Running Blog

First run of the year! ..pretty much sucked, actually. Al Bal & I went out to the desert and it was just a slow, cold, crappy run. We're not even sure of the time/distance because we both forgot to start our watches when Alli stopped to take off her jacket.

Today was a weird day and I ended up not getting a run in. I did a crossfit workout thing though, which involved a lot of squats, push ups, grasshoppers, and sit ups. Then I did 8/5 core. 

Today was a great run. I didn't expect it to be good at first, because Alli and I went to a class party for Sunday School (yes, I still go to my old Sunday School class when I'm at home. My teacher is the bomb. Exhibit A: we had a class party). Anyway, the party was at Durangos, and then we went to Cold Stone after, so we were stuffed. But we got out there with Gabbie and ran anyway. It took me a while to warm up to the run, and our first two miles were quite slow (9:10, 9:32, although in our defense, there's a big hill at the end of the second mile). Then Alli turned around and Gabbie and I extended to 25:00. My last four splits were as follows: 7:56, 8:17, 7:52, 7:22. I felt fantastic throughout the last four miles. And good news, my watch says I burned 720 calories, which is probably what I consumed at lunch alone. Bleh. I NEED to start eating better. Alli and I are going to do some core now.

Not-so-easy easy run out in the desert.. I actually left for Logan yesterday, but never made it because my car and I had a couple breakdowns on the side of the freeway in Fillmore. The whole two days were just really stressful and emotionally confusing and thusly, this morning's run pretty much sucked. I couldn't focus on the run or anything else really-- I just felt off and sort of disoriented. Pace was around 8:43, but I stopped a few times just to kick some rocks and give the entire world the bird (okay, not really, but really). Then I left for Logan again (for real this time) and things got better after that. I have a workout tomorrow with the team. Nervous. Sort of just want it to be over with. Blehhhhhh.

15 min warm up. 8xstrides. Then tempo(ish) with the team (ish). Everyone sort of had a different workout, but it was all together. We went up to the tempo loop where the main group had 2 loops (= 4 miles) progression. I did the first and third mile with them, with an easy half mile shortcut back to the start in between. The first mile was 6:41 and my second mile was 6:50(ish.. my watch was off because of the half mile in between). It was hard, but felt good. 15 min cool down. Then we did fast feet (throwback to the soccer days) and legs back at the Laub.

40 minutes at 7:50 avg. pace. 5.11 miles total. I stopped my watch to stretch at some places cause the sidewalks weren't shoveled & the snow & air were killing me.

45 minutes. Started out on the course but the top end of it was a mud hole, so I wrapped around and finished on 8th. 8:20 avg pace, so 5.5 miles total on the run. Then 6x100 strides and 8 min set of core. 

In other news I talked to this girl on the team and we discovered we are cousins. #utahprobs

2.5 mile warm up (it's freaking freezing). 4x100m strides (not timed) and 6x100m strides (20 seconds). 6x400 at 80 seconds with 90 seconds recovery. 1.5 mile cool down. Legs.

This workout was hard. The first 3 I was right with the group and hit :80 without too much trouble. My right hamstring was tightening up and I was sorta dizzy, but mostly okay. The next three weren't so hot. The 4th was actually fine, the biggest problem was that the girl in front of me started falling off the group and I didn't pass her in enough time to stick with the rest of the girls. The last two were ugly; I was having some serious breathing problems. I think those were around :84 or :85, but I'm not for sure. Runners cough is back. Yay.

Later I ran another mile-ish because I was supposed to help set up for the high school invite tomorrow, but got dropped off at the wrong place and had to walk all the way from the Laub to the fieldhouse. I took a shortcut through the track, but being there alone at night with all that fog & no lights sorta freaked me out, so I ran the whole way.

60 minutes with Spencer down into Logan Canyon & back. I had to run to meet him at the TSC because my car keys got left in my neighbors apartment overnight (not usually a big deal, but this time they betrayed me and locked their door). It was super foggy and cold.. so much so that my hair and eyelashes froze. But it was a good run & I had a lot of fun. My hamstring is still kinda tight, but I think after the rest of today and tomorrow, it'll be fine.

1.5 mile warm up. 10x100 @ 16 seconds, 3x200 @ 33 seconds.

Holy Hannah. I have never been so miserable after a workout. I don't think it actually was all because of the workout; I think today was a yucky day anyway. The 100s were fine and felt good and same with the first 200, but then the lactic built up and the second two 200s were like :35ish. At this point, I was so dizzy and pukey and ouchy that I couldn't even walk without everything going all fuzzy and weird, so I would sit down and drink some water, then get up and walk a few steps, then sit down again. Coach Spence had me lay down and put my legs up against the wall to drain the lactic, but they hurt so bad I couldn't even stretch them out and I ended up just laying down in a heap at the base of the wall. I laid there for so long, some guy came up and asked if I was dead. I told him yes. He told me his name was Dan and that I probably wouldn't die. And that was the end of our interaction. After like 15 minutes of laying there and wallowing in misery, I staggered to my feet and walked home in this gross cold drizzly fog and my hair got all frizzy and my life just sucks. But Coach Spence told me he's glad I'm coming out for track and I have a lot of potential. So yippee for potential. If I ever decide to walk again, anyway.

