C Mantz Running

AM-ran with JD and James. It was pretty cold, but even though we ran around town, we still only saw 3 cars driving. I liked it, everyone was enjoying sleeping in. Saw a lot of deer this time around. 11.7 for the run.

PM-Ran alone. It was pretty warm(35 degrees or so). Felt a lot better than this morning.

3 easy miles in the morning. 

11.5 miles in the afternoon. The workout was 4xmile at 4:30-36. It didn’t go great, but I did it on the road and alone. Plus it was 26 degrees, so I don’t feel too bad about being slower than the guys doing it on the track in Provo. I went 4:30, 4:50, 4:44, 4:47. Kinda tough. After I did 4x200m and I was about 30-32 on all of those. 

AM-5.1 easy miles with James and JD. It was really cold, only 15 degrees. And it’s not supposed to warm up much today. It has been fun running with these guys. 

PM-5 easy miles up Smithfield Canyon.  Still pretty cold, but I warmed up well.  I'm super excited for the race next week.  Excited to get a PR!

3 mile warm up, then 10X400m with a little less than 90 seconds rest.  My splits:64, 62, 60, 60, 60, 61, 61, 61, 60, 59.  4.5 miles cool down.  This workout was fun, and I was super happy I came down last night to do it.  Doing this on the road in Smithfield or Logan would have been pretty terrible.  I stuck with the group on the first few, then after the 5th or 6th, things got pretty seperated, but I still finished with Kramer and Clayson.  It all felt pretty controlled for me, except the starts, they always seemed really fast.  Shoutout to Marcus Dickson for being a total animal in the workout today, as well as a great teammate.

Icy run today. We ran on a trail from Clayson’s house to Kramer’s. The trail had a section that was super icy for at least two miles. It felt like the run was never going to end. Lots of sliding and falling. If I do this run again, it won’t be in the winter.

Good long run today. It felt easier than usual, probably because we didn’t hit very many 5:30-40s in it. Our average pace for our group was 5:56. It felt hard, but not too bad. This week is a new high in mileage for me. Hopefully it contributes well in my races this next season. 

AM-4 easy miles

PM-Easier workout today. Mile at tempo, 800 at 5k pace, and 400 at mile by 3. It went 4:55, 2:13, 61, 4:57, 2:16, 58(I got a little excited on this one), 4:55, 2:12, and 58(everyone went fast on this one, so I don’t feel bad about that). Good run today.

AM-3.25 easy

PM-10 easy miles then strides 

AM-3.4

PM-warm up, then tempo mile, 800@3k pace(I think), 400@mile pace, 200 @ 30, Times two. Mile was 5:00, then 2:09, 61, 29, 2:09, 60, 28. Cool down after. I felt super sore before the workout due to weights on Monday, but I’m feeling better now. I’m excited to race this weekend.

Took it easier today.  Felt pretty beat from the last few days, but I think I'll be good by Saturday. 

5 easy miles with some strides. 

Good race, not great. I prepared near perfectly as far as running, eating, and workouts this week, but not mentally. I just wasn’t ready to race, but it was only a few seconds slower than the goal time. I’ll write more tomorrow about it.

Shakeout in the morning.  Felt good.  It was a little harder to stay busy and not overthink the race when you don't have classes to think of the whole day.  Went and watched the mile around 1.  It was a bit sad to see that most of the guys I have been training with just races that didn't reflect their fitness.  This made me doubt my training and fitness because these were the same guys I trained with. This was a big mistake, and I think this was a problem for me.  After I warmed up, got my spikes, and prepared.  I was running in uniform, so I was super excited about that.  Well, I lost track of time and didn't get as many strides in as I wanted.  After that things went pretty much perfect.  The gun went off and Clayson was to the right of me, and things were just nice.  I got right behind Chase who was pacing us.  We went out kinda fast, but then slowed down.  At 1200m our splits were 64, 66, 68. Clayson realized the pace was slowing and passed me and well, him and Chase just kept going.  I think my mental state wasn't there as much as it needed it to be.  I was about 4:27 at the mile.  They had got about a half second on me.  Probably 4 meters.  After that every lap Clayson just got another half a second ahead of me.  The race just happened so fast.  I should've stuck it harder, but just didn't want focused.  The pacing was great for me, and if I would've just stuck with Clayson(he was going the exact pace I wanted to go) I would've been right where I had make a goal to be.  With 200m to go I made a move and got fairly close to Clayson (one second behind him), and then with 100m left I just stopped focusing in the moment.  I think if I would've pushed that last 100m, I could've been 8:16.  

Overall, this race was a good learning experience.  I learned that I prepared great, and that everything seemed to be in my favor today.  I just wasn't focused, as well as I doubted myself when I shoud'nt have.  I plan on focusing more in the next race. I'm pleased to run a new PR as well.  I'm happy for Clayson, as he ran a great race.  He didn't have anyone pushing him for the last 1000 meters, and I bet if I would've been close to him he could've ran faster.  Fun race though.  

4 mile cool down with Clayson, Noah Jacobs, and Michael after.  Another cool takeaway is that I did more mileage this week than any week in high school and still ran a PR.  

AM-12 miles.  5 with JD, then 7 more on my own.  Felt a bit tired at first, but after a bit felt great.  

PM- 4 easy miles with McMillan. 

AM-4 easy miles with Talem. 

PM-11 miles. Warm up, then 5 mile tempo. Not sure on all our mile splits, but we were something like 4:57 for the first and then 3 and 4 were 4:45ish. I wasn’t too far behind the front group. I ran 24:13 overall, so I’m pretty happy about it. Cool down then weights, then some studying. Lots of studying. 

Easy run with some strides.

AM- 4 easy miles

PM 6x800m with 2:30 rest, then 4x200 with 122m jog. 800s were 2:09, 2:10, 2:09, 2:07, 2:06, 2:07. 200s were 29, 28,28,28. 

I was pretty tired from yesterday. I did a lot of homework, probably more than I’ve ever dated in a single day. Today I was just feeling worn out, so the 8.5 easy miles were nice. Strides afterward.

Looks like winter finally decided to come. Today was pretty wet and snowy. I felt super cold and just not into it. During the run Adam got covered by snow when a snow plow came by on the way back, but he kept a good attitude. About half the team did the run pretty quick. I was with the other half that took it slower. 

AM-4 easy miles. Felt really good. Cold. 

PM-workout. Mile breakdown. Felt more tired than I should’ve. Went 4:29, 3:16, 2:08 and 61. Felt harder than the last time I ran a mile at sub-4:30 during a workout, but maybe that’s good for me. 

Felt super tired and sluggish. I just need to rest a bit. 10, then strides, then 3 laps. 

AM-4 easy miles with Talem. 

PM-mile breakdown. 4:29, 3:16, 2:08, 61.

am-7

Pm-3

AM-3 near the pier.

PM-3 in Central Park with strides. 

Great race. The race went out slow, then Clayson made a big move from behind and took the lead. I eventually made it back to the front group, tried to take the lead with 270m to go, but the guy sped up. I got passed by Danny Carney in the last 30 meters and he won our heat. Fun race, more to come. 

AM-4 easy miles with Talem.

PM-12 easy miles then strides.

AM-4 easy miles

PM-4xmile with 400 jog recovery in between. It was pretty tough. The first one I just tried to stay by Clayson and Danny and we hit 4:27. The second one felt easier, and I hit 4:26. Third one felt good for the first 800 then my legs hurt. I decided to dig a bit and take a chance to stay consistent instead of playing it safe for the last one. 4:26 again. The last one after 800m the group started gapping me and I just couldn’t get my legs moving. 4:32 with the last lap in 70. I’m happy with the workout. It was good enough weather to run on the outdoor track. I’m pretty tired now. 

10 easy miles with strides. 

am-4 easy miles 

PM-11.5. 8x1000m @ 3:05, 3:02, 3:00, 3:00, 3:00, 3:00, 3:02(I fell of the group here) and 2:59. with 1 min rest at intermural Field. 2x400 after at 65, and 62. Pretty hard day today. Everything was just hard. My homework was the hardest I’ve ever had it, weights were harder than usual, and I’m pretty tired. 

8 easy miles with Adam and Jake. 

Long run up at deer creek. I woke up late, so I drove up separate and ran on my own. 

AM-4 easy miles with Kramer

PM- mile breakdown. I felt tired, similar to the week of New York. 4:28, 3:16, 2:08, 60. I’m confident and excited for Iowa this weekend. The goal is to run a time that will get me to indoor nationals. 

AM-3 miles

PM-Easy run around Carterville with strides after.  Didn't feel the greatest, but I know that I'll be ready for Friday.  

AM-3 miles

PM-2x400 at 61, 58, 2x200 at 28, 27.  

AM-3 cold miles

PM-3 miles with strides

I’ll write more later. Not the race I wanted. I was hoping to run a qualifying time for nationals, but it just wasn’t my day. 

So, here it goes.  Our race was pretty late, 6:40, so we had a lot of time to wait.  Coach was pretty excited about 5 of us going for national qualifying times, Rory, McMillan, Me, Clayson, and Danny.  I put a lot of pressure on myself going into this race, and I think this pressure was very unnecessary.  We did a shakeout around 12, then went and got lunch.  I warmed up about an hour before my race.  I watched Danny, Rory, and Clayson's race before and they went pretty quick(both Rory and Danny ran 13:41 and broke Jared's school record, so that was super cool to see.  Clayson ran with a lot of grit and kept the pace fast when the pacers slowed down).  I did strides and got to the line. I was right by Mcmillan, and Brayden was near the outside.

Gun went off, and I felt pretty good.  I got out well, just tried to get in a good position.  I wasn't very relaxed, but just felt like racing.  I was in between 7th and 10th I think.  I slowly moved up.  The pacer took us through a little slow, but I just tried to not think about it, because that stress can be detrimental to me(too many races where I stressed about time in high school).  After a while, I moved up and the race had Clayton pacing us.  I went on the outside of Peter Lomong as McMillan moved up on the inside and were in first and second (not counting Clayton who was pacing us so we could get a qualifying time).  Well, things were good here, but the pace just felt like it kept getting faster.  I'm not sure what it was, but I started hurting.  Like, a lot.  I just didn't see a chance for me to qualify, and I lost the mental game.  One by one people started passing me.  I gave a less than perfect effort to stay in it, but I let the pain win over.  With 400m to go, I saw I needed to run 63 to break 14 minutes.  Well, then I passed 300m and I needed to run about 48.  Then I needed to run 31 seconds the last 200m.  I just didn't have it though.  McMillan ran the exact time I was going for and won the heat.  13:48.00.  I'm super pumped for him.  I was pretty down after.  I felt super tired.  When I crossed the line I just let my legs give out and I fell down on my hands and knees.  

After I did a cool down with a few guys I haven't seen since before my mission and a Kenyan runner who was in Clayson's heat.  It was fun talking to the Kenyan.  I love the people of Africa so much.  They are so kind and humble.  It was a tough cool down, like my legs just felt super tired.  Not like post-race tired, but just stiff and slow.  

A lot of takeaways from the race.  I need to work on hydration a bit as well as remember that racing hurts.  One more thing, which is probably the biggest, is to relax in the race.  In my last track 5k, which was 4 years ago, I relaxed for most of the race, and it went super well for the shape I was in.  In this race I was focused on getting position too much.  Good experience, now onto MPSF. 

It was super chilly outside, so we opted for treadmills for the long run. I should've drank more water before, as I was 8 pounds lighter than my usual post-run.  I drank more water after than I may have drank in a single day since returning from Ghana.  5:49 ave. pace.  

