Fartleks!

Today was another round of fartleks! They were actually pretty good because Brennan, Nina and I went to Olin/Babson College campus, and since they have to plow everything for their college students, everything was perfectly clear!

We warmed up there for 22 minutes, and commenced our 16 30/30 fartleks. These felt good at first, then quickly felt bad when my soreness from Saturday kicked in. It hurt even more after the fartleks though...

We then cooled down 22 minutes back. Although near the end, we met a dog named Manny. He was roaming Forest Street by himself, and started following us back to the school, so we decided to be good samaritans and return him! So we turned around to get him to run home, and he promptly sat down and refused to budge. So Brennan and Nina went to go get the owner, which took forever and we were freezing and now we don't really like Manny anymore. (disclaimer: his name was manny, not danny, despite what you may hear otherwise)

morning heartrate: 44

SUNDAY OFF!

This is the first time in a while I haven't run for extra mileage on Sunday - its kinda nice!

Anyways, I wanted to document my heart rate, which was a really low 44 this morning...not sure if that's logical?

And my legs are a tad sore, but not too bad...just tired! So its good that I'm taking the day off!

Saturday workout

Today was 12x100 meter sprints with 100 meter rest in between. so fast!

We warmed up with 17 minutes, and the sidewalks are still not very well plowed and it was quite annoying to be slipping on all the snow! When we got to Washington Street, Nina, Brennan and I did 3 strides to get warm. Although it was pretty warm out today already, so we didn't need that much! Not like last year, I think we did this workout or something like it in 0 degree windchill and we did like 8 strides before we could even start!

Anyways, we had to sprint all out for 100 meters, then decelerate, then sprint again, etc. I think my inner sprinter really came out, and I felt like I was flying! (at least for the first few) The first few sprints felt really easy and relaxed. After about 4 I started really concentrating on form and trying to stay on my toes. I was tired by 8, which made it all the more important to concentrate on form! I think I did pretty well overall though...The total time for that was roughly 10 minutes (i think...I had running time on my watch, and I can't remember if I stopped it at the end when we were just talking, but I think 10 minutes sounds like a reasonable amount of time, i hope?)

Then Nina, James, Kevin, Brennan and I were fortunate enough to get to do ANOTHER workout on top of the sprinting! We didn't really want to repeat the sprinting workout again, so we did 4x200 at goal 800 pace. We jogged around for 5 more minutes, and then hit the road again! I think the 200 meter mark was a bit short because my first 200 was a 32, which is basically a sprint and I was most definitely NOT sprinting. We got 30 seconds rest and ran back, which was another 32. Then we completed the rest of the 200's, and I finished in two 34 highs. I could tell my form was deteriorating and I felt insanely slow in the last hundred meters of each one! But then (finally!) the workout was over!

We cooled down for 22 minutes (Brennan and I, I think the others may have gone a bit longer) to bring the total run for today to 56, and the total time this week to 360, which is down 10% from last week. (At least, I hope it was 56, its really bothering me about the stopwatch, but I'm pretty sure I stopped it! and anyways, those like 3 minutes wouldn't really do much even if I did miss them - this is me trying to rationalize with myself!)

And now my legs are quite sore, and stairs pose an enormous problem, and I can only hope they will feel better tomorrow, but they probably wont! Oh well!

Morning heart rate was 12.

An Actual Friday

Although it has felt like friday all week, today was actually Friday, and felt like a monday. These snow days are really messing me up!

Anyways, today was a long run, but since we are decreasing our mileage, it was "only" 81 minutes! We went down weston road (again...suprise suprise!) and made some nice loops around there. Then we ran back and did 6 strides in the parking lot.

Things felt good for most of the run today - I wasn't too tired until the very end, and my calves deceptively felt good for the first 75 minutes of the run. However, back on Washington street, all the sudden i felt something "crawl" up my calf, and it started hurting again! AGHHHH! I can't wait till the snow's gone!! But its not too painful, so I suppose I'll survive :)

Snow Day #3

Its getting a bit old now - all these snow days! And we've hardly had school for the past month, I feel like I've just been doing homework non-stop!

