You've got to want it to win it

Today after the drive up to Boise I went for a premeet with the distance girls.  On the way back towards the track there was an emergency and I got to use my CNA skills outside of the workplace...  Ran to the hotel and back to save the day.  By then I was at 5 miles so didn't bother to do strides...  We had fun waiting to be seated when we went to Olive Garden for dinner, we went to Claire's and bought a pack of best friends bracelets :)  so a lot of the distance girls have them now :)  Tomorrow is gonna be a great day of racing! 

1 mile shakeout in the morning with Hilary on the track.  It was super foggy and ice outside, I thought we left that behind in Utah?  After our mile we stretched for a bit.   

With an hour before the race I started my warmup with Bekah.  She was going shorter warmup so was with me just the first mile.  I did 3 miles and then went inside to grab my shoes and do my strides and drills.  Already I have learned from my mistakes last week!  I had plenty of time and was able to do enough strides to get a feel for the right pace and not let the adrenaline get to me and have me end up starting way too fast.  I was top seed by 11 seconds but you never know how the competition will really be until the race starts.  Going out I took the lead and could tell there was a girl slightly behind me but I just stayed calm and kept running.  My splits were 39s and 40s so pretty good.  The girl tried to pass me twice but I matched her moves and maintained the lead.  She made another move during lap 7 or 8 and overtook the lead.  The mile split was 5:17.  I tried to stay with her but she was fighting hard and I tried but didn't want to push that hard in the middle of the race so let her go.  I shouldn't have, it would have helped me to stick with her and embrace the pain.  But I did keep my pace.  She picked it up a lot and just opened a gap.  When I heard the bell for her final lap I realized I had let her get a whole 100 meters on me.  I didn't kick as hard as I should have, it is mentally tricky with a 200 meter track.  And I have an irrational fear of falling off of the banked track.  Maybe because I saw it happen at the meet last weekend.  I finished in 10:08, a few 82s and the lack of kick added up.  I was thinking about it afterwards and I have really gotten better at getting a feel for paces, but mentally I am not as tough as I used to be.  You can practice pacing all you want but it means nothing without the will to run in pain and fight for it during the race.  No race will ever go as planned for sticking to a pace, you've got to go with the competition.  For cooldown I ran 5 miles with my iPod.  I realized when I turned around that the first 2.5 was slow and that I needed to pick it up on the way back so that my team wouldn't have to wait forever for me to get on the bus to go home...  Next week my goal will be to work towards preparing myself better mentally and getting back my racing mindset.  I am doing the 5k in Seattle on Friday night, maybe the 3k Saturday morning if I feel up to it.  But I need to actually race this time, not just run for even splits. 

Today I went running with Hilary and Lauren away from the inversion cloud over the city up to 11th Avenue.  There were blue skies!  We ran down City Creek, then Lauren split but Hilary and I kept going up the canyon.  Hilary turned at 5 but I kept going until I was at 6.  The canyon was so amazing and the skies were so blue and the air was so clean!  I enjoyed the way back just as much :)  Beautiful run :)  and my longer cooldown Saturday was definitely worth it, my calves were barely sore.  Wonderful day!

Today we had a workout at the oval.  We started with 7 laps warmup and then the usual strides and drills.  The workout was two 200s and then six 800s, each set of two getting 4 seconds faster.  On the 200s I hit 35 and 36 at what felt a comfortable effort.  For the 800s I was supposed to go 2:42, 2:38, and 2:34.  On the first one I hit 2:40 pretty relaxed, but Kep wanted me to go 2:42.  For recovery I ran to the 1000 start and then did an 800 from there.  On that one I hit 2:42.  Took recovery to the 800 start, switching the start and finish made it go by faster for sure.  My next one was 2:38, it was starting to get hard, and then I sorta died and hit 2:41, 2:44, 2:50.  I decided to do two 200s afterwards, I hit 39 for both of those.  I think I need to practice shorter quicker stuff such as 400s before trying to pick up the pace for the longer type stuff.  It was definitely a weird jump between MD and LD workouts... What I need is an in between.  And I really wouldn't mind doing a lot of reps of 400s or something.  For cooldown I did 10 laps with Hilary.  For some reason we were both really grumpy so we complained very loudly as we passed the people standing in lane one stretching, and the high school group warmup up that needed to run 4 lanes wide...  And we cheered for a guy doing a tempo run.