AM-no run.  Had to wake up early to play catch up on school work.

PM-12 miles up Eyestone loop and then strides.  Felt super tired again.  This run just felt like a race in pushing to stay with the group.  They were all talking and having a good time though.  I hope I'll be better by tomorrow. 

AM-4 easy miles with Talem.  

PM-8x800m. We started at 5k pace(or atleast the 5k pace for the top guys), then brought it down to 3k pace(again, 3k pace for the top group).  I realized I have the slowest 5k PR of the first group I was with today. It was pretty sweet to think that I'm running with some of the fastest guys in the country.  Not sure why I haven't thought much about that before.  Anyway, it went 2:12, 2:11, 2:15(grass.  Supposed to be 2:10 effort), 2:08, 2:08, 2:16(grass.  Supposed to be 2:10 effort), 2:06, 2:05.  It went pretty good.  Long cool down after.  I felt pretty good today.  I lacked confidence, and so I started out in the back of the front group on all of them, but the workout felt easier than I expected it, so that was good news.  I never got dropped.  Hopefully this continues to build my confidence for next week's race.  

am-4 easy miles 

Pm-10 miles with strides. 

AM-4 easy miles

PM-lake loop tempo. We were told to keep it easier this time around. 4:58 average pace. It was supposed to be 5:00-5:05, but we had the wind at our backs the last mile so it was quicker. We also ran in trainers, which was a bit different than usual.

10 easy miles.  Felt pretty tired overall.  Can't wait until Sunday.  

15 miles in 1:26.  Felt good.  Not very consistent, but I got in a groove at the end of it and felt pretty good.  Ran with Adam for the last 6 miles and just tried to hold a 5:40 pace.  Next long run I'll try to make it longer and maybe faster.  Heard some of the guys that went 18 were going like 5:35 average, which is pretty insane. 

AM- I did part of the mile breakdown.  I ran 1200, 1000, 800, 600, 400.  Times were 3:16, 2:42, 2:09, 1:34, and 60.  It felt good, a lot better than it did a few weeks ago.  I felt smooth.

PM-6 easy miles.  

Ran 20km with Clayson. It was very cold, but a good run. 

2x400, then 2x200m at 61, 59 and 28, 27. I felt good, more controlled than usual. 

AM- 4 easy miles with Clayson. 

PM-2 miles plus 6 strides . I’m super excited for tomorrow, I feel better than usual!

well, at least I’m consistent. Felt a lot better during the race than Iowa, but just didn’t get into it and hurt. Fairly disappointed in myself, but I’m trying to keep my head up high. 3km tomorrow. 

Decidded to run the 3k last minute. Missed a PR by a fraction of a second again. 

AM-4 miles. 

PM-12.4 miles total. 12 easy, then some strides with McMillan. I felt great during the run.  That is until I got tackled in the snow. Then I was a bit cold.  During the strides I felt pretty tight, which was weird, becuase those 12 miles felt pretty easy.  

AM-4 easy miles with Kramer.  Felt pretty stiff.

PM-Mile repeats on the indoor track(too much snow on the outdoor track).  A few of the guys did them earlier, so our front group was a bit small.  We went about 4:31, 4:31, 4:28, 4:24.  On the last one McMillan started pretty quick, and then 800m in I decided to help him keep that fast pace, so I took the lead.  I felt pretty good, it was a bit slower than when we did it outdoors.  

10 miles. Easy, but felt super tired. Strides after. 

AM-4 easy miles

PM-3x2 mile tempo. 3 min recovery between. Felt good in the first ones, but a mile into the last one my legs just hurt and I faded pretty hard. 

5 with Clayson, then 5.5 doing the shoe study

16 miles for the long run. I felt really good until the last two miles, but still held strong and had fun. I’ve been a bit annoyed with long runs because I’ve had to be careful not going too hard before a race.  So today I didn’t kill myself, but I didn’t hold myself back. There was a good group that went quick earlier on; however the last 7 miles were just Clayson, Matt and I. Splits were 6:17, 6:00, 5:56, 5:41, 5:35, 5:37, 5:36, 5:45, 5:28, 5:21, 5:29, 5:22, 5:15, 5:20, 5:12, 5:23.  5:35 average. After we had breakfast at Matt’s home. 

1.5 miles as part of the study. 

AM-4 easy miles

PM-12 miles then strides after. Felt pretty good. 

AM-4 easy miles with Kramer. 

PM-1200 repeats. It wasn’t a very hard workout, but I wasn’t able to go too fast today. 3:20, 3:19, 3,18, 3:17

10 miles. Slow but I felt pretty sick. Not sure what it was. I think it was something I ate.

AM-4 easy miles with Kramer and Talem.

PM-8x400 at 60, 61, 62, 60, 61, 60, then I started the next one but just couldn’t get moving and I gave up. Not sure what it was, but I mentally just couldn’t finish the last two. After a four mile cool down I went back on the track and ran two more in 59 and 60. 

10 easy miles. Stomache hurt nearly the whole time. Not sure what’s up, but at least it was an easy day. 

Long run, felt great, averaged 5:49 pace. After we had breakfast at Brayden’s house and it was pretty fantastic. 

AM-4 easy miles

PM-12 miles and then I went to the track and did 5 strides.  Felt significantly better than last week. 

AM-4 easy miles with Talem and Kramer. 

PM-8X1000m at Intramural field with 60 sec. rest.  I wasn't feeling too good before this workout, but I was going to do my best just to stick with Kramer and Clayton.  We hit 3:04, 3:04, 3:04, 3:03, 3:00, 2:59, 2:56, 2:53.  At the start of the workout, coach said we would do atleast 8 repeats, but I was expecting to do ten.  After 5, Coach said we only had 3 left.  That gave me a bit of a second wind.  For the majority of them Clayton would lead the first half, then I would lead the second half.  Great workout for me, I feel like it's been a while since I've had a workout where I felt this strong. 

10 easy miles. I felt pretty terrible. Stomache hurt quite a bit. However I still finished the run, so that’s a plus.

AM-4 easy miles

PM-10, 5, 3, 2, 1 fartlek. With equal rest except on the 10 we only got 5 minutes. Not sure on overall paces, but we ran through two miles at 9:54, and on the 5 minute we went through the mile at 4:33. Pretty good for running on the road. After the 10 minute the rest felt so easy, but we were going 6 minute pace, which is a bit quicker than necessary. I felt really good though, so that’s two good workouts in this week! 

10 easy miles with a few of the guys on the team. Today is our "spring break," so after I made the drive back to Logan.  

Long run today. I didn't want to run alone, and lucky enough for me, the Utah State runners let me run with them.  It was a nice run, the pace wasn't as quick as ours usually are in Provo, but it was worth it to have people to run with to help me finish the run.  I have a lot of respect for people that can run 17 miles or more completely solo.  

20 km easy and then some strides. 

AM-4 easy miles

PM-Michigan workout.  It was pretty tough, as expected.  However, I remember hurting more the last time we did this, so that's a good sign.  Mile on the track was 4:27; however, our last 800m was in 2:10-11, so that made it hurt quite a bit more. First mile on grass was in 5:03.  It's very different switching from 4:20 pace to 5:00 pace.  It makes 5 min. pace seem foreign because it still takes a considerable amount of energy, but not near as much as 4:20 pace.  1200m was 3:18.  Next mile was 5:03 again.  800m was 2:11. Next mile was 4:56.  400m was in 60 (went out in 31-32, then closed fast), last mile was in 4:49 for me.  During the last grass mile I was behind Clayton Young and Connor McMillan and trying to hang on.  I kept telling myself that these guys were all-americans in track, and that if I could just hang on to them, I might be able to be an all-american this year.  Sadly they dropped me still, but it's still cool to do workouts with guys that are so good.  

AM-4 easy miles

PM-10 easy miles with strides after with John Harper. 

AM- 4 easy miles. Ran into someone who I had a class with last semester and ran with him for 3 of those miles.

PM-10 miles. 2x(mile+800) with 1:1 rest. I felt pretty tired, but just tried to hang on. 4:28, 2:09, 4:27, 2:08. 

10 easy miles.  I felt pretty good.  Quite a bit better than the past few days.  

Long run today.  I felt pretty good, felt relaxed the whole way.  5:52 pace per mile. Pretty tired now, but it's been a good week.  

AM-4 easy miles

PM-3x800, 2x400. 800s were supposed to be 2:12, 2:10, 2:08. We went 2:11, 2:09, and 2:06. 400s were supposed to be 60-62. We hit 59, 57. 

AM-4 easy miles

PM-10 miles and some strides on the track.

2X400m at 64 and 65, then 2x200m at 27.  Felt pretty good.  I'm stoked to be racing again this weekend.  

Ran to the track and did strides

Good race today. Wanted to make our top ten board at BYU, but missed it by just a second. Got the regional qualifying mark as well, so I’m excited to see what the future holds.

Went for about ten minute shakeout with Dallin, Clayton, and Clayson around 2.  I felt pretty good.  A bit sluggish, but legs were ready. Throughout the day I tried my best to relax by doing homework and studying. At 8 PM Clayton and I drove to the meet and watched Clayson race.  Leading up to the race we got to watch a lot of our guys run super well.  Many of them had breakthrough track races and they got me super excited to race.  I feel bad for singling some out because we had most of our team run super well, but Garrett Marsing and Matt owens both threw down some huge PRs in the steeplechase.  Matt, quite unexpectadly ran 8:39. For a guy who was injured most of the indoor track season and in Februrary, that's pretty amazing. Put that on top of him being a redshirt freshman, and it's even more so.

Anyway, I knew I was in good shape and was ready to race fast because nearly everyone I trained with was doing fantastic. \ I had a goal of coming into this race of running 28:45, but if that didn't happen, getting under 28:56(tenth place on the BYU top-ten board, which even Rory and McMilan haven't made yet), or 29 minutes. But all-in-all, I wanted to make sure I qualified.  Having all these goal times for one race is something that I don't recommend, as it wasn't good for me during the race. 

Race: Warmed up with Clayton for two miles, got out on the track, talked with Jerrel a bit, then lined up at the line.  I felt really relaxed. The gun went off and I had no trouble fighting for position.  A runner for Tulsa and another from Portland and I just stuck in the back.  The first lap was by far the easiest. I kept telling myself to relax and focus on the last mile.  I was in last place and came through the first lap around 1:12.  3 seconds slower than 28:45 pace.  I just took no thought of it and told myself to relax. Then we ran a 68 next lap(2:20), then continued close that pace until the 1600m. I felt good, had the space I preferred(I had lane one and didn't have to fight for anything), and was just enjoying it.  The next 1600m had the pace settle in around 69.X seconds per lap and we were running just a tad under 4:40 for it.  I just told myself that I felt 100 times better than the last time I raced a 10km on a track, so just stay on pace. 

