekend and all went up to stay at J-Rice's cabin for the weekend. "Hard Times Trail"...and the name doesn't lie. It went straight uphill for 15 minutes, then straight downhill for 15 minutes, then relatively flat for 15, and then we turned around and did the same thing coming back. Man those uphills were rough, and contrary to popular belief it was actually kind of difficult running downhill for so long too. But I worked hard on the uphill to just keep going no matter what (a lot of people were having to stop and take breaks), so I tried to stick with Anya. We killed it, and averaged 8:12, which is pretty insane considering the length of the uphill and the fact that downhill doesn't help as much as uphill hurts (just like how tailwind doesn't aid as much as headwind slows). Good run!

Also, 61 miles this week!!! I've only touched over 60 once before, but I feel fantastic. Sweet!

AM- 4 mile repeats with a mile warm up and cool down. They SUCKED. 6:44, 6:52, 7:02, 7:06....just sad. Not gonna dwell though, it's over.

PM- 4.25 mile shakeout.

Definitely feeling the lack of sleep I've had lately. My professors are just kicking my butt, I'm working as dilligently as I can but these are some late nights.

Fartlek at Milliken Park of 1/2/3/4/5/4/3/2/1 minutes hard, with equal easy time between each. The easy time definitely started getting easier and easier as we went on. Ran mostly with Rebeka, which was nice because we all got pretty spread out.

8:25 average. Duncan Park w/ Bekka P.

1 mile warm up, 1 mile cool down. 4 mile tempo onto rail trail with the gals. Stayed mostly with Alexandra and Allie for the first 3 miles, then headed out ahead both of them. Didn't feel very good, but the average wasn't awful (7:03). It should be sub-7 though for sure. I think I am just feeling a little bit tired this week!

Went down through Converse heights to Cottonwood trails behind the high school, out-and-back. Got a solid 2ish miles soft-surface on the trails. But man oh man I felt TERRIBLE. I was just trotting the whole time, legitimately considering walking at times. I'm not sore, or any more sleep deprived than usual, it's just that sucky all-encompassing-tired type feeling after a really long and often stressful week. TGIF for real.

On the upside, Josh let me have the pair of Glycerin's that a lady wore a few times and then brought back last month! 2nd pair of shoes he's given me in 2 weeks....I love my job & I have the best boss ever.

90 minute long run by myself at Milliken today! Felt pretty solid for the first 4 miles or so...then I started feeling a lot like yesterday, but a little worse. Started struggling really badly after about 9 miles. Felt like I was going 9-minute pace at fastest. Somehow though that must have all been my perception because my average was totally normal. 8:07. That was probably one of my harder long runs though. 

AM- warmed up to Rail Trail, then did a 4 mile tempo at 6:45 average. I had to pull off real quick at mile 3 to use the portapotty, which was annoying because that makes my average feel less valid, as though it was aided because I took a little break in there. But yeah I was definitely not about to be able to finish that sucker without stopping somewhere first, I hardly made it to the portapotty. Anyways! Cooled down back to campus.

PM - 3 mile shake out + weights.

2 mile warm up on Cottonwood trails, then onto the track! First Track Tuesday since the end of indoor a few weeks ago. Felt good! We did 2 sets of 1000/1000/600/400 with 60sec rest in between and 2:30 between sets. We were supposed to do these at 10k pace (~6:45), although we definitely didn't stay true to pace and ended up doing like 5k pace (~6:20). But it felt fine so whatevs! Beautiful, sunny day!

8 miles recovery. 8:36 average. I'm having a hard time running that slow, but that's the pace the other gals like to do their recovery runs and since pace doesn't really matter on recovery I don't feel like I should go off on my own. But I'm really just comfortable right around 8 flat for recovery 8:15 tops if I was sore. I don't know what to do about that :/

6 easy + 4x100m strides. 8:31 average... [see yesterday's post]

Easy pre-race. Did 3 with the girls, but that didn't quite feel like enough for my legs so I tacked on another mile. Abs afterwards.

Awesome meet!!! So fun!

