swim, ride, run

Mountain bike ride, alone, from house to Corner Canyon. Tried a hard effort up Canyon Hollow but it was way too hot. Had lunch at the top and rode down Ghost Falls and back home.

At home I had a run off the bike, though I really really REALLY didn't want to in the heat. I ran about a mile uphill from my house to the park and up a little trail, then a mile back.

Run with the Alta XC team today in the gully. Regular gully long run + 1 start loop. I ran on my own because the girls first showed Noa the way, and I had to leave early anyway. Felt really good today and tried really hard on the hills.

Also swam this afternoon with the comp team, but it was mostly technique, nothing hard.

I ran with a new friend this morning. Her name is Cherell Jordin and she's a world class road triathlete and even on Lesley Paterson's Braveheart team. Needless to say her workout kicked my butt, trying to keep up with her. We stayed on Wasastch Blvd and did 5 x 2.5 min hill repeats at race tempo. I felt good today, though!

This evening I did the Midweek Mtb race at Snowbird... they cut our race short but I won Expert Women so that was good.

Bike: Prerode the XTERRA nats course in Ogden with Matthew. We started at Pineview Reservoir by the dam, went up Wheeler Canyon and Sardine peak and finished at Snowbasin. 16 miles, 3400' of climbing! Tough climbing course for sure.

Run: At Snowbasin, did a short run off the bike to the top of the ski hill and back down. Ouch ouch ouch ouch

Bike: Rode another 5 miles back down to Pineview with Matthew, found a really cool techy descent called Icebox! Good, hard, long day.
 

Short, easy trail run this afternoon at the park by my house.

Later, I went to the last Summit Devo ride of the season. What an amazing season of biking with such an awesome team! 12 miles, 2400' gain. We started at Pinebrook and came to a brutal, steep 1.5 mile climb up some double track to the peak. It sucked! Barely cranking in granny gear! I kept up with some of the boys though, so it was a good workout. And we definitely earned the sweet downhill (Road to WOS) from the top! Felt really fast and flowy, it was a ton of fun. Finished the day with team dinner at $5 pasta night. I already can't wait for the next season with Summit!

Easy run with the XC team. They ran for 70 minutes, but I had to leave early so cut it short. 

Wasatch 360 mountain bike race in Heber, Utah. 6 hours of racing, three person team with my friends Lia and Sydney. Each lap is 10 miles, 1100' elevation gain.

1st lap: My first lap didn't feel great, and I hadn't preridden it or warmed up, so I guess I didn't take it out as hard as I could have. I was excited to lead off for my team though!

2nd lap: My second lap was my fastest, 50:53. Also the fastest junior female lap. I felt really great, but the teams were pretty spread out, so not a lot of people to race.

3rd lap: My legs were tired and I felt ready for a nap! But I finished the last lap for our team just a minute slower than my second lap. We ended up being the top female team!

Overall a fun race! And I'm pumped for the high school bike season to start!

Gully long run with the Alta xc team. Ashley and I sprinted up that road hill. I'm really sore from yesterday, which is weird because biking usually doesn't make me sore at all.

Track workout with the XC team -- 12 x 200m @:40, 200m recovery between each. Felt good today! My last 200m was a :32.

After running, went straight to Solitude for the last midweek mtn bike race, with my brother Martin and some other Summit kids. The race was super short, just 6 miles, because of the storm coming, so and all out sprint from the get-go! I would've won Expert women but for a mechanical on the last downhill. I ended up 3rd and was a little frustrated. Right when I finished the downpour began.

We all huddled inside Solitude's lodge with free barbecue (YUMMY!!!) and waited for the awards and raffle. A little 13 yr old girl apparently got lost and was still on course in the cold and dark, and a search party went out for her. They finally found her, and the poor girl was taken to the hospital... By then it was 8:30 and the raffle began.

I'm not lucky at all, at least I thought... so I wasn't surprised when all the prizes (and there were a ton of prizes) had gone and I still didn't have one. Then they took out the biggest prize of the entire season -- a new carbon bike frame, light as a feather, from Fezzari. AND I WON IT!!!!! IT WAS SO SO SO SO SO SO SO AWESOME!!!!!!! I'm so stoked!!! Don't know what to do with it yet.. Dad might build a new racing bike for me, though I got a new one this year that's still great... Or I might give it to my brother... Anyway, very exciting day!

