Blake Bennions running

I did the Brigthon/rec center loop the oppisate way that I usually go, the rec center was closed when I ran so I didn't use the tread mill, after the loop I ran around in my neighborhood for another 1.2 miles.  I ran the entire run stiking with the right part of my foot, I wasn't heel striking at all. It felt weird but down hill is a lot more effective when running like that.

I ran up to the rec center and I did .5 before I tried to do a 5 minute mile, the tread mill wouldn't go faster than 5 minute pace. I did the first half mile but I really wasn't feeling up to it today, my ankle hurts, my shin hurts, my stomach was cramping up, lots of aches and pains. And I had very little sleep last night and have been snowmobilling all day. I took a small break and then did another 2:30 half mile. Now that I am thinking about it, a 5 minute mile on that is more like 4:50 for a 1600m... but I will try again on saturday when I will hopefully be feeling a lot better. Next two days are long runs.

Rough week

Easy run with the team, and some tough core afterward. I liked it a lot! We also did lunges as well. it was a good practice, I am pretty sure I will be sore tomorrow. I neglected doing lunges last week, I completely forgot. I did some the first week of break though. I was also really happy about how easy the run was for me, and I am in pretty good shape for my core as well. I am debating over going to the USU meet this weekend by myself or not. I am excited, school seems so clear after that break. Well precalculas will never be clear, but I kind of got what my teacher was saying today.

Easy run at the oval today. It felt good, I felt really good when I got to pick it up a little for a few laps with some guys. I really want to do some fast speed workouts, but I guess I must be patient. Coach Murphy encouraged me to embrace the 3200m event more, so I am going to do my best to succeed in that event as well as the 1600 and 800. I have had some tendinitis since last week, but its going away, it was bad yesterday but it felt better today. We did drills and squats after the run, they felt really good too. I have passion again, its really good to have back, I have missed it. I can not wait to race, no matter the distance, I want to have another shot at all those guys who have been beating me.

It was a good day, and interesting, kind of weird though. I talked to a few teacher today and they gave me some good insight and advice. And my coach talked to me about training and gave me really good advice as well. I need to trust my coach and my training, and believe that the workouts I do will make me a faster runner. I have been neglecting the confidence I should be getting from my workouts, I will try to think about what each workout will do for my improvement during the workout. I think it will help me push myself. I think what Coach was teaching us today really makes sense, different people react to different training. I really appreciate that my Coach tries to do a lot of both speed work and mileage. I think I will be doing a few runs on my own after practice each week, maybe just a couple miles. For practice today, I did a 10 minute warm up jog with Ashton, and then another 10 minute warm up jog with all of the team. Then we did mini-hurdles and core, and watched a video about a really good runner, I liked the video. The guy was an awesome runner! I am trying to get my schedule for the 2nd semester changed, its an interesting process. I am trying to decide between a few options, I would have to really change my schedule to get phsycology but I think it would be worth it. Thats a subject I have wanted to take for a while, but there are some other interesting classes I want to try out, I don't know if the Journalism teacher would mind my handwritting or not. I am not really interested in being a journalist at the moment, but why not take the class. Its been a good day.

Before practice, I did an easy 1.5 miles with Ashton and Jacob, I wanted to get a feel for what I would be running in. Then we warmed up with the team, I call that another mile and a quarter. I will have to ask to see if it is. After warming up, we did drills, they were kind of fun. The side lunges hurt on of the tendons or joints on the backside of my right knee, this has been a reaccuring problem since Freshman Track when we used to do stretches that were kind of like side lunges. But it will go away. The tendinitis in my ankle didn't hurt on the run today, maybe just because of the cold, but it has been feeling less sensitive. I don't mind injuries as long as I can still run. We did an 8 mile run, the best buy loop and then a loop that Coach showed us this week that is 1.5 miles. The last 3/4 miles were faster than the rest, but I felt good. I also ran through the school to get my backpack to make sure it was 8, it was probably a little more. It was another good day, I need to do a few things before the quarter ends but I think I will be ok. I also did 50 pushups at lunch because the national guard was there and they were giving out stuff for pushups so I got a shirt. Oh another thing, Berecruited called my parents and told them some things I should be doing to run in college, they said for the mile I need to run at least a 4:42, that should be no problem at all. And for the 3200 they said a 10:13 which I think is manageable. I can not wait to rip out some fast times this season!!!

We did the upper loop three times, Braydens garmin said that the lower loop was 1.9 miles so I put it as 5.7 all together. We did the lap easy, somewhere in the 7 minute range I think, the 2nd lap was a hard effort lap, I wasn't feeling great today but I felt like pushing myself. I took off from the group and ran at a good effort, I felt pretty good running upper 5 minute pace. I finished and jogged around just a bit before waiting for everyone else, Braydon finished about 20 seconds, no more than 30 seconds behind me I would say, and when he finished the time was 26:50 for the whole run, assuming the first lap took us about 15 mins, that means I ran on the faster half of 11 minutes, so 5:45 pace or so, maybe faster. I doubt the first lap only took us 15 minutes but I don't know. I have really enjoyed the hard efforts in the runs we have done the past 2 days. Tomorrow will be a long run that will probably push us over 50 miles for the week. I didn't ask Coach Murphy how long the run tomorrow will be, but he said long so probably 10+.

I drove to Highland High School to meet up with everyone for the run but when I got there I couldn't find anyone, I was about 10 mins late or so. But I saw a group of people, maybe 4 heading south of highland high on 1700 East when I was driving into the parking lot. I thought it might be Coach Murphy, Jake and others, so I tried to catch up but I lost them and then gave up after over a mile. I ran back to highland High and decided to just do a long run at sugarhouse park, so I ran to sugar house and did 5 and a half laps. I spent most of the run trying to pass all the runners I saw on the loop, I was going in the 6 minute range for most of the 5 and a half laps. I felt really good, but I was tired by the end of the run. It may have been more like 11 mile, but I just made a safe estimate of 10.5 because I'm pretty sure I did 3 miles or more before running at sugar house. I am looking forward to the next 50 hours of rest.

We were supposed to do an hour long threshold run. I felt really good and kind of wanted to to run on the faster side of 6 minutes per mile but I stayed with Kramer the entire time. I didn't want to be rude and go ahead of Kramer and everyone, I've been back to running a lot longer. It spread out to the point that Brayden and Davis were trailing by a bit but we didn't go that fast. We were holding a conversation the entire time, the average pace was high 6 minutes. So it wasn't a bad run, but I sort of wanted to go faster. I feel like I am on fire right now, I can't wait to go race on saturday! I am feeling really good, today I felt better on my run than I ever did in cross country. I am feeling really good right now. My tendonitis is getting worse, it was hurting at work when I was just walking but I put it in the hot tub for a while and I will ice it after my shower. But I don't even care about that right now, I don't feel like anything can stop me! I want to enter indoor track right where I left off last year, maybe even a little ahead. And I feel capable of doing it! Tomorrow at the oval will be fun, I can't wait to do some 400s, even if they're not going to be that hard.

I lost track of Conner's car when I was following him to the oval, and I didn't know where it was so I did my own workout today. It was a perfect day so I didn't mind at all. I've got my fire back, and a lot of passion. I am going let it all flow at the BYU invite this weekend. I did the figure eight loop and then I took a bathroom break before I did another lap on the track, then I did 4 400s on the track. I'm not sure how fast they were because I didn't have anything to time myself by, but I had my phone, which doesn't have a timer. So gave myself 3 minutes for each 400, I would run it and then I would give myself the rest of the 3 minutes as rest. The 400s weren't faster than 65 I am sure, but I don't think they were slower than 75ish either. They were definitely faster than 80, probably around 70 if I had to guess but I don't know. But I felt good, and they were hard. That is what matters. I am going to put everything I have into whatever races I run this weekend. If it is a 2 day meet, maybe I can run all 3 events. I have prepared to run some good times at this meet.

Today we ran in the gully, it was a new loop, we need to make up some new names for these loops. It was a really nice and warm day! We were going at 9:15 pace for about the first mile, so I pushed the pace. 9:15 is too slow for an easy run, I got it to the faster side of 8 minute pace by the time we finished with all the icy upper gully. We ran down part of the really steep road and then back up, then we ran all the way down that road until we go to 13th east and then finished. I got us going 7:30 or 7:40 for the rest of the run going down to 13th east. It felt really good and easy, amazing run. I really enjoyed it. When we finished the run, just as I stopped, I slipped on some ice and took a fall haha, it cut up my hand a bit but it wasn't bad. Just kind of funny. Great run! I entered my seed marks for the mile, 800m, and 400m as 5:00 for the mile, no time for the 400m, and no time for the 800m. I haven't trained a whole lot for the 800 or 400 so I don't know what I can expect, I am sure they will be decent but I am hoping there are some other good unattached guys to run against. I am very excited for this meet, there are some guys that I really want to race against. I will do the 2 mile next meet, along with the 800m and possibly the 1600m unless Coach Murphy says something else would be better. I am pumped!

We did a flying forty workout, we did 8 of them. One every 800 meters. We also did a two mile warm up, half a mile with the sprinters before the warm up, and then 3 quarters of a mile after the run. We also did a good amount of core, these new core workouts are really good! I had my first college prep class and my first Psychology class today, I was very pleased with them. I am really excited to learn some Psychology, it will be really fun! The only problem is that my mind doen't work as well when I am in a class where I don't know anyone for some reason. But I will get over that soon and be a good participent in the class! This semester is going to be amazing, I think I can pull of a 4.0 or close too it. I just need to be more organized and do all of my homework. I was re-entered to the BYU invitational with accurate personal records, so the competition will be more at my level. I am going to do some good things on saturday.

We did 4 easy miles on the lower loop and then 4 bare foot striders. It was a nice and easy run. I am feeling good for tomorrow, I am not going to set a goal time, I am just going to do my best to win my heat. The mile is what I am really concentrating on tomorrow, its my priority. I just need to get up in the top 3 or 4, within 10 meters of the leader, and then kick the last lap. I don't think I will try to go wire to wire, maybe I will get into 2nd. The main goal I have is to win.

1600m - I was supposed to be in heat 11 and would have run a little faster in that one. But I enjoyed this race, the first 4 laps felt pretty easy, I was just trying to slowly lose people and make them give up. I took the lead at the beginning. I started running a faster a little bit with about 400 to go and I was just kicking a little until I realized that the guy in 2nd place was kicking really hard. I started kicking hard but it was too late, he edged me just by a little. I could have kicked a lot hard for the last lap and gotten a few seconds faster. Due to the mile instead of 1600m, for a 1600m it would be like a 4:50. So I can definitely make a PR next week at the oval. I am very excited.

400m- Everyone from Alta left after the 1600m so I was pretty much alone at the meet. Luckily my friend from EFY, Kyle was there and he ran in my heat! I hung out with him for most of the next 3-4 hours. The 400 finally started, I took it pretty hard but eased up a little once it was clear I would take 2nd because the 800m was right after. Kyle won our heat, which was the 16th of 23, I took 2nd. So it was a good race! I ran a 56 second 400m, not too bad.

800m- Kyle left after the 400m but I ran into Marco and Andrew and all those guys while I was waiting for my 800m race to be called. The 800m was pretty close after the 400m, I was pretty tired by the time it was starting. I gathered all the energy I had left before the race and got prepared. We started off, I stayed in the back because it was way packed in the middle. After the first lap or so, I made my move. I passed 8 or 10 guys and got into 5th.There was another guy about 10 or so meters ahead of me, maybe more, with about 150-200 to go, I kicked pretty hard and got ahead of him.I strided in to the end for 4th place in 2:12. Not a bad race, especially considering how much little energy I had left. I was top 25% for every race, maybe not the 400m. By the end of the season I want to be getting medals in most meets. I want to qualify for state in the 1600m, I want to run a 4:22 mile. I want to break 2 in the 800m. I want to break 10 in the 3200m. And I would also like to hit a 53 second 400m. It was a nice meet, I am thinking of doing 4 miles or so after dinner.

I did an easy run around city, first  I went a mile to the southeast, then I went back through my neighborhood and did 3 miles west and back. It was pretty easy, I felt really good, tendinitis is mostly gone. No aches or pains, I am now healthy. I picked up the pace for a mile during the run just because I was feeling good, I am in a good mood! I went to Panda Express after the run, orange chicken is incredible... Panda Express is the best! I also did 100 of those 6 inch leg pull sit up things Coach showed us last year, it was the first time I have done 100 of those in a row, great workout!!! I was partially doing those because I felt like I may have had too much orange chicken and fried rice haha. I am also going to do push ups later today, I need try doing push ups faster so I can build more power. I usually do reps slower because it builds up more strength but I am pretty sure doing them faster gives you more explosion and pop which I could use. 8 miles doesn't seem long at all anymore, it is amazing how much endurance I have built up this year, thanks Coach!

Later- I ran home with my brother from the rec center after playing wallyball, we picked it up for a while during in the middle of the run. It was 1.2 miles, it was a nice addition to my overall mileage for the day.

The workout today was 20 minute warm up, 30 minute tempo run, and then a 10 minute cooldown. We ran as a team for the warm up somewhere in the medium or high 8 minute range. When started the tempo ran around draper park. I started out the tempo run with Conner and Davis but after 5-8 minutes we caught up to Brayden, he had run with Kramer for a little at first. Davis and Conner fell behind in the first 10 mins so I ran with Brayden the rest of the way. We averaged just under 6 minute pace for the run, 5.1 miles in 30 minutes, and finished about 200 meters behind Kramer. When there was about 4 minutes left in the run we started giving it all we had left, I really started running hard at 2 minutes and then gave it even more when Brayden shouted up that there was 50 seconds left. It was a tough, good run. We finished on the lower loop and started heading back to gather everyone up. We did 2 laps on the track to finish. It was a good run! I am happy with my fitness level this early in the pre-season, my goal of a 4:22 1600m this season seems very realistic right now. My goal for friday is to make a PR in the 1600m, and everything is pointing to it being very possible. I think if I can get under 4:40 for the 1600m before we even start doing heavy track workouts, I will be in a very good position to reach my goal. It is really exciting to see this dream starting to take form, I know with hard work and a bit of luck I will do a lot of great things this year. I am starting to get confidet in my running.

