C Mantz Running

       I went saw the USU invite cross country meet today.  I saw Tyler really have a good race, and a bunch of people I knew who just graduated this year.  Fun to watch them.  Then I saw the high school races.  Jerrel had a good race, winning by a ways, he'll definatley be one of my main contenders at Murrey, region, state, cache-box, and pretty much any other meet.

      I later went for a run.  I took it easy.   I really could feel yesterday's workout.

     XC- I was going to do a 10k race today, but I just wasn't feeling it yesterday, so I decided not to.  I went to XC for our workout.  Steve, Nick, AJ, and Calvin were there, so I knew I was going to push it.  6X800s faster then XC race pace with a 400m(2-3 minute) jog in between.  On all of these but the 3rd one I got boxed in at the first and had to swing wide to get in my pace. 

1. 2:21.  I felt great.
2. 2:21.  Pretty much the same as the last one.   I felt great.
3. 2:16.  It felt harder, but I went faster.
4. 2:21.  Fast first lap.  Second lap was slow.
5. 2:18.  Felt alright.
6. 2:19.  Felt terrible, but Steve was pushing me until the last 200m. 

    Overall, good workout.  Did a mile or so cool down.

     Easy day.  We had a small sprint in these laps around the school grounds, but other then that, easy pace.  Tyson beat me in most of them.  My lower calves or achelies(I'm not sure really what it was) weren't feeling the best.  Kinda weird.

     Tempo, but a bit slower then regular tempo, for 4 miles, then one 1 mile cool down.  Murrey, in two days. 

   Easy Pre-meet.  Tomorrow is murray!

     We got there, I wasn't feeling the best, but after the warm up and accelerations I felt ready.  I was hoping to get a good start out in this race, but that didn't happen.  I got caught in the middle in the first 200m, so after that I went to the side and tried to get to the front.  Around the first half mile, maybe less, we had our pack.  I was near the back.  We went up a small hill, and when we went down it, Paxton ran pretty fast and got a small lead.  Then went up to him, and I thought that I should put a surge in to, so I did.  I ended up leading the race from there to about mile 2.  After the steep hill, I looked back and saw Jayden Asay, and Jerrell were still there.   I was trying to push the pace to drop them, so I could secure my second place spot.  About at an 800 to go, Ben took off.  I knew he would do that and had planned it out the whole race, but it still hurt me mentally.  I didn't catch him, but I kept running, trying to finish well.  At 400m to go I looked back and saw I had a ways on him, maybe a few seconds.  I pushed it, until 200m to go, and I slowed down by doing a few too many mistakes, like looking at Jerrell behind me, not sprinting and stuff.  With less than 150m to go, Jerrell passes me, and I just go with him, trying to not let him beat me by more then 5 sec.(which wasn't going to happen, but I tried to stay as close to him as I could).  He beat me by .8 seconds.  Next race I'll get him.  I ran a cool down with Tyson after.  Our team placed 5th, no one really sounded like they had their best race.

     8 with my dad.

      XC-Grass repeats.  600m is what coach had it at.  Lots of dips in the grass that would make you lose your momentum.  I was running them around a sub-1:50, but this is just a guess because Nick Batty was always around a 1:58-2:01.  Coach had me at a 1:47 for one.  I took the 7th one easier then I should've, but still had a good 8th one.  It was a good workout though.  Mile warm up, Mile cool down, 2 minutes easy jog in between each one, maybe less.

     After XC-3. Since I didn't have the paper route today I had a bunch of energy after practice, even though I was hurting during the repeats (maybe I was just being a bit dramatic and mentally weak during it).  I went and I felt alright.  Not the best, but alright.  I also went becuase I don't think the coach is going to recommend to push the meet on Wednesday, because we have a meet Friday, The BYU Invite(hooray, we qualified at Murray, and coach said we're going)

      Premeet day for most of our team.  Varsity is going to BYU, so we aren't really pushing tomorrow.

    Logan came for a duel meet. I did about a mile warm up.  3 miles, tempo.  2 miles cool down.  Getting ready for BYU.  Jerrell is also going, so he didn't push it either.

     5.  harder than usual for premeet, or atleast for me, but it was in the morning, so I'll be alright.  