At about lap 10, I started to worry a bit.  My right foot started to hurt.  A lot.  This is where my mindest, that I had sadly preparred myself for changed.  I told myself just stay in here and get that regional qualifier. That's all you need.  A for sure regional qualifier is around 29:30, so about 45 seconds slower than my goal.  We hit 5km and I was still feeling good though.  Somewhere around here I decided to make a pass.  Immediately after I regretted it.  No one was going to be as nice to me as I was to them earlier and let me to the inside lane.  I thought about slowing down and letting 3 or 4 guys get ahead so I could run on the rail again, but decided against it. I eventually found a small gap between two runners and cut in.  I kept relaxing, just seeing us run 69.X each lap.  At 6km I started doubting I could do this, even though I felt relaxed and was in good positioning.  At 3200m to go I saw I needed to run a 9:21 about to run under 29 minutes.  Even though my body felt great (other than my foot which felt like I was walking on coals), I was scared to go for anything faster.  Somewhere around here a gap formed and there became 2 packs.  or lines may be a better description as we were all running single file for the most part.  I noticed it too late and told myself that I was too far behind the lead of the second line to get to the first.  I should've just tried moving to the first line.  With 6 laps to go, I realized that I only needed to run 75s to qualify, and told myself to just go for 72s.  If I ran 72s I would finish at 29:10, which isn't a bad time, so I decided to go for that. Around here I was leading a group of guys, one of them was Dillon Maggard who had told me before the race his goal was to just qualify for regionals and run relaxed.  He asked me if I wanted to work together, but I declined due to hoping I would(and could) run faster. Well, it was cool that we did end up running together. Anyway I passed a few guys who had fallen off pretty hard, but I was running around 71s to 72s.  With two laps to go I could see that sub-29 goal leaving sight.  With 400m to go, I realized I only needed to run a 66 to go under 29 minutes.  A 66 isn't hard. I ran that in practice on Wednesday and it felt super easy.  So I sped it up moderately.  A guy from Air Force, one from Portland, and Dillon passed me with about 300m to go.  I was like, eh, oh well, until I had about 100m to go and realized I could still go under 29 minutes.  I felt great.  So I kicked it in.  On the curve I passed Dillon, who said something to me (I think he apologized for passing me and making me pass him on the curve, but I'm not 100% sure), and then had the thought of "oh crap, Rory is going to give me a hard time for letting this Portland guy outkick me," and tried to speed it up, but he already had such a good lead on me, and I just couldn't catch up. I crossed the line seeing 28:57, and was pretty happy. 

I wasn't really out of breath at all, and immediately started a conversation with the Air force guy who passed me after seeing him throw up right in front of me.  After I talked with Jerrel as we were leaving the track and my foot(which I had forgotten a bit about) felt terrible. It was similar to the last time I raced a 10km on a track, but this time the bottom of my foot hurt the most.  It felt like the skin on the bottom had rubbed away completely.  It hurt.  Later I had the trainer look at it, and sure enough, two square inches were rubbed raw.  After taking off my shoes, it hurt even more.  After it got taped up and stuff I tried to cool down, but it hurt, so I decided to put it off and cool down with Dallin.  His race was a lot of fun to watch as he's been injured for nearly a full two years and he came back and ran a personal best of 29:17. After I cooled down with him.  

Long run. The first 5.5 or so were pretty uphill on a trail. We went from about 300 feet in elevation to about 1700 feet. This wasn’t really my favorite run. Foot was in a good amount of pain even though it was all taped up. The trainer said it should be good by Monday. There were some beautiful views at the top of the mountain though. 

AM-No run. 

PM-12 miles plus 5 strides after. Felt pretty good, had my foot taped up before the run. Probably went a bit too fast.

AM-4 easy miles on the treadmill. It was pretty cold this morning. 

PM-Recovery workout today. It was 3x(800, 400) on the grass. I’m not 100% sure on what we hit, but I think we were around 2:10-2:12 range on the 800s and 62 for all the 400s. Grass is tough some days. 

AM-4 easy miles

PM-10.5 miles and strides. Got Matt and Zac to run the strides with me, so that was nice. I felt really good today, hopefully it carries over to my workout tomorrow. 

AM-4 miles

PM- 20x400m @66 with 30 seconds recovery. This workout wasn’t horrible. We hit probably eight at 65, one at 64, a couple 67s, and finished with a 60-61, and the rest were 66s. Clayton, Danny and I switched off leading every one, which made it nice. Jake led one near the end to help. It was just a fun good workout. My calves are pretty toast after. The only thing I’d change is to be more ready for when the next repeat is going to start, because sometimes I wasn’t ready to run.

Carterville extended with some strides after. I felt pretty tired all day, and I guess that’s just what happens at the end of a long week of workouts and schoolwork.

17 miles from a gas station up Provo canyon. It was a beautiful run. Now too sure on our average pace, but I know we were ran a few miles in the 5:30-5:45 range going up the canyon. The mountains looked wonderful, the company was good, and it was perfect weather.  It a bad way to end the week’s training.

AM-4 easy miles

PM-13.1 miles. 4 strides. We ran on the bonneville shoreline trail, then I did my strides and then ran a bit with Connor McMillan. I felt pretty good. 

AM-4 easy miles

PM-4Xmile workout today.  It went well at the start, but I may have overdone it early on and started dying on the last one.  If I can remember correctly we went 4:25, 4:21, 4:23, then I did 800m in 2:15, then a 400m a minute later in 65(pretty much just ran with Clayton here, but taking a break in the 3rd 400m).  Pretty disappointed that I called it after the 3rd on.  My last 400m of the 3rd repeat I got dropped a bit, but didn't get too worried. Well, I just had a mental problem during the 4th one, I felt pretty great, and I feel good now, so I just need to get ready to gamble at the end of workouts and end of races.  I haven't really blown up super bad in a workout or race, and this makes me wonder if I just don't go for it at the end.  Work to do mentally.  

AM-4 easy miles

PM-9 miles total. Easy run with strides. Majority of it was on soft surface. The weather was fantastic. 

AM-3.25 easy miles on the grass fields.

PM-lake loop tempo with the group. The goal was to stay together as it was super windy and be consistent. We ran 5:12, 5:05((both into the wind), 5:08, 4:55, 4:50 if I remember correctly. I liked this, it wasn’t super tough and we ran in trainers. Since Tuesday was pretty tough, it was kinda a recovery workout. 

10 easy miles

Ran early with Zack Jacklin so we could go up to the USU invite to cheer for some of our guys up there. 5:57 pace

AM-4 easy miles

PM-1200, 800, 800, 400, 400.  Pretty easy workout, but I was feeling super tired.  It was also super windy.  School and running have just taken out most of my energy.  I don't get how others on the team can do this when they are more into their majors, have jobs, and have other things going on in their lives.  Anyway, the 1200 went well, we hit 3:15.  The 800s were both in 2:09.  The wind didn't seem too bad, until it was my turn to lead it, and then it felt like I was barely moving even though I had to put a spring effort in.  The first 400m was a 60, but felt super taxing.  After the first 100m of the second I just felt super out of it and just stopped and jogged around the track to finish.  Just need to find a way to be more focused/less tired.  It's weird for me to be this tired, as I always get between 8-9 hours of sleep at the least, and felt like I rested pretty well yesterday.  Guess not.  

AM-4 easy miles 

PM-Ran earlier than usual because I had a presentation for a class at 4.  I went with the 880 group, and then did some strides after.  Felt better as the run went on, but still quite a bit tired.  Hopefully I'll be good for the race this weekend.  

I felt better today.  We did 2X400m, 2x200m.  I didn't bring my flats just because I didn't want myself to be competitive at all, and to just run my own pace.  I think we went 63 or 64(also didn't use watch), and 59.  Felt pretty controlled.  200s were probably around 27.  After the run I felt pretty good.  

Today we ran an easy run around El Camino College.  It was a lot of fun.  After we did strides.  Watched some great races too for a bit. We had two guys run times in the 10,000m that should get them to regionals, so it looks like we have 6 guys so far in the 10,000m that have run 29:35 or better, which has been fun to see.  We also had another teammate run sub-9 minute in the steeple, so that makes 8 guys for our team in that event.  I'm excited for tomorrow!

Good race today. Lots to work on, but it was a fun experience and I learned a lot. 

So, most of the day was pretty simple. Just hung around the hotel, slept, ate, and studied for finals.  We did a small shakeout around 11-12. At about 6:30 or so we went to the meet.  I was feeling prett good, but I think I ate too much before my race becasue I could feel a bit of food still in my stomache, as if it hadn't digested adn was just sitting on top of everything.  I checked in, and Dallin, Jake, and I started to warm up around 50 minutes before our race.  After getting back, we stretched out and right before I was about to go to the tent to report for the race, I heard them announce that they were combining both of the heats, and that they would run both of them 15 minutes after the first was scheduled.  So, know I had another 15 minutes or so.  I ran a bit more, stretched, and tried to lengthen out my preparation time.  Got to the track, they talked to us for a bit, then quickly put on my spikes, did 3 strides and lined up. 

Gun went off, and I went to the inside of lane 5(They had a double waterfall start) and tried to stick with it.  The first 200m was very quick, I was near the back at 31ish.  Next 400m was pretty relaxed, and about in 68-69, so I was at 1:40 at 600m.  I tried to relax and I gradually got into lane 1.  I was feeling really relaxed.  The next few laps I stayed in position and as people went outside to pass others, I would move ahead, staying in lane one.  I slowly passed a few people in lane one.  Right before the mile marker Danny Carney got on my shoulder and then moved passed me.  I tried to follow, but he was moving up pretty quick. We hit the 1600m mark at 4:25.  The next mile was just about consistency.  I was so excited.  I just kept thinking that today was going to be the day I run 13:45.  I stayed in position, and the front pack had people slowly falling off, so I tried to stay on that train.  I came through 3200m at 8:50.  I was feeling really good.  Hurting, but it felt controlled.  I knew I could go faster.  Somewhere in the next few laps, I either lost sight of what was going on, or just didn't have the strength necessary to continue to speed it up.  I remember with 800m to go, I saw that I had fallen off pace, and changed my goal to 13:49.  At 800m to go I passed Jerrell Mock and told him to come with me.  I looked back 100m later to see him over 10m behind.  We'd both fallen off the train, but him more so than me.  By the time we hit 400m to go, I was in no man's land.  The pack had about 30-40m atleast on me, and the next guy back was about 20m behind.  I saw I needed to run 63 to run under 13:50, so I thought it was easily plausible.  I tried moving up, telling myself not to lose sight of the goal.  It felt like a workout where I was falling apart though.  With 100m to go the guys behind me had caught me, and one flew by me.  I ran 66 my last lap, so that was a bit frustrating.  I was happy to see 13:52 because it was a PR and I knew I had given an honest effort.  I had put myself where I needed to be, but just didn't run the necessary 4:22 last mile necessary to accomplish my goal.  

After it was fun to find out that we had a 5 guys in the heat run PRs.  We cooled down with Cam Levins after.  He's a pretty standup guy and it was a lot of fun to talk to him and hear how he's doing.  He didn't race near his capabilities, but it was a lot of fun to be in a race with him.  

We got back to Provo around 2:30 and I went to take a final while most of the team went on their long run.  And then I went on my long run alone.  I ran from the fieldhouse up the canyon and back.  I planned to extend the run to get me to 70 miles for the week, but when I was at 14.5 and went to run grass loops, my body was extremely tired, so I decided to finish it at 15.  I felt super tired.  I think tests can take a lot out of you when they take a lot of mental strength. I felt the 5km yesterday in my legs as well.  

AM-12 easy miles before taking some finals.  

PM-5 easy miles then some strides.  Feel like there is a HUGE weight lifted off my back with these 2 finals done.  

AM-8x1000m with 1 minute rest. Around 3:02-03 average at intermueral Field. It felt really relaxed.  

PM-4.25 easy miles with Josh. 

AM-5 easy miles

PM-10 miles up on fire trail. 

I did part of the workout today due to the race coming up on Saturday. For me it was 400, 800, 1200, 400. 4 at mile pace, 800 at 3k pace, 1200 at 5k pace. Hit about a second fast on each one. 59, 2:07, 3:17, 59. I’m very excited to race a mile again, but I have to try and remember how to pace it. 

