I can do it. I will do it NINE times!

Morning run: track warmup then stretches and Arctic Circle. Ran with Ally and Michelle Green most of the way out. Perfect cool weather, running felt really great, not slow, but easy just breezin' along. Pushed it harder on my way back, so I went by myself. Knee was great until last 3/4 mile or so.

Afternoon run: warmup, agilities and stretches, then out-and-back 4-miler to Green Springs balcony house. Kinda hot out (comparatively) today! First mile was same as this morning, legs got a titch tired once the hill started, but not enough to slow down for. On downhill back, knee bugged me a lot, tired-ish legs, but just coasted the downhill back. 10x100m striders when I got back - on the turf barefoot and it felt good.

Lifted: 3x10 of leg curls (10), lat pulldown (4,3,3), leg press on calves mid,in&out (90), front and back abs (10), bench (55,45,45) and squats (95).

Warmup(.5), agilities and stretches, big grass loop(.75), then 6x800m repeats at 2 mile pace with 400m jog recovery between. Pretty warm out today, a little breezy. Goal pace 2:54 for an 11:36 2 mile. Repeats:

1- 2:50, not too hard, just remembering to keep pace right, like the first one always is.

2- 2:51, let this one slide a little, still under 'goal pace,' but didn't want to make my first freaking fast and let the rest slow down, so I reset my goal pace to a 2:50. 

3- 2:50, right on, getting a little harder, but led this one out and didn't let times slip, though knee started getting achy on this one.

4- 2:47, put on waffles for the second half of workout, feeling fast w/light shoes and on toes, maybe shouldn't have run so fast, but good for the middle of the workout.

5- 2:48, working hard to keep fast times, back stretch on second lap breathing was really hard, but kept it down on that killer second-to-last repeat.

6- 2:48, just about died trying to keep time down, but last one finally, knee not so nice.

Cooled down out around sandstone elem(.75). Legs dead and ultra slow, but good repeats. Ice and ibuprofen at home.

Warmup and run to Arctic Circle by my lonesome this morning. Felt good.

Aftn: warmup, agilities and stretches then Bank/Mall run 5-miler. Legs tired out, went so slow, felt crappy the whole run basically. knee hates downhills. Only got up to 13 mph on the sign, hot out and tired. Frustration.

Warmup and such, then AT run: Dogpound. Overcast but pretty warm out today, timed run with watch today, felt tired and not motivated, but tried to push it anyway. Times were ok, at least for the first 2 miles, the 3rd just sucked: 6:31, 6:30, 6:57. Knee has felt mostly all right today, just achy a bit the last couple of miles. Mostly I'm frustrated because this is supposed to be a good week to get in some hard training since we don't have a meet, but I feel like I'm wasting it, but not on purpose. Also, I feel like I'm getting slower since my times for the same AT run two weeks ago were better than this week's (6:39, 6:20, 6:47) and those were slower than the week before (6:23, 6:11 & 6:42). Aargh. I'm so frustrated that I just want to go running, but that would just make me more frustrated. :-( Anger anger anger, dar.

Morning at school alone, warmup and Arctic Circle like always-I'd get bored of it except for the fact that I run it asleep half the time. After yesterday's frustration, I decided that I wanted to go fast, so I pushed it hard the whole way. I didn't time it though, that would probably just have been depressing. Had a sideache most of the run, but knee is feeling less achy, so I think my efforts to stretch my ITB more thoroughly before runs have been somewhat successful.     

Afternoon warmup, then Chuck-a-rama run (4.2), I've gotten a bit more used to it being warm out, so all that bugs me about it now is sweat. Ran mostly easy, though I tried keeping my turnover faster than plodding for good practice. Relatively good, knee only a bit of a bother. I think I'm about over yesterday's freakout, though I think I will try switchin' it up a bit on my morning runs.

Easy long run (8-miler) around noon, clocked a new run from my house to River Rd. onto 1450 S then around on 3000 E then onto 2450 S until River Rd. again and back to my house. 'Twas only 7.83 when I got to my house so I ran around in the park for a titch until I got to 8 miles. This run was not my favorite course, pretty boring and flat with only a couple sloping hills and all on roads. Overall good run though, slow 8:06/mile avg., knee ached, esp. the last couple of miles. I think getting a good warmup and stretching my ITB a lot is good for it, since today I didn't warmup and only stretched a little before taking off and it bugged me more than it has since tuesday. Pretty warm out, wished I could've gone running earlier when it was perfect out, but oh well. Happy Easter tomorrow!

