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

AM: It was SO cold out this morning. I almost died. 59 degrees!! I don't even know how to handle the 50s!! That's almost half of what I'm used to... gosh. So, I told myself not to run fast since we were doing 800's this afternoon, but there's something about Monday mornings that just makes me want to go fast. I restrained myself on my first mile (8:07) but then I wanted to catch Coach and Rob, so I ran 7:01 for the next one and stuck with them for the 6:48 last mile. What was that about wanting to go easy? What the heck, it felt good! By the end of the run, I had finally warmed up! But then the showers were cold. Curse them! Good thing I won't have to handle cold public showers again until the track season! (Alchemy 184.3)

PM: Legs were kinda tired from this morning... tee hee. Warm ups and such (50/100), then DI loop warmup for 5x800m repeats:

1- 2:52, I regret to admit that I took this one kinda easy to make sure my others would be faster than it. Then I got stuck in the slower group of guys.
2- 2:45, Pushed this one pretty well, I think I run better as a front runner in some ways, so I was glad to be in the slower group for this one.
3- 2:44, Thank goodness Holt said I would keep my pace good to all the boys - it was just enough of a push to make me keep this hard 3rd one at a good pace.
4 - 2:46, Legs were getting pretty tired out by this one and Willy passed me up on the second half, but I still pushed well and hard.
5- 2:46, Boy did this one feel slow and painful as much as I worked my butt off. And Willy beat me again, shucks.

Did pretty well overall, looking back at other workouts this season, I did better with consistency, though my fastest was 2 seconds slower this time that my fastest earlier. Good workout, though, legs tired out lots as I did the 3/4 mile cooldown. (DST 223.9)

I think I jinxed myself yesterday for sympathizing with Mik'L's plight with her alarm issues, since this morning my alarm ran out of batteries. What luck. So Mom woke me up with barely enough time to get ready for school. Although Holt wouldn't excuse my absence in 6th period (or even a 'way late'... curse him...), I ditched the first 3/4 of it to go on my morning 4-miler then. Dogpound-ed it at a nice medium pace, 7:46/mi avg., legs pretty tired out from yesterday. (Alchemy 188.3)

Legs were still pretty hammered by the time practice rolled around, but I decided to run medium fast again. I started a titch late trying to get a signal, then what-the-heck-ed that idea since I know how far freaking Arctic Circle is. Once I got up to Kalli (.25 mi. into it or so), I convinced her to stick with me almost the whole run; she did an awesome job! On the way back, Ethan joined the party. Total time for AC run was 23:12, so 7:44/mi avg. Hope the legs are less exhausted tomorrow... (DST 227.4)

Goals for Pre-Region tomorrow:
*OWN THEM ALL!! By a couple minutes!!
*Get a PR!!
*Break 18!! (Jeffry, Decker and I are all going to break 18 tomorrow. We decided this on Monday.)

Argh! Does tying with a PR count as PR-ing?! Because I tied with my PR today and that totally sucks. Especially since I probably could've given it a bit more in the middle. Kierstin Blauer started out the first .5 mi with me, so I just assumed she'd stay kind of close when I started pulling away from her. I kept high-tailing it for the first 1.5 because I thought she was on my tail - which helped me push it - except then some 'shall-stay-unnamed' spectator (curse him) told me she wasn't even in sight behind me and I kind of let up for a bit until I realized what I was doing, but by then I had already succumbed to the tiredness & soreness once which made it easier to do again. Argh. So I think I could've done better and gotten a PR. But I didn't. Phooey. (As a side note - we started out with a 2 mile warmup and it felt so good.) (Alchemy 190.3) (DD spike 25)
 

Got to sleep in 'til 6:30! Ran an 'easy' 3.6 miles out to Stake Center and back. Legs way tired out - I ran 8:10/mi avg. and it felt hard. After, I got to have a relaxing morning and had a sit-down breakfast and go to school at 8:15! It was great! (Alchemy 193.9)