7 easy miles with strides 

shakeout, warm up, felt really nervous, then the race started. Coach said to pace it on the third lap if the other pacers had a problem happen, and to NOT get in the way of those hoping to qualify for regionals. Well, I felt good at 1200m and the other pacers did their job. I started to lead here, but then Talem ran into me, so I jumped out of the way, and ran into Marcus, and didn’t want to get in their way, so i panicked. This was bad. I jumped off the track and realized I just messed up my chances of running a fast mile(or any mile race for that matter). I should’ve just dropped back and finished. I get really good, and I’m sure I can run 4:07-08 at altitude right now. Lots of running later

AM-5 easy miles

PM-8x400 @ 1500m pace with short recovery.  Went 59, 60, 60, 60, 60, 59, 62, and then ran 32 for the first 200m of the last one. I felt really tight on the last two, and the last one I didn’t push as hard as I should’ve. Felt really good on the first 6 and had to tell myself to stay relaxed.

AM-12 easy miles

PM-5 easy miles and then some strides. I felt really tight and tired still. I felt like I had to put in a lot of extra energy to run than usual.

AM-8 easy miles before class. 

PM-8.2 easy miles. 

6x800; 2x400 at 2:12, 2:11, 2:11, 2:11, 2:10, 2:11, and 63, 63. I wasn’t feeling great today, but I still feel like it was a good workout. Nothing exceptional, but still within the range we were supposed to run. 

woke up feeling kinda sick and it got progressively worse as the day went on. I watched some races at the BYU invite after class, and then went on a run with the guys at 3. It was hot! I felt super sick as the run continued with a headache. This may explain why I’ve felt extra tired this week. 

Long hard run. Not very fast, but I felt very tired. Felt very sick during the run and the 2 hours following it.

AM-4 miles

PM-12 miles at Spanish Fork Canyon trail.  

7AM-4 easy miles with Talem

9AM-Some of the guys decided to work out in the morning, so I thought that it would be best to work out with them in the morning than in the heat at 3.  It ended up being the best idea, even though I had just finished my run less than 2 hours before.  We did a fartlek of 10, 5, 3, 2, 1.  We ran it on the grass at intermeural park.  We went 4:47 pace, 4:40 pace, 4:36 pace, 4:22 pace, 4:07 pace.  

AM-4 miles

PM-10 easy miles.  Went on the rope swing during the run for a fun little break.  

2X1200m at 3:15 and 3:14, then a 400m at 59.  

PM-Short easy run

AM-3 easy miles

PM-5 miles and strides.  I felt really good, so tomorrow should be fun. 

Not a great race today. Our pacing was fairly inconsistent (I heard we were at 28 at 200m, but around 64 at 409 meters), and it just felt off. After the first 409 meters I didn’t see a PR coming. After the 809 mark being 2:07, I really didn’t see it. After that, Marcus and Kramer took off and ran a 59 the next lap, and I just didn’t respond. It kinda seemed like a bad dream. With 400m to go I saw I was at 3:11 and just didn’t have any motivation other than to not let anyone else pass me. Finished in 4:17 and felt fairly good after. It didn’t feel like a race even though I prepared well. After ran a long cool down with Michael with a 3 mile pickup at 5:06 pace. Felt like I could keep going, but wanted to make sure I would be recovered for next week’s workouts.

AM-4 easy miles

PM-12 easy miles with strides after.

AM-4 easy miles

PM-5 mike tempo with last mile at fast finish. Splits were either 5:00 or just a couple seconds faster, then my last mile was 4:36-37 I think. It felt good and my time was around 24:30 so it was a good workout overall. It helped me visualize regionals.

Had a test that went long so I ran on my own today.  Felt tired. Strides at the end.

AM-Fast finish 800s. Due to the state meet, we worked out on Provo High School's track.  The 800s were supposed to have the first 400m at 65, then the next at 60.  They first one had splits of 65, 57.  The next one was 64, 59, and the final one I went 66, 60.  I kinda got dropped by the top guys no the last one, but I was with them for hte first two.  At the start of the last one, one of our guys was tying his shoes or something, and then coach said go.  I expected him to call us back, so I didn't start out for nearly a second.  After about 130m I caught back up to the guys.  At the start of the home strech, they started speeding it up on the first lap. On the second lap I just gave it all I had and told myself to just hold the speed I could, and see if I could still run a 62.  I was happy to run a 60 on it.  Fun workout.  Looking forward to regionals, especially with this added confidence. After I watched some of the races at the statemeet and saw fellow blogger Ryan Raff break my 3200m 4A record, running 8:54! 

PM-3 easy miles.  

10 easy miles with Brayden in the afternoon.  Felt kinda tired.  

12 mile long run.  Felt pretty good and relaxed.  I actually had energy to be productive for the rest of the day, so this long run didn't take much out of me.  

AM-4 easy miles

PM-600, 400, 300, 200. Fairly easy workout. 1:32, 59, 40, and 26 to my memory. Lots of fun. 

AM-5 easy miles

PM-3 easy miles

AM-2 easy miles

PM-3 miles and strides

Ran a shakeout around 12, then relaxed most of the day.  Did some studying, took a nap, ate lunch, and I felt good.  I felt really confident in preparation for this race, as I've had great workouts and I'm in a lot better shape than I was a few months ago.  We warmed up about 45 minutes or so before the race was supposed to start, then went to the bull pen, had a team prayer, did strides, and then started.  Possibly the biggets factor in helping me throughout this race was the fact that we had 8 runners from BYU in it.  It made for a good time. 

We got to the start line, the gun went off, and then I got shoved around a ton!  People were throwing arms like a boxing match where you hit only with your elbows.  Then the gun went off again and I was super grateful because they called us back.  I didn't get out terrible the first time, but I was super started that I freaked out a bit.  The second time we started the shoving was probably half as much, but I did get out worse.  I started out close to the back, not sure where exactly.  I saw Michael Ottison, Connor Weaver a bit ahead and assumed our top 3 were in the top few.  At 200m the pace started to go really slow, and I debated making a move.  This uncertainty is someitmes what hurts me most in races, but Farnsworth turned back to me and told me to relax.  I was in the outside of lane 1, so I wasn't running really wide comparitively.  Farnsworth talked to me for a bit during the next few laps, and then Brayden came up on my left shoulder and said something.  After this I started to lose track of where we were on our laps and just tried to be patient.  There were a lot of surges throughout the pack.  I just told myself to relax. This lasted until about 4km.  Then I started to get a bit nervous.  No one had dropped off the pack yet, and I was still close to the back and was starting to feel fatigued.  I had the thought pop in my mind that I may not qualify or finish close to it.  I told myself to relax and be fast over and over again, but I started to panic a bit.  

I tried to catch up to the front pack a few times, but didn't want to risk spending any extra energy that was needed for a kick.  I made a few hard moves around 5km, but all these were in vain as I kept getting pushed out of the pack or pushed back.  Around 2 miles to go I was around 30th, maybe a bit behind. I didn't know the exact distance we had left until the announcer said that we had 3200m to go.  I told myself I felt good, and that 2 miles really isn't that far, so I made 2 hard moves to get up to the front.  I again felt confident I could qualify.  The first one I really had to struggle to get up, and as I went back on the inside of lane 1 for position (after having gone out to lane 3 to get around part of the pack), but was pushed really hard to the outside.  A few people cut in where I was and passed me, and I was a bit bummed.  After that I later made another hard move to the front, cutting out into the outside of lane 3 to pass a lot more people.  This was around 5 or 6 laps to go.  Then the pace started rolling. Clayton was on my inside and heard me moving up and encouraged me. This helped a lot.  I started counting guys somewhere around here, and there were exactly 12 ahead of me.  With about a mile to go the announcer said that there were 16 in the chace pack, with Robert Bradt up ahead of us.  I just remembered our fast finish tempo last week and kept telling myself to just stay in it until a mile to go.  Then, with a mile to go, I told myself to grind it.  Then with 3 laps to go it started to slow down again.  Hitting the home straight with 900m to go people started coming around on both sides of me and passing me.  I just told myself to relax and run fast.  I did my best to be in the top 12.  I counted myself as number 10 with 600m left (or maybe it was 200m left...).  As we were moving during these laps, I just remembered our fast finish 800s were had last week.  During that workout I told myself to just stick with Rory, Clayton, and McMillan and I would run fast.  And we did.  So, during the race, I told myself to run with them, and I'll qualify. I stayed fairly close to them all until about 200m left.  With 150m to go, I was sure I was going to qualify, and trid to ramp up the pace.  With 90 meters to go, I got a terrible booty lock.  My arms stopped moving fast, my legs were hurting, and it took everything in me to get to that line.  I got passed right at the line, and was fairly certain I had qualified; however, when they had the list come up on the screen on the field, I was nervous.  It was slow, and I didn't see my name for a while.  Then at number 10, they had me.  Turns out I took 11th, so maybe I didn't see the screen correctly or they didn't put it on correctly.  

After the race it was great talking to the guys on the team and having so many good races.  Farnsworth ended up being 19th, so that was a great race for him, and Michael and Weaver really put themselves in it in the race, both finishing in the top 30.  McClelland didn't have his best race, but he seemed happy to be there.  The cool down was great, I really love the team culture we have, and now we have 4 of us going to nationals as well(the goal was to get 5 to tie the record for most athletes in a single event, but 4 is still really good).  It's been quite an adventure getting back from serving a mission and doing my best to get in shape, and I'm very grateful the support I've received.  On to Nationals!

AM-5.1 easy miles with Rory and Clayton.  

PM-5 easy miles with a few of the guys.  

15 mile long run with Clayson.  We went all over the area, mostly on trails near the river though.  It was a nice long run to hear his thoughts on his race.  He ran really well.  Some of our other teammates ran really poorly, which was heartbreaking to see.  

AM-12 easy miles on the Spanish Fork trail.  It was beautiful up there, and for some reason it was less rocky then I remember it.  The weather was wonderful.  I felt pretty good.  

PM-4 easy miles with McMillan and Clayson.  

AM-5 easy miles with Farnsworth.  

PM-6 with strides

mile, 1200, and fast finish 800. Went 4:35, 3:21, 1:59(splits were 62.x, 57.0)

AM-8 miles and strides

PM-3 easy miles

800, 300, 800, 300. 2:07, 41, 2:08, 41, then 2x200m at 30.

"Long Run" for the week.  It really wasn't much of a long run, but Coach wanted me to keep it short, so I did.  I was tempted to keep going with the others, but just had to exercise some self control and limit myself.  I'm excited for Wednesday.   

AM-3 easy miles

PM-4 miles on Pre’s trail, then 2x400, 2x200 at 62, 60, 28, 27. Felt pretty easy for the most part. The first 400 was a bit hard to get into it(that and we were told to run 65, so I thought it would be easier. 

AM-3 easy miles

PM-Not sure on the exact distance, but it was over 3.  Went to the track and did strides.  

AM-2 easy miles as a shakeout.  

