You've got to want it to win it

Tonight I came home late and in sort of a bad mood, so I went down to the treadmill.  I was going to do 2 miles, but I did one instead.  After I came back up I got a nosebleed, so its probably a good thing that I stopped.  That makes a nosebleed every day for the past 3 days.

We met at Sugarhouse Park for practice this morning.  We did the cemetery loop, where we go out of the park and through a bunch of confusing streets (but I'm learning them) over to the cemetery on 3300s.  We did a 2 mile loop inside the cemetery and then went back to the park on Melbourne and 1800e.  I ran parts of it with Bre and Ashleigh. My time was 54 minutes for the 7 mile loop, a very good pace for me.  Then, when w got back we did the circuit twice with the burpees, jumping jacks, squats, and mountain climbers, with 100 meter sprint in between each set.  We did them for 30 seconds, so it was really hard.  Especially after the mountain climbers for me, when we had to sprint I could hardly go in a straight line.  Then we did the usual crunches and pushups.  

We met at the Shoreline Trail up by the zoo today. We ran along the trail, and it was hard. It started with some serious uphill, but wasn't that bad after the beginning. We ran all the way over to Red Butte, and up a road to a fence. From that point we were supposed to push the way back. I was with Bre and kept a good pace on the way back. Then, we did our crunches and pushups, and then we did 3 sets of 45 second wall sits and 1 minute stepups. Then we did some lunges. It was a good workout today, and I was feeling really strong, even though I was a bit sore from the hills on the trail.

This evening I did speedwork.  I met with Wasatch Athletics at Sugarhouse.  We started with a 2 mile warmup around the perimeter of the park and then on the track I did 3 laps of speed changes with a lap cooldown.  I got to use my new spikes.  They are just like my old ones but a half size bigger.  The workout was 4 800s with a lap cooldown.  I did the first in 2:56 with 1:28s for each lap.  I haven't done one under 3 minutes in a while so I felt really good about that.  Then Bill helped pace me for the second one, I led on the first lap and he led on the second.  I got a 2:56 again.  Then he led the first lap on the third and I got a 2:52, then on the last one I led the first lap and got a 2:51.  I feel I did a great job on the workout, especially after this mornings trail run.  Then we did a 2 mile cooldown around the perimeter of the park.  I ran much of the warmup and cooldown with Amanda, Ashleigh, and my sister.  Then Bill took us for ice cream, it was good :)

This morning for practice we met at Cottonwood Complex.  We started with a 2  mile warmup, around the baseball fields and then along 1300e to 3900s down to 1100e and back into the park.  Then we did 5 strides and stretched a little bit.  Then we worked on hills.  We did that same hill as last time, but this time we came all the way around.  It it the hill at the finish of the regions course.  I got faster on each time, so I felt really good about that.  We did that hill 5 times, my 5th and fastest time was at 1:42.  Then we ran slowly to another hill just behind the one we had been working on. We worked on pushing the last part of the hill, and then running down the hill we had been running up first but working on using it as a recovery hill and going faster on it.  We did that hill 3 times.  Then we went over part of the course for our cooldown.  It was kind of a cool day, because the sun wasn't up.  Then we did the usual crunches and pushups.  I'm glad that I have gotten better at doing the hills.  

This morning we met at the Jordan River Trail. We ran together as a group, at a somewhat slow pace. We went out for 2 miles, which was halfway under the second bridge we were supposed to go under. Then we got water and let the people who had been at the back lead. Then we did another loop once we got back. I was surprised at the pace because it was 8:30s and I thought it was way slower. It was a good run and it was really relaxing. And then when we were done Emily gave us bagels :)

For the evening we met at Sugarhouse for our team BBQ.  We had a 4k to determine who was on varsity.  We started with a mile warmup, all of the girls warmed up together.  For the race we followed the state course mostly, but near the end we ran to our terrace to finish.  One of my best parts of the race was when we reached a really steep hill, I think the steepest part of the course, and I felt really strong running up it.  I am second on varsity for the girls, I finished behind Bre.  It was pretty fun, we got to do our XC cheer which we haven't done in a while :)   Then all of the girls cooled down together about a mile, we went and picked up 15 flags each.  Then we got to eat finally, the food was really good.  We also found out who our team captains are.  Stefan and Greeny are the guys captains and Bre and me are the girls captains.  It was fun to get to run with everyone today.

This morning we met at the park and ride lot and then carpooled up to run on the Pipeline Trail.  I ran with Bre, we went to the Rattlesnake Gulch and back.  I trip every time I run this trail, today I scraped my hand a little deep and my knee has a little cut.  The worst fall I've had, but not that bad.  Then we went and got in the river with Tess and Josie.  The water felt really nice and relaxing.  Then Bill gave us some watermelon and it was really good.  

This morning I got an extra hour of sleep because I had stayed up late watching the Olympics opening ceremony.  At first I didn't want to run, so I got up and went to see how hot it was outside.  I decided it was an ok temperature so I went and got my running clothes.  I ran from my house along 1500e over to Sunnyside and then I ran up to Foothill Boulevard and ran down it to 500s and 1300e and I ran home along 1300e.  I'm really glad I got in my mileage this week :)