Season Opener in 2 Weeks!

The big brother is finally home from university! Despite our occasional arguments I'm super excited to have someone to run with to offset some of my individual training!

Being that my training is going pretty great and I haven't had any problems, I am absolutely PUMPED to open my season in two weeks at the Nike High School Grand Prix in Toronto. Should be an amazing event to start off the season even if they don't have the 3000m... I don't think I'll ever get over that one... And racing the 800m just 2 1/2 hours after the 1500m should be.. interesting haha

And now it's time to head out in these 40 km/h winds for my easy run.. Sweet!

Goodbye Snow!

So after a great week in the island's capitol, I'm home and loving this sudden weather break. Over the weekend most of the snow melted and in today's amazing sun I got in my first t-shirt and shorts workout of the season! It may have been a tad more enjoyable had today been an easy run day but it was still pretty great despite the brutal hill workout I had to endure. But back to the weekend...

Putting me into shock on Saturday night, I won the SportNL Junior Female Athlete of the year! Crazy, right? Of course I was totally unprepared and had to make my way up on stage while trying to nonchalantly check for chocolate cake crumbs on my face. It was pretty exciting, but I gotta say I was almost as proud of my spur of the moment speech skills as I was of actually winning the award...

As much fun as I had at the Stars and Legends Gala, it was just as awesome to get an oppurtunity to train with my coach, Ray Will. Being 800 km apart, Ray and I don't have the ideal coaching arrangement but we seem to make it work and are always excited to get together the odd time I get to St. John's. The training session proved to be very effective as he was able to assess my fitness level and weaknesses and adjust my training schedule accordingly... hence those lovely hill repeats I had today

Now that I'm back home and the weather is finally starting to cooperate, I can't wait to get into some hard training!

Back to Training

So after a much-needed week off I got back into training and am now finally settling into those awesome workouts that we all love to hate. You guys know the ones I mean, everyone has their own, mine happen to be lactate threshold workouts. Ugh I dread doing them but deep down I know I really love them. Plus they make me fast, enough said.

Despite only just getting back into the swing of training over the past couple weeks, I have my first meet coming up a month from today! I'm not sure what to expect of the Nike Grand Prix High School Championship as this is there debut year but no matter the level of competition I'm sure they're going to throw a great event!

However I do have one complaint already, there's no 3000 m! Seriously guys how could you not have a 3000 m? So I'll be racing the 1500 m which I do like and the 800 m which I do not like. Annnnnd the actual competition is only one day long, so I'll be racing both the 1500 m and the 800 m in one day.. ouch.

But that's enough whining, it's still sure to be a fun time. Not to mention the wicked Nike uniforms they'll be outfitting us in!

Meanwhile, I guess I should fill you guys in, I was nominated for the SportNL Junior Female Athlete of the Year and made it to the top 3 so I get to head in to the Stars and Legends Gala in St. John's this weekend! As you runners know, for some reason we don't always tend to get taken as seriously as athletes of more popular sports like hockey and basketball so I'm pretty excited to be a finalist!

Well since my first race is coming up in a month I guess it's time for me to lace up and get out there for a run in the amazing sunshine and 14 degree weather we've got today! I know, pretty good for Newfoundland! There's still snow on my lawn and on the trails but this is a start!