Today a lot of the members of my team were running indoors... but I really didn't want to.  Lucky for me, Amanda was willing to run outside, and to drive to City Creek so we could run up the canyon! :)  We parked at the gate and then ran up the road :)  It just kept getting more beautiful as we went further up.  The sky was very blue and it was actually a very sunny day!  :)  We went until there was a truck parked at the end of the wider road and as far as it was plowed.  That was around 3.3 so we turned and ran back down.  The sad part about this was that now we could see the cloudy city we were running into... Amanda was doing 50 minutes so she finished when we got back to the gate but she waited while I ran up the road a little and back down to get to 8 miles.  Beautiful day in the canyon!!! :) 

15 minute ice bath in the evening.   

Most of the other distance girls had a workout today so I did my pre-meet on my own.  I ran up by the dorms and then to the post office and up Sunnyside until I hit 2 miles and then ran back but on the opposite side of the roads as before to change it up.  Then I did strides and drills by E HPER until I was at 4.5.  Then I went inside for a nice long stretch before stemming for 20 minutes.  Then I took a 15 minute ice bath when I got home.  The air looked much better today :)  Going to Seattle tomorrow!  And Natalie and I are in the same heat of the 5k :)

Today we flew to Seattle and I raced in the evening.   Kate was also doing the 5k, we went to the track with the rest of the team when they went for their premeet.  I had a while to sit around before it would be time to start warming up, but then Natalie got there and time flew :)  When we went outside to warmup together another girl asked us what heat we were in and she was in the same one so joined us :)  She is from Penn. State.  One of Natalie's teammates also joined us.  We warmed up around campus until we hit 3 miles, then went in for drills and strides.  I did drills on the infield and then went to talk to Kep before starting my strides on the track.  Nat and I were thinking about doing our old cheer but sorta ran out of time before we were being lined up for the start of the race.  I was seed 11 so was right up against the wall.  Good thing I reviewed my blog from this race last year to remind myself what worked for this race then!  Going out I got forced to the outside of the pack and had to run wide in lane 2 for the first lap.  After that I was able to get inside of the pack and in lane 1, then I just went with the group and got a rhythm going.  But it was impossible to really keep a rhythm, girls would come up and cut in too soon or would come and invade my running space, then my focus was shifted to staying on my feet rather than maintaining the rhythm.  A few times I was right next to Nat, it really helped having her in the race because for once in my college career it was like having a team mate who is almost exactly of the same speed, and I hope it helped her when I was running next to her too.  At one point in one of the laps a girl came up between us and was trying to push me, but as I was already on the inside of lane one so I had nowhere to go, so I threw my elbow a few times and I think this made her really mad, but this girl was fighting dirty so I fought back... I was definitely in the racing mentality today!  With about 5 laps to go coming into the straightaway I decided I would try to see if I could move up in the pack.  I did that on the next lap too, and then on the next straightaway without even thinking I went around some girls too.  Then I was leading the pack, but my efforts had made me feel like puking so I wasn't sure how long I would be able to push or if I would have anything left to make a stronger move at 2 laps to go.  I just held on until the last laps came, but I still was able to pull out a kick during the last lap.  And I finished just 4 seconds away from my PR!  And 4 seconds faster than at this meet last year!  Finally I feel as though I can see the work from my workouts paying off in a race, I really patched up the mental strength too.  For cooldown I took my iPod and ran 3 miles around campus.  My calves are really sore and I have some fresh blisters on my feet (racing in my nikes always does that) so I am not sure about racing tomorrow, I will decide in the morning.

