Blake Bennions running

I did the Brigthon/rec center loop the oppisate way that I usually go, the rec center was closed when I ran so I didn't use the tread mill, after the loop I ran around in my neighborhood for another 1.2 miles.  I ran the entire run stiking with the right part of my foot, I wasn't heel striking at all. It felt weird but down hill is a lot more effective when running like that.

I ran up to the rec center and I did .5 before I tried to do a 5 minute mile, the tread mill wouldn't go faster than 5 minute pace. I did the first half mile but I really wasn't feeling up to it today, my ankle hurts, my shin hurts, my stomach was cramping up, lots of aches and pains. And I had very little sleep last night and have been snowmobilling all day. I took a small break and then did another 2:30 half mile. Now that I am thinking about it, a 5 minute mile on that is more like 4:50 for a 1600m... but I will try again on saturday when I will hopefully be feeling a lot better. Next two days are long runs.

Rough week

Easy run with the team, and some tough core afterward. I liked it a lot! We also did lunges as well. it was a good practice, I am pretty sure I will be sore tomorrow. I neglected doing lunges last week, I completely forgot. I did some the first week of break though. I was also really happy about how easy the run was for me, and I am in pretty good shape for my core as well. I am debating over going to the USU meet this weekend by myself or not. I am excited, school seems so clear after that break. Well precalculas will never be clear, but I kind of got what my teacher was saying today.

Easy run at the oval today. It felt good, I felt really good when I got to pick it up a little for a few laps with some guys. I really want to do some fast speed workouts, but I guess I must be patient. Coach Murphy encouraged me to embrace the 3200m event more, so I am going to do my best to succeed in that event as well as the 1600 and 800. I have had some tendinitis since last week, but its going away, it was bad yesterday but it felt better today. We did drills and squats after the run, they felt really good too. I have passion again, its really good to have back, I have missed it. I can not wait to race, no matter the distance, I want to have another shot at all those guys who have been beating me.

It was a good day, and interesting, kind of weird though. I talked to a few teacher today and they gave me some good insight and advice. And my coach talked to me about training and gave me really good advice as well. I need to trust my coach and my training, and believe that the workouts I do will make me a faster runner. I have been neglecting the confidence I should be getting from my workouts, I will try to think about what each workout will do for my improvement during the workout. I think it will help me push myself. I think what Coach was teaching us today really makes sense, different people react to different training. I really appreciate that my Coach tries to do a lot of both speed work and mileage. I think I will be doing a few runs on my own after practice each week, maybe just a couple miles. For practice today, I did a 10 minute warm up jog with Ashton, and then another 10 minute warm up jog with all of the team. Then we did mini-hurdles and core, and watched a video about a really good runner, I liked the video. The guy was an awesome runner! I am trying to get my schedule for the 2nd semester changed, its an interesting process. I am trying to decide between a few options, I would have to really change my schedule to get phsycology but I think it would be worth it. Thats a subject I have wanted to take for a while, but there are some other interesting classes I want to try out, I don't know if the Journalism teacher would mind my handwritting or not. I am not really interested in being a journalist at the moment, but why not take the class. Its been a good day.

Before practice, I did an easy 1.5 miles with Ashton and Jacob, I wanted to get a feel for what I would be running in. Then we warmed up with the team, I call that another mile and a quarter. I will have to ask to see if it is. After warming up, we did drills, they were kind of fun. The side lunges hurt on of the tendons or joints on the backside of my right knee, this has been a reaccuring problem since Freshman Track when we used to do stretches that were kind of like side lunges. But it will go away. The tendinitis in my ankle didn't hurt on the run today, maybe just because of the cold, but it has been feeling less sensitive. I don't mind injuries as long as I can still run. We did an 8 mile run, the best buy loop and then a loop that Coach showed us this week that is 1.5 miles. The last 3/4 miles were faster than the rest, but I felt good. I also ran through the school to get my backpack to make sure it was 8, it was probably a little more. It was another good day, I need to do a few things before the quarter ends but I think I will be ok. I also did 50 pushups at lunch because the national guard was there and they were giving out stuff for pushups so I got a shirt. Oh another thing, Berecruited called my parents and told them some things I should be doing to run in college, they said for the mile I need to run at least a 4:42, that should be no problem at all. And for the 3200 they said a 10:13 which I think is manageable. I can not wait to rip out some fast times this season!!!

