Running is a means and never merely an end

Big meet Tuesday...but I didn't really want to get another 5 or 6 miler in because I felt like I wanted to get a little bit of a speed workout in. 2.2 mile warm up, 3x1200m at 3200 race pace. I hit 4:41/4:41/4:45, which is a little slower than race pace, but I'm not too concerned because I know I could have done better, but I didn't want to kill myself with the meet in 2 days. I worked mainly on getting progressively faster with each lap during each rep, which worked out well. 2.2 mile cool down.

Fairly easy pre-meet today. 1 mile up-tempo (but not quite tempo pace) on the track - 7:15. Then 2(ish) miles on the grass down below. They were supposed to be easy...but for several reasons I won't really go into, they didn't actually feel very easy. Had to ice my tight calves afterwards.

Meet got cancelled today because it was pouring the snow. So I went to Western and did a little 6-miler. My watch actually stopped working (not sure if it basically froze or if the battery just died because it was still relatively new?) a few minutes in so I have no idea what pace I was at but I would guess maybe 8 flat on average, 7:50 average tops. Afterwards, 4x200m sprints on the track to loosen my legs back up, then short cool down and stretching. The snow didn't really bother me, it was actually really pretty at times because the sun would come out while it snowed and it looked like heaven! I'm kind of thankful to get to see God's handiwork like that today, there's no way I would hve noticed any of that if we had a meet.

Pisgah meet tomorrow, so practice was relatively easy today. We did an 800 and a 1600 on the track, supposedly "up-tempo," but honestly I knew I was taking it fairly easy (about 3:20 and 7:25). 20 minute jog afterwards, which felt really good. No tightness in my calves today!

I'm not sure what I want to run tomorrow...I have never ran the 3200, 1600, and 800 altogether, so I thought this might be a good time (before we get to our conference/regional/state meets) to try it and toughen up a little bit. If you can do it when you're tired, you can do it when you're fresh, right? I'll have to look into it a little more though. In any case, I'll be doing at least two of the three. 

Today I ran, for the first time, all 3 (800, 1600, 3200). I feel like a wimp saying this because I know some runners do that every meet...but it was so hard for me. I don't know... I was just absolutely exhausted - maybe mentally even more than physically - by the 2 mile. My 800 went fine, I placed 3rd with a 2:39 which is 2 seconds off of my PR. 1600 went fine also, I placed 2nd with a 5:49 which is 6 or 7 seconds off my PR. My 3200 was absolutely terrible though. I had an awful mindset going into it ("ehh, maybe I'll just tempo it?") and it showed. I ran a 12:48 or something, which is the second worst time I've ever ran the 2 mile in. I'd like to think that was just because I had never done it after already having ran the mile and 800...but honestly I think I just sucked and that's all there is to say. I'm so glad this meet is over. I'm a little pissed and ready to go get better tomorrow.

I had such a great recovery run today! I planned on doing a solid 5 miles at my usual 7:50-8 recovery pace, but it was sprinkling rain and just felt so good out that I ended up doing 6 miles before I even realized it, and at a 7:20-7:40 pace (depending on the hills in that mile). It didn't phase me at all, I felt so strong and capable the whole time. Best run I've had in a few weeks!

Lots of core work and a little bit of upper body afterwards.