The distance girls drove ourselves up so we could sleep in and not sit in the sun all day. Got there around 2, race was at 3:40. We warmed up a little less than 2 miles. We were ALL racing the 3k which I could not have been more excited about! It's like cross country again, but on a track! There were 2 heats, and Anya was int he 1st (and killed it), but the rest of us were all together in the second. We planned to try and pack up a bit, and we totally did! Got a little lost from eachother in the first 100 or so, but then found eachother again and settled in. Allie went out pretty fast, so we just let her go. Me, breck, and rebekah each led at one point or another and stayed together as we steadily moved up throughout the race. We picked off people together, one by one. With maybe a 600 to go I started hearing Shannon come up behind me. At that point, we were all together + Allie out front, and all had moved up and passed everyone else. Breck made a move and started going up with Allie. I wanted to go with her but I just didn't quite have it. Shannon passed me and I was in the back of our pack. We rounded the curve onto the final 100 stretch and I kicked like crazy, but we all did. I passed Shannon, but not quite rebekah.

We swept the heat!!! We went 1,2,3,4,5 in the second heat, I was #4. I ran an 11:25, which isn't a PR but I was pretty happy with considering that I'd ran an 11:38 in December and had a hamstring injury that put me out for a month in January/February! I'd call that a comeback. :)

Afterwards, we walked over to change our shoes and coach Bomar told us to hurry up and that we weren't done yet. He said to go run a 3 mile tempo at 7:00 pace. Some of the girls were not super thrilled but I was sooo excited. Pro's do that all the time! It felt cool to be treated like a serious runner, not like a delicate little thing that needs all this babying after a race or hard workout. We were still kind of catching our breath when we went into it, so that first mile definitely hurt. I settled in after about a mile and a half though and the rest felt suprisingly good. Finished with a 6:58 average. Then cooled down 10 minutes. I got my money's worth today!

Off day, but quick little shakeout with Allie and Anya for some active recovery. I was definitely sore (for the first time in a while!) so I needed it.

AM- warmed up to rail trail, then did a 4.25 mile tempo. 6:48 average. Splits went 6:46/6:41/6:55/6:47. That 3rd mile where it went way up, the wind had been at my back for the first 2 so when I turned around it was like a brick wall hit me and I just had a ton of resistance I was not prepared for haha. Got into a groove and started cutting it back down for mile 4.

For the last .75 or so my legs were just honestly having a really hard time working! They didn't feel tired, and I was doing okay cardiovascularly, I just felt this weird uncoordinated feeling like I couldn't make them (especially the left one) do what I wanted. Hopefully that was just a byproduct of running hard on sore legs or something, oh well. Cool down + abs after.

Also, first run in my latest kicks from my boss Josh! I've always hated Mizuno, but these actually rock. Snappy, but way more comfortable and cushioned than I expected for being so quick. Perfect tempo shoes.

PM- 3 mile shakeout. Weights with the team.

Track Tuesday! But first, 2 mile warm up on the trails. I tripped on a root and skinned my upper leg to blood. Luckily it is skinned in the shape of South Africa! Sweet! 

The workout was 2 sets of 1000/1000/800/600 with 80 sec between reps and 2:20 between sets. It was supposed to be 10k pace, but we did a bit faster than that. First set went great, I was feeling strong. 1000's were right around 4:00, 800 was 3:12, 600 was 2:21. Definitely started feeling it in my legs after the first 1000 in the 2nd set. Worked hard with my teammates though and tried to stay in the pack and compete, and even though it was hurting significantly more we all pushed through it and actually kept getting faster. After the 2nd 1000 (3:58), coach Bomar told us to change the last 800/600 to a 600/600/400 with the 400 fast. We did that, and did it well. 2:20/2:18/1:23. Good, productive workout. Only had time for a half mile cooldown though.

Kind of a sucky run today. It was supposed to be 8 but we got started late and I had a meeting in less than an hour so I had to cut it down a little. I ran with Anya and Alexandra, and I really wanted to stay with them but they were going like 7:35 pace and, while I'm capable of that, it would be like another workout and my legs were really tired and needing a little recovery. It took me till about mile 3 to realize that though, so then the rest of the run was just pretty miserable, essentially trying to recover from those first couple miles. Ended up averaging 8 flat. I wish I'd just gone 8 flat the whole time.