We did the upper loop three times, Braydens garmin said that the lower loop was 1.9 miles so I put it as 5.7 all together. We did the lap easy, somewhere in the 7 minute range I think, the 2nd lap was a hard effort lap, I wasn't feeling great today but I felt like pushing myself. I took off from the group and ran at a good effort, I felt pretty good running upper 5 minute pace. I finished and jogged around just a bit before waiting for everyone else, Braydon finished about 20 seconds, no more than 30 seconds behind me I would say, and when he finished the time was 26:50 for the whole run, assuming the first lap took us about 15 mins, that means I ran on the faster half of 11 minutes, so 5:45 pace or so, maybe faster. I doubt the first lap only took us 15 minutes but I don't know. I have really enjoyed the hard efforts in the runs we have done the past 2 days. Tomorrow will be a long run that will probably push us over 50 miles for the week. I didn't ask Coach Murphy how long the run tomorrow will be, but he said long so probably 10+.

I drove to Highland High School to meet up with everyone for the run but when I got there I couldn't find anyone, I was about 10 mins late or so. But I saw a group of people, maybe 4 heading south of highland high on 1700 East when I was driving into the parking lot. I thought it might be Coach Murphy, Jake and others, so I tried to catch up but I lost them and then gave up after over a mile. I ran back to highland High and decided to just do a long run at sugarhouse park, so I ran to sugar house and did 5 and a half laps. I spent most of the run trying to pass all the runners I saw on the loop, I was going in the 6 minute range for most of the 5 and a half laps. I felt really good, but I was tired by the end of the run. It may have been more like 11 mile, but I just made a safe estimate of 10.5 because I'm pretty sure I did 3 miles or more before running at sugar house. I am looking forward to the next 50 hours of rest.

We were supposed to do an hour long threshold run. I felt really good and kind of wanted to to run on the faster side of 6 minutes per mile but I stayed with Kramer the entire time. I didn't want to be rude and go ahead of Kramer and everyone, I've been back to running a lot longer. It spread out to the point that Brayden and Davis were trailing by a bit but we didn't go that fast. We were holding a conversation the entire time, the average pace was high 6 minutes. So it wasn't a bad run, but I sort of wanted to go faster. I feel like I am on fire right now, I can't wait to go race on saturday! I am feeling really good, today I felt better on my run than I ever did in cross country. I am feeling really good right now. My tendonitis is getting worse, it was hurting at work when I was just walking but I put it in the hot tub for a while and I will ice it after my shower. But I don't even care about that right now, I don't feel like anything can stop me! I want to enter indoor track right where I left off last year, maybe even a little ahead. And I feel capable of doing it! Tomorrow at the oval will be fun, I can't wait to do some 400s, even if they're not going to be that hard.

I lost track of Conner's car when I was following him to the oval, and I didn't know where it was so I did my own workout today. It was a perfect day so I didn't mind at all. I've got my fire back, and a lot of passion. I am going let it all flow at the BYU invite this weekend. I did the figure eight loop and then I took a bathroom break before I did another lap on the track, then I did 4 400s on the track. I'm not sure how fast they were because I didn't have anything to time myself by, but I had my phone, which doesn't have a timer. So gave myself 3 minutes for each 400, I would run it and then I would give myself the rest of the 3 minutes as rest. The 400s weren't faster than 65 I am sure, but I don't think they were slower than 75ish either. They were definitely faster than 80, probably around 70 if I had to guess but I don't know. But I felt good, and they were hard. That is what matters. I am going to put everything I have into whatever races I run this weekend. If it is a 2 day meet, maybe I can run all 3 events. I have prepared to run some good times at this meet.

Today we ran in the gully, it was a new loop, we need to make up some new names for these loops. It was a really nice and warm day! We were going at 9:15 pace for about the first mile, so I pushed the pace. 9:15 is too slow for an easy run, I got it to the faster side of 8 minute pace by the time we finished with all the icy upper gully. We ran down part of the really steep road and then back up, then we ran all the way down that road until we go to 13th east and then finished. I got us going 7:30 or 7:40 for the rest of the run going down to 13th east. It felt really good and easy, amazing run. I really enjoyed it. When we finished the run, just as I stopped, I slipped on some ice and took a fall haha, it cut up my hand a bit but it wasn't bad. Just kind of funny. Great run! I entered my seed marks for the mile, 800m, and 400m as 5:00 for the mile, no time for the 400m, and no time for the 800m. I haven't trained a whole lot for the 800 or 400 so I don't know what I can expect, I am sure they will be decent but I am hoping there are some other good unattached guys to run against. I am very excited for this meet, there are some guys that I really want to race against. I will do the 2 mile next meet, along with the 800m and possibly the 1600m unless Coach Murphy says something else would be better. I am pumped!

