You've got to want it to win it

This morning I did a threshold workout at Liberty Park. I started with a warmup lap around the perimeter and up to the northeast corner of the park, where I did strides and drills. I was sort of dreading the 20 minute threshold as I was doing the warmup, but once I got going it wasn't so bad. My splits were consistent for each leg of the park (cement .5 to cement .5). The times I passed the cement markings were 3:04, 6:13, 9:18, 12:23, 15:30, and 18:34. Total distance was 3.18 miles. Afterwards I ran to the drinking fountain for a drink before doing four 35 second strides. Cooled down to finish with 9.5 total. I'm glad this workout is behind me now!

Rainy Monday mornings are great long run days! I started at Sugarhouse park and ran up to 2100e and headed north. I ran to Sunnyside and then up above the zoo and onto Wasatch Drive. The tennis place at mile 4.5 was great timing for a pit stop. I ran Wasatch until it ended and I had to cut down to Foothill, where I then continued on the paved part of the Shoreline trail. I took that over the freeway and where it led out to Tanner Park. I headed back towards Sugarhouse and added on around the perimeter of the park to get the full 13. 7:34 average pace.

This morning I forgot that the stroller wasn't in my car. Oops. Luckily, my sister was able to tend. I started at her house and ran along 1300e towards campus. I took 500s up to where it turned into Foothill, and took that to 2100s. Then I went down to 20th east before heading south some more. As I was almost to the freeway underpass, there were some tall weeds on either side of the sidewalk, and my iPod cord got caught and pulled to the ground. My iPod screen was broken :( But because of the Zagg shield on it, there are no sharp edges or missing pieces. I continued to about 2900s before turning and heading back towards my parents house. I added on going the long way around the perimeter of Sugarhouse before going back to finish with the full 10. 7:28 average pace.

This morning I did 9 miles in the neighborhood.  7:24 average pace.  

After taking a final in the afternoon, I went for a run with Jesse and Ellie on the Jordan River trail.  I pushed the stroller out and Jesse took it back.  7:42 average pace. 

My legs were tired today!  But I still got a good hill workout in at Cottonwood Complex.  My mom is finally back from Boston!  So she met me there to take Ellie for a walk in the stroller while I did my workout.  She's awesome.  I warmed up around the block and then did strides and drills in the field.  I did 8 of the 400 meter hills.  My times were between 1:27-1:34 (lack of focus on that slow one, they were mostly between 1:29-1:30) with recovery jog back to the start.  I cooled down to finish with 9 total.  I was hoping for 10, but didn't have the last mile in me today.  

9 miles in the neighborhood again today.  I don't remember my pace and don't feel like getting off the couch to go look at my Garmin.  

Finished my last final yesterday!  And had a great run today!  I started in Sugarhouse with a half lap around the perimeter and then towards 3300s via the cemetery loop route.  At 33rd, I went up to 20th east and then more south to Keller.  There I turned and went up to 2300e, where I went south some more until I was at 6 miles, which got me almost to 4500s.  I turned around and headed back on 23rd and 20th east.  I had to add on a quarter when I got back to the car.  7:06 average!  I guess sleeping in after finishing finals gave me an added bonus.  Or maybe it was the sugar in the cupcakes last night...  Anyway, I'm glad to have finished my first 65 mile week in 2 years!!

This morning I got my long run in!  I started at Sugarhouse and ran along 1500e and through campus.  I went up to 11th Avenue and then ran into City Creek.  I was at 6.5 when I got to the gate at City Creek, so I went up another half mile before turning around and heading back the same way.  The last 3 miles I was exhausted, but finished with a 7:14 average pace.  I'm not sure how my legs are still working.

This morning I took Ellie for a run in the stroller.  We did 6 laps at Liberty Park.

This afternoon Jesse came running with Ellie and me on the Jordan River trail. The storm was getting closer as we kept going out so I cut it a mile short and just did 3.5 for the afternoon. We got poured on at the end.