Warmup then Arctic Circle with Green, mostly relaxed, but kept legs moving. After, 8x100m striders barefoot on the football field (turf). Felt good to get my legs going faster in the morning.

Aftn-1.25 warmup then 6x400m repeats at 1600m pace with 150m jog recovery between. Goal pace was supposed to be 1:20 for a 5:20 mile, but I felt like running fast! So I did them faster for the heck of it.

1- 1:18-at this point I hadn't quite decided to throw away my goal pace, so I reined it in a little on this one.

2- 1:15-was feeling good, so I just took off, threw away the 1:20 GP and brought it in nice and smooth.

3- 1:15-getting a titch tired, but was looking forward to small rest to put on waffles after this one, a little harder to keep time down on it, but still pretty good.

4- 1:13-after a little break, ran with waffles right up on toes the whole way, way faster than I thought I would, knee feeling a bit unstable and achy.

5- 1:15-tried keeping time down low, but legs getting pretty tired and knee getting less agreeable, only thoughts of only-one-more-after-this kept my time relatively low.

6- 1:11-got threatened by coach with another repeat if this repeat wasn't faster than the previous one, so we went all out to keep the time low, by the last 100m, my feet were burning and knee was getting shaky and achy.

Overall happy with workout, could've been more consistent, but at least the times were going down not up. Felt nice to get in a fast workout of 400's. I'm slightly frightened to say that I really have missed them, they work me well, but don't drain me mentally as much. Whoopee! Sandstone loop cooldown.

Warmedup with a big grass loop, had many feelings of lack-of-motivation-ness, this meet wasn't a qualifier and there wasn't much competition to race against. Ran the Medley 800m. Legs really juiced out from yesterday, quite windy out, total time 4:43. Ran 1600m, legs still exhausted, freaking slow time of 5:39. Anger. Ran 400m for the heck of it, I think I could've run faster had my legs been less exhausted, but I got an ok time of 1:07. Then I ran the 800m, legs deader than before (duh) 2:34, crap-for-crap times. Mostly today my knee has been feeling weak and a bit achy and sore to touch. Anger. Paced Amanda in the 3200m.

Well, I've been sick today (puking my guts out). I lost 10 lbs in one morning! What a weight loss program. I think I'll be mostly better for tomorrow's meet, but I'm not hoping for any great races after not eating anything all day today. Yuk.

I really hadn't eaten much today because my stomach is still not agreeing with me, though I think I'm done puking. 3x on track warmup, then ran the 1600m, wasn't feeling too hot, but I kind of had the philosophy of "I feel crappy now and I'll feel crappy at the end, so I might as well run fast in the middle." So I took off with Abby who always starts out really fast and dies...ha. Then I just kept going strong the whole race, knee a bit lame after lap 2, but ok mostly, my splits were 1:16, 1:24, 1:25, 1:17. Total time: 5:25.62. State qualifying: 5:25.55. I missed qualifying by .07 seconds. In the mile. Seven hundredths of a second! .07 freaking seconds! Thats like leaning a titch more at the finish line for crying out loud! As I was coming up the last 60-70m, a Cedar coach yelled 5:11, so I knew I was close and I was pushing it so hard to make it, but I missed it by freaking 7 freaking hundredths of a freaking second. PR though.

Well it took me forever to recover after that race and I still felt really sick and nasty, so I decided that I probably suck if I tried doing the 800m and the Medley 800m, so I decided to only run the Medley. Pretty chilly out and windy. 1 mile warm up (2x around school), then went to run the Medley, when I got the baton, we were about 60m behind the leader (SC) so I pushed so hard to catch her, but I only gained about 20m on her. My legs just felt rubbery and lame most of the race, but I'm pretty sure I gave it all I had, though. I don't think our time was very great, but I don't know because I had to leave right after in a vain attempt to make it to my choir concert, so I didn't see our official time and nobody got splits. Overall frustrating, I guess I should be glad I PRed in the 1600m and that I'm "just that much closer to qualifying" in it, but dang this sucks.

