You've got to want it to win it

Today I felt sick most of the day and the coughing was miserable.  After being a lazy bum and watching movies all day I decided to go for a run in the evening.  I ran to the track, did 2 miles of speedchanges where for one mile I did them in the opposite direction doing speed on the straightaways and for the second mile I turned around and did the speed on the curves.  Then I ran home for cooldown.  

Today it was rainy at the track but none of us wanted to go to the oval so we stayed at the track for our workout.  We started with the usual warmup of 2 laps and then we stretched in the shed.  There weren't very many of us, probably because it was raining.  Then we split into our groups with our coaches.  For distance we started with the normal warmup of 2 miles and then a mile of speedchanges.  Then we changed shoes.  Bill had Natalie and I doing a workout that was a little harder than everyone else because we are already qualified for state and regions is in 2 days.  He had us do a 1000 where we had to hit a 48 for the last 300 of it, then a 300, then an 800 where again we had to hit a 48 for the last 300 of it, then a 300, then a 600 where we pushed the last 300 again, and then another 300.  We ran them so that the last 300 would always be at the same spot.  Natalie and I jogged (and leaped, we haven't practiced our ballet in a while!) over to the 200 mark to start our 1000.  We were supposed to hit 3:30 or better, our paces for the whole workout were based off of 5:30s.  I hit 3:26 and my last 300 was a 48.  Then we got a lap recovery plus an extra 100 meters over to the 300 start.  I hit a 48 on that, and then we had another recovery lap before our 800.  I hit 2:42 for that and I am pretty sure my 300 was on pace.  Then we had a lap plus 100 meters before the second 300, which I hit at 50.  Then we had a lap and a half recovery over to the 200 mark for our 600.  On this one Bill changed the pace and said that we would have to hit a 75 for the first 400 or we would have to do it again.  At the 200 I was at 36, and then I pushed the last 300, finishing in 1:52.  Then we had another 500 meters recovery before the last 300.  Bill said that Ben did not think that Natalie and I could hit 49s for it but Bill told him that we would be able to go 47s or faster, and he told us that if we did we would get jamba juices (sounded so appealing in the rain :P).  I tried to stay on my toes the whole time during this one and I did for most of it, I finished just as Bill said 46, I stopped my watch at 47.  Then we didn't really cooldown, we just talked in the shed about regions.  When I got home I did my abs, pushups, arm swings, lunges, squats, and calf raises, and then I stretched for a few minutes.  

Today at track we started with the usual warmup of 2 laps and then our stretching circle.  Then we lined up and did some drills before splitting to go with our coaches.  For distance we did 4 laps warmup and then eight 100 meter strides with recovery jogging back, this way we weren't doing them into the wind.  For the first 2 we focused on acceleration, then on the next 2 we focused on arms, and the next 2 were focused on toes, and the last 2 we were supposed to focus on all.  Then we did 2 laps cooldown.  When I got home I did my abs, pushups, arm swings, lunges, squats, and calf raises.  Then I took a 10 minute ice bath.  I ate a lot of pasta and bread at the team dinner afterwards too so maybe that'll give me the energy to break 5 tomorrow!

This afternoon after arriving at the track I started my warmup for the 1600 with Abigail.  We went out on the road a little bit and then did speedchanges on the track.  My new Nike Victory spikes came on Monday so I got to use them today!!!  They felt like ballet slippers haha so Bill told me I had to stay on my toes!  I did drills and strides while the first heat was going.  Natalie and I were the top 2 seeds so we got lane one.  I didn't have that great of a start but still was able to get around people on the inside.  I took the lead and held onto it the whole time.  My first lap was a 70.  I focused on staying on my toes the whole time, I am totally in love with my new spikes haha!  At the 800 I was at 2:29 so still on pace to break 5 but holding on would be tough.  At 1200 I was at 3:53 and I finished in 5:10 so laps 2 through 4 were even for me.  Afterwards I did 2 miles cooldown out on the road and back.  Later when I got home I took my iPod and ran out a half mile and back just to get my muscles warmed up a little bit and then stretched for a while afterwards before hopping in the ice bath for 13 minutes.  

