C Mantz Running

     1.25 warm up(atleast), then 8X1000m with about 1:00 rest at the same pace as Friday.  First two were a little quick, but I felt good. 2:57 and 2:59, then 3:00, 3:02, 3:03, 3:03, 3:04, and 2:59.  I then cooled down with the team(they did some 200s and 400s. Coach has me doing different stuff to get ready for worlds), then I did 4 at home after I recovered.  It started snowing during these and it was quiet and nice. 

      12 miles.  I wore a GPS watch to see how fast I go on these days.  It turned out to be 5:57 pace, which was quicker than I thought I was going today because I felt super sluggish and tired, but that's okay.  I did 11.5, then ran and jumped some hurdles to get ready for the obstacles in China.  I need to work on jumping. 

     6 miles.  We did some easy hill stuff where we counted our stride and tried to see if we could get it faster, then Ethan, Stockton, and I extended.  

    About 5.5 at Blue and White  My legs still felt very tired so I switched my schedule so I could do my workouts on Friday and Saturday, which will make it interesting, but hopefully it'll still workout.  I did 2.5 miles before the meet, warmed up a tiny bit with Ethan(we didn't know when the 2 mile was until 10 min. before), then got to the start line, stalled the start so some people could switch into their spikes, then we started.  I planned on pacing Ethan to run a sub-10 again, but I paced awful, so he hit 10:03. I sprinted my last 200m, so I hit 9:56.  Then ran a lap with Alex, then 4.5 miles when I got home. 

    I had a rough day on the track. I did a few russian intervals, but went too fast on them and I ran the rest too quick(22 sec, so I had to wait for 8 more), but I think it was still a good day.  I did an all out 300m after in 42, which I am happy with because I was alone and it was after the workout.  I then ran to Mack Park and found Ethan and Stockton, ran back to the school, ran 2 more miles with them, then 2 more when I got home.

    A little over 10 miles today.  5 miles tempo. I didn't feel great, and my left leg just felt strange, like it was .. shorter than normal or something. Anyway, after my first two miles, I was able to get into a good groove push myself a lot.  5:14 average.  Then I ran to Sky View, did a few laps, then we got the hay bales out to practice on.  2 miles with 50m strides every lap(when I jumped the hay bales). 

    Oh, one more thing. I got my mission call yesterday.  I have been called to the Ghana Accre West mission, and report to the Ghana Missionary Training Center on July 23. 

     Speed workout today. I struggled, but it was still a good day. The original workout was 8X400m at mile pace, but after the 6th, everyone else was starting their 200s, so I asked coach if I could just do 4X200 instead of the last two 400s.  He was nice and let me.  The 400s were 59, 59, 61, 60, 63(this one was just hard.  Felt like I hit a wall), 61, then the 200s(supposed to be at mile pace, but since I was running with people I got competitive) were 27, 28(relaxed start, then kick), 29?(forgot to start watch), and 28. Warm up before, Cool down after. then 4 miles later at night. 

     8 miles.  Rough day.  I need to stop having those.  Did a few hay bale practices after.

   Leg hurts a bit. I did some 1000s at 4:40(too quick for the day. They were supposed to be slower) pace then my leg that had hurt yesterday started hurting so I cut it short and ended it there.

    Pre-meet. Leg hurt a little less than yesterday. We did a few 200s that were supposed to be at mile pace, but they were a bit quick. 

    Started a shake-out run, but my leg freaked out on me and it really hurt, so I was told to be better safe than sorry and take it off. 

     3100 yards of swimming later and some aqua jogging. I hate the pool.

Pool running for about 80 minutes.  It felt a bit better than yesterday, but I didn't even try running on it. My team did pretty well at Weber, and it was cool to cheer them on, but it was hard not to be running.

    About 2.25.  Ran to the golf course hill, then ran back because coach said it was better to play it safe than sorry and it hurt a bit. I then did 50 min. on the bike and I attempted to simulate some russian intervals.  Later that night I did an hour of pool running.  This was actually a pretty good day as training goes, but hopefully I'll be running tomorrow.

     1 mile running, then an hour of pool work(50 min of aqua jogging, 10 of swimming), then a bunch of core stuff.  Hopefully tomorrow it won't hurt my leg to run.

    2 laps of shake out before a mile of jogging, then cutting it because it kept hurting.  I need to get better.  After I did a bunch of pool stuff and core.

