The Renegade

Great long run up at the Jardine Juniper trail. Fall colors were decent, althought alot of leaves were already on the ground. The trail is about 4.5 miles up, first going up through a valley, then up a set of steep switchbacks, then into a second small valley/meadow, then some mild switchbacks to teh top of the ridge, where I did an optional loop that was like a mile and a half. Didn't feel too good to start, but the first half is the steepest. It rained a bit on my way up, which felt nice. It felt noticeabley warmer in the first valley than everywhere else. Slipped on some mud on the first switchbacks but I caught myself. The pace going up was 9-10 min and then I started pushing it on the loop and as soon as it headed downhill I was going sub 6 and ran a 5:45 and 5:59, then I started not feeling too good and took a break which is too bad cuz I was gonna crush the downhill CR on that trail. Added to 10 at the bottom, Ap was 7:39. Awesome run. 

AM: I actually got up early today (meaning like 6:30)! So woohoo. I did my three mile Willow Park route, with some strides at Woodruff. When I started it was pitch black and there was some sprinkling rain. I took a headlamp with me but I dropped it off at Woodruff after like .75 miles cuz it was already getting light enough to see. I like early morning runs, something about being out before the sun running, you start the day already feeling fresh and accomplished, so I think I'll try these more, mostly doubles though beacuse I don't want to get up too early. 6:53 ap.

PM: 2 x 2 mile after class. I parked at Lundstrom and wound my way to 1600 E and 1900 N for a 2 mile warmup. Very cold day, colder than it's been since spring time, so I was wearing two shirts but had to ditch one after getting warmed up. The course was going to be straight up 1600 East till it ended, which consisted of some downhill for .75 and then uphill for 1.25. Well naturally I felt good and relaxed for the downhill. First mile was 5:30, then I hit the uphill and I started to struggle exponentially more. Got to a half mile left and I took the canal trail I took on Thursday to finish it off more flat. My heart didn't like the rugged terrain and I got a palpitation with .4 left, but I just gutted it out and it hurt but I didn't slow down a ton. Second mile was a 6:12 for an 11:42. Regained my composure and continued on the canal trail then ran up a road eastward to the top of 1600 to start my second rep. Total rest was 8 minutes I think, which is more than I would like. I started and I still didn't feel that good, but I had a massive downhill and ran like 5 minute pace for the first half mile, just let it roll. Mile 1 was about 5:15. Eventually it flattened and headed up and I found that I had like no strength, but I still tried to hardcore grind it out, which was really tough because I had a headwind too, which was pretty cold to make matters worse. The legs had no pop, but I finished it. Utterly exhausted, but finished. Second mile was 6:05 so not bad. The rep was 11:20. Jogged back to my car and I actually didn't feel that bad. Exchanged a friendly wave with Brody Smith out running so shoutout to him even though he's not on here. The legs just didn't have it today but it's alright, I won the mental battle because I really wanted to stop.

AM: Hit up the deer fence after math. It was chilly, I wore long sleeves and didn't get hot!  I started from Dry and got to Prov and just ran like a quarter mile up until I hit 3, then turned around and I had already been going at a moderate pace so I made the split second decision to go for a CR on Prov to Dry. I just went at a normal pace on the first big up hill because there is more downhill going north. Pushed it more on the downhill and even ran a sub-6 mile, which didn't really feel like sub six. The last mile is the toughest though because there are three huge hills that get bigger each time ending with a massive hill, and I really had to tough it out crawling up that one, then it's flat for about .3 after that then the last hill going down to the parking lot. Never got fully recovered after the big hill tho haha. Got the CR luckily, 6:40 pace for a hilly 2.7, #2 is 7:14 pace. That compesates for loosing the "Canal Trail- Back" CR! Or maybe it was "Out"... doesn't matter. Overall a medium effort day. Might run again tonight, but I'm gonna do some speed work tomorrow! Ap was 6:55.

PM: 2 miles 7:10 ap in the dark to Woodruff field, running laps there and back. Pushed it more than I should've. I feel like ever since I started doing lots of runs at sub-7 pace I think something's wrong whenever the pace doesn't have a 6 in front of it which isn't true, so I need to get that mentality out of my mind and go by feel more. After all, a year ago anything under 7:30 was a good pace for me. 