Anyways, when I woke up this morning, it was yet another snow day, which was quite annoying because we were supposed to have a meet today. I really truly wanted to run today because I really wanted to pr in the mile! Alas, mother nature had other plans, and decided to dump another 10 inches of snow. So instead of racing, I shoveled! Now there is no where to put the snow because we have already shoveled up these HUGE snow banks on the sides of our driveway, so it was like double the exercise trying to get it over the top of these 5 foot mounds! After an hour of shoveling, I saw that the meet was officially canceled, and went for a run with Brennan.

We did the B run with 15 minutes of tempo. My calf was still bothering me, but not as much with the yak trax. We went to Weston Road again, and struggled a bit getting over there. Once on the backroads, we commenced our tempo, which felt pretty good. I think we started out a bit too fast, but soon enough I was in a groove and running smoothly. After about 10 minutes my legs started feeling sore and wanted to stop, but i didn't! The snow didn't help either, because I was trying to go fast and would just slip. Anyways, after the tempo, we ran back to our houses via the weston road - sprague loop. This included a lot of hopping through the snow seeing as they only shoveled half the brook path. Oh well...

The total run ended up being a bit long - 71 minutes - because of all the snow.

Heart rate this morning was 12.

drills

Since today was make up day and we didn't have school, we decided to hold practice at 10 am both to get it out of the way and to avoid the snow that came later in the afternoon. So I warmed up 20 minutes to the highschool. My left calf was bothering me from yesterday. I felt it a lot more during the drills, especially skipping. It almost feels like a knot in the middle of my calf - kinda like what Brennan was describing a couple weeks ago. AGHHHH! Not good timing!

Anyways, we had a pretty good turnout, and did drills in the teacher parking lot. We did a, b, and c skips, then high knees, butt kicks, drum majors and triple ups. I worked hard to stay on my toes the entire time two! We did two sets and then 6 strides. Because there were less people and it was cold out, the entire thing only took us half an hour! WOW! Then Brennan and I cooled down, then split to go back to our houses. Total running time was 42 minutes. My calf was really bothering me on the cool down. I think its from all the snow. I iced right when I got back and it went away. I just iced again like 20 minutes ago, and its feeling okay!

Brennan and I's plan for tomorrow:

We're going to run 42's to get a 5:36 mile. I really want this time because it will be a pr and I have not pr'd yet this season. Anyways, she's going to take the first two laps, then I'll take the second two, and on from there. And I am not starting in the barrel. As fun as that was...


Morning pulse was 12/13.

Tuesday - feels like friday!

Today was only a tuesday, but since we don't have school tomorrow, the run felt like a friday run! Today was a B run plus 16 30:30 fartleks. We ran down to Weston Road and did the fartleks on the backroads there. They felt really good, minus the snow that came today and coated some hidden ice! The ice did make my calves a bit sore, as with everyone else's! Overall, it was a pretty good run! It totaled 66 minutes, which was great!

Morning heart rate: 12

RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE!

Today was freezing. Legit, SO. COLD. It was something like 6 degrees and felt like sub - zero. We warmed up inside, thank goodness! So fifteen minutes jogging the halls! Then we layered up! 5 shirts, 2 pairs of spandex, 2 pairs of socks and large fleece mittens. By the time we got outside, it felt almost warm. Almost. And not for long! We ran over to Washington Street, bringing warm up total to 21 minutes. Then we did 12x200 at 800 goal pace with 45 seconds rest. These times were all over the place, particularly because we had to run the sidewalk one way and the street back. We were aiming for 36's. We went out in 36, back on the street in 34, then 37, then 34, then 37, then 35, then 37, then 33, then 36, then 34, then 36, then 33. Yes, many of the street parts were really fast, but the effort always felt the same, and I think the sidewalk ones were slower because of ice. Even though they weren't actually that slow because we hit the times we were going for. The workout didn't feel too too bad, but i was definitely uncomfortable. I felt a tad nauseous and my face was so cold I couldn't feel it. I felt really tired for the last 6 repeats, but those were my fastest times. Which was interesting because I felt like I was going a whole lot slower but I guess my legs took over and kept propelling me forward! Hopefully this will be the case in my race this week!