We did a flying forty workout, we did 8 of them. One every 800 meters. We also did a two mile warm up, half a mile with the sprinters before the warm up, and then 3 quarters of a mile after the run. We also did a good amount of core, these new core workouts are really good! I had my first college prep class and my first Psychology class today, I was very pleased with them. I am really excited to learn some Psychology, it will be really fun! The only problem is that my mind doen't work as well when I am in a class where I don't know anyone for some reason. But I will get over that soon and be a good participent in the class! This semester is going to be amazing, I think I can pull of a 4.0 or close too it. I just need to be more organized and do all of my homework. I was re-entered to the BYU invitational with accurate personal records, so the competition will be more at my level. I am going to do some good things on saturday.

We did 4 easy miles on the lower loop and then 4 bare foot striders. It was a nice and easy run. I am feeling good for tomorrow, I am not going to set a goal time, I am just going to do my best to win my heat. The mile is what I am really concentrating on tomorrow, its my priority. I just need to get up in the top 3 or 4, within 10 meters of the leader, and then kick the last lap. I don't think I will try to go wire to wire, maybe I will get into 2nd. The main goal I have is to win.

1600m - I was supposed to be in heat 11 and would have run a little faster in that one. But I enjoyed this race, the first 4 laps felt pretty easy, I was just trying to slowly lose people and make them give up. I took the lead at the beginning. I started running a faster a little bit with about 400 to go and I was just kicking a little until I realized that the guy in 2nd place was kicking really hard. I started kicking hard but it was too late, he edged me just by a little. I could have kicked a lot hard for the last lap and gotten a few seconds faster. Due to the mile instead of 1600m, for a 1600m it would be like a 4:50. So I can definitely make a PR next week at the oval. I am very excited.

400m- Everyone from Alta left after the 1600m so I was pretty much alone at the meet. Luckily my friend from EFY, Kyle was there and he ran in my heat! I hung out with him for most of the next 3-4 hours. The 400 finally started, I took it pretty hard but eased up a little once it was clear I would take 2nd because the 800m was right after. Kyle won our heat, which was the 16th of 23, I took 2nd. So it was a good race! I ran a 56 second 400m, not too bad.

800m- Kyle left after the 400m but I ran into Marco and Andrew and all those guys while I was waiting for my 800m race to be called. The 800m was pretty close after the 400m, I was pretty tired by the time it was starting. I gathered all the energy I had left before the race and got prepared. We started off, I stayed in the back because it was way packed in the middle. After the first lap or so, I made my move. I passed 8 or 10 guys and got into 5th.There was another guy about 10 or so meters ahead of me, maybe more, with about 150-200 to go, I kicked pretty hard and got ahead of him.I strided in to the end for 4th place in 2:12. Not a bad race, especially considering how much little energy I had left. I was top 25% for every race, maybe not the 400m. By the end of the season I want to be getting medals in most meets. I want to qualify for state in the 1600m, I want to run a 4:22 mile. I want to break 2 in the 800m. I want to break 10 in the 3200m. And I would also like to hit a 53 second 400m. It was a nice meet, I am thinking of doing 4 miles or so after dinner.

I did an easy run around city, first  I went a mile to the southeast, then I went back through my neighborhood and did 3 miles west and back. It was pretty easy, I felt really good, tendinitis is mostly gone. No aches or pains, I am now healthy. I picked up the pace for a mile during the run just because I was feeling good, I am in a good mood! I went to Panda Express after the run, orange chicken is incredible... Panda Express is the best! I also did 100 of those 6 inch leg pull sit up things Coach showed us last year, it was the first time I have done 100 of those in a row, great workout!!! I was partially doing those because I felt like I may have had too much orange chicken and fried rice haha. I am also going to do push ups later today, I need try doing push ups faster so I can build more power. I usually do reps slower because it builds up more strength but I am pretty sure doing them faster gives you more explosion and pop which I could use. 8 miles doesn't seem long at all anymore, it is amazing how much endurance I have built up this year, thanks Coach!

Later- I ran home with my brother from the rec center after playing wallyball, we picked it up for a while during in the middle of the run. It was 1.2 miles, it was a nice addition to my overall mileage for the day.

