Monday 1/31: dog adventures

At first the run started off as any typical run: we were indecisive about where to go, so we decided to go towards Babson, because we did NOT want to run up weston rd. again. We got there, and finished our 22 minutes of warm up at the merge between the Babson and Olin campuses. Thus, we decided to do our fartlek around there. We did 16 sets of 30/30 fartleks. The roads were spectacular, there were no cars and they were all clear! This run was becoming better and better! Then we continued our cool down for a bit on rt. 135, then back behind BSC and back through babson and out to forest. We were making record time, when suddenly, something was blocking our path...it was a big dog without an owner. It seemed suspicious. At first, we tried to go around it, but it kept following us and jumping up. So Sarah looked at the name tag, it's name was Manny, or Danny, or Sammy, whatever you prefer, but it was about 30 houses away from its home address. So Brennan and I ran to its home to tell the owner that their dog was missing while Sarah tried to get it to follow. When we rang the bell, the lady was like "oh yeah, I was just going to go looking for him..." So then we went back to Sarah and Manny, who would not budge. Then suddenly when Brennan and I got there, he began to run in the direction of his house. Sick. We brought him basically home then finally his owner came to get him. Thanks to Manny, our superb run turned into a cold one as we came back to the high school, but we did save a dogs life today.

Saturday 1/29

17 up. We ran the same loop down the brook path and back on Washington street, but it took a little longer than usual because of the snow.

Our workout today was 12x100 "wind sprints" with 100 meter jog recovery. I didn't time the individual splits, because it was about effort, not time, but I got total time, which was around 10:30. During the sprints I felt pretty smooth and fast, though I am not that fast of a runner...Then after we had finished that workout, we had a surprise! We opted to do some 200s at 800 goal pace, rather than the entire workout again. The 200s were with 30 seconds rest, and my splits were: 34, 36, 36, 36. We decided that the area marked off was a bit shorter than 200 meters, because all our times were fast and we were going slowly.

26 minute cool down. Around town, grove, brook path, etc. My calf began to feel a bit tight, but other than that there have been no adverse effects from this workout yet...

Friday 1/28

Today I went for a 71 minute run. We went down rt. 16, pond and then back. There were sidewalks, but they were pretty bad. Pond was actually clear, but the sidewalks were all snowy. Other than the fact it was hard to run and my hip began to bother me, everything felt fine.

Thursday 1/27

I get text messages from 7 news if the Wellesley schools or Roxbury Community College are closed, so when my alarm rang at 6:30, I had two texts, and my heart sunk. Not so much for the Wellesley part--I don't mind no school--but I wanted a meet today. And then it was confirmed we had no meet, so I decided to watch TV and eat some ice cream, because what else is there to do? Certainly not homework!

Ideally I would have run on Comm Ave, but I had no way of getting there because my parents work. So for my run today, I ran with Joseph and we met Danny at the end. 60 minutes total. 25 up to get to Joseph, Weston Rd. was miserable and the sidewalk isn't plowed. Then 15 minutes of tempo back on Lowell and Bristol, which were excellent comparatively. Then 20 down. Everything felt fine and the tempo was definitely a hard effort to maintain the pace and go up those hills--it reminded me of cross country.

Wednesday 1/26

Today a contingent of us decided to meet at 10 to do drills. So I walked to Hardy and met Kevin there, then we warmed up for 18 to the high school. Then we did two sets of drills. During all of these, when I lifted my right leg, there was tightness and a twinge of pain in my hamstring. However, during my 15 minute cool down and strides, I couldn't feel anything. So I am guessing I have a minor strain, which hopefully with ice and stretching will go away soon.

Tuesday 1/25

Today we did a lovely 30/30 fartlek in the middle of a B run. So warm up was 25 minutes, 16 sets of 30 seconds fast, 30 seconds recovery, and then 24 minutes cool down back to the high school. For the fartlek portion we made it back to Beechwood/Parker, which were both very clear! I felt really good during this run, fast and strong. Except for my calfs were a bit tight because of running on snow.

Monday 1/24

21 minute warm up. 15 inside and 6 outside to get to the start on Washington St.