Race-Warmed up, felt kinda sick to my stomache.  Not sure if it was something I ate or not.  In a gist, the race was terrible.  As we were on the starting line, it didn't feel like a race to me.  I even had less butterflies than for a workout.  I just felt strange.  Anyway, we started, and I got out faster than I had planned(I'm sure everyone did), and tried to get into a groove.  Well, I thought it went out fast, so I should try and slow it down to 68-70s and just try to run a more even-paced race so that I could have the energy necessary to kick.  I stayed behind Rory for a bit as he started moving up, and thought that this was perfect.  A fast start meant a lot of people would burn themselves out, which is exactly what I was hoping for.  Anyway, after 2km or so, I got passed by the guy in last place and was suddenly in last.  I tried to relax and try to stay with him, but then I just couldn't.  I felt really low on energy.  At 3200m, I saw I was still under 9:20 (I didn't think this at the time, but it was likely a slow mile as at 1600m I was around 4:27), and I told myself to just try to run 70s and then people will come back to me. Well, the next 200m wasn't a 35, and I realized that I was going really slow.  I tried to put more effort in, but my body wasn't responding. It felt like a nightmare, where you try to run fast, but you move insanely slow.  I felt so out of energy.  After 13 laps, the front pack lapped me.  I had a water cup in my hand and I held it out for McMillan to take, but he didn't because he was afraid of that leading to a DQ (which I''m still not sure if it would have).  Anyway, a couple laps later I saw Rory and Clayton getting lapped on the big screen (which was super disheartening) and they were 200m ahead of me.  I made it a goal to catch up to them because I thought maybe there was someone from another team that was around them that I could beat.  About at this point, coach told me I was done, and I think this was him telling me to drop out.  I told him before the race I was feeling sick, and he encouraged me to not think about it and to do my best.  These laps from 8 to the end were some of the hardest of my life.  I knew my family had flown to watch me, and my coaches and school had invested a lot in having me run at nationals, and I was going so slow.  It was just a terrible experience to have them watch me as I just tried to finish.  After I just felt so disappointed in myself.  I felt terrible about everything.  It was so hard to see a bright-side of life, as I'd put so much effort and sacrifice into this race.  I kept thinking about the homework I'd skipped because I wanted to get to bed early, and how it was all to race well.  

\ It was a real bitter end to the season.  I had a lot of hope going into this to finish in the top 8, but it's sad to say that I wasn't even within 2 minutes of that. There is a lot to be learned though, and gratitude and humility are part of those.  Now in reflection of the race a couple weeks later, I'm trying to focus on cross country, and keep my head up.  I know that the infection I had likely played a major role in the lack of energy in the race (I've felt that I have no energy to run for almost the last two weeks).  I'm hoping things go better in the future.  

ran with some guys in the morning on pre’s trail and near the track in the afternoon. Noticed a big bump on my back. 

ran with guys on their shakeout, warm up and cool down, then had to run with some of the girls on the team at night because they were kinda scared of running alone in the dark.  I had a big bump on my back that kept hurting. It hurt to walk, sit, not so much to run though. Judd operated on it with a needle, but couldn’t get anything other than blood out. Pain was consistent through my entire hip. 

Didn’t sleep well last night, I kept waking up in pain. Later I thought I’d be good to go for a run. Bad idea. I ran with some of the guys for a bit, but the pain on my back, side, and lower stomach area was pretty bad. Called it quits later than I should’ve. Went to an urgency care in Eugene and got it numbed and they dug pretty deep hoping to find puss, but only a lot of blood. The rest of the day was spent getting antibiotics and laying in bed. Connor McMillan got a get-well card and had a lot of athletes sign it at the meet, even a few on their victory laps. I’m not sure if this effected me in the race at all,  but there’s a chance, although I also think it was something we ate.

Thought my body would be feeling good enough to run.  Had a rough day yesterday where I was in a crazy amount of pain during church and throughout other parts of the day.  Advil helped when I took it though.  Today was not a good run.  I went 4 pretty slow in the afternoon, turned around, and had little energy to run back.  It just felt so hard to run.  I stopped at the track on the way to the locker room and got a drink from one of the drinking fountains, sat down for 10 minutes, then walked the last half mile.  It was a pretty miserable experience.  I won't be running again for a few days.  

AM-Went for a 6 mile easy run with Connor Ross.  Still felt really tired. 

PM-Again, felt tired, but ran 4 miles in the afternoon.   The trainer inspected my infection in my back and it had started oozing puss, so he got a lot out and set up a doctor's appointment.  The Doctor in Oregon said I should be healed by tomorrow (or atleast the infection should be gone, the hole would still be there).

Had the most painful time where the doctor tried to clean the infection.  It was just filled with him squeezing my back and blood just spilling out with the occasional chunk of puss.  Later I went for a 10 mile run.  Still felt low on energy and just to run an easy pace felt hard.  

12 miles with a few of the guys.  I kept telling them to slow it down because they had a race next week (Jake and Danny are racing at USAs).  They didn't, because we weren't actually going too quick.  I was really saying that because of how low I felt on energy.  It seemed like every step I had to think about and was just hard.  It reminded me of when I had my stress reaction in high school. 

AM-10 easy miles.  Still a painful.  I ran after another doctor's appointment, where he took out some stuff and the stuffed the hole with other stuff again.  

AM-10 easy miles.

PM-5 easy miles with strides. 

Still felt low on energy today.  Better than last week though.  

AM-4 easy miles.

PM-12 miles with Josh Ward when it was HOT.

It still felt hard to run, but today was easily the best day so far.  Having to think about keeping up with Josh was a bit frustrating.  

AM-10 miles with some of the guys.  Nice and easy, and it actually felt easy this time.  I haven't felt this good in over 2 weeks.  

After I had another doctor's appointment.  He said that the infection will likely be gone by Sunday and then the incision will start to heal.  Hurray!

PM-5 miles.  I went and ran some grass loops and it felt pretty good.  

If anyone cares, I finally updated the race for nationals, so if you want to read that it's up. 

am-8 easy miles with McMillan.

PM-5 easy miles with Aiden and Cade.

15 mile long run. Felt good. 

AM-10 miles.  Went with McMillan and Brayden to run the famous grinder that American Fork runs.  Honestly, it was pretty tough and it surprised me at how steep it was.  We did just enough to stay ahead of the high schoolers, but not enough that it was a race.  After we went on our own run through American Fork and I felt fairly tired. The only part I felt good at was actually the first part of the grinder.  

PM-5 miles.  The team was putting on one of the high school camps, and I decided that after my class I'd go and run with some of the kids.  It was pretty fun running with them.  They had a short fartlek workout and then we did some core.  There was a plank competition and I got my butt kicked by some of the high schoolers.  Hurt both my abs and my pride, haha. 

AM-medium long run with strides.(around 12-12.5 miles).  I felt pretty good.  Got to catch up with Zac Jacklin so that was nice.  

PM-ran with some of the summer campers.  It was pretty fun to run with them.  I'm not technically signed up to help with the camps, but I'm trying to show up and help out.  It's a good break between studying and class.  

AM-10 easy miles.  I felt pretty good.  I need to get back on a good diet and sleep schedule.  Too many chips and ice cream.  

PM-5 miles in 100 degree weather.

Trail run with Clayson and Adam in the morning.  It was pretty tough at some portions, but I liked it as long as it wasn't really rocky.  

PM- 5 easy miles with a gropu of guys on the team. 

AM-10 easy miles on fire road.

15 mile long run and then a run trying to find a canoe I crashed with a few of the guys on the team. At least ran .4 miles.

AM-12 miles with some of guys. 

PM-5.75 miles.  Was planning on doing strides on the grass loops near the track, but as soon as I started one I got yelled at because they are keeping some of the fireworks for the 4th on the grass.  I was a bit annoyed, but then did my strides on the track.  

AM-10, out and back. Felt a bit tired.

PM-4 easy miles with Patch.

AM-10 easy miles around st George. I had to leave at 6 AM due to the heat.

Am2- 5 easy miles around 11:20. It was about 90 degree or so, but it was going to be 100 for the rest of the day so I went earlier.

AM-7 miles early in St. George before the long drive back to Provo to make my class.  Pretty tired and felt a bit off.  Probably good for me.  

PM-8.6 miles with Kramer.  Felt tired early on during the run, but after a while I got into a good rhythym and felt good.  It was hot. 

AM-10.1 miles. Felt good.

Long run at Spanish fork canyon. It got very hot and after about 12 miles the heat started beating me. At 14 and after all I could think of was the water in the car at the end. After I drank 2 liters of water. 

AM-12 easy miles. We had a few alumni run with us so that was cool. 

PM-5 easy miles.

AM-10.3 miles. Long carterville and strides.

PM-5 easy miles with some of the kids at the camp.

AM-10 miles running Walmart loop. Felt tired.

PM-4 easy miles. It was hot.

10 miles running river trail.

AM-10 easy miles. Felt a bit tired, so I’m excited for the weekend and ready to take a couple days where I’m not thinking about school.

PM-6 easy miles.

Long run up at deer creek. At halfway we saw a couple yelling at each other using colorful language. The woman told the man he was the drug addict and then she told us to never get married. A bit interesting, but sad to see.

AM12 miles.

PM-5 miles and then strides.

AM-10 easy miles

PM- 5 easy miles.

AM-10 easy miles.

PM-5 miles with Danny and Weaver at Kiwanis.

AM-5 miles up hobble creek canyon and 5 down. Felt a bit tired.

PM-5 easy miles.  

AM-10 easy miles.  

13 mile "long run" today up at Jeremy Ranch. Saw Coach Murphy as well as a few runners from others schools.  Cut it a bit short as I'm racing next week and coach said to treat the race as the long run. 

8 easy miles with a quarter mile stride after to see how it feels to run sub-5 min. pace.  

Short run with Weston at Sugar House Park.  

I came to Salt Lake City yesterday with Weston, and then stayed the night. Woke up early(4AM), ate some fruits snacks and a granola bar, then we drove over.  I dropped Weston off at the 10k start line and then drove to the busses that drove us to the top.   About 15 minutes before the race I went for a short warm up up the canyon and then came down.  I felt pretty good, not ready for an all out race, but decent.  When I talked to Coach Eyestone about running this race, he said to treat it like a long run, and I asked if I could run it at 5 flat pace, and he said that would be good. I was pretty nervous going into the race though, becuase the fastest mile I've run since nationals was 5:40 and now I was trying to run 13 miles 40 seconds faster. Then the race started.  

I knew if I wanted to run 5 flat pace, I should run with Brett Hales and Riley Cook.  Well, the first mile was out of my comfort zone for sure.  It is pretty downhill, but usually I work into races like this as they're long.  Well, they didn't.  That first mil was hard, and then after going through the second and seeing we were at about 9:25, I asked them what time they were going for.  They said 1:04-05, so I thought that maybe if I was going to run 5:00 pace, maybe I'd just put a bit in the bank.  I was feeling pretty good at 3 miles into it and it felt like we were just cruising, however I had new shoes I was trying out and they were hurting my feet.  I was a bit scared of getting an injury, but gambled it and kept going.  At mile 4, Riley seemed to speed it up, and Brett fell off.  After another half mile, I also fell off. I could've stayed with him here, but made a conscious decision to slow it down, and if I'm close to Riley with 5k to go(when it gets flat), then I'll go for it to catch him, I didn't want to overdo it and have this race put me out for a few days.  Slowly he built a small gap on me from miles 5-7.  I felt pretty good during these portions of the race.  At one point I heard Garrett Barton call out and tell me to catch him, so that gave me some encouragement.  I came through 10km somwhere around 29:30 and halfway around 31:10 I think.  I thought at this point I may have overdone it and gone out too hard, but I felt good.  At mile 8 I started to feel fatigued, and that was about the same time I stopped thinking about my feet hurting.  