Morning run, .5 warmup then AC like always. Judd and Green came out to run, too, but after warming up, they thought I left so they left w/o me, so I left a couple minutes after them. Ran great pace out, just smooth and fast, then I saw how far (about 1/4 mile or so) ahead they were when I got to the turnaround, so I kicked it in to try and catch them. Surprisingly, I caught them in about 3/4 of a mile, it was fun! So then I slowed it up and ran easy easy the rest of the way back for the heck of it.

We had a party day at afternoon practice, ran a lap warmup and stretched, then played duck-duck-goose, freeze tag, follow the leader and such.  Then we ate otter pops!

Someone randomly asked me to run the 'mile' leg (really a bit over 3/4) of the "Great Race" at DSC for the X-Club Alumni Team. So I did it, went there and warmed up about a mile, then ran the race, I was running against mostly male persons because it's a co-ed relay and most teams want fast starts and boys are generally faster than girls. I did come in all right place-wise, probably somewhere in the middle of the 18 teams coming in. I must've given them an ok start, since we ended up getting 4th place, which isn't too bad for a team put together in an afternoon. It was a lot of down hill, which my knees didn't agree with much, but it was mostly fun stuff.

From my house 1/4 warmup then out and back on industrial rd/AZ strip (8), kinda tired out, so I took it slow and easy, knee got increasingly sore over the last 4 miles. Then 1/4 cooldown and stretches back home. Iced knee thoroughly. Also, I'm still pretty tired out from Wed, and dehydrated, but I've finally got some of my appetite back, so I'll try to regain more of those lost pounds back. (I'm still about 7 under normal.)

(Looky it's purple!)
Morning: Warmup and stretches, then Arctic Circle. Went out easy with Judd and Green, then decided to go faster on the way back just for fun. When I got back, I ran 8x100m striders barefoot on the turf, they felt really nice just to get my legs moving a bit more and stretch out my stride a little, also my knee was happy this morning! Yipee!

Afternoon: Warmup, agilities and stretches, then I ran Dogpound AT run. Weather was really nice, a bit overcast and a titch breezy. The AT part went pretty well, splits: 6:30, 6:27, 6:31. It was kind of odd, the first two miles of it I was breathing pretty hard and felt like I was pushing it a lot, but my legs weren't burning or feeling tired at all (though my knee was hurting)and I wasn't going that fast on the downhill. The last (uphill) mile wasn't as hard as last week and my times were really consistent, so I think that I'm improving a bit (after the last 2 weeks I was beginning to wonder).

Warmed up, then ran the Bank/Mall run. Since we have a meet tomorrow, I was trying to keep it at 'easy' pace, but I kept finding myself speeding up a lot - when I would notice my lungs or legs burning, I'd remind myself to slow it up a bit. Overall a really nice run, my legs are only a little fatigued from yesterday's AT, I think I could've pushed harder, though this is in hindsight. For the last half, my knee was pretty stiff and achy. When I got back, I did striders on the turf barefoot- 10x100m which were good to get some speed out of my restless legs.

Randomly, we went to this meet in Moapa (NV). When we arrived, we ran a team warmup 2 laps. A while later, I warmed up for the 1600m by running around the school and track, about 3/4 of a mile. The 1600m was awesome! There were only 7 girls running in the race, and I totally owned them all, I ran really well and felt good the whole race. Splits were 1:15, 1:22, 1:23, 1:21, I think-I'm not sure if the splits I got are exactly right, but those were the times I heard as I ran by each lap. Total time: 5:21 PR!!!!! Wahoo!! Also would've been state qualifying had I been at a qualifying meet, so next weekend I've got it made.

Later I warmed up for the 800m by doing the same 3/4 mile loop around track/school. Then I ran the 800m, I finally pushed better on it and got a season's best of 2:27 with splits of 1:11 and 1:16. I felt pretty strong and stayed up on my toes better this race, though on the second lap, my knee felt really weak and after that race it was achy. I was going to run the 3200m, but I didn't have much time between throwing the discus (PR of 55' 10") and the race, so I hadn't warmed up at all when they were about to start the race, so I opted out of it. I kind of wish I hadn't because I was totally full of energy the rest of the meet, but overall, I was really happy with this meet, got some good times to keep me motivated to work harder at practice!

