Blake Bennions running

YES!!! Running sub 40:00 gully wasn't how I expected it to be or when. But it was amazing! We split into groups for todays run and staggered the start, Zach went first, 2 minutes later Ashton went, then Cubby and Chase, then Davis, Read and I. We were on pace but I wasn't really worrying about anything, I was just trying to keep running hard. This is a really good example of how running as a group can really help, it pushed me to know that Davis and Read were counting on me to run fast with them! This was a really good run! I'm really happy I got to do this workout! Oh, and happy birthday to Coach Murphy!

I've been doing more core, stretching, and hip flexor/calf workouts at home, and today was pretty killer! I did a good workout with abs and hip flexors and then 65 push ups which was suprisingly hard, and then I went straight into a 100 second plank from that, it normally wouldn't be much but since my shoulders were already hurting, it was pretty good. Then I did 200 bicycle kicks and 100 calf raises on each leg to finish if off. Sometime I eat some unhealthy foods, like m&ms to motivate me to go do core.

Premeet day. It was easy and good. Tomorrow we play timpanogos and mountain view, I just need to start believing I should be beating all of these guys. I deserve to be beating them and they have no business beating me. I am going to run my race tomorrow, 5:20s across the board. And at the end, it doesn't matter who I'm running against, I'm going to run my best and do very very well.

This was Saturdays run, but I accidentally put the race there. I ran 12 miles with Cubby and Davis, we went through the gully over to 8000 south, and then up to 7th east and ran back to Alta, then I did half a mile on the track to get 12. I might do 3-4 tonight.

It was cold today. This race leaves me feeling really frustrated. I didn't know they were giving medals to top 20 or else I would've pushed harder. I think I could've run with Cubby and Davis if I hadn't been boxed in for the first mile. I tried to get out faster but I ended up way back, about 2-3 minutes into the race I noticed a fat kid ahead of me and realised I needed to start moving. I kept elbowing, shoving, and pushing my way through the masses of slower runners to the top. I finally caught up to read and chase about 10-11 minutes in and I was feeling great. Unfortunately the leaders were able to put a lot of distance between me and them, I felt like I could catch them if we had another mile. I never slowed the process of catching people down, I felt great. I targeted this guy a couple hundred meters before it went onto the finish on the field, he was a good 100m ahead of me. I caught him with a hundred meters left and saw Coleman Lloyd but I was a couple feet short of catching him. Region will be a lot different, no way to get boxed in when there's only 42 people in the race. I've actually been having a little fun the last two races, first time ever in cross country. At region my goal is to finish in the top 4. I know I can beat max and Coleman, and I know I can beat Adam and Tayte. I want to be right with Cubby and Davis. I'm pissed I didn't get a medal when I was that close. Great news for the team, 2nd place to mountain view by 30 points in a meet with 34 teams (timpanogos ran its JV.). So really close. Didn't get any of my goals today, so that's another reason I'm a bit annoyed, but we got a trophy so that's awesome. Dang it, I put the wrong date. Oh well I will change it later. I saw Chris Rushing and Coach Cobler there, Chris took 3rd! The guys from East work really hard, so you know it's going to be exciting any time you get to see them race!

Bad day. And I could have done this workout better when I was a freshman, not exaggerating. I'm out of shape.

Easyday.

Premeet

I got a medal and we got a trophy so no complaints. I wanted to take 5th or maybe 4th but I'm happy. I will run faster at state, I just need to concentrate on building up to it, getting more intense and when it come giving it my all. I feel like I haven't been racing hard enough lately, but I've been doing better. My goal to run sub 16:00 at state still stands. And I'm going to do it, I believe in myself. Today I didn't race well, I didn't beat all the people I should have, but I'm happy. It's probably the only cross country meet I will get a medal in so I'm just enjoying it. But at state, there will be no complacency, this is the meet I care most about, it matters more than any other race. I'm going to run as hard as I can and I hope that means sub 16:00.