Weights/abs on my own.

2 mile warm up on the trails, then to the track. 3 sets of 4x300m at 5k goal pace with 100 jog in between each, and 400 jog between sets. We shot for 70 for the first 3 sets, but I was feeling a little too comfortable so I asked if everyone was good with cutting down to 68 or so. We hit 67, 69, 67, 66. After the first set, we started taking turns leading, which was really cool and made the reps past more quickly. 1 mile cool down afterwards.

Happy Good Friday! 

8 miles recovery at Milliken park. 8:13 avg. Our coach sent us a workout of a 5 mile tempo run, but my legs have been exhausted this week after 3 workouts in the past 4 days, and the only non-workout day being such a crappy run it felt like a workout. It's a long season...so I just listened to my body today and did a little recovery. Still felt pretty rough, but much better than a tempo would have. Stretched a lot afterwards. Also Milliken was BEAUTIFUL today! It's an arboretum, and all the trees were blooming flowers. Plus, I get to go home today for Easter this weekend!

12 mile long run at home! So so happy to be home. 8:20 average. I ran around campus at western for the first 9 miles or so, then to Cullowhee Valley, around the loop, and back to finish out the last 3. Did a couple 80 meter strides afterwards to shake out my legs. Felt good!

Fartlek. I was crammed for time but I did what I could between 3 and my meeting at 4. Ten minutes warm up, then 33 minute fartlek, then 9 minute cool down. I did 2 minutes tempo, then 1 minute easy recover pace for the 32 minutes, except the last one I just went ahead and made 3 minutes tempo. Felt good! I was on stopwatch so I am guestimating total mileage on the low end, if anything it would be higher but it's hard to guage. 

Weights later.

Track Tuesday!

1mi warm up, dynamics, hurdle mobility drills.

2 sets of [1200 / 800 / 1000 / 600] with the 1200 and 1000 at 10k pace and the 8 and 6 at 5k pace. 1:20 rest and 2:20 between sets.

2 mile barefoot cool down + abs.

I did't really get tired until the last 1000/600, and man did it hit me. My splits wound up fine but I felt like I was really having to fight for those last 2 to just be fine. Legs were definitely sore from weights, but that's part of the game!

8 miles recovery around Duncan Park. 8:09 average.

2 mile warm up

7x400 at 5k race pace. Shot for & hit 91-93, except for the last, which was 86.

1 mile cool down

4 miles pre-race on the treadmill at the hotel! I'm in Concord for the annual conference of the Association of Southeastern Biologists. So official ;) having an absolute blast with my research team!

Sucky race. Don't know what happened, my head just wasn't in it. I went out fine, right where I wanted to be at 6:13 or so. After that it all went downhill and I just checked out. It didn't even hurt that bad, I was just so mentally ready for it to be over. Every 100m or so I literally almost stopped and walked off the track. I'm genuinely suprised I was able to finish, I just kept telling myself it was for my teammates (even though they were all ahead of me) because I remember how let down I felt when one of my older teammates dropped out of a race once because she wasn't feeling it. I thought I was about to run a 21:30 or so, so I was honestly pleasantly suprised with my time, but definitely still upset in the scheme of things. I've gotta get my head back in it.

SPRING BREAK WEEEEK! I'm in Florida with the sophomore girls on my team!

AM- 7 mile progressive tempo. Didn't progress quite the way I wanted but I averaged out with a 7:14 so I felt solid about it. Just went out a little to fast to keep cutting down. The plan was to start at 7:40 and cut down 10 seconds per mile until 6:40 for the last one. Splits were 7:18, 7:33, 7:11, 7:02, 7:08, 7:11, 7:10.

PM- 4 miles shakeout. 7:52 average.