Today at the meet for the 3200 I warmed up with Abigail, Natalie, Amanda, and Sarah.  We did 2 laps around the block that the school was on and its about .6 each lap.  Then I got my spikes and did some drills and strides while the first heat was going.  Again Natalie and I were the top seeds so we were in lane 1.  We went with plan doritos* for the first and a half laps, switching to plans firebolt* and chili* with 1000 meters left.  My time was 12:09.96 and Natalie was 4 seconds behind me.  I didn't cool down afterwards but I made sure to stretch out.  When it was getting closer to the 800 I did another 2 laps around the school for warmup.  Then I did drills and strides as I waited for my heat to get on the line.  For this one I was the 4th seed and Josephine was the 3rd seed, our times from the meet last week had gotten us in.  Going out I wasn't sure if I should take the lead or try to sit and kick but I ended up doing what I felt was right which was taking the lead after the 100 meter mark and then pushing and hoping that no one would catch up to me.  I really focused on pushing hard with good form and staying on my toes.  I came in the first lap at 72 and then kept picking up the pace as I got to 300 to go and then 200 to go and then really kicked it in down the last 100.  My time was 2:24.04 so I ran even which was awesome.  If only I could do that in the 1600, I supposed I could try next week.  After I finished that race I stayed on the field doing drills and strides because the medley was the next event.  They put the academic all regions between the events to give some time between the 800 and the medley.  For the medley we had Victoria and Janie on the 200s and Madeline on the 400.  Madeline kicked down the final stretch of her leg and got me the baton in first and then I just had to push as hard as I could for the last 2 laps.  Bill and Tolbert told me I had around 15 to 20 meters lead but I wasn't going to let up.  I really focused on pushing the last 300 and finished in first with a team time of 4:23.64.  After all events were done it was announced that the East girls team had taken first with 164 points!  Woodscross was second with 150 points.  Before we went out onto the track to collect our trophy Bill opened a bag which had some shirts with "2011 Region Champs" printed on them!  They had so much confidence in us that they printed them for us on Monday =)  As we ran onto the field each of us kissed the trophy as we walked up, and then each of the seniors got a turn to hold it as we did our victory lap =)  It was a great day and a great way to finish up my senior season =)  and it really shows what great runners we have at East with our region title in cross country in the fall =)  I am so proud of everyone on the team for doing an amazing job and raking in the points, we had strong finishers in almost every event =)

 When I got home I did 2 miles with my iPod and took a 15 minute ice bath afterwards.  

Today at practice we started with the usual 2 laps warmup and then stretching and drills.  Before we went out on our run we did some core.  We did some over unders with the hurdles and then step overs with the hurdles.  Then we did arm swings, wall sits, and step ups.  For the run we ran up Sunnyside to Shoreline Trail and took the trail over to Red Butte.  Finding a way around the construction was an interesting detour and then we took another detour after we got off Legacy Bridge because some of the pathways were closed for construction.  We ran by the library and then made our way over to Guardsman and over and down back to our track bringing the run to 7 and a half miles with a total of 8 for the day.  

This morning I did a workout at the track.  Natalie, Ben from Weber, RJ, and Bill were there.  We started with the usual warmup of 2 miles and then a mile of speedchanges, then we changed shoes.  Ben had his own workout to do but RJ, Nat, and I were doing 2 sets of 600, 500, 400, 300 at 5 minute pace.  We had standing recovery between each of them and 2 laps between sets.  It was windy so we tried to work it so that we had to run into it the least amount of times possible.  On the first 600 I hit 1:57, a bit slower than what I was supposed to hit but my side was hurting.  For the 500 I hit 1:31 which was good, and then a 1:12 for the 400 and :45 for the 300.  Then after 2 laps I hit a 1:51 on the second 600, 1:33 for the 500, 1:12 on the 400 and :50 for the 300.  My legs were feeling kinda dead by the end but except for the first 600 and the last 300 I hit good times on all of them.  Then we changed shoes back and did 3 grass laps cooldown.