The workout today was 12x200 at goal 800 pace. We did them on Washington street, down on the sidewalk, back on the road. The side walk was mostly fine, but a bit icy and snowy at parts. Consequently, splits on the sidewalk were slower: 38, 38, 38, 38, 39, 39. Running back on the road was much better: 35, 35, 35, 36, 35, 34. So I guess they even each other out. These 200s felt pretty good, but hard. I tried to lift my knees and work on my form. Everything else felt fine.

16 minute cool down. 5 outside to get back to the high school and the remaining 11 inside.

Sunday 1/23

Today I decided to do the fartlek since I took yesterday off. I also needed more mileage, so I warmed up for 30, did the 20 minute fartlek (10x1 on, 1 off) and then cooled down for another 25 minutes. I did this in Weston, and most of the streets were pretty clear! Its a bit hard to motivate yourself to go the fastest you can when you are by yourself, but I tried to go at 85%.

Saturday 1/22

Today I took the SATs, then I went out for lunch. After, I could not motivate myself to go for a run.

Friday 1/21

A lucky snow day, considering I didn't quite finish all my homework. Today was supposed to be a B run, but I decided to go for a bit longer. The total was a 72 minute run. The roads were pretty bad and poorly plowed. They ranged from slushy to ice. Since the neighborhood I ran in was quite hilly, it was sometimes like I was running on a treadmill up hill. I ran down to Cliff Rd. and back into Garden/Hundreds before returning to my house. On the way I encountered "ice farmers" and various other people including a group of six-year-olds listening to kiss108 on the radio, which was a bit concerning. After, I did six strides, but it was very hard to find a clear stretch to do them on, so the majority of the strides were on snow/ice and I felt a sharp pain in my left quad. Hopefully thats just from running with bad traction.

GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE RUNNING TOMORROW!

Thursday 1/20

16 minute warm up around the streets of reggie lewis. My hamstrings felt weirdly sore. Im not sure what it was from.

6:04 mile. Pretty disappointing since I was hoping to qualify and now I am running out of chances. Many things went wrong during this race, starting with the fact that I forgot to take my earrings of. Luckily the "nice" official told me and held them for me during my race. Then, the didn't reset the clock, so I was coming in at my 100 at 8:03. Consequently, I slowed down because it felt like I was going too fast, and I came in around Brennan at a 43. Before we could cut in this girl was running in lane 3 (illegal) cut in front of me. Then I got stuck in a pack of like 5 people, and I tried to pass a few, then they passed me, then I passed them, the one of the tripped me a little, but it wasn't that bad. Enough with excuses. Clearly I can run faster than this and I need to be more aggressive with racing. Next time....

17 minute cool down. Felt totally fine, like I didn't even race.... :(

Wednesday 1/19

17 minute warm up around the school hallways. This was not as bad as I expected, except for all the stairs and opening doors.

Today we did two sets of Canadians minus power drills then 6 strides. We had the basement hallway again, but luckily my shins did not bother me! The drills were fine, I think I get lazy with my arms sometimes, so during the drills and strides I tried to work on that. I am excited and nervous for the meet tomorrow, and hopefully by this time tomorrow I will be a state qualifier!

15 minute cool down in the hallways again.

Tuesday 1/18

The "dreaded wintery mix" cancelled all after school activities. So since I don't own a treadmill or belong to a sports club, I decided to take this day off. The afternoon included a fun-filled bus ride, there were literally three kids to each seat, and more sitting in the aisles and we took bets to see how long it would take us to get to Weston Rd. I guessed we would get there at 3:08 adn we got there at 3:10, so I won. Then I did 40 junior thesis flashcards!

Monday 1/17

15 up. The roads and Brook Path are still quite snowy.

The work out today was 12 200s. The first four at goal mile pace, the next four at goal 800 pace and the last four at goal 400 pace. I was supposed to hit 42s for the mile, 38 for the 800 and 34 for the 400s. In actuality the splits were 38, 42, 43, 42, 38, 38, 38, 38, 35, 36, 34, 34. Most of them were a little slow, especially for the 400s. I felt fine, pretty smooth, but just a bit slow by the end.

