You've got to want it to win it

Hilary is done student teaching so she came to practice today!!!  So I started my run with her and Dana.  We ran up to 11th, then at 15 minutes they turned around, so I was on my own.  I continued on down 11th and through City Creek, then behind the capitol to Main Street and down to North Temple.  Then I ran up and took 3rd Avenue back to Virginia Street.  From there I went to 500s and back up to the locker room to finish with 10 total.  Felt a bit sluggish, maybe from not running yesterday, but my legs feel awesome.  Average pace 7:21.

Today Kep got a few of us with the workout sheet he posted in the locker room :-P  I caught on when I was reading the mental goals section and it listed "dumb workout before race".  Not to mention that the shoes listed were flippers or cleats.  It was funny watching other teammates come in and look at it and see how long it took them to realize it was a joke :)  We did the usual warmup out above the track and then strides and drills.  It was really windy when we were running one way, and really hot when we were running the other.  That wasn't so fun.  The real workout for the long distance group was three 1k thresholds with 60 seconds rest, then five 400s with 90 seconds rest, then four 200s with 200 jog rest.  I was on my own today.  AuraLea stuck with me for the first 1k and we hit 3:45.  For the second and third I hit 3:41.  On the 400s I hit 1:19, 1:18, then Kep told me to relax since it was supposed to be 10k goal pace, so I hit 1:21, 1:20, 1:21 for the last 3.  On the 200s I hit 36, 37, 35, 35.  Then it started snowing!  I ran 3 miles cooldown around campus and then went to the team meeting.

Today I went for a run with Nikki, Lauren, Jessica, and AuraLea.  It was snowing when we started, but not that cold which was nice.  We ran 11th, and by the time we got to City Creek it had stopped snowing and was sunny :)  We could see water evaporating off of everything, it was like we were running in a cloud :) The other girls turned down Memory Grove and the road behind the capitol, so I continued on my own up City Creek canyon for about a mile before turning around.  I ran down Memory Grove and then back up to campus via South Temple.  Stretched and foam rolled afterwards.

Today I started my premeet with Dana and Becky. We started out on Foothill, they turned down Sunnyside but I kept going. I did the Albertson's loop and then strides and drills on the track. We fly out to Stanford tonight.

About an hour before my race I started my warmup.  I did a little over 2 and a half miles, then some strides and drills.  My race was actually a little bit off schedule since they had only planned 24 minutes for the guys race before mine.  This was probably good though since I felt like I was going to puke.  I took my time doing more drills and strides, just keeping my heart rate up before going out onto the track.  There were 41 girls in my heat.  I was on the first waterfall line, but there wasn't room for all of us on the line so I just tucked in behind the girls in the first few lanes.  Going out I got to the inside, the pace felt really easy.  Just past 200, a girl fell and made this most dramatic scream, and another girl tripped over her.  Glad I missed that one, I just kept gong.  I don't remember the first lap split.  I really wanted to break 34 minutes, which was doable if I could run 81-82s.  Kep told me that if the pack was going 83-84s though, to just go with it.  Sorry Kep, but I wanted the PR more.  The first few laps I would move up on the curves, and they were about 83-84, we came through the mile at I think 5:32.  Then I went up front and picked it up just a bit.  Now I had some 81s.  Kep was telling me to let someone else lead, but as long as I was on pace up front I wasn't going to move back.  I think somewhere around lap 8 is when 2 girls came up and took over the leading.  This was just fine with me.  After a few more laps, one of them fell back, but I just stuck to the shoulder of the other one.  I think my 2 mile split was just over 11 minutes, and the 3 mile in the 16:30s.  The 5k mark was about 17:10 (Kep said 17:12.  I was rounding in my mind to make the math easier).  I knew I would need a negative split, and was just waiting for the race to get down to the single digits of laps remaining to start picking it up.  With about 8 laps to go I think we separated from the group, another girl came up and ran with the girl in front of me.  With 4 laps to go they took off.  I tried to hang on to them, which I did for a bit, but couldn't quite pick it up that much.  Coming around the curve just past the 200 mark now with 1000 to go, another girl had passed me and was moving up.  I was moving around some girls I was about to lap, and one of them swung wide!  Frustrated at this move, I yelled at them to move to the outside and then flew past them in pursuit of the other girls.  Kep told me to just go around (I would have had the one girl not swung wide!) but once I passed them I got a surge and closed on the other girls a little bit.  With 800 to go I calculated that I would need about a 2:40 to break 34.  I was running the splits, but I knew that any lapse of focus and I would miss it.  I kept pushing.  With 600 to go, Kep told me I needed a 1:58 to be able to do it.  I knew if I could pick it up and have a kick, I would be there.  With 500 to go, I caught back up to the girl who had passed me before, but I felt like I really needed to puke so I held back from the kick just a little bit longer.  The last lap I finally kicked, especially as I got 100 meters closer.  I finished in 33:55.98, PR by about 51 seconds and meeting my goal! :)  Also I did not puke, though if I had been a few seconds closer to 34 I might have dug deeper and gone into puke mode.  For cooldown I did another 3 miles around campus.  

This morning I went for a run around campus.  I started up towards the golf course, then headed towards the track area and by the housing neighborhood there.  I found a nice trail so followed that for a while.  I turned and headed back to campus, but somehow ended up going a little too far past the hotel.  I found a map at a bus stop and realized I was only about a block too far, which was fortunate.  I was tired, but still maintained a 7:31 average pace.  My calves are really sore.