C Mantz Run

We had an morning practice for those who weren't on vacation. We did a mile warm up and it was super rainy.  I was still feeling my cold which didn't help. I kind of had a headache when I began running.  Coach wanted us to do 30m sprints three times with a minute recovery.  I didn't feel anything after doing those.  Then we did three 800m with three minute recoveries.  My first two felt okay, I don't think they were as fast as they were supposed to be.  My last one was pretty slow.  The next thing we did was four 1000m with a minute recovery.  Those don't sound possible in the first place and because I was sick, it didn't help much either. My first one sucked becuase my throat began to make it hard to breath and it was pretty slow.  My second was forty seconds slow, third was 35 seconds slow, fourth was 22 seconds slow.  I was feeling so sick, but the entire time I was trying as hard as possible.  The positive thing was I did improve each time by a certain amount of time.  Right when I finished my calves had knots in them.  I did a half mile cool down.  When I got home I rolled my calves which made them feel much better.  I wasn't super thrilled about how well I did, but I tried my hardest.

This run today was much better compared to yesterday's and I wasn't sick anymore, so I was happy.  We started out with a mile warm up to Mack Park.  The girls were supposed to do a 1000m with a 1 minute recovery twice, then a 1200m tempo three times with a three minute recovery, but the first and last 200 each time were race pace.  Then a 1000 at the end.  I was hitting my times the entire time pretty well and I kept up with all the girls as well as I could.  My 200s were a couple seconds slow, but it was because those parts that we were sprinting at were a little difficult.  The 1000 at the end was super nice because it wasn't as hard as the 1200s.  I had a lot of fun and afterwards we played in the water.  When everybody was done we cooled down very slowly back to Sky View.

Today it was really hot outside and we did an easy long run.  The girls were going super slow and after the first half mile Audrey and I sped up a little leaving them.  We were all just jogging easy.  Audrey and I turned around after we got to the end of the trail that we ran on which was upper canal.  I thought we had gone further than four miles, but we had only done a little more that 3.7.  When we passed the other girls on our way back they told us to wait for them at a tire swing.  They played in the canal, but I didn't want to take off my shoes and put them on while my feet were wet so I sat there and watched them.  We began running again back to the school and we were going very slow and having fun chatting the entire time.  I didn't realize how thirsty I was until I actually got to the school.  It took us around two hours to do all that, but it was very fun and easy.

So today was an early run and again Conner and I were a little late, so we had to catch up.  I didn't catch up to the lead girls, but I just went nice and easy.  When we had gone around a mile and a half Coach talked to us about getting some speed in the day before a race.  We did these wierd things where every 10 seconds we get a little bit faster until we are sprinting, then we slow down.  The second one Coach said sprint and I thought he said to slow down, so I slowed down, but realized I was supposed to be going as fast as I could which didn't work.  We did those three times.  When we got back to the school we did this visualizing thing in the dark where we were supposed to relax, but I got a tickle in my throat part way through and was coughing/trying not to cough half the time.  It was a really fun early morning practice.

So, we drove down to Murray Park on the bus.  I really hadn't had it mentally for the last couple days that this race was serious and that I had better do well, which wasn't very good.  We warmed up quite a bit.  We did a little bit of speed that I wasn't going very fast on, even though I was trying to.  I had to throw on my flats and do my static stretching quick because we had warmed up and lost track of when we were running.

I was really nervous because I had no idea what to expect.  There was one false start which I wasn't too happy about, but I didn't have a good start either, so it was okay.  When we actually started I was going as fast as I could, but I got boxed in.  I tried to pass as many people as possible because I could see the pack of the rest of the Sky View girls, I just couldn't catch up to them.  When we went through the baseball diamond I passed so many people because I got on the far side.  When we got to the point of the trees I was already super tired.  I didn't really expect what was coming up- tight corners, sand, wood chips.  Then, there was the "Murray Hill."  I had always thought it was one of the hills that was just going up the grass that wasn't much of a big deal.  Turns out it was really steep dirt with only a couple feet across and so many people are going up it at once.  A few people passed me there.  When we were out of the trees and onto some soccer fields there was a huge headwind.  We went around a post and a girl swung around it and hit me because I went around it really wierd.  I heard people on the sidelines telling other girls to get in those arrow dynamics with the wind.  I actually was playing around with my hands straight out and I made my arms pump really hard which made me go faster and pass a few other girls.  I don't really know why I did that, but it was kind of fun.  I could still see the SV girls and I was really close to them.  I just kept going and when we went around a statue, I caught up to Megan.  We were back and forth for a little while.  Then, a huge herd of Varsity boys were coming around the corner.  I was stuck in the pack.  It kind of helped, but mainly really messed me up because they were all sprinting.  They slowed down when I was supposed to begin sprinting. I hoped I wouldn't miss the turn to finish and run the race with the boys which luckily I didn't.  The final sprint I tried my hardest to catch this Orem girl and we were .2 seconds apart, I don't know who won.

I felt really good about my race.  (Wow I wrote a lot!) I wished my start had been a little better and I could have stayed with the girls.  I'm now sixth on varsity and I'm hoping I can get a little further up, but our first to our sixth girls' times were about 17 seconds difference!  We are doing so amazing by sticking together which I'm so happy about.  We did a little cool down around three fourths a mile which I did barefoot (not smart).

So, today I really wasn't in the mood to run in the morning.  Around 1 or 2 I realized I'd better get going.  I was planning on doing only 5, but Conner told me I'd better get a longer run in.  With long runs, I try to keep them at a consistant pace.  The entire time I tried to keep it around an 8:30ish.  Most of it was pretty on.  My last two miles I wasn't feeling up for it, but I pushed myself to keep that pace.  I had a lot of fun, but was really tired from yesterday.