The Renegade

I am very pleased with this run as my first real one (not counting lasta monday or my feeble attempts at racing) in five weeks. That's a super long time when you think that the last time I took a break that long was last winter. But I really believe that I can get into shape for Footlocker in time, and I can definetley be in amazing shape for track, which starts in four months.

I took kind of the same route as last week, but I took a long cut around the temple first. Then I went up the canal trail until it got wide (about halfway), and took the fastest route back as possible. In all it was about 35 five minutes for 4.6 miles, and that's a 7:30 pace, so a very good sign. The only thing different was I was breathing kind of hard, but that's expected and I've had much worse runs when I was in top shape.

On another note, we got a transfer from the Salt Lake area (although he spent the fall in Nebraska). His name is Jack, he's a junior, and his mile PR is 4:15, and his 2 mile is 9:22 apparently. Very excited to have him as fellow harrier. This means very good things for the XC team next year.

2 miles easy to the river trailhead and back, about 7:30 pace again, but it felt really uncomfortable. I was tight, and couldn't loosen up(it was mainly my left leg). I think I'll take tomorrow off and try running again on friday, since some of us footlocker people are going to do a group run.

Good run again today. I felt the same as Tuesday, so good, just not how it was pre-injury, but I'll get there. I had an average pace of 8 min/mile. I put some hills into it by going through the nature park and then taking the climb up the hillside path into the neighbor hoods, then dropped down more gradually on the way back. Good run, in about a week I can probably start running with the guys I ran with during the season.

I had a great run today. I was planning on running on my own, but Vickie, J.D., and Breanna were going on an easy run too, so I joined them. The pace was manageable, and I even led almost the whole time with no problem. We ran to first dam on the canal trail, then hiked up a sketchy path abouve the dam, and eventually got to the deer fence above  cliffside, where Mark was just finishing up a workout. He ran with us a little to coold daown and then turned back, then when we got to the bottom of the hills we spent about 20 minutes at Vickie's house and then ran straight back. It was starting to get pretty cold and dark towards the end, but the only thing that was bothering me were cold hands and a sniffle. My foot felt good, meaning there was no pain but I still wasn't landing on it perfectly, but I don't see a need to stop running unless the pain starts up again.

2.25 miles easy in a loop around the temple. Then 4x200m when I got back. Splits were 36, 36, 36, 34 if I remember correctly . So obviously those are slow but J was feeling really sluggish during the whole thing. Geuss I was just tired from yesterday.

I tried to do a tempo/hill workout today, but I really wasnt feeling it. I warmed up a mile to the nature park, and then did 5 min tempo with Denny's Trail in the middle, which is about 200m and not super shallow. I got .74 miles which is about a 6:40 pace, which was really surprising and dissapointing because it felt like I was doing 5K pace, which was a 5:40-5:50 mile pre-injury. After completing the loop back to the start, I decided to do solely the hill, and I did it twice, both around fifty seconds. Then I ran back and didn't feel good at all. It was snowing the whole time, with the hill covered in about a half an inch of snow, but it was all fine.

Today's run was pretty lonely and miserable. I started out and felt pretty good. But then after about a mile that all went away. I went on the canal trail and then up the hillside into campus, then came down the highway to First Dam and went back to the school on Canyon Road. The snow on the trail didn't help with traction, and my foot was feeling stiff so my form was all over the place! And my hands were freezing! I need to get a good pair of gloves. I pretty much felt tired the whole time. But at least I got in the miles. 

Good training today. I was planning on just doing lifting and core, but I couldn't find the people I was going to do it with, and I found Vickie and Breanna, so I decided to run with them since my body felt up for it. First 4 easy miles in a loop on the north side of Logan. Then Vickie and I did a hill workout a little less than a mile from the school. There were two hills we did, 3 of each alternating and jogging back for recovery. Hill 1 was steeper and about 180 meters. Splits were close to 45, 46, 43, so the was probably a little longer than 180. The other was about 230 m and a bit shallower, but tougher than the other one. Splits were 55, 53, 50. I felt good on all of them, and it was actually pretty fun just to kill it up a hill without having to worry about what's next. I'll probably have to do a workout like that soon, though.

Not a strong day. I think I was tired from the sudden spike in running this week. I ran with Vickie to the canal trail for a tempo, and it turned my body wasn't as up for it as I was. After 2 easy miles, we ran a 6:40 mile and I was completely winded. I don't think I'm going to use that to gauge my fitness though, because it was just a bad day. After that tempo we fed some ducks, and then went back with just a little bit more fast stuff. I was dying by the end and just relieved it was over.

Good morning run on the deer fence. Ran with the girls going to foot locker besides Kristin. More people would have come if they didn't have musical the night before. Anyways, they hung back while I ran ahead most of the time. On the way out I didn't feel to good, but after we turned back I felt pretty loose, I geuss it just took me a while to warm up. The trail was wet and muddy at some spots but it wasn't too bad. About half of the way back we explored some old mining caves, so that was fun. All in all a surprisingly good run.

Pretty satisfying workout, although I was disappointed with the times I was hitting. I'll just put it in the format I used during track season.              

1 mile E-pace

2 miles T-pace 

3x800m I-pace w/ 4 min. Rest

4x200m R-pace w/ 200m jog

800m E-pace

After my mile warmup, I ran the two mile tempo in a loop around the fairgrounds and the park. I don't really remember what the time was except for the first mile being 6:20, years  but I felt pretty good during it, and the route was convenient because it ended on the track. The rest of the workout was done there. The 800s had 4 min rests. My times were 3:05, 3:07, 2:59. They actually didn't feel too bad, but they were slower than my 5K race pace in Sept., so they actually felt too hard for the speed I was going. The 200s were hard for how slow I was going too, which was like slower than my 800 pace last track season, but I had just done most of the workout already so I was tired. Times were 37, 37, 35, 33. Those were pretty much all out, especially the last one. After those (which were leaving me winded for the 200m jogs, I waited a while and then cooled down a half mile barefoot on the infield. 

2 min of core and then big ten with push-ups and sit-ups (took me 5:15) at home.

Warmup and then 2x800 on a hilly dirt road (This was in Idaho) They sucked and that's about all I can say about them. From what I remember they were like 3:30s, so I was having a rough time. Probably the dinner yesterday.