Morning run with the team, I meant to go on a run when I got home from all the wedding activities, but it was almost midnight and I was dead tired, plus I had to get up at 7 for a breakfast with family at that place the Olympians stayed in 2004. So I'm still very tired, I'm going to take a nap and do a 12-15 mile run. Region 4 championship results are just scary. I think it's possible that I could finish 14th at the state championship, I will have to run one heck of a race, and beat some people I'm not a favorite to beat, but I believe it's possible. I don't know if  sub 16:00 is a smart goal for me at state, 16:20 would be more believable based off my results so far. But I'm not giving up on my goal, I made it a long time ago and I won't back down from aiming for it.

Felt GREAT! Ran somewhere in 6 minute pace for the whole run, the two speedometers I passed said 8, and 9.

8.2 easy miles in the gully. We explore the gully today and found parts I've never been in, it was really fun! There are some great trails. I've been feeling strong and healthy the past couple of runs, maybe its a build up for a good workout tomorrow?

Warmed up 7 laps plus drills and then ran 2000-1200-800-400. At goal pace for state. We ran all of them a little fast but oh well. My goal for the 2000m was 6:40 and I ran it in 6:32. I've been neglecting using my asthma medicine lately so I was a little worried and it did hurt a little, but I was ok. The 1200 was easier, Coach had us raise our expectations for this one and so my goal was 3:55 instead of 4:00, I ran 3:54. Cubby and Davis started out slow so the last 600m kind of hurt but I was fine. On the 800m we raised our expectations again so instead of a 2:40 the goal was 2:35 and I ended up running 2:29. Cubby and Davis took the first lap out in 70 seconds so it also hurt a little, but not bad. The 400m was max effort so I went a little easy on the first 100, I got boxed in a little, but I worked out of it and then made a big move to the front, it felt good, like a 1600m. hopefully I can do that for the last lap of my 1600m races this year, then I would shoot for the school record haha. I ran 60 seconds, which wasn't great, I should've run under 60, but it felt good and I was really close, and I got a little boxed in so I think I would've gotten it if it had been a clear shot.

4x400m max effort after a 3 mile warm up. The first two were uphill, last two were downhill. I ran 60-61, 60-61, 57, 58. Since it wasn't on the track I didn't really have a goal for the time I should hit. I just won each one and tried to push it as hard as I could. I would go out easy for about 100m, and then boost ahead of everyone and try to maintain that speed all the way through, it was fun! I love max effort 400s, 400m workouts are my bread and butter. They're confidence building, fun, I feel faster afterwards, they make me faster. They're by far my favorite, sadly I can't just do 400m workouts. I think other track workouts can be fun sometimes, but I love any variation of 400m interval workout. From max effort to 1600m race pace to 5000 race pace. 1600m race pace is my favorite obviously. I'm feeling good going into state, only one challenge left to prove myself on before state, a gully time trial.

9 miles at Liberty Park, I ran with Tayte. It was a good, easy run. I felt great, I'm feeling the best I have all season. We talked to Coach Cobler afterwards, he's a really good coach and I learned some really important things, we talked about state and I'm a lot more excited to go give it my all. Running a race isn't just about getting a goal, its about doing your best and knowing you gave everything you had and then seeing what you're best amounted too. I've been looking at racing the wrong way, thanks Coach Cobler! This really motivates me, it gives me something more to race for, and to shoot for. I'm excited to see what I am capable of!

4 miles and the 4 200m strides. I did them at a nice pace.

Premeet for state. I know what I can do and what I should be satisfied with. I'm going to try to do a little better than that, because I need to improve and you can't improve unless you run faster than you have before and beat people you haven't before. I can do well tomorrow, I need to concentrate and get motivated and then go out there and ran a great race. People are all going to do different things tomorrow, I'm just going to do my best. I want to know what my best is. 10 ounces of beat juice. According to the study I just read the best time to take best juice is 4 hours before the race. So I will take it again about the same time we are leaving Alta.

