Blake Bennions running

A new fresh month! Started it off on a solid note with running up to the gym, getting in a good workout, didn't feel as strong as I usually do and was a little tired, I kept at 165 for bench and 35 for curls, I did 50 for dumbell rows, I moved up on the oblique machine, pull downs happened. I did 10 of each of the 3 pull up variants that I do, I did my simulation of the twister for Spartan. I rowed for 500m. I did abs. Just kind if hit up all upper body, oh I did rope pulls too. Can't remember if I did any other stuff. I let squats go until later because my legs were feeling beat up from the past two days, my right hamstring/quad/hip is feeling a little weird, not bad though. I ran 4 more miles after gym, I also stopped at the park and did monkey handles and then monkey bars and then more twister simulation stuff. I ran a little at the park too, like half a mile. Then I ran home and finished with a hard kick/near sprint and then cooled down a little. Will do abs with Adam later along with burpees most likely.

Other good news!!! Draper days is July 14th so I can get my fast 5k in without having to worry about it being too close to Spartan.

It feels like my body isn't building back the way it should be. Today I ran up to the gym, I was already feeling beat when I started the run, I worked out for a while at the gym but my body wasn't feeling very into it and kind of telling me to rest on lifting. I did a decent amount of stuff but not crazy and then ran home. Body is tired, I think lifting a ton and running a good amount is hard for the body to adapt to. I'm going to run more later tonight and probably get up to around 7 or 8 miles. Then tomorrow I will go low on running and high on lifting if my body is feeling well enough, and then Wednesday I will race and get in mileage but no lifting at all. And then Thursday will be mostly lifting with like 4-7 miles. But I also have a new rule that I need to take one day a week off/easy and that will just be by feel.

Pre-Race run at around 6:50 pace. Felt easy, tomorrow I'm just going to go out with the leader until I die or win.

Warmed up 3 quarters of a mile and then raced a good race, I went out hard like I planned and fought for the lead for the first mile and then this other kid came through as the other guy started gapping me. I got caught by two other guys pretty fast and a 3rd a little later, there had been a group right behind I was slowly getting swallowed by. I was racing pretty hard and did a good job keeping mentally strong, although I feel like maybe I could have been a little stronger trying to stay with the last guy who passed me, I gave him too much of a gap to get him back. Brandon was coming up behind me and I wanted to catch the other guy so I picked it up but the gap had grown too much, I surged to the finish a little extra when I saw I was close to sub 17:00 but didn't quite reach it. But this is the best time I've had on this course which feels amazing and overall it was a really good race with some strong competition! This is 30 seconds faster than last years time on the same course which is a big confidence booster, draper days will be good too and I think my goal of sub 16:30 on that faster course is certainly in reach after this. Will do a few miles later with Adam.

Later- 2.5 miles with Adam. Body is feeling that nice wake up call to racing when its been a good while. But I'm in good shape, good sign for Spartan, don't think the gym is open today but I will do core and such.

Worked out a lot, bench, curls, curl machine, rowing, weighted rowing machine, back machine, obiques, abs, dumbell rows. More bench. Wide grip pull ups and hang. I think that was it.

Ran 5 miles while my dad biked after dinner, also stopped at the park for monkey bars with 40 monkey bars going into some pull ups. Averaged low 6:00. Tomorrow will probably be long run with rest upper body.

I also did a solid amount of core with Adam and again later at night with some shoulder and back workouts.

7.5 with 1700 feet elevation gain at the top of Milcreek canyon, went there with my Mom while she hiked. Pretty good run, did it in just over an hour (minus stopping at the top to take pictures and enjoy that for a bit). I got up to the top of some lookout, there was a peak over to the left but no trail so I just trail blazed up to the top to get a better view. It was pretty cool! Today is going to be a rest day for strength. 7.5 isn't that much mileage but since it was in the mountains it's a better and longer work out than that would typically be. I might do a few more miles tonight, who knows.

Went for a light jaunt to the tennis court because I wasn't feeling that good tonight. Once I got there I decided I wanted to go farther and ran up the hill. Got in about 2 very light miles, like incredibly easy. Felt a lot better afterwards.

3 miles at the Brighton track with Adam, we ran a pretty easy pace, like just under 8:00 per mile I think. Spartan race is three weeks away, so that's coming up quickly. So really I only have 2 weeks of training and then I will go kind of easy the week of. I will get more running in later, 40 miles for the week will be a good accomplishment. Also will go lift for a while today, once my energy levels are higher, it was hot out.