      Today I said screw it and just ran 8 miles. It hurt, but I think it's going to get better.  It felt better as the run went on. 
      2 miles later.

    Kept it pretty easy on the leg in the warm up, then coach had the team do 6X1000m at Tempo effort/pace.  I went out way too quick, but haven't ran anything fast in a while, so I didn't have anything to go off of.  Goal was around 3:00, but anywhere lower than 3:03 was good.  Splits:2:51(a bit quick), 2:56, 2:57, 2:56, 3:02(before this one I thought of quitting because I was hurting, but it was just fatique and not my leg so I kept going), and 2:58.  Usually I would've done 2 more, but I'm racing in a week, so I kept it at 6 with the rest of the team.  Cool down, then a few more laps with Ethan and an extra mile when I got home.

     8 miles up the canyon. Pain in the right quad and left leg, but it'll be good by next week.

      We just got to China. They designated a "park" for us to run on. It was mainly a road around a lake, but it was still beautiful. It is a bit dreary here, thick clouds cover everything, so it's a bit strange compared to the weather I left in Utah.  The run was fairly easy.

     Ran with Eric Hamer, Paul Roberts, and John Dressel for my warm up, then did about 6:50 at tempo effort, then 4X200 at a quicker pace to get my legs moving. They were on a road marked every 100m for 400m. They went 29, then I missed the timer, 29, 26. Then I cooled down back to the hotel. 

     I ran with the same guys as yesterday, then did strides and ran back to the hotel.

     3 miles around the course with some strides.  The course is in 2 kilometer loops and windy with lots of short steep hills and one big not as steep hill.

     Not my greatest race.  I'll write more when I have time.  Time for track.  Caution-long report below.

     Did a shakeout in morning.  I didn't get much sleep, but it was more than the night before.  I just never adjusted to the time.  People would tell me to stay up late so I would sleep in, but I would stay up late and wake up at 2-4 AM.  That's not good.  Anyway, the course should've played into my strengths(hills and it was 8 kilometers instead of 5) but I wasn't as mentally ready today.  We got to the course and I warmed up with Eric Hamer. My goal was top-10(possible a bit un-realistic) and if that wasn't happening, sub 25 minutes or top-20.  We did our strides and the team was focused.  I was a bit over-confident and not ready to work hard.

      The gun went off and everyone else did too.  It was a quick start, but unlike any race I've ever run, it didn't slow down after 200m.  It actually sped up. I got spiked by a Qatar runner, and was stuck in the back.  I slowly moved up, but had to run on the outside of the all the turns on the windy course.  I got stuck behind a South African barefoot runner because I wanted to be super cautious around him with spikes.  I ran a sprint around him at the top of the hill and after the first loop I could start to see the other US guys; Eric, Cerake, and John.  I was struggling. I just told myself to hang on until the last loop, then explode and pass a lot of people.  I was about 6:07 at 2k and in about 54th place.  I moved up on this loop but slowed signficantly. I was about 12:30 at 4k and in 46th place.  I had thoughts of dropping out here, but couldn't because that would be betraying my teamates. 

      The next loop I really had more in me, but emotionally and mentally wasn't there.  I know I could've given it more, but I wasn't ready to hurt.  I was at 19:00 at the 6k mark.  Way too slow.  I'd have to kick hard to get my time goal.  My place was 35th. There was a big pack ahead of me with John Dressel falling off.  I caught up to him and then he saw me and threw in a surge and got back in the pack. I fell off the pack and just passed anyone else who fell off harder than I did.  With 600m left I tried to pick it up, but it was hard and mentally I had given up on the second loop, so I wasn't able to really dig deep.  I passed two guys with 250m left, but they were mentally ruined too. 

      After the race I just felt awful. I felt as if I let myself, my family, and teamates down.  I haven't given up like this in a race before.  I've had days where I'd had trouble pushing it and taken it a step easier, but not like this. I had a lot more left after.  My last 4 kilometers were pitiful and while I passed plenty of people, they weren't where they could've been. 

     Overall, this was a great experience and it motivates me to want to be better.  I need to work harder.  The Africans destroyed me, and this shows I have a long way to go to be where I want.  I'm going to work a lot harder this track season than I ever have.

      71 minutes of running in Bejing because our flight got delayed so we missed our flight back home. 

     Got home and ran.  I didn't feel that great, but I haven't had any good sleep in the last week and a half and I haven't eaten too healthy either due to limited options, so hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things pretty soon.