You've got to want it to win it

Today at track practice we started with the usual team warmup of 2 laps and then our stretching circle.  Then we did a few drills before separating into our groups.  For distance we started with 8 laps warmup and then 4 laps speedchanges with a lap recovery.  Then we changed shoes for our speed which was going to be twelve 400s.  I was supposed to hit between 73 and 75 for all of them, and we just took standing recovery between each until we were completely recovered.  My first three were 73, 71, 69, and then Bill said that if I ran my first eight under 72s and if RJ ran his in under 70 then we would only have to do 8.  So that thought motivated me to keep putting forth the same effort on each one.  On the next ones I hit 70 and 72, by then the wind was really picking up against us on the last stretch which was not fun.  After the 6th one I started to hyperventilate a little bit almost to tears, I think I just kind of panicked that on the 7th and 8th ones I was going to slip over 72 and then would have to do 4 more.  Bill had me sit the next one out so I could wait a little longer to get my breathing back, and then I calmed down enough to do 2 more, though my times were 1:15 and 1:16 so not the best.  I felt a little light headed after the last 2 also so I was so glad to just be finished.  Then I changed shoes back and did 9 laps cooldown with Natalie and Bill.  When I got home I did my crunches, pushups, arm swings, weighted lunges, squats, and calf raises.  

Today at practice we started with the normal team warmup of 2 laps warmup and then our stretching circle.  Then we did a few drills, we finished with the high knees line where we step over each other and lay down.  Then I had to do an interview with KUTV because I'm the prep of the week this week :)  They filmed us while we were doing our warmup stuff at practice and made a video for the 6:00 news.  Then we went on our run, we ran down to Liberty Park and did fireman, we did a boys line and a girls line, though Bill was in the girls line...  Then we ran back up to the stadium and finished with two 300s where we start about 5 seconds apart and try to catch the person in front of us and not get caught.  On the first one I went second to last, I didn't catch Dylan, who was in front of me, but I caught the 2 people in front of him.  Then we jogged back over and this time I went first, I didn't get caught.  And then we practice handoffs for the medley team we are doing at the meet tomorrow :)  When I got home I did my crunches, puhsups, arm swings, then weighted lunges, squats, and calf raises.  My legs felt amazing today, we had a nice leg stretching session in yoga today.  After I finished my core I took a 10 minute ice bath.

Here is a link to the video that KUTV did:

http://connect2utah.com/prep-of-the-week-story/?nxd_id=139696

Today when we got to the meet we started with the usual team warmup of 2 laps and then a stretching circle right in the middle of the field.  When it came time for my event I did 2 miles out on a road from the track and then back, and then we were short so I went out and back some again with Amanda and Natalie.  Then Bill had us do drills and strides with the boys, he said he needed us to be sweating when it was time for our races :P  Finally it was time to get on the line, I started in lane one and I took the lead from the start and kept it.  My first 200 was a 33, but then on the home stretch I was running straight into the wind and slowed down some (which I was probably doing anyway).  My first lap was a 71, and then I finished in 2:32 so a bit slow for my second lap...  But I can work on that later.  Next was the medley and I was doing the 800 for that so I just waited on the field as I recovered from the 800.  Amanda and Abigail did the 200s and Natalie did the 400.  Natalie outkicked the Dugway 400 runner as she was bringing me the baton so my goal was to catch the Tooele girl.  I caught up to her at about 300 meters in, and was with her on the windy stretch.  I thought about drafting behind her but I felt like I should just pass her at that point.  That might have been a mistake, from what I heard afterwards she just sat behind me for the rest of it.  I remember with 200 to go I was getting nervous because I could see her shadow and my teammates over there said that she was catching up.  I realized how tightly I was clutching the baton and relaxed my grip a little.  But going into the final 100 stretch she caught up to me and passed on the inside which I thought was weird but whatever.  I couldn't make myself fight the wind for the final kick, that's turning out to be a weak spot for me.  So we finished 2nd in the medley.  Afterwards I needed a mile and a half cooldown so I ran it with Natalie.  We just made a loop out from the track, we went to some aquatic center and went down the slide on a playground!  And finished with laps in a field to the side of the track.  Then Scotty trapped me in my hoodie and I had to wait for Natalie to finish her cooldown to untie me, that was a tricky knot!

This morning I got up early and did an easy 2 miles on 14th, just to 17th and back twice.  I will run again later when I am in California.