Afternoon practice: 40/80 (I'm tapering my pushups and crunches, too!). I thought we were doing hills this afternoon, but instead, we went on a long-ish run. Foremaster, my favorite! Except today it wasn't so favorite. Legs still way juiced out and dead, the intense wind wasn't so nice and just struggling mentally the whole time to keep going. Yuk. I had been having the best day EVER, but this run kinda spoiled it. (8:16/mi avg.) And my lesson right after sucked too. Tomorrow's AT run will be much better, I have decided! (DST 234)

Dogpound AT run this afternoon. (40/82) My legs were still feeling pretty spent, but I managed to get in a reasonably good workout. AT miles were: 6:18, 6:01 and 7:03 - that last mile was into a nasty, nasty headwind and uphill to boot. Ouch! But the first mile of the AT was my fastest ever - yeah! The knee was pretty lame for the first couple miles, but it got better as the run went on. Now, to get some sleep for the SAT tomorrow. Mmmm. (DST 238.5)

Met up with Breanna at PVHS this morning for a run. It was SO cold! And windy! I died of hypothermia again. In the dark I ran the warmup loop and that was scary, then we stretched a bit and went on the Green Springs 6-miler. It's kinda funny, we were talking while we ran and we got pretty winded. We usually run with guys, who talk less, so we weren't really used to talking more and it was tiring! So, that made me laugh. Ran a pretty nice pace, mostly just comfortably quick with a little pickup to it esp. on the fun downhill on the way back. 7:37/mi avg. (Alchemy 200.4)

Missed the marathon for the SAT test, but looked at results online - Congrats to all, there were some screamin' fast times!

Go FastRunningBloggers!

Chilly out - I finally broke out my winter gear! 'Twas odd to go for such a short run (River Rd. chapel), ran a comfortable 7:41 first mile, then picked it up a titch for a 7:10 for the way back. Legs felt really fresh and nice with the exception of some knee issues after the first 3/4 mi. Today I ran my last morning workout of this season! Thank goodness, since it's getting so freaking cold outside... (Alchemy 202.4)

Had to hurry to be done w/ afternoon practice by 3:45, ran 1200m warmup, then did 3x800m repeats:
1- 2:32 - felt pretty good and fast, this is my fastest time ever on the 800m grass loop, so that was fun to do. But oh, the burn of the lungs!
2- 2:36 - they went downhill (in a bad way) from here, gave it all I had, but didn't get a better time. Yuk. Legs joined the lungs in the burningfulness.
3- 2:39 - really felt like I pushed lots harder and got about the same time as the previous one, but I was pretty disappointed to find out it was slower (again). Holt did notice, however, that this was one second slower than my freshman track PR in the 800m so I have definitely improved a TON since then!
Cooled down 1200m, my calves were so tired and burning and cramping, I was going SO slow. Felt like I got a pretty good workout, the legs-running-out-of-juice and throat-burning feeling of going really fast reminded my of TRACK! (DST 241.5)

Ran easy around for 23 minutes. Of all days for my watch to run out of batteries, it did today, so I don't know exactly how far we went. I'm guessing around 2.5 miles total since it was a team run with the ladies. We ran the entirety of the school a couple of times and went through the car wash lots! Pretty fun run, legs felt loose and ready to go get 'em tomorrow! (Alchemy 205.4)

Goals: Break 18:00. Win by 2 minutes. ;)

Basically a lot of mixed feelings today. I really don't feel like I ran as good of a race as I could've, I was totally unfocused during the race and it really felt like a practice, not a race, since I wasn't really racing anyone. I feel happy, kind of, since I'm region champ, but the second time it doesn't feel quite as cool, especially when there's no competition and I didn't run as fast as I'd hoped. Shucks. And it's really disappointing that our team didn't even qualify for State, especially because we were SO close. Dixie scored 37, SC was 41 and we got 42. AAAARRGH! Looks like I'll be starting in the 'loner box' at state again, just like my sophomore year. Woo hoo. (DST 244.5) (DD spike 28)

So, I am a whiner. Time to list the good things about today: I got to sleep in 'til 10:00 am since we had no school today! I'm Region Champ! I PR-ed for the first time all year! Our boys totally OWNED their race! Of the 4 races, 3 individual champions and 3 team champions were from PV! Yeah! Next year our girls will be awesome (our JV team totally crushed the rest)! And mom made me a steak for dinner!