Not a whole lot of time, I need to go to work soon. I had a really good workout today, I am a lot more confident because of it. We did a 2 mile warm up, then 8 400s, 4 at 3200m goal race pace, 4 at 1600m. My splits were 75, 74, 74, 75, 62,64, 67, 64. I felt really good on these, the second half were tougher but manageable. I got boxed in on the 67 and I would have had to cut someone off to get out, I decided that wouldn't be very teammate like so I took the 67. I always get boxed in or out of the inside track on these now, it can be frustrating but today I felt really good. It was a really good workout! We did a lap in between each and then a 2 mile cooldown.

We ran the lower loop and 2 laps on the track, then we did 4 striders. It was easy and felt pretty good. I will make sure to get plenty of sleep tonight, I am a little tired. I went to Davis' house with Read, Jacob, Ashton, and Brian to help Andy make his pinewood derby car after the run, I wasn't a whole lot of help haha, but it was fun. We played hide and go seek and tetherball and stuff, Jacob and Ashton  definitely helped the most. I am confident in my ability to do well tomorrow, I think if I am feeling good I will be able to make a PR. 

I did good in this race, I could have kicked harder though, and there wasn't really a time in the race where I felt like I had an opening to make a move. I tried at one point but the guys in front of me made it hard to get back in lane 1. I should have kicked harder at the end but I just couldn't kick start myself up to a higher gear so I just came in sort of easy. This was probably my lack of a warm up haha. I got to the meet late, I had been at alta until 4:15 or so, I met kid who just moved to alta yesterday so I talked to him for a while when I was waiting. When  I got picked up I went home and stopped by panda express, good decision! And then I stopped at home and spent like 15-20 minutes, I am not sure how. Anyways I got back left to the oval but even though google maps said it was a 20 minute drive, it took me 35 minutes or more, that was kind of my fault because I accidentally turned onto Bangester highway at one point... o_O. I got to the oval as they were assigning heats. Fortunately I ran into Ashley right as I got to the oval so I left my stuff with her and ran over to get my heat number. I got there just as they started calling heats, the first was for sub 4:35, the second heat was sub 4:45 so I joined it. I had warmed up maybe 400 meters at this point... maybe.  I kept warming up for the next 10 minutes, I think I got to about a mile including many striders. I knew a lot of people in my heat, Jared Croft (won and made a PR by 6 seconds at 4:32), Dakota, Andrew Lawson, Brandon (elementary school friend), and the top guy from corner canyon. So it was a stacked heat to say the least haha, the Corner Canyon guys took the heat to challenge themselves but did well! Part of my motivation during the race was to be the fastest product of Burton elementary haha. 4:45 is a good time for this early in the season, I really agree with my Coach about being able to start the outdoor season with a low 4:30s 1600m time. I want to do all of the races at the last utah indoor meet, I am sad that there are only 3. I want to make a PR in the mile, and get under 4:40 at that race, but I also want to do what Coach Murphy said I should do and run the 3200m and the 800m. I want to run them all. And because it is spaced over 2 days I think that is possible! I am excited to try out the 3200m race, I think I can get in the lower half of 10 minutes on my first race. My goal for the season is to run under 10 minutes. I ran just over half a mile for my cooldown and then drove home. I ran another 4 miles at home, really easy, I read it on Conner Mantz's blog a long time ago that he did that after a meet and I have been meaning to do it ever since. It sounded like a good idea. Good race, it was another step towards reaching my goals and dreams. I am really happy about how well I am already doing! This season is going to be special!

I ranged from 7:00 to about 8:30ish pace on this run. I stayed at the Cottonwood heights rec center and did 2.5 miles on the tread mill before running back to my house and past my house up to this gas station a mile away, then I ran back to my house, I did an extra .6 along the way. I stopped at home to use the bathroom and then I went back out and did another 2.4 miles. I might do 1.5 miles with my brother later tonight. My big toes have been bending inward, I noticed this a few months ago and showed my Dad but he didn't seem to worry about it so I didn't really care. But yesterday after the meet he asked to see them again and he said that they are bunions, then he told me I might have become flat footed, so i looked and my left foot is almost completely flat footed, the arch is pretty much gone, the left bunion is much worse than the right. He said it was because the tendons were breaking down or something. I am going to see a doctor in a couple of weeks. The problem might be from before I even started running, because I googled it and most bunions have these blister things on the side of the toes, and I have had those since 8th grade, maybe 9th. Well it is kind of sad but whatever. I will get the foot supports and it will probably be ok. No reason for this to affect my running at all. I have done some core today, I will probably do some more tonight.

We did a progressive 80 minute run, we started out slow and kept getting faster. This was a great run, by the end of the run it was just me and Kramer with Brayden and Davis fairly close behind. We finished at 5:55 pace for the last mile. I think it is tendonitis but its everywhere, but my right ankle is hurting all over. I it was so worth it, I am so happy about this run, we ran so fast and did so good. I am very happy my progress, this aerobic improvement is so rewarding. I really can't wait to run tomorrow, I am starting to really love running, I am getting so much passion for this sport. I really wish there were more meets in february, I think there is only 1. Hopefully I am wrong and there are more. I love racing the mile, and I am excited to race the 2 mile. I am so grateful for my ability to run as well as I do!

Well I don't think sub 10 minutes for a 3200 would happen if I ran a 3200m race this week, maybe 10:20, but in 10 weeks I think I will be ready. Next week at the oval I am planning to pull a triple of the 800m, 1600m, and 3200m. I also will try to get in an aerobic run on saturday and few extra miles on friday. My goals are 3200m - 10:26, 1600m - 4:38, 800m - 2:05. These are times I will be happy with but I feel like I can do better, I might not hit them all but I think they are realistic. This will be the last meet for 5 or 6 weeks so I plan to leave everything I have out on the track, if I have a bad weekend, I will still be able to say this indoor preperation season was well spent. But I will do everything I can to make sure it is a good one. Today for my workout I did 5 600s with the rest of the team, it was at our goal 3200m pace so they weren't really fast but the last 2 hurt a little at the end, I ran 1:53, 1:51, 1:51, 1:47, 1:46. I was going a little bit faster than my goal of 1:53 for 2 and 3 and a little bit faster for 4 and 5 but I just felt like I really wanted to go faster. I felt like I needed to and Coach Murphy seemed fine with it, for the overall 3000 it was 9:08, which translates to a 9:45 3200m. The cooldown plus the 200m of jogging we did all together inbetween the reps came out to 1.25. Good workout. Tomorrow is mileage! I will have to decide between resting my ankle in the morning or doing a 4 mile run.

My ankle has swollen up, it hasn't hurt much today but it is still swollen up, maybe even a little more. I have biked 35 miles on my stationary bike, its been hard mileage, the only kind of biking I know will actually help me. I have done these 35 miles in less than 115 minutes. So its been at a decent pace, I choose the resistance setting based on what felt most like running. I will not let injury get in the way of my dreams, I am still on fire, I really hope I can do the track workout tomorrow. It is very important to me. Yesterday I did 45 minutes for 14.2 miles and then I did 3 minutes of slow easy cool down. Today I did 17.5 miles in 55 minutes, I decided I wanted to get to 35 miles for the 2 days so I did another 3 miles in 10 minutes. I think these 2 days of cross training will help me long term, and were definitely helpful for the recovery of my ankle, which I really hope is feeling well enough to run on tomorrow.

I did 45-50 minutes of biking on wednesday and 65 on thursday to clear up my previous entry. It entered it for wednesday but I meant to enter it on thursday. We ran to the gully and did hill sprints after a 30 minute warm up. My ankle started hurting mid way through the hill sprints but I just finished the workout and ran back. It is feeling better today, really I just want it to be completely healed by monday.

Today we did the gully long run time trial. It was a very good run :). It was icy, I went out fast, my asthma kicked in after just a mile or a mile and a half. But I fought back, today I didn't give up when it got tough, I gave it EVERYTHING I had and I couldn't be happier with the outcome. Davis was on my tail the entire run and I kept pushing and staying ahead of him, I was really struggling and he was gaining, then I relaxed, lowered my shoulders and arms, relaxed my face, and ran faster. I kicked hard, I put on 150 meters between me and Davis in the last mile. I ran a 43:40, and Coach Murphy said I could put it as 43:35 which is a 5 second PR! And thats with the Gully being covered in ice. I am very pleased with this run. I stayed a couple minutes later sending a text and saw Kramer finish, his car died so it was good I stayed a couple minutes later so I could give hime a ride home. Tomorrow will be a good workout at the oval. I am so grateful for Coach Murphys hard work in training me and my team! I have a really good feeling about this track season. I am going to do everything I can to fulfill my dreams for the season,

Easy day, I took tuesday off because of tendonitis/swelling in my ankle. It feeling better.

Best buy loop easy. I am really interested in what I will be able to do tomorrow, I haven't been training nearly as hard as I would like to but maybe I will still run well. I will certainly do my best.

PR... by 3 tenths of second. I was in the very back for the first 1150 meters and then I passed 3 guys so that I wasn't in last. I really had no choice but to stay in the back until I wanted to kick haha. There were 3 columns of runners that I would have had to go around. I raced hard and almost caught one of Davis' top 5 guys in the final 100. The race was pretty good considering the lack of training I have been able to do. After this i wanted to go home but no one was coming for the 4x8 so I stayed and ran it. I was dehydrated and hadn't eaten since 3 or so when the 4x800 came around, I anchored and ran a 2:12 for 810 meters, I got the batton as early as I possibly could. I got the batton at 7:03 so the fate of our team was kind of already sealed. I managed to keep the team out of last place is all that matters haha. Time to train hard for Pineview! My ankle felt fine today, I have mixed feeling on wether to go run my 3200 or just do a 10 mile run or so, or do a 4-6 mile run to make sure my ankle is ok.

I ran 3 miles today, my tendon was hurting so I didn't do more. This means no race I guess. I will do a biking workout, 45-60 minutes later today. I am also going to do some core, not in a good mood.

The first part of the run was easy, especially the first couple of miles. It didn't really tough until the big hill on the road, then it was pretty tough for the rest of the run. I am looking forward to a speed workout tomorrow. I had to go to work right after running so I didn't get a chance to write an entry until now. Todays run felt kind of hard, I was fine but it was pretty tough, my tendon is feeling ok but I have felt it a little today. I think it will be fine. 

We did the lower loop and then 8 flying 40s. It was a good workout. I am tired. We cooled down a mile afterwards. My ankle is swollen up again.

 Easy run to the bridge and back. I felt good. I have to go to work again so no time for a long entry.

4 miles and then 6 1 minute hill sprints. Kramer and Brayden weren't there so took the lead on all of them.

I ran the gully long run, my achilles started hurting after the big road hill. I went to the doctors today and he said that the pain on the front of my ankle is the joint. So whatever that is, joint or tendon, it is hurting a lot right now. The two combined have influenced me to make a decision of probably not running tomorrow. I made a PR in the gully! 43:10, and I was taking it easy once my ankle started hurting so I probably could have run low 42 or maybe even just under 42. Kramer got a 37!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nice 10 miles at sugarhouse park. We did 4 or 5 fartlek reps, they weren't too bad but they got me kind of tired. It was a good run though, I really enjoyed it. My achilles hurt on the first fartlek but my joint/tendon in the front of my ankle felt good. After the run Coach Murphy bought us donuts, they were great after the run, thanks coach! I really wish we had spring break right now, I have to write an essay before going to work today. I got panda express!!! Running was the highlight of the day for sure.

We ran in the gully and just explored and had fun.

We did a mile warm up, then a hard 2 miles, then the lower loop, then a hard mile, then a cool down. I ran the 3200m in 11:24 and the 1600m in 5:26.

Easy best buy loop. I felt good. The best buy loop is starting to seem really short!

I made a huge improvement in my Gully long run PR. I ran over 100 seconds faster than I ever have before. I knew that today was going to be huge, I ran a 43:35 with ice and then a 43:10 with a hurt achilles. So today my goal was to run the race in less than 42 minutes. I really crushed my goal, which feels very good to do! This race was amazing and I am really happy about it! My next goal for the gully long run is to run it in less than 41 minutes. It is very possible that I could become one of the very few and elite Alta Hawks that has run this course in less than 40 minutes. I need to ask Coach Murphy how many runners have achieved this. I know that just 8 days ago the school record was 39 minutes. And before Kramer broke the record in the summer it was a higher 39. 41:28 is a good time, I am looking to make a new PR as soon as the next time trial for the gully! This was a very good day, and a very good race.

We ran the porter rockwell trail, I ran 5 miles into the trail with Kramer and Ashton, Aaron ran with  us 3 miles in. Then we ran back to get to 10. It was a good run, I think we probably averaged lower 7 minutes pace but I felt really good the entire time. I have had a pretty good week of workouts, now I get the next 50 hours to rest up for next week. Track starts on monday, it is going to be awesome!

3 warm up laps and then the best buy loop. We took the best buy loop in the 7 minute range pace, my ankle didn't feel good. I need to ice it more. We did some barefoot laps on the grass, I did the first 2 but my ankle was starting to hurt significantly and I decided to stop and do planks instead. I went to Wasatch Running after the workout and I got my first pair of non-asics running shoes. The new shoe is Brooks Adreneline, I really needed a pair of new shoes. It feels unrealistically better! I had been in the old pair for nearly 6 months. I tried out the new Asics Kayano and the Broooks Adreneline, the Brooks feels so much different from the kayano! I like it a lot more, the Adreneline just feels faster. I also got insoles for my shoes, they feel kind of good.

We ran to the gully and back, it was pretty easy. I love this kind of weather in february! Its so warm! My ankle is hurting.

We did the lower loop and then we did 8 flying 40s. It was easy, I can't wait to do 400s and other tough workouts. I also really want my ankle to heal up!!!

Easy 4 miles, my ankle hurt. It was rainy!

