Blake Bennions running

12 miles with Cubby Davis, Read, and Zach. I didn't have Ashton and chase's numbers and I don't think they saw my Facebook message, oh well, it was a great run! I love porter Rockwell, after you get out of the city it's really peaceful. We also picked it up to a fast pace for the last 3 miles, the last one was the fastest. Afterwards we went and got breakfast at kneaders! 18 today, legally an adult so now I can vote! I'm pretty sure thats the only healthy thing I can do now that I couldn't yesterday. I'm excited to learn about the candidates for this years election. Going to do some core now, and wallyball!

A mile warm up and .25 course preview, then 10x400m at goal pace of 75 seconds over a grassy course with sharp turns and a couple small hills. I didn't do so well today, I ran 75 or better on all of them but maybe 76 on one, the fastest was 67 and most were around 72 or 73. I struggled through the workout, I drank chocolate milk yesterday so my through was full of stuff I kept trying to spit out, I used to drink 2-3 gallons of tru moo a week, now I can't have any! Oh well, I think once in a while tru moo is fine to have. I've been feeling kind of weird in speed workouts lately, like going fast isn't fun like it usually is, I will need to bring back my energized kick tomorrow. Also had fun at the team dinner, I watched some of Top Gun after finishing my homework.

Warmed up a mile and then started the race, I was planning on going out fast but instead I just went out normal. I ran in about 7th place the entire race. Some copper hills kid kept on trying to keep with me until the last mile. Then another copper hills kid took his place. Tayte polleman ran a phenomenal race to take 2nd, I need to run with June sometime, his strategy is a lot like mine for the 3200m except in cross I've always felt like there are too many people. But next time we race with Brighton I will just follow Tayte. This is the first time I've taken top 10 at a high school cross meet, hopefully more of this in the future. At Herriman I want to finish in the top 10. We went for a mile cooldown with some Brighton guys and Coleman Lloyd. I almost passed Coleman at the end but, I would have if I had been at full strength. Fun race, I gave a good effort.

Am- 5 miles, around the neighborhoods surrounding Alta, it was fun!

PM- 10.5 mile mental health run. I was thinking like 8 or 9, first read suggested the bridge and back but the when we met up with Ashton and Davis we decided to go to the temple and back, once we passed the bridge and started up to the temple I was like "guys this is supposed to be a mental health run, let's not kill ourselves" we agreed to go to corner canyon instead, so ehow we took some route that made it 10.5 miles. Oh well, I had fun.

Warmed up, then ran the best buy loop. It was a nice run and pretty easy. My knees, the bone right under them, they've been hurting for a couple weeks. Mostly just standing up, sitting down and starting runs. But I think they're fine, also my ankle is still swollen but its no problem, just small aches I need to ice. Hopefully gully time trial tomorrow.

Nice run at the Brighton track, I did just did some striders and jogging back after an easy lap, my brother video taped me for his film class.

We ran 5 miles and then did a 3 mile tempo run, I ran 17:00 so it was ok, not great. We did another 2 easy miles and for the last quarter mile we finished with a max effort, I dont know what I ran but I finished 5+ seconds or so ahead of everyone else, maybe a little less ahead of Davis. I am interested to see if taking albutoral before the next meet will improve my performance. Also I decided that going to Disney world from Christmas to January 2nd will be ok as long as I get my mileage in. I've been thinking about it and worrying about losing my acclimation to altitude and doing a little worse at USU invite in mid January but I decided that the mental health benefits would help. Also I can can run a 1600m race before going down to Florida and then race one there and see how much better it is, this will give me am idea of how much better I should be looking to do at the Arcadia 1600m than I will have run at the early meets of the season.

AM- 4 easy miles.

PM- small mileage day, especially for a two a day. We ran 4 miles and then did 8 200s. I ran them at a good effort.

AM- 5.25 easy

PM- gully longer run with 4 2 minute intervals at race pace throughout the run.

I will call it 1.5 with the warm up for gym. Good run, lots of fun, tomorrow will be exciting.

Got stuck behind the pack until the last mile, not a great race, more later.

Wouldn't call it easy but I got the 15.6 in, I ran at a pretty fast pace for most the run. I started out slow and then picked it up, I also had some big hills in my run. Very tired by the end, it was hard but I felt good, didn't have stop running at all during the run, just because I got lucky when crossing the streets. I love this feeling after a good hard long run. Especially one that pushes the mileage you're comfortable with doing. I think I do want to do ultras eventually. Running is the so amazing!

Track warm up, then a hard mile, we had to keep the top 5 together, we ran 5:12-5:14. Then we went and ran 6.5 around the best buy loop after that, then another hard mile in 5:13. It was a hard workout, I got something in my throat on the first one and was coughing and having to clear my throat the rest of the run. My legs are hurting, it's good.

AM- 4 easy morning miles.

PM- warmed up two miles and drills, then we ran 3x600m hard with full recovery, 15 minute breaks. I ran 1:33 for the first, my legs have gotten out of shape for fast paces like that but I felt ok, the 2nd we had to stay behind our no.5 guy for the first 400m, he did a good job, I kicked the last 200 pretty hard for a 1:34, for the last one I ran 1:32, I started my kick too late, I should have started it at the 250, I will learn from my mistakes but overall a good workout! And after a day as hard as yesterday, possibly a great workout. In perfect conditions after an easy day this I am pretty confident I could do these in under 1:30! I felt pretty good after this workout, we did a cooldown afterwards. I want to see what I could run for an 800m right now, my guess is 2:00-2:04. I kind of want to break 2:00 in track this year but a 4:18 mile is my biggest priority. And after the mile, a sub 9:40 2 mile.

