You've got to want it to win it

Today we just had a run since the weather was bad; the workout is postponed until tomorrow!  When we went outside to start our run it was snowing!  We went out on Foothill with the intention of doing the Albertson's loop.  When we got to the light at Sunnyside, the snow had stopped, but it was still cloudy and windy.  Today was basically a replay of last Monday... By the time we got to 2100s it was just me, Macee, and Nikki.  It was also sunny by then!  They went back the normal way but I wanted to get more miles today so I ran to Sugarhouse Park, did a lap, then came back up to 1900e.  I got hot with the wind to my back and with the sun out so I took off the headband and gloves but was kinda trapped in my long sleeve because I can't pull it off over my Garmin :P  But since I ran to Sunnyside Park to do strides I was glad to have it for when I jogged back facing the wind after each one.  After finishing all 8 strides I only needed .8 of a mile so I ran back to campus along Guardsman and finished at 10 in the HPER W parking lot so just walked back the rest of the way.  I did my drills as I walked down the hall to the training room, and then I stretched out for a bit.

Today we had a speed workout.  We started with the usual warmup from outside the lockerroom to the street across North Campus and back to the track.  Then our drills and strides.  The workout was three 1200s at 10k pace and three 1000s at 5k pace, 3 minutes rest on everything.  Bekah ran the 1200s with me.  First we did two 200s in 36, then 40 to get a feel closer to what pace we'd be going.  For the 1200s we were supposed to hit 84s.  On the first one we ran a 4:18 (1:24, 2:51), the second 4:18 (1:25, 2:53), and for the third we hit 4:19 (1:27, 1:27).  I did 400 recovery during the 3 minutes between each.  For the 1000s I was supposed to go around 79-80 pace if I could.  After the first one Bekah switched to 600s.  On the first one I hit 3:27 (1:23, 1:23), then the second one I hit 3:22 (1:19, 2:41), and finished with 3:20 (1:18, 2:39), right on pace!  It was hard but I'm so glad I was able to do it!  :)  I took 200 recovery between the 1000s to get back to the same starting point on each.  After I changed out of my spikes I just cooled down on the track to get some backwards laps.  Macee ran 4 with me and then I did 2 more.   

Today for the run we got to go as a big group!  We ran down from the lockerroom to Guardsman, then across to 1500e all the way to Sugarhouse.  The rest of the girls turned down to go to 700e and run to trax, so I felt kinda bad breaking off to run at Sugarhouse because it was the first time a while we had so many people!  I did a lap around Sugarhouse and then ran back to campus the same way I had come.  When I got to Sunnyside some guy in a durango gave me jelly beans from Australia... Strangers have the best candy! :)  Then I finished to the locker room with 8 miles total.  Then I got to go test out my photography skills on my sister's team before their track meet. 

Today I got to do a hills workout with Amanda and Andrea since none of us are racing tomorrow.  We started with a warmup up Legacy bridge and past the dorms to Red Butte, then got on the trail heading north to add some.  I said we should go that way since it is more flat than the other way, but some parts of it hurt really bad and Andrea's and my calves were both really sore.  It seems every time I run up there with teammates it is steeper than I remember... After we got back to the road we did a few drills and strides.  And there was a really cute dog that loved Andrea and Amanda and when the owners couldn't get it in their car we had to help them!  Finally we got going on our hills.  We were doing between 6 and 8 sets of 90 seconds up then walking and jogging down.  We got just over a quarter mile for each of them.  Most of them I switched lead back and forth with Andrea and they didn't feel too bad.  Kep came to watch us do the last 3 of them.  On the last 2 my quads were starting to feel pretty fatigued so I was good to be done.  When we were finished, Kep told us that we'd probably have more days like this for workouts between races.  And that I'd probably do between 12 and 14 at some point :P  For cooldown we ran down to the road above the dorms and then over to the road that the Orthopaedic Center is on down to Foothill and finishing at the locker room.

This morning I got up and took my iPod for a run.  I ran to Sugarhouse, did part of a counterclockwise lap to 1700e, then south.  When I got to 2700s I cut down to Imperial Street, then took that to 3300s and turned left.  When I got to Melbourne I turned again and headed back to Sugarhouse.  I did a full lap and then part of a lap back to 1500e since I needed to add some, then ran home.  I felt kinda sick when I got back to Sugarhouse, probably because I didn't eat breakfast before, and then as I was leaving the park I realized my stomach probably hurt so bad because of the abs on the couch workout I made up with McKensie, Abigail, and Celeste last night!

This morning at 6:15 I finally decided to get up after being awake for about half an hour already and with only 15 minutes left until my alarm would go off anyway.  I started my run out on 1500e to 2100s, then up to 1900e and north.  The instructions for today's run were to start a Kenyan run after the first 25 minutes and drop 15 or 20 seconds each mile off of the current pace I was at.  I hit 25 minutes between 1300s and 900s and hit the split button on my watch, then about 30 seconds later I realized I had forgotten to check the mile point so I would know when I was at each mile split... so I just started from 3 miles which is what it was at when I looked.  I ran to Sunnyside and down into the park, messed up the split even more by having to take a potty break with about a tenth of a mile to go in the first one, then splitting it at 7:58 (I checked my Garmin later and it said 7:32 pace for the mile, I'm glad I was able to go back and look that up!).  I continued doing a big loop, the one that goes behind the one field that I think is mostly used for lacrosse, then out by the baseball diamond and onto the sidewalk on Guardsman and then up around the corner of Sunnyside, keeping the lap going as I had before.  The second mile was a 7:06.  During the third I had the loop in the field again and when I got to the sidewalk this time I decided to cross Sunnyside to go along 1500e for the rest of it (and to use those downhills to my advantage :) also because I didn't want to stay at the park :P).  The third mile split was 6:44, and then I finished the 4th in 6:25 just a few blocks short of 2100s.  Then for the rest of my run I ran to 2100e, back up to 1900e, over to 1300s, and home.  And I was finished before 8:00 :)