I didn't feel good today, I still ran a decent time of 41:42. A lot of things werent feeling great today, my throat especially, my ankle actually didn't bother me today. I am happy with my effort. It was fun, I was ahead of davis and cubby for the first 4.5-5 miles, at the top of the hill we were all grouped up, I led until the last 1.5 miles or so when cubby made a move from behind and I went with him. Davis fell off, i kept withing 50 meters or so of Cubby. We had trumoo and donuts afterward.

Good run on porter rock well trail, same as last week, and we went to kneaders again. It was a great way to start off the day! The run felt very easy and it was sub 7 minute pace for a lot of it so thats a good sign.

I warmed up 3 laps, actually 4 because of the striding lap. Add on the best buy loop of 6.5 and the mile after and I did 8.5. It was a nice run, I can not wait for the speed workout tomorrow!

Todays workout was really fun, it was 12 400s, 3 sets of 4. We had 40 seconds of break in between each 400 and then 4 minutes between each set. My goal pace was 80, but I hit 78 and 79 for all of them but 77 on one. I tried to slow down to 80 but my body didn't want to, the workout felt really good! It was just Kramer, Brayden, and me so the track was completely clear and I could run in lane 1, it was so nice! Today was my favourite workout of the year for sure, and one of the best ever!

.75 for the warm up and stride lap at the beginning. We ran the gully long run easy, like 8 minute pace or so. it was a really nice run. Some guys really need to stop complaining. It was a good feeling 9.25 mile run. Tomorrow is going to be fun!

We warmed up and then did 8 200s at goal 1600m pace. it wasn't that hard but it was a little tough. After that we did a cool down and 4 striders. Long day, I have a lot of stuff I need to do before the quarter ends, I'm going to stop lifeguarding for the rest of the year because I need to concentrate on other things. It was a rough day.

It's a really nice day today! I'm going to go play tennis if the nets are up yet! We did a mile of warming up and then a really really easy 4 mile run. We stuck with everyone, I had to go on a couple round ups to keep everyone together. It was a really good day of track. In general it was a good day. Its been a weird week. Tomorrow we are running the gully long run for time, I want to run under 41 minutes, to do so I need to show up a lot more prepared than last week. I honestly just want to race the 1600m right now, I also want to see what i could do in the 3200. But I need to be patient and concentrate on the present.

This was an awesome race! 40:42 is a really good time, I am capable of anything this track season, I know I am going to run some great times this season! I really want to get under 40 minutes for the gully before the first meet. Only 43 seconds away!!! Really I am becoming a good runner, this time in the gully means a lot. I really want to see what I can do on the track right now, but more patience and the longer I keep training, the faster those times are going to be. I am feeling really good! Brayden became the 3rd runner to ever go under 40 minutes, earning the 2nd fastest gully runner in alta history with a 39:12, and Kramer broke the record agian with a 35:40! Ashton also put in a great race and ran a 42:46! Today was a great day for all of us, I can't wait to run again next week. I am going to do a few miles with my brother in the afternoon. I went to my wards region basketball game and got there in time for the last quarter, we won in 33-30, it was good to be on the winning side of that haha. My plan for the rest of the day is to catch up on hw, run, core exercise, and relax.

Later- I did 5 minutes on the bike, I was going to do 15 but instead I ran to red box with my brother. It was about 2 miles, easy, he picked it up for a couple hundred meters to about high 6 low 7 minute pace but nothing strenuous. I also did a core workout.

My workout today was really good! We ran from Alta up to the beginning of the big road hill on the gully and did hill sprints. I did 5, I ran well and at a pace I was able to hold for the entire workout. I had a great workout, I ran behind Brayden and Kramer for all of them, and on the last 1 I caught up to them and stayed right behind them, I still felt like I could go faster once I had caught up but I was too tired and suprised to go around them, I did very well on this workout! We ran the rest of the gully and then ran back to alta, I ran with everyone at first and then dropped back and ran with Alec because his lungs were hurting and I wanted to make sure he got back ok. Coach Murphy got Trumoo and bannanas for us when we got back, trumoo is the most amazing thing after a hard workout! Thanks Coach! Tomorrow is a really easy day, which will be nice after today. And that means that hopefully wednesday will be even harder than today!

We warmed up with the sprinters, its actually a full mile overall now which is cool. Then we had a meeting about running and things we can do to get the most out of the sport, it was a good one! I ran the 4 miles after school with Zach, Jacob, Cubby, Davis, and Ashton, we did the upper best buy loop and then some laps on the track, it was a good feeling run and I had a good time. I think I will do a little bit of core today as well once I finish my homework. This season is going very well, I can't wait to run some races!

I was not feeling good from the start of the day. For how I had been feeling I pulled myself together pretty well for this workout. A few mistakes I think I can learn from today, I stayed up too late doing homework yesterday, I didn't bring enough food today, and I was psychologically just stressed and thinking too much about everything I need to do, also if I complain about not feeilng good my workout is always ruined. I need to keep a positive view on everything in order to be successful. I need to step back and take a deep breathe and keep working. When I joined the team Coach Murphy said that being successful in this sport takes a lot of hard work patience, and consistency. I think another thing I need to work on is being resilient and staying calm. Todays workout was 4x800m and then 4x200m. 800s were 2:30 2:30 2:33 2:32, 200s were 32 31 30 30. I know I can run 4 sub 2:30 800m reps in a row but I wasn't feeling amazing today and I was having trouble shifting gears, it was a tough workout but I should have pushed harder on the 2nd laps of the final 800s. I need a watch, if I had known that I was slow on those last 2 800s I would have definitely pushed it. The 200s felt great, they were easy, I kind of made up for a being a little slow on the 800s with being a little fast. It might not work that way physically, but mentally it helps me. If I can concentrate while running well for the rest of the week, and I do all my school work, I will have a lot less stress. It just feels like a lot is on the line right now and I need to work hard. I'm going to do a few more miles tonight after some homework just so I can feel better and clear my head.

Later- I miscalculated my mileage earlier, it was 6.5, a little more. I ran 2.2 miles, I ran the first half with my brother. I am feeling good now, I am really happy I went on that run.

Warm up plus 8 miles in and around the gully. We ran up the road until the upper part of the gully and then ran that part and back to alta. At first I wasn't feeling that good but after a few miles I started feeling better. Most of the run felt good, I got a good amount done today. Tomorrow there are some final things I need to get done for the week, of course after I do homework today. But after that I should be able to rest easy and not have much to worry about over the weekend besides a little homework. This was one of those days where you kind of just put the run in, I know it will help my aerobic base which makes me happy. I'm really feeling terrible about missing the trimeet on wednesday, all I can do is make sure I never come in danger of having to miss another one. I just want to get on the track and run some fast times.

I had the opportunity to go to Kramers mission call tonight, it was an amazing and very spiritual event. I am so grateful and happy to have the opportunity to be Kramers teammate and friend.

Lets see, 1 mile warm up, 1800 meters of 600s, 1200m of 200s and 1500m of 500s, then 2 miles of a real warm up, then a mile of inbetween reps and sets running, then another mile of cooldown... 7.8 miles. I might do another couple miles tonight but probably not, I need to do some more homework and my brother and his wife are coming over soon. I can't remember all my splits but I know I hit the time I was supposed to or faster for all of them. 600m reps were super easy, 200s were still easy, 500s got a little tough but mostly because I was hungry and a little low on energy because, it was an endurance workout. The final 200s felt good, 29 29 28. They felt really nice, they felt good. I think today was a pacing/endurance workout, I hit some of the splits too fast, I really wanted to let myself run some fast times but I kept telling myself to slowdown so I could work on the pace. I enjoyed this workout, but I just want to race the mile so bad, I really want to go for that 4:30 goal.

Today we ran a good run in the gully and on the roads up at the top of the gully. The pace was pretty easy except when Coach had us run hard on the big hill and on the last 400m or so of the run. I felt good but my ankle was acting up again, probably because I forgot to ice it yesterday. I am icing it right now though, so that will help. It was an enjoyable run, it was cold at first but it warmed up, it got perfect when we had about a mile and half left haha. Long runs like this are the best way to start off the day, then we went to Denny's which was fun. Eating there definitely ensures I will do a lot of core today, they give you a lot of butter and a lot of syrup! Today is going to be awesome! I need to make sure I leave a few hours for homework. I am thinking of doing another 2 or 3 miles tonight just to get them in, It was a suprisingly high mileage week! Its felt pretty easy and really nice, a good week for running.

I forgot to enter this run yesterday, but we did the warm up and then 4 easy miles. Then we did 4 100m at 400m pace, I think I might have been going just a bit slow on the first few, I'm not sure. It was a very windy day! I am bringing a jacket today just in case.

Today we ran the warm up, then another mile, and then 4 laps in which we ran at 800m pace on the straightaways and jogged the turns. Then I went and did another 4 miles by myself because i'm not running the meet tomorrow. I was really happy to hear for sure that I am going to Pineview, but I was also really disapointed that I am not running the 1600m there, I was really looking forward to that race all year long and I was hoping to run in the seeded heat and go for sub 4:30. I don't know if I will be ready for sub 10 minute 3200 but I will do my best to run that and our team has a real chance at winning the 4x800m so I will really have to go out and give a great effort in that race. Honestly I think our team could qualify for nationals in the 4x800m, the cut off is 8:03 or so and I'm pretty sure our team could go sub 8, if Kramer and Brayden run sub 1:55 and Alec and I run sub 2:05, or something like that, our team could do it. That would be really awesome! I will do my best in the 3200m and see what happens, I am kind of down about not getting to run my favorite race but at least I am going.

I ran 2 miles to warm up, I got back to the track and started a 1600m for time, using my brothers watch which doensn't have anything to hold it to your wrist so I just held it while I ran, I wasn't feeling to great and with no competition or anyone in the bleachers I decided during the run to change the workout. So I stopped at 3 laps, I was at low 3:30s or so, I would have probably gotten a PR, I felt like I had a kick I just knew I didn't have enough of a kick for a sub 4:35 and I wasn't feeling very good so I changed the workout plan to 1200m, 800m, 400m. I gave myself a full recovery and within 20 mins I started a max effort 800m, I ran a 2:09 or 2:10, not great but ok. Then I gave myself another 10 mins before running the a 58 second 400m, not feeling good. I thought the workout wasn't horrible. Looking back maybe I should have just done 8-10 400s in 67 to 68 seconds for each 400m. Oh well, mentally I felt really good after this workout, I did 5 laps of a cooldown. I did some running inbetween the 400, 800, and 1200 too. After all of this I went home and concentrated on some school stuff and then went out again for a 4 mile run. It was really painful but I got through it. Tough day of running but I know it will help. I don't know if it was a good workout, but it was challenging!

Best buy loop easy. I am feeling a little stessed because its the end of the quarter but the run felt pretty good.

Warmed up 2 miles, ran 6 200s and then cooled down 2 miles. Tomorrow is a 5k race so that will be fun. I got panda express after the run, it was awesome! The 200s felt kind of tough, I don't know what I will do next week, hopefully I will hit 2:04 or faster. I think our team needs to run under 8 minutes to qualify for New Balance Nationals. The qualifying time is 7:52 but we will be at 2000+ feet elevation so I think its about 8 seconds taken off overall. I think at 4500 its like 8 seconds per mile. Either way I am really looking forward to it, I want to go to Nationals!!!

Nice 5k, I took the first mile too hard. I really need to learn how to run 5ks, its really bad. I can run in the gully just fine, and I can run track races well but I have never clicked with the 5k, it just feels like a weird race to me. I love the mile, and the gully is really fun. I need to learn how to race these things, I think during the summer I need to compete in a lot of them to find a race strategy that suits me. But for the next couple of months I don't have to worry about any of that and I get to race the mile, the half mile, and the 3200. And I am really happy about that! I can't wait to run the 4x8 and 3200m at pineview, I am going to run so hard and fast on them. I think my goal for the 3200 is sub 10:15 and my goal for the 4x800m is to keep us in first and put space on everyone else if possible.

Today was a great workout! We ran to the huge hill on the the east side of the gully and did hill sprints. We did 5 hill sprints on a very steep hill. They were all tough, but they were so rewarding! I hit in the low 1:50s to mid 1:50s for all of them. We did it on the other side of the road today, it was harder and definitely longer, thats good! I love really hard workouts like today, they're a lot of fun and I just felt great, especially on the cooldown and after the run, its an amazing day! I actually finished ahead of Braydon on the 4th one and I ran with him and Kramer on the 5th so I did very well today! I will do another 4 miles today, it's too nice of a day not to go on another run.  Overall a great workout that I am very happy about, that 4x800m race at pineview won't know what hit it!

Later: 4.4 miles around the neighborhood. I felt good, and tried to use correct form. It was a nice run.

Nice easy recovery run in the gully. It felt good but I should have drunk more water during the day. I learned in history that Mary Beth Tinker is coming to Alta!!!!!!!!! That's crazy! I remember form 9th grade US government, her case was one of the 5-10 cases we learned about, an extremly important ruling from the supreme court in favor of the Bill of Rights! But unfortunately... I will be in saint george :(. And it's an even better person to have come to the school because she was the main person in a huge supreme court case and she wasn't just a criminal trying to get out of something like Miranda or T.L.O. I guess Miranda got killed haha. I'm sad I can't go but I'm really excited for saint george too! I really hope our 4x800m team wins and maybe qualifies for nationals, that trip is so fun! I wish I was racing the mile but I suppose its good to diversify my events, I need to get down under 10 minutes for the 2 mile, and hopefully 2 minutes for the 800m, at this meet I want run about 2:03 for the 800m, as fast as possible.

Time conversions for the 3200m for elevation (4x800 specifically) convert the 7:52 qualifying time for the high school 4x800m team for nationals to a 7:58 at Pineview. So we need to average 1:59 and we will be great. At our other meets in utah, the qualifying time ranges from 8:03 to 8:05. So I think we will definitely be able to qualify for nationals this year, I just hope I can get under 2 minutes!