The workout today was 20 minute warm up, 30 minute tempo run, and then a 10 minute cooldown. We ran as a team for the warm up somewhere in the medium or high 8 minute range. When started the tempo ran around draper park. I started out the tempo run with Conner and Davis but after 5-8 minutes we caught up to Brayden, he had run with Kramer for a little at first. Davis and Conner fell behind in the first 10 mins so I ran with Brayden the rest of the way. We averaged just under 6 minute pace for the run, 5.1 miles in 30 minutes, and finished about 200 meters behind Kramer. When there was about 4 minutes left in the run we started giving it all we had left, I really started running hard at 2 minutes and then gave it even more when Brayden shouted up that there was 50 seconds left. It was a tough, good run. We finished on the lower loop and started heading back to gather everyone up. We did 2 laps on the track to finish. It was a good run! I am happy with my fitness level this early in the pre-season, my goal of a 4:22 1600m this season seems very realistic right now. My goal for friday is to make a PR in the 1600m, and everything is pointing to it being very possible. I think if I can get under 4:40 for the 1600m before we even start doing heavy track workouts, I will be in a very good position to reach my goal. It is really exciting to see this dream starting to take form, I know with hard work and a bit of luck I will do a lot of great things this year. I am starting to get confidet in my running.

Not a whole lot of time, I need to go to work soon. I had a really good workout today, I am a lot more confident because of it. We did a 2 mile warm up, then 8 400s, 4 at 3200m goal race pace, 4 at 1600m. My splits were 75, 74, 74, 75, 62,64, 67, 64. I felt really good on these, the second half were tougher but manageable. I got boxed in on the 67 and I would have had to cut someone off to get out, I decided that wouldn't be very teammate like so I took the 67. I always get boxed in or out of the inside track on these now, it can be frustrating but today I felt really good. It was a really good workout! We did a lap in between each and then a 2 mile cooldown.

We ran the lower loop and 2 laps on the track, then we did 4 striders. It was easy and felt pretty good. I will make sure to get plenty of sleep tonight, I am a little tired. I went to Davis' house with Read, Jacob, Ashton, and Brian to help Andy make his pinewood derby car after the run, I wasn't a whole lot of help haha, but it was fun. We played hide and go seek and tetherball and stuff, Jacob and Ashton  definitely helped the most. I am confident in my ability to do well tomorrow, I think if I am feeling good I will be able to make a PR. 

I did good in this race, I could have kicked harder though, and there wasn't really a time in the race where I felt like I had an opening to make a move. I tried at one point but the guys in front of me made it hard to get back in lane 1. I should have kicked harder at the end but I just couldn't kick start myself up to a higher gear so I just came in sort of easy. This was probably my lack of a warm up haha. I got to the meet late, I had been at alta until 4:15 or so, I met kid who just moved to alta yesterday so I talked to him for a while when I was waiting. When  I got picked up I went home and stopped by panda express, good decision! And then I stopped at home and spent like 15-20 minutes, I am not sure how. Anyways I got back left to the oval but even though google maps said it was a 20 minute drive, it took me 35 minutes or more, that was kind of my fault because I accidentally turned onto Bangester highway at one point... o_O. I got to the oval as they were assigning heats. Fortunately I ran into Ashley right as I got to the oval so I left my stuff with her and ran over to get my heat number. I got there just as they started calling heats, the first was for sub 4:35, the second heat was sub 4:45 so I joined it. I had warmed up maybe 400 meters at this point... maybe.  I kept warming up for the next 10 minutes, I think I got to about a mile including many striders. I knew a lot of people in my heat, Jared Croft (won and made a PR by 6 seconds at 4:32), Dakota, Andrew Lawson, Brandon (elementary school friend), and the top guy from corner canyon. So it was a stacked heat to say the least haha, the Corner Canyon guys took the heat to challenge themselves but did well! Part of my motivation during the race was to be the fastest product of Burton elementary haha. 4:45 is a good time for this early in the season, I really agree with my Coach about being able to start the outdoor season with a low 4:30s 1600m time. I want to do all of the races at the last utah indoor meet, I am sad that there are only 3. I want to make a PR in the mile, and get under 4:40 at that race, but I also want to do what Coach Murphy said I should do and run the 3200m and the 800m. I want to run them all. And because it is spaced over 2 days I think that is possible! I am excited to try out the 3200m race, I think I can get in the lower half of 10 minutes on my first race. My goal for the season is to run under 10 minutes. I ran just over half a mile for my cooldown and then drove home. I ran another 4 miles at home, really easy, I read it on Conner Mantz's blog a long time ago that he did that after a meet and I have been meaning to do it ever since. It sounded like a good idea. Good race, it was another step towards reaching my goals and dreams. I am really happy about how well I am already doing! This season is going to be special!