I had a good race. I started out perfectly and then we got called back to the start, so when the real race started I got out well but not as good and wasn't feeling quite as strong but I wasn't going to let that affect me. So I ran a decent first mile, my watch started a few seconds fast, I kind of false started when they blew the whistle haha, but I ran back in time for the gun to go off. I heard 5:22 about where the mile mark was so I knew I was where I wanted to be. The rest of the race I battled and faught my way up. I was running with an American fork guy and a Davis guy heading around the lake the 2nd time and I wanted to beat them but was getting tired and hurting. I motivated myself and looked forward and accelerated ahead of them after the lake a little before the track. I passed Davis at the 150 mark on the track and passed some more guys on the final straight but then as I was about to finish someone pushed me and I didn't get past the last guy I guess according to the results. Overall I feel good about my effort this race, I think if I had run the perfect race, cut off all the distance I could have and passed people exactly when I should have, maybe I could have run 16:15 so 16:18 is really good, I feel like I gave all I had today. Hopefully I can run sub 16:00 at Nike southwest on a flat golf course at lower elevation! I'm happy with my effort, so I'm not unhappy with my place or time because I know that's what I could do. Hopefully this time will help my recruiting process.

16:18. Even though I didn't achieve my season goal, I feel like I had a strong senior cross country season and I improved a lot. I ran over 40 seconds faster in almost every race than I did last year. The thing I love most about high school is coming up, the mile, so I'm really excited to get out on the track and race. Also I still have one more important cross country race where I can break 16:00. I want to beat a lot of Davis guys at Nike, I want to beat their number 3 guy.

Another positive thought, its always good to know you would be varsity on any squad in the nation, and that is what you know when you beat someone on the best squad in the nation. I beat American Forks number 7 guy at state so that means I would be varsity on any team, it feels good, and it gives me confidence about our team. I want to beat more American Fork guys at Nike too. I think our whole team has adjusted our mindset and we are shooting high at Nike. I feel like everyone is motivated and we have a shot at doing some great things there.

I ran to the hotel I stayed at the entire summer before my sophomore year (convieniently a mile and a half from my house) and even during it for a month or so. I ran up beyond it to where I used to run at night, it has some great views. I really didn't know how to train back then. It's amazing how much stuff you remember that you completely forget when you revisit places, I used to do a full set of warm-up drills and stretches before every long run after I warmed up. I've been getting really lazy with core and stretching, I still do them a few times a week but it used to be a lot more intense and I would never miss a day, core used to be my most important part of the day before I started running, 100 push ups and 100 sit ups minimum. And I used to repeat a lot of numbers 7 or 8 times, I can't remember why haha. So I probably did more like 150 of them per night in 6-9th grades. I was still working up to it in 6th grade. And in 10th grade Murphy convinced me having a bulky and bigger upper body was just going to make me a slower runner so I stopped doing push ups as much and completely stopped benchimg, I probably run 30 seconds faster in 5ks because of it! But I should be doing more core, I would be a stronger better runner if I did a really good core wrkout, mostly sit ups and bicycle kicks, every night. I'm really happy I started running.

10.4 miles with Tayte up an awesome trail from Albion middle school up through little cottonwood canyon. It was a really nice course! I didn't hear about a practice today but also felt like I should do a longer run. Also did some plyometrics and core. Ready for a speed workout tomorrow possibly.

Ran with Tayte, Cubby, and Ashton to the Draper temple and back, we also did a little extra so we could get to 10. Our average pace was about 7:00 which is good! Today was an awesome day, and I just found out I raised my ACT score 3 points! I also got a pretty good gpa this past quarter (good for me). So not only did I improve in cross country, I improved in every area of my life! The winter is always a rough season but there's something about the long cold miles at high elevation that gives me confidence!

19 400s today, I ran them in 70-73. It was fun, it was hard when we switched directions though! 5 miles worth of 400s, sweet! I though we were going to do a max effort the last one so I held back from doing 68s the last 5 but we ended up not doing the 20th one. I'm tired, nice workout!

Am- 4.5

Pm- very tired 8 miles easy. I should take a nap.

Am- 5 miles

Pm- tired again, 8 miles with 2 miles hard in the middle. I almost fell into a rocky ditch type thing on the side of a sidewalk because it was winding down and I was going to fast, I ran off the sidewalk, took two steps on the uneven dirt/rocks and barely got my next step on the sidewalk, if I'd missed I would've fallen down a hole and got hit on the sidewalk so I was really happy about that. Easily going to run over 60 miles this week, I could do 70 if I really wanted to and ran 15 tomorrow. I'm not sure if there's a 5k tomorrow or we are just running a liberty park.