We warmed up with the sprinters and then did the lower loop. Then we did 8x200m at goal mile pace, I might have been a little fast. I around 33 seconds on all of them which is good. My goal for the year is to qualify for state with a 4:25 and run faster if possible. I'm leaving for Pineview tomorrow! I am very excited for our 4x800m team, I can't let those guys down. I need to run close to sub 2 or sub 2 minutes if I can. I really want to keep put our team on pace to qualify for nationals! Going to nationals would be amazing! I am also running the 3200m, I am going to go for sub 10:00, I needed to decide ahead of time so I can mentally prepare. If all goes well this weekend, I will come back a very happy man.

I ran a little over 4 miles around the neighborhood. It felt pretty good. I checked last years 3200m and it looks like I could score if I go under 10:00 which would be great! This is going to be a really fun trip!

1.5 miles of collective warming up and then a race. I should have done a few more miles or something during the day because I was just not ready to race as well as I could, I had just been lying down trying to conserve energy from 9 to 8 or 9 so by the time I started warming up my body just wouldn't get itself to a race state, people got my split at different times from 2:05.96 to 2:09 but the important part is that we won. The first event I have ever won! And my first medal!

I got to race in the 2nd fastest heat of the 3200m but I got a bad starting point, it was the back row of the 3rd ally. So I got out and I didn't worry too much about getting a great starting position, I just got in the pack and cruised. The first lap felt like a jog, not even tough and I hit a 75 so I was feeling good and I felt good about the pace, then everyone around me started slowing down, and I was just like "What are you guys doing?!?" So I picked it up and tryed to get ahead of people, I ran ahead of Andrew Lawson and 10 other guys on the 2nd and 3rd laps but I was still 5 behind Davis and those guys would NOT let me pass, I should have just knocked them off the track, its not like it would have mattered hahaha... but really. Anyways I was trying to get back up to Davis so I we could work together but it just wasn't happening. I started my kick with 400m left, that was a mistake, I should have kicked the last 800m, and I didn't start my kick very fast at all I just slightly picked it up. I want to concentrate on the mile this upcoming meet, I think its Alpha, and after that I want to make an attempt at sub 10:00 with Davis and Cubby. Good PR, 10:21 isn't bad. Davis ran a 10:11 and Ashton made a huge PR of 10:38 or so! Great day. I also ran the 800m for Braydon because his feet were getting torn up badly and I didn't get last in the seeded heat which was my goals so yay haha. Mafia on the trip back was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much fun!

We warmed up about 2 miles, with the mile with the track team in the middle, we may have done up to 2 and a half but oh well. Anyways, after that we did 2 sets of 3 800s. I hit all of the reps in 2:35-2:40 which was good. I paced a lot of them perfectly, on the first one I ran the first lap perfectly and then I ran a 75 second 2nd lap because I felt like I was slower than that, but after that i was pretty good and never went more than 2-3 seconds faster than 2:40. Overall a good workout, I get to race the 3200m again on thursday, and wait for it, on friday I get to race... THE 1600m!!! I can't wait, I am going to race hard for the 3200m so I hope I have enough left to run a great mile. I am really looking forward to that race. Tomorrow is a distance run and then wednesday is premeet!

We warmed up with the sprinters and then did the best buy loop. It was an easy day and I had sweatpants so I didn't feel the cold at all. I was using the correct form today so my calfs hurt, my thighs were actually just a bit sore this morning which is awesome! Tomorrow is an easy premeet day and then I get to race the 3200m, 1600m, and I think the sprint medley 800m leg in the meet!

Easy top of the best buy loop with Ashton. Then we did some striders. I felt good today, I played some basketball at lunch too which was fun. I think basketball is a good premeet activity if you don't play too hard. My dog is so drugged up lol, she has a cone thing for a collar or whatever around her head. She had to get this growth taken off her eye and a tooth taken out, she's pretty out of it! It reminded me of Coach Murphy's cone of shame for latework hahaha, which I will have to use tomorrow or friday. Tomorrow is going to be really fun, I don't really get anxious for the 3200m because its more of a relaxed start, hopefully that will stay true for tomorrow.

I warmed up with Kramer, Davis, and Rory, about 2 miles. I was feeling a little sore in the calves but good overall. Coach Murphy told me to run even splits, and to start out with a 75-77. I was kind of worried that I would get stuck in the back but I followed his instructions. I was in last place after the first 300m but  I just stayed on pace and passed people as they fell of the main pack, I passed 3 or 4 people every lap from 2-6 so that was good. At the mile i was about middle of the pack and I had a run a 5:05. Laps 5 and 6 felt loads better than they did at Pineview, I passed a lot of people! With 2 laps to go I started going a little faster, I remembered from the last meet that its harder to kick really fast in the 3200m than shorter races, I didn't really move in position for the last 2 laps, I might have passed a guy or two but my target from lone peak stayed ahead of me. I ran 5:05 for the 2nd mile, so I ran it just like I was supposed to and I ran a really good time! After the race my calves felt like they were going to cramp up and they felt that way for the rest of the day, they are still hurting! I am hoping to break 10:00 next time I run the 3200m in a few weeks! I cooled down with davis about 2 miles in the neighborhoods and surounding fields. Good race, I am proud of how I raced and I am really grateful for such an awesome Coach!

I was really sore all day, I was having trouble walking. I was trying to stretch my calves all day so that I could race well. I stretched them and rolled them a lot right before the 1600m and they were feeling a little better. Coach Muphy told me to do 2:17 or 2:18 for the first 800m and then do whatever I could for the last 2 laps. I was ok with the 4:44 that I pulled off, I was so sore. I was also a little slow on the first lap and probably 2nd lap too. Its harder to pass people in the mile than the 3200m but I still moved my way up into the pack throughout the race, I like these races where I sit in the back and then start passing people, I want to race for some points at coaches invite next week. In track I always try to beat the time I am seeded at and I was successful in doing that in both races at this meet, that was good!  At the Coaches Invite I have 2 goals 1. run a 4:35 or faster in the 1600m 2. Place. I need to get back into the mile at Coaches invite, I know I can run a 4:35 or maybe a bit faster and I am excited to do it! I also ran the 800m in the sprint medley relay. I kept us in 2nd, Bingham's Andrew Brewer put quite a bit of space on me and I put a couple meters on the rest of the pack. I think our relay scored 1 point, we were in the slower heat. I don't think I ran an amazing time but I did ok for that point in the meet, I was tired, sore, and I threw up right before the race. I actually felt fine, I was just stretching and it came up. It was probably that hamburger haha, I almost never eat cow so my body probably wasn't used to it, I ate a lot of not so healthy food over the meet but I had to eat and "In a furnace hot enough, anything will burn". I had a good time at this meet, although it was long and I am very tired. I need to get some rest before tomorrows run in the gully. When my calves recover, I am going to be fast!

10.75 easy miles in the gully, we ran the the smaller 1.6 mile loop twice before doing the gully longer run. My calves were still sore but they got better as the run went on, they still hurt but they feel a lot better. I've been feeling good and I am excited to run at the Coaches Invite a week from today. After the Coaches Invite I want to break 10:00 at the Woods Cross Invitational. After that the big meets start coming around, Davis, BYU, and then region! This is going to be a good season! I just found out my Sprint medley scored 4 points and I would have had to run 8 or 9 seconds faster to get us higher so I am happy about that. I found out today that BYU Hawaii is ending its athletics programs as a whole.

Great way to start off the week with a strong track workout performance. We ran 4x400s on a grass course with 4 90 degree turns. I hit the splits for this workout well, all 66. If I can hit 4 of those in a race, I will achieve my goal this year of 4:24. At the Coaches invitational I am going to aim for a low 4:30s time. I was feeling good today after the first 2 400s. I ran my best, its hard to do because theres nowhere to really pass people because there are those 90 degree turns so often, but I ran hard. After the first two I noticed some patterns with how people were running and made a strategy of how to run the workout better, I pretty much just took the first straight a little easier and that gave me enough energy to stick with Brayden and Alec until the last straight away and they kept easing up before the 3rd cone and that gave me enough energy to give a good kick at the end. This workout does a great job of simulating a race, it was hard to find a good time to make moves! I ran behind alec and Brayden for the first two, on the 3rd I ran 2nd behind Brayden and on the last one I kicked ahead of Brayden on the last straight. Brayden just got back from a break though, I was impressed with how well he still managed to run after not being able to run much the past 9 days due to injury and the band trip. I hope Kramer gets better from whatever is hurting him, he needs to get back in there and break some school records! 2 mile cooldown, I was tired but I enjoyed it towards the end. Nice workout, I ran hard. Ready for some mileage tomorrow.

We warmed up, ran to the gully and did the gully long run, and then ran back. It was hot! Tomorrow is a trimeet, I don't know what I am racing. Why not the 1600m and the 400m. I don't know if I am running in the 4x800m this weekend, if i am, hopefully I will run the 3200m too because I would be a lot more recovered for the 3200m than the 1600m, but I really don't know. Maybe I will take tomorrow as a workout, not sure, I will ask Coach Murphy about it. I am tired, my body isn't used to warm weather, but I am really happy that it is finally here!

I had a lot of fun at the trimeet today! I ran a 55.11 for the 400m so that was good. I won the 800m, I didn't try that hard on the last lap, I just strided in. Its fun to win races, I enjoy it almost too much. A lot of our new guys did awesome at this meet! We had a lot of performances under 5:30! We swept the distance events, 1,2,3! I had a lot of fun just hanging out at the meet and on the bus. It was a good workout today, I am ready for the Coaches invite, low 4:30s!

We warmed up and did about 7 miles. I felt good, the pace was a little too easy but thats ok. We ran to nam and ran around that area for a while before doing the cookie factory loop, I haven't done that in a year. We also did about a mile and a half on the track. People started talking about winning the XC state championship today and I said we would have to be willing to do around 70 miles a week if we were seriously thinking about competing with American Fork. I got mixed responses from that input. Personally I want to push my body to its limits, and then push those limits these next 14 months. I don't want to have any doubt that I did all I could to get on a Division 1 team, after BYU-H shut down its athletic program, its either Division 1 or Division 3. I want to do extremely difficult speed workouts and a lot of mileage. I will ask Coach Murphy if I can do more than the rest of the team if the other guys on varsity don't want to do 70 miles a week. I have some big goals and I am willing to work as hard as I can for them. I am going to do my best to convince 5 or 6 other guys to be willing to work as hard as they can, I would love for our team to win region and get a top 3 finish at the state meet in xc but we need the commitment. I honestly love track more than any other sport, and I really want to make it to the state meet this season. That is my goal.

We warmed up with the sprinters and then we did the lower loop and ran around alta for a while. Then we did 6 100 meter build up sprints. Then we worked on handoffs for a little. I played basketball afterwards. I felt good and its felt easy until the sprints. Tomorrow I am aiming for 4:33 in the 1600m and 9:55 in the 3200m.

I had some drymouth but was feeling ok before the race today. I started off a little slower than I meant to and ended up having to wait in the front pack. I made my move after 300m and then just went wire to wire to win the 2nd heat. I kind of wish I had been in the first heat because I would have had competition. I didn't really hurt much until I kicked, I didn't really have anyone to race with so I just kept out ahead of the rest and mantained my lead by a good couple of seconds. When I run the 1600m at Davis I think I will go low 4:30s, maybe even sub 4:30, its a fast meet!  I am happy that I made a new PR but I am going to take it down another 10 or 11 seconds before region. The 3200m started out ok, I worked my way up to behind Davis, I was passing but he cut me off and I had to slow down. It was lap 6, my arms were hurting, and I needed to use the bathroom, and that just pushed me into mental distress. Next week I am only doing the 3200m, time to run under 10:00.

8 miles around the city, I stopped in the rec center to do 2.15 just to round it out. I felt really good on the run. I think I will do another 4 later. It feels good to be on spring break. I will also do some core. I feel like I will definitely run under 10:00 on friday.

Later- I did 3 miles on the tread mill when I went to spot my brother at the gym, I also did dips and an abb workout. I took the 3 miles at 7:30-6:40 pace, until the last half mile or so I slowed down to 8:00 pace.

I ran up to Brighton High School and did some laps on the track plus some more around the school grounds while waiting for my brother. I ran 8x400m on the track. TOUGH workout, I really put all of my energy into it. I ran 67, 67, 65, 68, 67, 68, 69, 67. I may have hit a couple seconds faster on a few of them. My brother timed me. I was barely able to cool down, I was so tired and out of energy I was about to pass out! I did a lap on the track and then ran back home. I also ran between each rep. I took 2 minutes between each 400m, a little longer between the first 4 and the second 4. Good workout, very hard work. I will do another 2 or 3 miles tonight.

Later- I went on an easy bike ride with my dad and then I did another 2 miles including running to the library. It was a good day of trianing, I took the 2 miles easy as well, they felt good.

Today I did 2 minutes hard, 3 minutes easy for 60 minutes. Actually 63 or so. I did the hard minutes at about 6:00 pace, maybe a little faster. I stopped at the cottonwood heights rec center so I could see my pace and stuff. At the rec center I did the hard mintes at 6:00 and the easy at 8:00, I think 7:;30 for the first one maybe. It was a tough workout, I also did one of the 2 minutes down a steep downhill, and another up a steep uphill. It was a good, I felt really good. This is a very important trianing week, maybe the most important, 2-3 weeks out before region, and the next two weeks both have 2 day meets. I am the only Alta athlete registered for the Woods Cross Invitational, the fastest time is seeded at 9:57 and there are 2 other guys close to my level that have run 10:10 and 10:06. My goal is to win the event, hopefully they give out medals for this invite.

I woke up too late today and missed practice, the alarm didn't go off, turns out it was set for PM... I went for a 4 mile run and threw in a couple of striders. I felt great, pretty crazy day, spring break went by way to fast...