When we got to California we just wanted to go to the beach, so we did :)  as far as running... well when we got to the beach, Natalie and I ran across the sand to the water as fast as we could :)  The water was warmer than the air, it felt good :)

I don't know how much I really ran, but it was probably at least 3 miles.  At the meet at South Pasadena Natalie and I did warmup laps around the softball field with Dakota for his warmup.  Then when we got to Arcadia I warmed up a little bit with Natalie for her race, we just did laps around the baseball field and the basketball courts and tents and stuff.  Natalie's race was awesome, she got a 22 second PR and matched my PR for my junior season :)

This morning Natalie had the mile at Arcadia, I warmed up with her again with laps around the baseball fields and basketball courts.  Bill found a bunch of spikes on the ground and a plastic baggie, so we started picking up all the spikes we could find on the ground, and there were a lot!  Again, Natalie ran an awesome race, and on tired legs too!  She didn't really want to cooldown, so we just went to the beach :)  

Again I don't really know how much I ran for warmup and stuff, but I was doing laps at the baseball field and basketball courts like yesterday.  I started them on my own, Bill was busy seeing about getting a pair of spikes from nike for a free trial but he joined after he had gotten a hold of those.  Earlier we had talked about strategies so I was feeling pretty ready.  I'm guessing I might have gotten 3 mile warmup, I don't really know but I just kept going until a few minutes before going to the bull pen.  I took my Gu and then took the borrowed spikes and went into the bull pen and changed into them.  Then I did a few drills and stuff.  They let us out of the tent and sent us right over to the line.  I did a stride on the way over.  Then they let us do a stride out and back before having us line up.  I was seeded number 4 so I got to start on the main line and in the second lane.  Girl 2 was missing so us first 3 seeds had a little more room on the line.  They shoot the gun fast in California!  So fast that the officials weren't ready because some of the girls didn't know to line up on the waterfall start.  Once they clarified that the second start was a success.  I got into a good position going out, I was towards the front of the group and I was able to get a spot on the inside of lane one.  For that first lap I just stayed where I was and moved with the pack.  First lap was a 73.  Along the straight for the other side I decided I wanted to be a little closer to the front of the pack so I went out to the side to move up and then moved in again.  I decided I should only move on the straightaways because after watching some of the races yesterday I had noticed some girls who had run on the outside the whole time and thought what a waste of energy that would be.  At the 800 the pack was at about 2:31.  During the third lap I was able to work up into 4th, we were still in a pack and were just all going with each other still at that point.  Going into the 4th lap the girl in second made a move past the leader and then they picked it up a little but I stayed back a little with the pack.  Then 2 girls moved up from behind and I was in 6th.  Then with us top 6 we were all running in a line instead of side by side.  The leaders at the mile were at 5:06, I was at 5:09.  By then it looked like I was slipping into no-man's land as I was falling behind the top 5 a little but.  But using the big screen I could see that I still had a little bit of a lead on the pack behind me, but that they were closer to me than I was to the girl in front of me.  On the curve on the far side I remember Bill, Dakota, and Natalie all yelling "Fireman" at me which I think really helped. I was able to push like in our workout.  Starting the 7th lap there were 3 girls that came up past me, one of them passed me and then went to the inside but then she slowed down too much so I went right around her and stuck with the other 2 girls that had come.  One of them was really pushing to stay ahead of me but I was not going to let her go.  Going into the final lap I was just behind her, then with 300 to go I started to push even harder and was able to break away from her.  I kept pushing because I didn't want her to catch back up to me.  And I was closing on the girl in 5th too so that gave me more energy as I got closer to the finish.  Going into the last 100 I was able to get up onto my toes and I was closing on the other girl, but she kept looking behind her and then would speed up when she saw me.  I could tell she was scared and really wanted to catch her for having looked back but I finished just .65 of a second behind her.  But I did secure 6th place which got me a medal :)  I liked the nike shoes that I tried, I think the way the spike plate is set up gets me to run on my toes more because it is more comfortable that way.  I did bleed on them though, they were rubbing on the tops of my feet.  Afterwards I changed shoes and ran a cooldown with Bill until I felt like being done.  I'm guessing that might have been 2 miles.  I was very happy with my race afterwards, now I am ready to really focus and do my best in all of my workouts so I can break Rosie's state records! 

Here is a link to the race video:

http://www.runnerspace.com/eprofile.php?do=videos&year=2011&pg=1&event_id=63&video_id=41506&folder_id=1714&offset=3#video