Oh I forgot to tell you guys about my race Friday!

So my 5k yesterday….

My xc camp experience!

Running at 2:30 in the morning

So last night, I went to bed at like 10:30. Which is kinda early because I didn’t have practice in the morning the next day. But of course, I had a horrible time sleeping. I woke up at like 11. Then 12. Then 1. And finally at 2am I kinda just tried moving around, rearranging my bed so when I laid down I would be able to fall asleep. But then I got this urge to go running. I’ve only ran this late/early once before in the winter. And it was a really clear night out, so I did it again! 

I got my orange running shorts on, my garmin (which died like a half mile into the run), and my ipod and just went. For some reason, without even thinking anything of it, I ran to my ex-girlfriends house. Maybe I wanted it to be like the scene in “Once A Runner”, where he runs to his exes house in the rain. But whatever made me want to go there I have no idea why. I stopped and stretched in her yard. And I really was tempted to knock on her bedroom window. (remember its like 2:45 in the morning and I was delirious). But I held off because we pretty much cut eachother out of our lives. After a bit of thinking about our old times, I head off again. I ran down the busiest street in my city, the only cars out were taxis for all the drunks fools.

But the run was absolutely perfect! It was a clear night out, and the stars were bright. I only freaked myself out a couple times thinking I saw someone and stuff. I went about 5 miles in like 35 minutes. I felt fast and untouchable and it was awesome. Even though it probably wasn’t the best idea, it still was a great experience and awesome feeling. And a great workout! After that I slept for a good 7 hours straight. :b

A GOOD WORKOUT

Guys, I’m actually SEMI pleased with my workout today! Yeah I didn’t get my ideal times, but I was able to get times that are good for my lack of summer training. We did mile repeats out on a gravel road, that is super hilly. We go two miles out, two miles back. 1-3 you’re trying to get faster than the previous mile. And the 4th one as fast as the 1st. My miles went as according:

1. 5:53
2. 5:33
3. 5:30
4. 5:40

The first mile was so easy, I felt like I was jogging it. The next two sucked because I was ahead of everyone the whole time, and all I saw was dirt road and emptiness so it was hard staying on pace. And they weren’t even close to me, like I couldn’t hear foot steps or anything. It was just dull and blah. But the last one a kid actually ran with me side by side, and to be honest that one felt easier than the first. Just because I had someone to run with and push eachother. His other 3miles were considerably slower than mine, but it was nice having someone there to get me to go. After the 3rd mile I puked and was dead, after the 4th mile I felt like I just got done with the first mile and could do more. It’s really crazy how having some kind of motivation like that just helps you mentally.

My first meet is a week from this Wednesday. I really have no idea how I’m going to run it. Before my injury I was planning on winning it. Now I might have to settle with just a time. Or a place. I’m sure I can get top 30. Which isn’t enough for me. But I guess I’ll have to understand I can’t do anything until my aerobic capacity gets up.

Children’s games tournament during xc practice?

Being the cool team we are, during our long runs the longest group (we split into 3 groups), have ended up playing a children’s game the past 2 runs. And now we made i t into a tournament. Friday we played duck duck goose. In the middle of the woods we just sat down and started playing. I was the only person to catch the person that had me chase them. So I guess I technically ”won”, even though I cheated. :b And then today we ran through the woods and there are round rubber picnic tables. So we played musical chairs! A teammate brought his Iphone, so we had music from that. And when someone got out they just sat on the bench (since we couldn’t remove a chair). And guess what? I WON AGAIN. And I didn’t cheat. I guess I’m pretty boss at little kids games. I’m quite curious to see what we end up doing tomorrow. We actually made this into a tournament, and every day we’ll find a new game to play. :b So yeah that’s what my practices have been like since I’m not really updating my xc runs. If anyone has any more games we could play I would love some suggestions, cause all we have right now is doing frogger across the busiest street in town. And that is probably illegal. :b

Here’s my pro daily workout schedule:

My daily schedule by the half hour. Some may say I’m crazy, I just say I’m dedicated.

Hour          Activity

8:00am     Wake up
8:00am     1st Meal
8:30am     Loosen Body
9:00am     1st Workout
9:30am      ^^^^
10:00am    ^^^^
10:30am    Stretch Everything
11:00am    Ice Bucket
11:30am    Foam Roller
12:00pm    2nd Meal
12:30pm
1:00pm      Yoga/Stretch
1:30pm
2:00pm      Ice Massage
2:30pm
3:00pm      Nap
3:30pm      ^^^^
4:00pm
4:30pm      3rd Meal
5:00pm
5:30pm      Loosen Body
6:00pm      2nd Workout
6:30pm      ^^^^
7:00pm      ^^^^^ 
7:30pm      4th Meal
8:00pm      Stretch Everything
8:30pm      Ice Bucket
9:00pm      Foam Roller
9:30pm      Stretch
10:00pm    5th Meal
10:30pm    Sleep

My actual copy is color coded :)
The ^^^^ mean it’s continued from what it is pointing at.
My mid-day can be rearranged and such to what I’m feeling when and such.
And the blanks are my free time. o:

Cross Country 2012: DAY 06

August 15th

Sleep: 8 hours 30 minutes

Morning Run: Because of the hard workout yesterday my coach told me to take today off, so I just biked with the team for their morning run. 8.11 miles in 50:55. I went about 5 miles with the team, then 3 on my own. Idk what’s up, but the bottom of my foot has been hurting. I’m hoping it’s not because of my stress fracture but just the fact it’s not used to pounding on the cement yet. I’m not sure if I’m biking or running tomorrow morning, but tomorrow night is a hard workout on some dirt trails in a forest so I’m looking forward to that! Other than that it has been a really easy day of doing nothing but icing. We also don’t have night practice today. :b

Cross Country 2012: DAY 05

August 14th

Sleep: 8 hours 30 minutes

Morning Run: 4.71 miles in 43:10, 9:09 pace. I could feel shin splints coming and my foot kinda felt blah. It wasn’t the best run, but I still got it in. So much mileage so quick is killin me! After we went to the weight room and lifted for an hour. Today was the first time I actually saw my muscles while lifting, and they look so much stronger than before I kinda had to check myself out in the mirrors. :b I’m so happy! I actually have arm muscle yeaaah buddy!

