Sage Ducote,the runner; not The Runner,sage ducote

Haven't blogged in a while. Long story short, I quit running college cross country and track at SUU to pursue other things, found myself or whatever, and decided that running is part of who I am and it keeps me out of trouble. Decided to get back into it for good! Feels better too now that I can run stress free. College athletics was a gift, a privilege, blah blah blah all that cheesiness. But running on my own terms is better. I can use my knowledge as an exercise science major and as a long time athlete to mold my fitness into what I want. I've been running for the last like 2 weeks, but nothing substantial. I am now blogging again because I am at a decent mileage. I'm no longer using the classic college system of miles per day or miles per week. I'm just doing minutes per day. I am now up to 50. Ran 50min at 7:02 avg today on dikes. Felt kinda rough, but it was hot asf and I didn't eat or drink before. Good stuff!

Finally shook the rust off, took care of a few nagging aches, now I'm starting my first week of my new wave of training! Just like the 80s kicked off a new wave of music, I'm gonna kick off a new wave of fitness. 45min easy, 6:58 avg, on main street loop with some barefoot grass loops to finish. Felt good despite the wind and cold. Gonna also start doing some more injury prevention oriented strength training/core and all that on wednesdays and saturdays. Random i know, but variation in training yields the best results. 

First workout of the training block. Ran park loop to warm up, then did 10x400m on the grass soccer fields with 1min rest. Kept the avg around 1:17's, or 5:10 ish pace. 45min total, 7:11 avg pace. Felt hard! But that's to be expected. Got it done. Also thought of a quote that I'm gonna use to motivate myself. "I am now Sage Ducote, the runner; not The Runner, Sage Ducote". I'm training for myself, not Eric Houle or SUU. And it feels amazing! I wanna sit down and put together a race schedule, but I gotta get a better reading on my fitness and budget first. Tentatively though, me and another former teammate will be racing a trail 30k out in Moab in november. Don't hold me to that though. 

Played some intense pickleball with Brady, then ran 45min easy with him on a new loop we're gonna call "north park loop". 5.6 miles, 8:03 avg. felt kinda tired. Might start keeping track of my RHR when i wake up.

Did another workout! 8x30sec hills at home depot hill, jog recovery back to start. Nose started bleeding pretty bad but i pushed through it like an idiot. Man that hill brings back memories. 45min total, 8:35 avg. It's weird to think that when I graduate this spring, I will have spent most of my time in college on the team. WOw

Rest day, RHR 54

RHR 53

6.04 total, 45min easy, 7:27 avg. Just ran up the canyon and back and did grass loops to finish. Felt good! A few weeks ago i was laboring at that pace, now it feels normal. 

rest day; RHR 52

RHR 56

Upping the time to 60min this week. Ran dikes, then started a 15min tempo, which I did in 5:52 pace. Felt pretty hard; not sure why, that's pretty slow haha. Played some pickleball with the twins as a cool down haha. 60min total, 8.67 miles, 6:55 avg. Good stuff. 

RHR 53; somewhat surprised it's that low because of how fatigued I feel from yesterday 

Wanted to do a 60min easy run, but no part of that run felt easy. SUUUUPER fatigued. Ended up doing 47min easy thru bicent, 7:18 avg, 6.42 miles. Gotta stay on top of the hydration and nutrition. 

RHR 51; still surprised it's so low considering I don't feel recovered haha 

Still fatigued. 60min total, 7:38 pace, 7.86 miles on dikes ish. I think i just have to accept that I can't do what i used to be able to do runnning wise; 7:xx pace feels rough now and i gotta push til it doesn't. but boy does it feel nice to think about those times where i could eat a big meal at costa vida and run 16 miles at 6:25 pace and come home barely breathing. my how times have changed. 

RHR 52

starting doubles! morning, ran 20min easy, 2.53 miles, 7:55 avg on grass loops.

evening: ate a huge meal at the caf and then ran 42min easy, 7:28 avg, 5.3 total. felt pretty good! 

RHR 56 - rest day Friday

RHR 54

Pressed for time so I could only run 32min. 5.17 total, 6:15 avg in the crazy wind

RHR 52

Solid long ish run finally!! Ran for 1 hour and 5min, 6:35 avg for 9.82 miles. Felt incredibly smooth the whole time, even in the wind. Confidence boosting.

RHR - 52

Doubles! Morning: 19min easy shakeout, 7:39 avg 2.48 total. Cold asf this morning; 29 degrees. Had to wear tights and a hoodie and gloves. Kinda wanted to run into the team and finish their run with them but coach Hould would probably run me over with his car 

Evening: 41min easy. 5.8 total, 7:05 avg. Feeling fatigued from sunday's run; that's okay though, that's normal. I'd rather be able to do that and feel fatigued after than not be able to do it at all. progress. windy and cold today