We ran back in as fast as possible. Total cool down was 16.

Morning heart rate was 12-13

Sunday : more mileage

Because this week did not include a long run, I had to run extra again! But Brennan and I did a surprisingly good job keeping up, especially due to our 85 and 70 minute runs on race days! Anyways, to get up to 401 today, I needed 29 minutes. So that's what I did - I ran 29 minutes around Wellesley College. It was FREEZING out! My face was very cold!! My legs didn't feel too bad, just tired. I stretched after!

Morning heart rate: 13

saturday - relay meet

I came very close to not going to this meet, but then decided to postpone SAT's and run instead :) I think I made a good choice, I was definitely not ready to take that test!

Anyways, I ran the 4x800 with Jessie, Eva and Carlijn. We got to Reggie at like 8:35, and had to warm up and get our spikes checked right away because the 4x8 was the first event! It was a tad stressful! We managed to get in 15 minutes, and then had to go back to the gym. We were seeded 3rd, but still had to take off our sweats and everything with everyone else, meaning we had about 1/2 an hour of standing around in tank tops and shorts. I don't think that helped ...

I was the first leg, and went out in 17 high, then 35 for the first 100. I tried to slow a tad so I could keep the pace, but slowed down too much and went to a 38. I didn't realize I was going that slow though because I still hit my first 400 split, which was supposed to be a 72/3. I tried maintaining that pace, and hit a 39 low, so I did pretty much maintain the pace, only it wasn't the right pace. I came back in 39 as well for a 2:33. Not too happy about that. But Chisum said it looked like I had a lot left, or that I didn't push hard enough, and I didn't. I have to learn to push myself past that threshold, I think thats my biggest problem right now.

Anyways, we got 4th, which was good! We got medals and qualified the class meet! I can't wait to run at the class meet and (hopefully) qualify for all states!

I cooled down for 53 minutes, bringing the total to 70 for the day. My legs were VERY sore afterwards, but thankfully, my knee was not bothering me too much, I could hardly feel it while racing!

Another Snow Day!

Today I woke up and my father came running in to tell me I had a snow day! What fun! Of course, this, however, meant no practice... Because there was no practice, I ended up meeting Brennan at Tutto Italiano around 11ish to do our B Run! We ran for 65 minutes down Weston Road and around those back roads. They were actually pretty well plowed! We wore our yak trax and stylish hats to keep out the snow. Speaking of snow, it was strangely sunny and snowing at the same time! We also experienced quite a few white outs from trees!

At the end of the run, I was able to do 6 strides on Cottage Street because it had been plowed pretty well. However, I do not think they were all a full 100 meters. My legs were pretty sore today too - I think because I did not stretch enough after the race yesterday. I actually couldn't really stretch that much because my knee was in quite a lot of pain. Its feeling better today, but its still sore, and then I tripped on the ice and fell on it again...oh well!

I forgot my morning pulse again - Oops!

Thursday - Race Day

It seems like I'm at Reggie waaaaaaaay too often! It never seems like a full week in between meets! Anyways, I ran the 1000 today, and what a race it was!

To start at the beginning, I warmed up for 15 minutes with Carlijn and Taylor outside. It took a while for them to get us on the track, and its always stressful watching everyone race before us!

Anyways, I wasn't very stressed going into it. I was planning on trying to run 39-40's and get sub 3:20. It didn't work out. After 100 meters, (which was a bit fast) I tripped over Carlijn and rolled into the infield! I was a bit stunned at first, and sat there for a second or so. I was also confused whether or not I was DQ'd / should continue running. But I got back up anyways and tried to catch up! I feel like I did a pretty good job. Although my splits were still slow - the two I heard were 41's. Ehh. But ultimately, I ran a 3:25.07. Not the PR I was hoping for, but I did qualify, by like .2 seconds! And hopefully I could have run faster without falling! I'm gonna say that little incident both wasted time and slowed me down a bit! Nothing wrong with a few excuses :)

Then I cooled down for about 66 minutes to get some extra mileage. So total time was apx. 85 minutes! wooohoooo! long run! My knee hurt while I was running. There's two rug burns, and its a tad swollen, and feels like a bruise. I iced twice when I got home. Hopefully it'll all be fine by Saturday!