Today I had heartburn from the time I woke up to about an hour before the race, I also used the bathroom at least 6 times before the race. I wasn't feeling so good, I did ok considering everything. I warmed up about 2 miles. I did a lot of stretching and striders, and I was feeling ok before the race, I could have used a little more energy. I started out and I let myself fall a little, I came across the 200 at about 34, maybe even 33, that was bad because I thought I had given myself plenty of space from the lead. I hit the 400m a little better at 72. I started moving up after the first lap, picking a few guys off each lap. This slowed signicantly after lap 4 or so. I started only passing 1 or 2 guys a lap. I needed to go to the bathroom and it was making it hard for my to pick up the pace, I knew I was off pace with 2 laps to go. Laps 6 and 7 killed me, and lap 5 wasn't good either. Lap 5 was 79, lap 6 was terrible at 81. I don't know what lap 7 was, but it was pretty slow. My last lap was pretty good, I really gave it a good amount of gas and passed 4-6 guys. Maybe for me in cross country races, the key is to go out easy. There were a few Davis guys who were really giving me a hard time passing, they would accelerate while I was passing them and try to close gaps in lane 1 when I was trying to move in, and they would move out to lane 2 when I was trying to pass on the outside, this happened 3 or 4 times. The first time I was a little angry. It would be a lot easier to deal with in xc. I took 4th or 5th I think, but maybe worse. I was feeling good this week up until today, so it was unfortunate. Overall I had a pretty good time at this meet, and I got to see Kyle, Renee, and Brandon so that was fun. Next week I kind of want to do the 1600m but I also want to break 10:00 for the 3200m, I guess I will see what Coach Murphy thinks. I think I will do a couple more miles tonight.

Nice easy 10 mile run around the city and neighborhood. I felt good, my achilles hurt for a little bit. I am starting to lose hope in making it to state this year, with Kramer, Andrew, Brayden, and the walker twins, any event will be tough to get a top 4 spot. Especially if you add in Christian Allen. There are 6 guys in my region who have run 4:30 or better, and 5 guys who have run under 9:45. I think I could run close to 4:30 right now, low 4:30s, but it would still be tight. I will do my best and hope I make it. I am excited for the Davis Invitational, it is going to be a lot of fun! And it is a very fast meet, I think whatever I run, I am going to make a big personal record.

Short sprint workout today that left me pretty sore. We did 2x80, 2x100, and 2x150. I learned that I am a huge amount better at sprints when I have a jogging start. I did the first two just starting of into a sprint, I was terrible and ran slow. Then I started running into them after the first 100 meter rep and I started running a huge amount faster! It was weird, like I couldn't even keep with the other guys before when I was just starting off and then I was running faster then them when I ran into the sprint. I also learned that its a lot easier and helps you go faster to just extend and keep at you top speed than just go all out. I learned a lot about sprinting today, I have never done a workout anything like it! My achilles was hurting during the workout but I think it will be ok. I will definitely do a few more miles today.

We warmed up and did a nice easy recovery run, 2 miles into the run we did a mile hard, it was pretty hard but I don't know what pace it was. We did another mile after that and then 4 striders. It was a nice day, really windy though. I was sore, at first just my hamstrings were sore but later most of my legs started feeling sore. I am sure I will be recovered for tomorrow after a nice easy day though. I made the Davis invitational for the 1600m and the 3200m so I will be looking to make some huge PRs there. I am going to win both of my races on saturday.

We warmed up with the sprinters and then did the lower loop for warm up. This workout was tough! I was sore which contributed to that. Today I was as sore as yesterday, my thighs were even more sore! But I am really happy about being sore, this is the time to have soreness! And I will be recovered for the Davis invitational, where I hope to run some really good races. We did 4 600s at goal mile pace, I went out in the first one at 1:42, so 4:32 pace, I would be happy with that time. I ran the next one in 1:41, the third one in 1:43, and the last one was 1:39 or 1:40. So I did this workout at an average of 4:30 pace, which I would be very happy to run on saturday. The last one was probably harder than I should have gone, but I love the challenge! Hopefully a nice easy long run tomorrow and a nice premeet on friday and then I will be ready to go on saturday! This has been a great week of training.

We did an easy 30 minutes and then 4 striders after we warmed up a mile with the rest of the team. I felt good today, a little sore but I am already starting to recover. Tomorrow is premeet and then we have the Invitational! This is going to be a really fun meet!

We warmed up with the sprinters, and then we did 4 miles and 4x80m hard. I am kind of tired, hopefully the storm will clear for tomorrow. I am going for the win.

I was a little worried about the race with all the bad weather and everything. I went out kind of slow, I actually don't know the pace, but I was boxed in for the first lap. I came through the 2nd lap at about 2:18. I was pretty far from the lead, so I just concentrated on running a good 3rd lap. I passed some guys but didn't have many thoughts about winning it. I was 40 meters away from the lead with a lap to go, my legs had fealt tired since the 2nd lap but I realized that I still had plent left to give a big kick. I started kicking with 300m left, I passed the first group or 4 or 5 guys in front of me and started chasing the next group, I really had to give it everything, I caught up to them and got in front and held it for the win and a new personal best. It was possibly the best last lap of my life so far, one of the best races, if not the best. I wasn't really feeling good but I had the ability to do it and I did it. Thanks to Coach Murphy's training that has gotten me to this point, and has taught me to race hard even when I am feeling bad! I felt really good after the 1600m, so I went inside and cooled down and just waited for the 3200m. I kind of had high expectations for just a few hours after the 1600m. I went to slow the first lap of the 3200m, the first 200m was good at 37, but the 400m was a 77 which was too slow. The 2nd lap was also 77, I kept slowly passing people every lap until the 6th or 7th when I gave in. I didn't completely fall off, and it wouldnt have really mattered. I stayed on long enough to give a kick and finished right with Davis, we were shoulder and shoulder at the finish but I let him go ahead in line, and also this other kid cut me in line but I didn't really care, I am not going to look at my 3200m time, I don't want to know, just move on. I know if I concentrate on the 3200m on a sunny day, I can run under 10:00. BYU invite is next, looks like just the 1600m right now. I want to run 4:32 or 4:33, maybe even faster. With good conditions, I will run a lot faster. I love the sun. Good 1600m today!

Amazing run, felt really good. We went to the gully and ran the gully longer run.

Good workout today! We did 10x400 in between 1600 and 3200m pace. I decided to go for 70 or 71. I ran all of them in 67-69, they were tough but I felt good. I really hop I can run in the low 4:30 range for the 1600m on saturday and under 10:00 for the 3200m on friday. Big weekend, and then it all comes down to next week. Off to a speghetti dinner for mutual!

Easy day today, we warmed up and did 20 mins. I felt good, I am ready for the meet! I want to win my heat and make a big PR.

We warmed up a mile with the whole team, and then another mile before a small workout. We did an 800m and 2 200s. The 800m was a little slow for me, I followed Kramer because he was going for 2:15 for his 3200m pace and I want to run a 4:32 or maybe better. We ran 2:20, so it was slow. The 800m felt pretty easy though, and the 200s felt good too. Then we went to Coach Murphy's room and watched some of the movie Endurance and talked about the BYU meet. After that I cooled down a mile and went home. The cooldown felt great! I am going to do very well this weekend.

Ouch, I hit my knee on a rail as we were walking out to do the 2 miles. I hit it pretty hard, walked straight into it. My leg hurts. I still did the 2 mile warm up and 4 striders. It hurt a little on the warm up, and a little more on the striders. My philosiphy was that if I couldn't do the warm up and striders, I couldn't do the race tomorrow. I will be fine, I will rest it all night watching movies and playing games and then get a good 9 hours of sleep and I will be ok. I might even do a little light biking for 5 mins or so just to keep get it moving. Tomorrow I am going to race, and then kick the last lap as hard as I can.

I had a very good race today. I went out and got myself into the top pack and I stayed there. The first lap was 65 which was faster than I had planned but thinking back, it was about right. The 2nd lap was the slowest, I ran 70 or 69 so that was slower. Thats an area I can work on. I ran the first 800m in 2:15, I was feeling fine but kind of suprised at the pace. I tried to make a move on the third lap but when Albert sped up and closed the gap I was going for so I had to fall back for a little. That was really the only thing that didn't go well in the race, if I could have gotten that I think I would have placed a little higher. I can't remember the time for the 3rd lap, it was pretty good as 3rd laps go, it was something like 3:23 or 3:24 . I don't remember a whole lot about the last lap, but I gave it everything. I kicked past a lot of guys, including Albert. Albert has good ambition, he's a good competitor. Coming into the final straight I saw the clock was at 4:14 or 4:16 and I knew I had to go, I really kicked and hard and passed some more people. I watched the time as I came in, not even thinking about it, I guess I was going for sub 4:30 because the second I crossed the line and knew I ran 4:31 I only had two feelings. The first was joy, and the 2nd was dissatisfaction. I really want to run sub 4:30. Region will be a big race, lots of competition, lots of goals that I am very close to. Its going to be a battle, this is what I've always been hoping for.

Later- 6.6 miles from Brighton to Alta. I needed to go pick up the van from Alta so I had my brother drive me to Brighton and then I ran to Alta from there. A little longer than I was supposed to but I enjoyed it! I am number 14 all time on alta's 1600m list! I am very close to the top 10 ever! It was a very good day, hopefully next week will be even better. I need to run with that top group of guys at region, I know I can do it. Region will be very intense and exciting. I always feel good about the mile, theres enough time for me to relax a little, but it's not long enough that I have to worry a ton. I just love it. The 2 mile is fun too, I am going to run under 10:00 next week for sure. Next week is going to be huge! Nice sunset on the way home too.

I wasn't feeling incredible today. 3 tests and I left my water bottle at home. I felt tired today, I am feeling a lot better now that I've had some more cups of water. We did 4x300m at 400m to 800m pace, I ran them all in 42 or 43 which was pretty good. Region is going to be a battle for anything, I am going to fight hard to run faster than 4:30. Running under 10:00 for the 3200m shouldn't be a problem but I am still going to run as fast as I can and see how fast I can get. I will probably wake up tomorrow and do 5 or 6 miles in the morning. I need to relax and get ready for region, its going to be really fun!

5 miles in the morning and 1 in the afternoon. Region is tomorrow, my goal for the 1600m is 4:28. Hopefully conditions will be good!

I had a lot of things go wrong today, bad mentality, not enough warmup, and the race went out very slow (2:19 at the 800m). I would have taken the lead but I couldn't get around everyone without wasting a lot of energy. It probably would have been worth it but thats ok. I finished exactly where I was seeded, uneventful race. Tomorrow will be important, I need to run under 10:00. Right now I need to relax and think race strategy.

Another bad race. Went out at 67 for the first lap. I will go to jv region for another attempt to break 10:00.

Getting behind on my posts! 3 easy miles, we did it around alta and stopped a couple times for Kramer to sing the national anthem and stuff.

Nice run in the gully. Not a great week for me, don't know what happened. I am thinking of running the 3200m at jv region, probably more likely for me to break 10:00 than 4:30. And also if I am thinking about attracting any kind of colleges, I should have run under 10:00 by junior year.

Premeet

JV region today. I won the two mile, but it was a slow time. I probably should have just tried to sweep the distance events and had fun. It was a nice day and I had a good time, I am now taking a nice break. If my ankles are hurting on next wednesday I will take some more time off, but if not I will return to running. This is a crucial season, I need to make the most of it and prove that I can run the 5k well. 850 miles of training this track season. In review, I ran well this season. The 4:31 1600m at the BYU Invite was the highlight of the season, but I did very well in a lot of races this season. I also learned the 2 mile, I think it will help me as a step towards running 5ks better.

I'M GOING TO ARCADIA!!!! Well not officially, but I have the qualifying time for the 1600m just barely! From what I can tell at least, finding a direct conversion is impossible. But a 1500m race run at 5150 feet elevation lowers 5.6 seconds when converted to sea level accordingto USATF, so a 1600m at 4500m should drop at least 5.0 seconds, which puts me barely under the required 4:26.99!!! Off to do a nice 30 minutes of biking.

It felt good to be back running again, training for senior year. Its weird to think its that close to being over, high school goes by fast. No aches or pains, and I feel good and strong. I'm ready for this summer of aerobic preperation, and I am very excited to return to the gully and get into the highly exclusive sub 40-minute gully time trial club. Only 3 current members that I know of. I am considering running a time trial in the gully next friday to see where I am right now, I need to run below 40:00 on the first day of practice, June 23rd or so. I have a lot of confidence in my ability to do that. I am going to prove to myself that I can run cross country well, I would love to finish top 20 at state in cross country, maybe even 2nd team all state if the season goes very well. I know I can be great this season, but I need to forge a new mentality. This summer will be very important, I need to learn how to race the 5k well.

I barely had time for a run between study hall and the track banquet. I got home, had a cup of water and then did a nice 6 miles, it was a little tough on the 4th mile, but I am feeling really good for the 2nd day back. I have tried to assemble a group of guys to come run the gully with me tomorrow, so far I have one and two undecided haha. But I will turn that into a nice 7 miles tomorrow, and maybe 8 on saturday. I was very suprised at the track banquet, I was just expecting a letter, I hadn't expected I would recieve such a high honor, but I was awarded a lot more! I was very lucky to recieve the Most Inspirational Athlete Award, I am grateful to my coaches and team, especially Coach Murphy! I am really looking forward to one more year of having the blessing of being coached by him, I know I will do amazing things!

First Gully long run of this summer, I ran with Jacob and Ashton, it was a good run but it was tough. But it was an important run, tomorrow I am going to do an 8 mile run. I will probably stay around the city. It was a very interesting year, and a very good year for my development. I had a lot of highs and lows, and I learned a lot and grew from them both. Our team needs me to be a good leader and a high placer at all the meets, we need to work together and become a lot closer. My goal is for our team to win region, and for us to place higher than we have while I've been at Alta. I also want to finish in the top 5 at region and top 20 at state. If the season goes very well, I want to recieve 2nd team all-state honors

Great run! I felt really good the entire time, I am already back in good shape. I ran around the neighborhood and city, it was very nice. I ran in the evening/night because I was busy during the day, Junior year is all but finished. One day left, I'm not sure how long I will run on monday (I'm thinking maybe 9), I will do another good aerobic run. I felt so good today!

