You've got to want it to win it

Today the weather was not looking good when we arrived at the track for workout.  It took a while for people to show up other than distance, but they came.  We started with 2 laps warmup and then our stretching circle followed by drills.  Then for the distance workout we had an easy day because the Davis Super Meet for the girls is tomorrow.  We stayed on the track, we did 2 miles of warmup, 2 miles of speedchanges, and 2 miles cooldown.  We did all of them going clockwise.  After  the speedchanges my calves and shins were very sore but after the cooldown they felt a lot better!  Then I did my crunches and other abs stuff and pushups while still at the track.  Then when I got home I stretched for a bit, then did my weighted lunges, squats, and calf raises.  Then I took a 10 minute ice bath, and did my arm swings afterwards.  Then I made some spaghetti with Abigail :)

Its days like meets when I wish there was a way to put all of my events in the race entry, but since I can only put one I'll just tell about each race in a different paragraph :)

 After getting off the bus I started with a 2 mile warmup with Natalie, Amanda, and Abigail.  We went out past the javelin field and along the sidewalk as it curved, and then went down a driveway that went by the north side of the track and around Davis' parking lot and then we went between the school and the auditorium, then around to the side of the school by the stadium, which got us a mile, and we did another lap to get us to 2 miles warmup.  Then we got our shoes and headed down to the field by the start to change shoes, stride, do team prayer, and get on the line.  It was around then that Amanda said the best quote of the day: "You ask me how dedicated I am.  Well, there are cookie crumbs in my spikes", totally the best quote ever hahaha!!!  There weren't seed lists so we just started wherever on the line.  I was in the 3rd or 4th lane.  Going out I took the lead within the first 100 meters and then just held onto it the whole time.  I could hear the girls behind me which always scares me to go faster because I worry about them catching me and passing me and then more girls passing me because of already being passed.  So I was able to create a little bit of lead, though I don't know how much by.  My first lap was a 1:12 or 1:13.  I kept pushing and came in at the 800 at 2:32.  The third lap was going to be tough, and Bill had told me I've got to break out of my 1:20 third laps.  I don't remember my third lap split, it might have been a 3:48, but I finished in 5:08.11, which is a new PR and qualified me for state :)  Afterwards I changed shoes and then did another 2 miles for recovery.  Then I stretched out for a bit; Natalie, Amanda, and I had fun doing alignments for down dog, we used Natalie's long sleeved shirt for a belt.  

 A while later it was time to begin warming up for the 3200.  I did a mile and then went to get my spikes and my Gu and head down to the field for strides.  I wore gloves for this one because in the 1600 my arms had gotten cold, and it was a bit colder now.  This time on the line I started in lane one, and going out I took the lead and again held on for the whole race.  My first lap was a 1:11 or 1:12, I don't remember but I know it was one second faster than my first lap for my mile was.  I don't remember my other lap splits, but at the mile I was at 5:20.  I really do need to improve on not letting my pace slip into 1:20s after the third lap of the race.  After the mile I began to pass some girls so I was able to gain steam by working towards catching and passing them.  On one of the laps on the straightaway there was a group of 4 girls that I needed to pass and I had intended to just go in between them but I accidentally ended up getting myself boxed in so I just had to go around the outside and I accidentally stepped on one of them and I felt bad :(  I said sorry and just kept going.  Going into the final lap I was at 9:37.  I could feel the tiredness in my legs by then, Bill had told me to start going at 1000 left.  I finished in 11:01.29, which is an outdoor PR and also is the meet record :)  The old record was an 11:17 from 2008.  

Next we did a 4x800 team with Amanda, Natalie, Abigail, and me.  We just stayed on the field after the 3200 because there wasn't time for anything, so we just did strides and worked on handoffs.  At the start of the relay Amanda got us into 3rd, and then Natalie and Abigail both worked on closing on the team ahead of us.  Davis had a team way up in front but we were pretty close with the second place team.  When I got the baton I went right after that second place team and passed them at about 100 meters.  Then I just worked on holding them off.  I passed a team who we were a lap ahead of, but Bill and the others didn't know that they were a lap behind so they told me that there was a girl getting close which scared me to go faster.  Afterwards they realized that that team was a lap behind but nothing wrong with getting someone to push because they thought someone was there.  The final time in the relay was 10:35.8.  Afterwards I did 6 laps cooldown on their track to get me to 10 for the day.  