I felt much better from my race last night when I woke up this morning, so I decided I'd go ahead and give the 3k a shot.  I told myself that if the warmup felt horrible then I wouldn't do it.  I started warming up with Bekah but she was going faster and I was sore from last night so I was on my own after the first bit.  I stopped to stretch my calves a few times, but I got in 3 miles and besides the calves felt great.  I stretched some more when I went back inside, and then put on my spikes (my asics this time, I have some nasty blisters from last night!) and did strides on the track.  When my race started I pushed my way to a good start, but I was on the outside again so focused on getting inside.  I did, but then most of the pack passed me and I let them because I wanted to stay on the inside.  But I forgot that the pacing would be much different from last night, so I was going at 5k pace and not pushing harder to go with the group and race the 3k.  I'm pretty sure I was at the back, so I made it my goal to at least hang on to the back of the pack and not get gapped.  The mile split was 5:17, then the race took off and I had to work harder to not be at the back by myself.  Each lap I pushed harder but my splits were the same so I knew my efforts were just helping me maintain pace.  I did kick the last lap pretty well, and even caught two girls coming down the home stretch!  For a 3k this wasn't a very good race, but for practicing for the 5k it was decent.  The fact that I was able to come out today and run that pace after racing it last night is amazing to me.  I hope this will carry over to when I do my first 10k on the track!  For cooldown I took my iPod and went out on the bike trail around Seattle.  I went grandma pace on the way out, but as is my rule I made myself pick it up to normal-ish run pace for the way back.  6.5 cooldown to finish off the week at 55.  15 minute ice bath coming up...

Today I went for a run with the team.  It feels so weird being back in the snow!  We ran the zoo loop, out on Foothill to Sunnyside and then up to Wasatch.  My calves hurt pretty bad going up the hill, so I stopped to stretch once we reached Wasatch.  They hurt even more going down, you don't notice these slight hills until you are sore.  When it flattened out again I was with Amanda until she decided to turn, then I turned with her so I wouldn't have to continue onto Wasatch alone and still be short of miles :P  The way back to 1300s was downhill too.  Ouch.  We caught up to the group on Foothill and then ran back to the lockerrooms.  Hilary and I kept going, we did a large loop around campus going above the track to North Campus drive and then through campus all the way over to the institute.  We finished at 10.  Then to make sure I didn't chicken out of telling Hanah, Hilary informed Hanah for me that my calves were really tight and sore.  So I got a massage with Tim.  It hurt really bad.  And I get to be worked on on Wednesday and Friday too :P  

This afternoon we had a workout at the oval. Since we are not racing this weekend, today was our threshold instead of Thursday. For warmup we did 7 laps and then our strides and drills. My hamstrings are super sore from lifting but other than that I felt great. Even my calves were doing alright! I decided to stay in my trainers though because it was a threshold, I will save my flats for Thursday. The workout was 3 or 4 2000s. Andrea and I worked together because we were both trying to hit between 86-88 splits for the 400s. I've missed workouts with her! But it was so nice to be able to have each other to work with on this one because it was so many laps :P On the first one we hit 7:24, then the second one in 7:27, and 7:30 for the third. The splits were consistent in the sets so that was good. During the third one was when my calves started to burn so I was done after that. Then I did 9 laps cooldown, some with Giselle and Charlotte, to end at 9 for the day.

Today I went running with Amanda.  At her pace.  I was dying.  Amanda kept telling my to keep it up though, so I did.  Average pace ended up being 6:57.   We did the Albertson's loop and back to campus on 1900e.  My calves are really tight.  I am getting them worked out again today.  The end.

Today we had a workout at the oval.  I started with 7 laps warmup with Megan and Alex, then the strides and drills with the team.  I took my sweet time and made sure to stretch really well!  My calves are still in pain from yesterday, so I decided to stick with my trainers for this workout.  It was three sets of four 400s, 90 seconds rest between then with 1 lap recovery between the sets.  My goal as to hit around 1:15-1:16s.  For the first set I hit 1:16, 1:15, 1:15, 1:15.  There were 3 Westminster guys there doing laps and cheering me on, that was nice of them.  And they smelled nice. :)  For the next set I hit 1:15, 1:15, 1:16, 1:17, then I decided to raise the recovery to 1:50 for the last set and hit 1:17, 1:17, 1:17, 1:17.  Pretty amazing workout for having sore calves, running in my trainers, and running by myself.  Twelve 400s within 2 seconds timing on all of them!  For cooldown I went outside with Hilary for 3.25 to finish at 9.5.  We ran around the neighborhood a little bit, and followed one of the roads out of the oval parking lot, just exploring.  Stretched really well afterwards, then took a 12 minute ice bath when we got back to campus.  