The next few miles felt like they went on forever.  I knew I was going to run a good time, but was feeling pretty tired. It's been a long time since I've ran a race this long and it was hard to focus.  After mile 8 I started passing people, and I wasted some energy weeving through people.  I should've just focused on getting to one side of the path and staying on it.  The last few miles were hard to push, I was tired and it took a while for me to set a goal for the next few miles.  I decided to try and go 1:05 and that seemed doable.  With 2 miles to go, it seemed that I needed to run 10:30 for them and I'd do it.  Well, my watch started to get a bit off the distance the mile markers were, so when I thought I had it at the end I cruised it in.  

It was a good effor tthough for the day.  I believe I can go faster, but it might take better preparation, mentally and physically; however I do think that I underestimated how hard it would be to run 65 minutes even on this course(the majority of the course is considerably downhill), and I think I paid the price as it took more out of me.  I don't know if Coach will allow me to run another during the next few years, but it was a fun experience.  I'm excited for cross country even more.  

Mile splits according to my watch: 4:39, 4:47, 4:48, 4:42, 4:48, 4:48, 4:43, 5:09, 5:00, 5:08, 5:15, 5:10, 5:18, 49 for the last .16(watch said it was .16, but it was likely just the extra I was weeving through people the last 4 miles).  

AM-10 easy miles. Legs a bit sore, my left foot has a couple big blisters and those hurt quite a bit, but I can still run.

PM-5 easy miles. Foot pain due to blisters.  Had them drained, but they still hurt. 

AM-9.7 miles.  Lots of foot pain from the blisters.  Also felt more tired than yesterday.  Hopefully a good nights rest will help me recover.  

PM-5.1 easy miles on grass

AM-7.3 easy miles. Lots of foot pain so I turned earlier than planned.

PM-4 easy miles on a trail in Ogden with Garrett Barton.

Long run in Smithfield/Hyde Park/North Logan areas. It felt cooler than Provo, and was a lot more peaceful. I think the soreness caught up to me because it was a slow long run, but it was still a nice one.

AM-13 easy miles up the canyon. Felt good. After I did weights for the first time since nationals. Didn’t feel good.

PM-5 easy miles at Kiwanis park.

AM-10 miles.  Lots of foot pain, which makes me a bit worried.  Due to having a test today, I didn't ahve time to stop by the trainer, so I'll have to do that tomorrow. 

PM-4.5 miles of grass loops.  

AM-Had a light tempo workout today. It was 5 miles out on lakeloop.  We kept the first few miles around 5:15, then brought it down to 5:10, 5:06 and 5:03 or something like that.  Most of the guys are starting workouts later this year, so I ran it with Kramer.  My body was pretty sore from weight workout, so this was actually harder than I would've thought. Foot hurt a bit the first few miles, but then the pain dulled.  The trainer said it will hurt and take time to recover, but that there weren't be any long injury to come from it.  

PM-5 easy miles.  

AM-10 miles.  Felt pretty tired.  

PM-4.8 easy miles.

AM-9.5 miles on fire road. Tired.

Long run today.   We were pretty consistent on most of the miles, running right between 5:58-6:02 for most of the run.  Dallin and Michael sped it up at miles 10 or 11.  We ran a few around 5:30. I knew I had to run near 18 miles to get to 90 miles for the week, but I was alone for the last mile or so, and went off time for that part.  When I got back to the car I knew I was a bit short of 18, and I felt alright about stopping there.  

AM-medium long run up at deer creek. A bit of foot pain, but considerably better than last week. I felt really good. I went to bed pretty early on the weekend and that helped. Weights after felt really good.

PM-6 miles with Michael.  

AM-Walmart loop and strides.

PM-5 easy miles. Foot seems to get worse.

AM-great power run. Ran it all with Kramer and Zac. Foot had no pain the whole run. Splits for the 8 mile power run were about: 5:35, 5:25, 5:24, 5:17, 5:11, 5:06, 5:04, 5:01. 

PM-5 easy miles 

AM-10 easy miles

PM-5 easy miles

10 easy miles. 

Long run up Provo canyon from the base. Lots of elevation gain, especially from miles 6 to 9. Averaged 5:55 mile pace. Felt great early on, but as soon as we started going downhill, I started feeling tired. We saw Matt Owens at the end and it was nice to see him again, he sounds like he is getting healthy again.

AM-Medium Long run.  13 miles from the school up provo canyon and back. Felt great during the run, but weights after took a lot out of me.  

PM-5 miles of grass loops

AM-10 easy miles of grass loops with Clayson. 

PM-5 easy miles of grass loops.

AM-fairly easy workout today. We were told to run 5:10s for the first 3 miles and then could run 5:00 for the next two if we were feeling good. I felt pretty relaxed. We had a huge group at mile 3, so that was fun. Last two miles we split, but it was still relaxed. 

PM-4 easy miles. 

AM-5 easy miles.

PM- ran the age division race at the salt lake running center mile. It was a fun race, I’ll write more later

Did the long run today because I’m traveling to visit my family this weekend and a few of the guys also did the long run today. It was a nice run.

AM-10 easy miles up the road that leads to blue mountain. It’s pretty steep. Lots of wildlife. 

PM-4 easy miles along the highway from my aunt’s cabin.

AM-13.1 miles. I went up blue mountain road, but turned around earlier due to a lot of cattle on the road, and then went to Lloyd’s Lake and back to my Grandpa’s house. Around 1300 feet elevation gain for the first 5.5 miles or so.

PM-4 easy miles on a dirt road between Monticello and blanding.

AM-10 miles around Loyd's Lake in Monticello.  Not as pretty as yesterday due to the wind, but it was still a nice run. 

PM-5 miles back in Provo. 

AM-12 miles.  We had an 8 mile power run.  Goal pace was 5:20, and it felt relaxed. I think we were around 5:22 average. Nearly the whole team was together and it was a nice run.  2 mile warm up, 2 mile cool down.  The weather was super nice.  

PM-5 easy miles with Stockton up Smithfield Canyon 

10 easy miles running Smithfield canyon. I thought about how I used to run sub-6 minute pace up and down the canyon when I was in high school multiple times a week and realized that was a bit more impressive than I’d previously believed.

PM-5 milesish.  Ran to mack park with some of the Sky View runners and talked to them and then ran with a few of them and then ran back.  

AM-10 easy miles as part of lazy friday. 

18 mile long run today. What a way to end a long and exhausting week. Camp is next week, so that’s exciting. 

AM-10x1000m repeats with 60 seconds rest. Felt really relaxed the whole time, but it was a great workout. Today was the first day of camp, so it’s been fun to catch up with everyone and have everyone running together.

PM-5 easy miles on a trail.

AM-12 miles for. A medium long run up ice box trail and then down and then extended after.

PM-5 easy miles. Felt a bit tired, but it’s great.

10 easy miles. Some on the Mario cart trail.

AM-11 miles, 8 at 5:20. 

PM-4 miles easy on trail.

AM-10 easy miles on trails.

Nice long run. We were told to not have any miles faster than 6:00. We did just that and averaged 6:07. Felt good, pretty relaxed as well. 

AM-13 easy miles up at Deer Creek.

PM-5 easy miles with Alex to the river trail.  Feeling good.  School starts tomorrow, so I'm a bit nervous for that.  These past couple weeks of not taking classes have been nice.  

AM-4.1 easy miles. 

PM-5xmile on Kiwanis Park, 3 minutes recovery. I felt pretty good the first two, which were 5:00. The third one was around 4:58, but felt a bit harder. The fourth one was good and we were around 4:54. The last one felt good until the last 200m or so. 4:52. The park is a bit hilly and the turns are fairly abrupt, so I felt like this was a great workout. Weights after. 

AM-4.1 miles with Michael.

PM-10 miles and then some strides.

AM-4.1 easy miles. 

PM-10 easy miles. Felt sore for the first 7 or 8. We had weights two days in a row and I felt sore from it.

AM-3 easy miles.

PM- hobble creek workout. 6 man governor plus Jared Ward. It was really hot, however I believe I had a great workout. Stomach was in pain afterwards. Not as fast as last time, but last time had a lot better weather.

Long run. We ran on a beautiful trail from squaw peak to hobble creek canyon. The leaves just started changing colors and the views were amazing. Afterward I was exhausted, but my legs felt great on the run.

AM-4 easy miles with Michael and Talem

PM-12 miles for the medium long run. After I did strides. Felt a bit more tired than I thought I would.

AM-5 easy miles with Marcus and Clayton.

PM-hard workout. 3x2 mile with 5 minutes rest. Had a stomachache prior to the workout, but told myself to make it through the first one and see where I was. First one I ran with Danny, next one Rory and Clayton led and I just stayed behind them. I felt bad after this one, but didn’t say anything. In the third one I just told myself to stay with the group as long as I could. During this rep I felt better, and told myself to work harder for the team. It helped me get through it. I took a turn leading the group for a bit on the end one, which made me think I felt better than usual. We did all these at intramural field, and it was hot.

AM-9.1 miles with Talem and Michael. Felt a bit stiff.

PM-Around 5 miles. Felt a bit stiff and had a stomache ache.  It may be due to the iron that I've been taking, or just from poor planning on when/what to eat.  

AM-Just over 3 miles.

PM-6x800m.  It felt pretty easy. The workout wasn't anything crazy because we're racing in two days.  We did it on Intramural field.  One to one recovery.  2:23, 2:21, 2:18, 2:16, 2:17, 2:16.  Last one was started out slower, but our last 200m we were cruising.  

AM-Just over 3 miles.  It was pretty smoky.

PM-Ran just under 6 miles.  Due to the large amount of smoke in the air, the race has been changed to Utah State. I ran the first 4 miles on the treadmill at 6 min. pace and the next two on the indoor track.  

Got to the course about 90 minutes before we started.  Started warming up about 50 minutes before the race.  Felt pretty good.  A slight bit of tightness in my right hamstring, but luckily we weren't starting out insanely fast, so I wasn't too worried.  Goal was to stay at 4:50 pace for the first 4km, then the last 3km speed it up and have separation.  

The start is downhill and is a long stretch, so it was pretty quick. Luckily the race wasn't too packed, so even though I got out slow the first 200m, I caught up without having to weave around too many people.  I stuck to the left and had the edge on the first 4 turns, which was nice.  I got right behind Rory, then right next to him and ran side-by-side with him for most of the race.  It was enjoyable to run with teammates for a race again, although it made it hard to view it as a race.  I felt pretty good through the first 3 km.  At one part I looked back to see where our team was and saw Zac right behind me.  It was fun to see because right now he's the only other one running cross country that signed with me.  Right before 4km I was next to Luke Beattie, and was actually feeling a bit beat.  At the turn right after 4km, McMillan jumped out in front of all of us, and I thought to just let him go.  Then Shumway made a move as well, and his wasn't as quick of an acceleration, so it was easier to go with and catch up to McMillan.  I ran behind McMillan for a bit, then Danny passed me after a bit and then Rory passed us and we were pretty together. The last 300m was interesting because I felt like I was pushing and going really fast, but it seemed relaxed. 

After it was nice to talk to people that I hadn't seen in a while.  I'm from Smithfield, so racing in Cache Valley felt like home again.  6 mile cool down after.  

AM-12 easy miles with Dallin

PM-6 miles with strides on the grass. 

AM-5 easy miles inside due to air quality. 

PM-6 mile tempo.  While the air quality was better than this morning, it was really hot.  Either 90 degrees or just under.  I could feel my shoes getting pretty hot.  We ran in trainers instead of flats.  Goal was 5:05 for the first 3 miles and then see what happened.  We started out at about 5:08-09 for the first three miles.  Clayton and I ran together for the majority of the workout. I was hoping to go under 30 minutes, but due to the heat it just didn't happen. Not sure on the 4th and 6th mile, but our fifth was 4:58.  We had a big group at 3 miles, but after that it spread out quite a bit.  Overall time was 30:35.  It was a tough workout, probably tougher than the race last weekend. Weights after. 