After getting home I went and enjoyed some tacos with Abigail :)  and then I took a 10 minute ice bath.

Today I went to the Super Meet to watch the guys races.  I did my running while I was out there, I did warmups and cooldowns with my friend Ben from Weber.  First we did 2 miles, and then after his first race we did 3 miles.  Then for his second event he warmed up 2 miles and then I did another mile on my own after, and then after his second race we ran 2 miles together.  When I got home I did my crunches, pushups, arm swings, then I did my lunges, squats, and calf raises without weights because I was too lazy to go to the basement to do them.  

Today at the track we started with a team warmup of 2 laps and then stretching.  Then, still as a team, we did some dynamic drills.  We went to the east straightaway and started with 50 meters of high knees, then stride for 50 meters, then jog over to the bleachers on the other side for stairs, and then jogging over to the start again for a different drill.  After the high knees we did butt kicks, skips, and grape vines twice but a different direction each time.  Then we broke out into groups with our coaches, for distance we did 2 laps and then did fartlek.  We did 10 sets of 1 minute on 1 minute off, which got us 13 laps.  Then for cooldown we needed 4 and a half miles to get us to 10 for the day.  We ran up Sunnyside to Foothill and then over and down 500s all the way down to 1300e, then over to 800s and up, but we were going to be short so we did a loop in the stadium parking lot before going up to the stadium where we finished with 2 grass loops and a track lap.  Then Natalie and I enjoyed the Twinkies that we purchased at the grocery store before our workout :)  When I got home I did my abs, pushups, arm swings, then weighted lunges, squats, and calf raises.

Today there was hardly anyone at practice but we did our team warmups as usual with who we had.  We did our 2 laps warmup, but then we stretched in the equipment room because the track was wet where we usually have our circle.  Then we did some dynamic stretching with Tolbert, he had us to high knees, butt kicks, lunges, power skips, squats, side steps, and a few other things that I can't remember...  Then we started our distance workout, we did 6 laps warmup and then 8 laps of speedchanges followed by 8 laps cooldown.  When I got home I did my crunches, pushups, arm swings, weighted lunges, squats, and calf raises.  Then I did a 10 minute ice bath, Bill is hoping that I can get possibly 2nd at the race tomorrow :)

This morning after arriving at the starting line for the 5k I started a warmup with Abigail and Ben from Weber.  We went up along Wasatch Drive behind the zoo and turned around when we hit a mile.  Then Ben and I kept running in the parking lot to get up to 3 miles for the warmup.  Then I went and changed shoes with Natalie and we did strides by the line.  Then we did our cross country cheer with Abigail and Sarah :)  When the race started I went out hard because I knew from experience at the circuit races that not starting out fast is a mistake because it is hard to catch up to the lead women later in the race.  There was one lady in front of me so I caught up to her, but then she passed me back and 2 other ladies passed me.  After we got out onto Sunnyside and were going down to the post office I decided that I was going to try and move past them all at that moment and see if I could hold onto a lead.  So I surged and passed all three of them and never saw any of them for the rest of the race.  My first mile was a 5:26, I wonder what I would have done on a flat course.  Coming down to where the course goes onto Foothill there were people that were cheering "First woman" at me, and after I had passed I heard them cheer on the second woman as well so I threw in another surge in case one of the other women was close.  My second mile was a 10:52, so I stayed even which was kinda cool.  The last mile I really pushed down to the stadium because at team workouts when we are running down Sunnyside I tend to fall behind the group at this part so knew it might be a weak spot for me.  When I got to the track I started to kick since it was only 300, and I wanted to finish strong.  I finished in 16:44, my first time breaking 18 minute but also breaking 17!  Haha too bad its downhill so it doesn't really count though :P  But now I have a goal to break on a flat course.  Afterwards I did a 4 mile cooldown with Amanda, Ben, and Greg.  We just went along 1500s to 2100s and back and finished with a partial lap on the track to get us to 4.  Since this was the first circuit race and I took first, for now I have the most points!  But I'm guessing that might not last very long, but I'll enjoy it while it lasts!