This morning I woke up quite a bit before my alarm so decided to run before class.  I was planning on getting up and running before class anyway, but I had extra time so I wasn't able to change my mind and pretend I would have been late.  I ran out 2 miles on 1300e, made it to just past Westminster, and then back to my apartment.

 This afternoon I went running with Andrea and Alyssa.  We did the Albertson's loop again.  Then Giselle, Alyssa, and I made a date of going to get our iron tested again :P  We evaded it for 2 and a half months though, I guess we did good.

I stayed at home last night since I needed to borrow a car for some late night plans, so I did my run from home this morning.  It was 45 degrees when I started, such a nice day!  I did the cemetery loop (minus the part in the cemetery, I just ran along 3300s) and then on the way back I stayed on 1700e and followed it up to 1900e, then ran down Harrison to get home and finish at 8.5.  7:10 average pace.  

We had a fun warmup at lifting this morning, Nu'u played music and we had to dance and when he stopped the music we had to do 10 reps of a drill!  Super fun! :)  

A while later I went for my run.  I ran up through campus and then the Shriner's route up to 11th Avenue.  Then I ran down City Creek and behind the capitol and then down State Street to South Temple.  Then I ran up to 1300e and extended the way home just a bit to make it a full 10.  7:20 average pace.

Today we had workout at the oval.  I warmed up inside, 7 laps with Giselle and Megan, then the strides and drills as a team.  My workout was an 800 with 4 minutes rest, then four 500s with 90 seconds rest, and then four 200s with 2 minute rest.  My calves felt great so I wore my flats for this workout, which was awesome.  My 800 was 2:40 (1:19 first 400) so a little slower than what Kep wanted, but when I got to the 500s it was apparent I was still warming up, because my times were 1:34 (1:15 400), 1:34, 1:35, 1:36.  He had hoped 1:37 but they felt really relaxed, I was surprised when I heard my first 400 split.  On the 200s I hit 35, 35, 36, 36.  Then I cooled down 3.75 miles outside to finish at 9 for the day.  Did 12 minutes in the ice bath with Giselle, Megan, and Alyssa when we got back.

Today I did my premeet in Seattle with Amanda, Nikki, and Andrea.  We ran up on the bike trail that goes around Seattle.  On the way back Amanda couldn't stop laughing because of one comment...  But she was able to breathe enough to make it back to the Dempsey for strides :P  I did strides with Andrea and then stretched and iced my shin. Gonna have a great race tomorrow!!! 

I woke up today telling myself I was going to get a PR.  About an hour before my race, Nikki warmed up with me for her premeet.  We ran on the trails right by the water and then a little into the neighborhood and back to hit 3.  I did some drills and then strides on the track.  Then I stretched and did a few more drills while the meet had gotten about 5 minutes off due to rearranging the heptathlon a little bit.  No big deal.  I put on my spikes and then did some more good strides on the track.  I did a prayer with Natalie and then we got our instructions from the official.  We got to start right next to each other which was sweet :)  When the race went out I was able to get into the pack on the inside for the first lap.  The first lap was 65 and I went with the pack as we picked it up the second lap when everyone heard the split.  I was relaxed and I just went with the flow.  I had a good position in the pack so I just stayed there.  A few laps in some girls broke away and then a chase pack formed, which I was at the back of.  The lead girls took off and then there were a few girls strung off of the back, and then me.  I think I was in 9th at that point.  I knew Nat was close behind me because I could hear her team cheering for her.  I wanted her to catch up to me so we could work together, but she never did :/  I knew she was there for a few laps though.  I focused on the girl in front of me and closing the gap on her, which I did.  I was able to pass her and keep going, a bit further ahead was a BYU girl, but this was a larger gap so I knew it would take work on a lot of laps to catch her.  I kept closing on her and was able to focus on my form a bit too.  At about 400 to go I caught her and passed her, and I could see that the next girl was fading fast so I focused on trying to catch her too.  I kicked hard the last lap and was scared that the BYU girl would catch me but I held her off until the final straightaway.  I was also catching the other girl, but then the BYU girl caught me and I was already going all out, so it was the BYU girl, the other girl, and then me in 8th place.  The decimal times were .13, .29, .50.  So close!!!  But I still scored a point. And I got a PR!!! :)  Nat PRd too!!! :)  I very happy with the way I raced and that I have gotten better since the rough ending of last season.  I am super excited for outdoor now too.  I have about a month off now before my next race.  For my cooldown I took my iPod and ran around campus 3.75 miles to finish at 10 for the day.  I might have been lip syncing to my iPod the whole time... I was that happy :)  And I wanted ice cream for dinner, but settled for HardRock.  Fun night :)  Back at the hotel I took a 15 minute ice bath with Amanda and Andrea.  

After watching Nikki and Andrea compete in the mile I went for a nice 10 miler on the bike trail.  I just did an out and back.  It was beautiful.  My calves were still sore from last night, I can't imagine how much worse they would be if Tim hadn't worked on them :P  My left shin hurt for about the first 3 miles but after that it was fine.  When I got back I did stem and ice, and then watched Amanda run the 800.  She was .05 seconds off of breaking the school record :(  but it was an amazing race to watch!  

Today I enjoyed a nice relaxed run with the team.  I took the pace out comfortably, which was a little hard for some of the girls.  But Alyssa came with me! :)  We did Albertson's loop, returning on 1900e and then doing a lap around the Huntsman to get to 7, then I ran out and back above the track for the extra mile to finish at 8.  7:10 average pace :)  I am super happy Alyssa was able to keep up, she has improved a lot since the fall!  I ice cupped my shins and calves afterwards.  They really needed it :P

Today was another regular run day so I went running with Nikki and Charlotte.  We ran up on 11th Avenue and then down City Creek and behind the capitol.  Then we ran down Main Street, did a lap around temple square, and then ran to the Trax station.  They went to Trolley but I went up to 900e to make it a full 8.  After riding the train back up, we stopped by institute to grab some hot chocolate to keep us warm on our way back to the locker room :)  I did 15 minutes of stem on my back.

Today I went running with the team.  We did the Albertson's loop again, but came back on 2100e.  My left shin and hip hurt a bit at first but they warmed up.  Or maybe just on the way back it didn't hurt anymore since it was uphill.  Basically I really miss running on grass :(  I wish the snow would melt a little more so that I can run on parking strips again!  The other girls continued back on Foothill, but to add on I ran down 900s and then back to campus along Guardsman.  I wove through campus to add on to finish with 8 at the locker room.  I had a nice stretch, and then I asked Hanah to scrape my calves... they have gotten that bad.  IT HURT SO FREAKIN' BAD!!!  But it will be worth it.  

Today we had a threshold workout at Liberty.  Warmed up there from the 900e Trax station, then I did a lap on the sidewalk with Hilary, AuraLea, and Alyssa.  Did our strides and drills and then got going on the workout.  The different groups had different workouts, mine was 15, 10, 5 minute threshold.  Andrea was doing mile repeats, so for the first part of my 15 minutes I ran with her on her first mile.  Then I moved to the outer perimeter so I could run on the grass!  My left hip was hurting during the warmup, it did warm up but it felt better to be on the grass.  We had 3 minutes rest between the 15 and the 10.  During the 10 I made it through the firs half alright but then my hip started hurting again really bad, making the last 5 minutes feel like forever!  I dropped after that set, I needed to listen to my body and take care of it.  Doesn't help that my calves are still in pain from getting scraped yesterday.  And bruised, but running on the perimeter of the park covered those up with a lot of mud :)  From where I stopped I ran back to the Trolley Trax station to end at 8 miles and go get treatment.  I did some hip exercises from PT last summer, then Heather did some alignment stuff before setting me up on stem.  The pain goes between my hip and lower back, so I wonder if my slipped disk is causing problems again?  For the next few days I am going to avoid running on pavement, so I guess I will either be on the treadmill or kicking up mud at any park that has enough grass to be able to run decent distance.  Anyone know how Sugarhouse is right now?