Wednesday

We had practice today! But they were drills and since it was so yucky out, and freezing rain was pouring from the sky, we decided to run completely inside. So we started out with 17.5 minutes running through the hallways up and down and up and down, and actually maintained a pretty good pace! Then we met in the lower art wing for drills. We did A, B, and C skips, and High knees, butt kicks, triple ups, drum majors (all that 2x) and 6 strides. Everything was feeling good, and I felt like my form was controlled and tight. Although I did feel a bit of the effects of the pounding, my legs just feel a bit weighed down, but I stretched out! We then cooled down for another 17.5 minutes inside, bringing it to 35 for the day. We were supposed to do 50 (according to the plan we made at the beginning of the week), but seeing as we were just running inside and there's a race tomorrow and running on the hard floors didn't feel so good, we'll just add it onto sunday's run, or a cool down at some other time!

forgot morning heart rate

Tuesday- YUCK

It is GROSS out today! Actually, disgusting! So practice was canceled because all after school stuff was canceled. I ended up going to BSC with my mother and brother. We all went on the treadmills, and it must have been quite a sight...

After 5 minutes Brennan showed up, so she kept me company after my family abandoned me - for some reason they didn't want to work out for the whole 65 minutes :) I struggled a bit trying to read, and having my book swept off the treadmill... Brennan and I spent most of the time watching strange music videos and dance-running, which also must have been quite the sight! In all, I did 65 minutes, and then 6 strides for 20 seconds each at 10mph. The total run was done at 7 mph.

Morning hr - 11/12

Monday

I forgot to write yesterday, but here's what we did!

Brennan, Nina and I warmed up with 18 minutes, and it was FREEZING outside again! BRRRR! Then we all met on Washington for the workout. It was 4x200 at mile pace, (38,39,39,39) then 4x200 at 800 goal pace (36,37,38,37) then 4x200 at 400 pace (33,34,33,34). These were all really hard to pace because there were no 100 meter markers. And the rest was always iffy because there was so much traffic! Too many trackies on Washington Street! And then the last set of 200s was a bit of a struggle, I think my legs were still a tad tired from Saturday, and I was aiming for 32s, but couldn't get it.

We cooled down for 21 minutes

Mileage has the potential to be a bit low this week, so we added a little extra today, and I was going to go for more in the afternoon, but then calculated what the mileage should come out to be, and we would only be 34 minutes shy of last week by Sunday, so Brennan and I decided we would just do that on Sunday rather than double up on a day.

sunday

So today was supposed to be off, but since I only ellipticalled on Wednesday because of the snowstorm, I had to run a bit. However, since we ran so long yesterday, I could only run around 20 minutes or else I would go over 10%. So I ran for 23 minutes, bringing me a total of 401 minutes for the week! I felt pretty good, not very tired at all, which was nice!

Heart rate: 12

104 minutes :/

SO today was supposed to be just a normal workout day, and thats what I was thinking as I went into it. But it was much much more...

To start - it was 2 degrees this morning when I checked at 9:00. I think it was like 7 when we went to practice. We did an 18 minute warm up and it was FREEZING! Then we got started on the workout, which was supposed to be 3x400 at 2 sec slower than 800 goal pace, then 3x400 at 2 mile goal pace, then 3x400 at the 800s again. SO we did that, and the first set was a bit iffy - I think it went 68, 72, 73? Then the 200s were something like 88,90, 89, then 72, 74, 74. These all felt good - especially because of all the reset! (jog back recovery)! Then we ended up having to do two more sets- so we did - the 2 mile ones were something like 88, 90, 87? And the 400's were 74, 75, 73. (I'm not quite sure about the times for all of them). But this workout lasted a total of 7.5 miles, and around 70 minutes. We then cooled down for 16 minutes to bring it to a nice 104 minute run. WOW! That's a longggggggg time! But I feel fine and not that tired, so its nice!

Morning pulse: 12

90 minutes!