AM: Got up at 6:40 (intended to be 6) for a track workout. I drove to the track because I was going to change into the flats and because it was cold as frick so I wore a couple layers. Warmed up .75 did drills and got started. The workout was 2x1K and 3x400. Basically full recovery between the distances, 3 min active rec. after each rep. Ks: 3:24, 3:16. 400s: 68, 67, 63. The thousands felt hard, maybe I wasn't feeling very good or maybe I'm just not as fit in that respect as I was in track. Jogged an extra quarter between the Ks and 400s then recovered for like 5 more minutes. 400s felt super fast too, the first two were about the same effort and the third had a bit of a kick, but I surprised myself with the 63. I think it's safe to say that I'm not anywhere close to my 2:00 800 fitness where I would close workouts with like a 58, but it's okay, not really my focus anymore. Would have done 4x400 but time. The 400s were in flats. Cooled down a quarter mile in the flats and then immediately drove home. Total distance 4.3

PM: After school I drove down to the Spectrum parking lot and did a loop around Aggie Village and down to the XC course then back past Maverick Stadium, then kept going up to the ARC and did 20 minutes of lifting (more deets on strava). Then jogged back down the hill to my car. I felt really crappy running but the lifts felt better than they did the two previous weeks. 7:06 ap.

Fell asleep on the basement floor watching TV last night so that sucked. Then went back up to my bed in the morning and slept like another 3 hours and didn't have time to do a morning run. So I ran Green Canyon after class. I thought I might not feel too good but I ended up feeling even better than last time here. It was raining a bit and kind of cold but not too bad. Parked in the second lot and went three miles up. The trail was kind of slippery in some places but I avoided a fall woo-hoo. Averaged like close to 8:00/mi going up which is better than I have ever done and I felt really good. Passed three pairs of mountain bikers! Just before I turned around it started to hail but it didn't get any worse and the weather improved again as I descended. Alot of fall foliage on the ground to improve traction in the mud and provide some scenery when you have to stare at the trail in order not fall. I love single track running! Took it pretty relaxed going down partly not to fall. Average was 7:29 which is awesome for Green. 

Was suppose to meet Johnny Perez and Coach Strand at the track or an easy run at 6:45 but overslept. Then, funny story, after my morning class I drove down to the mouth of the canyon for a run there (btw it was freezing cold and windy). I startedon the trail and got .1 and turned around because I felt awful, then drove home. That's not something I've done before, kind of odd. I think it was a motivation problem because I missed y chance to run with someone. Well later in the day I parked at Lundstrom Park and did a 6.6 mile shakeout in North Logan (up 1600 E, hit the canal trail for a bit, then west a little bit and back toward Logan on 1200 E which has an awesome country road feel, then up the hill 1400N hill) I started out not feeling good, especially with my form, kind of felt imbalanced. Then after 4 miles when I was on 1200 E I did 4 x .1 mile @ 5K pace every half mile, and those actually got me feeling a lot better. Ran by the XC course where the Steve T. Reeder meet was today but I wasn't sure when the actual races were so I just kept going. The top speeds I hit for those pushes (first two uphill second two slightly downhill) were 5:32, 5:37, 5:22, 5:00. Felt pretty good and relaxed on all of them, and outside of those I just chilled out. 7:05 ap. When I got home I rolled out a little just because, even though I wasn't sore. Oh yeah, I should mention I'm racing a 5K tomorrow, so hopefully that goes well.

AM: Pretty good race today! Drove myself there and actually got there 30 minutes before the race started, pinned on my bib and then did a warmup of about a mile then saw that everybody was heading to the start line. Good thing I didn't go out on a 2 mile loop. So I quickly changed shoes and "disrobed" and got on the start line. I could tell that I was one of the only serious person there but whatev I needed a 5K to race. So we started and this kid wearing Sky View shorts took off super fast, so I sprinted to catch up to him and as soon as we hit the first turn it was like he started jogging and from there I took the lead and never looked back. First half mile was uphill which sucked and I wasn't feeling too good but after the next turn it was a gradual downhill for like 1.5 miles. I tried to just zone out because there NO spectators on the course and I was way ahead of the field. Hit about a mile to go, now running back in the direction of the start and I realize I had a good rhythm going at around 5:23 pace so I made sure to not let off and keep it going. Did an S shape through a neighborhood which involved a little bit more uphill which I toughed out well then a half mile flat stretch before a final turn into the parking lot. I just focused on the police cars I saw by the finish and stayed strong, also I realized I felt really good (which means I could've been running faster in the middle of the race) and then I had to run around people who were finishing the mile but it wasn't too bad. So final time was 17:18 (for some reason they got me at 17:26?) but calculating for extra .06 I would have just cracked 17 if it were a true 5K (average pace was 5;28). But better the course is longer than shorter. Cooled down a mile on grass which didn' feel very good.

