You've got to want it to win it

This afternoon for workout we did a recovery run.  I ran with Macee, we went along Foothill to 1700s and then up to Wasatch Drive.  We took that all the way back to Sunnyside and then we ran down through the parking lot at This is the Place.  We turned right at the post office and ran until we were on the road just south of campus by the orthopedic center.  We ran on a sidewalk which looked like it would be a shortcut but it ended up being longer and just took us a full loop around the orthopedic center because we ran into a fence with barbed wire and the top and then we went down but there was a wall but we were able to get around the building without having to go back up.  Then we went to the track and did barefoot strides and drills.  Then I ran about a half mile for cooldown to get to 8 miles for the day.

This morning we had an hour of lifting.  Most of the time we did stuff with the bar.  In the afternoon we had a workout.  At Sugarhouse we started with a lap warmup and then drills and strides.  Then we changed shoes and Kep explained the workout.  The was he explained it was really confusing but it was pretty much just fartlek with 2 minutes on 2 minutes off, then 5 sets of 4 minutes on 3 minutes off, and another 2 minutes on 2 off.  We did two 200s before we started to get warmed back up.  Afterwards we did a cooldown of picking up the course.  We realized we had missed one of the cones so I went back to get it since I had ridden my bike to the park so I didn't need a ride back to campus.  I got about a mile and a half total for cooldown.

We had our second workout of the week today so that we can have more rest time before the meet Saturday.  We took Trax down to 900e and ran to Liberty Park for our warmup.  Then we did our usual strides and drills and changed shoes.  Then Kep explained the workout and we did 2 more strides to get our heart rates back up.  The workout was four 1 mile repeats with 90 seconds recovery in between.  I was with Nikki and we were supposed to hit 6:20 pace.  Since the older girls weren't working out today Nikki and I were the first group.  We ran the first one in 6:18 and it felt pretty easy the last half mile because we had gotten into a good rhythm.  After our recovery we started again but this time we must have started too easy because of how nice we had felt after finishing the last one so we were really picking it up the last half but we ended up getting a 6:31.  For the next one Kep told us that if we were more than 5 seconds off pace at the half mile to stop for 30 seconds and then finish.  We took this one out a little faster and Nikki was falling back a bit but then she caught up to me before the half mile and we were on pace so we did the whole mile.  We hit 6:20 for this one.  Then for the last one Kep told us to just do a half.  I felt like I could have probably done another mile but during the last half I was beginning to feel the fatigue in my legs.  We finished in 3:13.  Then we had five 25 second strides, we did some of them on the way back from the drinking fountain where we had finished.  Then we changed shoes back and ran back to the Trax station at Trolley to finish.  We were at 7 and a half miles there and I wanted to get 8 so I ran up to the 900e station.  

This afternoon I did a recovery run with Nikki, Alex, and Andrea.  We ran to 11th Avenue.  Alex and Andrea turned around at about 20 minutes but Nikki and I went for a little over a half hour which was 4 miles and took us to the drinking fountain at City Creek.  We stopped for a drink really quick and then we ran back the same way we had come.  Then we did our strides and drills on the grass between the Burb and the swimming pool.  When I got home I took a 15 minute ice bath.  

This morning in the hour after institute and before the bus left, I went to the track and did 4 laps warmup, 8 laps of speedchanges, and 4 laps cooldown.  All of them except for the cooldown I did going clockwise.  As I headed to the bus I stopped by the training room to grab a bag of ice for my quad.  

This morning after arriving at the course in Boulder, we started with a team warmup.  The team went for about 12 minutes but I went longer with some of the other girls and then I finished at about 2 miles.  Then I joined the group in the drills and strides.  Then we changed shoes and headed over to our box for some strides.  We did our team prayer and cheer and then got on the line.  When the race went out I had a good opening and was able to get right where I needed to be.  I was towards the front of the pack, and by the 1k it was a pack of 4 that included me, a girl in blue, a girl in white over red, and a girl in red over red.  The girl in blue was a few meters ahead of the other 3 of us but I figured not to worry about her now since it was a 3 mile race.  Going around turns it was difficult to decide if it was better to use the tangents which went through some soft sand or to stay a little bit longer on the firm ground.  I mostly just did whatever the other girls were doing.  For the 2 and 3k we ended up in more of a pack, but right after we passed the 3k mark the girl in red over red made a move to breakaway so I went with her since I knew if I didn't then I would probably lose her.  That whole K was uphill and I didn't gain much on her but we broke away from the other girls.  Then an unattached girl came up and she passed me and proceeded to pass the other girl.  I knew that because the other girl had been passed, it was likely that I would be able to pass her as well because that's how the mind works in races.  After getting around the pond at the top of the hill its downhill the rest of the race until the finish so I pushed with all I had left.  I passed the girl in red and I stayed about the same distance behind the unattached girl but focused on catching up to her all the way down to the finish.  Right at the finish there is a slight uphill but I just powered right up it and finished in 18:23.  Because the other girl was unattached, she didn't score which meant that I scored 1 and the Utes ended up winning with 33 points overall.  Afterwards we ran a mile and a half cooldown as a team, but then I wanted to do more so I did another mile and a half and the team went back to the hotel to take advantage of the showers which we had earned.