Later went to the gym with my dad, I did bench of warm up at 135, then sets 2x10@165, 2x10@175, and then one set of 5x185 cause I'm just getting to doing 185 again. But the 5x185 felt really good at the end of all the other sets so I think I can move up to make it a part of my normal workout. I did dumb bell rows with 55s in between as well as curls with 35s, getting a little too easy. I did the curl machine at 80 afterwards and that was really hard. Then I did obliques, pull downs, and weighed rowing machine. Then I did wide grip pull ups and then hang. I also did abs. Then I ran 2.5 miles averaging just under 6:00 and then did 500m of rowing in 2:00. Tomorrow I will do a Spartan workout, not concentrating on weighs or running, just Spartan crap. Good to get 40 miles this week. Last time I ran 40 miles in a week was last July when I ran the Jupiter peak steeplechase. Next week I will get in at least one run of over 10 miles, might save it for draper days and just do a large cool down.

3rd workout at night, light job over to the tennis courts and did 12 wide grip pull ups, monkey handles with the exchange, monkey bars forwards and backwards with pull ups throughout. Then I did some more pull ups and hangs. Then I bear crawls and ran home and did shoulders and core, new additions of bridges and supermans for back and butt. I need to train as hard as possible these next couple weeks. Tomorrow I'm going to do some Spartan obstacle training and burpee challenge, outside of that its in the air.

All of me wants to go work out a bunch today again except my body is telling me it's a rest day pretty strongly. So I'll listen to that. Might go throw the spear though.

A little over 5 miles but I'm not sure because I didn't have my phone. I ran up to the mouth of the canyon while my mom and Adam biked. I sprinted down the hill to the park on the way back and did monkey bars, twister simulation, and monkey handles. I ran about a quarter mile in between each of those. I did abs with Adam after that too. And 30 more burpees before I showered.

Earlier today at the gym I did a good workout on the bench, I wanted up with 10x155, then 10x175, then 7x185, 8x185, and finished with 2x205. I was careful with the 185 and 205 because it would be bad if I messed up on those. I also did curls with 80 on the machine, and one set of 10 at 35 and one set of 10 at 40. Both felt good. I did 3x10 at 55 for the dumbell rows. I also did a couple sets on the oblique machine, abs, pull downs, weighted rows, 40s for dumbell overhead press, I also did a set of squats at 225. I finished with rowing machine and wide grip pull ups. Still to come are shoulders and some back work outs tonight.

Shoulders, lower back.

Ran up at Alta with Alta squad, I ran 80 minutes with AJ, it felt good and was a really nice run. After I ran I went to the gym and worked out a bit but I was tired and found out I was sore when I tried benching, so I will take today easier with that.

Kind of a low day, didn't go to the gym. Ran at the Brighton track with my brother, lots of people today. I ran a hard mile in the middle, 5:07, didn't feel great, and my throat/lungs had trouble afterwards. Hopefully tomorrow will be better, I will just go to the gym and get to benching. I'm thinking pull ups are going to be my main priority, I'm going to 100 throughout the day.

I only did weights and they went well, today was pretty busy

Ran with my brother at the track, tomorrow will be a big day for mileage after the race along with a gym day. But first things first, my body should be ready for a fast time tomorrow and I'll take care of workout buisiness afterwards. Hasn't been a crazy hard week for working out but I will get to 30 miles for the week and put in another really good strength day to cap it off. Then Sunday I'm going to do the 100 pull ups with 5-8 miles. Then Monday will be a long run with arms rest, Tuesday will be intervals and weights and I will go from there.

Race day! Not a bad race, felt like death and pushed through it. My throat and lungs felt really messed up, like they do after I run at the Brighton track, and I ran there yesterday so figures. But getting my brother out to run is important.

Anyways the pace started out pretty fast, 3 guys broke away a little and then there was a group of 5 of us that kept together until the last mile. This is the first time I've gotten boxed in in a road race.. But I'm sure I also played a part in boxing in other guys unfortunately so its fine. Anyways I dropped off the pack first as that bubble of death in my chest/lungs I feel in bad races was really bad today, but I kept a good distance on the next guy in the pack. I surged with half a mile left and caught the guy with a bandana and tons of hair and then I lost power and was having trouble breathing and he caught me back, I let him get away, the finish line was farther away this year, they lengthened the course.

But then! I saw the clock and saw I was close to sub 17 and realized I had enough kick in me to catch him if I killed myself with 200-300 meters left so I busted out my kick and ran him down and got in around 16:57/16:58, he was a solid 20/30 meters ahead so it was a good kick, and I was so dead when I finished that I had to go lean over against some rail and sit down for a while. So I give my effort like an 8 (mile 3 could have been a little better), and how I was feeling about a 3. Still feels good to go sub 17:00 for a full 5k, the finish was about a hundred meters past where I remember it being, I wonder if the course is longer or the starting point is different. I also ran into a guy who used to run for suu after the race, mark! Also my old teammate Robby Lee was there so caught up with him a little. I also ran into Sasha at the starting line. I was going to cool down around 7 miles but I was coughing up my lungs so I decided to go easy and get mileage in later tonight. I also ran into a girl I took AP world history with like 5/6 years ago during my cool down so that was cool. Good race, don't feel great about this weeks mileage but I will get to 30, its not the end of the world and I will be in really good shape for Spartan in two weeks.

