Suzette's Running Blog.

Ran to Sugarhouse Park with the team!! 

We started off our run at the East High track and ran down 1500 East all the way down to Sugarhouse Park. Once we got to the there we dropped right down into our hill and ran it up ten times with one minute recoveries. It was one of the hardest workouts i had done in a really long time! By the time i had finished the third lap up the hill and back down, my head was throbbing!! I had to then turn to my coaches and ask them what i should do. They told me to give myself more recovery time. So, instead of taking one minute, i had to take two. That seemed to do the trick until it came to running the last two laps, but i pushed through anyways because i really wanted to complete the workout. Shortly after, we were instructed to go get some water and run back. Sadly, after taking a few sips of water i felt like i was about to faint. I then waited a few minutes for the feeling to go away and ran back with some team mates back to the track. It was really, really hot.

First race of my XC season! At first i was really excited but then i got really nervous. I was almost sure that i was going to do really well and i ended up running the worst i have ever run in my highschool XC career. I will admit that i really was not feeling quite up to par as i should have been. Earlier that morning i had began feeling rather lightheaded and felt a migraine type headache coming on. I probably should not have ran but i did anyhow. I started off the race pretty well but then i got boxed in a couple times, bringing me towards the middle of the pack. This annoyed me immensely. I kept trying to get ahead and every time that i was starting to succeed, some girl would decide to throw me an elbow (Talk about violence..). During my second lap i heard my coach instruct me to begin running some speed changes and that would get me ahead. I tried to, i really did but i was already pretty nervous and pressured enough that once i started to i felt like i was going to be sick and that would waste my time even more. As i got closer and closer to the finish line i began pushing myself more and more. So much so, that once i crossed the finish line i almost puked. Hopefully i do better next time. 

Since today was Labor Day, i ran alone on a treadmill.  

I ran for 1.59 miles as a warm-up, then i did four miles going relatively faster and then finished off with a 1.61 cool down. Overall, it felt really nice to be able to get out and run.  

Morning:

Got up really early and decided to go to morning workout, even though i am suffering a bad cold. We did a mile warm-up, then a mile of speed changes. After that, we all lined up in two lines with numbers and ran two 300s. I nearly died during the second one but at least i got through it. Then we did those team strides. I couldn't get the hang of slapping my team mates hands though... I will need to get better at that. Then we did a mile cool-down.

Afternoon:

We ran up to This is the Place Heritage Park from the track and then ran our course. It was a great way to learn where the course was and also to estimate how difficult the race was going to be. It was rather challenging running all of the course and to make matters better, i am really sore from Monday. Once we finished that, i ran back with Patrick, Michelle and Tania to the track. We stopped at two water fountains too since i was dying of thirst the whole day. Not having fluids at lunch and throughout the school day is pretty bad and very very difficult. This afternoon run was 6.32 miles. 

Since there had been no early morning practice and i was exhausted beyond belief from Tuesday, i was not able to get up to run before school.

RACE DAY!! =D

Started off by walking up to the track as soon as i got out from school and got ready to race. We all then got on the bus and left to our home course. The only problem i saw with our home course is the superlative fragrance given off from the horses at the start and finish lines. It is a rather repulsive smell and it tends to linger on one too... When it came to running my warm-up i went with the girls and we managed to run approximately a mile or a mile and a half. We kept going until someone told us we had five minutes before the start of the race. Since we had already done our cheer, we were able to make it on time and stay warmed up without wasting any valuable time. Once we were about to start, Bill noticed that there had been too many girls and that the starting line was just not wide enough for all 52 of us, so he extended the race a good amount. Right before the race, Bill mentioned to all of us that this particular race was one for fun and that really helped me. I was able to push my limits and the limits of many other girls to the point where i came out succeeding. About .75 miles into the race, the majority of our competition had begun to die off. Girls were dropping like flies and you could tell that they were really struggling. Once we hit the long, steadily increasing hill i began to hear people slow down immensely. I only pushed harder and harder until i reached the top of the hill and took it upon myself to pace myself using my watch and regain control of my breathing. I was able to catch the majority of my breath right around the time i saw my coach Bill and he told me to catch up to the Bountiful girl that was right ahead of me and pass her. Shortly after, i succeeded and she didn't put up a fight. I then caught up to my teammate Josephine and ran with her until i passed her. Unfortunally, i slowed down a little too much on the slick downhill and she caught up to me. Once the downhill was behind me, i began to gap her once again but then i came across the most annoying cyclist and just would not get out of my way!! She ended up catching up to me and we ran together for the majority of the race. I got to the point where i could not keep up with her when we were about 20 ft away from taking a right, right where the trees were. She began to out kick me and i ended up a few seconds behind. Overall, it was a really good race! It felt amazing to get out there and do so well! It paid off, even though i could hardly walk before the race and afterwards i was completely stiff and Natalie was too!

Fun Race!!

Morning: 

Super sore again, but i managed to get up for morning workout once again. We ran up to Sunnyside Park and did two full loops around it. We then did an 800 and finished that loop and went for one last loop around the park and then ran back to the track. To complete our four miles, we ran one loop around the track and then went inside the locker rooms to get ready for school and eat. 

Afternoon:

We took a very easy and light workout by running two grass laps around the track and then did ten strides across the length of the entire football field while trying not to slip and fall. Then we did two more grass laps around the track as a cool down and did our core. My abs have been so sore this week but my calves have been aching far worse. I mean they felt really tight while doing strides today and i had stretched before too! Oh well....

