Week 5: getting into the race zone

(Monday, 24 September)
Lower Arroyo. Tiny little extra loop with Susan and Sam to regroup before heading up to CA. Definitely were running faster in the middle from Garfield to top of CA; sub 8 pace at least. Hard to keep up, but worth it mentally I think. These runs are my bread and butter from now on. No more comfort zone. Ran my guts out coming up California to Orange Grove.

(Tuesday, 25 September)
Drove on down to frosh camp, gonna have myself a time.

Ass crack run with la gang, tempo. Felt pretty good. Nice to eat breakfast more than 20 minutes before run. (!) 10 minutes hard, (harder than we wanted I think -- my bad -- Susan wanted 7-7.15, Stephanie thought it was sub-7). then about 3 off, then 5 minutes hard (Susan wanted 6.30 - 6.45, but I kept it at the same pace as before -- probably about 6.50), a few more off, then 3 all out. The "all out" was damn slow for me, but the freshman were going fast at least. No worries.

(Wednesday, 26 September)
El Molino to Monterey to Orlando. Legs feeling surprisingly dead. Moreso, my whole affect is feeling flat. Like tired but not sleepy. Zero energy. Kinda wanted to run by myself and not have to hear about frosh camp and gossip and shit. But I wasn't fast enough to get away.

(Thursday, 27 September)
The hardest 5-4-3-2-1 of my life. Started out at about 7.15 pace, first mile in 7.10 or so. (We did the XC course at Lacy). Didn't really feel the changing of the gears as much as usual because I was just trying to not slow down and barf. I think I was probably not speeding up that much past race pace, but that's fine. It felt hard, and that is good.

Also, my right IT band was acting up again. This time, though, it wasn't just in the middle of the night like usual. (Usually what happens is, after a big workout, I'll wake up in the middle of the night with the right IT so tight that it really hurts my knee and butt. Then I have to get up and walk around and take ibuprofen). I actually woke up and it was tight and sore. So, I talked to Erin afterwards and she said she thought that I have IT band syndrome, but instead of the friction happening down at the knee where it usually does, it's friction between my IT band and the hip, which is why it hurts all the way around to my hip in the front and my gluts in the back. This also might help explain why it's always been harder for my right leg than my left leg to snap up during plyos. Heating, icing, etc. for now. Also rolling and massage.

(Friday, 28 September)
Prerace. Heated and iced. Trying to take it easy today. (IT felt fine on run, wasn't tight when I woke up). Got stood up by my parents.

(Saturday, 29 September)
IT fine today. Got up real early, which wasn't too bad thanks to early night. Avoided traffic thanks to Matt's parents in order to get to Riverside just in time. 1st mile ~6.20, 2 in 13.09. Probably my fastest 2nd mile ever! (last year, 6.30 out and probably about 14 at the 2). GREAT to have folks to run with. I mean it's like how me and Diana were at the end of last year -- she would just love this. What a relief! Perrin helped me push mile 2, and then Justine helped me kick in. It really helped me keep my concentration to have other folks to think about, and I also was moving up too. I tried not to let big gaps open up in front of me, and I caught a lot of folks; on mile 2 (unlike usual) and even later in the race. Just kept telling myself that I was strong and wasn't going to crack.

(Sunday, 30 September)
Delightful jaunt with the charming Ms. Abe. Maybe I shouldn't have run today, but the urge to get out with the Gumster was just too great. Ran in my Nike Frees, which felt really cool on the trail. Legs pretty tired. Also, I spent the day uber bummed out for no particular reason. Snapped out of that after the run though.