Whew! I haven't run 90 minutes straight since spring track! But it felt wonderful! Really, truly, it felt great. And I wasn't tired at all, I could've kept on running for a while. Even mentally, I could've lasted for a lot longer!

So, Brennan and I started out with James and Dan, but then they wanted to go Caroline Path to Centeniall, and we noticed that there is currently a lot of snow on the ground (like over a foot) and decided that running in snow that deep where it is probably not plowed would probably not be fun. So Brennan and I split off and ran the Cliff-Glen-Weston Road loop. It was quite pleasant and beautiful with all the pretty snow! Cliff and Glen were plowed, but apparently Weston does not enjoy plowing their roads, so when we got to Wellesley Street, we literally had to run on the street. But at least these had better footing than the previous sidewalks! When we got to the end of Glen, we went farther into Weston to get more time and ended up circling around their highschool. This was awkward because their track team (I think it was the sprinters) were doing something in the parking lot and it was just awkward. Plus one of the girls was only wearing shorts. WHAT?!?!?!? Anyways, then we turned back. And Brennan had perfectly predicted the times it we would get to landmarks at. (For future reference, it takes apx. 27 minutes from entering into Wellesley and 20 from around David's house). Then we finished up our 90 minutes by the library, and did 6 strides back. This was a bit difficult due to insufficient sidewalk plowing, but we managed.

ANDDDDDDDDDDDDDD......we only stopped ONCE! (other than crosswalks/lights) and that was for like two seconds because Brennan had to pull up her sock! SUCCESS!!!! I would like to congratulate Brennan on this stellar achievement!

My heartrate this morning was 13.

meh...

I don't know whats wrong with me, but I can never seem to hit my splits nor my times in races...gahhhhhh....

well, to start with, Brennan gave me the startling news that I was to run the barrel when she came into the locker room- I don't particularly like the barrel and was a tad stressed. Then we got to Reggie and there is WAYYYYY too much time in between when we get there and the 600. So there was a lot of waiting around. We warmed up at the end of the second boy's mile, and got in 15 minutes. I think this was still a little early. Then we stretched and stressed, and after what seemed like forever, got on the track.

The Norwood girls in the barrel were very nice. We all sang that song "just put one foot in front of the other" while we were watching the boys sprint past. Then we started the race. I went through the 100 in 18, which was too slow, so I tried to speed up just a bit. Except I sped up a lot...I think also because I was focusing on tangenting. I must say I ran a beautiful tangent. Except I finished the 200 in 33, which was a second early, and Brennan was not there to meet me, and I had to pace myself. (Brennan, I would like to apologize for my horrible pacing - I really wanted to meet up with you, I really didn't enjoy that second lap all alone). So then I just kept on going, and tried to go faster, except in the 600 I felt like I was already going at top speed, so that was tough. I think my 400 was 70? A second slow. I tried to pick it up some more but my legs were literally lead at that point. I felt very slow and tried to speed up as much as I could. I was coming down the final straightaway with no one in sight, and then all the sudden Tali was in front of me. She beat me by .5 of a second. bleh. And I couldn't keep up with her, trust me, I tried. I think she caught up in like the last 25 - 50 meters. ARGHHHHHH. AND my final time was 1:50.99, which was QUITE disappointing. I just completely lost it. I didn't even qualify. Meh. We ran faster in a WORKOUT last year. meh. I just cannot seem to meet even my short term goals this season. Hopefully more speed work will help!

I cooled down for apx. 47 minutes. Inside and out, twas lovely.

i can't remember my morning heartrate, although I assume it was 12/13 because I don't remember it being surprisingly high or low.

Snow Day!

There was no school today! Twas lovely! And I'm still checking like every 5 minutes to see if its canceled tomorrow - nothing so far!