2 sets of 4x800 (so 8x800 total). That sounded daunting but it was actually a shockingly easy workout. Part of that was probably that it was 6am and I was still half asleep the whole time, but the other part was that the pace was supposed to be between 5k and 10k, so it wasn't too quick. 1:20 between reps, 2:20 between sets. Shooting for 3:16-3:20. I mostly hit 3:17-3:18's. Except the last one, Alexandra and I picked it up and finished with a 3:03, still felt pretty easy. Good little workout. 2 mile cool down.

Recovery run at a national park down here in Florida! Such a fun run. We definitely took it easy, and trail times are always slow anyways, so it was like an 8:55 average (lol). But my ankles are legitimately sore from all the roots and sketchy footing that I'm not used to these days from all of our concrete running! A good kind of sore though. 

1 mile warm up, then a ladder fartlek of 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2 minutes on with half of the rep easy for recovery. 4.63 miles total, averaging 7:21. 1 mile cool down. I felt solid. We did this on the beach and got pretty far seperated...I don't know why we can't stay together in workouts to save our lives when our race times are usually pretty close!

It is sooo nice to be getting so much sleep and mental rest from homework. I am loving this week.

AM- 5 mile tempo! 6:58 average. Splits: 6:49, 6:57, 6:57, 7:03, 7:06. First 3 miles with Anya, then she left and I started dropping off a little. Definitely could have gone faster on the last mile if I didn't have to go to the bathroom so bad... Still, bummed I got progressively slower, getting stronger as I go is something I'm really trying to work on right now. But I'm still pretty satisfied with a sub-7 tempo for 5!

Led the gals through a full-body circuit afterwards.

PM- 3 miles shake out. We just jogged around the neighborhoods.

Long run at the University of North Florida! They have this super nice track there, so we showed that some love for the first 2 miles or so. Then hit the trails, then got off and explored (and got lost...a few times) a bit for the bulk. I felt good, like I could have done 13 or 14 just as easily!

1.55 warm up to rail trail. I did the workout on rail trail, then around Duncan park, on to the end of rail trail, then back up through the start.

7 mile progressive tempo and I felt fantastic! Aiming for a progression from 7:40 to 6:40 in 10 second increments per mile. Last week, I went out at like 7:20 and bottomed out at mile 4 with a 7:02, getting slower after that and averaging 7:14. This week my average was 7:07, and my splits got faster every single mile! 7:30, 7:19, 7:14, 7:08, 6:59, 6:46, 6:42. So so so psyched about this run!

1.55 cool down back to campus. Weights afterwards.

2 mile warm up

2 x (800, 400, 800, 400, 800) with 60 sec rest and 2:30 between sets. The 800's were 5k race pace (3:10) and the 400's were 3k race pace (90). Hit 3:08-3:09 for all of my 800's, except the last one which I kicked, to a 2:58. My 400's were usually 89. I felt great during this workout! I was in the front of the pack - not the front-front of course because Anya was up there, then Rebecca a bit after her, but the front of the big pack. Felt very smooth and paced evenly. 

Only had enough time before our 1:00 classes for a half mile cool down.

8 miles recovery on my own. Ran around VCOM, then Cleveland Park. 7:58 averge.

Abs afterwards, then weights later.

1 mile warm up, hurdle drills, agilities.

3 x (4x300m) at mile race pace (5:30 mile is a 62.5 300m) with 1:30 between each rep and 2:30 between each set. This was a toughie for sure. First fast workout of the season really, and my legs were definitely feeling it. I hit 61's for the first set, then 60's for the 2nd and 3rd sets. I'm consistent if nothing else, I'll give myself that. I kicked the last rep as always and hit 56. Feeling it hurt pretty bad for holding 5:30 pace for only 300m makes me a little nervous for running the 1500m on Saturday, but I am also so so excited to run it because I know it is going to get some good snap in my legs and help my 5k a bunch, plus the pressure is off since it's not really my event. Either way, I'm gonna feel the burn and I am pumped!

2 mile cool down. Finally a full cool down!

AM- 3 miles on my own...just cause I felt like it! Beautiful day.

PM- pre-race shakeout with the team. 

Ran the 1500 today, then a workout afterwards! I felt solid during the 15, it's so so quick, I didn't have time to really get too mentally tired (even though my legs were burning of course). That is 2 seconds off my PR, which was set last year just before my 5k PR! So hopefully good things are in store for my next 5k.