Legs were pretty stiff this morning, though after warmup and stretches they felt mostly like legs again. Went on the Foremaster run, ran w/o watch just so I wouldn't be so tempted to push the speed a ton. Started out kinda slow and easy, as my legs felt better along the run, I picked it up a bit. Some knee lame-ness and a sideache later in the run, but overall a good run, probably pretty slow, but it felt reasonably nice I guess. (Alchemy 212)

I didn't know what I was supposed to run today (and spent forever trying to find out yesterday, to no avail), so I just did what we did last week on Friday (AT). Since our hotel is in downtown SLC right by Pioneer Park, I thought it wiser to use the treadmill this morning. However, the treadmill I first used was crap. It shut off randomly during my warmup a couple of times, then after I stretched and started the first .5 easy and did .15 of the AT middle part, it shut off again. Argh! So, the lady using the other one let me use hers, since she was just walking on it anyway. When I got situated on that one, I just started on the AT part at 6:11/mi pace for the first 2 miles, then 6:03/mi pace on the 3rd. Then I cooled down .5 and was finally, thankfully, done. The AT part was pretty hard, especially since my legs were still tired from the race and such. And it seems, from other people's blogs, that we didn't even do AT today, so basically that sucks. And my shoes gave me a blister. (DST 249.2)

Got up dreading the treadmill, but saw Bre's comment just in time, so I called her up and she and her dad picked me up from the hotel to run with them and the East high XC team. We went on fun trail run, easy on the way out 8:36/mi avg, and 5x1 minute fartleks on the way back. It was pretty chilly out (thank goodness for Breanna's long sleeve shirt!), sprinkling rain and absolutely beautiful on the trail. The trees surrounding the trail were in full Fall color and it was perfectly damp- not dusty at all, but no slippage either. Great run, thanks Bre for inviting me and thanks Bill for the bagels and hot cocoa after! (Alchemy 219.2)

Mall run with 3x200m fartleks whenever we wanted. I did my first one down on Mall drive by the speed-clocking sign - I got up to 16 mph on it! Then later I did one by the Dinosaur museum and finally did one on the steeper uphill as Riverside drive turns into the industrial road. And I almost died! This old man almost hit me with his car! He never even saw me! Ever! I had to speed up ultra-much and dodge the car and it still was within inches. Curse idiot drivers!! Other than that, it was an ok run, lots of little aches and such that I'll just attribute to pre-state-race nerves. Avg. 7:35/mi. (DST 254.4)

Easy loop around South Towne mall with everybody. Took it pretty quick at the start, then slowed up to loosen out and relax later on. Legs feel good and ready to ROCK AND ROLL! (Alchemy 221.5)

Here goes the whole report:

Started out with a warm up around the course during the 3A girls' race, staying relaxed and feeling good to mostly thaw from the cold weather. Stretched, hopped around a bit, did some agilities around, stretched more, then just kept warm and ready for the race until the teams started getting up to the start line, then got up there and found that I had 3 other 'loner-box' friends. Got a good position in the box just by being assertive. Ha.

Got a great start! Not insane sprinting, but quick enough to get out and up front right away. Decided to just stick with the leading pack and see what happened, took a position on the inside next to Krystal and just stuck it there. Felt great, legs were just cruising and I got ahead on the uphills a couple of times.

