Well I didn't think I'd make it this far....

Today we departed for California at 6 am. We stopped in St. George for a run. I went out 10 minutes and came back, but since we started before Natalie's Garmin had satellite, I gave my Garmin to her for the rest of their run. They were going out 2 miles and back. So I am assuming I hit around 3 miles. 

This morning the team went over to the course for packet pick up. First, we walked the course up until the top of Reservoir Hill, and we jogged the rest which gave us about a half mile. Then we went over and stood in line for packet pick up. After everyone had their packets, we went over to the starting line and did 8 strides. Then we were off to the beach!

This morning we went over to the course and got settled. I was debating whether or not to race today because my shin had been hurting and since this course is very hilly, I was worried the downhill would hurt my shin. But, I did end up racing. After about a mile warm up, the junior boys got on the line. I couldn't do that many strides because the line was packed with guys, but I did manage to get in 4 or so strides. In  between strides I stretched and stayed loose waiting for the officials to start the race. 

 That whole race was a big blur. I knew I would do bad because of my lack of training over the past two months, but I didn't do as bad as I expected. This is the second year I have raced it with lack of training. Next year, hopefully I can actually race confidently, that is, in shape. No expectation really for this race, so not really disappointed. I was just glad to have the race over. I did about a mile cool down afterwards, waiting for the awards. After the long wait, we were off to Disneyland!

Day of rest. Spent all day on a bus back to Utah.

Absolutely exhausted today. I got to bed really late after we arrived in Salt Lake and still had to show up to school to fight through a tough day. I decided not to go to practice today since I was too tired, and I had a ton of make up homework to do. So no running.

Still tired today, although not as tired as Monday. Since we only have practice on Mondays and Thursdays until Christmas break, I was able to go to a BC Calc study session after school, which really helped me understand the stuff I missed while at Footlocker. I needed the break from practice this week, because I have so much work to make up for my absences last week. At night before I showered, I got on the bike and went for 20 minutes while watching The Big Bang Theory. Long Live Concrete! Haha

No practice again today, which gave me an excellent chance to chisel away at my make up work. Only 2 more classes left to make up!! I don't know why I felt super tired again today, probably because I have gotten so little sleep since last Monday. Anyway, I was dreading getting any physical activity today, so I just decided not to. I did some core before bed and that was it.

Today for track, we did some dynamic stretching with Coach Tim. After that, the distance group played Fox and the Hounds inside the school for practice today. On the second round, I was running down the hall to avoid getting tagged by Chris, when I slipped on the wet floor they had just mopped and literally, ran straight into a door. Lucky and unluckily for me, my right shin took the entire blow. Perfect. I slipped and skidded straight into the edge of a door so hard, that the edge bore a hole on the front of my shin. There is an indent on the edge of the hard wooden door where my shin hit it. Boy did that hurt. Apparently, the universe hates my right shin, because this would be the second time I injure it in the past two months. Anyway, it not only left the tremendous cut, but also a nasty bruise so that whenever I extend my foot or bring it to dorsal flex, the front of my sin hurts. Wonderful.

No running today as a result of yesterday. I took me forever to get my cut to stop bleeding, and whenever I walk around to much, it starts to gush blood. I went through two heavy duty bandages today. Plus, the bruise still makes moving my ankle and foot pretty painful. I will start running again as soon as I can get it to completely scar over and also as soon as the bruise heals a bit so that I can tolerate a lot of movement in my ankle. 

No running as a result of Thursday. I tried getting on the bike, but like three minutes in my cut started bleeding again so I stopped. I will take the rest of the weekend off and hope by Monday the cut has scarred over enough to withstand movement. 

No running today. My cut is almost completely scarred over. One more day of inactivity is just what I think it needs to start the healing process. 

Track day today. After some dynamic stretching and a few drills the two groups split up. Distance did some more core stuff and then we went on a small run. Down 13th to the cemetery, one lap, and then back. I had to add about .5 once I got back to be at three. On the way there we took it sort of easy, but on the way back Chris and I really picked it up. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/134262002 

Had a ton of homework to do. This whole week is finals so I doubt I will get much running in on my own. No running today. 