The workout afterwards was tough. Real tough. Not in general necessarily, but just since it was immediately after a race. We jogged right over to the dirt track and then did 2x(1000, 400, 200, 200) + 1x(400, 200, 200). So basically 3 of that first set but without the 1000 on the third. The 1000 was at 90% (tempo), the 400/200's were at mile goal pace. Every rep I could just feel all the lactic acid in my legs, it was rough. But at the same time I was loving it,  feeling myself improving today. I haven't had that burn in a while, it's usually all cardiovascular. I'm definitely going to be sore tomorrow. 1 mile cool down after.

6 mile bike ride with Breck! A little fun, active recovery. Probably total effort level of about a mile jog, haha.

2 mile warm up to rail trail with Shannon.

6 mile tempo on Duncan park & rail trail. This one was rough today, real rough. I tried to do a progressive tempo again, I'm still trying to work on getting faster. I planned to start at 7:30 and cut down by 10 seconds per mile to 6:40... ended up bottoming out at about 7 flat. 7:16 average. The effort was there, but I think the preformance was a combination of the heat (it was 85 today! feeling like summer) and my still-sore legs from the meet/workout this past weekend. I suppose effort is what is really important in tempos though.

2 mile cool down.

Weights with the team before dinner.

Sucky workout. Just feeling tired and really, really feeling the weight of the heat and humidity that just hit. 

2 mile warm up

We were supposed to do 2 sets of 1200/600/1000/400 with the 12 & 1000 at 5k and 600/400 at mile pace. 2 minutes between reps, which I thought soudned pretty generous, and 3 minutes between sets. The first set was solid, then it went downhill so fast. After the 1200 of the 2nd set I thought I was gonna like pass out. I sucked it up and did the next 600 but ended up essentially jogging the last 200 of it. Then layed on the ground and I think I was hyperventilating, for a few minutes. Breck was in the same boat at me. No one came and checked on us... I mean I am fine now, but what if I hadn't been fine?? Anyways, we agreed to skip the next 1000 and just put all we had left into the final 400. Felt rough, but we finished it. Stuck my head under the hose for a while and drank lots of water.

Only had time for a half mile cool down. 

8 miles nice & easy with Shannon. Went up to the graveyard in Converse, up to the highschool, around the trail loop, then back down through Converse heights to campus. 8:34 average.

2 mile warm up on the trails.

10x400m at a little faster than 5k pace! Nice, relaxed workout to get the blood flowing again before the meet this weekend. I hit 91-92 for the first 5, then 89-90 for the next 4, and 85 for the final one.

A little over a mile cool down on the bridge loop of the trails.

Happy Earth Day!!!!!! Plant a tree, skip out on meat for a day a week, fill up a bottle instead of buying bottled water, unsubscribe from mailing lists you throw away! Just look around and see the beauty of the work of our sovereign creator....then treat it accordingly. Get pumped, woohoo!

Ran the 3k....tried to stay with Shannon since she is always right around the pace I want to be at. I was with her for the first mile, 6:03, but we were shooting for 6 flat so I started moving up a little after that and passed her. Probably should have just stayed with her. A lap or two later I started dying a little bit apparently, and she passed me again and moved on. I used to be so good at finishing races, I don't know why I have gotten so bad about slowing down as the race goes on this year. I really thought I was going to PR today....instead ran 15 seconds slower. :(

Did the 4x4 immediately after, didn't even switch back into trainers. That was just for kicks. I've never ran a 400 before, I was pretty sure I couldn't even break 80 after just finishing the 3k haha. I ran a 74! Woohoo.

10 miles easy with Shannon at Milliken park! I needed that. 8:15 average. 

2 mile warm up

4 x (1000, 400) with the 1000's at 5k race pace and the 400's at 3k. It was soooo hot and I just had a feeling it would be a rough day for me but I did suprisingly well, even when others started to fall off towards the last set or two. Hit 3:58 for all of the 1000's actually, and 89, 89, 91, 91 for the 400's. Not great but solid! I'll take it considering the heat especially.

