The Renegade

Decent workout today, hopefully I can get the consistency rolling after a terrible 25 mile week if that. 7th hour I did a half mile on the tread while it was pouring outside, than did some hang cleans. The rain cleared out for practice and it was great from then on, perfect actually. I got in a mile of easy jogging, adding onto the half mile we usually do before the workout started, it was nice. We did 4xK and 4x150. Ks had the same 3 min rest as always. I went 3:22, 3:19, 3:20, and 3:24. I know, I fell off on tht one and it ruined my average, I kinda lost the mental battle and succumbed to the pain. I feel slow when Jack is running like 3:00 for it. Those were all in my trainers so that's gotta count for something. So I took my time and by the time I was starting my 150s, everybody else was done. Changed into my flats for these. They were completing the lap and getting a 2:15 rest. I think I ran low 20 for all of them, maybe broke 20 on number three. I focused a ton on maintaining good form, keeping my hands low and taking them behind my hips, and driving my knees. Driving the knees got difficult to do the last 20 meters tho. The leg felt surprisingly good, maybe I won't have to x-train tomorrow. After a barefoot mile cooldown, coach had Isaac and I take the most painful ice bath ever, waistdown, and it was excrutiatingly cold. But it was beneficial, or it better have been.

In seventh hour I did a half mile warmup and did squats and bench, then waited around for practice to start. Coach was gone, so we could run anywhere, so of course we ran where we run 50% of the time, the canal trail. It was really nice post-rain weather for running again, just like yesterday. We had a nice pack of like five guys all running together, that was really fun, and mos of us were really talketive too. That was about 6 miles at 7:28 ap. My legs felt very grounded, no spring at all. Then four 100m strides, that helped a bit.

Today I did the temple hill workout in seventh hour, because I had an orchestra thing after school. This is most likely the last time I'll do this workout, we'll see if I miss it lol. So I had to do it alone, my warmup over there was quick, sub-7 pace, which is weird. I could tell my legs were sore from squatting yesterday. It was warmer than I expected, luckily I didn't overdress. Started in like a 34, guess I was still warming up. Most of them were like 32s (200m steep uphill), but the last rep was a 34, I absolutley blew up, it hurt really bad. Didn't save the splits but my best guess is a low 33 average, which I think would be my best. Then I realized I had to hurry tf back, but this workout is the absolute worst to cool down from, the pain in your glutes and hammys doesn't allow to run properly, so you've gotta go at a snails pace. So that was fun. Turns out our bus left 15 late so i didn't even need to hurry haha. I would have ran a bit more if I knew. The lower mileage today was probably good for the intensity of the work. Now it's time to recover for Saturday so I can run another mile PR at Orem.

Team warmup and core, then we all headed out for the canal trail today. I wasn't feeling too hot, but luckily we started as a group at a snails pace. Throughout the run I started to feel better, and after we turned around at 2.5 it was slightly downhill and a stronger tailwind, so it felt great. Nice group of four or five, including Coach Strand. Average pace 7:37. 4x100m after on the track afterwards with the wind at our backs.

2 miles easy to the rodeo grounds for a warmup in seventh hour, and then while The other 5 warmed up on the track I did 400 start (63), 200 cruise (35) and 300 finish (44). Kinda weird setup but it was good for a change. I know I won't be able to finish a mile that fast, but I just pretended I was finishing a mile. The 400 was quick too, I actually think I'll try going out a bit more relaxed tomorrow, as long as I make sure not ease off much (at all) in the next lap. Today was a half day so I'll have a good amount of time to recover, and sleep. We leave at 5:30 tomorrow because we gotta be there at 7:30 ugh. Mile cooldown on the turf. SUB 4:40 OR BUST MY FRIENDS

Post-Scriptum: Just looked at the heat sheats, I'm in the second heat for both the 16 and 32. For the 32 I am last in my heat. That could suck but it can also be really good to pull me to a PR, as long as I recover well throughout the day.

So, two hour bus ride down, and we got there at a good time when most teams weren't getting there yet. When we were about to start our warmup the North Summit team randomly released doves into the air while jogging like wtf. I was glad the mile was first, not a whole lotta waiting around. I did a mile warmup and checked into the warmup area with plenty of time. They had it really official, with a waiting area boxed off, almost like BYU but not quite as strict.  It's good though because than I'm used to that style and won't miss my race next week. The sun was out, but it was kinda windy. They had a hard time getting us were we needed to go, but I ended up on the the very edge of the waterfall, with two shoots out in front. Where I was it was impossble to get a good position from the gun and I ended up boxed in. Also there were 28 people in the heat so it was chaotic. I didn't get to out of that until a lap in, I think I was at 70. You may have noticed that I put the distance in as 1630 meters, which is 4 laps in lane two. That was as a joke, but kind of not, because I think I averaged being in lane two the entire time. The race was a joke, I get that they want the meet to run smoothly, but they should want the athletes to have a quality experience too. I just couldn't get comfortable anywhere, it was the most physical race that I have run, and I pushed myself, but it wasn't enough given thte circumstances. Pretty frustrating, you saw in my last entry that I was confident in breaking 4:40, and I bet I did run a 4:40 1600 tbh, but there was a little extra distance to run. I tried to stay a bit more focused on the finish this time, but still could have done better the last 100, still gotta focus on the finish line ahead of me. The guy I tied with last week beat me by a fraction of a second lol. Cooled down a mile with the other four milers. The rest of the day was fun, just chilled and watched races. Until the two mile came, I was not excited. I stayed with the pack for the first lap and then started to fall off. Came through the mile at PR pace (5:14), and if I was last I would have dropped out, but I looked over my shoulder and I was second to last. Final time was 10:58 so next mile was reallly slow, I just wasn't motivated to push myself. After I finished I was really pumped for the 4x4, and had extra energy for it. It was cold, wet, and windy, (not nearly as bad as Davis) but I split a 55 (PR is 56) as our second man, it was really fun I actually am not complaining about being on the 4x4 squad like most people do. I think the best meet of the day on our team goes to my boy Kalin Freeman aka K-Free, he ran a 4:59 and 10:55, both PRs for him, also Isaac ran a 2:02 800 and Maia won the shot put with a meet record. I am not one who can run two good distance races in a day, I just can't. Excited for BYU to try and state qualify in the 800. Also I have to say that I really appreciate the hs running culture in Utah County, there is a seemingly large number of solid/dedicated runners there.