40 minutes easy with Heather. I am a bit sore from yesterday (even my arms. That's how long it's been since I did any kind of speed). Full core after. It was a good day, even though I was originally planning on XT-ing for today. I'll do that tomorrow.

40 minutes on the stationary bike in the mezzanine. I supposedly biked 7.9 miles, but I didn't actually go anywhere, so that could be BS. 6x100 m strides in the Laub afterward. They'd taken down the oval so I just did them straight up the middle of the field.

In other, more terrifying news, Coach Spence called me today and asked if I wanted to run the mile at Boise this weekend. My brain was all like "h-e-double-hockey-sticks no, you disgusting human being. Do you think I am race-ready at this point in time? If so, you have much more confidence in me than I do." But in real life I just sort of laughed nervously and said "..I don't know.. sure?" So.. I'm racing this weekend. Pray for me.

25 minute warm up with Heather, Sydney, & Megan. Wasn't much of a warm up though because it was freezing and I was colder when I got back than when I started. Fun thing though, we passed Corey running the opposite way. He said "hi JP!" and I said "hey Corey!" and that was it. Then we got back & had a freaking workout. I was like "..uh.. did you know we're racing this weekend?" But whatever. We did 6x100 at :16ish and then we were supposed to have 4x200 at :32. But halfway through the 200s I had a mild emotional breakdown about the meet this weekend and Coach moved me to the miler group, so I ended up doing 2x100 at :18 and 4x200 at :36. So, overall, my whole workout was (6x100, 2x200, 2x100, 4x200). Then legs and 7 min core.

During my little freak-out though, I told Coach I wasn't sure if I was ready and he told me not to worry. He said he wanted me to come up to the meet & be with the team, and if I ran or not was up to me. He said I have up until I step on the line to back out. I don't plan on backing out based on my nerves, because that's super lame, but if I get there and the times seem too out-of-reach I might wait til the next meet to run. I don't know. This is the kind of thing that makes me question if I started track again simply because I hate my life.

Easy 40 minutes with the team except for the DMR girls. It was fun to watch them. Afterward we all lay down on the floor and put our legs against the wall to drain the lactic. 

Ed Jacoby Invitational. 20 minute warm up, light drills, 4x100m strides, RACE, 15 minute cool down.

Well.. it was definitely my first race back. That's the only detail from the actual race that I think is needed. I still don't know my time because I looked it up online and they have the wrong time for me somehow. It's weird, because they have me 7 places higher up than I should be and there's no one on the list with my actual time, so I didn't get switched with anyone or anything. They just put the wrong time. But hey. I'll take it. It's a lot faster than my actual time. 

This race was a huge learning experience for me-- I've never raced indoor on a track like that. It's 200m and like all wooden and on stilts or something. It's very noisy. Also, after the first 3 laps, all my pacing went out the window and I was kind of just running. I was pretty discouraged after I finished, but now I just want to get back out and try again. I want to try pacing better and sticking with girls. Our next meet is this coming Saturday and it's at the same track. I hope Coach Spence lets me run the mile again at this one, because I know I can do better. Today was rough for a variety of reasons. Mostly because just getting on the starting line was a huge accomplishment for me. My race day nerves have always been bad, but this meet was ridiculous. I was terrified the whole weekend, and after Coach gave me the option of backing out, it was especially difficult to want to get out there. But I did it and that was good. Also, my entire right leg was ouchy and I'm not sure why. And, after one of the worst night's sleeps I've ever had, I woke up sick this morning-- sore throat, bad headache, etc. I guarantee a lot of it was mental because I was so so nervous. So I want to try again in better conditions and see what I can do. 

60 minutes on an adventure run with Spencer. It was long and hilly and I'm not sure what I did wrong on Saturday but whatever it was seriously jacked up my calf. It hurts like none other-- I've pretty much just been limping around today. I'm hoping it's just from not having used those muscles so hard in so long. 

45 minutes, 6x100m strides, full core, Tegs

The run was grand. The weather was nice (okay, not actually NICE, but like I wore a long sleeve shirt and tights and wasn't too cold or hot) and Sydney and I had some great conversation. I found out before we ran that I'll be running the mile again this weekend so yay. The strides were all right but about halfway through my quad sort of hurt again. My calf is slowly feeling better though so yay for that too. I've been coughing up a storm & I still can't really breathe very well through my nose but I'm hoping it will clear up soon.

