AM:
Morning practice at Sugarhouse. We did the course, then strides and cool down to 4.
PM:
Race! Did warmup with the girls then later with Eleanor and it all totaled 3.25. My legs were a bit tired and I was hungry but whatever.
I didn't have great position going up the first hill right at the start, it narrowed right before and slowed down and I had a hard time moving up. The hill was slow even though I was trying to pass people. Finally passed along the road at the top, had to do short speed changes to move up. Going down the hill I passed a few, downhill is one of my strengths I think. Then getting close to state hill I flashed back to state last year where I tripped and hurt my knee, which was my breaking point at state, and told myself I was not going to break today. Going up state hill I feel I could have worked harder a few passed me there. Going down I recovered a bit and then around the pond stayed about the same. Going up poker hill was the hardest part, I slipped a bit right there and a few passed me. Bill told me at the top I was close to Mary and sure enough I saw her, I couldn't believe it. Obviously she wasn't having a good race but it kept my spirits up. It took me a bit to recover after that and it wasn't until the downhill that I started to feel good enough to push again. Then the small uphill was again difficult. But I worked through it and pushed all along the pond. Coming at the end of the pond I was struggling, across the bridge and really struggled to get myself moving. I picked it up a bit though. Then I started to kick where I told myself I wa going to start kicking which was where we made our final turn. I passed a girl, my kick was slow and steady. The girl sprinted past me right at the last second so that was disappointing. But overall I'm happy with it it's my best on the course, best this season, and best this early in the season (I think.) I stayed mentally tough and worked through it when I wanted to quit.
Cooled down with Bill, Eleanor and Chris.
| 