This morning I did a threshold run at Liberty park. My mom met up with me to take Ellie in the stroller. I warmed up 2 miles and then did strides and drills. This week's threshold was 3 sets of 10 minutes. I was able to get just over a lap each time, splitting 3:06, 6:07, 9:09 on the first; 3:04, 6:08, 9:11 on the second; and 3:06, 6:09, 9:13 on the last one. My legs were so tired on the last set! I can definitely feel the mileage from yesterday and the day before. I couldn't bring myself to do strides at the end, so I just finished with a cool down to get to 10 miles.

This morning I took Ellie for a run in the stroller. We started at Sugarhouse and ran to 33rd south and back, and then did a few laps to get to 10. I was exhausted so this run felt like it took forever.

Today I started my run at the Capitol and ran up City Creek. I went up 6 miles and turned around. Once you get past the water shed, it isn't as steep and is actually quite nice. This is the farthest up I've ever gone. It took me 50 minutes to run up and 45 to run back down.

This morning I started my run from Sugarhouse. I ran along 15th and through campus up to 11th avenue. I ran down 11th and into Memory Grove, then back up South Temple to 1300e. This was a bit farther than I thought it would be, so I finished with 12 at my parents house where I caught a ride back to my car because I literally didn't want to go the extra mile. I got my 70 in for the week and I am exhausted!

This morning I had my last lone run of the summer! I did 9 miles in the neighborhood, 7:27 average pace.

This morning was the first day of team practice! We met at the track and ran together there for 10 minutes and then went out on a run. We went out on Foothill and groups turned around when they needed to. I ran with Shaylen and Jocelyn to 1700s and turned down to 2100e to head back to campus. We finished with some general strength at the track led by Coah Mack.

This afternoon we arrived at camp. I made it through the drive up without crying for missing my baby, though I almost lost it in the Costco parking lot when we said goodbye. We did a 4 mile run and then strides and a cool down routine with Coach Mack, followed by some planks. 4.25 for the afternoon.

This morning at camp we went to the trail by little deer creek reservoir. We started out as a group and everyone except me turned around at 3 miles. I wasn't lonely though, I saw 5 bunnies before turning around a mile later. Then somewhere in the last mile I ran into Hannah and Giselle while they were adding on. Did the cool down strides and exercises afterwards.

In the afternoon we did an easy run from the house. Most people did 3 but I did 3.5 with Kate so she wouldn't have to run on her own. We did our cooldown routine and core afterwards.

This morning at camp we got to run the ski course at Soldier Hollow. There were lots of turns and ups and down hills so it was challenging, but at least we had a biker guide to follow. The last 3 miles I think several of us hit a wall because we ended up strung out and it became a real struggle to finish. But we made it. We did the cooldown strides and drills afterwards, then 500 reps of core. 

This afternoon we got a break from running and got to go to the reservoir to swim or pool run for 30 minutes. There are 3 people on our team who can actually swim, so they were gone fast, and most everyone else decided to pool run. Nikki and I switched between swimming and pool running, though partially that was just so we would actually move and wouldn't just be running in one place. It also might have included going to where we could touch the bottom and just keeping our shoulders covered so that it looked like we were pool running. Because we're awesome. When we were done we had plans to eat lunch there and hang out for a while, but we forgot to put the bread in the car so we just made wraps with meat and cheese and spinach and didn't stay as long.

I came home from camp early because of orientation for my grad program. But really because I missed Ellie and Jesse. This morning I just ran in my neighborhood. I got practice on tangents doing the strides in my neighborhood.

I was really sad when I got to practice today and found out that we were doing our long run at Liberty Park. And even more sad when I asked if we could leave the park and my coach said no. At least the color run was going on along the west side of the park so there was entertainment to look forward to every lap. We did cooldown strides and core afterwards, and then enjoyed some of the leftover food from camp for breakfast. 

First day of school! But since I didn't have class today I only went to campus for practice and to get my books. For such a simple task, it took way too much time. I went to practice at 11 and didn't get done until 1. We had to run the first 10 minutes on the track before we were allowed to go anywhere. We took fruit loop to Sunnyside and then cut through the golf course to get to Wasatch. Everyone else turned around a little after 1300s, so I continued on my own to 2100s before cutting down to Foothill to go back to campus. Back at the track I did my cooldown strides and drills and then joined Becky for hurdle drills and core. The coaches weren't able to arrange for an early lifting group yet so I had to come back at 3:45. Then the lift that was supposed to be 25 minutes was really 45. I'm a little irritated with how things are going right now because all of us have lives outside of practice. 

