Tuesday, September 18, 2007

need for speed

2 mile warmup
strides
6 x 400 @ 83-88 w/400 m jog recovery
7 x 200 @ 36-40 w/200 m jog recovery
2 mile cooldown

first speed workout in quite awhile...and it felt great! i ran with the a group with claire, natasha, jade, and kelly, and i seriously felt good - last year at this time, this workout would have annihilated me, so to be running with the top group, and at a pace faster than what we were "supposed" to be running (96 for the 400s and 48 for the 200s) was pretty awesome. and then we jumped into the lake off the crew pier, and it was glorious. it was kind of hot today, so it felt soooooo good. and now my legs are pretty much dead - it didn't feel that bad while i was doing the workout, but i'm definitely feeling it now. oh well, easy recovery day tomorrow!

xc week 1/midwest collegiate invite race report

monday - 5.5 miles on the cap city trail down past monona terrace...the weather finally cooled off, it was absolutely amazing running weather, and i felt like i was flying...a phenomenal run.
tuesday - fartlek workout (3 x 3 min hard/2 min easy, 2 min hard/1 min easy, 1 min hard/1 min easy) on lakeshore path...i ran with the front group! summer training is definitely paying off...i never would have believed that i could hang with claire and natasha in that kind of workout.
wednesday - 45 minutes easy
thursday - 8 x bascom hill...felt great!
friday - 20 minutes easy pre-race
saturday - midwest collegiate invitational @ uw-parkside!
first meet of the season, and i really am pretty happy with how it went. you couldn't have asked for a better day for a cross country meet...upper 50s and not a cloud in the sky. gorgeous. the meet was pretty big - i was so happy to finally make it there after trying the past couple of years and it never actually happening! we got there about an hour and a half early, which i liked, since i always like to wander around and stretch and chill out before races. there was a high school meet going on in the morning, and watching the last race (i think it was jv boys) really got the adrenaline going...i mean, its been quite a while since my last real cross country race. we warmed up on the course a bit, braved the immense line for the bathroom...and then it was go time!





being "open" athletes, we got a pretty shitty box on the VERY end of the field...we had to probably run an extra distance just to get to the hill, having to cut across the field after the start. i was planning on running the first mile with claire, but somehow i managed to lose her like i always do...i felt REALLY strong on the first hill...it went by faster then it ever has before. however, i paid for my 6:50 opening mile as i always do, and claire passed me not long after the mile mark. i definitely like the 5k course at parkside better than the 4k...not sure why, but it killed me less at the end. i did get a horrendous side cramp around the 1.5 mile mark, and there was a rough hill going up to 2 miles (i came through in 14:00 flat), and there were (as there always are during a cc race) times when i was thinking to myself "damnit i hate cross country...who was i kidding when i said i liked this?" etc, etc. there was a mark on the ground for the 4k, and i ran a 4k pr! (17:53, helll yeah! haha) the last 600 meters felt great...it was all on a downhill to 3 miles, and then that last 200 meters you just sprint out the life in you, and people are telling you to keep running through the chute, and you want to fall over, etc. but i passed a few girls and held off a few more, which was great. i ended up finishing in 22:11...SOOOOOOO close to my pr (22:04), but when i think about it, that was on a MUCH flatter/easier course, and it was at the end of an entire season of training. i ran this on one week of training! so overall, i was really pleased. i was the 3rd runner on our team, and 184th/255 overall (it was a really competitive meet...22 teams, including a bunch of DII, and a couple schools each from california and pennsylvania! crazy.) the guys ran awesome too...a lot of them have gotten tons better since last year, which is cool to see. and our team somehow became HUGE this year...we had 10 girls and 17 guys racing at the meet. by FAR the biggest team we've ever had when i've been there, and we were even missing a few of the usuals. overall, it was an absolutely fantastic day, and a great start to the season (and rewarding myself with a 94 cent icee afterwards didn't hurt


either!)


the giant wtc crew...awesome :)


sunday - 11.2 miles at 8:20 pace whaaaaat?! yes that's right, we ran with a girl who is training the marathon, and she took the pace out like whoa. we ran one of my favorite routes, picnic point/lake mendota trails to eagle heights and then out by blackhawk golf course, where there are some incredible houses and overall great scenery.

definitely an awesome week of training, but i am SORE from the meet/yesterday's epic run. no way could i have run that far at this point last season! i took today off, definitely needed the rest, but i really don't think i'll be taking every monday off, especially since fridays are always easy pre-meet days. also i need some new shoes soon...hard to believe there's already 500 miles on this pair since the end of june!
and thus ends week 1 of the wtc cross country season. i'm loving:
-being big enough to be more like a "real" team
-being a team leader this year!! both as far as being one of the faster people, and just as being older and more experienced...its really cool :)
-all of the awesome new people!
-being in better shape going into this season than i was at the end of last season
-having a full schedule and racing basically every weekend!!!!
9-22 concordia invite
9-29 GRIAK!
10-6 beloit old english classic
10-13 jim drews/tori neubauer @ LaX
10-20 uw-platteville? or 10-21 homecoming 5k @ madison
10-27 fall 15k
11-3 matc turkey trot
ummmm yeah. love it. :)