Well, we didn't have school today, so I slept ALL morning (12 whole hours of sleep in a row!) and it felt so nice! I waited until around 7:45 pm to go run when it was all nice and overcast. I ran out from my house to Vermillion, around by the Dixie center on the trails in a loop around back to Larkspur and back to my house. I've run this run lots of times w/o knowing how far it was, so I decided to clock it today. It was actually lots longer than I thought it was...since I was supposed to run 5 and I did 6 instead, but I ran REALLY slow and easy (8:51/mi avg), so I think it's ok. My legs were a little sore from yesterday, esp. my left and my right arm and back are sore from throwing!

Went to the track by myself at around 9am for some speedwork, 2 lap warmup, some stretches - my left ham and glute are really stiff and sore still, then big grass loop (.75), then 8x300m repeats @ 1600m pace with 100m jog recoveries. I was aiming at around 59-60 seconds for a 5:15-5:20 mile. I was timing myself the whole time, so I'm not quite sure how good the times I got were, but here goes:

1-62 sec - I didn't quite know how fast I needed to run for these, so I ran this one way slow.

2-61 - still wasn't getting into the right rhythm for these, I think that it was closer to a 60, though.

3-59 - finally getting down where I wanted them in the first place, felt really good.

4-59 - kept time down, got into the rhythm of the pace, so it was easy to get this time again. Took a little break after this one to put on my waffles.

5-57 - with waffles on this one was fast fun!

6-59 - let time slip a little, but still where I was shooting in the first place, so not bad-getting a titch tired.

7-56 - I did the I'm-finally-on-my-second-to-last-repeat-so-lets-go-really-fast action on this one, so it was crazy fast! Yipee!

8-57 - tried to get this time under the previous one, and almost succeeded, my garmin said that this one was at 5:04 pace and the one before was at 5:03, so pretty good.

Then I ran the DI loop as a cooldown, I was kind of frustrated because all my repeats went well except for the two stupid ones at first. My legs weren't all that tired and I felt I could've pushed myself more, especially if there had been somebody to run with. Kind of had thoughts of 'Why did I even do these if I didn't push myself that hard?' Oh well, what's done is done and I know I'll work better at our next speed-workout.

Warmed up to whipple ct, stretched, then went on my AP 8-miler. On the way back, I did 5 or so fartleks between light posts just to get my legs moving. Felt really nice, ran w/o watch, but avg. mile probably around 8:00 or a bit under.

Morning, warmup then Arctic circle, green and judd started out before I warmed up and I pushed a little on the run to catch them, ran with them around mile 2, then took off for the last half mile or so. Kinda chilly out.

Afternoon, 2x track then a grass loop warmup. Then we ran 5x300m repeats with 100m repeats at 90-95% effort. I was aiming at around 57, since I was running 59s on Fri. I don't right now exactly remember my times, but they were around 57, 56, 54, 54, 52 ... I think? Anyway, they went by really fast! We took a tiny break after #3 to put on waffles, but other than that, we had no stopping between. Felt really strong the whole time, pushed them well - after my legs were pretty wiped. Then I ran the 2450 run (3.5) for a cooldown.

Team warmup, agilities and stretches, then did lots of handoff practice with Michelle and Kailey for tomorrow's relays (4x400m and 800m in Medley). After we got those down, I ran the bank/mall run, Holt ran with me for the first half of it which went really fast and easy with somebody to make me run a bit faster. The flat part was pretty good, but wind was picking up against me and by the time I got to the last mile uphill, my legs were reminding me of yesterday's hard workout. Lately I've been noticing that my shoes (Asics 2100) are wearing out, esp. on Sat.'s long run, and random aches have been springing up, so looked at my logs and they have a bit over 400 miles on them. I think I'll retire them soon. After the run, I was pretty stiff, but I stretched out and did 8x100m striders barefoot on turf and that loosened them up a little. 

Well I meant to run this morning, but I must've turned off my alarm in my sleep. I know I turned it on, but when I woke up it had been turned off! I truly can't remember ever turning it off, so maybe I sleep-walked or something... Anyway, besides that sad story, we had a meet today!

Warmed up on the big grass loop for the 800m leg of the medley. The race went really well, though there wasn't much competition. Mal, Kailey and Green ran really well, when I got the baton we were at 2:01 and my leg went AWESOME! I ran a 2:24 split (with laps of 1:10 and 1:14) though it was in a relay so it doesn't count toward PRs. Had it been a state qualifying meet, we would've qualified with our time of 4:25! Yay!