Spent all day doing my essay for study abroad, when I finally finished I went for a refreshing nighttime 6 miles with man pull ups and twister simulation.

Went to the gym and did 2x10@55s for dumbell bench, 2x10@55 dumbell rows, 1x10@80 curl machine, 1x10@35 curls, 1x10@40 curls. 2x9@185 bench, there was a guy who was about 6'3 and must have weighed 250 of more using the bench before me and he was benching 185 too. But that felt good to be benching as much as a guy that big, I mean he was kind of fat but his arms were big. I also dead lifted the 185 a couple times because I had to adjust the hold to a lower position than the tall fat man had it and I didn't want to take the weight off. Anyways I also did 1x10@60 dumbell rows. I did 2 sets of pull down machine and 2 of pull back machine. I did 2 sets of obliques and abs. I think that was all at the gym today. My bench is coming along nicely, I will move up to 195x10 after Spartan. And hopefully by the time school starts I will be able to pull off 3x10@205. Oh after benching at 185 I did 20x135.

At night I ran to the park after it stormed and did a lot of good stuff,on key bars, monkey handles, twister, a new thing with the rope bridge thing, pull ups, bear crawls, more bear crawls, more pull ups. Lots of good stuff. I'm feeling ready for this Spartan. I need to get in 10 more good days of training and then trust in the work I've put in, I'm stronger than ever, I'm faster than I've ever been during the summer, and I'm ready for this.

Good day and a good run. Ran the first 3 miles with my brother and then continued on, I got a solid 1000 feet elevation gain during today's run and I tried to run as much on the grass area as possible on the sides of the road to try and simulate Spartan. Tomorrow will be a big one, gym, Tully long run, and park workout. Probably going to be my last 3 workout day before Spartan, but should be great. I finished pretty fast for today's run.

Did abs later.

Ran the gully in 43 minutes, it was 97 degrees today so that was a good effort, it was hot. I also got in a lot of spear throws today, I'm successful about half the time from 20 feet away so not bad, hopefully will get to like 9 times out of 10 by the time the race arrives. But I also think the Spartan target is bigger than my cardboard box on toip on a plastic bucket. So training is going well overall.

My wrist has been hurting just a bit so I will be careful at the gym today and not do anything that hurts.

Gym went well, the only thing that made my wrist feel off was the curl machine. I warmed up 10x135 on bench and them did 3x9/10/9@185 for bench. I finished with 20@135 as that's proven to be a good workout. In between those I did 3x10@60dumbell rows, one set of curl machine at 90, 1x10 curls at 35, 1x10 curls at 40. I did two sets of obliques and abs. Then I did 2 sets of pull back machine and a new one which I.will just call pull aways, they were pretty good. I think that was it, later I will go to the park for monkey bars/handles, twister, other Spartan training. And abs, back, and shoulders also to come. Tomorrow will likely be a mountain run, we'll see!

Park workout was good, wide grip pull ups hurt my wrists a little bit so will rest on those until I'm feeling better. Race is getting close!

Wrists are a little messed up, not bad though, just some minor pain. So pushup, wide grip pull ups, and curl machine and most curls are going to be take a rest. But I benched 3x10@185 which was great, I wanted to do 195 for the last one. I also did 10x135 to warm up and 20x135 to cool down. I did 3x10@60 for dumbell rows and I did 2 or 3 sets at 40 of hammer curls because they don't hurt my wrists. I did 20 regular pull ups and they felt fine. I did 2 sets of obliques with abs and then pull backs once and pull aways twice. Pull backs machine was being used and I figured pretty similar to rows anyways.

Will run 3-5 miles maybe with some speed as well as do core, back, and shoulders tonight. Tomorrow will be a longer run.

Ran with my brother and stopped at the park on the way back to do monkey bar stuff, that went well. Solid elevation gain, I'd say almost 1000 feet. Long run tomorrow.

Ran 6.5 in just over 40 minutes, averaged 6:15 so that was solid, 500/600 feet elevation gain. If I can keep a low 6 pace next Saturday that will be great. Well all I can do now is get some nice runs in the next few days, and then 3 miles on Thursday and Friday. I'm going to look at the week leading up to my state championship race.

