Blake Bennions running

Late night and rainy. Been a busy week.

A couple miles around the neighborhood, then a couple miles on the grass around the park. Then I went over to the track and sped up to marathon pace for a while, about 4/5 miles. I threw in s 70 second 400m towards the end of the marathon pace miles. I did a few strides after that and went home. Also went on a couple or walks with the fam, it was perfect weather today.

Plan is the run 6-8 miles on Monday Wednesday and Friday and then do a 4-5 mile run Saturday before another long run next Sunday. Hopefully will also add 5ish stroller miles. I think if I can run 25ish miles plus a long run and some stroller runs then I'll get into good shape pretty quick. I also think I'll start doing some 800/mile pace workouts after another week or two of strides.

7 easy miles with 2 on grass. Also ran 4 strides building up to 400m pace.

Stroller run. Started raining a bit towards the end.

Easy run in the rain. Weekdays have been really busy lately, this next week should be easier to get run in tuesday-thursday though.

Long run Sunday is my new thing. I felt great today, I definitely could have kept going to 18 or even 20 miles. The kind of run that makes me want to take another look at trying to qualify for Boston at Cincy in May... But I still think it's a bad idea to rush it like that.

I decided to try the workout that Conner Mantz does sometimes where he does 2x4 miles at his marathon pace- which is faster than my current mile pace. I loved it. I got a huge 2nd wind to start my 2nd rep and couldn't stop smiling, and this was at mile 11/12. My pace for both was high 6:20s, probably a little quick but the headwind was really strong and it was psychologically easier to go a fight harder through it than try to stay at an even pace.

To make it even better today was really windy and cold and a little wet, and I started out with 3 miles on wet grass and my legs were feeling tired when I still had like 12 miles left in the run. Also ran a couple strides at the end.

I haven't run 15 miles in... A long time. Probably since 2017. I forgot just how alive a good long run can make you feel. Now I need to follow through with a good week of training, I want to get 4 runs in before next sunday's long run.

A little faster than I meant to go today. I felt great though. I need to order a new muscle gun, I might rest tomorrow and then do 6-8 miles on Wednesday.

Ran to Pinnacle, we found out they don't open their patio until April so I ran back home. Kind of uncomfortable run, super gassy on the way home. Really hard to get runs in Tuesdays through Thursdays so I'm glad I fit this in.

Also Whitney has been incredibly clingy recently so that's been tiring but cute. She's a lot of fun, it's amazing to watch her get smarter and figure out more stuff each day.

Ran to the track and did 8x800m at 2:45-2:50 pace with 2 min jog recovery. I was a little fast on a couple and a little slow on a couple. Averaged 2:47 but I feel way smoother at 2:50 than at 2:45. Also did a few strides before and after.

Didn't have much time today. It was cold and really windy. I ran 2 miles at goal half marathon pace, was a little slow at 12:20. I ran the 2 miles at the track and the half of the laps that weren't against the wind felt great, the half that were against the wind felt awful- and since it kept switching back and forth I never got in a good rhythm.

Easy run with 8 strides. The strides felt amazing today.

Warmed up a little over a mile and then did 2x2 mile at goal half marathon pace with a 2 minute jog between reps. It was another cold and windy night, but I felt pretty good. I ran 12:00 for the first rep and 12:09 for the 2nd. So just a little bit fast for these. Although for the race I'll probably start out with a slower first mile and build up to the pace I want to run, so it's probably better to practice a few seconds faster than goal pace.

I think I'll take Friday pretty easy and just run some 200ms and 400ms at 800-mile pace with plenty of rest just to get the legs moving. Might do an easy run Saturday, and then Sunday I'll do a long run- I'm thinking 3x3 miles at half marathon pace.

Walked to the track with Becca and Whitney, armed up a mile, and then did 3 miles at half marathon pace. It was another windy day and I was not feeling it today. I ended up being a little slow at like 18:28 for the 3 miles, I was trying not to push it too hard and stay in a good rhythm that I'd actually be able to sustain. It's really hard to do that when it's so windy and you're circling the track though.

After that I kept up a pretty good pace catching up to Becca and Whitney on their way home and walked the rest of the way with them. Then I tried to do another 2-3 mile rep around the neighborhood but my Garmin wasn't working super well- it told me I was going 6:20-6:30 pace no matter how much I sped up. So I gave up after about a mile of that and went back to the track/park. I did a few miles on the grass and then I ran 2 miles in 12:10, jogged a lap recovery, and then ran a mile in 5:49.

Not the workout I planned but I feel okay about it. 4 weeks until the race so I've got 2 weeks of good workouts to give me a boost. I think next week I'll do a 9xmile at HM pace with 90 seconds rest between reps.

Easy run with 8 strides and a mile on grass. It's nice to be back to feeling like 5 miles is a short run.

Easy run with a couple grass miles and 8-9 strides. Felt great, perfect weather today!

Easy run with a few strides. Felt a little drained, probably need more sleep.

3x2 miles at 10k pace. I timed it at about 11:57, 11:55, 11:55. Strava timed it at 11:58, 11:52, 11:48... who knows which is correct. It felt surprisingly hot for 62 degrees today, but besides that I felt pretty good.

I did 1.5 grass miles after the workout and it was grueling. Also did 2 strides on the way home. Then walked over to the swings with Becca and Whitney and did some yardwork after that.

Based off of this workout I think I should adjust my goal for the half marathon in 3 weeks, I should probably be targeting around 1:22. When I ran for SUU we would do 10 mile runs at 5:40s pace every now and then and I'm pretty sure that especially at sea level I could have held on to that page for half a marathon, so that would have been sub 1:15. But I'm not currently in that kind of shape... yet.