C Mantz Run

At xc we did golf course backwards which is such a fun run.  I stayed with most of the girls and we just chatted and had a good time.  We kept a good pace, although it wasn't very fast.  It was a lot of fun compared to my run last Saturday. 

Did a slow run because I decided to do the Freedom Run on Thursday.  It was pretty good slow run, but I realized I was going kind of fast one of my miles.  I got a new watch which I'm very excited about.

Well, I was pretty pumped and excited for this race, but it didn't turn out the way I wanted or expected it to turn out.  I started out way fast, my first mile was 6:38, my second was 6:59, and then my third slowed down to 7:34.  I felt very good at the beginning, but after mile three I began struggling because I couldn't keep up with anybody and I was beginning to get a slight head ache.  I just kept running and at the couple of water stops I got water while running, but didn't drink very much.  At one point I felt like throwing up and it really mentally messed me up with this run.  The last mile I kept sprinting because I thought I saw the finish line, but then it would seem a little bit further which would repeat over and over to me.  That last mile was pretty tough and it didn't help that I couldn't do any final sprint and pass a couple of people the last second.  I did get third in my age group which is pretty good.  I really didn't feel so great the rest of the day, but everybody has their bad days.

At xc we did an easy run that went around Smithfield.  It was pretty fun and I just went easy because my ankle kind of hurt because I twisted it on Wednesday which also effected my race yesterday.  It didn't hurt much which is good because I really didn't want to hurt myself.

I wasn't up for running but Conner told me I should just do a tempo three, so I did.  It was a couple seconds slower than I'd have liked it to be, but I blame the bugs that kept hitting me in the eye which got really annoying because my eye would water up and I'd try to rub them out, but I couldn't.  I felt really good afterwards, so I'm happy Conner got me to run.

At xc we did a pretty good run.  I stuck with most of the fast girls and we did a loop, sort of.  At one point we ran in some sprinklers which was fun, even though it was sort of humid.  We did some core afterwards which I really wasn't in the mood to do.  After that we had a little meeting about camp this next weekend which I'm SO excited for.

I went on an afternoon run in the heat.  When I first started running I used to run in the heat, so it was actually really fun.  I didn't push it, I just went easy and relaxed, but it was faster than I expected.  I felt really good for running in the heat which I haven't done in a long time.

Wednesday- XC camp

This morning we went on a trail run which was a lot of fun, but difficult because I normally don't do. I stayed with the girls the entire time and we took it easy. I had a small scab on my ankle that came off which didn't hurt, but it was really bloody so I was running with a very bloody ankle.  We ran through a lot of grass which made all of our legs itch, a LOT.  Afterwards, we went home and came back with all of our stuff. 

That afternoon we went on another trail run with the Juab xc team in Nephi which was where we stayed.  It was kind of hot and we were very tired which wasn't helpful.  We went up the hill for twenty minutes only getting in two miles and then we were supposed to turn around.  We were going very slow.  Around the last half mile the downhill was super tempting to sprint down, so I did, leaving everybody.  It was a lot of fun, but I almost tripped at the very end.  It was a super fun trail run, only if we hadn't been so tired.

Thursday- XC camp

That morning we went on a ride and run where we ride bikes and run with a team. I started out on the bike and brought my water bottle with me.  We were worried we'd go the wrong way on the course, so at the beginning my team stayed together and I was going super slow and easy on the bike.  When I got off the bike and began running my teammate, Ethan, got on the bike.  After a while, we were unsure about our other teammate, Trevor, how far behind he was, so Ethan road back and gave Trevor the bike.  Ethan ran and caught up with me.  We continued running for a couple miles until Trevor passed us and I hopped on the bike.  Ethan said I should ride for about ten minutes, but I only road for eight because I went pretty fast and I had caught up with the coaches.  I ran with the coaches for quite a while and chatted with them.  They slowed down after a while and I tried to catch up with a pack of people.  When there was a mile left, I slow down, a TON.  I think my body just didn't want to run or something so I went easy then.  It was so much fun when we were over with it, though.  I actually am not sure on how far I went, but it was 10.9 total miles and I felt like I ran around 8.

After breakfast we went to a body building place and did a core workout. Audrey and I didn't wear our shoes because we didn't bring them which I don't think the instructor was very happy with.  It was fun and different.  There's nothing wrong with it that afternoon.  Later in the weekend my abs didn't hurt, but my thighs hurt a little and my shoulder's hurt a ton.

Friday-XC camp

This morning we went on another trail run.  We went through a canyon to a certain highway.  We were going pretty slow at first, but the fast people began speeding up and getting way in front of me.  I just kept jogging.  After a while Audrey and Riley stopped to walk and I caught up to them.  When we got to a really steep hill the two walked up and I continued jogging up.  I was alone for quite a while trying to catch up to Alex and Jesse, but they were going too fast for me.  I just kept going by following the hot pink ribbon and yellow spray paint the coaches put out for us to know the correct direction to run in.  I noticed Katelyn and tried to catch up to her.  She slowed down and I finally caught up to her.  We both went pretty easy.  There were some super steep hills that we had to go down, so we walked and slid on our butts down those and ran everywhere else.  Audrey and Riley caught up to us.  After a while we just were having fun and not making it much of a serious run.  We were ready to finish because we were sore from the core workout yesterday.  When we could hear the highway, we just began sprinting down the hill.  It turned out to be a fun run, except we didn't exactly know how far we had gone or how much we had left, so it was a little difficult because it turned out to be seven miles.

That night we went on an easy run around Nephi where Coach Wright showed us some of "the sights." We were loosening up for the race tomorrow. It was super easy and fun.  It was probably two miles and we did some stretches to loosen up.

Friday- XC camp

Today was the last day of camp which means we got to do a race! My goal was sub 24 minutes because I was so sore.  The entire run I stayed with Carly and Katelyn.  It was really nice because we were next to each other, but at some points one of us would speed up and we'd speed up to catch up with the other person.  When we got to the water station Carly wanted Coach Wright to throw water on us, and I'd never tried that so I wanted to see if it would help.  Right when he did that, a man in a truck drove by, probably thinking Coach was some random dude throwing water on a bunch of girls by the way he looked at us which was hilarious.  At the end I was starting to get tired, but I stayed with Carly and Katelyn, still.  At the very end Carly began sprinting and I couldn't keep up with her, so I stayed with Katelyn until the last couple feet and I leaned forward and barely beat her.  I felt good after, because I realized I hadn't felt any pain from this last weekend during the run.  I got first in my age group which was 13-14, I think.  I'm glad it was a fun run because it was fun.

Later we drove home from camp.  It was so much fun and I think I got to know the rest of the team much better. :)

Today we did sunnyside at xc.  Conner and I got there a little late so we were trying to catch up to everybody.  I thought it was a warm up when we did because everybody seemed to be going slow.  Turns out the girls wanted the boys to be behind them for a mile or something like that which was pretty funny.  After the boys passed us we seemed to be going much faster.  When we got to the part of the canyon where you could keep going up or go down, I wanted to go up.  Riley ran up with me while everybody else turned to go down.  We chatted as we went up.  At one point we passed the faster boys and they cheered for us which was pretty funny.  We kept going and we were a little behind the coaches, so we turned around where they did.  It was a super fun run and I felt way good for just getting back from camp.

Conner had promised me he was going to pace me for a sub-six minute mile for quite a while, and today I finally got him to do that.  My mom also bought me some really nice flats that were on sale for $20 this last spring and Conner helped her pick out the right pair.  I hadn't ever used them and he said it would help my time.  We drove down to the track and did a half mile warm up.  Then I put my flats on and stretched.

During the mile I was pushing it really hard and a little too hard at the beginning.  At some points I wanted to just give up and go slow, but Conner kept me going.  I got around a 6:02 which was a PR, but not what I exactly wanted.  I was still happy, though. 

Afterwards, I went on a nice cool down/jog.  As I was going around the track, Conner was doing mile repeats or something like that.  About half a mile in, the football boys came onto the field and I knew some of them.  I thought I'd just do 3 or so, but then I got the idea to just run home.  After a mile and a half, I told Conner what I was going to do and did it.  On my run home, I went super slow because it was really muggy and I just wasn't feeling like going very fast.  I had fun, though, running with my older brother.

So today was a speed day at xc.  We did a small warm up and then went to the track.  Coach had us do 600's interval pace, then a 200 recovery 6 times.  I accidentally was looking at my rep pace on the cards and I made my time that I was supposed to get much faster.  The first time around wasn't that bad.  I tried to stay with Riley almost the entire time.  The second I wasn't feeling as if I was getting enought of a recovery.  The third is when it began to really hurt.  My times had gotten much slower.  The fourth time around I couldn't catch up to Riley and we passed the coach who told me to relax my upper body and make my breathing less deep.  I did that, but my form was a little wrong because I relaxed my arms instead of pumping them super hard.  The fifth time I felt not very great and the final time I went all out and felt like dieing.  At the very last sprint Amber started to pass me, so I began sprinting as fast as I could and barely beat her.  We did a cool down which felt amazing and then did some hip and core workouts.  I compared my times and my fastest was 20 seconds different from my slowest which I thought was well until Conner told me that wasn't very great.  I know I really need to work on my sprinting, and I'm trying pretty hard, but I don't want to peak early or mess my times up, so I try to do speed only once or twice week.  It was a hard, but fun run.

4 miles

For xc we did golf course.  We started out nicely and just kept going at a nice pace.  We mainly just chatted during our run.  While we were going down the canyon the sun was at a perfect angle and all of us girls were lined up across the road as we ran.  Our shadow would have been such a cool picture.  As we were running Riley and I were on the ends and we both would speed up making everybody else go faster.  I didn't really notice this until Carly pointed it out.  At the very end we all went out in a sprint which was so much fun.

My dad and I went on a longer run.  We went up the canyon and my dad had already gone on a run with Conner, so he was pretty worn out.  I was a couple feet ahead of him until mile 3 which is where I tend to get tired up the canyon.  Mile 3 to 4 was pretty slow, but when we turned around I sped up.  I felt pretty good during that run and it was a lot of fun going with my dad.

Started out with a mile warm up, then did the hill called 'Beast'. We went up it as fast as we could, then slowly jogged down.  I did it around 6 times.  It was easy the first couple, then got really hard.  The fifth time was super hard.  We took a small break, then ran up it a sixth time just for fun.  I realized while doing this workout that if you start out easier, you'll have enough extra energy for the last part to sprint.  I'm not very fast at it, but I think if I'll work on hills, I can get faster.  Afterwards, we did a cool down another mile.

Right before I began running, I didn't really know what I was going to do.  I started out at a pretty good pace and felt really good.  After about half a mile, I thought I might as well do a tempo run which was a smart idea.  My first mile was 7:15 and I thought if I want to keep a good pace I would have to push it to keep myself.  My second mile was 7:06 which really surprized me because normally my second mile is super slow compared to my first.  I kept pushing it and my last mile was 7:13.  I was very happy with my time because my tempo pace is supposed to be 7:23 and I'm not a person who keeps a very even pace.  I then did a mile cool down.

Today we did a warm up at xc and then a work out on the track which was 1000m rep pace, then 3 minutes recovery.  We did it six times, I think.  It was easier than I had expected it to be and I really enjoyed it.