Blake Bennions running

5 miles running and 4 miles walking today. Made the most of some good air quality. Ran 4x200m buildups. Not sure if I'm in shape to win the 5k on the 4th but it'll be good to get into a real race for the first time in a year. This course looks pretty slow so I'm not expecting a great time but it'll be fun racing people.

6th place at my local 5k. The guy who won it was pretty quick. I stayed with the lead pack going out, one guy was pretty clearly faster than the rest of us and another guy was trying to go with him. I ran in a group of 4 or 5 other guys and eventually we kind of strung out. I ran in 5th for most the race but some kid ran a smarter race than me and passed me around the 2 mile mark and I wasn't feeling good enough to go with him. I could feel legs wanting to take off in the last mile but something was holding them back.

The course was on a golf course full of sharp turns and really steep hills. Like steeper hills than I've raced on for a 5k since I ran at that Herriman meet in high school. Air quality was also pretty rough today. I forgot my watch at home so I had no idea about my time. Once I saw how hilly and sharp the course was (plus according to other runners before the race, the course is a few hundred meters long), I decided sub 19 would be a solid time for today. I ran like 19:05. So time was pretty slow, as I expected, but the course was a lot harder than I thought it would be.

It was a fun run and beautiful course, and I ran some hill sprints on the beginning of the course during my cool down. I'll be back next year assuming we're in Ohio for the 4th. I should sign up for a another 5k and give sub 18 on a quick course a shot.

The two kids who finished 15 and 30 seconds ahead of me both ran 4:40s for 1600m and and I'm the low-mid 10 minute range for 3200m this spring. So I'm getting close to my sophomore year level of shape. Really not a bad performance for me today, I think by the end of the summer I should be running sub 4:50 for a mile and maybe I'll take a shot at a 3200m as well. I think I ran a pretty good race, maybe I could have tried to stick with the guys in 3rd and 4tb when they started to separate from me. And I had plenty left in the tank for a kick, I should have tried to run down the kid in front of me with 800m to go but I didn't know how close to the finish I was until like 200m left and by then it was too late.

Legs were still sore from Tuesday. Ran pretty easy today but included 6 100m strides. I ran 4 of them on the track. I did tried to just do them at a pace that would stretch my legs out, which turned out to be 17 seconds. I think I'll do a few more weeks of just doing these 200m buildups or strides on my runs.

Pizza I had for dinner turned on me during my run tonight. I made it through the planned 4x200m buildups. The first 3 felt rough but the 4th actually felt super good, I felt like something changed on that one and my legs started turning over a faster on that one. I think doing these buildups a couple times a week, along with the drills I've been doing, is really fixing whatever is wrong with my running. Slowly but surely. Maybe I'll try doing an all out 400m soon.

Mowed the lawn and ran. Felt pretty good.