You've got to want it to win it

Today Becky was the only one willing to run outside with me!  We ran fruit loop to Sunnyside and then cut through the golf course to get to Wasatch.  Becky was with me until she took the fork down to Foothill, but I kept going to Thunderbird and then on the paved Shoreline trail until I reached 5 miles.  I ran back on Foothill to 2100s, then cut down to 2100e to add on and change it up a little bit.  Stretched and ice cupped afterwards.  

Workout at the oval today.  I warmed up inside so I could get some backwards laps in.  My knees hurt really bad at first, but by about lap 5 they were ok.  I think the barbell step-ups at lifting yesterday bothered them, some of the other girls said theirs hurt during them yesterday.  I did 7 laps, then the usual strides and drills.  The workout was two 800s at 5k pace with 2:15 rest, then two 1000s at 3k pace with 3 minutes rest, then two 800s at goal 3k pace with 2:15 rest, then three 400s at mile race pace with 2 minutes rest.  I ran with Bekah, and AuraLea started just behind us.  On the first 800s I hit 2:42, and 2:39.  For the 1000s I hit 3:17 and 3:19.  For the next 800s I hit 2:36 and 2:37 (I was sorta alone for most of those ones since Bekah was having a rough day), then AuraLea and I did our 400s together, I got 1:15, 1:14, 1:13!  It felt so good to be done!  After a 5 lap cooldown I was among the first finished and even got to go back in the early van!  Back at the training room I finished my rehab and then stretched for a while before icing my ankle.

This morning I went running with Jesse. We ran City Creek, starting from the capitol to 11th Avenue and then back down into Memory Grove for 3 miles.

This afternoon I ran Trax with Andrea, Lauren, Nikki, AuraLea, and Alyssa. We planned a stop at Dunkin' for hot chocolate before taking the train back to campus. Afterwards I did my rehab and then got a massage.

Today Bekah and Jessica were the only other girls willing to come run the workout at Liberty Park!  We even got to drive there, so we didn't have to wait at a cold Trax station!  The sidewalk was just wet, not icy, so that wasn't an issue either.  Bekah, Jess, and I warmed up around the park and then did strides and drills.  Sometimes it is hard to think of drills that are out of the normal warmup because we didn't want to lay on the wet ground.  But we came up with a few so it was awesome!  The workout was 3x1mile threshold with 75 seconds rest, then four strides.  Bekah and I ran them together, our times were 6:00, 5:52, and 5:48!  Awesome day.  After strides we cooled down another lap to finish at 8.  Back at the training room I did my rehab and stretched.

This morning I went running with Jesse at Liberty Park. It was icy so our laps were creative. After two laps Jesse was done but I continued for a half mile and then did strides and drills back to finish with 4.

1 mile shakeout run in the morning on the treadmill.

After watching Steph race in the invite 400, Bekah and I started our warmup, and Andrea did her cooldown with us :)  We went on the trails by campus for 15 minutes and then went inside to stretch for a minute before going back out to do our strides and drills.  When we got back in I had Heather tape my ankle since my Nike spikes have about zero support, better safe than sorry.  We did a few more strides on the track and then lined up.  I was hoping to run in the 9:30s.  Kep said if we did abot 60 second laps we could both be below 9:50.  When the race started I ended up at the back, but I knew it would be ok and the pack would come back.  They did.  The first 400 was 77, not bad.  I decided to make moves coming around to the straightway where we had started, then to tuck back in to go around the curve.  I think it was probably lap 3 where I realized I would have to pick it up because there were a lot of people in front of me... All those speed changes in high school came into play today!  The first mile was around 5:10.  At some point when I did a surge I passed Bekah, which afterwards she said helped her to refocus and pick it up - she passed me right back.  If it were anyone else in the race I wouldn't have let that happen, but it is different when it is your teammate.  I made it my goal to pass the same people she was passing.  During one of the laps I was thinking there were 3 laps left so I would have to get ready to go soon, but then I realized there were just 2!  So I got going.  It is confusing trying to start to pick it up for your kick with 500 to go when it is close to 2 laps... Same with 400 being more than one lap, but I picked it up and passed some girls.  Going into the final lap someone was trying to pass me on the inside of the curve, I elbowed her like "umm who does that" and she didn't try to come around the other way either.  If that were me, I would have gotten mad and found the energy to go around me for elbowing me and beat me (flashback to how I qualified for Footlocker Nationals).  But that girl wasn't me, so she didn't pass me, and I kept going.  I finished right behind Bekah, and we both got new PRs in the 9:30s!  Maybe in a few weeks if we feel like doubling we'll break the school record.  For cooldown we did 3.5 miles.