Blake Bennions running

Ran up at Alta, I did a mile at the parking lot, ran up the road to the campground and did a lap there and then ran back. I think its 8.4 miles. Elevation was a pretty rough change at 8000-10000 feet from sea level, but it was alright, I did the whole run in less than 65 minutes, so it was a decent speed. I was busy from 7:00am to 6:00pm today so couldn't run until the evening, but it was a good run, felt really nice to run at Alta again. I'm going to spend a lot of time at elevation this week in preparation for Leadville, hopefully it will be enough! This is going to be a very hard but fun race! Tomorrow I think I will go run with the team in the morning and then maybe go up to the mountains for a shorter run and just time at elevation.

Good long run, about 11 miles, feeling the altitude haha, also I think I was tired from the Alta run last night. For some reason I thought practice was at 9, but it was 8 so I got there late and ran a mile into the gully, then I ran a mile with Coach Murphy back to the start, then I started running with read and went down in the lower gully for a few miles and then did the longer run. Tomorrow will be about 12 miles up at Alta again, that will be another hard run, after that its just some easy days in preparation for Leadville. Coach Murphy said I should do the heavy half instead of the marathon, I think I beat last years heavy half winner at Jupiter Peak so I will try to win it!

About 110 minutes up at Alta doing my first double Alta run, it was pretty hard! I ran into Coach Murphy about 3 miles through the run and ran on some pretty steep trails around the campground for a few miles and then headed back down. Murphy is right, I need to enter this race humbly and not do anything I'm going to regret the first few miles. Its ok if people put a little distance on me in the beginning. Once I get a feel for things I can start doing faster miles if they are still comfortable enough, and then the downhill I need to crush. But I definitely want to be conservative the first few miles considering this race is going to be even harder than Jupiter Peak. Also I haven't been doing the mileage I was doing last summer up until the past few weeks, the good news is that I'm a year stronger, faster, and more developed than last year, especially aerobically. It will be a very good experience for me. After I got back down from the run the first time, Murphy said to run up the road to the top again, so I ran it, the way up I felt alright for a while, but once things started evening out my knees started hurting and I felt tired. But I continued to the campground, ran up it until the snow and then came back down the mountain. My legs were pretty beat, a double Alta run plus some steep trails at the top of the first will make your legs work pretty hard! And your lungs, but actually I think my lungs are getting better, I didn't feel the elevation that bad today. I'm glad I ran into Coach Murphy, I was thinking of the easiest way I could get in 12 miles up here but he got me to do a hard 14 miler which was way better! The race this weekend probably won't be too much harder than this run, just a little longer, and a couple thousand feet higher. But I will be fully rested and they will have aid stations with food and Gatorade, so its going to be a lot of fun!

Watched Mcfarland USA tonight, I thought it was a great movie, and I really liked how they showed the way cross country packs spread out throughout the race. I didn't like how all the meets only had like 2-6 teams and no JV runners or spectators. But it was the first year of California cross country so maybe it was like that, and maybe it was 1A. Also I don't think the obese kid would still be obese if he was able to finish 5th on a state champion team, or beat people that weren't obese, that was my only big problem with the movie, the obese kid at the state meet.

I got new shoes from Wasatch running, I wanted to try out something new because I don't like the new Adrenalines, I was able to pick up some old 14s last time but those were there last ones. I know the change they made from the 14 to the 15 was small but for some reason I dont like the 15s. So I tried the Saucony Omni, they felt great! And I also tried the Saucony Guide, the guide wasn't as comfortable as the Omni but the shape was great, I was striking just like I want to, I decided to go with the Guide because I always want to improve my form and just for fun because I'm not training towards any huge race after Leadville so it will be fun to try out a different shoe. I also got Sauconys top trail shoe for Leadville, the pinegreen or something, I cant remember, but I wore it on the gully today. Definitely a different feel, kind of weird, kind of good, its light so that's good. I will need to get used to it the next couple of days. Felt a little tired from yesterdays run. Tomorrow I think Murphy said to take off, so besides some running to stretch out my legs on the drive to Leadville, I will just walk in the trail shoes and rest.