I ranged from 7:00 to about 8:30ish pace on this run. I stayed at the Cottonwood heights rec center and did 2.5 miles on the tread mill before running back to my house and past my house up to this gas station a mile away, then I ran back to my house, I did an extra .6 along the way. I stopped at home to use the bathroom and then I went back out and did another 2.4 miles. I might do 1.5 miles with my brother later tonight. My big toes have been bending inward, I noticed this a few months ago and showed my Dad but he didn't seem to worry about it so I didn't really care. But yesterday after the meet he asked to see them again and he said that they are bunions, then he told me I might have become flat footed, so i looked and my left foot is almost completely flat footed, the arch is pretty much gone, the left bunion is much worse than the right. He said it was because the tendons were breaking down or something. I am going to see a doctor in a couple of weeks. The problem might be from before I even started running, because I googled it and most bunions have these blister things on the side of the toes, and I have had those since 8th grade, maybe 9th. Well it is kind of sad but whatever. I will get the foot supports and it will probably be ok. No reason for this to affect my running at all. I have done some core today, I will probably do some more tonight.

We did a progressive 80 minute run, we started out slow and kept getting faster. This was a great run, by the end of the run it was just me and Kramer with Brayden and Davis fairly close behind. We finished at 5:55 pace for the last mile. I think it is tendonitis but its everywhere, but my right ankle is hurting all over. I it was so worth it, I am so happy about this run, we ran so fast and did so good. I am very happy my progress, this aerobic improvement is so rewarding. I really can't wait to run tomorrow, I am starting to really love running, I am getting so much passion for this sport. I really wish there were more meets in february, I think there is only 1. Hopefully I am wrong and there are more. I love racing the mile, and I am excited to race the 2 mile. I am so grateful for my ability to run as well as I do!

Well I don't think sub 10 minutes for a 3200 would happen if I ran a 3200m race this week, maybe 10:20, but in 10 weeks I think I will be ready. Next week at the oval I am planning to pull a triple of the 800m, 1600m, and 3200m. I also will try to get in an aerobic run on saturday and few extra miles on friday. My goals are 3200m - 10:26, 1600m - 4:38, 800m - 2:05. These are times I will be happy with but I feel like I can do better, I might not hit them all but I think they are realistic. This will be the last meet for 5 or 6 weeks so I plan to leave everything I have out on the track, if I have a bad weekend, I will still be able to say this indoor preperation season was well spent. But I will do everything I can to make sure it is a good one. Today for my workout I did 5 600s with the rest of the team, it was at our goal 3200m pace so they weren't really fast but the last 2 hurt a little at the end, I ran 1:53, 1:51, 1:51, 1:47, 1:46. I was going a little bit faster than my goal of 1:53 for 2 and 3 and a little bit faster for 4 and 5 but I just felt like I really wanted to go faster. I felt like I needed to and Coach Murphy seemed fine with it, for the overall 3000 it was 9:08, which translates to a 9:45 3200m. The cooldown plus the 200m of jogging we did all together inbetween the reps came out to 1.25. Good workout. Tomorrow is mileage! I will have to decide between resting my ankle in the morning or doing a 4 mile run.

My ankle has swollen up, it hasn't hurt much today but it is still swollen up, maybe even a little more. I have biked 35 miles on my stationary bike, its been hard mileage, the only kind of biking I know will actually help me. I have done these 35 miles in less than 115 minutes. So its been at a decent pace, I choose the resistance setting based on what felt most like running. I will not let injury get in the way of my dreams, I am still on fire, I really hope I can do the track workout tomorrow. It is very important to me. Yesterday I did 45 minutes for 14.2 miles and then I did 3 minutes of slow easy cool down. Today I did 17.5 miles in 55 minutes, I decided I wanted to get to 35 miles for the 2 days so I did another 3 miles in 10 minutes. I think these 2 days of cross training will help me long term, and were definitely helpful for the recovery of my ankle, which I really hope is feeling well enough to run on tomorrow.

I did 45-50 minutes of biking on wednesday and 65 on thursday to clear up my previous entry. It entered it for wednesday but I meant to enter it on thursday. We ran to the gully and did hill sprints after a 30 minute warm up. My ankle started hurting mid way through the hill sprints but I just finished the workout and ran back. It is feeling better today, really I just want it to be completely healed by monday.