Night Run: Hard workout!!! We did blocks down a street, which is jog a block then pick up the pace for the next, then jog and so on. The street is a mile long, then we do it back.
Mile 1: 6:07
Mile 2: 5:59
To put that in perspective, my jogged block ranges from 7-10 min/mile pace and then we averaged about 3:40 min/mile for the fast ones which is about a 55 second 400. I was feeling really sore and my aerobic capacity isn’t that high yet so I really felt this workout. My foot and shins were feeling really bad this run too. I finished first on the way their and 2nd on the way back which I wasn’t too happy, but it still was a great workout. Just need to stick with it and not let it get me down!

Cross Country 2012: DAY 04

August 13th

Sleep: 8 hours

Morning Run: 5.37 miles in 49:24, 9:12 pace. Really easy run and felt good! Just made up a route so went through some crazy places, but it was a good fun run. I also had no pain. Yay! :D We did strides, plyos, and core after. 65 sit-ups and 38 push ups in a minute.Cool beans!

Night Run: 5.09 miles in 48:55, 9:35 pace. Stairs was planned as the workout, but my coach said it wouldn’t be good for my foot so he had me take the other injured runners out for a long run. These guys aren’t the best, so we stopped like every half mile and went really slow due to their injury. I took them to the river to soak their legs which I guess helped a lot! It was obviously REALLY easy. No pain or tiredness. Just a run. :b

Cross Country 2012: DAY 03

August 10th

Sleep: 8 hours

Morning Run: Practice was actually cancelled today due to bad weather. Which is kinda crazy. But I didn’t care, I still went out on a run by myself even though it was like 50 degrees and downpour. I ran 4.44 miles in 33:41. Which is like 7:35 pace. The first 3 miles I was running a 7 minute pace quite easily, but then my foot started hurting again. The one that was fractured. So I didn’t want to take any chances and walked a couple times. One time I was walking in front of the college houses. And I happened to find a really nice samsung nexus phone! One that is worth like $350, just laying in the middle of the street. It was raining hard so I figured I better save it and just took it with me. Trying to figure out who it belonged to, I went through the phone. And there just happened to be like 100 videos of porn downloaded and saved in the phone. I was like holy shiit. Crazy college kids. The phone had like 4% battery left and wouldn’t charge so it’s in rice right now trying to save it. Anyway, I felt really badass running in the rain. I missed it so much since it never rains here during the day. I also treated myself to the hot tub later that night in the rain :)

Cross Country 2012: DAY 02

August 9th

Sleep: 8 hours

Morning Run: 4.6 miles in 40:18, 8:45 pace. We were all feeling a bit sore from the 5k the day before. So our run was a bit slower, but still good. I felt blah. I was tired from the day before and my muscles were tight. I think I need more sleep. o: The soccer people also went too far ahead and got in trouble for not doing what they were suppose to. Go figure. :b

Night Run: 1.1 mile warm up around the block. Then we were just introduced to our strides, plyos, and core. Nothing major and a really easy practice. I had fun with the guys.  In a minute I did 67 sit-ups and then I did 37 push ups. Neither were really hard. Like I wasn’t dieing like everyone else. But then the freshmen were saying they got 60 push ups and like 80 sit ups and i’m like yeah ok. They were all struggling I SAW.

First 5k of the season!

August 8th

Time: 19:19

My coach had us run a local 5k to see where our physical ability was currently at to show how far we go throughout the season. But my coach told me to go easy for my foot. And not to go too hard. So I went easy! I just decided to start with an easy pace and pick it up. I went out at a 6:20 mile, which was crazy easy for some reason. I was talking the whole time and felt great. I got excited my second mile and ran it faster than I would’ve liked. So my last mile I felt really stiff. My calves felt tight and I didn’t like it. I still ran a 19:19. Which felt really easy. Which was awesome! I mean, I’ll take a 19:19 5k without trying really. I negative split my average pace from my first mile. Which I should’ve anyway. And it would’ve been hard to get anything better due to my first mile. Like the best I could’ve gotten would probably be a 18:40 and that would’ve been pushing it. This course is really hard anyway because it’s all pounding on the road and its straight down a busy street with a 180 degree turn half way. And then we have to stop for cars. So… yeah. I’ll take it!

Cross Country 2012: DAY 01

August 8th

Sleep: 7 hours

Morning Run: YAY FOR 1st XC PRACTICE OF THE SEASON!!!! :D We were suppose to have about 30 show up. And we had 14…not a good turn out. But oh well. We split into 3 groups for the morning runs : 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 40 minutes. I went with the 40. We ran 4.8 miles in 40:22. Which is about a 8:25 pace. I felt great and easy, nothing was hurting! The fricken cross/soccer duel sport kids were pushing the pace because they are annoying. So they finished really early. Shoulda stuck with the kid with the watch.

Night Practice: We do 2-a-days until school starts except on fridays and select days. Today we had a local 5k to do that was to see where we are physically wise. 7 guys showed up and my coach wasn’t happy. But it’s whatever he is never happy. My coach told me to take it easy for my foot and just go a slow pace and pick it up. I’ll do the rest in another post :)