PM: 6 miles up Logan Canyon to round off a 50 mile week. I wore my Zealots because the Zantes are in really bad shape and they actually felt really good other than being somewhat "bald on the bottom" and there was a bit more toe room than I've gotten used to.  I also felt really good and pushed it a little, I even took the upper trail when it forked. Average pace ended up being 6:52 which is about 10 seconds better than any run I've ever done here, so kudos to me I guess. The breathing was above conversational level but my legs felt really good. Beautiful evening. On my way back home I realized that drivers in Logan Canyon need to chill! lol really all drivers in Cache Valley tho.

Workout today was 8 x 1000m on the Stokes trail (Logan Canyon). I got there and did a ~2K warmup (had my watch on metrics) First four were with Logan's XC team. It was 2 uphill, 2 downhill, 2 uphill, 2 downhill. I messed up the 5th and 7th ones by stopping too early because I wasn't sure where the marker was. Rests were a 500m jog back (so ladders then starting right up again, a little over 3 minutes. Splits: 3:47, 3:45, 3:37, 3:12, 3:11 (.9k), 3:48, 2:19 (.7k), 3:08. Felt good running with the guys, but felt terrible for the second half! Oh well, still a decent workout. For my cooldown I actually jogged back up the trail crossed the highway, then ran down the highline trail where I connected with the main trail later, because I needed to get 10 miles. That was a exactly two, and I didn't have my watch running but it was probably like 9 minute pace. I need to do either 6xmile or 10xK sometime on flat terrain, I think that would be beneficial for racing a 10K. I am also planning on doing a 5-6 mile tempo later this week.

2 miles by myself, then 5 miles with a cool dude named Ben who I met on Strava (aka running tinder). This was all from Merlin-Olsen. The two were a seperate loop through Riverdale Avenue then I got back to the park and he was there so we did a loop going up the canal trail then up the water lab trail to Cliffside and down a sketchy single-track. Been a while since I hit up that general route and he had never seen them so it was fun. We'll probably run together like once a week so that'll be cool. Also I'll hopefully be running with Johnny at least once a week. The whole run was 7:14 ap. 

Decent day. Parked at Lundstrom and did a mile warmup on the canal trail. I wore my newly modified Zantes (crude sowing to somewhat fix the holes on the sides and I replaced the insoles with the ones from my Vomeros) to see how they felt and they were fine so I stayed in them. There's a two mile loop that USU XC uses for tempos and "power runs", and they just run around it multiple times because it's nice and flat so I decided to do a 6 mile tempo on it. Started out making sure to stay relaxed and my first mile was a 6:05. Then I eased into the ballpark 6:15 which I was happy to be at honestly, and held that pretty comfortably for 3 more miles, and I would have been fine for another two but I got a heart palpatation right after the four mile mark so I decided to tough it out for another mile and be done (managed a 6:20). Averaged 6:15. So this shows that I have the fitness to run at least 6 miles at that pace pretty relaxed as long as nothing disrupts it. I think I'll definitely try this again next week. either on the same course or at the xc course. Mile cooldown same place as warmup after. The week after next I'm looking at doing a 2 mile race and a 10k with one day to recover in between, so no huge workout then. 

AM: 3 miles 6:47 ap each one faster than the next. Felt pretty good. I did my typical three mile route running to Willow Park and back.