Am- 5.5 with the team, felt good, I've noticed I'm writing a lot less than I used to.

Pm- 4 easy with Micheal, a freshman JV runner, we did a workout in which all the varsity guys found a JV guy and talked to them about how they made it to varsity. It reminded of me of a similar run I did my freshman year, but it was just varsity and I was the only freshman and also the only one no one knew and everyone was supposed to find someone they didn't know and talk about the craziest dream we'd ever had. It's a really good memory, I love this type of run. I am reminded of how much I have gotten out of track, it completely changed my life, and the course of my life. If I was a football/soccer player right now, I can only imagine how much worse I would be haha. I love running, I'm really grateful for it and overwhelmingly happy I decided to do it. I'm also getting really good grades this quarter, too bad I wasn't doing it earlier but better late than never. I'm going to run faster, I know I will, this Saturday is going to be a huge day for me and my running.

Did the first 4-5 miles in the standard loop but then went exploring in the gully, at some point everyone else disappeared but Cubby so we found some new trails in the gully, it was fun! We ran from where the park lets out to a park on the south side all the way to where it lets out on the north side to Indian hills and we did some other loops and trails I had never run on before, good run! We ended up running back through the lower gully below where the normal gully is and then found a new trail from there up to the parking lot, there was still a little distance left so we circled the parking lots, it was a hard run for the last few miles, I was kind of dehydrated and it was really hot and we did a lot of hills, so I was tired. I didn't drink nearly enough water today, I just wasn't thirsty but it hit me on the run. I had fun on this run though! Tomorrow will be a good pre-meet day, I was looking forward to 10am practice but oh well, 8 will be ok.

Fastrunningblog wasn't working so I had to post this on Saturday. Warmed up the track warm up and 2 miles 4x400m in about 75 seconds, a mile cooldown.

The only good thing I did was a nice and plenty long cooldown. It was cool to to see Adam Jensen there today, and Cubby did well. I want to race a 1600 tonight, maybe I will just do 4 miles, but I want to do the 1600. Well I'm getting through the season, track is on the way, new goal, BREAK 16:00.

later I ran 4 miles after playing racquet ball, I also did some powerful core.

Good healthy mileage day. 5.5 in the morning, 10.5 after school. I had to do an extra half mile after we finished a 10 mile run at 7:10 pace. Probably speed tomorrow so I will bring spikes.

A week ago I would be really excited at the amount of mileage we've gotten in this week. We did 5.5 in the morning and then 10 after school, Zach, cubby, chase, and Ashton did really good and Mikey did a ton better than Monday, so that was good. SomeboD convinced a couple of guys to stop for water with him, I said we shouldn't but whatever. Nebo in 2 days, always been my 2nd least favorite behind grass relays.

Pre-meet today, here it comes.

Ok race and an ok effort. I raced it well, for me to run a good longer distance race I have to start out slower, that's what I did. I let the race carry me until a couple hundred meters before the first mile ended, then I started picking people off, going through groups. I caught up to Davis group, he was at the front, and it was just a long line. I passed them slowly, these guys were just trying to maintain their position so they made it a little harder to pass them, especially these two kids from the same team who worked together to get in my way, but I got through them, I was working my way to the top of the group but there wasn't enough time and I wasn't pushing hard enough. My kick was only there to keep my position. Well I caught Westlake number two guy with my kick and put him away but the next guy, American fork guy was too far ahead, he really wasn't, I just told myself he was. I could have caught him if I pushed myself. I know I could have. I will blog Saturdays run later, maybe not until tomorrow. We took somewhere in the top 10.

11.5, I meant to do some more but its ok.

Looking at the main 4 meets that utah teams went to over the weekend I have decided that in order to finish 2nd team all-state, I need to be running with Cubby, or at least a significantly closer. Yesterday he finished 24 seconds ahead of me, my goal for Park City is to break 16:00, if I do this I think I will be pretty close to Cubby's time, probably within 15 seconds. Looking at Lehi and Timpagnogos, their guys aren't really that fast, I'm not scared of any Lehi guys, but together they make a really strong team. Valdosta State in Georgia just called me while I was writing, its cool to hear from colleges! I should get in touch with Southern Utah again, they might be more intrested to talk to me now that I've run a lot faster for everything. And I will have to wait on Utah State, maybe I will visit Mr. Gensel after the USU indoor meet if I can and talk to him. I'm really excited to see where I will end up, if I don't go to SUU or USU, I want to go to a coast school, east or west coast, but probably east. I think I will go on a 4 mile run soon, its a nice day, I feel like a light excercise and I am kind of motivated to beat some of American Fork's guys and start running with some better guys. 

Ran a little over 4 miles, about a mile with my brother, great day for running, cool and sunny.

Ran the gully paired up with girls from the girls team, I ran with Sarah. It was a time trial for them. It was a rainy, slightly cold day, I felt good once the run got going. I think we can win park city and I think I can take a top 10 spot. State is looking kind of bleak, but I think region will be a solid victory for Alta as long as we all show up and do our job. So I think the next two meets should be wins, and hopefully that will give us enough confidence to do something spectacular at state, I feel like we need to focus more on state and less on Nike, I think it's the more important meet, unless we are serious about taking top 4 at Nike.

Am- 5.8 miles.

After school- 6 miles during a 45 minute run with a 100 meter sprint every 5 minutes. Pretty easy workout, but uncomfortable. Timpanogos signed up for park city so now its a battle for 2nd pretty much. I think we will take 2nd pretty comfortably, since we lost a tie to wasatch at herriman, Chase has come back and Ashton had a bad race that week. So we should beat wasatch. But we won't know for sure until its over. My goal is to break 16:00, get top 10, beat a lot of timpanogos guys.