Second XTERRA preride, with the family - Martin, Mom, and Dad!

Bike: 17 miles, 3400', felt way better on climbs than the first preride here.

Run: Run off the bike once reaching Snowbasin... Up the ski hill and a bit of the singletrack at the top, I'm just happy I didn't have to walk any of the steep hill this time. My shins starting hurting again.

Bike: After enjoying the live band and BBQ up at Snowbasin, we rode Green Pond Loop and Icebox back to the car. I was so hyper and feeling so good on the downhills! We had managed the entire day, close to 6 hours of riding, all four of us, without a single flat or crash or other mechanical. Then, on the last 2 minutes of the ride, on the gravel dirt road down to the car, I was riding a little out of control... Well the gravel got bigger and the road got rockier, and I couldn't slow down enough... soon I had veered off the path and SLAMMED into a big boulder on the side of the road. I'm not hurt, but I ripped the tire and bent my front wheel's rim...  $$$. Whoops, sorry Dad.

Other than that, great day.

Short swim before school with the high school team this morning.

After school, HS ride on the BST, and went down Bobsled for the first time, which was really fun! First HS race this Saturday in Soldier Hollow!

After the ride, went for a short run. It's been a wimpy week of running.

First NICA high school mountain bike race today in Soldier Hollow. The league has grown so huge -- today, the place was packed with 660 racers. Dug deep today and it hurt a ton... finished 2nd in varsity girls. First place had a good gap on me, so got some work to do for the leader's jersey! Really happy though with today's race.

This morning, 3.5 miles out and back on the Shoreline trail by my house. Medium pace, and my shins aren't hurting much anymore.

Some AM swimming with the high school team before school today. Still nothing hard.

This afternoon, ran 7 miles with the Alta XC team on Porter Rockwell with a 2 mile hard effort (13:19) before the rain started pouring. 

Easy swim at Dimple Dell before school with Martin.

Ran 4 miles on the lower loop with the XC team in the pouring rain! We made a point to step in every puddle along the run, and I was soaked to the bone! It was great! Finished up with 8x200m on the track.

After the rain stopped I went to Corner Canyon and spun around a bit on the lower trails.

Today's race at Herriman was awesome, and really, really painful! I think I push myself a lot harder when I'm racing other high schoolers, no matter the sport. That last 3/4 mile hurt the worst, but I was able to catch a lot of girls. Alta did really well as a team too, and I'm bummed I can't count for their points, but I was just happy to race today.

Went up to Pineview for an open water swim. Emma and her super fast friend Barbara from Chile were with me. It was a hard swim trying to keep up with those two.

Later we prerode the xterra course, but nonstop. Emma took off, and I didn't even try to keep up, my legs were sore from yesterday. 

Riverton homecoming that night!

Easy swim this morning before school, by myself at Dimple Dell with all my old people friends.

Today's XC workout was hard and HOT...

We did a mile hard at the beginning and I was with the girl's group which went a 6:30. Then we ran the Best Buy loop pretty slowly, but some of the girls weren't feeling too hot today. Murphy got mad at us for all the water breaks. The last hard mile felt really good too, and Ashley, Julie, and I ran a 6:40, which I was happy about after a long, tiring day.

XTERRA Nats in Snowbasin was arguably my best race I've ever had. I felt really rested and strong through the entire race, and one thing that helped was eating and drinking early during the bike to help with the last half of the race.

Swim - 27:59, 6th amateur.

Bike - 1:55:50, 5th amateur.

Run - 55:40, 8:50/mile, 11th amateur.

Finish - 3:19:33, 7th amateur, 2nd in my age group.

Hannah Rae won both my age group and overall amateur in 3:03... She is crazy fast! Also, Emma took 4th in the pro field in 2:48, and won top American series leader. I'm stoked about the results! It wasn't easy, and I have lots of people to thank for the success this year! YAY!

8 miles today with the XC team on Porter Rockwell, 8:45 pace, or a little faster.

I feel... ok from the race Saturday.

4 miles trail running on the BST before school today, medium pace. 

That afternoon, I had a high school ride up at Mormon Pioneer trail. The loop was steep and had some good climbing efforts. Toward the beginning, all of us (15-20) were riding the trail single file, and someone at the front ran over a beehive. Anyway, everyone behind got stung! :(

In other news, I went to Blackbottoms today with my bike coach and we designed a custom tri suit for Maui! Very exciting.