This afternoon we had a hill workout at Red Butte. We warmed up to the trail and then did a little bit out on the Shoreline Trail and back. We did our strides and drills on the dirt road and then got going on the workout. The workout was six 60 second hills with 3 minute recovery jog according to training peaks, but Kep forgot and said 3 minutes between each sendoff. So my group sorta got in trouble on the second one because I told them we were supposed to rest a minute longer. Afterwards Kep looked at the app and realized I was right. Oh well. On one of the reps we saw a snake coming out onto the road by our starting line, so we moved that one up a few meters. Once we got through those it felt like forever until we were ready to jog over to the Shoreline trail for some 40 second repeats. I thought it was just 4, and that's what we did, but later on training peaks I realized that one was supposed to be 6. But I don't think Kep minded us cutting that one short because we were in the sun way to long. Seriously, we were working out from 2:00-4:35 including the cooldown and cooldown strides and then GS in the training room. Way too long! I cooled down with Becky and she told me she was glad to have me back :) she had a class after practice and she was barely on time for it, so she appreciated that I was trying to keep the workout rolling.

Today was a sad day for me because new coach said we weren't allowed to run longer than an hour on our base mileage days. What. is. going. on.??? So we did our warmup on the bailiff and had to go "slow" in coache's words, and then were allowed to take off. I had a hard time finding my rhythm after that. Plus it is a little awkward when you take off from your team and then they catch up to you at every red light. I ended up running with Becky again, we did Albertson's loop and then finished the last couple of minutes on the track before doing our cooldown strides.

This afternoon we had our first threshold workout at Liberty. I ended up driving because I had class afterwards, and everyone else ended up driving too. A little sad to miss the Trax experience. We warmed up 2 miles (I went extra with the late arrival group) and then did strides and drills. The workout was 3 8 minute threshold with 1:40 recovery. We had 3 large groups which was really nice because there was always someone to pull the others along. We were supposed to go 6:20/mile pace for the first one, 6:15 for the second, and 6:10 for the third. On the last one I took off with Dre and Hannah and maybe we got a little excited because we were closer to 6 minute pace. But we all finished strong. Afterwards we did four 30 second strides and then did GS. The V sits irritated my back and then it hurt all evening as I sat through my 3 hour class.

This afternoon everyone met for 2:00 practice. We had the option of running the first few minutes at the track and then going to Sunnyside to run laps, or to drive to Sugarhouse to run. We opted to stay on campus to save commute time. The warmup was so quiet because I think we are all sick of this no going for a real run on any of our old routes business. I kinda thought that the reason we got garmins was so that we could keep the freedom of running where we wanted and to be held accountable by the fact that the data would be uploaded to training peaks for the coaches to see. I guess I was wrong. When we were done on the track everyone else decided they wanted to run on bailiff instead. I ran there enough when I was pregnant last year, so I went to Sunnyside by myself. I did a few laps there until I had just over 6 miles, then took Guardsman back to campus and finished at the track with strides. I did GS with everyone afterwards in the weight room. I had a nasty headache this morning that was still lingering when practice time rolled around, and the burpees really did not feel that great. Anyway, I don't have to run again until tomorrow!

It was a busy day. I had an awful headache again this morning so I went back to bed. Then I didn't get a chance to run until after fan fest. I did a few laps at Sugarhouse and then left the park. I didn't feel very good so I stopped for water, then when I started running again my head started pounding so I called it for the night. I need a day off to mentally come back for a better week next week.

Today I finally woke up headache-free! But as soon as I got started on my run, my lower back really started to bother me. I was hoping that it would warm up and the pain would go away, but that never happened. I partially wondered if just running on the turf/track was hurting it (it hurts my feet) but it persisted the rest of the run so I guess not. Except it didn't hurt going uphill. Yay for hills. It didn't hurt as bad when we picked up the pace towards the end. During cooldown strides it was ok, but slowing down to a stop was painful. I did heat and stem afterwards and then took some Tylenol before lifting.

Running with Becky, Andrea, and Shaylen today.