July 31: I ran with my buddy Sam this morning before church and did a nice three miles. It was nice to run with her and catch up on what’s been going on; social runs are always a great way to start off a week that you know is going to be tough.
August 1: I had practice with my team this morning and just did an easy three miles because I was doing speed work later that night. It was crazy hot tonight when I was doing my speed work which consisted of five 800 repeats with a 400 recovery lap in between.
August 2: Today I was going to use as a recovery day from yesterday's intense workout. It started just as that when I began my run at practice. I went with Abbey, one of my best friends who I’ve talked into running this year, on an off-campus run through some of the local trails at an easy pace for about three miles. When we got back to our coach he informed us that two other girls who said they’d be on the same trails hadn’t returned. Coach sent me and Abbey out to go find them, so much for a light run! Eventually we found them, after doubling our original plan. Nonetheless, I got the extra work in and it was at a very quick pace because of the frantic searching for them!
August 3: I wasn’t sure what practice was going to be like this morning but I knew it was going to be a hot one and I was intending to keep it light after the run yesterday and the speed work I would have tonight. I had in mind a nice four mile run or so, not bad at all, right? No. Coach surprised us with a “pop run” (like a pop quiz in school, only it’s a time trial or a race basically). He told us the course was a 5K, 3.1 miles. It was hot and needless to say, a nasty run. I ran it in 27 minutes and some odd seconds, which really depressed me. Then, come to find out, the course is over 3 miles. (Jim) Fritchman, my coach, said he wasn’t positive what my time would be if was an exact 5K but it’d be within a 21-25 minute range after looking at my splits he predicts. My goal for this year is to beat my PR (personal record), 22:23, by at least one minute, if not more; I was more than happy to run that time in the preseason! The temperatures were ridiculous and my dad suggested that I not go out and do speed work tonight; I obliged without any argument.
August 4: Ah, finally, an actual light day! I was satisfied when we were “free to do whatever.” That consisted of a nice social run with Abbey, topping off at three miles. So nice!
August 5: I didn’t have practice this morning so I decided to just take the day off completely in order to fully recover. I was sore and exhausted and didn’t mind relaxing for a day especially since my buddy and I decided tomorrow morning we’d go do hill repeats.
August 6: My buddy bailed on me this morning, but my dad took me out to run hills anyways. He’d already run at least 8 miles that morning, but still took me out their despite how tired he was and encouraged me all the way through it. His determination is something I greatly admire. There are three main hills in the neighborhood I was running it. I started with hill one, pushing it with all I had while going up each time and then cruising down it. I did these three times, and then moved on to the next hill, then the next. It was a tiring run but I could tell it was a workout that was finally starting to become easier.
Weekly total: 28 miles
Summer total: 228 miles