       Our varsity team qualified for this meet at murray, so our coach let us go down to it.  Jerrell went down individually with us. When we first got there the collegiate men's race was starting, and it was cool to see some of those runners. After,  we looked at the course, but it took Tyson and me a while to understand it, so while everyone else was just doing their shakeout run, we waited a bit and didn't get much of one in.  The course was a 2 loop course (which had each loop in a weird double loop) and then a shorter loop.  It was really confusing on the map, but it was really well marked out, and you would either follow the guy ahead of you, or the golf cart.   We then did an acceleration, which I didn't feel the best it, and then we did our stretches, some strides, and were ready for the race.

      At the starting line we fit 3 guys side by side in each square and with a bit of room.  We started and I had a great start, but I didn't really push it for the start.  After the first 300m I went around a few guys and got right behind Jerrell, who was leading the race.  Once we hit the hill for the first time, Jerrell slowed a bit.  I was told by my coaches and a friend who ran in the college race to not push that first hill.  So I didn't push it, and it I later found out not many people did.  We got to the top of the hill and turned around and Paxton told me I had about 30 yards on the AF guys, which made me want to speed up and get my distance from them.  Jerrell was still behind me here, but Jordon Cross was also right there.  Down that hill I relaxed a bit, but still kept a good pace.  At the end of the hill.  Nothing changed for a while, until we hit mile 1.  At mile 1 there is a small hill to the top, and then a downhill again.  On the down hill I kept a good pace.  After a while though, Brayden McLelland shot passed us.  I didn't know what to do really, so I just followed him, and so did Jordon Cross.  Jerrell just kept an even distance, but never losing us, a bit like what he did at Murray.  When we were going up the hill the second time I could here Brayden breathing extremely hard and Jordon made a move, but that didn't last long, so I made a move and moved to the front.  Brayden fell off us after that.  Cross and I ran the last bit together.  At mile 2 Paxton yelled that our 2nd mile was 5:06.  This made me speed up, because I wanted sub-5 miles.  After this Jordon and I just dueled it out.  At the end I started sprinting because Jerrell could have that kick he had at Murray and I didn't want a repeat of that race.  As soon as we passed the finish line for the second time I started sprinting.  Coach said it was about a 400-600m from the finish.  I sprinted and lost Cross without knowing it, and kept looking back that last 100m to make sure he wouldn't pass me.  I landed on the finish with a 15:03.

       Good race for me, mentally and physically.  I heard the course was around a 3.03, so I'm not sure how far it really is, but as long as I went a sub-5 pace, you won't hear one complaint from me.  Our team took 6th, which was really good, but there weren't many teams there either.  Still a good team race. 

     8 easy up the canyon this morning. 

      XC- We did a mile warm up, then some 6X800m race finish pace with a 400m cool down in between.  We were to run the first 200m race pace, and then just increase at 200m, then increase more at 400m, and then more of a sprint finish/give it everything left for the last 200m(which was up a steep hill).  Good workout.  Probably our only one this week with the races on Wednesday and Friday. 

    Easy run with 4 strides.  Meet tomorrow. 

         Warmed up a bit late.  I wanted to go under 16 for this meet, which isn't all out, but I was really going to push it.  The first 300m a MC kid was sprinting all out and I couldn't have let him be ahead of me. He then dropped off and died.  I wanted a fast race, but I didn't feel good the first mile.  I got a big gap on everyone.  MC had their varsity getting ready for Bob Firman on Friday.   My first mile was a 4:53, but I think the mile marker was off, because that meant the next miles must've been a lot slower then, and the 2nd-5th guys said they came at a 5:10, which they didn't expect to run.  I felt better during the 2nd and third miles, which was probably because I was having a big head and not pushing myself, which was STUPID of me.  I finished about about 40 seconds on Steve who was second.  We had the top 8 spots, so we swept the competition by a ways.  After Steve it went, Dylan, Nick, Tyson, Kyler, AJ(who took a wrong turn), and then Calvin.  Later we did a cool down. 

    Easy.  Early morning.  Then dodgeball!

     We didn't get a very good warm up, but it was alright.  Nick and Kyler weren't running varsity, because they wanted to recover mentally and get ready for CacheBox on Wednesday, so we had Calvin and Ethan running instead.  I didn't see anyone who would really push me, so I thought that I was going to be running alone.  Coach told us to run this race faster than a regular race, becuase it was shorter.  Push it more.  This race is a bit different then others.  They have the guys run the 4k, and then when a guy cross the finish line, he tags a girl, and she does the course, and that's how they give places.