PM: Fun workout at the track with Johnny and Coach Strand! I came early and hung out with the team (shoutout to them for making it to state yesterday) then when they headed off on their run Johnny got there and we warmed up a mile around the school and then did drills. Strand got back and we started our 12x100 workout. We jogged 300m inbetween. Here's the splits: 16.01, 15.50, 15.23, 14.76, 14.67, 14.25, 14.35, 14.28, 13.73, 14.08, 13.44, 13.56. So not crazy fast and I couldn't really keep up with them on the last couple (those were the hard ones) but it was good to mix things up and do some anaerobic work. I felt pretty smooth for most of it then. But really these were like glorified strides so I still considered today an easy day. Cooled down a barefoot mile on the turf and to my shock I discovered there was blood on my sock, froma sharp toenail that was rubbing against my middle toe. We finished with hip drills. It was good to run with Johnny again, for the third or fourth time in like an entire year haha.

Met Johnny and Strand at the track at 5:45 am for a run! I don't think I've gotten up before 6 all summer except for a couple races. It was dark for the whole run but surprisingly warm; we went shirtless for more than half. We ran out to Providence and did a loop much like the Logan tempo loop and came back. 7:21 ap. Didn't feel that slow but I think it's harder to run at the usual pace that early in the morning. When we got back Johnny and I did strides on the turf. My lopsided legs felt really uneven the faster we went, hopefully that will get better the more strides I do. This was my only run today. I'll go 12 tomorrow even if it'll put me a tiny bit over.

      Great run today! I was supposed to run with Logan XC in the morning but slept in. So I headed to First Dam in the afternoon. Ran from there all the way to the other end of the trail 6 miles up in the Guinavah Campground. Kept the pace relaxed and the average was probably 7:15 to 7:20. (funny sidenote, I made sure to wave at everyone I crossed paths with, which is alot on a Saturday, and I most of them were unrequitted. Hmm, maybe it was the shorts) At that point I hadn't stopped (had no reason to) and I decided I wanted to complete the half marathon challenge with a decent time so I just turned around right away) Pushed it a little more on the way back, especially the last few miles on the trail where it was more like tempo pace but still felt good. When I hit the first gate my heart started giving me some problems but I just held on and when I got back to the park I added on one more grueling mile on the sidewalk and snagged a 1:31 which was 6:58 ap. Official PR is 1:33 downhill from TOU 2014. so I like to say I could crack 1:20, optimistically on a flat course but definitely aided. Didn't even get thirsty which is surprising because I wasn't that well hydrated, but it was a nice cool-ish afternoon. 

      I hope I can get in 12-13 miles every Saturday, all together usually but with doubles when there's a race. Also a 6 miles worth of tempo on one day, and another workout focusing on anything from speed to vo2max each week. All in a backwards order from that though. If I do this I'll probably have to back off a little on the easy runs but that's okay. Feeling tired from the run right now but not dead.

AM: 5 miles semi-easy at just before 7. The first half of the run was still in complete darkness. I figured out a perfect 5 mile loop down 10th West to Icon and then on the River Trail and back by Willow Park and Woodruff. Kinda windy but in tights and long sleeves I warmed up fast. I say semi-easy (I was sort of pushing it) but the pace was 6:57. I think it's just harder to run at the same pace in the morning, I'll keep that in mind. In the last mile I almost got hit by some idiot pulling into their driveway. I was wearing a lightup neon reflective vest and running on the sidewalk so they had no excuse other than they were not looking. Always look! Lol. 

PM: 4 miles easy looping from campus down to the canal trail, up Old Main then to ARC to lift. It was hailing when I got out of class but it stopped and got pretty nice just in time to run. I didn't feel tired really my form just felt kinda weird, happens sometimes. Lifted probably harder then I have since I started again, hopefully I won't be super sore tomorrow. After that I ran the half mile on Aggie Bullevard back to my car and I found out what it feels like to run with no arms, lol. 7:03 ap. The plan for tomorrow is 6-8x800 so pumped for that.

AM: 2 miles 7:19 ap at 6 am. Was pretty dang cold, and dark. 

