You've got to want it to win it

Today my motto was it's what athletes do when the coach isn't watching that makes them champions.  We had probably my least favorite workout at Sugarhouse today.  If you can even call it a workout.  It was 8-12 sets of 50 meter skips up a hill, 100 jog, 200 threshold downhill, 100 jog, 100 sprint, and then recovery back to the bottom of the hill for the skips.  What I did was warmed up to Sugarhouse to meet the group there, but I went early enough to do some mile repeats on Highland's track.  I had to run up through the driving range to get to the track, then I did one lap of speedchanges before changing to my flats.  I had hoped to get in three miles but was limited on time so I just did what I could.  The first mile I went out in 1:22, then 2:45, 4:08, and 5:30.  I haven't gone that fast in a while!  It felt great!  :)  I took a lap recovery and then started on a second one.  The first lap I came through in 1:22, it felt easier than the first lap of the first mile, then I came through in 2:46, 4:10, and finished in 5:35.  I took another lap recovery and then changed back to my trainers before running back up through the driving range and then down to the parking lot where I arrived just as the rest of the team pulled in.  I joined them for a warmup lap around the perimeter of the park and then our strides and drills.  Then we started the "workout".  My knee popped during the first set of skips and it really hurt but I sucked it up and just kept going.  By the end of the 8th set it had also kinda started to hurt on the downhill 200 so I decided to stop there.  I changed back to my trainers and then had to hurry back home for cooldown to make it on time to my lab.

Today I went for my run early with Hilary so we could be done before our team meeting.  We ran down 11th Avenue and up City Creek to the drinking fountain where we conveniently hit the 4 mile mark.  We ran back the same way but finished at the bailiff so we could do our strides.  We did them barefoot and just did 5 to finish at 8.5 for the day.  Afterwards I hurried to the training room to grab a bag of ice for my foot, it has been hurting and I think it is because of my shoes.  They look like they are getting worn out more on the outsides than the middle so I think I don't overpronate anymore and with the compensation that my shoes give for that I am actually rolling my feet outward.

We had our second and final workout of the week today at Liberty.  We did the usual warmup from Trax on 900e down to the park, then once we got to the car Hilary and I kept going to the corner and back.  I finally got new shoes yesterday, the lady at the running store confirmed that I no longer overpronate as I used to (well only slightly on my left foot, but that is the one that was hurting with the old shoes) so I am in a neutral shoe.  I didn't bring my flats today, and neither did Hilary.  It was nice not to have to carry them!  After the strides and drills we had to wait for Kep and Amanda to pass by on their second lap of the 4 mile Kenyan run so they could catch us at the finish of the first mile.  I started with Andrea and Giselle, we were supposed to hit 6:45, 6:25, 6:05, 5:45.  We hit 6:44, 6:32, 6:07, 6:08.  They broke away during the last mile but I was struggling.  Still I pushed as hard as I could and at least managed to stay even.  For cooldown Hilary and I ran a clockwise lap to get to the drinking fountain and then finished around up to 700e and up 900s where I may have flipped some kids off who said really inappropriate things and who Hilary also yelled at...  We were about a block away from the Trax station up on 900e when the train passed, so we finished at the station with 9 and realized that train had come early to make up for one that hadn't come earlier... and we realized the next one wasn't coming for 20 minutes to we ran down to 700e and back and then out on 900e and back to get the extra mile to make 10 for the day.

Today Hilary and I went out on 11th Avenue with Alyssa and Andrea.  They were with us until 25 minutes, then Hilary and I continued on until the drinking fountain at City Creek just like we had done on Tuesday.  On our way back we saw Nikki R. running down the canyon, it's her birthday today!!!  When we got back to campus we went to the bailiff to do strides, we did them barefoot and made it take up a mile so we could be at 9 for the day.  Traveling to Montana by bus tomorrow!

Today after arriving in Bozeman we enjoyed a nice shakeout run on some trails near the hotel.  The course didn't open until 6 or we would have gone there, but we drove there as soon as we finished our run.  We did our strides along the second mile of the course.  It looks like a nice course other than some wiggly turns and being a narrow course with some areas that are slightly on a hill.  Other than that I am really excited for the race tomorrow and hope that I can do well!  My goal is to race smarter than at USU by not being the one to set the pace but rather see who goes out and then go with them and then try to match them when they break or else break them with a mile to go.  And a surprise Kep didn't tell us was that Weber didn't bring their girls team because they wanted to beat BYU on their home course for recruiting purposes... I was kind of hoping to redeem myself after USU but I can still do that here with a smarter race.  And now it is time to go to bed, we have to eat breakfast at 6 in the morning... 

This morning after arriving at the course we walked the first mile to take a look at the part of the course we didn't run yesterday.  After that we still had a few minutes before it was time to warmup so we just relaxed and got mentally prepared for this race.  For warmup we ran along the 3rd mile of the course to see how it goes back to the finish; it is almost backwards of the 2nd mile but not on the same path.  Back at the starting field we had plenty of room to do our strides and drills since the guys race was going on.  After we did those we still had about 15 minutes so I ran around a little more before changing to my spikes and then heading to the line to do strides.  The officials kept saying 5 minutes, 5 minutes, 5 minutes until the race would start... Since I didn't wear my watch this time I don't actually know how long it was but we were glad when they finally blew the whistle and shot the gun for us to begin.  My plan was to not go out hard up the hill or be the one to set the pace for the lead group if I ended up in position.  What I ended up doing was waiting until the top of the hill and then trying to catch up to the lead group, though for then it was just a large strung out group.  I finally caught them but then we had the downhill part and they broke away, and coming to the flat at the bottom of the hill which is just before the mile they had broken away and then there was a girl by herself and then me by myself.  My first mile was 5:50.  I kept my eyes up and focused on the girl in front of me and worked on closing the gap.  In the other pack I counted 6 girls so I figured I was in an ok position and after I caught the other girl I would have them to focus on.  At about a mile and a half I passed the other girl and then a girl in purple had started to fall off the lead pack.  I tried the rest of the race to close the gap and pass her.  Coming to the turnaround where we run back through woods and there is a mile to go, a girl came up to me and I really didn't want to get passed so I pushed really hard to stay ahead of her.  Then I realized it was Giselle when she said my name and then I stuck with her for a few strides but wasn't able to make myself go with her but I was glad to see that she was doing so well.  She caught the girl in purple and then I told myself I could do it too.  Then another girl came up to me and it was Andrea, again I tried to stay with her but then she passed me and went up to purple girl.  She passed the purple girl back and forth, and I actually came pretty close to both of them with 800 to go but then the purple girl broke away and Andrea and I pushed hard to finish strong.  I hated the rolling hills once you come out of the woods towards the finish and really wish they could just make that pat of the course curve to the side of them where there is plenty of flat ground :P  but there still is a good portion of flat after that where you can still get a decent kick in.  I finished 9th, Andrea 8th, and Giselle 5th.  :)  The way the meet was scored was weird because rather than just doing overall they made it complicated by doing dual scores between all of the teams.  But we beat everybody and calculated the scores for if they had scored it the regular way and we won by 2 points anyway :)  For cooldown we ran along the last 2 miles of the course and then up near the start while we waited for them to start the awards.  They announced top 10 in each race and we got little duffle bags :)  The girls ones are pink :)  I then cooled down a little more to be at 2.25 so I could at least finish with an even mile for the day.  I had hoped for 10 but we had to hurry back to the hotel :P  After I finished my cooldown Heather wrapped two packs of ice to my back.  No more plates with planks at lifting, I could definitely feel it today :P  The bus ride back was fun, and then it was sweet to watch the football team also claim a victory today :)