3 years of high school gone by, fastest 3 years of my life! I am going to do some great things senior year. I ran in the gully today, tough 9 miles. I think I will do another 1.5-3 miles tonight and then 10 tomorrow, 12 wednesday, 6-8 thursday, Gully Time Trial and 10 overall on friday, 12 saturday. That will give me a 60+ mile week. I ran into my friend Alex Joseph after the run, he's changed a ton in the 2 years that I've known him, and he's going to the Naval Academy! Something I would never have guessed when I first met him, he's an interesting guy! I also saw my cousin and his girlfriend going to 24 fitness after the run, I didn't even know they lived around here! Well its finally summer time, and I am looking forward to a nice 11 weeks of summer mileage and lifeguarding.

12 good hard miles.

Its been a bad week for my running, I missed two days, although not completely without cause. My knees started bothering me last week and they still hurt on monday, so thats partially been the reason for my 2 days of rest, the other reason is because this week has just been a little crazy. Staying up until 2 or 3 and waking up around 11, one day I went to bed at 12 and woke up after 11. So I have just not been feeling like a run and really having no events to schedule my runs around, I've been lazy. But that's over, time to get back on track. No more staying up past midnight! I will try to get to bed around 11 for the rest of the summer, maybe even 10. But considering this was my 7th run since I started training for cross country, and I've only been running since last wednesday, 43:00 isn't too bad. Oh I got a watch, I tried to get some guys out to run with but no one came, I like my new watch. I also ran the first two miles in less than 13:00 so that was too fast for today, I was feeling pretty tired. Overall I am satisfied with the time and I am sure that running under 40:00 in 2 weeks is possible. In perspective, this is faster than I ever ran during the summer last year or even the cross country season. I also need to stop drinking milk again, I've been drinking a cup a day or so this entire week and theres a lot of mucas in my throat. This will be a good season.

I went to the gully with Ashton and I ran the top of the gully while he started a time trial. I got to the parking lot and he wasn't there so I started down the big hill, I found him a ways down and did the rest of the time trial with him, he was really tired. It was a tough run, we got through it though. It felt really good to be finished, I am going to do another 4 miles tonight to add up to 10 miles. That will be a 40 mile week which isn't bad. Next week will be about 40 as well and then the next week I will bring it up to somewhere in the 50s. Then once the team starts meeting the following week I will start doing two a days for 60 miles and work it up to 70 or 75 in july.

Later- 4 miles, took me a while to post this. I started feeling sick on sunday, I will try to get an easy 4 in today after EFY. If i'm feeling better tomorrow, I will do 8. The goal is 40-45 miles for the week. This will be my last post untill saturday, have a good week everyone!

4 miles

short run

better run, I ran to Davis High School and did laps around the track

I was busy with efy each day from 7am to 9:45 pm each day so it was hard to get a run in, thursday I was busy until 11:30, friday I was busy until 12:00 so I couldnt get runs in those days. I had an ACT test this morning, I was very tired but I think I might have improved my score by a bit. I had an amazing week though, very spiritual and inspiring. I did 5 miles but I had to come back and leave with parents before I could do the other 4, I will do those later. I did a lot of sprinting this week, I was actually pretty sore from it! I am also going to run 4 miles tomorrow, I am going to start running 4 miles every other sunday. I've thought and prayed about it and I feel like there's no conflict with keeping the sabbath day holy, I enjoy running and I feel good when I am running and for the rest of the day afterwards, that can only help me feel closer to God.

Fastrunningblog finally became iPod friendly! I need to start getting better at blogging my runs again, or just be less busy. I did a 20 minute bike ride Saturday night and Sunday I was stuck in Provo and unable to get in a run. But today I went out for a nice 8 mile run, plan on 54-60 miles this week. I am doing 8 tomorrow morning and hopefully 4 in the night after work, maybe just 2 or 3. The first 2 miles today were tough and the rest felt pretty good. I was helping out in my grandmas yard for the first half of the day, and on a date for the 2nd half, great girl (distance runner) we had dinner and saw the 2nd how to train your dragon movie, I liked it!

Same run as yesterday except today was pouring rain, it started out a light shower but soon turned into a hard rain and I came home drenched. I felt really good today, despite the cold and wet, I've learned to tune it out and enjoy the run. I stopped at the rec center for 2 miles and ran at 7:30 pace, then 7:19 and for the last half mile I sped up to 6:00 and worked it up to 5:24, it felt good, easy, I didn't have a problem with it at all. I also did core right before the run, I liked the feeling while I was running because it was like I was already warmed up but my legs were totally fresh. More later.

later- 4 miles around neighborhood and library. I dropped something on my toe at work so that hurt. Should be a good week of training. 2 months until the first meet.

Newish route, it's the first time I tried this loop I made. But it was around my neighborhood and library. My toe hurt . I had to come back early to go to work. I don't think I will do another run today. 8 miles tomorrow. I've think I will average around 60-70 miles once cross country team training starts up, maybe I will go to 75 or 80 some weeks later on. But right now I feel like 60-70 would be comfortable and won't tire me out.

Same run as monday and tuesday. It felt good, I started feeling tired with a couple miles to go but it was ok. I ran at a good pace and didn't have any pain or anything, I need to get back to breathing deeper again. Probably all for today. I want to be one of the top competitors at region and state this year, I want to make the jump this summer.

I was I would only do 4 or 5 miles but once I got out the door I decided to do 8. I didn't get to blogging this run yesterday but I ran it at an easy but fast pace. I sort of made a new route, I've run everywhere I ran but not in that combination. I think I will take today a little easy, probably just 7.6 miles to get past 50 miles for the week.

Went a little bit extra easy. The pace was fine, but just 4 easy miles. I had a busy day and not a good nights sleep the night before so its ok. I might go for a run on sunday, just 2 or 3 warm up miles, nothing too much. Gully time trial on monday the 23rd.

2 easy miles to keep keep warm for the gully time trial tomorrow, but I didn't want to do too much. I'm taking my first crack at sub 40:00 in the gully long run. I don't know what to expect but I will bring some sunglasses and a watch and run my best!

We just ran the gully today, no race. Cubby, Davis, Ashton, and I ran it in 48 minutes and it was pretty easy. After we ran the gully, some of the new kids who we sent to do the bridge and back weren't back yet so we waited a little and then went searching for them, some people went to the lower gully, some went to the top train and I went from the parking lot to the road after the bridge and got picked up by Davis. So that was an extra 2.5 or so but I stopped a few times to look around because the girls said they saw him in the bushes or something when they were running. I ran that pretty slow too. I will do another 3 or 4 miles tonight. Tomorrow we have our first speed workout of the summer at cottonwood complex, that will be good.

Something is very wrong with fastrunningblog. More people than I expected showed up today, we had 2 freshman! 4 boys showed up, I did, read, hunter, and the new aaron. And 6 girls showed up, sarah, julia, maddy, Julias freshman sister, a new sophemore, and kristen. The 4 new runners each ran 2 laps of the region course, aaron ran all 3 laps though. We ran the course really slowly, about 10:00 pace but some of the runners are just really new. They will get into it by mid july for sure. We have some rookie runners coming to alta ski resort tomorrow, like ones that can only run 2 miles right now. I'm glad coach is going to be there tomorrow! We also did the hills, and everyone got through those fine. We did drills and core as well. We did the core for 45 seconds for all of them but a minute for the sit ups. I don't think we worked the freshman too hard today, but they got a taste of what running is like. I will do another 5 miles later on. maybe at 3, or maybe after work. If its after work i might cut it to 4.

Really good alta run today, I felt really good the entire time. Kramer and I had to slow down for cubby and we stopped twice which kind of annoyed me because I wanted to get more mileage, but it's just a fun run and the first alta run of the year, but this is quite the contrary of my first alta run before sophomore year two years ago when I couldn't make it up to the campground without stopping to walk a lot and was the slowest person on that run, or even the first run last year when I had to stop on the way up I think and was completely dead at the top. I'm at a new height of aerobic fitness and I need to put in my summer mileage so I can dominate in cross country. 4-5 miles later. I need more mileage.

later I ran to work. I didn't intend to, but I ran it fast. I left at 3:43 or 3:45 and got to work at 4:07. Work is 4 miles away. It didn't feel like 5:30-6:00 pace though! I thought I was going a little fast just so I could get there by 4:15, but honestly if someone had told me I was running 7:30 pace I would have believed them, I thought it was more like 7:00 or maybe a little under. So it's good that I'm in really good shape already, probably bad that I ran as fast as I did. I walked for over an hour at work again, I do every shift, and I was able to take a nice shower at work so that was good too...4 showers today hahaha, they were all pretty short though. I feel really good about fast I currently am, possibilities are endless! 55-60 miles this week. 10 tomorrow, unless we do more than 10 in the morning, 8 on Friday, 8-14 on Saturday. Maybe we will go to jeremy ranch?

I warmed up about .4 miles or so, then we did ten minutes of warm up followed by 40 minutes of  fartleks, I got ahead of everyone and ran back on the easy part and found Ashton a ways back, cubby and read weren't in sight so we just kept going. The only other times I saw those guys were when they came to the park, but they came through the gully, not the longer run way, they did 1 lap, and when I was finishing, last quarter or half mile. The did a little under 7 probably, Ashton did 8 in those 60, I did 8.3 about, maybe more, like 8.5, but I will just add .3 from running back after each rep. We circled the park two times I think, I don't think 3. It was a good workout, I will be sore! Especially after yesterday. I think I will do another 2 or 3 miles tonight. I just realized I added .6 on by regrouping with Ashton each time, because I didn't just run back to him, I had to run the part I just ran back as well. So 8.6 in the hour, .4 from the warmup.

Good, nice paced two a day. I had to cut my run to 6 miles before work, then I ran 2.4 on the tread mill at work. Pretty fast running, feels good! Maybe more detail later.

I ran to the rec center, ran 2.05 on the tread mill, ran to Brighton high school, back to the Rec center, back to home, did a 2.1 mile loop followed by a .25 mile loop and had my 10 plus an extra .1 which is nice. 55 mile week, I'm tired right now after that run but I ran it kinda fast. I really need to take some days easier haha. But I feel comfortable with the mileage, work is another story haha. I might do 2 easy miles tomorrow, or maybe a nice short bike ride. Also I changed my availability so now work won't be as annoying. Next week should be over 60 miles, longer alta run, and 2 a days on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Along with 20-24 miles on the weekend. Maybe one of these weeks I will just take a week of from work to relax and run, maybe the last week of summer, to give myself a little boost going into the school year and season.

I ran a warm up and then 9 miles in the gully. It was a nice easy run. I finished Unbroken today, I was too devoted to reading the book to do anything else the past two days. It's the first book I've finished in a while, and I will definitely read more this summer. I got home from work and read until I finished at 10:40 so I decided to get 8 hours of sleep over an extra 3 miles. Tomorrow will be a two a day for sure though. Louie Zamperini has lived an amazing life!

3 miles and then 3 more of ultimate frisbee, it was fun, we should try soccer next time! I will do 4 miles later, I'm thinking before work because I might be exaughsted after work. Work can be stressful, it's an easy job, but other things make it a big pain. I need to do 10 miles per day this week plus extra some days to make up for a 4-5 mile day on Thursday. I really hope USA wins today, but I don't trust our forwards to get plus in the lead.

4.4 before work, I wanted to watch the game while I ran on the tread mill but the front desk person never switched the channel after I asked, however, the run felt really good. I actually had a really good day at work, I had a good time talking with coworkers, and I found out that a cute girl at work runs 20 miles each week, only other coworker that runs at all, so that made me happy! So yeah, good day!

8.8 up at alta today, good pace, not too hard, not too easy. I think I will do another 3 before going to work. I am excited for this years races, I think I will do some very good things. I think our team has the potential to be 3rd in the state, but everyone else is getting better and getting new leaders, so we need to fight for it. I think if we have a phenomenal season, we could take 3rd at Nike southwest, if everything went right, but we would still almost certainly be denied an at large bid. It's still a goal that is very much worth working towards and fighting for. 3rd in the state and in the southwest would satisfy me. And who knows, dhs abd afhs aren't immortal, one year they will fall to another team, lets at least give them a scare! I'm not going to think of anyone in the state as better than me, hopefully our team can pull off something incredible this season.

2.7 before work, researching this years competition inspired me to go run, it was hot! It looks like  lone peak and westlake will be good competitors this year, despite both suffering heavy loses. Copper hills looks like 2nd at region, and 6th at state. I think I'm going to suprise people with how much better I do. I also think a much improved Ashton will suprise people, and read and Zach are good new additions to the team. We need to work hard this year, I know we can win a few meets this season!

I decided to concentrate more on racing well tomorrow over mileage. I did a couple striders on the run, I felt smooth and good. I saw Matt walch when I went to register. He asked if any other alta runners would be at the race, I said yes but probably not Kramer, he said he was disappointed because he wanted to have someone to compete with, I will have to change his mind about Kramer being the only competitive runner at Alta. I was sad to hear that the great Louie Zamperini died, I just finished reading "unbroken" on Monday so that's crazy! He did a lot of amazing things and he changed so much, his story is so inspirational! I was hoping I might be able to see him sometime, but I'm just glad I was able to read his story and be blessed by having his example. From what i read he was truly devoted to running, a great role model!

I think it shows my development as a person that I actually found the race his year, but I barely made it for the start. I parked half ails away, ran kind of fast to the start line and the race started 20 seconds later. Lots of slower people jumped in front of me and it took me a while to move out of them. Once I did I ran with Jared Croft and Albert for a few minutes before making a move to get closer to 2 westlake jerseys, I got closer but didn't pass them. I was in 4th for a while, then Pineviews coach passed me, he was suprised to see an Alta runner who wasn't Kramer or Brayden that far up in the race. I felt good and was getting a little tired, Jared passed me and I guess someone else did too, then when Johny from Hillcrest was passing me, I asked for time and distance, thinking I should start my kick soon (I left my watch in the car while I was rushing). He said 1.92 and 10:35. This suprised me and I slowed down, running the last 1.18 in 7 minutes. Way too slow. No one else passed me except for Albert in the last 100 meters, he beat me by 2 seconds. It was a good race for about two months away from the first meet of the season. I will beat him at draper days. I plan on running low 16:00 at draper days. Matt Walch missed the race, but I told him he might be able to train with Alta, I need to ask Coach Murphy though. Matt just graduated high school and is trying to walk on to BYU, and he doesn't have anyone to train with at Brighton so maybe he could train with us. I had a good time, and a fun experience, gully time trial Monday? Draper Days is going to see a new Blake Bennion!

