Run Like A Guppy

Run today was pretty uneventful. Legs still not feeling the greatest, so definitely took advantage of the recovery with a 8:18/mile pace. Hopefully I won't be feeling so wrecked by wednesday....because I need to get wrecked again at camp. If I don't blog tomorrow it's because I melted in the heat thanks to practices being at 1:00 in the afternoon. Wish me luck. 

I'm sure you're all thrilled to know I'm not a puddle on the sidewalk...though I may or may not admit today was the sweatiest I've ever been.Gotta love that 1:00 practice time. It was just another low recovery run; we headed out to Lehi High and got a drink, then hit main street for a bit before heading back to the park for a much needed ice bath. Feeling better today than the last few runs, I held a 7:51/mile AP. Shoutout to the little lizard that ran next to me on the sidewalk for a bit...I think he was tryna race me, and he put up a good fight, but don't worry...I still won.

First day of camp was great! I can't say the out and back (more like up and down)  was my favorite kind of run....especially with the sideache....but the trail was way pretty and it's just so nice to run somewhere different. Nothing too crazy, had an 8:07/mile AP so that was good, overall it was a solid day 

Day two of camp was so fun, I love the Deer Creek trail. I also felt considerably better than yesterday. Jamie gave us paces for the last third of our run (the rest was recovery) and I had a super great last three miles. Splits for the whole day went: 8:19, 8:15, 8:12, 8:25, 8:16, 8:28, 7:50, 7:21, 7:04

Well day three of camp was a sucess, despite the blister. We went and hit a super great trail out in Park City that is flat for what seems like forever. Jamie definitely pushed me with her whole negative split plan, but it was way good and it felt awesome to work hard. The first half was all recovery pace, held a nice easy 8:24/mile for that, and then hammered out the miles back negative split style with  8:00, 7:41, 7:31, 7:08, 7:00 mile splits.

Much needed recovery run today, held a 8:02/mile AP, nothing more to report on

"easy" run today. Held a 7:25 AP

another "easy" pace day. Legs were feeling tired from the day before, 7:39 AP

Ran the race course for tomorrow....kinda. I had to leave early because of work. Mentally I feel ready for the race tomorrow but my legs are pretty tired. And I'm captain of the orange team with Mike so that's cool

Well it was the team race today....Can't say I was happy with my time. I know it's the beginning of the season, and I wasn't in the best spot physically since I'm a bit sick, but I thought I could for sure at least break 19. I've got quite the game of catch-up to play if I'm going to get back to where I was last season. 

Coach called a team wide cross train day, so I went and swam for 45 minutes. I can't believe I used to be able to do way harder workouts for 2 hours... haha I'm so weak in the pool now. I fear I might be developing a serious case of runner arms...which means they barely exist. 

Didn't feel like waking up at 6am to run with the girls (sorry) so I got out on the MCT around 9:00. It was a nice recovery run...kinda....7:49 AP. The three main things that happened on my run: 1) For reasons unknown to me, I had the christmasy music from polar express stuck in my head...I was thinking about hot chocolate in the middle of august while running in 70 degree weather and I don't even know how that happened. 2) I passed a guy that looked so much like Matt Damon I almost asked him if they were siblings. 3) Some biker guy gave me a high five as we headed down opposite sides of the trail, so shoutout to him.

Did 10 mins of abs and hips before practice, then headed down to the park. Easy mile wu then over to the jr high for some grass pickups. I wasn't expecting my legs to feel too great with the speed, but after the first two, the pickups actually felt pretty good. Not quite sure how fast of a pace the pickups were at due to some technical difficulties, but they were at least at 6min/mile pace. Cooled down and did 15 mins of extra abs with the girls, so call me an overachiever

Well it was an 'easy' pace day and really hot....so I had to run myself into a migraine...again. This is starting to get really annoying, I need to figure out the main cause for these because I keep thinking I've fixed it and then I'll get another one. Went home right after the run as soon as I started seeing spots and proceeded to be a dead person in bed the rest of the day. Wahoo.  

Still not feeling 100% after dying yesterday, but I got some polarized sunglasses to at least keep the sun out of my eyes, they were still pretty sensitive to light. Pre meet went ok for how I was feeling, it was actually a bit quick at around a 2:57. Finished up mileage and ice bathed.