8 miles with the XC team at Porter Rockwell again, but this time the first 6 miles we held around 9 min and the last two miles were hard, around 7:20/mile for me.

I had to go straight to the U for chem lab after that in sweaty clothes and running shoes.

No school for me today so I went for a long ride by myself at Corner Canyon (everyone else is at school or work) and then a short run off the bike.

Gully run for time this afternoon. I was paired with Read and Cubby and they made the run a lot more bearable with all their funny stories and the good encouragement. I hate the fact that guys are so much faster than girls, NO FAIR! I was really scared the last couple miles downhill because Ashley was so close. It hurt and I feel good about today's run. 47:56

40 minutes easy jog this morning. Really really easy.

Prerode Round Valley tonight and I love the course! Very flowy. And cold. I rode with Galen, who's a big time downhiller. Anyway he gave me some good advice on what lines to take and how to get around the corners, and other scary tips on the course like, "here you just shouldn't use your brakes at all"... um, haha, should be a fun race Saturday.

Round valley HS mountain bike race today.

It was perfect weather for racing and I felt great. My only goal was to stay on Sienna's (Park City) wheel as long as I can. At the last race she beat me by 2.5 minutes. I got a really good draft from her on the climb and was able to keep up the entire first and second lap, just sticking right behind her! Everyone was going crazy because it's never been this close in the varsity girls' race!

On the third and final lap I sprinted and passed her with about a half lap to go. There were a lot of girls on the course and so passing was a little difficult. Coming into the finish I was in the lead but Sienna was right on my wheel. To get to the finish there is a stretch of narrow, rocky singletrack and then a sharp right turn onto a dirt road, and then about 50 yards to the finish line. I thought it'd be a sprint once we hit that road, but Sienna tried to pass me early on the singletrack. We hooked handlebars and both crashed! It sucked! My rear shifter broke, and Sienna got up faster than me. Anyway... she took the win :(

Though the finish was a bummer, I was happy to know I've improved and am as fast as Sienna now. I think running's helped a lot. We got perks for such an entertaining race though, like an interview and "good sportsmanship" medal. My team and the rest of the racers did well too! Hahaha what a fun day!

Easy 4 miles around Sandy today. Feeling good running, but I want to rest up for another HS bike race this Saturday, in Snowbasin. Last week's Round Valley race report was posted, turns out I won I guess. 

HS bike race #4 at Snowbasin.

I must have bad luck or something. I was leading during the downhill on lap 2, by almost 2 minutes! It was awesome. Until I flatted. 1/2" inch tear in my rear sidewall. My first thought was: **EXPLETIVE**!!! Luckily, did not crash. But I had to run my bike down the trail to the pitzone at the bottom, and switched out wheels, and two girls Sienna and Brenna passed me while I was running. I finished the last lap and still took 3rd, though. Nice bonus though: I won the Queen of the Mountain jersey for having the fastest time up the climb (that was before my flat).

Running hard again starts tomorrow.

XTERRA Maui! An incredible race, with incredible support from friends back home in Utah and my very awesome family. The heat and humidity and beauty of Hawaii is hard to beat. The ocean swim went without problems for me, and then I completely buried myself on the bike. I was 5th amateur off the bike coming into T2 and ahead of Hannah Rae too!  Well needless to say, I was dead for the run. My lead over Hannah lasted about a mile, and I struggled very badly the entire run. Still, an awesome race to end the year on and I have so so so many people to thank for such a great season! I finished 2nd AG, about 4 min behind Hannah, and 14th amateur. Emma took 4th pro, I'm so proud of her!!!

EZ run with Cherrel up Little Cottonwood quarry trail. BRRRRRRRR it's cold! I won't forget a hat again this winter - my ears almost fell off.

Been a rough week of swim, getting back into regular training. And weekdays feel twice as long now! Got to school in the dark, 6:30 for 1 hr dryland (some running) and 1 hr swim. Then school, and another swim practice at 3pm. I stayed at the pool doing homework until Martin was done with WFFM practice, and then we drove home in the dark, too :( I have a school dance tonight, though, should be fun. And some kind of thanksgiving 5k tomorrow(:

So happy to drag Jean to the 5k run race today! It was so fun. I won a turkey. There was a guy running with only a speedo and a basket thing over it. Interesting, fun race!

Also biked 15 miles with some friends later around corner canyon (-: