The Renegade

I did a 20 minute tempo simulation during 6th hour and then I went with the team to Bear River's course for a meet. It was fun but it sucked not running.

It was definitely rough today coming back, but I gotta start at some point. We did 800s at Mt. Logan park, so really hilly. I don't remember all the splits, but I started in the 2:50s and drifted into the threes. Not good I felt really out of shape. 

Easy runwith strides before the meet.

This was an okay race, I think I'm just feeling it from not running in a week, and my fitness will be back by next week. This time Austin and Elliot were ahead of me the entire time, and I was on Davis's tail, who eventually outkicked me and this Morgan kid that came out of nowhere from behind. Fun race, I just didn't like that most of it was on pavement. Two more weeks till state! Staying positive! I took 7th, was fifth man on the team, and we had 8 Logan guys in the top ten #dominate

Easy run wit Strand and Paul. My leg felt a lot better today. 

14 quarters with a 350 jog, continually. The first half was great as always, and then on the 8th one it started to get hard. I hung with Elliot and Austin for most of the workout,was low 80s consistently with them then we ran a few 78s, and then I blew up during #12 but kept the same pace, and #13 was horrible and way slow, it was 90! I couldn't even to the jog because I was having a hard time breathing. Elliot kept going through and doing his thing, and Austin sorta stuck with me and we both got a little longer recovery before the last one because he needed his shin stretched. Austin too it out super fast and I just followed him, then on the last turn around the pond I got in front of him and kicked it pretty hard, threw in a Grizzly roar while I was at it. Ran 66, so I was pretty pleased because it was the second fastest 400 run today, behind Jack's 64 (he had a super good workout), I just wish I was more consistent at the end, I think I was dehydrated cuz I didn't have a water bottle today. After that I did a super quick 200 w/ Jack, we sat and talked a bit, and then we realized we were gonna go to USU and watch SV and MCs Region race, which was starting right then but we ended up going and talking to people after ,so that was nice shoutout to all you guys who did well today there.

Team breakfast run from Coach Jenkins' house. We ran up Cliffside, south on the deer fence, and came back through Von Baer Park and Providence. Felt pretty good, but it was a slow run, we averaged like 8:25 pace.

Little tempo workout to get the legs ready for region. Did on the road by my house that we used all the time in track. We did a mile and a half at 6:20 pace (the whole varisty besides Jack who was ahead stuck together). Then we did a mile in 5:45, and it felt controlled, but it also felt pretty hard. I'm pumped!

Suuuuuper easy run with some strides. A lot of the other varsity runners on the team went and goofed off at a store downtown, but I just did a short easy run so I could keep my mind focused on what lies ahead.

Amazing day. This was held at the same place as Pre-Region (Cottonwood Comoplex in SLC). I'm gonna get right to it. I got 100m into the race and I was not feeling it. I felt really slow and tired and my leg didn't feel nearly as strong as it should have. Settled into it and found myself in 12th or 13th place, and I guess I just assumed that I wasn't going to move up and all these negative thoughts passed through my mind like I wasn't even going to medal and I was going to let down the team and Bear River was going to steal all the glory for the day. I stayed in this position for the first mile and a half probably, and then I decided to latch onto this Bear River kid. I was currently in 5th place for the team behind a teammate who I had always beaten. I didn't worry about that too much. I just stayed on this BR runner. Well we got to 1.8, with a mile to go and went through this little series of hills and Hayden and I passed a few guys. I could see another BR runner right ahead of this one. I decided to chase both of them. Pretty soon I had passed Hayden, the two Bear River runners, and Nate from Ben Lomond, but everybody was still closely knit together. I was hurting pretty bad but I hear Paul cheering for me and telling me I gotta want it, and that motivated me. Hit the final 500 and I only sped up. It was an exponential uphill for 200m from this point and I could tell BR was right on my tail. I hear his coach yelling at him that he needs to go hard up the hill, so I obeyed him too. Heard somone breathing on my shoulder, I look over and it's just Hayden, what a relief. We hit the top of the hill and theres this steep downhill combined with a sharp left turn, and I passed Hayden down it. We are entering the finishing stretch and Hayden moves in front of me on my right, and a Morgan runner is coming up on my left (theres a picture of me looking over with a look of horror, it's pretty funny). Happy to say I took the fear and turned it into power. Bear River kid is falling further behind us but as far as I know I had Hayden and two other runners right behind me. 100 meters left and Hayden is still pulling ahead of me, but I let out a few ferocious Grizzly roars and move cmpletley to the front of the pack with 40m to go, and stay there. By this point, according to Strava, we are at 4:17 pace. That was arguably the most adrenaline filled finish I've ever had along with the 4x800 at region track, but this time I knew we had a team title on the line. These two events have me convinced that I perform very well under pressure. Well, turns out we won by 7 points, with all 5 scorers in the top 8. Jack took second and Elliot and Austin took 4th and 5th. I've already made a decision on my game plan for State, and it is..... I am going to stick with those two no matter what. No matter what kind of pain I have to go through, not matter how much I want to slow down. I didn't run this long to get beat by two rookie seniors, they are my teammates, adn I love them, but I know that if I can cross the line in front of them or at least within ten seconds of them, I have had an insanely succesful last race. I've just gotta make sure to get rid of some mental blocks. 

Easy run with Jack, Todd, and Dallin with 5x100m on the track with Jack afterwards. Ouch my shin.

12x400 w/ 350 jogs, continually. Ran all of these in my spikes, even though I wasn't planning to, because we met at 6:30 to run these and the grass was super wet and slippery. So I guess they might have made me a bit faster, but not too much. But really, my average was significantly faster today than last week. First three wer mid to low 80's, then I ran 16s and 17s exclusivley until the last two, where I ran a 73 followed by a 65. 65 is the fastest 400 I've run since track, so that was nice. Gets me pumped for track because if I ran a 65 at the end of a workout, on grass not track, and I've had a big base since the beginning of the summer, than I could probably pull off a ~2:07 800 right now, 3 seconds off my PR, and state track is a looooong ways off. Anyways, another thing that gets me excited is that last week my average (81) was about what I ran for my last quarter at Region, so if my average was like 76-77, I bet I can close that fast at state, expecially since it ends on a downhill this year. Ran these alone because I had to stop to tie my shoe and got left behind by the other guys, but it was nice because I didn't have to compare myself to my teammates. Turns out they were running them a lot slower anyways haha. Getting more ramped up for state ever day!

Easy run up Right Hand Fork with Jack, Austin, and Keith. WE went like 10:30 pace on the way up, granted it was something like 300ft elevation gain per mile, so it GAP was in the 7s, then on the way down we ran like 8:30s, which was actually slower GAP then on the way up. The only part that wasn't competley slow was when I picked it up to 5:45 pace for the last half mile just for the heck of it. After that we went to Herm's, line was too long, stopped at Angie's, line was too long, so we setteld for Village Inn and I had a pretty dang good Cali Skillet and pancakes yummm.

Didn't expect a workout today but it's chill. We jogged to willow park and did a mile and 2x800. Mile was 5:50, 800's were 2:30 (felt super hard) and 2:38. I think we were supposed to go more like 6:15 for the mile but we had some confusion. Elliot took us out too hard for the 800 and that's why it was so fast. Started a little more conservative for the next one and we kicked harder for it. I almost pushed Austin into the pond, oops haha. Inthat first 800 I was hurting and I asked myself if I could have kept pushing through that kind of pain. I don't know, we'll see. I think it will be easier to push through it with so many spectators, just like any other race.

Pre-state shake out. We did an easy jog around the park and then a couple strides on the track. Feeling pretty good but already getting jitters.

I was feeling really fresh before the race. Thought it was gonna be awesome.We got the course and I felt fresh. I forgot to eat anthing leading up to the race.... One of my teammates blew his top at me, probably had been keeping it in all season and I said something to trigger it. That really took down my moral. We started and I stayed up with Austin and Elliot the first mile, coach said we came through in 5:25, so I don't know why it's different on here. They started to pull away, but I was still feeling good and passing people. On the way up the hill I realized that my shoe was untied. That really distracted me. Got focusing again and then my heart acted up. After that I pretty much lost all hope and didn't try as hard as I should have. I just gave up. I slowed down gradually for the rest of the race until the last 100 where I kicked it in really hard and passed a kid. That's how I know that I didn't try nearly as hard as I should have. I feel like if I had ignored it I could've still run like low 18s. Jack ran a 16:25 and took 9th. Austin and Elliot ran ~17:25. Every body else was in The 18s and I was last on the team, 98th overall. The team took 6th, and surprisingly we still bear River, they had a really tough day, didn't even get top ten. I'm super ashamed of this race and I'm surprised I'm keeping it on here, but I guess it's good for the record. I had just always imagined State to be different. Great season anyhow, it was still nice to win Region this year, and I love the people on the team and will never forget cross country, I just can't believe it's over. I'll probably go to foot locker in December, so we'll see if I can have a good race there. Still got track too. And S/O to Ethan Field for taking 5th in 5A, that's insane man! I didn't manage to get a cooldown in because the guys on the team don't really understand the beauty of it all (venting I guess). When we got back to the high school I ran over to the track and did a full mile and a half at 6:10 pace with no warmup. It felt dang good to blow off some steam. Got home and I ran a 5:38 mile on the road. 