However, the snow day did seem to have many negative side effects. One being the immense amounts of snow in my driveway. The other being there was nowhere to run. For the first inconvenience, my mother and I shoveled for about 2 hours total today because both my brother and father are currently invalid :) It was horrible, and I have come to hate snow plows very much (for putting more snow where I just cleared). The second inconvenience was somewhat buffered by my elliptical in the basement. So instead of running, I ellipticalled for 50 minutes. I also got to watch Pretty Little Liars :) I tried to make it an easy exercise, because of the meet tomorrow, and I also have no idea how an elliptical compares to running, so I just went on resistances 1 and 2, alternating. My calves were a bit sore though after a while, so I got off. I also tried to simulate strides, but that felt weird, so I stopped (like my strides were overly shortened by the elliptical). Then I did some dynamic stretches, as you told me, and finished.

My heart rate this morning was 12/13

B Run

Today was a nice B Run. And although it had a bit too much stopping for my liking, it was nowhere near as much as we have had before. We had a pretty big group today, which was exciting! When we left the highschool, it was me, Rachel, Nina, Brennan, Allie, Dan, James, Kevin and Chris, but then we had to drop Dan off at Babson for his workout...But it was wonderful running with so many people! And we went the long Needham loop, which Kevin said was 7 miles, and walked up that HUGE hill because we didn't want to jeopardize our races :) But it felt lovely! My legs feel all refreshed and I didn't notice them at all today - no soreness or anything! We ended up doing 65 minutes, and I didn't feel tired at all! I love speed phase! To finish it up, we did 6 strides in the teacher parking lot.

First, I had a question about tomorrow - there is a snow day, and should we try for a B run? Or try to get to the gym for Canadians???

Also - the 600 on Thursday - should Brennan and I go for 1:48 (qualifying?) or faster? (I genuinely hope you won't say slower....)

Have a nice snow day!

morning hr - 12

FINISH THE EIGHT!!

SO today was the dreaded finish the eight....I was basically quaking at school all day. I don't know what it is, but just the name of it makes me kinda scared...

So Brennan and I ran 17 minutes over to the babson track, and Chisum kindly brought our spikes over for us too! We did some strides, and after minor complications due to a sprinter throwing up on the track, we began!

We were supposed to go out 2 seconds faster than goal 800, so since our goal 800 was based off of 2:24, we went out in a 70 for the first 400. I led because Brennan didn't have a watch and Sabina didn't want to lead, so I went out in 17, which was on target....but then I got so excited I sped up and my first 200 was 33. oops! I made it to 70 though, maybe a low 71 - not really sure, and then struggled through the last two laps.....finishing in 2:36. Not too shabby, considering my pr is 2:31! I better bust that one this year! :) Anyways, I felt pretty good during the finish the eight - although I was stomping quite a bit, so I'll have to work on that!

Then, we had 5 minutes rest, and back for 4x200 at mile pace. Except I got a tad excited and ran them WAYYYY too fast. First was 38 (I paced it), second was 39 (Brennan), 3rd was 37 (Sabina) and 4th was 38 (me). And they were all supposed to be 40's. Whoops!

Then we cooled down for 15 minutes inside on the track, and then went back to the school, except Brennan was running realllllllllllly slowly, so total cool down was 33. So that plus the 17 at the beginning was 50 minutes warm up/ cool down, plus like 5 minutes total workout, so 55 minutes running!

and I forgot my hr....

sunday!

So today was supposed to be a day off, and it pretty much was, except that my mileage was 349, lower than last week's 351, so I went for a nice slow 16 minute wog to get more time in. My legs were pretty tired from yesterday, so it felt good to shake them out! I can't wait until tomorrow! SPEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDD!!!!!!

morning pulse: 13/14

"That's all for now!"

LAST HILLS!

Today Brennan and I officially ended strength training! We have completed our 4 weeks and are ready to take on speed!

So because we didn't want to wait around at practice and such, we met on the brook path at 9:00. It was snowing, so we were both pretty stylish in our hats and ear warmers!

So we warmed up with 15 minutes, and stretched before we hit the hills at Temple. We started out pretty well. There was a lot of snow on the ground, so it was quite "slippy" as Brennan would say! It wasn't too bad running up to the turn, but after that it always started to hurt! But then we decided we could "switch into another gear" once we got to the Eve's house and would lengthen our stride or something...but it seemed to help :) And then we kept that up for 30 minutes, totaling 7 reps on the hill (a few less than last time because it was so slippy). To make up for it, we then did two reps of the smaller hill, basically all out, we FLEW up that thing after the longer repeats, so it felt really good! In total, we spent 36 minutes doing hills.

