You've got to want it to win it

Today the workout part of the track warmups was 2 cicuits, high knees where we step over each other, a plank, and then stride relays.  By the time we got to go for our run it was snowing :P  And Natalie, Abigail, and I only had shorts, but at least we had hoodies!  We ran up 900s to Guardsman, then up Sunnyside to the zoo, but instead of staying on the road we went on the road in This is the Place park because Bill is thinking of starting the leopards 5k there instead.  Then we went up on Wasatch Drive all the way over to Thunderbird, then down to Foothill and up to the water fountain past the flagpole.  Natalie, Bill, and Tomy all had to tie their shoes.  And Natalie's legs were like a lobster! Mine had warmed up because they weren't red anymore.  We went back to the school on Foothill, then down 1300s to 1900e, and over to Sunnyside to go back down.  At Guardsman Natalie and I turned and went over to 900s to go down so that the houses would block wind.  Then we were only at 9 miles when we got to 1400e so we went back to Sunnyside to go down to 1300e to add some.  Then we just did a clockwise lap around the block to get up to 10.

Today I had to start the workout early so that I could be back in time to babysit (I made it but I didn't have time to change out of my running clothes).  Out at the oval I did 4 laps warmup and then stretching, then another 4 laps and then 4 laps of speedchanges, and then a lap recovery.  Then I changed into my PINK flats and went over to the 1000 start.  The ice rink mats were pushed far back so I couldn't see the mark on the rubber, but I saw a pink highlighter mark and thought that must be it.  For each of the distances I was supposed to run the equivalent of 5:30 pace and then do an equal timed recovery.  For my 1000 I hit 3:29 so I was 3 seconds slow, then on the 800s I hit 2:43 and 2:42.  Then I was allowed 2 laps recovery before four 400s.  My times on those were 1:25 (I thought I would do them too fast since my 400 splits on the 800 had been 1:19 and 1:18), 1:20, 1:21, 1:21.  Then I did another recovery lap and changed shoes.  I did 10 laps cooldown to get up to 10 miles for the day.

Today in yoga we focused on quads and hamstrings, which felt really nice.  We also did a little abs.  And then we did even more at practice :P in the weight room we did arm swings, leg lifts, standing on one foot, and then wall sits before we got to do our run.  My quads were on fire during the last wall sit!  The run today was go up 900s and go to Shriner's like we do from the track, then go up to 11th Avenue and run all the way to City Creek.  We didn't go to the drinking fountain since we didn't think it would be on, and we were supposed to go down Memory Grove.  But Natalie, Amanda, and I didn't want to since we were cutting out the drinking fountain and we didn't want to cut it any shorter.  And we had the Garmins which is like ultimate authority :) haha not really, but anyway we went the way we wanted to and stayed up higher and came out by the Capitol.  Then we ran down to State Street, over to South Temple, and took that all the way back up to 1300e.  I was with Natalie and Taylor and we didn't hit any red lights.  At 1200e we crossed the street to be on the south side.  Then we went back to school along 1300e, and finished with a lap in the parking lot to bring it to 10.  Bill wasn't too happy about us cutting out Memory Grove... but I forgot he didn't have his Garmin :P 

Today when we got to the oval I did 5 laps warmup with Abigail and Amanda before stretching.  Then we did another 4 laps, followed by 4 laps speedchanges and then a lap recovery.  Then we changed shoes and jogged over to the 300 start.  We did two sets of four 300s with a lap recovery after each set.  The deal was that we each had a time interval we were supposed to hit but for any that were too far outside of the interval we had to do another.  I was supposed to hit between 56 and 58.  My times were 58, 56, 57, 59.  We jogged back to the start again for recovery from each.  Then on the second set I hit 58, 58, 56, 57.  Then after the lap recovery I was done because I had hit my 24 laps for the day.

Today for cross country practice I got to to the penny run for the first time!  The rules are that you go straight until you have to stop at an intersection, then you flip the coin and if tails turn left and if heads turn right.  So our run was leaving the parking lot, going up to the intersection at 900s and 1300e, flipped a tails so turned left and went straight until 500s.  We flipped heads, but then we had to flip again because that light changed too.  So we went left which was really straight, but then we had to turn down I think 400s for a few blocks.  Then at a 4 way stop we flipped tails, and then back on 500s we flipped heads and got to run down the curvy road into 400s!  Then we followed the sidewalk which ended up going north, we were on 1000e.  Then at 200s we had to flip the coin and got heads.  Then when we got back up to 1300e we just ran back to the school.  And I did arm swings in the parking lot. 

Today out at Saltair we started with a mile out and back on the road for warmup.  The weather was so much nicer than 2 weeks ago!  Then Natalie and I skipped to the bathroom as fast as we could for POTTY break and then hurried back outside to change shoes and drop off our sweats at the car.  Then we went over to the line for strides.  When the race started Ben and I were up at the front.  I didn't start out too fast either, everyone else was just slow!  In the corner of my eye I could see a guy to my right in neon yellow who was a little ahead of me but still I was shocked to be in the lead for the first part of the race.  Then a bunch of guys started passing me and it felt more like the race should be.  At around mile one the guy I had ran with last week caught up to me and again I just stayed with him.  My mile split was 5:48.  I knew keeping that pace the whole time would be tough, so I threw surges in when I thought of it.  At mile 2 my time was 11:50, and at mile 3 18:04.  By the turnaround the guy I had been running with had gone ahead of me, and I didn't really want to push that hard because I didn't even know how close the next girl was anyway.  But when I turned I saw Bill and Tee again, though this time they weren't as close.  So I was a little disappointed I wouldn't get to relax as much as I wanted to.  Bill caught up to me during the second half, and I let him stay with me for a while but then I really wanted to catch a kid up ahead who I could tell was dropping fast so I picked up the pace and passed him.  Then a while later Bill was up with me again, this time it was at about the 2 miles to go.  He told me I needed to keep picking it up so I said "ok" and surged ahead of him again.  At the water station Patti told me I was about 50 feet ahead of the other girl, so I kept my surge up.  With a mile to go Bill told me I should try to catch the kid in blue who was three people ahead of me.  So for the last mile I worked on catching the guys in red and yellow shirts (the guy in the yellow was who I had been pacing with last time) and then the kid in the blue.  I passed red and yellow, and up to the mile 6 mark I was still gaining on the kid in blue but I think he picked it up by then, and I didn't want to do an all out sprint to the finish but I finished a few seconds behind him.  Right after finishing I went out a mile and back with Bill and Ben for cooldown, and then I went and put on my warm stuff and ate muddy buddies.  My calves are so sore!  When I got home I took a 10 minute ice bath.