I honestly was still not feeling the best before the race. Waited around because I raced last, and I started really getting in my own head and focusing on how I'd been sick and I still wasn't feeling 100%. Luckily I caught that pretty early on and went and listened to my mental tape...which really helped switch my mindset even if I wasn't all there physically. Wrote my trigger phrase on my wrist, listened to pump up music, warmed up a mile, and headed to the line with my trusty chocolate flavored gu in hand. Start was good, a bit quick...but since when is that actually a problem? Stuck on Sarah Musselman and just let the mental tape take over. I don't remember being so calm and confident in a race since I pr'd in the mile at BYU. I had 3rd place locked in the last quarter mile, but I lost it to Sarah's kick...better work for next time because I don't exactly believe in luck. So overall it was great start to the season, but I still have a lot of room to improve. Cooldown was miserable, I've never felt so horrible after a race...but I've never raced that fast so that's probably why. Felt about as sick all night as my race was. 

To sum it up, I'm pretty sure dead men have felt better running than I did today...and I've got an 8:45 average pace to prove it

Well I didn't want to get up before the sun, and I had work from 7-10 so I decided I'd drive to the Provo river trail for some shade and hopefully some cooler temperatures. First mile I felt like lead, but that's still better than how I felt all of yesterday so wahoo. Just slowly racked up the miles and took a good recovery pace going up the trail, compensated my pace on the way back down and ended up with a 8:19 average pace...so considering I barely feel like walking right now, I'd call that success. 

Well, school is here. Wahoo. We did the kicker today, which I actually felt really mentally strong on, even if my legs were still a bit wrecked. I think my last race definitely broke down some tough mental barriers that have been up for a year or more...I never realized how much I was limiting myself just because I thought I wasn't supposed to be racing next to someone faster than me. Got a new PR of 9:42. The cooldown was...rough. I felt like I was churning wet cement instead of running on pavement. My calves were super tight, and my right Achillies started being pulled a bit by that, but hopefully some ice and rolling out will fix it. Also my wonderful father ran over all my  left toes with a truck on sunday so those guys hurt a bit too. But we got some free and icy cold water bottles at Smiths so shoutout to them. 

Well it was the "tri-meet" today...even though it turns out all three teams were treating it like a tempo. My calves were still super tight and I was nervous about my achillies, so shoutout to Kaylee for rolling me out. I tried warming up two miles and it felt tight but not too concerning, so I decided to race...but I forgot my watch so also shoutout to Saltboy for letting me borrow his watch. First mile was around 6:40-6:35 and I think the second mile was around 6:20 or so...haha I didn't have my watch. But I got the semi-hollow victory of winning everyone's tempo workout so wahoo. Cooled down two more miles and I could feel my calves tightening a lot, so I didn't go nine. Iced for a long time after.

I was not motivated at all as we headed out on high recovery today...but we ended up not going down the gully and we did a quality mile grass run at a park 3.5 miles out so I ended up liking our route a lot. My calves were still just so tight...I don't know why they aren't loosening up. But at least they didn't bother my achillies so wahoo. Shoutout to Saltboy for rolling me out/torturing me after the run. Ice bathed and I'm going to roll out again so hopefully my calves will be feeling a bit better tomorrow. 

FINALLY dropped down to low mileage, which felt really nice. Although it was 'easy' pace...but it actually wasn't too bad, held a 7:24/mile ap so we were well within our range. Hit the splashpad on the way back so that was nice, did abs and hips in the bike room. Shoutout to Saltboy for rolling me out....my calves defninitely still had some knots in them even if they didn't feel as tight today. Had a good icebath after and I'm getting kinda pumped for grass relays.

Just low recovery before the race. 8:10/mile ap. And shoutout to Saltboy because #streak.

Didn't quite feel as mentally strong going into this race as I did at highland...I think I was so focused on trying to find that midset again that I forced it too much and lost it. My time was decent for the hay bales, and I got us into 4th place, though I was quite a bit farther from 3rd than I wanted to be...I should've been able to stick with her. Didn't get full mileage in because I was trying to not get fired so that's a win. Shoutout to saltboy because he raced hecka fast for being injured.  

Speed workout today was 2(3x 90 second hill sprints)...ok Jamie said it was at 5k pace but trying to keep that up a hill is basically sprinting. My legs are so wrecked from grass relays...I did still try to work on my kick, since that seems to be my weakest point in my races. Felt pretty dead tired between the heat, my legs, and the hills, so I took the rest of my mileage really slow. Abs, hips, and ice bath after.

Well for some reason we did a ton of hills today, and by the time we got back to skyridge the back of my right knee hurt really bad. I went and talked to Jamie and she said it was prolly my hamstrings or quads and to stop running for the day, so I went and biked. Abs and hips after plus a painful time on the foam roller, but I thnk I'm getting somewhere with the knot I found in my lower quad.

I was a bit nervous to race on my leg, but I think I rolled out enough yesterday because it felt ok. First two miles were at tempo pace with a 6:27 first mile and 6:39 second mile, then I really opened it up the last mile with a 6:04. Knee and quads both still feel good. Forgot to stop my watch though so idk what my time was, and I was too busy cooling down to see where I placed so wahoo.