Once we go into the second mile, Krystal started throwing in these surges to loose me, but I just stuck with her and eventually passed her up with a Timp girl barely ahead.  Was still feeling great and strong on the whole 'back stretch' area, then it all kinda fell apart. As it was pretty dern cold out, my legs were cold the whole time, so I couldn't really tell how they were actually feeling. They 'felt good' but as I kept trying to stick on the lead pack as we got into the third mile, they wouldn't give me anything. Pretty frustrating. So I was sticking in fourth behind two Orem girls and the Timp girl, trying to surge to make up the gap, but not achieving much. The last 800m I was working so hard to pick up my pace as I got to the finish and I still got passed by two girls. Argh! Then as I ran the last 50m, I saw the seconds tick away as I missed breaking the school record by .9 sec. To top it all off, my bun fell out and I gouged my arm on a post during the race. Curses. (DST 256.9) (DD spike 31)

As with other races, I am trying to get what positive encouragement I can out of it. So far all I can think of is don't run in the cold, and beat them next time. Next time stuff includes getting more time in the weight room earlier in the season, not getting injured in the peak mileage weeks and (as always) working harder at practice!

Wasn't sure I really wanted to run today, finally decided to go out on a fun run to remind me that I don't just run to win races, I like running. So I drove out onto the AZ strip and ran around in the desert for a while. Found a couple of trails, mostly just made my own. I think I happened to pick a trail that went up the highest hill out there, so my already dead legs were very mad at me until I got to the top where there was the most awesome view of St. George and the surrounding mountains and plateaus. Found some freakishly loose sand with my feet a couple of times, so I'll be feeling sand in my toes whenever I wear those shoes for a few weeks. I didn't know you could step in sand up to your shin, but now I do. Ha. Slow slow, 9:00/mi avg. pace. (Alchemy 225.6)

Ran in Farmington, NM. Felt the elevation (5,300) a bit. Thought I forgot my watch, so went on a 2.1 mile loop by my brother's house twice. Slow easy first loop, then picked it up on the second one. Knee feeling questionable. (DST 261.1)

Took a day off and partied with my nephews. I realize that I really don't like taking a day off - I felt fat and lazy. Except sleeping in (at least a little) felt pretty good.

Time to build up mileage again! Woo hoo! Ran a relatively fast Foremaster, first 1.5 w/Holt, so those were kinda speedy and the slight downhill across the top of Foremaster is almost always pretty quick. For the most part, the run felt really good - I think it's the first solid long run I've gotten in since I got injured, so that was refreshing. 7:45/mi avg. After the run, I lifted for the first time since the beginning of April. Ouch. 3x11 of everything: leg extensions (7), leg curls (9), lateral pulldown (3), bench press (50), squats (75), abs/back (5) and calf press - middle/inside/outside (90). Boy, am I going to be sore tomorrow. (Alchemy 232.5)

Ow. My legs are so sore. And my arms. And abs. But mostly my legs. As much as I'm glad in the way that this means I'm getting stronger, I don't like it. Nope nope. Accidentally left my watch home, which was probably good so I wouldn't be so depressed how slow my run was. Ran Green Springs 5-miler, hoped that legs would loosen up a bit after a couple miles, but no such luck. (DST 266.6)

Legs and abs are still SO sore. I'm not sure how much more of walking like an old woman I can handle. Out and back 6-miler in Washington (to first reflector post after the Wash. Pkwy left turn) ran the first couple of miles kinda quick (7:00-7:10ish) right behind Jeffry, Decker and Willy until they turned around at 1.6 mi. Tried keeping the pace around 7:30/mi the rest of the time, though legs were really protesting on the fourth and fifth miles which dropped to almost 8:00/mi. Avg. 7:38/mi. (Alchemy 239) Sandy toes!

Afterward, I picked up my St. George Running Center singlet and matching shorts, so now I can road race in style!!

