C Mantz Running

     1.25 mile warm up, then 4X400m at 800m race pace/all out, with 700m recovery, then 6X200m at same pace, with 400m recovery.  I struggled a lot today.  I can't remember all my splits, and I honestly don't want to. It felt more mental than physical, and the wind and cold didn't help(It was snowing after.  It hasn't snowed for a month, I think).  First one we went slow, 61, then 58, 59, 60.0.  After the 200s didn't go great either.  27, 28 and then it was 28s and a 29.  I should be running 57s and 58s, and 27s for them all, so this kinda bugs me.  Cool down after.

     4.5 miles to the school and back.

     1.5 mile warm up, then 2 miles tempo(9:57), then Tyson and I did 6X200m at mile race pace, which felt really relaxed compared to yesterday.  I hit them all pretty fast, but so did Tyson. I felt very sore before the workout, but during I felt good, and after I felt sore again.  Splits: 29, 30, 29, 30, 28, 29 After I was supposed to do an all-out 300m but coach and I decided it'd be best to save it for Friday and Saturday. Cool down after.

    6 easy with Tyson.  We did sunnyside backwards to avoid the wind, because it wasn't bad in the canyon, and we would have it to our backs up on Sunnyside. Gotta get ready for BYU Invite this weekend!

    Pre-meet with strides. I still felt flat.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll be good. Our bus leaves at 5:00 AM tomorrow. I'm not too excited about waking up early.

     We got there pretty early, so Alex, Connor Compton, and I went for a shake out, and then watched some throwing.  I warmed up with Kramer, Matt, Brewer and two other Bingham kids, and I felt good, but not great. I was planning on sticking on someone the first mile and then trying to beat them the last few laps. Well, it didn't go as planned, but it still went well.  We lined up, and I felt pretty good.  The pace went out pretty slow, and I had to go out into lane 4 or 5 to get around everyone.  About 300m into it I took the lead because the pace was much too relaxed.  We came across 400m at 1:08.  That was slower than usuall, because usually my first lap puts me farther ahead of my goal pace.  Next lap I focused on keeping the same pace, but hit 2:15, so a bit fast.  Connor Mcmillan was on my tail the whole way.  Next two laps were 2:16ish, putting us 4:31 at the 1600m. Wow, that was a lot faster than I had thought it would be.  After, we kept hitting 1:08s, and I honestly can't remember what happened during most of this race.  I kept adding 1:10s to the time for every lap I had left, and said I would probably finish there.  Every lap or two, if I slowed down Connor would nick my shoe with his shin, so I knew he was there(yes, his shins were bloody after the race, and I feel bad about it).  With 700m left I surged, because Connor was still there, and I did again at 600m.  With 400m to go I thought I had to run a 1:09 to run 9:04, so I started to really push it for the first 200m of that lap.  My final 200m was slow because I knew I had the 4A record and a few seconds on Connor.  I didn't think I'd be 9:00 though, I thought probably 9:04-05.  I was so surprised and happy.  From state last year, I dropped 10 seconds for in-state time, while the year before I only dropped 8.  After I cooled down with a big group of people from the 3200m, and then did a little bit more later when we got to our hotel room to keep the legs moving.

     A 4 second PR, so I'm really happy about it.  Warmed up with Tyson, who ran a 1:57.11 just a few hours before.  I felt terrible.  I thought about running the first laps and not finishing, or just not showing up on time.  I was really nervous, and tired.  My dad had just told me to get a good start and then take each lap seperately.  This helped me out, even though I didn't want to do it. I jumped off the line the moment the gun went off, but didn't start out fast, and was passed by everyone in the lanes around me but one person.  I slowly caught the lead pack, running in lane 2 to pass. I knew the pace was slow, but I was just trying to keep up. They only had the split up at 800m, and I was about 2:07-08.  Here I started to feel better.  My right pinky toe hurt, and I later found the skin had been rubbed away.  I tried to focus on that pain.  

     About at lap 3 I tried to get around the pack, but everyone was trying to pass, so I was in lane 3 or 4 on the straightaway.  At the start of the final lap I got right behind Brewer and passed him with 300m to go, and tried to sprint to get a PR. With 100m to go I saw I had a PR and just slowed. I shouldn't have done this, but I still have state to try and run faster. Overall, I'm very surprised on how I did, because I have never felt that bad prior to a race and ran a PR, much less a decent time.  Afterward I cooled down with Clayson.  4 miles when I got back home.