PM: Was going to do 6-800 on the track.... walked out of class and it was pouring rain with thunder and lightning, so I headed to the ARC to do it on the treadmill. Closest parking spot was was down the hill by the spectrum so that was fun running with my bag up the hill in the rain. Got in there and warmed up a mile, switched shoes, and started the workout. I had to figure out a somewhat complicated system to track distance and recovery but I got it down by 800 #2. I had the incline on .5%. First two were a little slower than 2:40, then 3-8 were 2:40 right on the dot. They felt pretty hard but it seemed like I recovered well, (2:45-3:00 rests with a 300 jog, and 100m running start for the reps: there was a virtual track on a screen) so I decided to do two more. My awesome playlist probably helped too. Last two were 2:39 and 2:35, so safe to say this was 2:40 average. I hope I could have done similarly on a track in good conditions. Cooled down just back to my car because I was already over on distance. 

Good run up Green Canyon. It felt a little chilly before I started and looked like a storm was brewing but it cleared out. In the first half mile didn't feel too great but I ended up averaging even faster than the last couple times on the climb. Higher up it was muddy and slippery so I had to be careful. It was really cool at the top though, there was a bit of snow on the ground and a bunch on the mountain sides, Nobody was up there except me and birds, I took a moment to enjoy the peace than headed down. Almost slipped moving off the trail for a mountain biker but other than that I stayed on two feet. At the same time I paused my watch and didn't unpause it for about a mile but whatev. The sun was shining all the way down so that was cool. My watch said 7:25 ap which means it was a little faster than that since some of the descent is missing so yay for me! 

P.S. Congrats to all who ran in the Utah HS State Championships today, it doesn't feel like long at all since I was running that course.

Today I attempted the 6 tempo, same place as last week, and it went pretty well! It was colder than normal, around 35-40 degrees, but luckily Lundstrom is far enough off to the side that there are no nasty Logan Canyon winds, just a sout blowing breeze that wasn't too much of a problem. Warmed up a mile, did a few drills for once, and made decision to take off my tights, good thing I did because I would have regretted wearing them. Started off and I didn't feel as good as last time so first mile was a 6:11 (I didn't have lap splits enabled on my watch so I only knew my current pace). Next four miles were all between 6:15-6:19, then I started to feel a bit tired but pushed it more, nothing too crazy and finished with a 6:09. Awesome controlled effort, my form felt a little weird today but that's just me lol. Cooled down a mile which did not feel good. Average pace was 6:15 for the workout. I'm a believer in stupidly simple aerobic work like this because it's worked for me so I think I'll keep training this way for the most part.

Easy run today, basically the same River Trail loop as Monday. Waited till 3 to run, and it was like 60 degrees but it felt hot lol. I felt pretty good actually. 6:48 ap. Now time to rest up for a huge run tomorrow, the 15.5 Logan-Green Canyon Loop, same one I did before Ragnar.

Did the old Wind Caves loop with Paul, Great stuff! My watch band broked right before we left so I just put it in my pack. It ended up getting paused after 6 miles though so I ended uploading Paul's GPS file on Strava, which is really the same thing. It was super cold and windy when we started at 9 but after a few miles I warmed up and we were past the headwind. Beautiful weather not a cloud in the sky. We hit Guinavah and then made our way to the wind caves trail, dreading what was coming, but it ended up not being that bad. (Wind Caves trail to the ridge line ranges from 500-900 feet per mile for 3 miles) We did minute run minute hike in the second half which was a good method. We got up in better time than I did with Strand. About 2.5 miles up there was a giant grey hobo spider in the middle of trail and I freaked out lol. Then we got on the Preston Valley Trail which was completely shaded and ran into some mud and snow which was sketchy so we went slow, and we saw some hunters. When we hit Green Canyon we started crusing and I still felt good, definitely better than last time. When we started up the Shoreline Trail we met this cool guy named Michael Scott who just got done running, and we might go running together sometime so that's cool. Still felt great all the way back to First Dam, so great run! 9:30 ap as opposed to the 9:52 with Strand. 3,100 feet of vert. Solid day.

Workout this morning was 4x200, 2x400, 1x800, 2x400, 4x200. Just a little speed to get ready for my 3200 on Thursday. Only workout of the week because I also have a 10K on Saturday. Each set was continuous equal jogs with 3, 4, and 5 min standing rest after the 200s, 400s, and 800 respectively (so sets are continuous but I stoppd between sets). Spiked up for the last 200s but felt a burning pinpointed pain in my right foot so I had to change back into the Streaks. So it was more like 8 minutes rest before those ones. Here's the times: 

35, 33, 33, 32 / 66, 74 / 2:38 / 70, 71 / 29, 32, 31, 29

Kind of relaxed on the first 200s, took the first 400 way too hard, then tried to run 70 on the next one but relaxed too much. The 800 felt pretty controlled and was the easiest set, the next 400s went well, and I tried to take it pretty hard on the last 200s and even had a tailwind. Yeah, my fast-twitch muscles have been neglected lol. 3 laps warmup 1 lap cooldown (because of time). It was dark for the first half (which wasn't a problem) and then got lighter. Overcast, sprinkling, 52 degrees so perfect weather really. And shoutout to the high school kids because no one said run forrest run.