Day off completely, I believe this year is going to be ok no matter what happens, I just need to get my grad school checklist in order, nail the gre, and look for good opportunities at school. Tomorrow will be a nice long run and good solid weight lifting day, nothing crazy.

3 sets of pull a ways, 3 sets of pull backs, 1 set weighted rows, 3 sets obliques and abs, 1 set dumbell rows @65. 1x10 dumbell bench press wit 2 55s,then 2x10/9@185, my hands/wrists felt it a little on the last two of the 2nd set so I just finished. Want to be extra careful this week. Then finished with a set of 15@155. 2x10@40 hammer curls in between bench sets, don't dare do other forms of curls with my wrists right now. 3x10@60 dumbell rows in between each bench. Then I did overhead press@35(2), and various shoulder lifts with 20 pound dumbells.

Ran the first 2 miles with my brother and did some monkey bars and handles. Then I ran 6 more miles and did another obstacle thing and bear crawls, rolls. Then finished home. There a few obstacles I haven't really been able to prepare for in the Spartan race but I Wil have to trust my fitness and just go after them. Getting kind of nervous, first race I've felt like this about since high school! Abs and back workout.

Ran up at lake Blanche today, ran for about 50-55 minutes. I twisted my ankle near the top and was worried it had sprained, I felt/heard a pop and it hurt to run and felt weird. I pulled over in a shady area and examined it, wrote the alphabet with it, it seemed alright after that. But I decided I needed to be more careful the week of the race, still a good final mountain run before Spartan. And I always have a weird but insignificant injury leading up to a really good race, like when I ran into the rail outside the gym going for a cool down the day before my massive pr at byu my junior year. It's a good omen if anything. Tomorrow will be a fast but short day, nothing too intense, likely just a couple fast miles during a 4/5 mile run. I will also do a decent strength workout, easier than usual but enough to get a good workout. Then Thursday will be 3 miles easy, maybe some pick ups, and some light strength. Then Friday I will do another easy 3, the only strength training I will do will be at the open house for the course if I go.

Will fill in previous days later. Today I ran 3 miles in 20 mins on treadmill and checked out the course. I really tore up my hands sliding down the rope climb, so I've been tending to that. Nothing I can do now but put some mole skin on tomorrow morning under my gloves and go at this race with reinvigorated intensity.

Started off really strong, I made a move into the lead 20 seconds into the race and held onto it for a few minutes, I held onto it up the hill after the first obstacle, then we took a dive into the barbed wire crawl. They had artificially created a muddy area to crawl through by spraying water all over, I let one of the pros ahead of me so I could follow his lead and take a better route. That was a mistake, people began passing and I had a knee thrust into my side and someone swiped out my arm and I ended up with a face and mouth full of mud. I exited the barbed wire in about 20th/25th and started picking people off again but the trail suddenly got really narrow making it very difficult to get ahead of anyone, I made small progress here and there but it was taking me a long time to get back up to the lead pack. My gloves got ruined in the muddy crawl and my rope burns opened back up pretty early on in the race, wasn't gonna let that hold me back though. Unfortunately in mile 5 just as the trail started opening up again I sprained my ankle, it twisted and popped and I felt a tear as i went down. My race was over, nothing I could do now. As the pain began to subside I lay there watching the field pass my by, knowing there was no way I was going to run anymore that day. It was a frustrating moment, all the summers training had built up to this. I was going to fail, not only not take top 10 but not finish the race.

I remembered why I was doing Spartan in the first place,I got up as soon as my ankle calmed down enough for me to feel what was going on with it, I couldn't move it around much but it supported my weight alright. I decided to make my way through however much of the last 3 or 4 miles of the course as I could. As many of the remaining obstacles couldn't be done with a sprained ankle, I had to do over 200 burpees. It was really frustrating and annoying, my hands and leg were in really bad shape and the rest of my body was cut up everywhere. It took a long time to get through the last few miles of that course on a sprained ankle but eventually it happened. It wasn't what I was hoping for, but it was an exceptionally difficult race with some very crappy and unexpected difficulties, and I got through it. I can't control everything that happens in a race, but I can control my attitude and the effort I give. Today might not have been as fast a race as my body is capable of when healthy, but I did my best and when the goal switched from qualify for worlds to finish, I accomplished that goal. And in the end pushing through all that physical torment was a rewarding experience, I didn't have to look back on the race with regret and disappointment afterwards, I can say I'm proud of my effort and proud of not quitting when it may have been far easier to have done so.

Ran with my brother to test out my ankle and then biked with my dad, pretty good workout! Ankle is feeling good eenough I think I will go for 4 miles tomorrow, also will go see what I can do at the gym, might not do much.