So for my cool down, I swear this is the only time I have ever cut a cool down short. I had to get home, and it usually takes approximately 9 minutes to get from my house to the high school. So I cooled down for 12, called my dad, then finished up for a total of 17. I'm sorry and I don't take short cuts!

Sunday 1/16

Off Day.

I went cross country skiing today with Sheila at Leo J. Martin. It was quite busy, but fun. We were out there for about an hour and a half, but it was by no means a workout--it was leisurely.

Saturday 1/15

18 up.

Our workout today was 15x400 with jog back recovery. 3 at goal 800 pace + 2 seconds and 3 at goal 2mile pace. We did three sets of this. My goal 800 was 2:32, so that translates to about 78s. My goal 2mile is 12:30, which translates to 93 high. Spilts went as follow: 72 (way too fast), 78, 77, 92, 93, 93, 77, 77, 76, 94, 93, 92, 77, 77, 74. We did these in the road on washington street, which was generally clear with a few icy/slushy patches. Overall I felt pretty smooth and my shins did not bother me at all! I think it was a very good workout, and hopefully I will be able to reach my goals.

16 down.

Friday 1/14

Today I went on a lovely long run for a total of 77 minutes plus 8 strides. Originally, we intended to do a playground tour of wellesley, so we started out towards fiske. However, there was no sidewalk on the road to fiske and I deemed it too dangerous, so we turned back and went down weston rd. We passed 5 of the 7 elementary schools! The run was very nice and it felt very good. The footing was bad in some parts because of the snow, but overall it was fine. And my shins felt totally fine too!

Thursday 1/13

16 minute warm up. The streets were decent, with a few snowy parts. It appeared that it did not snow as much is Roxbury as in Wellesley.

1:58 600. Not good, not bad. At least I broke two and didn't injure myself (my shins are fine) but I definitely could have pushed harder. I did not feel tired after, only my throat was sore. I think my splits were around 38, 39, 40ish. I ran a stellar tangent, but came in behind Holly and just stayed there. Somehow I couldn't bring myself to pass her and the Norwood girl in front of her. I think it was good to run the 600, a change of pace is always nice, but now I want to focus on qualifying. Ideally in the 1000, mile and 2mile...there's nothing wrong with dreaming big :)

29 minute cool down. This was done in two parts, the first for 15 minutes with the people in my race. Then another 13 minutes with Rachel after hers.

Wednesday 1/12

Today it actually snowed a lot. They did not over-hype this storm! Unfortunately I do not own a treadmill, so I was unable to go for a run today. One month until my birthday!!

Tuesday 1/11

On Monday, I was sick and unable to come to school, so I didn't run. Today I felt much better and went for a lovely B run with the mid crew. We went on a longer Needham run which totaled about 64 minutes and finished with 6 strides. Everything felt pretty good, except for my shin started to bother me a little, but that went away. The strides felt fine. 

Saturday 1/8

The original workout for today was 4-6 400s then 10x hard up corda hill. I decided to play it safe and try to do this on the bike.

16 Minute warm up (3 miles) at resistance 4.

Then I did six .25 miles (400 meters) at resistance 7 (to pretend I was running in the snow). I did these at basically 95%, I didn't get splits for the first one, but the next five were 41, 38, 36, 38, 38. I realize now I should have done them for the amount of time it takes me to run a 400 generally, not the distance because it is much easier to go farther in less time on a bike. Between these I did .25 miles of recovery (slower biking). Then I continued biking slow to mimic the run from Washington st. to the hill. I wasnt sure how long the hill would take me, so I estimated it was about a minute. So I did one minute on at resistance 12, then one minute of recovery at resistance 4. I did this 10 times.

After, I cooled down for about 16 minutes to bring myself to a grand total for 15 miles!

My shins felt totally fine, so hopefully after this week end my shins will no longer be a problem and I will qualify in some races!