.75 cool down.

8:29 average. Nice and easy recovery with Shannon. Toning down the mileage here towards the end of the season!

Pre meet

I didn't break 20, so that was my final race I guess. Lost the front pack right from the get-go, but they were going really fast and my splits were already faster than what I'd planned on, so I just did my own thing. Probably not the best idea because I slowed down either way, so maybe a faster start would have cancelled that out and I would have actually dropped time. Not sure.

Really disappointed over the sucky times I've had this year, but honestly I feel like I did the best I could have. This was just a really hard and exhausting year in all other spheres of my life, and I definitely think that took some life out of my running. It is definitely mental, because I've been doing great in practice. Excited to take some time off and get running out of my head for a little while. Going to meet with Bomar early next week and maybe consolidate a little and figure out what my problem is.

First run since my break! Felt a little rough towards the end, but I'll get back into it soon!

3 mile run + 5 miles on my bike around campus at Western. Biking was fun! Run wasn't so bad. Trying to work on my form here now that I'm starting fresh. I want to get my knees up and have that feeling natural by cross season!

2 times around Buchanan loop today. The hills really got me the second time around!

7:56 average

4 miles at Western. These short and "easy" runs are really killin me cardiovascularly...yikes. I had to stop and walk for part of this really long hill I almost always am able to make all the way up. 8:14 per mile.

Biked 4 miles afterwards. 

5 miles at western, 8:12 average. Full body circuit & tennis afterwards with Tori.

4 miles along North River Road, then biked 4 miles. Felt very rough aerobically during this. 7:49 pace, a bit quick even while I was telling myself to take it nice and easy, I think I just misgauged my pace.

8:14 avg

8:13 avg

8:10 avg. "long run" (lol) out and back through Cullowhee (WCU --> speedwell). 

2 loops around Buchanan loop. 8:04 average.

5.5 + 4x100m barefoot strides. 8:14 average.

4.5 easy around the Rec center / speedwell area. I found this super sick abandoned and hidden boardwalk thing in the middle of the woods back down the road off Parker Farm that leads to The Cove.  You can tell no one has been out on it in a long time, but it still holds up! I'd like to go have a picnic out there sometime.

Ran around Ashe loop & Fairview, then up to SCC and up the trails just a little bit, then turned back (too steep to keep on keeping on without going like 10 minute pace). 8:22 average.

7 around Western / up speedwell, then 4x100m barefoot strides. 8:13 average on the run.

Mountain biked 2ish miles to Cullowhee falls and back with my friend Landon, which of course isn't far, but is still a solid workout just from hills. Hills suck on bike! Stepping up my quad game to say the least.

3.85 + 2x100m strides to get to 4. 8:00 average. First run on the new greenway in Cullowhee!! I thought it was supposed to be 2 miles long, and even though the bridge at the end was closed, it was only like .9 so I just ran it down and back twice. I guess the 2 miles was actually 2 total if you go down and back haha. Shoot. Still! It will be great for little 3 mile shakeouts along the river, no cars.

6 miles at 8 flat pace. I started at the rec, then ran up through Western onto speedwell, then up Parker Farm out onto The Cove road again, then back, around the loop, and back down to the rec. Felt pretty good.

First non-bodyweight lifting sesh of the summer! All legs, then did bodyweight core. I'll probably be feeling that tomorrow in my legs.

5 miles at 7:57/mile. Parked on North River road, then ran back out to Webster and down to the end of South River road and back. Got a little creeped out because a guy in a bright blue truck across the river on Old Settlement was like following me, just idling along parallel to me at the same pace I was running for a solid 15 minutes....yikes. I felt okay cause the river was there, but I was worried he'd just go and cross the bridge and come onto South River rd. Anways! Felt good to shake out my soreness a bit from lifting yesterday.

Biked 5 miles afterwards on North River road, out to the public river access and back. Quads are getting stronger! 4:09 pace.

