The Renegade

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.