     We started and I didn't get a great start, being behind Steve for the first 200 or so.  I then took the lead, and looked at two cones in a 2-D way and thought I was supposed to go through them, but the Bear River coach told me I needed to go around them, so I later fixed that.  We then went on some rollers, and when I say rollers, I mean you take two steps up hill, two downhill, two uphill, etc.  This really destroyed my pace, but I recovered after.  For most of the race until the last 800 was mostly the same.  I just tried to speed up and push it the whole race, trying not to slow down.  My goal was a 4:55 pace.  At 800 to go, I kept up my pace, and then with 600, the other set of rollers started.  I then sprinted the last 150 all out, and heard Rory say, "...12:10, 12:11..." and then knew I wasn't going to make the pace I wanted, but I kept it up.  Steve was 3rd and Dylan was 5th. 

     Our varsity team took 1st, and our JV girls took 1st also, I don't know about JV boys took though.  Overall I feel alright about the race.  I didn't have anyone really pushing me for anything after the first half mile, but it also was a shorter course, but I still have cache box on Wednesday, so I can get a better time there.   

    AM-5 Went on an easy run, pushed some parts when I felt good. About 32 minutes, maybe a bit less. 

     PM- I felt really good today, and I didn't do much athletic stuff besides my run(lazy day), so I decided to push the run tonight.  I was going to go for a 30 min. tempo, but after the first mile(4:56, but it is a Very downhill mile.) I felt like I did at BYU last week and when it hurt, I wanted to push it just a bit more.  I ran a 27:10, which might be a PR for a 5-mile, but I'm not sure if it was a full 5 miles.  Maybe a bit short, so I'll say 5:30 pace for it.  It might not have been the best thing to do after a meet yesterday, but I felt like I needed to run one of the tempo runs, and I hadn't put many miles in this week.  I'll get a good rest Sunday and work hard Monday, then get ready for Wednesday.

     XC-7.5.  We did a mile warm up, then a 5 mile tempo, with a 30 sec. sprint after every mile, then back to tempo.  My sprints were better then usual today.  I ran with Nick and Steve til the turn around point.  After about a mile from there, Kyler decided to increase the pace, so I ran with him for a mile, then ran by myself.  I'm really pleased with my sprints though, a lot faster then regular.  Now time to ease up for Wednesday.

     Small warm up, then some strides with short steps.  I felt good.  Getting ready for Cache-Box tomorrow. 

      I am not happy with this race, but it'll give me a reason to run faster at region.  I had a a small stomache ache before, and then had one during some of the race. We started out and I just got behind Adam and Jerrell.  After a half mile, I was running behind Jerrell, and Adam was right behind us. I felt alright the first mile, but it felt fast.  I don't have the time exactly, but I think they said around a 4:49.  After that, it went downhill for me.  I kept running with him 'til a little before mile 2.  I just wasn't feeling it.  I couldn't run faster.  This stresses me out more than anything thinking of it.  We hit gravel right before mile two, and I just couldn't get going.  I had a bit of a stomache ache, but I should've just tried to catch him then.  Once we were 3/4 miles out he really left me in the dust.  I couldn't catch him at all.  At a turn, I just lightly jogged the turn, and it took me a while to start up again (this happened throughout the race.  Jerrell had a lot of good turns, and I would always try to catch him on the straightways.).  I just tried not to have him be 20 sec. ahead of me.  I tried to push it at the end, but I felt terrible.  I had a bad stomache ache afterward.  I will not have chinese food 'til state is over.  I finished around 15:18.  Jerrell ran a 14:59.  Atleast there is still region and state. 

I wasn't feeling the best today, or atleast mentally. I was a bit mad about yesterday's run, but I've made a goal to break 15 at the region meet(same course). I decided to try to run by myself and recover mentally and just run. It felt good, but later I ran with coach and a few guys and I think it felt better running with them instead. Coach told me I had a good race. Jerrell had a great race, and that was just that.

    I don't actually know the distance of the run today, but it's atleast 5.  We did terrible triangles.  Three sprints with a relay team.  I didn't feel that great during the run.  I don't think I was running as fast as I could've if I would've felt relatively okay.  Long cool down. 

     Medium pace.  I pushed it at some parts.  It felt alright, not the best, but better then yesterday, mainly because it was slower.