AM-4.1 easy miles with Michael. 

PM-10 easy miles at fire road to stay out of the smoke.

AM-4.1 miles

PM-Michigan workout.  3 miles warm up/strides, then track mile: 4:32, grass mile:5:00, track 1200:3:25, grass mile: 4:55, track 800: 2:15, grass mile: 4:53, track 400: 61, grass mile: 4:45.  A bit faster on the grass miles than when I did this in the spring, but a bit slower on the track.  60-90 seconds rest between grass/track.  I felt really good today, never had any thoughts of wondering if I could finish this workout. The 400m felt super relaxed, so that's good to see I still have some easy speed in me.  The last grass mile was probably our most impressive.  3 miles cool down.  Jog in between intervals. 

AM-4.25 easy miles.  

PM-8.1 miles at deer creek. 

 Long run up at Jeremy ranch. I’m feeling pretty tired. Ready for a day off.

AM-4.1 easy miles

PM-12 miles.

AM-4 easy miles with Clayton

PM-8 mile power run. Started out around 5:20 and gradually got faster.  41:30 for the 8 miles.

AM-9 easy miles before the flight.

PM-3 easy miles on a treadmill at the hotel.

AM-8 easy miles with Weaver.

PM-3 miles and strides

I may have run more that 13.5 today, but at least 13.5. Anyway I had a two mile shakeout in the morning, ate a big breakfast, then waited til we left. Warmed up about 2-3 miles and then got my spikes and did strides. I started out on our back line and was near the back(probably in the last 20 or 30). Nice thing about this course is that you can take the turns as wide as you want, so I got on the outside for the first few turns. I was with Zac and Jake at this time. I could rory about 10-15 meters ahead of me and knew that if he was back this far then he was being patient and the front pack wasn’t dropping it at the beginning. Eventually I caught up the front group at about 1.5 miles. I just stuck on the shoulder of Clayson and Garrett Corcoran. When I went to take the lead it was windy so I just waited. Somewhere around mile 3 McMillan took the lead and led with Clayson. I was feeling pretty tired after a mile, but just tried to focus on staying with the pack. McMillan, Clayson and I were all in the lead with a mile to go. Then Danny, Aaron Templeton and Paul Roberts passed Clayson and myself, I stayed in fifth and was hurting. I just stayed with the group. With about 600-700 meters to go Paul made a move and the group dropped me. I tried to finish strong, but they all put about 5-10 seconds, so I must not have kicked well. 

Overall this was a good race. It was pretty fun, but also humbling because the time wasn’t what I was hoping for or imagined that would come(the course and conditions were near perfect) so I think I just need to continue working hard. Cool down to the giant mural of Christ (also known as “touchdown Jesus”) and around watching the open race. 

Long run today. Kept it faster than I wanted to. I didn’t get much sleep last night due to getting home so late. I need to work on recovering today and tomorrow. Good run though.

AM-5 easy miles

PM=12 miles and strides.  

AM-4.1 easy miles with Jake and Talem

PM-3.5 mile hill run with 3xmile after with 4 min recovery and full recovery after hill run. Hill run hurt, but it was really good. We were told tempo effort, but it was harder. After the 3xmile at Kiwanis Park was in 4:52, 4:41, and 4:40. Felt good, lots of spring in my legs. 

AM-4.1 easy miles with Talem, Michael, and Jake.

PM-10 easy miles. 

am-4 easy miles

PM-5 mile tempo at lake loop in 23:40. Splits started at 4:49 and ended at 4:40. Felt super comfortable. I don’t think I’ve ever had a tempo feel that easy. May be that our last tempos have been in trainers and this wasn’t.  

am-4 easy miles

PM-8 easy miles.

AM-Long run in Highland before breakfast and watching general conference with the team.

AM-4.1 easy miles with Michael and Talem. 

PM-2 mile breakdown at Intramural field.  Due to getting out poorly at Notre Dame, we focused on our starts by going out quick the first 200-400 and settling in around 600-800.  We did a two mile and went through 800m around 2:18-2:20.  It felt pretty quick, our first 200m was 32-33.  We switched off with leading throughout this one.  It hurt.  According to the wheel, we hit two miles at 9:40, according to GPS watches it was 9:16.  So, because we usually go off the wheel, we'll say 9:40. After we had a 1.5 mile with the same fast start.  We hit 7:05 overall on it.  First 800m was pretty quick, around 2:17. Then we had a mile with a fast start.  We started out around 2:16 and finished at 4:34.  I felt pretty exhausted after.  This was likely because the workouts didn't sound very hard, but felt pretty hard.  The grass was wet, but the temperature was really nice. 

AM-10.25 easy miles in the morning due to tests and meetings during practice time.  

PM-7.25 miles with Clayson. Felt sore.

AM-had to do the workout this morning due to a test this afternoon. Did 4x1200 at tempo pace and 60 sec rest then 3x400 with 2 min rest. 1200s: 3:40, 3:38, 3:35, 3:35. 400s64, 63, 64. Really wet and cold. Need to get some good rest before the race this weekend. 

PM-4.1 easy miles on the morning run loop. Didn’t get to run until later than I wanted, but it was still a good run.

AM-10 easy miles

PM-4 miles in Wisconsin after the flight 

AM-8 easy miles on the course. Strides after. Shoutout to Danny Carney for being a great teammate.

Noon-Good race.  We got to the course about an hour and a half before our race.  It was super cold when we got there, and yesterday was pretty cold, so I was bundled up today.  We warmed up about 2.5 miles, then stretched and headed to the start.  We've been working on getting out strong due to Notre Dame's race where almost the whole time got out in the back and spent the majority of the race getting to the front.  I started on the second line again, but luckily it wasn't like the last race where everyone cut in immediately.  I was about 5 meters behind our next guy, Zac, at about 150 meters.  I found a whole of people and just went through that and went to the front.  There were 2 guys ahead of me and Rory was right behind me.  Rory just told me to chill for a bit, so I did up the hill.  Eventually Rory and I were in the lead, and we were only about 1km into the race.  We ran side by side for a bit, and then worked together to get up the short steep hill.  I just relaxed on the way up and then relaxed on the way down.  When I relax on downhills, I usually run pretty quick though, so all of a sudden I was leading all on my own.  I upped the effort a bit and had a gap on the field for the next 1000m or so.  After we hit two miles, or so, the pack caught up.  A guy from Montana State passed me and ran next to me for a bit.  We both pushed the pace a bit, then after 4km I decided to make another push and after had the thought that I could win this race.  This was into the wind, so few people wanted to try and catch me at this point.  So I kept pushing.  At 5km, I heard I had 15 meters on the field, and decided to make a move to try and win the race.  I kept this largish lead for the next two kilometers.  With a mile left, I told myself only 4:40 left of pain, but my legs were starting to hurt a bit and fatigue was slowly starting to settle in.  I maintaned the same effort, and got passed by a guy from University of Washington, we ran up the hill together, but I thought I was about to get swallowed up by the pack, so I tried to reserve a kick.  I stopped trying to kill it and just save a kick.  Clayson passed me, then a few other guys passed us, then Rory passed us all, and I realized that I needed to start kicking.  I was a bit late on the kick, but I passed hte UW runner and Clayson.  I should've made the move earlier because there was still some left in the tank at the end, but it's all good, Nationals is where it's going to matter the most.  It was great to have a teammate win though, as always.  

Looking back at it, it was a fun race.  It was nice to lead and be at the front, and due to the wind, no one else wanted to push the pace, making it feel almost similar to a solo tempo run then a race.  This race was mainly to build confidence.  Onward to hard workouts!

Evening-5 easy miles with the boys.

AM-13 miles, some of it was with Jake and Clayson.  

PM-5 miles.  Alone, dur to having to take a test later.  

AM-5 easy miles

PM-Hobble creek power run.  Usually we run hobblecreek at an effort where we continually speed up, but today we just had a power run-like consistent effort.  I went a bit hard early due to not thinking.  We had a big group of us at the end though.

AM-4.1 easy miles with Michael. 

PM-Long carterville with strides. 

AM-4.1 easy miles

PM10x1000m with 1 min rest at tempo pace at intramural field.. Averaged 2:57-58 I think. Pretty consistent, and it was fun and not very hard. 

AM-3 easy miles and weights.

PM-8 miles then strides.

Long run in Herriman.  Hilly for the first 7 miles or so, then on the roads and paved trails for the rest of the run.  I felt tired at first, but really good and tired by the end. 

AM-4.1 miles with Talem. 

PM-MLR today.  13.72 miles.  Ran to the WCC course, ran a couple loops, and then ran back.  I felt super tired during the first 6 miles, and then started to feel pretty good.  

AM-4.1 easy miles with Michael and Talem.

PM-4Xmile.  Ran at K park.  I didn't feel great doing the warm up, but felt good when we started.  First mile Rory, Clayton and I stayed pretty close together, finished at 4:40.  Next was nearly the exact same.  Third mile Coach wanted us to run as a pack, so we held back a bit to 4:42, and then third one we stayed together and ran it in 4:39.  Felt really good after, so I'm excited to see what happens in the next few meets.

AM-4.1 easy miles with Jake, Michael and Clayson.

PM-10.6 easy miles with strides. Ran with Clayson again.

AM-5 miles alone. Felt great, probably went a bit quicker than I should have, but it was nice.  Pretty warm.  

PM-Easy workout.  2x800m in 2:20 and 2:16 I think, and then a 400m in 1:01 all at intramural field. The workout got easier as we went.  This Saturday should be fun.  

AM-3 easy miles 

PM-5 miles and strides at the course. 

AM-2.5 miles for warm up and strides after.  Felt good.  It was a bit hard to treat this as a race due to the fact of it being in Provo, but I feel like I did well to mentally prepare for it.  Race went out fairly fast the first 400m, then slowed and felt pretty relaxed.  The plan was to just run as a team through 5km, then we could start speeding it up.  I ran behind McMillan and Rory for most of the early portions of the race.  We came across 2km a bit slower than I expected, just a few seconds over 6 minutes.  James Mwaura sped it up and I just stayed in the same spot.  At a little before 4km I ended up in the front and kept the same effort.  We were under 12 minutes through 4km.  I felt pretty relaxed, the race didnt' seem like we were flying.  When I could see the 5km mark, I started to speed it up, but slowed it down about 500m later due to spinning out of a turn funny, and let McMillan lead.  6km was in the 17:40s. McMillan and I led together until a mile to go, then Rory led, then I took it back, then Nick Hauger took the lead.  We went back and forth, Huager and I, for the next 600m with him leading for the most part.  I was hurting a decent amount, and thought McMillan would outkick Hauger and thought I would get 3rd.  Hauger had a strong kick with 400m left and I didn't respond, and McMillan just stayed behind me.  At 200m to go, I realized I had given up nearly 5 seconds in 200m, and tried to make some of it up, but it was way too late.  McMillan ended up passing me with 150m to go, but he started kicking too late as well.  Fun day.  Cool down after. 

PM-5 miles.  

AM-5 easy miles

PM-13 miles and strides.

AM-5 easy miles with clayton and Clayson.

PM-5 mile tempo in pairs(just running with one other person). Ran with Rory and worked on staying relaxed. 24:11, felt smooth. His shoe was untied for miles 3, 4, and 5, but we just kept going.

AM-4.1 with Michael and Jake.

PM-10 miles with strides.

AM-4.1 easy miles with Michael.