Friday 1/7

Today was a B run, so I was planning on running for 30, then ellipticaling for 30. It turned out that the distance kids were going on a 30 minute run before their workout, so I started out with Rachel and Jessie. But they were going quite fast so I turned around at the end of the brook path because I started to feel my shins and ran around back to the high school to finish up a full thirty. Then I started the elliptical. I found that it is very hard to elliptical as fast as you run, because according to it I was going at 12 minute miles. So I went a bit harder except the fitness center was closing, so I only got in 25 minutes. Then I finished up with six minutes outside, 8 strides and ice. Everything for the most part felt fine. Just some minot shin stuff, but not as bad as earlier in the week and in general, no negative effects from racing yesterday. 

Thursday 1/6

15 minute warm up on the streets outside Reggie. My shins did not bother me at all today, and they didn't during the warm up either!

Today I ran a 5:55.02 mile. Qualifying is a 5:54.24.....less than .8 of a second away! I knew what splits I had to run going into the race and I also knew I couldn't fall asleep in the middle of it, like I tend to do. I wasn't really nervous throughout the day, however there were periods of lots of nerves. I tried to get to sleep early last night, but ended up going to bed a little past 11. I had a good linden sub for lunch and I was totally ready to qualify. I had a sinking feeling that I wasn't going to qualify today, but come reeeeally close...I just knew it. Other than qualifying, I can't really complain about my race. I hit my splits (for the most part, I think I heard one 46???!) and I did not fade that much in the middle. The mile actually went by rather quickly and I was surprised when there was only three laps to go. It totally felt fine and I definitely could have pushed harder. So, next time I run the mile, I will qualify. And I hope my shins hold up. They don't feel as bad as they did yesterday, which is a good sign..

17 minute cool down inside and outside. I iced in the middle of this and my shins felt totally fine.

Wednesday 1/5

So today I started out with the 15 minute warm up. In the beginning my shins were fine, then I felt them and then it went away. However, after I got back to the high school, I felt them as I was walking around. This is all pretty minor, but something is definitely not right and they are nowhere near as bad as they were last year, which makes me think that I don't have stress fractures, but they were so severe last year that I can't really judge it that well. I just don't want it to get worse. And of course, it is quite unfortunate and annoying that I have to go through this again, and I am not sure what I am doing wrong. So I decided against doing drills today, playing it safe, and went to the fitness center. There I did the cross-training program on the elliptical for 30 minutes. I do not enjoy working out on treadmills or ellipticals much, but I have to deal, and chatting with Chandler also helped pass the time! They joys of the fitness center are endless--the kiss 108, the temperature and the smell, oh my! Tomorrow, I hope to run a great (and smart) race and qualify!

Tuesday 1/4

65 minute run + 6 strides. 

Bennett, Rachel and I ran down the aqueduct and looped back past the high school and finished there to do strides in the parking lot. About 25 minutes in, my shin began to burn again, but after a while it went away and strides felt fine.

Monday 1/3

15 minute warm up to Babson. It all started out fine, but by the time we got there, my shin was burning. Then of course it went away by the time we started the work out.

The workout today was 200 at goal 800 pace, 300 at goal 1k pace and 400 at goal mile pace. Overall: blahh. Several factors could have contributed to this, such as lack of sleep. My goals in these races are 2:30, 3:20 and 5:48 (which corresponds to splits of 37, 60, 87). The actual splits during the workout were like 37-40, 60-65 and 85-89. The majority of them were a second to two slower than what I wanted. What does this mean? Are my goals to high? Only time will tell...Also starting early on my shin began to bother me. It was burning and hard to lift, resulting in heavy, thumping footsteps. And by the middle of the workout I found it was hard to push my self to go faster. Sometimes I wish I had a workout partner exactly my pace, who I was a little faster than in races. That would be excellent. Alas, this is not the case, and I need to work on pushing myself and of course, icing and stretches. 

15 minute cool down. My shin did not seem to bother me as much. I iced and did the stretches tonight, hopefully this is not going to be a recurring problem.

Saturday 1/1

1/1/11

Happy New Year!

Today Carlijn and I went for a 63 minute run with a fartlek in the middle. The weather was wicked nice today, perfect for running. 15 minutes of warm up, 2 x 5 minutes with 2:30 rest, 2 x 3 minutes with 1:30 rest and 3 x 1 minute with 30 second rest, then 20 minutes cool down. The run generally felt good, my hip flexor was tight when we started the fartlek but loosened up by the end.