Staheli Hill run w/ Holt (and Fre on the first half). The way out sure as heck felt fast, though I didn't have my watch (but Holt did - 6:44, 7:12, 6:59, 7:05, 7:32 and .3 at 7:30 pace), then after the Staheli hill and the industrial uphills on the way back I felt like my legs were barely moving for how much they were hurting. I feel like my legs are going to be sore for the rest of my life! They were starting to feel a little better today, but then I lifted again. What kind of a masochist am I? Upped a couple of weights and still did 3x11 of everything: LE (7), LC (10), LatP (3), Bench (55), Squats (80) and abs/back (5). Avg. 7:08/mi on run. (DST 272.4)

To summit light and back 3-miler this morning and my legs are - yet again - freakishly sore. They feel like they've gone through a rock tumbler repeatedly. With very large rocks. Ran pretty easy but kept it (mostly) from plodding. I am so tired. So I took a nap in journalism class. And physics. Yay! (DST 275.4)

7.2 miles, connected a few runs to do something slightly new - ran out toward green springs, up around on fairway drive/quail ridge drive back down and out up the firestation hill and back down into washington, then back to the high school the dogpound way. It was a pretty good run, uphill at the start and end with a lot of downhill in the middle (with the exception of the firestation hill), ran it pretty easy and my legs actually felt kinda like legs during the run for the first time since Monday! Avg. 7:58/mi. (Alchemy 246.7)

Took the ACT this morning. Boy am I glad that I'll NEVER have to take that again!  The frustrating thing is if it wasn't timed I could totally ace it. I probably could even if I got another 5 minutes a section! Argh!

After all that frustration, I took it out on a nice long-er run and randomly decided to run with my brother's iPod, which I've never done before, so that was interesting. I'm not sure if I like running with music. One of the nice things about going for a run is the time to think and relax mentally and with music you don't really get that. But I think if I'm doing a speed workout by myself it could be nice because it would help take the mind off how hard you're breathing and how much your legs burn.

Went on the Bloomington loop 8-miler, wanted to run faster than yesterday's 7-miler and ended up averaging barely faster than Wednesday's 6-miler. Felt pretty good for the most part, legs are getting back to normal (less sore) which is really nice. And as I finished my run, I realized that the chalk arrows were from the "Save-a-sister" run this morning. Ha. That would've been much more fun that what I did this morning. 7:24, 7:52, 7:34, 7:24, 7:47, 7:48, 7:40, 7:26 - avg. 7:37/mi. (Alchemy 254.8)

Realized at 1:00 last night/this morning (because my parents are out of town and my idiot brother was having a party with his college friends 'til way past then and I couldn't get to sleep) that I could get a run in this morning, before I donated blood, so I could feel better about only running a little this evening. Went on the AP 5-miler, legs were tired from yesterday, knee sore a bit in miles 1-2 and 4, didn't take it really easy, but avg. pace was 8:02/mi, so I definitely wasn't going fast either. (Alchemy 260)

Ran from church to stake center for broom hockey, then after, ran home. Felt mostly good, probably since I ran it pretty easy and it was short. A bit of lightheaded-ness going up steep uphills. (DST 286.9)

Wow. What a crappy run. Although I hate to make excuses, I think yesterday's loss of blood was the main culprit, combined with dehydration. Since I felt fine physically all day, I just assumed (bad plan) that I would be up to a hard run today. I definitely wasn't. 

Ran Dogpound AT (or at least attempted to), warmed up grass loop, then .5 on the run, then got into the AT part. From the get-go my legs just felt leaden and burning like they do in hard sprints, like there was only fermentation and no respiration going on in my muscles. Ouch. Pushed through it for the two downhill miles (6:37, 6:33), legs got less and less responsive and more and more hurty as I went. Then as I started going up the hills by Dogpound, my vision started getting black around the edges and I was panting and pushing and going about 7:30 pace, so I decided passing out was a bad plan and stopped for a second, then took it way easy for the last 1.5 of the run. Even going slow, it was really hard. Argh! Still, I am already hating myself for not finishing the workout. What an idiot whiner I am. (DST 287.4)