5.2 miles later on, first two with my brother. 8-10 tomorrow. 

Went for a small run before work, just over 3 miles. It was so hot! Not very enjoyable. I will do a 5 or 6 mile run tonight. Lethargic day, I have to go to youth conference next week but hopefully won't miss any of practice besides possibly Thursday, I will be running plenty on the trip, alongside a rive. One day will be a 12 mile run.

Warned up 1.5 and the ran 9 miles in the gully. I ran with Coach Murphy and kind of Ashton. It was a good run, I liked the pace and we ran a really big hill I had never run, that was interesting!  I need to get Chase to practice. I also passed my AP US History test, I'm really happy about that! It's my greatest academic achievement of highschool up until now, maybe my only one haha. I'm grateful that I had two great teachers for the class, all the homework and the packet of death really payed off! Since I've already run over 10 miles today I will probably just relax (besides work) and do some core.

3 miles around the region course, 8 hill sprints, 30 mins of ultimate frizbee, my team won 6-5! No run at night, my knee started hurting earlier in the day so I rested it.

We did the first Alta time trial in about two years. Last time we did an Alta time trial I was close to last, this time I won in a comfortable 25 second lead. I was a little conservative going up to the campground, 2.7 miles uphill can be very long if you burn out. I was fine, I could have gone faster. I was still a bit tired when I got to the top and it was time for the flight downhill. 37:03 is an ok time, next time I plan on running under 35:00. I want to race the gully, hopefully on Monday! And then draper days 5k is that Saturday, if I pace correctly, wear a watch, warm up, and do my best. I know I can dip into the 16 minute range. The goal is to run 15:40s at highland. This week will probably only be high 50s for mileage. Also a 10k is in the near future for me, that will be very interesting, but first I am thinking about draper days. I ran just over 2 miles with my brother at home, I was going to do that at night but he wanted to do it then, I was tired. But when the run was at level ground it felt good. Good training day, time to get ready and go on a river rafting trip.

I've been blogging for the wrong days this week. I went to flaming gorge for Thursday-Saturday. I ran Thursdays run around a campground, up a trail, and around some parking lots. Not bad, 80 minutes of running, so I will just say 10.5

A little over 80 minutes of running. I ran over dam and a police officer pulled me over and said I couldn't run on the dam, I guess there's no more dam running for me! I found a new trail and then went around a campground for the last 15 minutes. Also had some fun river rafting. I will just say 10.5 for the day, probably more.

The group did a 3 mile hike this morning, so I ran the trail 3 times. I also got lost for a while at the beginning and ran probably 2 miles or so trying to find the trail. I ran witha girl from my ward for a little because we were both trying to find the entrance, which was a fence. Again I will just say 10.5. Glad to be home, I've had my elevation training week for sure, alta time trial and the 3 runs at 6000 feet, not bad considering elevation is exponentially hard on your breathing. i read that sea level to 5000 feet is the same as 5000-7000.

After a good day of rest, I am feeling really good. I ran 10 miles with Davis in the gully, the longer gully with 4 laps at the park and we also ran that huge hill that adds on another mile. I didn't feel shut up hill at all, after 3 incredibly hilly 10.5 mile runs in flaming gorge at elevation, hills don't really seem hard, besides that huge hill, that one was a little tough, it would have been harder but we ran it pretty easy, going into a speed workout followed by a time trial, I thought we should save up a little energy. It's going to be a really awesome week!!! Draper Days, first 5k in 16 range? Maybe we can go to kneaders afterwards.

3 mile warm up and then 6x400s on grass with a downhill, I ran with Kramer and Davis was just a little behind. Kramer and I would barely edge each other for first at the cone until the last rep when he finished a couple meters ahead, just one or 2. It was nice to train with Kramer again, I'm happy I was able to hang with him the whole time even if he's not in good shape right now. It was a good workout for me, and it was fun to get a good speed workout in after two months of pure mileage, my aerobic base is going to be numer 1 this year! Maybe not literally, but it's going to be good! Tomorrow at the Alta time trial I won't have competion so I will take a big risk and try to go sub 7:00 pace up the road. Kramer said he ran 30:00 or something so 37:00 is unacceptable! My car also died when I stopped at work to get my water bottle, but my brother came and helped start it up. Apparently it had problems yesterday, so that would have been nice to know haha, I will do an easy 4 tonight.

later- I went to the gym with my brother and did an easy 4 miles, about 7:30 pace. I was planning on doing them later but there are advantages to this like 1. I can relax and not have to worry about anything he rest of the day 2. More rest before the time trial. Also, a college coach emailed me today, I had never heard of the school but I was happy about that! 

Better than last week, just by a little. I didn't have anyone pushing and motivating me. I really could have done better if I had gone faster at the campground and on the way down. I really needed to get to a bathroom on the way down too. But not a bad run, I will do another 3 miles or so right after work. I had a good time, running is the best part of the day, I am excited for Draper Days!

later- 1.5 easy miles.

AM- 8 flying 40s with the team, it felt good to do some sprinting. I had a pretty good time.

PM- 5 miles, also easy but there were some hills. Tomorrow is easy to prepare for Draper Days.

Easy 4 pre-meet miles. I was sore today but should feel great tomorrow. My plan is to run 5:25 for each of the first 3 miles, maybe a little faster for mile 3. I will start my kick towards the end of mile 3. That should get me a time around 16:30

I got to race early enough to do about a mile warmup and some striders. I started out a little faster than I had planned but I was still behind everyone from alta and corner canyon. I found myself next to Sasha and decided to see if I could stick with him. I passed people one by one, I got up to Albert and he stuck with me for a while and then passed Davis. I could hear 2 people right behind me, I wasn't sure who they were, I thought Albert was probably one of them. Later i found out it was Sasha and another runner. I accidentally turned into the wrong place during the last mile and Sasha followed me, probably added a few seconds to both our times, sorry! But I got back on the right trail and Sasha and the other runner passed me. I started realizing that the finish was close but I hadn't started my kick. When I passed my Coach he told me I'm a high school runner and should be kicking a lot harder. That really helped me be motivated to start my kick, I gave it all I had, passing both Sasha and the other runner. I was kicking pretty well and I saw another runner sways ahead, I targeted him as my goal and really put everything into my kick, I barely caught him a few meters before finishing. It was awesome racing with so many experienced runners, I learned a lot about how I should be racing my 5ks. I finished in the top 10!!!!!!!!!!!!! And 3rd for my age group!!!!!!' Wow, too bad I didn't stay to get my awards. Hopefully they will mail me whatever I won.

I decided to rest Saturday after racing, primarily my ankle. I set my alarm for the 5:55 at night so I slept until 9:30 this morning. I really wanted to do the double gully but I will do it Saturday instead. I felt good today.

Either my alarm clock didn't go off, or I woke up and turned it off. Apparently I wake up a lot during the night, sometimes even talk to people and don't remember it in the morning. So who knows, anyways I woke up at 8:57 and jumped out if bed and got to practice as soon as possible, I missed the first half mile of the warm up but I made it up in between the warm up and the workout. We did 4 miles to warm up and then 4x800m. The repeats felt pretty easy, I think the last 1 or 2 were tougher. No clue how fast they were, but I think I kept pretty consistant. They felt good, kind of hurt going up the hills. I'm doing the Deseret News 10k. I don't know what to expect but I will have fun with it and try to run a good time. Also I will have to set like 4 alarms in my room to make sure I get up at 5. We did a 2 mile cool down to finish the workout.

Two easy premeet miles

It's a PR. I can taste sub 40:00. I could've done it today. I got the bridge at 12:40 and then it took me until 28:44 to get to the sign that marks two miles left. That middle 2.35 was what I need to work on. I didn't push myself like I should have on the road. But it is a PR so I am a little happy. Running the gully time trial has put motivation back in me and cleared my head, I'm alright, I'm going to do great this season. That kid from Jordan who somehow beat me at Draper Days is gonna get trashed next time I race him. Next two days are long runs with Matt Walch that will put me at 51 for the week.

10.5 around Brighton area with Matt Walch, it was a completely new route further south than I usually run. It went by pretty fast, it was a nice run! Tomorrow we are doing the double gully. Next week will be back to normal for my training, this week I managed to get the training in but I missed all but one team workout, which I feel terrible about. Lots of core today!

Double gully with Matt Walch, we didn't do the little trail at the end of the longer gully but we did extra at the park to make up for it. This was a tough run, first long run of the season over 10 miles so its nice to get that find with. It felt good but I was very tired the second time. This will make me a much better runner, especially for the 5k, I think next Saturday we will go to Liberty Park and do 15 or so. Next week has no excuse to not be a 60+ week, no pre-meet days or anything, and after next week I will finally be done with my job and that will make two a days a lot easier. I'm getting pretty excited for school and cross, I'm going to make honor roll every quarter! And I'm going to be up there with the leaders in all the races, I'm going to prove to myself and everyone that I am good at cross country. This season means a lot more to me now that I've trained so much for it.

7 miles of the longer gully run plus a quarter mile waiting at the top of shut up hill. We took shut up hill a little hard, I wasn't really hurting but a lot of people really dropped off. Chase came to practice for the first time today. Davis said Coach Murphy told him we are doing 400s tomorrow, I guess 6. I will ask about it. I have cones so I can set up the course. 3 miles later.

Later- I had decided against doing another run but I ended up running 1.25 to the library and back, I took a shortcut.

We warmed up 3 miles on the region course and then did 8x400m at a fast pace, 400m walk/jog between each rep back to the start. We did 4 up and then 4 down, I made sure the ones going down hurt just as much as the ones going up. It was a good workout, also fun. I think it's a responsibility of mine to run fast, because if I run faster, everyone else will too. That will motivate me in races. I put in a mile from the jogging in between the 400m reps and then I did a two mile cool down to finish. I might do a 4 mile fun tonight, or maybe a bike.

One mile warm up followed by the Alta long run with 8 laps at the campground. Ashton kept up with me the whole time and we picked up Read for the last 4 laps and back to the parking lot. It was a very nice run, about 50 degrees and kind of foggy and it cleared up a bit later. Davis was too sick to run today but he still came and helped carpool. On the way down Ashton, Read and I talked about becoming a better team and increasing our chemistry and closeness. We need to become a team family and run for the team. We will work towards that, I believe that could be the difference between 5th and 3rd place at state this year. And i dont know if theres a point in going to Nike SW unless we take 3rd at state. The Jupiter Peak Steeplechase on Saturday is making me nervous, I've never even run 16 miles so racing it is going to be really intense. I know it will help me improve significantly, I'm excited! I think my plan might be to stick with the leaders until I drop off, I looked at the results and the fastest time last year was at 6:57 pace. So I think Coach Murphy is pretty likely to win. I might do a longer run instead of premeet on Friday, I don't know. 

Flying 40s on the track. Davis and Ashton didn't want to do them for some reason so they took some of the team and did there own thing. This team chemistry thing is going to be very hard and most likely fail. The way I feel about things is that whoevers fastest should be the captain, that's how every team I've been on has done things. That's what makes sense to me. If someone beats me at Highland on our team, they can be the captain. But if Kramer was here, or Andrew Brewer, or someone like that, they would be the undisputed leader. I'm not as fast as those guys but I think if I earn the spot, it should be mine. If I don't, I have no conflict with that. And so far this summer I have won every race/time trial and dominated every workout. Well I will do my best for this team, and I will do my best in every race and I will work with those willing to work with me and highly regard their opinions. And if some refuse to respect me or value my opinions, I'm  sorry they choose to be that way. I might be being selfish or dramatic about this but I feel like its pretty straightforward and some people are just trying to bend it for their own selfish reasons. Whether I'm captain or not, I feel like some people on this team will never listen to or respect me, or at least one. I am very happy that Coach Murphy is coming back.

Later I did 3 easy miles. Tomorrow will be a 5 mile day and then Saturday will be about 18-20 with warm up and cooldown so I will be at 60 for the week.

5 miles wit Matt. We did a run west of Brighton, its a good route! My hamstrings were sore today, flying 40s did their job! The 16 mile race tomorrow will be a new and big challenge to me, I'm very excited to test myself on this course. It's now August which means that Cross Country is about to start, Highland Invitational is in 3 weeks and I have never felt so prepared for something in my life. And I have even more time to improve before the race.

This was completely new to me, it was like nothing I have ever raced or even run before. Coach Murphy saved me from burning out in the first few miles, thank you! Murphy is an awesome coach and he's the reason I am becoming so much of a better runner! I stayed with my Coach for a while, I think mile 5 or something. I had been keeping Adam Jensen in view and he was staring to pass a big group so I followed him from 80m back and started gaining on him, I caught him less than 10 minutes before we for to this crazy hill, so steep and rocky that I had to climb using my hands! I didn't know if I would make it up, but I did and I took a second to drink some water before going into the last half. There was no one to race with going down so I just went at a comfortably fast pace. Eventually I  some people coming up behind me around the 10k left mark and I started really going, I put a lot space on them. With a 5k to go a really fast girl came into view behind me and I had to really kick to keep ahead, I was staying ahead well until the final mile when I twisted my ankle and felt something snap or year or something and I went face first into the dirt, I got back up but I was having a lot of trouble running with that leg, I struggled to jog slowly at first but then I heard someone behind me and I started sprinting with my uninsured leg and doing what I could with my other leg. I finished in 2:02:49 which is fast! I was really close to under 2 hours! I loved the course and I like mountain races, I think all of the changing scenery and sharp turns force me to pay attention! I managed to keep not let anyone else pass me so that's good. After the race a reporter interviewed me and gave me her card, she said I will be in the news! I talked with some people and with Adam and Coach Murphy after the race, I've been icing my ankle a lot to. This will be a fun season, Adams a good competitor and cool guy, it will be fun to race with him more! After that, 5ks are going to be easy! Thank you for inviting me to come run this Coach!!!

turns out I sprained my ankle when I fell, my dad says its a grade 1 sprain so its not bad, hopefully I will be back Monday, he said it could take 2 weeks but I will be back in 2 days, I don't really care if it just hurts, I will just be careful. but I will just go on how it feels. I will be fine though.

