Blake Bennions running

Walked barefoot on the grass for a lap

Ran 2 barefoot laps on the grass

Ran 5 laps at 5:40 pace

Ran 5 more laps with 2 81/82 second laps thrown in.

Ran 3 laps barefoot on the grass.

Walked another lap or two barefoot.

This is probably what more of my workout are going to look like before it gets cold.

Went to the track and started with a barefoot warm up mile on the infield with some stretches and warm ups thrown in.

After the first mile I put my shoes on and ran a mile where I started out easy/as quick as felt easy and got a little faster every lap, I ended up running a 5:40 but my achilles wasn't feeling good. I took off my shoes and decided to do some cooking down on the in field. My Achilles pain went away very quickly with my shoes off, running in the grass. I ended up doing 2 more miles and most of it was low 7 minute pace. Think I'll stick to running barefoot in the grass for the most part, until it gets too cold.

Ran a little over 30 minutes barefoot today in the grass today. My feet are a little sore hut my Achilles feel good. I also realized that my current inserts aren't for my achilles, they're for that weird random sprain that came out of no where earlier this summer. I think these inserts make my achilles worse, so I'm throwing them out. Hopefully I can remember where I put the regular insoles,I guess I can just go get some that might be better for my achilles if i cant find them.

Anyways, today's miles went

6:56

7:27

7:24

7:32

It felt really nice and easy, a little hot and humid, but besides that it was great. And like I said, my feet are a little beat up. But overall pretty great.

Walked barefoot on the infield for a lap while doing warm ups.

Tried out my new insoles, I also got some gel inserts. Today I just used the insoles though. They felt pretty good, a little soreness in my upper achilles/calf but nothing too bad. I was planning on starting out pretty slow but I just naturally started picking up the pace and just went with it. Miles went

6:20

6:08

6:19

My right achilles/calf was feeling a little sore so I slowed down and ran a couple laps at a slower pace which didn't feel too much better.

Then I took off my shoes and walked a lap or two on the in field and then ran another half mile barefoot at somewhat of a light jog, that felt great. Walked some more after I got to 4 miles. My last mile was a 8:10. Next time will try with both the new insoles and gel inserts and see how that goes.

Beautiful day. Did my barefoot warm up lap and then started running. Did 2 miles on the track and then went out to the fields/abandoned golf course behind the track. Last time I went behind the big hill there was a ton of goose crap so it's been a minute, but this time I made an amazing discovery.

There was a cross country course behind there! There was a lot of course, I ended up getting 3 or 4 miles in back there and then finished up on the track. Also walked some more barefoot to cool down.

Wanted to do more today but I decided it would be prudent not to.

Very nice run today. Started off with my easy barefoot warmup lap.

Ran a mile on the track and then went out and ran on the course behind the track.

Miles went:

6:40

7:07

7:16

7:06

6:30

7:30.

The last one was barefoot on the infield for most of it. Felt good.

Warm up barefoot lap. Decided to concentrate on marathon pace, next time will be easy pace. Today felt good though, not too strained.

Ran 3 miles on the track in:

6:46

6:36

6:45

Left and ran the cross country course, which I always run part of it and I still need to figure out what the course actually is. The next two miles were:

6:56

6:54

Around the end of mile 5 I slowed down for this weird little stretch where I must keep going off course to kind of get back towards the track. Every single time I've crossed this little area I've rolled my ankle. So this time I slowed down and tried to be careful... and I still rolled it!

Anyways I ran another half mile at a more relaxed pace to the track. I took off my shoes to do some barefoot running but my knee kept cracking. It doesn't hurt at all, but I didn't like that at all. Well I know ky ankle was cracking, but I'm fairly certain my knee was too. So idk what's going on there but I will proceed with caution. Probably nothing serious. Stopped running for the day just in case.

Solid workout! The days and weeks are really starting to blend together at this point. My thesis is going a little slower than I'd hoped. My new goal is to propose at the beginning of next semester. But I have an idea I like, the first 10 pages are looking good, I have a great annotated bibliography, and I have a good idea for how to put it all together. I think things are about to pick up again with that. I really just need to get my study design worked out with my advisor and then finish writing and go through revisions!

Went to the track and warmed up, started running but my knees were still feeling weird so I stopped.

Went to Walmart and bought a bike and took it for a 30 minute ride. Felt great, forgot how fun bikes are. Maybe I'll be able to try out a couple triathlons after covid.

Went for a 10 mile bike ride.

3.5 miles in another biker glided by me as I was doing a pretty intense workout. Some middle aged dude with a road bike. Obviously I wasn't going to get dropped by some random dude so I made it my goal to keep with him until the turn around point.

I was mostly successful over the next mile and a half, he put on a few meters but nothing huge. I was definitely working harder than him to maintain that pace though.

I did some research after my run and found that my cheap walmart mountain bike just isn't made for a street/paved path race. I averaged about 13.5 on this bike, and from what I read that would be 15.5/16.5 on a road bike and if I was on an expensive $2,500 bike it would have been something like 18.5 to 20.5. Biking is a strange sport. But I like it, and I like that I have a mountain bike. Lots of benefits:

1. Will push me harder, and I'll get a better workout

2. Safer because a) its slower b)tires are bigger and less likely to give out.

3. If ever needed I can bike on different terrain than a road bike could.

If I ever do a triathlon I'll have to upgrade though. But hopefully my knees feel good enough for a run this week.