Sophia's Running Chronos in XC 2019

Here are some of the official XC chronos for Sophia in 2019 (7th grade). She is twelve years old. She will do track in the Spring and hopefully keep running next year. It might be nice for her to know her chronos when she raced at twelve. 

DATE	TEAM	SITE	Time	Pace
Sept 26, 2019	Regina	Kickers	15:16	7:38
Sept 16, 2019	Iowa City JH	Kickers	15:58	8:02
Sept 24, 2019	Muscatine	Muscatine
Oct 1, 2019	West	U of I course
Oct 2, 2019	City	U of I course	14:21	7:10
Oct 10, 2019	Eastern Iowa Middle School	Noelridge Park
Oct 19, 2019	State Championship	Ankeny	14:34	7:17

Hill Repeats 5 X 400

I like to run on Hawkeye Park Rd. The course is 0.5 miles long, but I like to run the quarter that goes up hill about 40 ft elevation. I was able to do five repetitions today, and it looks like each time my repetitions were faster! I also decided to run in my Newton shoes with open toes!

I find it very interesting to see how high my hear rate goes when I run uphill! I suppose that is really good exercise for my heart and also for my legs!

GARMIN CONNECT

Amana Freezer 5K

Another year of Amana Freezer 5K. Race started at 10:00 AM. Arrived early to pick up my bib number and chip, and most importantly run a one mile warm-up (very slow).
This time, the strategy was to try to run the first mile at 7:30 mpm (second mile at 7:15 and third mile at 7:00). It worked for the first mile, but actually, it was too fast. I couldn't even hold that pace for the second mile. The avg mile pace was 7:47 mpm. At least, I kept the pace below 8:00 mpm and bettered my time from last year's race (7:57 mpm).
This time, not surprisingly, Craig got first place running at 7:30 mpm. Andres got second place two seconds ahead of me. Actually, it is very hard to keep a pace in the second mile because of a tough hill around 1.5 mile. I was very impressed with Mariah Hurley (42). This runner was ahead of us all the time and we just couldn't catch her! She was running about four seconds per mile faster than us.
I noticed a toe in my left foot started hurting when I was walking to my car after the race. Not sure if it's a stress fracture. Decided not to run for a few days until the toe feels better.

YouTube Video
Race Results
Garmin-Connect

4X800m

Track Day. Ran a mile for a warm up. Three 100m sprints before 3 X 800 m.

distance	time	pace
1 mile	10:44 min	10:44
100 m	25.0 sec	7:22
100 m	22.7 sec	6:55
100 m	21.4 sec	6:30
800 m	3:46 min	7:40
800 m	3:42 min	7:23
800 m	3:44 min	7:33
800 m	3:49 min	7:42

Thursday Loop #2

Set the alarm clock for 3:30 AM. It took me a few minutes to decide if I should run or just stay in bed. I read Andres text message saying h was going to stay home. Decided to go running.

I arrived a few minutes before 4:30 AM. There were two cars in the parking lot before me. More cars started to arrive.

Ran with Shawn Kmetz, Michael Price, Bret Williamson, Andrew Gray, and Meghan McLaughlin. I guess I am forgetting somebody...

They were running 'slow' for them, but it was a pace I could hold for a few miles. My HR was between 140 and 150 bpm (Aerobic Zone/zone 3). I have been running on zone 2 (endurance zone), so I knew this was unknown territory for me. This time I brought my headlamp.

Crossing the spillway was not too hard this time, but water was freezing cold! Most probably, this is one of the fastest times I have ever crossed the spillway. Everybody crosses it as fast as they can, that is the secret. I started walking some after I crossed the spillway. This last part of the loop is the hardest. It was also very difficult to see the trail in the dark. 

So much fun!

GARMIN CONNECT

Workouts Variety

I believe I need to add some variety to my workouts. I have been doing Low Heart Rate running for a couple of weeks. Yesterday, I added four 110 m intervals at the end of the four miles. Today, I decided to run some hills. The dirt road was a perfect route to do the hills. I started the GPS watch at the low side and stopped the watch at the highest point. It did not work the way I was expecting. Next time, I will leave the watch on the whole time.
The Low Hear Rate runs are between 120 - 135 bpm. Aerobic training works at this heart rate zone. It's also called the endurance zone. We are supposed to build endurance when running at that heart rate. I feel very comfortable running at low heart rate, that's for sure.

Sunday Long Run

I have been feeling tired and stiff. However, it motivates me to go run with people. I drove this morning to Cedar Rapids and met the No-Regrets Running Group. There were more than a dozen runners, even though the weather was kind of creepy. They forecast showed snow, but it was more like light rain. 

I started running at my own pace, but later I was able to lead the small group. I was thinking about running about six miles, but Tom was planing to do eight or ten, so I decided to join him and not let him run alone. That was a good decision. I enjoyed talking to him most of the way, and then we both pushed our bodies the last couple of miles.

I think I might feel tired because I was not eating well, not getting enough sleep. But, I want to improve in my running. I know I just can do certain amount of exercise. So, I think I can go for a walk... I just don't want to sit all day long watching videos.