When I woke up this morning my ankle was probably feeling worse than it had yesterday, but after another 12 hours of rest and ice and a 2 hour nap I was feeling an incredible amount better. This is a miracle, I think it may have just been tight from sleeping in the morning but it didn't even hurt to walk by the time I went to the rec center, so I ran 20 meters and that felt fine, there was a little pop but it was a good feeling pop. The workout on the bike today was one of the hardest I've done 5 min warm up and then 55 mins of 2 mind hard, 3 mind easy. My shirt felt like I had jumped in a lake by the end. I did 8 minutes of cooling down at the end. My ankle is still swollen probably as much as this morning, I think the biking may have gotten it a little more swollen again, but everything feels like a minor injury. I bet I could run the workout tomorrow if I had to! I am hoping to maybe get out on the track tomorrow for 4 easy miles or something, the doctors appointment is at 3 so if they clear it I will go! My ankle feels awesome! It's really swollen but compared to this morning it's really incredible! I'm very excited about this and I feel like I dodged a bullet, I was really worried this would destroy all my build up for the season but I'm really excited about how good its feeling!

Sports med. doctor said 4-5 miles tonight, 7 miles tomorrow, and Thursday I could do 10 if the next two runs are ok. Also I can't run downhills for a while so unfortunately Alta tomorrow isn't a good idea. Thursday I will come and run at practice, hopefully do the workout, but maybe just a long run, I will see how I'm feeling and talk to Coach Murphy. The Achilles and sprain are healed, but there's a very loose ligament, my left foot can be pulled to the side about 3-4 times as far as the right. So more icing and then when it clears up tonight I will do 4-5 miles and a 20-30 minute bike ride. I am thinking 5 min warm up, 20 mins of 2:30 hard, 2:30 easy, 5 minute cooldown.

4 miles at the Brighton track, just had dinner before so not the most enjoyable but my ankle felt fine! Time for the biking part.

7 miles with Matt around Brighton. My ankle is still swollen but its feeling good. The ligament is still loose but feeling better after the run. I will bike 30 minutes tonight, probably just a hard pace. This week has been ok training, tomorrow I will return to practice and do 10 miles if Coach Murphy is ok with that. I might go at 7:30 and do 4 miles and then run with the team, I'm not sure if I should do the workout tomorrow. But I think next week I will be able to do all the workouts without trouble, my plan for the rest of the week is 10 miles tomorrow, 12-14 miles at Libert Park on Friday, 11-12 miles on Porter Rockwell trail on Saturday. So I will get about 45-48 miles for the week, plus 1 really hard biking workouts, and 2 decently hard biking workouts. I say this is an ok week of training, its definitely made this season even more valuable, I was blessed to not have been more injured by that fall. I had 3 different ankle injuries but they all turned out to be ok, I could have been out for 2 weeks which would have really damaged my season. But this has given me even more reason to make this season count!

It's great to be back, we ran a warm up and then 10 miles over to Porter Rockwell and back, the pace we needed to hit was 7:00 and when we got to 5 we were a minute or two slow so Cubby, Ashton, and I picked it up on the way back. We had fun pushing it on the hill, its nice having Cubby back! We picked it up to make up for the time we had lost but we were talking the entire time so it wasn't too hard, it was a decent pace. Friday will be a long run at liberty park and Saturday will be a team practice at Sugar House. My ankle is almost all better, still a little pain but never while running. I think our team will be good this year, Highland is going to be amazing, only 2 weeks away!

9.5 around liberty park with Matt. Kind of tired today. I will do another 3 miles tonight. Pretty good run.

3.2 at a park near my house at 9:00. I felt great, perfect temperature. I ran the opposite way I usually do around the park for the final 3 laps, it was really weird but also fun! Good run.

60 minutes of running at sugar house today, about 4 laps and the state course. Then we did 8 hills. It was a power workout, the first one or two I was just using my legs but after that I started attacking the hill and going a lot faster. Davis and I were the only ones that showed up today. After practice, Coach Murphy took us to Dunkin Doughnuts, thanks Coach! Sounds like there are some really crazy mountain runners out there, someday in like 7 or 8 years I want to race with that Jornet guy, I'm sure he will win by a ton but it would be cool to race him! 

11.25 in the gully with Coach Murphy, Cubby, Davis, and Read. I felt good today, my ankle was a little tight at the beginning but it got better. I'm really curious about this years team, there's a strong top 3 and then a lot of guys who could be good, but its really unclear how good any of them are going to be. I'm really excited to test myself at highland, 3 months of good summer training is almost finished and I'm ready for the season to begin. I really like hills, especially when there are other people to run with. I might do a few miles tonight, I'm feeling really good and I'm feeling like running. Also, my spit is blue, which is awesome, thanks for the Gatorade Coach!

We did 30 minutes of tennis ball fartleks where one person sprints out and another throws the ball to them. It was fun, very quick practice today! 6 miles tonight!

6 miles, half in the rain. I wasn't feeling very good in the middle of this run, my legs were feeling really weird, 6 miles feels really short now! But I started feeling great towards the end! Good to get out a poopy run the day before a time trial! 

Not so good, it was a PR by a but but I haven't run it in a month. I wasn't really feeling it today, I didn't do any pre-meet stuff. But I didn't do as well as I wanted but its just one race, I will get back to my usual self quickly. There was really know part of this run that I did good on, I did ok on the uphill but should have pushed harder, I sucked at the campground as usual and then I just wouldn't push it back down. Cubby and Davis did really good today though, and Ashton and Read also, out team looks like it could be really good! I will do 3 miles tonight. This week I am going to run about 65 miles.

3 miles later, a good strong pace. Back in middle school I had an iPod classic, sometimes I would make a playlist of about 128 songs, listen to them all, the best 64 would make it to the next playlist and I would cut it in half every playlist until there was just 1 left. Then I lost my iPod at a track meet. Two thoughts came to my head, 1. I had way too much time on my hands in middle school and 2. I'm still really pissed I lost my iPod! To be perfectly honest it was probably stolen, my first track meet a junior football player/sprinter stole my shoes. A lot of things got stolen that year!

I got in 7 miles with the team, we also played tag after 2 miles and before the last 5. So we got a good run in and had some fun! I felt pretty good today. 3 more miles later.

I ran 1 mile, to the park and was on my 2nd lap when I twisted my ankle. I had to limp home half a mile. I'm in a terrible mood. My ankle is swollen and hurts pretty bad.

The ankle is feeling a lot better today, I had a ton of trouble getting up the stairs yesterday, every time I put wait on my ankle it would started hurting a lot until I elevated it and got off my feet. But today I had to limp at first but now I can walk with no pain. Probably going to just ice and rest today and maybe run tomorrow night.

20 minute biking workout, just wanted to see how it felt on my ankle and get a small workout in.

30 minutes of biking, decent effort

11 easy miles with varsity guys. I told chase to only do the gully because he was still  a little sick and he's not in shape right now. Today was pretty fun, hopefully tomorrow is a track workout! My ankle felt pretty good, it was a little painful at some points but that's good, my muscles in my ankle need to relearn all the movements. I've been doing calf and ankle exercises to help my ankle get stronger, I think it's helping, more ice of course. Well as I've learned throughout all of high school, its not a real season if I don't get an injury haha. I'm getting new spikes and trainers tonight!

Warmed up a little over a mile and conutinued to 10x400m at 75-80 pace. I ran 77, 77, 74, 75, 75, 76, 74, 75, 75, 72. So I averaged 75. I went a little fast on the last one, I was just happy, excited for the season, and feelin good so I let myself speed up. The rest wa about 40 seconds of walking/jogging. It was a pretty easy workout but I felt really good and had a lot of fun, I'm feeling a lot more confident  and energized going into the season! I cooled down a little over 2 miles with the team, and them did 2 miles on my own because I had a little extra time before I needed to go. Good workout!

Out of all the first days of school I've ever had, this has by far been the worst, and I've had some pretty horrible first days of school. I'm feeling really crappy, I was looking forward to the meet tomorrow a lot but I don't know if it's happening. I went for a run a while back when I got home from my asthma doctor appointment and it felt weird, I need new shoes. Well school is back.

I had to line up in row 2 and so I got boxed in at around 150th place. It took me a long time to weave my way through to catch up with read and some other guys, and it took me half the race to get back to right behind Davis. I just stayed there for the rest of the race, not feeling good but I could have run harder. I also kicked too late, I really should have gone when my coach told me to but I waited. I still managed to outkick a few guys from rival schools in the last 100 meters. I need to do a lot better, I am going to run in the low 10 minute range at grass relays. Hopefully I get first leg so I can race with Adam Jensen! I meant to go on a 4 mile run tonight but I had 5 pages of AP lit to do and I didn't finish until 10:30.

Easy 70 minute run plus 6 striders. Felt good, we went to corner canyon and checked their track and indoor track out, huge school! Like 8 gyms! Tomorrow is 4x1000m on the track. I will be there along with cubby and Davis!

Easy two mile warm up and the a good track workout. I did 2x1000mthen 2x800m and finished with a max effort 400m. I ran 3:17, 3:14, 2:30, 2:28, on the 400m I used Brayden's advice and went out slower, but too slow. The last 250 meters were just like my kick would be in a real race though, I ran 62 seconds but could have quite a bit faster if the first 150 meters weren't so easy. It wasn't too hard of a track workout, I felt good and strong today. The pace felt good. I liked this workout, looking forward to more track workouts! 4 more miles tonight.

Later- nice bike workout, my resting heart rate is low 40s bpm, I found out a while ago at the doctors, I want to get down below 40!

AM- 4.5 easy miles with the team

PM- 7.7 easy miles with the team. 12 miles today, about 10 tomorrow, probably 16 Wednesday, guessing 12 on Thursday, 4 on Friday, 10 on Saturday. So about 65 miles for the week! We will find out if this prediction is acurate later. Grass relays is Saturday, I think it will be fun, I am going to read some of my posts from track and try to get that mentality about these races. My plan for grass relays is to race it like the 3200m, 5:05 for the first mile, try to repeat on the second, and then give on heck of a kick. 

Easy 4 miles with one big uphill and downhill. I feel good, my body feels ready for the day! Workout after school, probably 6 miles total.

After school I did a 1.5 mile warm up followed by 3 miles on the track, 200m in 34, 200m easy. I hit all of my 200s in 32-34. The last two were supposed to be 30 but I hit 33 for them. Not feeling good on the last two at all, I believe that when a workout feels unreasonably hard for you, it's because you needed that workout. So I didn't do well today but I think it's because I've been lacking the thing this workout trains and this will improve my running a lot. When I recover I will be a very improved runner. Tomorrow is an aerobic threshold test, I'm excited to find out mine, my aerobic strength is something I have confidence in after a good summer of training including Jupiter Peak Steeplechase.

AM- 4.5 miles easy, 8 laps in lane 8, lower loop, 4 barefoot striders. I also played 4 games of ultimate frizbee in 6th period.

PM- 9 miles in 68 minutes. We were behind by quite a bit until the last 2.5 miles, I'd been trying to pull people along but at that point I just took off. I wasn't feeling good today but I wanted to do the workout right. We actually ended up going faster than we needed too for the last mile, people like really pushing it the last mile. I felt happy with my effort. Mentally and physically I'm breaking down but that's good, it's the only way to get out of my comfort zone and adapt to the workload, thus becoming a better person, and a better runner. I also dropped one of my 4 ap classes so my stress should be decreased a little. Tonight I will just do some homework, relax, maybe nap, and possibly do some sit-ups, maybe a few push ups.

AM- 4.5 easy miles, I love my new film studies and seminary class.

PM- 5.5 miles including 8x flying 40s. We were going to do 4x1200m at 5:00 pace but not everyone was feeling up to it so coach Murphy had us do flying 40s. I was fine with just doing flying 40s, I would have loved to do 4x1200m at a good fast pace but my body hurt just fine with the workout we did, and I'm no expert on team building but I had fun and thought it was good bonding time, I really like some of the varsity guys this year, good guys! I felt motivated to run for my team today at grass relays, more so than I've ever felt in cross country. I'm ready for some good hard racing, some big mileage, and some hard workouts this season! I know I'm going to enjoy it!

A mile warm up, 800m at race pace, 2:34, and a mile cool down. I'm running the 4th leg so not the most exciting one, but just as important as the others. I want to run somewhere between 10:15 and 10:30 tomorrow. It shouldn't be that much different from a 3200m and the 3200m isn't so hard.

Not happy with the race, looking back it felt WAY too easy. I slowly passed runners that I am a lot faster than, I could have run another mile at this pace easy. The only hard parts were the hay bales where I felt like I couldn't breathe going over and they hurt, but the rest was too easy, I don't like this course because there's no where to kick, it was too far away to do much of a kick before the 3 hay bales and after that you have to prepare for the gauntlet and after that you have to prepare to hand off so the result was I didn't really kick. I passed 4 teams but it should have been more, I am very motivated to go run a fast 5k at the next race, I'm determined and hungry, I want success. I'm going to go hard the next time I race, its too easy to run slow when I go out conservatively in races. I need to go at a 5:10 for the first mile of a race like pre-region, I want to stick with people I should be sticking with and beating them. I should be running with all the guys I was running with in track, and will be running with in track this spring. I know I have the ability, I know I have the speed, and I put in the mileage, I need to start racing like it. After I got home I did 4.25 miles, a 400 in 60 seconds in the middle of the run. Adam Jensen did awesome today, 5th overall I think! And Cubby did good too, our team did well as a whole so I was happy about that.

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.