The Renegade

True easy run today on the river trail loop to start off the week. Felt relaxed! Ran at about noon, it was a warm 34 degrees out, which in all honesty is really good. Wet though, the river walk was super slushy, so that brought down the average. Legs still felt uneven, but when I got home I decided to foam roll my right quad, and that actually felt like it made a difference. Other then that, felt loose! 7:34 average.

Today we did a hill workout on the hills surrounding the temple. We jogged to Merlin Olsen, warmed and changed shoes and then jogged to the start which was adjacent to a crosswalk, and did 2x1000m. We ran east on Canyon for maybe 600m then took a sharp left and ran up the dugway, which is a super long hill that goes up to Temple Blvd. Ran em in about 3:40s with the second one faster than the first, I had some malfunction with my watch that I didn't get the splits. And that was with about 4 minutes rest to complete the loop and get back down there. After the second 1000 we jogged down the the 1000m start line but then went southwest to Canyon Rd. Center St. junction and started 2x400s there. Jack dropped out of the workout because he was having some major foot pain. I know how that crap feels. So it was more of a shallow hill for about 150m then it took a sharp right up Temple and got really steep, and ended at the stop sign at the top right by the temple. So I did two of those in 1:19 and 1:22, which is like ~65s on a track. The only reason the second one was slower was because I took it more conservative for the first part, but still finished faster. Then we jogged down to the bottom of temple hill on the sidewalk ride next to the temple and did 2x200 (we do 8 of those for a workout sometimes) and I ran them both in 33, where I would normally be at like 37 for the 8x200 workout. Those actually felt good. Then 4x75m up the same hill to finish it off in 10-11 seconds. Just tried to be explosive on those. Jogged back and we were done, I was planning on lifting but nobody else was so I decided I would just lift on wednesday, maybe I'll do back to back but I can't do it on friday because Weber's on Saturday. So pumped! I'm the only distance runner going, but it's all good, I've always got my HJP budsd. Mileage is looking good this week so far. 

Half mile jog upstairs and then after warming up we left for an easy run. Johnny Perez showed up to run with us, so that was great, it's always awesome running with a former teammate. We had some newbies with us so we went slow, 6 mile loop 8:00 ap. We did a loop through River Heights and the Island. 

Pretty decent workout today. We did the good old River Heights-Providence threshold, and this time coach actually came with us instead of having to babysit the sprinters, lol. Didn't feel super great jogging up, and I didn't feel super great during any of the workout, but not terrible either. The temps were pretty nice today, wish I had remembered gloves, but the sun was shining on us and I had to strip one of my shirts. Started with a 6:22, so almost on pace for a record. Felt okay, but I was having a little bit of trouble sticking right next to/ahead of Paul, and I knokw I don't need to always be in front when I'm working out with teammates, its a bad competitive habit. But we the three of us pretty muh stayed together, and ran the next mile in 6:16 (our best time before was 6:20 pace). Then Strand said that he was going to pick it up the last mile and go like 6:10 pace, and I though "okay we'l just let him drop us and maintain it. No. Paul went with him and in a good 5 seconds it looked as though they were going to drop me for good. But then we got to the top of one of the hills and took a left turn onto the slightly downhill road that made up most of the last part of the run and I decided I was gonna stay with them, got some competitive juices flowing. Mind you, at this point I can safely say I had broken my lactic threshold, so it didn't matter if I pushed it a little harder. Besides, Strava says that threshold is faster than tempo. So yeah I caught em and then Paul and I pushed it pretty hard down the steep hill at the end right by Ryan's Place Park and we hit 4:45 pace on it, ended up running a 5:55 last mile. 18:33 3 mile time, and the previous fastest was an 18:57 in the summer. So pretty successful. Then coach had us run another threshold mile, and I was beat, but did it anyway in 6:18. Felt like crap jogging back. Did some short sprints on the indoor track those actually felt pretty good, then hip drills. My left hip was kind of hurting, hopefully I can develop some more muscle on that side again soon.

Super chill run with Paul up Center Street, Sumac, and back on the canal trail by the temple. I really made sure to purely get the mileage in and go super slow, so it ended up being an 8:21, but iss all good, I'm not gonna let myself worry about the pace on easy days as much any more, cuz you gotta learn how to run slow to run fast, shoutout to Jack McCulloch for teaching me that, and before that Vickie Krull. Felt okay, but I really need to get my left legs strength/muscle mass back fast, I can't stress that enough. It was pretty cold and breezy today, but luckily the sun was out. We got back and Paul helped me practice some starts on the track, I basically sprinted fifty meters on the clap, and jogged back four times. Felt slow starting but I always have good aggressive starts in races so it shouldn't be a problem. Running the 800 fresh tomorrow! It would be awesome if I could run around 2:08, but we'll see. Might pace Kalin in the mile but afer the 8 i'll just work on getting the mileage in. Also, I'm gonna get my Hobby Jogger singlet!

So I didn't really run very fast in either of my races, but it was a fun meet nonetheless. Got to track and there was a looong time before the 800, so I did a couple of strides in my spikes (felt really good) and then chilled out until kind of before the 800 when there was a 20 minute break. In the meantime I got my HobbyJogger gear! During the break I went out with Christian McClellan from Morgan on a mile and a half and I felt kind of tired, but by the end of it I felt okay. We got back and they had already assigned heats! But luckily Kalin had gotten my6 heat assignment for me. 

Turns out that I got put in literally the last spot in a heat of TWENTY SIX GUYS, IN THE 800. We started and I scrambled on the outside to get up front, and then someone fell. So we started again and I had to do the same thing, and it really took a lot of energy out of me. First lap was 33, not good. Next two laps were 34s. I was like devastated, but I deided to keep pushing, and kicked hard and closed in 31 seconds. Think I got like 5th in the heat. Probs the first time I've run that last 200 the fastest, and the second 400 for that matter. So yeah I honestly think that if I was able to start up front and been with the front pack from the beginning, I would have run sub-2:10. Hopefully, but I was also just feeling kind of tired. Did a small cooldown jog and chilled until the mile. 

In the mile I kind of just did a pace job for my teammate. We got put in the second heat with a 5:22. Although it was a pace job, I had some trouble staying on his heels because I was tired so I just let him pace me. Then with two laps to go like I had planned I put in a decent kick and passed some people, closed in 65 and ran a 5:10. Kalin (my teammate) died off and ran a 5:20 or something. 

After that Kalin and I did a cooldown jog on the snowy trail thats north of campus towards Ogden High. Felt decent. I wanted to get 7 miles in today to get 40 but it's okay, I was like a mile off. Next week I might up my mileage we'll see. It was so awesome repping the HJP today, and good job to all the others! Next race is in less than a week at the oval, and it's gonna be the mile.