PM- 2X(mile, 1200, 800) at intramural field.  The distances we ran changed due to the fact that GPS watches and the measured out course were pretty different.  According to the GPS watches, we went through the miles in 4:33 and 4:30, 1200s were about the same pace, and 800s were a decent amount quicker.  It felt good.  Pretty hard, but it was a great workout.  Jogged 400m in between reps.  We had a strong pack in there, so that was good to see.  

An interesting thing I've been pleasantly surprised with is how usually as the season is winding down, I'm really tired and don't look forward to racing or working out, I usualy can't wait for taper weeks because then I can run easier workouts.  This season is a bit different, as I look forward to workouts and races.  

AM-4.1 easy miles with Talem.  

PM-10 miles with Clayton and Kramer and strides after.

Long run. Went up hobble creek canyon to the top of a mountain and then down another road. Cold, hilly, but a good run. 

AM-4.1 easy miles alone.  

PM-6X800m.  Well, we aren't sure on the exact distance, but it was once around Intramural field, which is about 800m.  2:16, 2:15, then Coach said to slow it down, so we went 2:20, 2:18, then he said to speed it back up, so we went 2:14, 2:07(this one we may have cut a small bit off one of the turns compared to the others, but it was fast).  

AM-6 easy miles. 

PM-10 miles and strides after.  

AM-5 easy miles on a treadmill before weights. 

PM-3x400m. 59, 63, 61.

AM-3 easy miles

PM-5 miles at the course with strides after.

AM-2.8 mileish warm up.  Started as usual, was pulled back by a competitor next to me at the start line, but then pushed from behind by Brandon Garnica.  Just worked on relaxing.  At 1200m I found Zac and it looked like he was about to move to the front, so I told him to relax.  10km is a long race in cross country.  We came across 2km at about 6:02.  I tried to run relaxed and things went well for the most part. Ran with Clayson, McMillan, Jake, and Rory throughout the race and tried to stay in a pack.  With 1km to go, the pack had gotten smaller and I started moving up, but the plan was to run as a pack and come across the line together.  Rory reminded me of this with about 1000m to go, so I slowed a bit and just coasted it in.  Lots of people blew up and we were passing a lot.  With 350m to go, we were in 8th, 9th, and 10th.  I don't know where, but I passed two more people before the finish.  With 100m to go, I looked back and only saw Rory as the closest guy behind me, so I tried to coast, but Peter Lomong was on the other side of me and started sprinting to pass me before the finish.  I threw in a small kick off instinct.  Rory and McMillan were 8th and 9th, so they still ran it in together.  It was a lot of fun this race.  Cool down after

PM-5 easy miles.  

Long run wasn't very long today.  Kept it really chill because Coach said to.  Felt good.

AM-4.1 easy miles

PM-Long carterville with strides after. Felt a bit tired.

AM-5 easy miles on a treadmill trying to study for a midterm.

PM-8x400m alternating between grass and track.  Felt a bit stiff.  The grass ones were tough, averaged around 64. Track 400s were easy.  63 average.  

AM-Just over 9 miles.  Went from my apartment and met Brayden on the trail.  Ran some grass loops as well. 

PM-Just over 3 miles in Chicago. 

AM-8 miles and then strides

PM-short run to get the legs moving.

Pre-meet; easy 6 miles with strides.

good race, led a lot, died with 800 to go. I’ll write more later. 

AM-Woke up fairly relaxed, not really thinking much about the race.  There have been times where I've overthought races and this was not going to be one of them. Ate a big breakfast and treated this race like the other races this season.  Got to the course about an hour and half before the race. Warmed up slower than usual (probably close to 9 minute pace, we usually are just under 8 min. pace) and i was pretty cold, but not too bad.  Stretched, did strides, and were at the start line just like any other race.  Due to my lack of abilities of acceleraing quickly, I started on the back line, just like every other race this season. 

The start was fast!  I was our 7th guy, and there were other teams that seemed to be ahead of almost all of our guys.  There was so much snow being kicked up that it was quite annoying, and getting nice footing was near impossible. We started on the far left side of the course, which was ideal.  At 500m or so, Ashley cheered us on and Clayton yelled "That's my wife!" Then Clayson yelled, "She's pregnat, you're going to be a dad!" As they both said a couple of other short jokes, I decided to move up.  I was hurting. This was fast.  I looked up right before 1km, and saw we were in the high 2:30s, low 2:40s(I was probably at 2:43-45).  I told myself to slow down.  There is no way I could keep that up on this course in perfect conditions.  So, I slowed, but eventually so did everyone else. I didn't like the snow getting kicked up in front of me, so I moved to the outside and eventually got to the front before the first short/steep hill.  I was on the outside, and surprisingly the grip and footing were great.  We came down the hill, and I just relaxed.  We cam across 2km around 5:40, so it was pretty quick.  I was at the front at this time, and just told myself to relax.  I was feeling pretty good here, but 10k is a long race. 

We hit 3km and I could feel a bit of fatigue settle in, and just told myself to be there at 8km and see what happens.  I stayed a consistent pace.  At 4km, there is a hairpin turn, and Tyler Day of NAU and I were next to each other, and I slipped a bit, nothing bad, but it took me out of my rythym.  I continued to relax, but it was still frustrating.  At 5km we were around 14:40.  I still felt good.  People passed me here, but didn't surge, so I just enjoyed some time running behind them.  As we were heading on the big loop, I tried to run close to the line because it was cleared, and it gave me an advantage over those running in the snow in the middle of the course.  I felt like it helped me relax and get into more of a rythym, a lot of people did this behind me, but others around me were running in the middle.  I got back into the lead somewhere around here. Coming around the field just a bit after 6km, I started slipping a lot.  It was frustrating as I felt a lot of energy was wasted. When we hit the gradual hill around 6.5 km, I started hurting a decent amount and had a thought of "this is where I lost ground at pre-nats, so I'll probably get dropped here."  I cut that thought out of my mind quickly. At the last hill (about 7.2km or so), I slipped again and was stuck on the inside and couldn't get any good footing. I slipped a bit going down the hill, and was pretty fatigued here.  I tried to run next to the line where the snow was plowed again, but the spectators were on the patch of grass, on the course, cheering.  I had to go to the middle, and it was slick.  Given, my competitors were there as well, but that was part of my strategy. 

The final 2km I was surprised to still be at the front.  I was trying to hold on to the same pace I had been running before, but no one was getting much ahead of me or challenging me hard for the lead.  Morgan McDonald took it on the final hill, but then let me have it back with ease with 1200m to go(I took the inside of the turn, so I got ahead of him here).  I was just waiting for the pack to pass me, and sure enough, about 30-40 seconds after hitting 9km in first, 7 guys passed me like a wall. I stayed with them until about 400m to go, and then told myself to save my kick for the final 200m.  I was hurting a lot in those last 400m and was ready to be done.  As I was trying to push with 400m to go, I kept slipping and it was the most frustrating part of the race. Joe Klecker and John Dressel both passed me here, and I came across the line in 10th.  I was happy about it, as that had been my season goal (top-10).  I looked back and was scared when I didn't see any teammates.  Then I saw Rory and McMillan. Then a little bit later, Clayson, and a little later, Jake.  I had no idea how we did place-wise, but Colorado had 3 guys in the top-11, so I thought they may have beat us, and NAU seemed to finish well, so I thought we may have bonked again, but nope, we got 2nd.  

Overall, I'm happy about this race, I would've loved to get the win, but I'm not fit enough currently for the individual win and the team would've needed to run our best day to win(it was an average day for us), but to get second is still a great accomplishment for us.  It was a great season, and lots of great memories with this team.  Later I found out the reason I was slipping so much was one of my shoes had nearly (4/6) all the spikes screw out of it over the course of the race. Good learning experience, hope to improve every year.  On to track!

PM-4 easy miles on a beautiful trail as the sun was setting.

AM-5 easy miles with Rory

PM-5 easy miles with Clayton and strides.

AM-aqua jogging with Danny for almost an hour.

PM-8 easy miles with old high school teammate Ethan Field in Smithfield.

10 easy miles on my own.

9 easy miles with a big group of current sky view runners and former sky view runners and JD.

12 miles with Jared.

10.6 easy miles in the morning.  The mountains were beautiful.  

AM-4.2 easy miles with Josh. 

PM-Just over ten with Kramer and then some strides.  

AM-5.8 with Doc, Wardy, and Rory.

PM-12 with Brandon, Kramer, and Talem.

AM-4.2 easy miles.

PM-10 miles and strides after.  

10 easy miles in the afternoon

Between running with some guys on the team, running before weights and after weights, I ran about 10.3 miles.

15 miles at Murdock Canal trail. 5:43 average.  I'm feeling a bit sick, but hopefully it doesn't last.  

AM-20km with Clayson early in the morning. 

PM-5 easy miles.

AM-5 easy miles with Rory

PM-10 mile(?) progressive power run with cool down after. Didn’t know Coach was having us workout until later. My stomachs felt terrible during the run, but my legs felt great. Most of our splits were about 10 seconds faster than what they should have been. Last few were in the 5:00-20 range.

AM-4.2 easy miles

PM-10 miles, felt pretty sick. Strides at the end.

AM-4.2 easy miles

PM-10.6 miles. Felt a bit sick still, but quite a bit better than yesterday. 

AM-4.2 easy miles.

PM-6 miles on the altar g, 2.9 on the roads.

16 beautiful miles at deer creek. It was super foggy, and about 7 of the miles were in the snow, which made it hard, but it was a good run. 

AM-5 easy miles

PM-playing it safe with the foot pain, 80 minutes biking, 10 core.

AM-40 minutes aqua jogging

PM-5 miles, 30 minutes on bike, 10 minutes of core.

AM-50 minutes aqua jogging

PM-10 easy miles, weights after

AM-5 miles on the treadmill.

AM-5.25 miles

PM-13 miles, a few strides thrown in there as well.  

AM-10.5 easy miles with Michael and Jake.

PM-5.7 easy miles of grass loops with Ethan, Ethan, and Aidan.

AM-3x2 mile avg at 9:50.

PM-5 miles of grass loops with Michael. 

AM-10.2 miles with Michael and Jake.  Michael and I realized that we've ran 55 miles so far this week together.  

PM-4 miles of grass loops.

AM-11 miles up Smithfield canyon with a Ethan field at 6:20 pace.

PM-4 easy miles at 9PM.   Later than I wanted, but it felt good.  

AM-Long run with James Withers, JD. Thorne, and Ethan.  We ran from Hyde Park to Smithfield Canyon to North Logan, and back before I did my three mile pickup.  Went 5:15, 5:14, 4:59 trying to find the raods that were the least icy.  I ended up about a mile and a half from my car, so I extended the long run a bit.

AM-11.1 miles with JD around Logan.  It was pretty slick and snowy, but not too bad. 

PM-6 miles up the canyon, and then a bit around the neighborhood to get my strides in.  

AM-10 miles near snow basin while the rest of the family was skiing.

PM-7.1 miles. Merry Christmas!

AM-Met up with Brandon Garnica in Logan to workout, but couldn’t find an indoor facility open. It was 26 degrees, but it said with humidity and windchill it said it felt like 16, so we were bundled in up. Warmed up 3 miles, then did 4xmile with 5 min jog recovery in between.  First mile was slightly uphill in 4:45, next three were downhill in 4:37, 4:27, and 4:23. The weather got significantly better as we got going and I felt a lot better after each one; honestly the 4:45 gave me doubts, but at least having someone else to struggle with helps you stay motivated to finish the workout.

PM-5 easy miles up the canyon.