After that I spent most of the meet putting results into the computer and other such 'meet-running' type things. When it finally came to the 4x400, I warmed up on the big grass loop again and ran that with Rachel, Kailey and Green. Our time was a 4:27 which kinda makes me mad since I ran nothing else the whole freaking meet so we could do good in that relay and we basically sucked.  I feel like I pushed my leg well, my split was a 1:06 which isn't that awesome for a sprinter or something, but only 1 second off the fastest I've ever run it. Mostly I'm just mad I got in a jolly great 2.25 miles in. Argh.

Got up early to run since I missed yesterday, my legs were pretty stiff and a bit sore from yesterday, so after warming up I stretched lots, then went on Arctic Circle. On my way back I rolled my left ankle kinda hard, but I kept going and shook it off, it only hurt a bit after running on it the rest of the way back.

With the meet tomorrow, I just ran easy 4 out on Green Springs. There was some honeysuckle I got to run by and it smelled so great, it made my whole run awesome, though my legs felt kinda tired out. I am so excited for the meet tomorrow at SUU because Holt signed me up for the 2000m steeplechase! (and the 3200m & 800m) Goals for tomorrow: 3200m - around 11:40, at least not slower than last time I ran it (which was forever ago). 800m - 2:25 - I know I can get state qualifying!!! I KNOW I CAN!!! Steeplechase - not die...and have fun!

Meet at SUU, their schedule was really weird with a "distance carnival" at the very end with the 3200m, 800m, 4x800m and a 2000m steeplechase all in a row. I started warming up for the 3200m way too early, so I ended up warming up around a total of a mile and a half over the course of an hour before it started. I ran the 3200m pretty well, my first lap was too fast and it cost me on laps 6-7, but I still ran an ok time of 11:55.52. Splits were 1:21, 1:29, 1:30, 1:30, 1:31, 1:36, 1:37, 1:22 or something similar to that and got 3rd place.

I got to rest during the 4 heats of the boys 800m, then I had to run the 800m. My legs were so DEAD. I tried to have a good attitude, but it still sucked. The first lap was pretty brutal with elbows and getting cut off and such, I tried kicking the last 200m, but my legs were so shot that even my kick was not much of one. I got a 2:34.82 and 13th place. Ultra-yuk.

After the 4x800m I got to run the steeplechase! My legs were feeling almost like legs again and I was so excited to run it. All of us running it were planning on going pretty easy, so none of us were even thinking of being competitive in it. The barriers weren't all that high (30"), but just to be sure I jumped really high on all of them. It was so much fun, especially the water barrier, even though it was kinda cold outside, it was so fun to jump in the water and keep going and do it again. Around the end of lap 3 and realized that I was in second, so I passed the girl in front of me and took the lead. Right before the last water barrier, a Timp girl passed me. After the last barrier, I all-out sprinted and barely passed her in time to get FIRST PLACE! Afterwards, the first 2 guy finishers, the Timp girl and I ran a victory lap and did a cannon ball into the water jump! We were drenched and it was so fun! My time was 8:03.76.

I had to miss the second day of the meet so I could go to State Solo & Ensemble in SLC, but I ran 7.81 miles home from Washington. Basically it was the crappiest run I have ever run in my life. Anger. 8:40 min/mile avg.

Team warmup and such, then big grass loop warmup for repeats today. We did 5x300m repeats at 90-95% with 100m jog recoveries between. Overall they went very well:

1- 56s -just starting, this one was pretty easy.

2- 56s -pushed harder to keep this time down, still feeling good and determined to make my first three closer to the times of the last two (unlike last week).

3- 55s (or so?) -told myself that this was my last one in the 'set' since I was changing shoes after it, so I worked really hard on it. Holt messed up on the timing though, so I'm not exactly sure of the time.

4- 54s -aimed for 54 on this and 53 on the last one, pushed pretty hard though it was not as hard as #3 since I had my waffles on.

5- 53s -got what I wanted, good times the whole way! Pretty tough workout!

Then Ally and I ran to the Middle school and back as a cooldown. My legs were pretty dead the first mile or so, but got ok by the end. And Adam gave us Otter Pops when we went by his house! 

Lately I've been changing my shoes back and forth every other day between my old Asics 2100s that I need to retire and a pair of New Balance 767 I bought in Jan that I put around 60 miles on but didn't love then. I hope that if I slowly get used to using them, I'll like them more that before. I started rotating them on Wed. Today I ran in NB.