Blake Bennions running

Warmed up a little over a mile and ran the founders day course hard with the team. Pretty much race effort outside of cheering on the kids, I ran 16:38 and I think maybe I could have run 16:20-16:25 if I'd raced all out. So I'm a out 30 seconds slower than I was in June, which sucks a little because in June I'd been taking it easy for like a month due to my it band acting up. But I suppose that what I get for 3 months of averaging 35 mpw or the equivalent.

Still, I'm in far better shape than I was in this time last year. Not a bad spot to be at and I know my body will respond quickly to the mileage increase I'm about to do.

Warmed up 2.25 or so and then did 6 strides, a mile tempo in 5:30, 1000m in 3:13, 600 in about 1:55. Felt pretty good but ran out of time, had to get home early.

11 games of tennis with my dad

Then ran while my dad biked up to the cottonwood heights Thanksgiving course, did most of the course, finished up back home. Got some faster surges in on the downhills.

Ran up wheeler canyon with Jake and Andrew. Very wet and muddy. Took 2 hours, was a fun time though!

Warmed up 2 miles with 6 strides

Workout was 14x500m with 1 minute rest, I had to leave after 11.5. I averaged 1:36 for the 500m which is exactly 16:00 for a 5k. Felt pretty good, I could have finished the last couple in low 1:30s.

Had to skip the cool down so I just jogged with Whitney around my house for 20 minutes. She had a lot of fun.

Pm- 2 miles with the team

Easy run and a lot of cookies. Whitney has enjoyed watching our Roomba a lot lately, she used to be very afraid of vacuums but she thinks "rosey" is cute. She says the Roomba we get for the main floor is going to be called Fire. She started by sitting on the top stair, her baby recliner, or her bed and peaking at the Roomba. Now she's gained the courage to go run past the Roomba and back occasionally and even dance around it. I suppose it's the next best thing to having a pet.

Easy miles mostly on canal.

Easy miles with Jake with a few strides. Potentially running up Ben Lomond on Saturday if the weather clears up so I'm easing up on the mileage today and tomorrow.

Found a black widow outside my yard next to my trash cans when I went to take out my trash... so that's rough. Downside of living next to a giant unkept field.

Ran with Whitney to the elk farm to show her those creatures, unfortunately none of them were up next to the fence today but we still got to see plenty and hear their weird noises. Then we stopped at an old mining road and we walked up the mountain until she got tired. She made it pretty far and climbed off trail up two little rock formations. She said it was a good adventure so we shall do it again soon.

Peaked Ben Lomond with Jake today. Way more technical than I had expected. My size 13 Solomon trail shoes weren't a great fit, but they got the job done. Amazing the difference in how clunky shoes feel just half a size up.

The peak was covered in a cloud so that was spooky. Next year we might start at big rock and make it a 21 mile ordeal... or maybe we'll race it to get all the Strava segment records.

Easy recovery run to millennium park

2 mile warm up, 2 mile canal road tempo, 14x 30 seconds on 30 seconds off.

Afternoon- 2 miles running around spectating Region. Girls took 2nd and boys took 3rd.

Evening- 5 miles over to millennium park. Felt alright

Running up and down 500 for some mile repeats in the rain. Ready for it to stop raining.

Easy miles.

Ran a ways up to Lewis peak from big rock but turned back because it was super windy and like 20 degrees and already snowy up there. Ran on the canal road to get to 12.

I'm really good at running uphill when the grade is under 15% and there aren't a ton of turns... switchbacks and 20%+ grade kill me. I'm confident I could get the KOM from big rock to skyline from Riley cook, in fact I was tempted to go back and try it today when I saw the segment when I uploaded it to Strava. But the first mile up skyline that has over 1000 ft elevation gain on switchbacks... my legs are just not ready to beat any records on that atm.

Am- 1 set of tennis with Adam

Pm- 7.25 miles. Ran up to the canal road and back plus about a mile on the trail. Legs felt a little tired but it was perfect running weather and I felt good.

AM- Easy miles with Henry and Jake

PM- Easy miles with Josh during practice, talked about ultras. I guess for marathons the best strategy is to take a gu right before, at 50 minutes, and 1:40. Was fun to hear about the Moab 240, sounds brutal.

Gully long run, always nice to come back and run here. Looks like they're refilling the wood chips this week. Hopefully I'll get another run in here this fall while t shirt and shorts weather is still around.

Warmed up a couple miles and then did 2 x 6-4-2 mins with 2 min jog between each. Started at 5:35 pace and sped up throughout the workout, ending with the last 2 mins sub 4:50 pace. Averaged about 5:20 total.

Felt really good today. I think on a track 5k I'd be mid-low 16s right now. I'd like to run either the Dixie state or uvu 5k this spring before it gets hot. I'd like to run mid 15 minutes after a good winter of training. My lifetime PR goals are sub 15 5k, sub 70 half marathon, sub 2:30 marathon. That and winning Des news marathon and I would be 100% satisfied with my running accomplishments as I start to get older and slower in another 6-10 years. I think if I could run sub 2:30 at 5 Des news marathons there's a good chance I win at least once... that's a tall order and we'll see if I can get there.

With Jake and Josh

Was going to do a progression run with Jake today but he was sick so I decided to do a tempo on the track. I warmed up 3 miles and then figured I'd do 4-5 miles at 5:45 pace. I figured that's about my current half marathon pace and goal marathon pace. I ended up running 10k at 5:38 pace and I felt really good, was starting to have to push a little harder towards the end but the first 5k or so felt super comfortable and fun, the laps felt like they were going by really fast despite being out in lane 6.

Splits were 5:37, 5:37, 5:33, 5:34, 5:42, 5:38. I actually checked my Garmin by counting my laps and asking AI to calculate just under 23 laps in lane 6 into meters and it was indeed 10,000 meters. So that feels pretty good, I think in a flat half marathon I could go 73-74 minutes right now. 5:38 pace is 73:51, and I could definitely keep that pace up for 10 miles. If I was totally fresh and wearing my super shoes I think I could get 13 miles at that pace on a flat course.

Easy miles. Been trying to keep my posterior tibial tendonitis at bay with hot baths and running on soft surfaces. I might take my recovery day on Monday rather than Tuesday.

I'd like to do some 800ms at like 4:55 pace sometime this week and then probably a relaxed tempo run or whatever Jake is doing on Thursday. I think 4x2 miles getting faster every rep would be fun.

Starting to get cold but surprisingly I enjoyed the weather today. It was mid-high 30s when I ran and it felt pretty comfortable in running shorts and a hoodie. Ran a couple miles at 5:55 pace and felt pretty good.

Easy and the track during practice

Spectating at state plus a couple laps around sugarhouse, might have run more but I kept accidently pausing my watch before running. Really is a nice park. Girls took 5th and boys took 10th! Was a lot of fun to watch the kids run. A few of them were disappointed with their individual results but both boys and girls improved as a team from last year and the girls beat Davis which was their big goal. Good day! Also watching Jackson Spencer was insane. Either the new course is really fast or he is the fastest high schooler in Utah cross country history by like 20 seconds.

Similar workout to earlier this week. 2 miles at 5:49 pace and easy besides that. Legs felt kinda tired today, I guess I did a lot of strides and hills yesterday. I'm pretty reliant on running with Jake to get real workouts in, hopefully he stops being sick soon. Nice to hit 200 miles for October.