Then we went to the highschool to see everyone, and ran back home, so I got 23 minutes cool down. So thats a total of about 75 minutes of running, WHEW! But I didn't really feel tired during it! (I definitely feel tired now! My legs feel all tight and such) But I felt really really strong on the cool down. Which I suppose is good because we just finished strength phase!

Morning pulse: 13

another very long run!

And then today was the long run of the week! Brennan and I started out with James and Dan on an "adventure run" of sorts. We ran on Linden and Weston road while Dan greeted each and every person he saw, and finally made it to Boulder Brook, where we "adventured" on some ice for a while. Then Brennan and I broke off to allow Dan and James to finish their B run. We basically ran around the backroads of Weston for half an hour before turning back and going to the track. There, we did some very icy strides on the back straightaway. The run was a total of 85 minutes.

My heart rate this morning seemed to be 14, but was 13 during history class :)

And my legs are sore - I'm not sure if this is from yesterday or canadians or whatnot, but they were a tad uncomfortable during the run. Hopefully it'll clear up before hills tomorrow.

Also, I would like to state that I would prefer NOT to run the 600 against Brennan next week (a rumor I heard!)I do not want to run a 600 basically, and if I have to run against Brennan, I would rather run with her in a 1000 or a mile because then we could pace each other! I simply do not think this 600 would be a very fun endeavor.....

a belated meet day

So yesterday was thursday and it was meet day but I didn't get to write last night because I had SO MUCH HOMEWORK!

Anyways, I warmed up for the meet with 15 minutes. I was running the mile with Eva, Rachel, Nina and Erika. We were ready a little early, bit its better than too late!

The race itself felt fine. I know I didn't push myself hard enough and I'm determined to do well next time! I started out on pace, but lost concentration in the middle and thought I was still hearing the right splits so thought I was on track, but i wasn't. I ran a 5:49, which is 9 seconds off pace, but since I was not tired afterwards and barely had a Reggie cough, I know I could've gone a lot faster, I just need to concentrate and keep up pace.

Then, for some more mileage, I ran a 48 minute cooldown. This was actually made up of lots of little cool downs with random people, but that way I got in a total of about 70 minutes of running for some nice mileage!

My Birthday!!

Today was my birthday! I turned 17, which sounds really really old... well, a lot older than 16!

Anyways, we warmed up with 15, and then did some drills inside. Those were good, I felt find "staying on the balls of my feet" so i guess that means I already do it? Well, we did a lot of skipping and high knees and such and my legs are a tad tired, so hopefully they will recuperate by tomorrow. Then we cooled down with 15 (With Allie!) and that was it....

Tomorrow: we are racing Milton and I am racing the mile. My goal: sub 5:40 - splits are 42.5. I need to go out conservatively and KEEP UP PACE! There, now I have it written down and have to do it.

and I forgot my hr this morning because...well....i just forgot. But it was 13 during bio when I was bored, if that counts for anything!

LAST CIRCUITS!

Today was a much better day! I'm still a bit miffed about yesterday, but I'm going to try and put that behind me. I did circuits with Brennan today, just us two, because Ryan can't run :( And then the math wing was being used by hurdlers, but luckily I brought my HANDY DANDY YOGA MATS!!!! So we did them in the English Hallway. Except that was awkward because a lot of people kept walking by and since it was only brennan and I , it was a tad awkward. Especially the double leg eagles. SInce we were head to head to fit on the mats, it looked like we were worshipping some pagan god. oh well!

We completed two sets of abs and two of strength. We did 1:00 for abs and 0:30 for strength because thats what the sheet said. And we did 1:40 for the wall sits. I think I'm getting better at those! Overall, I didn't feel as tired as usual...hopefully that means I'm getting stronger and not just slacking off! The four hundreds at the end weren't that bad either. We ran a bit over 1:25 (forgot to set the watch until a couple seconds in, so it was probs 1:28) and then 1:30, then 1:28, then 1:28 again. These are faster than last time, which is promising!