RACE DAY!!!!!!!!!!! =D

Ran the Murray Invitational! I was very nervous at first, but as time passed i felt better and better about the race. Once it came to be the time to start the race, the official came up to us and said it would be another 15 minutes before we could start our race....that sucked. When it came to be the time to start, we got ready -in position and the gun fired. Shortly after, the officials fired another gun because there was a massive pile-up. Unfortunally, I was tripped by them and landed on some rude West High girl. IT HURT! Not to mention, i have been having this strange pain under my knee for a few days...so it hurt even more than it should have! Two of my other team members also got trapped in this pile-up and fell also. I've learned today, that cross country is a violent sport. There is so much aggression! So many people trying to drive you off the course and throwing elbows at you....I've never had anyone try to drive me off the course until today. 

After the race, it was time for our moment in glory. The cross country team running the torch at halftime during the Homecoming game. It felt great! Especially after running a tough race just moments before! Today was great! I'm quite sad though to see that tonight was the last time i would ever get to run the torch at East.  

Went to morning practice and was only able to run one mile because i was hurting.

Went to Saturday early morning practice and began running once again. It felt great to get back out running and enjoy my run. I did a fartlek for 10 sets of one minute on, one minute off. I also did a two mile warmup around Sugarhouse Park and finished off with an inside grass lap of Suaghouse Park.

Ran four miles with Dakota since we are both still in pain. We did three laps around Sunnyside Park and ran back to the track. Then we got in a really really really cold ice bath for 15 minutes. It hurt.

Went to morning practice and did one mile warm-up and one mile speed changes. Then i did 10 strides on the field and had to walk each of them back down backwards. We finished off our morning workout with two grass laps cool down.

Afternoon:

Ran a mile warm-up and a mile speed changes, only sadly for me i was starting to hurt badly in the same region where it had been killing me a few days before and i couldn't continue. Then i went to Bill and he told me to do strides with the rest of the injured people and not even three steps into my first stride, Bill told me i was done. I couldn't continue on, so i went pool running moments after with Susannah to finish off our workout.

We did a ladder going up to five minutes and back down with one minute recoveries each time. In the middle of our workout we ended up changing lanes and it hurt so bad because we were really sore. My highest heart rate was 200. My others were all ranging from 130-164 and i had a 180 once too. We then stretched inside the pool and called it a day. 

Ran with the team up to the firehouse up on 11th ave, passing through the U campus. Since i did not know where i was going, i kept up with Susannah and Natalie until my right leg began to really hurt and i had to stop and stretch before the pain got any worse. 

Went to morning practice and since i didn't quite remember the run, i decided to follow Ben and Tomy eventually caught up to me so i ran with him for the rest of the run. We went up Sunnyside then up Guardsman, down 800 South and headed south on 1300 East until we reached Sunnyside back again and back up to the track. Then i did my core. The total was 2 miles according to Google Maps Pedometer.

Went pool running in the morning with Tomy! We did a ladder again with 1 minute off each time.

I have to say, I am not happy about my race results- at all. The race course was hard though. The sand patches were so tough, especially on my leg that was already quite painful before the race. In addition, i got out to a terrible start. My team in general did too, i could remember seeing almost my entire team at the back. Hopefully, my following races will be better.

Well, i have to say that today was an interesting day. At the start of workout, my leg had begun hurting but i kept ignoring it until the pain was truly unbearable. My leg ended up dying by the end of my first speed change for warm-up. Then i went and told Coach and he told me to do strides and i did. Halfway into practice, Gustavo ended up figuring out what was going on and he massaged it. I must admit, it was a horrible pain while it was being massaged, but afterwards it felt so much better. He then wrapped it up in tape and viola! I was able to run! It felt amazing to be able to run without pain that i ended up finishing my speed changes and i ran the perimeter of the football field multiple times without it hurting! I then finished my practice off with two grass laps around the stadium. It felt amazing to run without pain- something i have not experienced in WEEKS!

Sadly, I missed morning practice today by sleeping through my 5:15 a.m. alarm clock. Getting to morning practice lately has been so difficult with such little sleep due to my studies. My studies are very important to me and i will sacrifice sleep for them. 

In the afternoon, however i went on the run as instructed to. It was a five mile run but since i have lost some of my strength to push through runs with my leg hurting and having to do incomplete workouts, i ended up walking two portions of the run and having to stop and stretch my injured leg somewhat to lower the pain so that it is 'tolerable' to run on. I was in a lot of pain by the end. I hope that tomorrow it will be gone so i can race well! 

Was really excited to race today because it was a tri-meet and those are really, really fun! I love them! Sadly, i ended up not running it because i could feel my leg giving out only on the warm-up and it was just under two miles. I am supposed to go see a doctor according tomorrow and i really hope i do; simply stated: I'm tired of being in pain constantly. Where is the relief? For the rest of my mileage i ended up accompanying Abigail on her cool down so that i would at least push through and get some mileage in and not have today be a complete waste of time. If only certain people on our team would understand that. Something is always better than nothing unless you are severely injured. I don't plan to stop running until after regions and if i qualify-state. 

I am going to have to start running harder even if it really decapitates me if i want to take regions. It's only a few more days; six to be exact. I can do this.  

Went to early morning practice for a nice morning workout. We started off to running out to the gully, which we have not ran in almost all summer long! We did two laps around the gully and it was pitch black. You could hardly see where the trail was or anything and there often was no handrail separating the trail and the river but that running it was really fun! Even though it was fairly dangerous. Then we all ran back to the track and did 10 strides as long as the length of the soccer field. For a cool down, we did two grass laps around the stadium. This had to be one of the best morning workouts for a very long time and my leg was not hurting! Until the end, but thats ok-because it was the end of workout.