First run since State. I ran alone, and I did LHS to Nature Park to Cliffside, down a cool little trail that I've never been down before, which led to a suuuuuper steep downhill driveway that hurt like heck running down, that took me onto the Island (sumac drive), then I ran back to the on the Canal trail and then by the temple through downtown. In the last mile and a half I kinda had to book it because I realized it was almost time for me to get picked up. Even half going hard I only dipped under 7 minute pace cuz I felt super flat, but that's expected. My shin was bothering me more than I thought it would, and I felt pretty lopsided (left leg weak). I think that's something that can fade away as long as I'm careful about things, like ice and do leg strength excercises. Tomorrow I'll go a little less distance, then maybe do some strides but definitley weights. Just had the thought that I don't have to worry about running on grass for a very long time, maybe never, and I'm happy about that because that's when my leg feels most uneven and not stable. Everytings on the road, or packed dirt (foot locker has 100m of grass and then its all pavement, dirt, and track). I've got my eyes on two races in the little mini "season" I've got the Turkey Trot 10K then FL. PUmped!

Ran alone again, this time up temple, then onto campus and did a loop, ran down to USU's track, and turned around and ran back to the high school. I like running up to campus dunno why. I felt good, my turnover was good, everything was good. My leg wasn't hurting as much as yesterday. Did two strides on the curve of the track, one of them backwards because that's how Mt. SAC ends. Didn't feel too weird actually. That was about a 7:25 average without the strides. Then I did some lifting (just a little). I'm going to make sure to get in the weight room at least twice a week and do core/hip drills at least twice a week for now on, starting this week and lasting into the start of track season. I know it'll benefit me a lot.  I think if not the last half of this week than next week coach will start doing Foot Locker practices, and I know Jack's running right now anyways, I just haven't talked to him since state. Gotta get a training group together. Tempo tomorrow!

Today I ran up to the River-Prov loop and did a three mile threshold there, I didn't clear my watch for it so I don't have exact splits, but I was around 6:30 pace the whole time. Towards the end I started digging a little bit of a well, but it's my first workout since state, so I can't complain. Felt pretty good for the most part, my shin didn't hurt at all. After that onthe way back I stopped at the bottom of River Heights hill and did a couple strides on it, probably around 200. They felt good I like the grade on it for doing stuff like that I'll probably do some more stuff there. When I got back to track I ran into to Coach Strand and we did a like 2 and a half laps together. Good day overall! I think I'm gonna have some good training this month.

Easy run today. I ran out to the dump road and Strand and I ran easy while Isabella did her threshold (she was running at like 9 min pace felt kinda bad running easy at 7:30 pace) but yeah we sorta helped her out with it and then I just ran back to the school. My lower legs felt weird and tight. I did 4x200 on the track, which was really great actually ran the first one 31 high and the rest were 29 mid to high. Felt like the football team was staring at me the whole time, but what can ya do? So yeah then I went and got some lifting on and jogged like a half mile on the tread to test the treadmill feature on my watch. It's inaccurate says I ran way less than I actually do, but I'll figure out how to calibrate it. 

AM: Went to the hospital and did a stress test on the treadmill for my heart. It was a lot different and uncomfortable than I had imagined. I had a ton of monitered strapped to me and I had to hold onto the bar at all times, and none of it was real running because the system starts you out walking at 0 incline, than every three minutes the incline increased by quite a bit and so does the speed. I got through it for 20 minutes and than they had me stop because they had all the data they needed and my shoe cae untied. It was pretty tough and it hurt for a bit. They said that they had never seen anyone get so far on that test, so I feel pretty accomplished. Wasn't counting on only getting like 2 miles in though.

NOON: Drove up to Lundstrom to run on the canal trail up there. I did that then took a path up the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, ran on the Highline Trail a bit (I was feeling really good by now) and then I took the trail that cuts through the country club golf course and this old man got really angry and yelled at me about how I was trespassing and I shouldn't be there, so I sped waaaayy up and ran outta there and gradually got back to normal pace the further away I got, still ran a 6:30 mile. Felt pretty good that was fun, 4 miles 7:39 average (the incline was brutal to the pace)

Ran the Deer Fence with Paul. Felt decent but kept it above 8 minute pace. We turned around halfway down the death hill, that sucked going up. In the last ~3 miles I started putting in 1 minute pushes with equal recovery cuz I didn't get that much of a workout in yesterday. They felt good, but probably because I was on a mostly downhill section, but it was still rolling hills. Then I hit the monster hills and I blew up, plus I was feeling diarrhea starting to come out, that wasn't fun at all. Good thing I had kleenexes in my car, geez! Good run though. I found out the night before that there was a 10K put on by TOU today (for halloween) and I was sad I didn't find out sooner, might've signed up but it's good, training is more important and I'm gonna run the Turkey Trot in few weeks anyways.