15 up and 15 down



And my heart rate this morning was 13, around where it has been, so that's good too!

Monday

Today was a horrible workout. Well, I did horribly. The workout was supposed to be 8x600 at mile goal pace with 2:00 rest. It didn't work out that way. To begin, Brennan and I warmed up with 15 minutes to Babson. Then we started our workout. Brennan and I decided our mile goal pace would be 5:24 because we wanted to beat qualifying by 30 seconds. Also because we wanted to run that at the end of last year, and that didn't happen, so we're gonna try again! She started the pacing, and started a tad slow (in 44) so we hit a 2:06. That means we probably went 44,42,40, because I know we sped up a lot. Unfortunately, she had to take my watch to pace us, so I'm not totally sure of the splits. Then we had 2 minutes rest, and I paced the next one. I ran a 2:03, again, a tad slow because 600 pace for a 5:24 is a 2:01. This was a tad disappointing. THEN the next one was a 2:11. Chisum had us take our pulses after that one, and mine was 44 (?) although I'm not sure what that really meant because I don't know how many seconds that was in. Brennan's was 48, and he determined she was sick and had to stop. SO then my next one was a 2:18. AHHHHHHH! Chisum had me take a 4 minute break after that one. The next was 2:18 again. I'm not sure why I was failing so much. I went out in a 20 second 400 both times. As soon as I hit that 400 I felt my legs knocked back a tick or something. And I would keep pushing but I just kept getting slower and slower. I don't understand why though...And I didn't want to just sprint the ends because I knew that wasn't the pace I was going at and I needed to work on pacing (not that I could have printed much faster than I was already going). Anyways, I took a 3 minute break after that, and then ran a 2:20. AWFUL! For the last few times, my legs felt like they were burning up, like they do in races, except I wasn't racing. And I felt like I was pushing like when I'm racing, except I wasn't. After 6, Chisum told me to stop. I was also very disappointed by this because I didn't even finish the workout. I think that is the first time I have not finished a workout for him (that I can recall) and it feels awful. I felt like a failure, and couldn't understand how I fell 20 seconds off pace! I'm still stressing out about it, even though I talked with Chisum afterwards. He said the workout was too fast, especially if we were still in strength phase, and that we should have done them slower? But I still feel like I should have been able to keep it up. I'm just really mad at myself now, and a bit depressed. I know how much every workout helps, and to do so badly in one like that scares me. If I can't run repeat 600's at goal mile pace, how am I ever going to reach my goal mile pace? I feel slow as a snail right now, and not very strong either. I hope I'm not coming down with something, but then again I almost hope I do because it would give me a reason for why I couldn't keep up in the workout. It also might be that I lost weight over vacation; I have a gluten intolerance and I had some gluten over break because usually it doesn't affect me that much, but this time I guess it did and I lost a couple pounds. This probably is not so good... But I still don't think I'm sick at all because my heartrate this morning was 12/13 again. It hasn't gone up at all. AGHHH! This is stressing me out. And if I have to do circuits tomorrow, I don't know how I'm going to motivate myself. I'm really bad at the self-motivation thing....

also - I cooled down for 23 minutes. That, plus 21 minutes on the track plus 15 warm up is 59 minutes total.

Sunday - off

Day off today, got to do lots of homework, its been so fun!

anyways, I just wanted to post my heart rate, which I finally remembered to take this morning, and it was 12/13.

FIRST RUN OF THE NEW YEAR!

Today was just a long run. But this was a very boring long run, in which I ran in one direction on Washington street into Natick for half an hour, then turned around and ran back, and then ran down linden, back on washington street, and into Wellesley College. In total, it was 80 minutes long, bringing my weekly total to 351. This is a 5% increase from last week. Mostly, my run today was pretty boring, and my legs were still pretty sore, so it felt uncomfortable, but not painful. It was also annoyingly warm out, so I was a bit mad for most of my run. Oh well, at the end I felt good, and stretched, and then sat in a car for an hour and a half...THAT hurt my legs! I couldn't walk when I got out of the car! I finished the run with 6 strides, each 20 seconds long because I did them on the streets with no hundred meter markers!