8 miles usual loop around downtown Sylva/Dillsboro. 8:12 average. Range was 7:51 (2nd mile) to 8:34 (6th mile). Proud of myself for getting up the big hill (I need to name it so I can refer to it by a name on here!) without stopping! Its like half a mile straight uphill, and the last 200 meters are the steepest, adding insult to injury haha. But I did it!

Core circuit afterwards.

Orientation day, so I was at Wofford all day doing o-staff stuff and didn't get a chance to run. Lots of walking around though, for what that's worth.

4 miles at 7:58 average around the Rec Center/Parker Farm area. Last mile was a 7:32, yay for finishing strong.

Full-body bodyweight circuit afterwards at the Rec.

5 miles at Western. I planned on 6, but I was a dummy and waited till the middle of the day, so it was like 90 degrees and I was just dying of the heat. I cut it a little after 5 and then did 4x100m strides, then got in the river and swam around for a while to cool off/cool down.

Bad. Bad bad bad on a number of levels, wow. I ran Buchanan loop and everything was fine, then went out down Webster rd to run to the highschool, around, and back up....about halfway to the high school everything went bad and I just started feeling exhausted. I Stopped at McNair rd to rest for a minute, then once I got to the high school I stopped twice more, then again on McNair on the way back. Averaged 8:22 but I stopped so many times in there to rest, which is pretty much embarrassing. It was toasty but I don't think it was the heat that got me, I just felt really awful and lathargic in general.

Again...bad bad bad. Dang it, I don't know what is going on. I went with my mom in the car to her office downtown (woke up early to beat the heat), then planned to run a Courthouse/downtown loop (3.5 miles) then all the way back home (3.8 miles). Again, things started out fine for the first 3 miles or so, then everything just went bad and I started feeling pretty rough. But I didn't have my car and was like 4 miles away from home whether I was feeling it or not, so I just had to keep trucking. I guess that was good, so I couldn't give myself an out. The way back home is mostly uphill, so that wasn't helpful...but I kept going till McNair again (like half a mile from home), took a breather for the final big hill before my house, then hit the hill and finished.

I'm wondering if my iron may be low... 3 sucky runs in a row where I started out alright and rapidly got tired? Sounds like what all my teammates who are iron-defficient dealt with, but for longer of course. I don't know when I can get it checked, but in the meantime, I am going to start being intentional about eating iron-rich foods just in case.

First workout of the summer!! And it actually went really well, contrary to the rest of this week (I did eat some red meat and my collard greens (iron) last night...just sayin). Went to the rec for this fartlek.

2 miles warm up, then 6 x (2 min on, 2 min off), 2 miles cool down. My total average was 7:58 including WU/CD, but those middle 3 miles were 7:26, 7:27, 7:14. The "on" was supposed to be 7:08 pace, but I definitely misguaged that and ended up doing more like 6:30 pace. But that's fair because "off" was supposed to be 8:41, and was probably more like 9 flat. Felt kind of fun to get some pop in my legs!

Full-body bodyweight circuit afterwards. Special attention to my hamstrings for prehab.

Treadmilled it today! 1.5 warm up, then fartlek of 4 x 3min on, 3 min off. On's were 6:58, off's were 8:45. Felt smooth and great. 1.5 cool down outside.

5 late-night recovery miles around Webster, 8:26 average. 

So yeah I got real busy real fast all of a sudden when I went out west, and days have turned into weeks that I haven't blogged. Rest assured, I have in fact been running, albeit not as much as I'd like!! But tomorrow or Tuesday I will catch up and try to at least log my mileage for the past 5ish weeks that I've let get away from me. 

Jeeze I haven't posted in so long.....I'm really bummed about how I've fallen out of the habit of logging my runs. I think it's in part because I've somewhat fallen out of love with running. As an update, I'll go ahead and say this semester has been a disaster for me running-wise. I had a terrible cross season, starting slow & getting slower every race. After our post-XC break as we transitioned to indoor, I jumped into things a little too quickly and somehow managed to injur my foot. I don't know yet what's wrong, but our trainer is worried its a stress fracture. We'll see, but fingers crossed its nothing major.

All this to say, I'm not running right now. I'm biking though, and actually enjoying that a lot. I hope my time off will give me some perspective on the semester and on my running career.