If you take last Wednesday to this Tuesday and count it as a week of running, I ran my first 70 mile week!

Nice easy day off, I'm in Leadville now, well right outside of it. Pretty high elevation, I feel a little light headed, glad I'm spending an extra day here to acclimate!

I ran 3 miles and then did 4 striders. David Roche, who represented USA mountain running at the world championship last year, is running the heavy half so yeah, its going to be fast! I'm really excited, I'm going to start out easy and calm, and then accelerate as I feel comfortable. The only thing I need to make sure of is that I get in front of the giant pack, at Jupiter Peak it was a huge pain to work my way around all those people on such narrow paths, and I ended up falling on my hip on a giant rock pretty hard, but I wont do anything that isn't very comfortable in the beginning. The way back I need to open up my stride and push down the hill, but I know if I'm too tired when i get to the top, it will be that much harder to get going downhill. Its kind of estimation game, how much can I give on the uphill and still be able to destroy the downhill, and its best to make a conservative estimate!

Such a hard race mentally and phsyically. Had a horrible nights sleep last night, only 5 hours, I couldn't fall asleep and for some reason I woke up before 6:00. I was tired of trying to get rest so I just showered and ate. I go to the race and worked my WA up to the 3rd line of people before waiting for the gun. I got out well, maybe a little faster than really easy. I was in 3rd place and I let David Roche and the other guy (need to find out his name) pull away. There was a group of marathoners right behind me, timmy part (last years winner) Mike Aish (two time Olympian in the marathon) and someone else. I stuck with them until they turned off for the marathon detour. I stayed in third for a couple more miles and then I turned and waited at a for because I didn't want to choose the wrong path. The next guy had a USA jersey and was 10-15 seconds behind me and he pointed me in the right direction. I started racing with him, I asked him where he got the USA jersey and he said Junior mountain running world championships in Italy last year, so this guy went to nationals last year and qualified for worlds! I knew I had to beat him. We raced hard, I would lead some, he would lead, then we got to the part where it gets so steep you start walk running it. I remembered reading Timmy Parrs blog about how you might as well walk and conserve energy, so I walked and ran when it was less steep enough that it was worth it. I could see the top two guys out in the distance, and the USA guy was getting away but I knew he was wasting energy on the climb, I was conserving to destroy the way back. It worked. He beat me to the top by a minute or so, even the first mile or two down he put a couple minutes on me because it was so rocky and narrow I had to be careful not to break an ankle, and there were hundreds of runners all over the trail so I had to run in more perilous areas. Finally I got to a nice dirt part and I let it rip! Like FAST!! Almost sprinting down that road, people were still in the way but it was better, finally I got th USA guy in my vision, first he was a few hundred meters away, next he was just a couple hundred, then only 100, less and less until he was finally right there, I was storming down the hill, and then it switched back to uphill for a mile, that's where I really got him, I kept going pretty hard and passed him finally, I thought he might go with me but he didn't, I looked back after a little while on a steep part and saw him walking, so I knew I had defeated him, I think he expended too much energy trying to get away from me at the top. The last half hour of the race I ran fast, hoping to break 2:15, I was running very hard at some points, well down low in the 5 minute pace I'd say. But once I finally got into the last mile or two I was getting tired, I thought it was closer than it was haha, but I stayed at a fast pace and there wasn't anyone around me for a good mile so it was really nust the time. I finished in just above 2:13. It hurt. After me there was a 6-7 minute gap before the next person, USA jersey guy fell or something and finished quite a ways back, felt bad for him to race so hard and die like that. I played a dangerous game today. But I would have won last years heavy half by 3 minutes! I should get an invitation to Mountain Running Nationals after this performance, I can't go, but that would be really cool to get a letter haha. Maybe in 7 years, after my time at SUU, I will be as great as David Roche in this sport. But until then, I need to get really good at the 10k!!!

My pace from the top back to the start was about 6:30, so if you take into account the first mile or two coming back that was plagued by hundreds of runners, tight trails, tons of shifty rocks, and ice, my pace for going back after that section was probably sub 6:00!