Sick sick sick. After I got home from practice yesterday, I was coughing so hard I started gagging and it took me years to fall asleep because of it. I packed all my running stuff this morning though and was planning on going to practice anyway because my cough magically goes away while I'm running. But then in my math class I legitimately couldn't go without coughing for more than a minute or so (my classmates probably thought I had the plague. My professor actually stopped class to ask if I was okay). So I texted Coach Spence to see what he thought and he told me no running today. It's so weird to me when he tells us not to run because in high school I wouldn't have even bothered to tell a coach about my cough-- as long as I wasn't throwing up, I would assume I was supposed to run (whether I actually ran or not is a different story however). But yesterday Coach Spence got mad at Karli for not telling him she was sick last week and running anyway, and I definitely didn't want to get in trouble, so I told him and voila. No run. Then my third class got cancelled so I have nothing to do today but rest & recover. Magic.

40 minutes at 8:05 pace. Full core. 

First half of the run I was with the team, but then I had to turn around cause Coach Spence only wanted me running 40 minutes cause of my sicklyness. I told him I still want to run this weekend though so I will be doing that. 

Easy shakeout with the team in Nampa. 4x100 m strides & light drills. Sicknesses may come and go, but this cough is eternal.

15 minute shakeout with the team in the early hours. Then later a 20 minute warm up with the milers. Light drills. Race. 20ish minute cool down.

So. This race was better and worse than last week. 

Better: I felt like I pushed harder, I was closer around the girls in my race, and I probably did a little better time-wise, though the world will never truly know due to last week's timing fiasco. I didn't lose 4 (or any, for that matter) spikes during this race. Also my throat didn't taste like broccoli and wood when I finished this week, so that was a major plus.

Worse: My alley went out a bit fast and I ended up near the front for the first little bit of the race, which sort of freaked me out. Afterward, I did that thing where I cough so hard my internal organs try to escape and I have to lean over the trash can for a long while, because even though I know I'm not actually going to puke, people give me dirty looks if I stand around dry heaving next to them or their personal belongings. Also, knowing my time sorta sucks because I can't even pretend I'm not SUPER far behind where I once was. I mean, it's good to know where I'm at and to have something to work off of, but I also sort of hate it.

All in all, this race was another learning experience. I want to keep running the mile over and over and just keep trying to bring my time down. I know I can do it eventually, it's just going to take a lot of patience and a LOT of hard work. It is so good to be back though. It's funny, because back in high school, I couldn't WAIT to be able to stay in a hotel or go to a restaurant without having to worry about a race the next day. But then I finally got to that point and all I wanted was to be back running. I think that as much as that break set me back, I really needed it to make me realize how much I actually do like running. Never before have I finished a race and wanted to immediately get back on the track and try again (okay, not immediately, because it's hard to run and half-puke simultaneously, but you get it). So.. yeah. Those are my thoughts. Kudos to you if you read all the way through.

50 minutes with Sydney & Karli. The weather was FANTASTIC. It was so super sunny and nice.. it was actually only 45ish degrees, but it felt like freaking summer. I wore a short sleeve shirt and half tights. The only downside to the fantastic weather was that we ran on a trail and because all the snow was melting, the trail was actually mud and we were sliding around, which didn't help my poor calves, which were threatening to fall off at any second. But overall, it was a good run. I did 4x100m strides after then had to sprint home to make it to bowling class on time.

8 mile progression run. 1 mile cool down. 4x200. .5 mile cool down. Legs & light core.

Well. This was my first progression run ever and it was.. okay. I was fine for the first 5 miles, then during the last 3 I started to feel yucky and didn't do so hot. My splits were as follows: 9:19, 8:04, 7:46, 7:34, 7:30, 7:34, 7:35, 7:48. So I "progressed" for the first 5, then kinda hovered around that mid-7:30 pace for the next two, then the last mile was garbage. When I started feeling icky, I decided to make it my main goal to just not settle & focus on pushing. I did okay with that until that last mile, then it all went to pot. The 200s were okay though. Our target pace was :36 and we hit :37, :36, :36, :34. My calves are feeling far better than yesterday, though not quite tip-top yet. Tomorrow I'm pretty sure it's just a recovery run so that'll be good for me.

45 minutes easy. I went up the canal we did on Monday but since I started at my apartment instead of the Laub, I didn't make it to the really muddy part before I turned around. It's been nice temperatures lately, and today I wore a short sleeve and shorts and felt completely fine, even though it's sorta gloomy & wet outside. It was a good recovery run from yesterday and I think with this run my calves will be fine by tomorrow.

Easy 40 minutes with the team out to the temple. 6x100m strides & legs afterward.

Easy longer run with Spencer and Garrett. Super nice weather. It was fun.