You've got to want it to win it

Today I took Trax down to 900e with Bekah, AuraLea, and Andrea and ran to Liberty park for warmup.  We did our drills and strides and changed shoes.  The workout was 1 lap thresholds, and ideally 3 of them if we felt good.  The first one we hit in 9:16, there were times when I was slipping but I was able to make it by pushing to keep with the other girls.  After about 2 minutes rest, we went again.  This time I fell back a bit but ended just a few seconds behind the other girls with a 9:26.  For the third one Kep told us we could break it into two halves if we wanted but when we started I felt really good so I decided I was just going to do the whole lap.  I ended up pushing this one mostly by myself and finished in 9:24, at least it was better than the second one.  Then we did four 35 second strides, and changed shoes back.  For cooldown I ran to the drinking fountain with AuraLea and then back to the 900e Trax station.  I was going to run around the parking lot until I was at 10 for the day but the train was right there so I got on and finished when we got off Trax back at the stadium.

Today after my final which was 33 multiple choice questions (took less than 15 minutes!) long, I met up with Andrea to go for a run.  AuraLea was going to join us but wasn't feeling too great so just cross trained today.  Andrea and I ran the direction of the Albertson's loop.  Because she went shorter, she turned at 2100e but I kept going down 2100s to Sugarhouse Park.  At 1700e I started a clockwise lap, and made it to the light at the 3-way intersection by the shopping center when I hit 5 and decided to turn and go back the same way.  My knee was hurting this morning, I must have slept weird on it last night or something, but before the run I was hoping it would warm up during.  It hurt more at first, but I could still feel it the whole time.  I ice cupped afterwards and then biked home (all downhill of course :)).  I hope my knee feels better tomorrow.  I also wonder if maybe wearing my flats yesterday for 5 miles had something to do with it?  Or if the anti-pronation features on my shoes are causing the pain?  Lots of factors here, I'll just pay attention to it the next few days.

This morning I decided to drive up to Pipeline for my run.  Once I got up there and got started, my knee was hurting again.  I had taken ibuprofen before so at that point I was hoping it would kick in at some point.  I'm sure I was probably limping but I kept going, and I told myself that if it was still hurting 2 miles in I would turn around, I wanted to give it the chance to warmup.  It finally did around mile 1 and a half so I was able to do the full 8 miles I had been planning on.  

Today I did a workout with AuraLea.  We started with the usual warmup up above the track then across North Campus Drive, and back to the track for strides and drills.  The workout was twenty 200s (for AuraLea, Kep said less for me) with a diagonal jog across the field for 55 seconds of recovery.  I was supposed to hit around 40-41s.  The first few were 38, 43, then a bunch of 41s with an occasional 42.  On 12 and 13 after hitting two 42s in a row Kep told me to sit the next one out and then join AuraLea for another 5.  She had 6 left so I just did all of them with her.  For those ones I got 39, 39, 40, 40, 41, 41.  For cooldown we did 6 laps at the track cheering on Bekah during her workout and then went out a mile and back to finish with 8 for the day.

This morning after lifting I took my iPod for a run :)  I ran down 1500e to Sugarhouse, did a counterclockwise lap until I hit 1700e, and then did the cemetery loop route going down Parkway Avenue to Alden and then that maze of streets.  I hit 4 and a half at about 3000s when I was on Imperial Street, and then I attempted to go back the same way but I think I turned early off one of the streets because I ended up by Carden... But it reminded me of the time I ran it with Bre and Clayton when I was a sophomore and we tried to do it backwards, I think I took the same route we did then.  I went back through Sugarhouse and then along 1500e, but I turned down to 1400e at Blaine because I didn't want the final downhill to bother my knee.  It has been feeling better but I'm still going to be careful and ice it the next few days.

Today I went to the BYU meet to watch Natalie go for another state record.  She didn't race until golden hour though, so after I watched Abigail and Kiley in the mile I ran over to Provo High with them to see if they would make it in time to race the mile there.  They had just missed it but signed up for the 800.  I ran a lap around the block with them as part of their staying warmed up, and then closer to their race did a few strides with them.  After watching them and everyone else that signed up for the 800, I ran back to BYU with Tomy, Bill, and Natalie.  By then I had 3 and a half miles and was really not wanting to finish the rest of my miles right then.  I just wanted to eat lunch and run later.  But then I thought about my knee and thought that I should just get my run done now while it was still warmed up so that I could ice it afterwards rather than just let it cool off.  I actually was able to straighten my leg all the way this morning when I got up, that's the best luck I've had all week!  I ran out from the stadium and past the indoor track and past Brick Oven to 200e which I took all the way to 300s, then I went up to 900e and went more south until I hit 6.75 (so when I got back I'd be at 10) where it just so happened that there was a sidewalk closed sign to mark the turnaround point for my run!  I ran back the same way, and then after getting ice wrapped around my knee went with Natalie on a quest to find food, which ended up being sitting and waiting for her parents to arrive with her bagel :)  The golden hour mile was amazing, the lead group was made up of 5 girls that had all broken 5 this season :)  and three of them broke the state record!!!  It was an exciting race to watch and I am eager to see them race again at state :)