8 miles "easy" in the AM. Was meaning to get up at 6 and run 10 easy but woke up at 6:40 just like yesterday, so instead I had to run 8 relatively fast. My miles got faster each time haha, I wasn't really trying to do that I was just in a hurry. Average pace was 6:43 starting with a 7:35 and ending with a 6:05. My form felt pretty solid too. Ran from my house to the end of the canal trail then turned around for an out and back. Maybe it would be better to not cross main street if I was trying to get done quick lol. I saw two USU guys on the trail, Spencer and Alan I think. Took me like 5 minutes to get across tenth west a block away from my house (no light). Great weather again, around 50 degrees. I'll be doing a lot more runs in the morning from now on without doubling because I got a job at the Old Grist Mill sandwich place (we'll see if I end up staying). It'll be tough getting up to run 8+ miles in the dark but hopefully I'll just get used to it. 

6ish miles at an easy pace in the morning. Was supposed to be 8 but woke up at 6:50 so I only ran 6. I started out west on the back road then headed south and made my way to Trappers Park then through the Icon trail and back on 10th West.  Didn't feel super awesome. 7:07 ap. Just watched the free FloTrack episode of Nike Oregon Project: The Program, the one about Mo and Galen in the London 10K, it got me pumped for tomorrow!

AM: Easy shakeout on the usual 3 mile route (Willow Park). Made sure to take it suuuper easy and it felt really good to relax. 7:45 ap. Hard to believe I used to run at that pace all the time! Super pumped for the race tonight!

PM: Fun stuff at the Postal 2. I got there at about 7 and did a 2 mile warmup, half with Bear River and half with Ridgeline. Hayden was there to rabbit too so that was cool. The girls raced and then pretty soon it was out turn. I started on the outside of the waterfall by choice. I stuck with the lead pack for most of the first lap then started getting passed. First mile went by really fast it seemed. I think it was 5:16 for me give or take a couple seconds. I tried to make sure and keep pushin it but I probably slowed down in the 5th and 6th laps. This is where is started to hurt of course. With 400 to go I turned it up and I passed like 5 or 6 dudes mostly from Ridgeline in the last 300, it was really fun haha. But one of them came back and nipped me at the line for 4th. Honestly I was flying by those guys so easily I second geussed myself and thought maybe I was pulling a Lopez Lomong ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTxsYV8DHu0 ) Final time 10:31 which means I ran like perfectly even mile splits, that's something I'm proud of for sure. Thought maybe I could win it before it started (even though they wouldn't let me break the tape cuz I'm not in high school haha) but that's okay. Winning time was 10:17 so I wasn't too far behind that. If I spent all summer training for a two mile I probably could be close to 10 flat shape but that's not my focus, and this was still a five second PR heck yeah. Wonder what I could do in the 1600, hopefully sub-4:40... 2 mile cooldown on the turf.

AM: 3 easy miles around Lundstrom to loosen up from last night. They felt really nice and it was great weather. Planning on running the 10k course tonight with Ben.Smith. 7:25 ap. 

PM: Met Ben at the start line, he had forgotten his shoes and he biked there so we made a trip back to his house to get his running shoes haha. Then we started and had a good run, took it easy, and it started raining which I loved running in, unlike some people I guess. 7:11 ap.

Easy Halloween 10 at 6:15 am. It was actally really fun! I headed up to USU and ran through campus then down to First Dam, then up to Cliffside, and back through River Heights then by LHS. Great temps at 50 degrees, all I needed were some arm sleeves. Made sure to keep it easy in the first half, which made it very enjoyable. I think I'll have to come to accept that when running just after waking up it's harder to run as fast. 7:14 ap.