Quick update

60 degree temperatures and 35 mph winds + running, wooh :) An easy 2 mile warm up, 2 mile fartlek and 2 mile cooldown (plus morning run) out on MoPac, a fun ride back w/ Doug (coach) who got us some pop (thanks Doug!). For all you Californians, pop = soda. The night ended even better with the Halloween dinner at the Training Table and finishing an english essay.

It's amazing what you can do when you rediscover your passion

Today was a lot better for me regarding running, I haven't felt as good as I did all season, which is a good thing because it means I'm getting better :) I did a morning run and then today's practice was easy, just a run with 8 x 100m strides with 100m jog in between, a cool-down mile and some drills and core. It felt really natural today, not completely effortless but I was a lot less tense. Sometimes, as my mom would say, you have to leave the brain in the dorm before you go to practice, haha. So its getting better, yay! It's also starting to get colder here, the high tomorrow is 60 and it was really windy today, I thought I was going to fall off my bike.. I had my biology lab midterm today, its about that time in college when the number of tests you have left in the semester is shrinking and finals are in a month and a half already! This weekend is the Missouri vs. Nebraska game at home, while the Cross country team will travel to Stillwater Oklahoma to run in their final Big XII Championships, it is an eventful week.

Struggles

I've been having a hard time dealing with everything, not performing how I'd like or feeling like I'd prefer, but hopefully these hard times pass and my motivation spikes up again. I'm thinking that I need to be a normal college kid this weekend and have some fun as well as enjoying the runs I have this weekend rather than focussing on how fast they are or how well I feel. Another reminder, some comments would be nice, I feel like I'm talking to a wall sometimes.. :)

Final Run as a Frosh

Pre-nats was my last race for my cross country season, I had an off day and the race wasn't that great but the experience will pay off I'm sure. If I have any advice or message to pass on to you Great Oakians its this: take advantage of every race you have, give everything your best, especially with how often you race.. In college, you get maybe 3 races, then the rest of the season you have to earn, any off races or slip ups and you're done until the next year; so keep your heads up, keep pushing. My biggest transition of the season I would say is dealing with being one of the top runners on a nationally ranked team to fighting for the chance to race on a team that isn't as highly ranked, the biggest transition though would have to have been adapting to training. Running 7:30 'training runs' twice a week for 8 miles in high school,  in college you're one of the last runners if you do that for 8, usually two to three times a week, plus tempos at 6:00-6:30 pace. Even though my racing season is over, Cross isn't and I'll keep training with the team through November and then transition to more track workouts to prep for Indoors in January. I'll also be continually posting more blogs to keep you up to date with workouts and college life, if you're reading this, leave a comment and say hello!! This blog isn't just for GOXC kids either, I know some of you parents are reading.. don't be shy or hesitant to ask questions either :) Hope everything is grand in Cal, fall is beautiful here in Nebraska!

Start of the Race

2010 Women's Cross Country

Finding Rhythm

Today's workout was 5 x 1k repeats again out by a lake/pond at a park just on the outskirts of the University grounds. We ran about 1.5 miles there as a warm up and then stretched, put on our flats and began the reps. I'm not sure what it is about this distance or this workout but my body seems to react well to it as I improve everytime we run it. I started out with a 4:08 average the first time we completed the workout, last time I averaged 3:42 and this week, my slowest rep was 3:34 and my fastest at 3:27, averaging about 3:31.2 =) It has taken some time for me to fully adjust, but I must say, the shorter mileage at a faster pace, the workouts and the tempos are starting to pay off; and the taste is sweet. I'm starting to feel more relaxed running at a faster pace and less intimidated by the intensity of workouts. I've never been one to be "afraid" of a particular workout, but the pace of workouts in college is so much faster, my results at first were less than encouraging in the mind of someone who trys to stay mentally tough through everything. Perserverance is definitely the key to success, and patience is important when transitioning. You'd think it'd be different, being a freshman in high school, the average runner has little to no experience regarding running and what workouts look like or feel like. Being a freshman in college, you've had four or more years of experience with certain workouts and strategies, you don't expect it to be so different like when you were entering high school because of what you think you know. As Jay puts it, you're a tourist in a new town with an old suitcase. I can testify that this is definitely true. As I've said before, what you did in high school doesn't immediately impact how you'll do in college, the transition is a big one and it takes time, more than you'd think.

Just you're average Saturday

It started with a long run with teammates Jesse, Anthony, Lara, Martina and Jen! I'm pretty sure its the fastest 8 miles I've ever ran followed by 4 more (a lot slower.. than the 7:11 average prior) After this, I downed a Naked Juice, an Orange Juice, a bottle of water, vitamins, and a Luna bar. I then proceeded to buy the sweetest pair of Oakley's I have ever seen!! They have red iridium lenses with all white frames. I am excited to wear them, to say the least. Then the student part of me attended two plays for Theatre class. It's now one in the morning, good morning and have a great Sunday!

Surrounded by Studs

It is amazing the people who are D1 athletes, I'm laying on the turf watching the Huskers play K-State (GoBigRed!!!) On ESPN, seeing players I see in the training room on television. Today at practice, the track team was on the track, I look at the jumps group and see jumps-famous Coach Pepin and former Husker Dusty Jonas (who has a high jump PR of 7-8.75!). It is awesome being a college athlete! GO BIG RED

2010 Adidas Invitational

Wisconsin was great! Some of you have probably already seen the course if you watched the videos of the Big Ten Championships, but the 6k race was held on the Wisconsin Cross Country Course which is an absolute beauty! The course was built for the sole purpose of hosting cross country races and is well maintained and spectator friendly. Ran on perfectly green grass, the course consists of one large loop accompanied by a smaller loop, but it doesn't feel like you're ever running in the same spot. The race had 20 teams in it and we were 9th. I was 171st in 23:25, a thirty second PR from two weeks ago, so I was very satisfied with how I did :) The race was really fast as our number one scorer Lara was 7th in 20:21 (a new PR for her), mind you, she was right behind last year's NCAA runner-up Kendra Schaaf. A lot of our women had good races this weekend and our men looked really strong too with three sub-25 performances led by David who had a fantastic last 1k to take 9th in 23:51. After the race I got to eat lunch with my mom and it was really nice to see her (and hear her!) throughout my race. It was a good weekend, now I'm sitting in Theatre and then I'll be off to practice to get ready for Pre-Nationals on October 16th.