No practice so I just went home. I finished my immense load of homework with enough time to get on the bike for a little. 20 minutes increasing resistance by one every five minutes. Started at 6, ended at 9 resistance.

Track day today. We did dynamic stretching and drills as a group. After a lot of drills, the distance went on 6 miles, but I had to get home to do homework so I just did two. I have to study my butt off for a chem final tomorrow!

Today is Friday!! Finally it's winter break!! After school I was out having fun with friends and I didn't get home until really late so I didn't run!

I know I really should run, but....... meh.

Sunday, no running.

First day of winter break! Track met at the Oval today for a morning practice. Once all the distance arrived, we started. 4 laps warm up, 4 laps speed changes, then 1 recovery lap. Then once we reassembled we did two sets of Flanagan which were burpees, jumping jacks, power squats, and mountain climbers each with about a 55 meter stride in between each one and 4 minutes, I believe, between the sets. Then we did 10 J's which are basically continuous 200's. I ran them with Nat and we really pushed them. We gradually got faster on each 200 and I had to really fight to stay with her on the last 4. The last 2 were just brutal. Man I am out of shape. Time to get back running! We finished the workout with a gruesome 10 laps cool down to be at 8 for the day. 

This week is my, and the rest of the teams, return to consistent running. After my cross training, I began to run but not very consistently, partially because it was no big deal since it was the off season. But now it is time to buckle down and start running consistently again. 

Today we didn't have practice, and I meant to get in my run in the morning, but one thing led to another and I didn't get to it until the afternoon. Since I am only hitting 20-25 this week, I just went for two miles. About a 6:45 pace overall, so I was moving a bit. Now I just have to do my core.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/135597038 

Today practice was at the Oval. We did 4 laps warm up, 4 laps speed changes, and then did five laps of drills: high knees, butt kicks, A-skips, power skips, and grapevines (in that order). Then one more lap of basically speed changes again. Then we started the workout, which was a 40 minute tempo on the track. Ugh, longest 40 minutes of my life. The faster people ran on the outside and slower on the inside. I was stuck in lane 4 for the entire tempo, which was really annoying cause I had to dodge walkers and other runners as we went by. Since I ran in the outside lane, I got more than ten miles in, but whatever. I finished 21 laps in 40:50. Man, was I glad that was over. We pushed really hard, especially towards the end of the tempo. Nice job pushing today guys. Then everyone had to leave, so it was just Bill, Kiley, and I left to do the one lap cool down to be at 36 laps for the day, or ten miles. 

I would post my link for the tempo, but we were indoors so my Garmin didn't get satellite which makes it redundant to post my link. 

Spent the whole day Christmas shopping with my mom and did get a chance to run, so I biked for twenty minutes here at home. I got new running shoes!

Just two miles this morning to try out my new shoes. They felt great, I just hope they keep feeling great.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/136196312 

Today I decided to bike since I have already passed my mileage. I just biked for half an hour at a constant resistance. 

Day of rest because it's Christmas! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

I showed up to the oval because I assumed there was practice today. Apparently I was wrong. Kinda ticked off that I went to the oval on a day there wasn't even practice. Whatever. While I was there I saw Susannah and her mom there. Susannah was doing 6 X 800 and since I was already there I just jumped in on her workout. By the time I had warmed up two laps she had done two 800's already. While we were doing them, Susannah decided to do four  instead of 6 so I ended up doing only two. I hit 2:47 and 2:52 I think. Pretty slow, but then again I didn't really push that much. Then we did four laps cool down, which put me at 13 laps, or about 3.5 miles. At least I got my run in.

I went out for a small run in the morning. I was planning on getting another small run in later, but never got to it. 

In the afternoon  I went out for an easy 4 miles. The new shoes feel great.

After managing to drag myself out of bed, I went for a small run. Decided to turn at 1.5 miles.

Man this whole week I have had zero motivation to run. I just did 1.5 to be at an even number of miles this week.

Today is New Year's Eve, and I just decided to have today off. No running! But a fun night!!