You've got to want it to win it

Today we did the zoo loop.  Once up on Wasatch, people turned around as they needed to hit their miles for the day.  I turned around at 4 and wasn't looking forward to the run back by myself but Lauren hadn't turned yet so when I got to her she turned and came with me :)  At 1300s she went down to Foothill because she was going shorter, but I went back the same way up above the zoo and down Sunnyside.  When I got back I did some strides next to HPER and then my drills.  

Today we started with the usual warmup on the road above the track across North Campus and out a little more and then back to the track.  Then we did our strides and drills, and changed shoes.  Kep then started explaining the workout.  I thought I was doing twenty 200s with everyone else, but right after he finished explaining that part he pulled Andrea, Nikki, and me aside and told us what our workout was.  We were doing three 1000s at threshold with a jog across the field back to the start.  We started at where is usually the 100 meter mark because of the wind.  Our first one was a little slow in 4:09, but after that we hit 3:59 and then 4:01.  Then I did five 500s with 300 recovery and Andrea and Nikki did five 300s with 500 recovery.  Since I was going for 5k pace my goal was 1:40.  My times were 1:37, 1:40, 1:38, 1:37, 1:38 and they all felt great and I felt that the pace wasn't that hard, even after the slower threshold stuff right before!  Hopefully I can feel as good during the 5k at Stanford on Friday :)  We finished the 500s/300s around the same time and then finished with some 150s together (well not quite together since Andrea and Nikki had different paces but we were together for the recoveries at least).  We jogged back to the start for recovery on each.  My times were 28, 29, 28, 27, 27.  Then we changed shoes and Andrea did a 6 laps minus 100 meters cooldown to get to 9 miles with me for the day.

Today the skies were so blue and the weather was so nice that we couldn't resist running on 11th Avenue! :)  I went out 3 and a half and back which is almost to the fork down into Memory Grove.  The trainer texted me earlier today telling me there was an opening for if I wanted to get a massage tonight but I'm not sore and didn't feel sore even on the run so I declined :)  Traveling to Stanford tomorrow morning!

Today after arriving at the track with Andrea and Amanda, we met up with Lucy and went for our premeet together.  First we stayed on a little trail near the track, then Amanda and Andrea and I went and explored the campus a little bit.  Then we went back to the track and did some strides from their start line, since they're doing the 1500, and then from mine, the 5k.  Then we jogged a lap and finished at 4 miles.  Then we stretched for a bit before going to dinner.  Tomorrow is going to be great!!

This evening about an hour before my race I started my warmup.  I went out on the trail we ran yesterday for our premeet.  I did 3 miles and then I checked in for my race.  I did a few strides and drills and they felt really good.  I was confident that I was going to have a great race and maybe get a PR.  Finally when it was time for me to get to the bull pen to get my hip numbers, I grabbed my spikes and headed over to sit down and change them.  When they walked us out onto the track I did more strides and was feeling confident through all of them.  At the start I was on the second waterfall line since I had hip 29.  Going out I had plenty of room and was still running a pretty easy feeling pace like I had in my strides.  Coming out of the first curve I ended up at the front of the pack and going into the second curve I was in lane two with two girls to the left of me, and the announcer announced me as the leader.  I had not expected this so I think this put me into panic mode because I had hoped to be able to just follow a pack and let them help me go for PR pace.  The first lap was right at 80 I think, and here I moved to the inside.  This was a mistake, I concluded after the race when I was thinking about it.  From here, the next several laps were a series of getting boxed in and then having to work back to the outside and get back up to the front.  At one point I got back up to the front with a BYU and a SUU girl.  The first mile split was around a 5:24 I think, so a bit slower than I had hoped.  At one point there was a girl stepping on my heels quite a bit so to defend my ground I threw my elbows a bit wider (never actually making contact though) and then she fell!  And took out the rest of the pack behind me as I could tell when there was a sudden silence after the incident (not really, they just fell back and someone stepped on her is what Amanda and Andrea told me).  Here I started to fall back and was struggling to keep up to where I needed to be with the group.  I came through 3k at 10:01 and knew that I could still PR if I could keep the pace up the last few laps.  The last few laps ended up just trying to not let the girls in front of me gap me too much and to fight back when someone was trying to pass me.  The last 600 I told myself to start kicking, and I did a little bit, and then a little more at 500 (those 500s Tuesday helped) and then what I had left at 300.  I caught probably 1 or 2 girls, and I finished just .2 behind my PR.  I have to admit I was disappointed after my race even though I knew I had tied my PR.  I guess I didn't strategize enough to consider that I might end up leading.  Also I haven't been in a race this big.  Now I know to not go to the inside of lane 1, big mistake!  And because the heats will be different every time I won't ever really know where to expect to be in the pack.  I have to just tell myself it was a good race and a great learning experience, and prepare myself for a better race at Mt. SAC in 2 weeks.  After I was done talking to my cousin (she debates at Stanford) I changed shoes and grabbed my iPod for a little less than 3 mile cooldown (compensating for the extra mileage from the strides).  

This morning I went for a long run with Kep and Lucy.  We just went towards Stanford on the road that the hotel is on.  Lucy turned at about 3 miles but Kep and I kept going until 5.  We went to the road past the one where we would turn to get to the track and then went up by some of the buildings on campus.  Their campus is amazing!  I stretched my calves a bit before we turned around and went back the same way.  My left calf always seems to tighten up after races and hard workouts, but my right one is usually good.