Step by step, mile by mile

AM - park loop. When I hit the long uphill on 1400 I was at 2.5 and I thought "hey, lets see if I can get down to 10k race pace" so I gradually moved up to 5:25 pace. It didn't feel hard or anything, so I figured lets see how much more I can speed up before this mile ends". Ended up getting the pace under 5 by the end of it. After that my miles got pretty quick, around 6:20, but not hard. 6:37 avg pace. 

Oh and s/o to Kedric, McKenna, rylie, Jacia, Reagan, Aspen for stealing my car

did 100 pushups/200 sit ups whilst watching psych

PM - 5 on the dreadmill(see what I did there? comedy gold) because of torrential downpour, then ventured outside for the last 5 because anything is better than a treadmill. 7:08 avg pace. My stomach was wrecked, I ate way too heavily way too closely to my normal run time. It was a cool 65 degrees and overcast/drizzling which was perfect running weather. so 10 easy to add to 17 for the day, and 102 for the past 7 days!

Tempo work today, nothing too hard because freedom's monday. 4x1200 @10k pace with 400 recovery. Was going about 7 flat pace on recovery which was sick because it felt easy. Hit 3:55, 3:59, 4:07, and 3:49. Felt pretty sustainable, I was just trying to keep a reasonable pace, save the last one where I went a little quicker. After 14 laps I was still able to come in clutch with a 73 last lap which was cool. 5:29 avg pace for 3.8 miles. Good times bc my stomach was wrecked. 3 mile cooldown and strides. Now I just taper for Freedom 10k. My goals going in are break 34, top 3 in my age group, and obliterate Connor. S/O to him for picking up my race packet from Provo, btw. Even though the rivalry game is strong right now he's a good guy. He'll die a good guy on monday #beattheballer Went to Starbucks after and got a acai/coconut milk/blueberry drink which was quite sublime.

PM - 3.8 while the rest of my family went to the lake. gained about 600 feet going up which sucked but I flew coming down. It'd be an understatement to say I'm looking forward to moving out of here.

Got maybe .1 out, and I decided I'd rather just do some easy barefoot running instead. 3 WU, .5 strides, .5 CD. Ready for tomorrow.

Warmed up 2 miles and strides. Got out and by half a mile it was me, Connor, the Riding twins, Collin, Thom, Jamison, and some college dude. Collin and Jamison dropped off at the mile and the college guy sped up. My watch isn't loading so I'll go by what the mile markers said for now, which were a bit off. 5:12, 10:31. Lost the pack around here. I started to get weird back pains and shivering like crazy, need more salt, gotta be like salt boy lol. 16:22 for three miles. I lost focus after that, got passed by a couple dudes. At about mile five we had a long hill with a 180 turn at the top. Joey caught me here. We turned around and I saw there was Asa and Jared maybe 30-45 seconds behind, and this long haired dude a little closer. I caught up to Joey again but he started kicking hard. We turned and the last mile is on a hecka long and strenuous uphill. Hair dude caught me and we talked for a second. Then I realized the twins were not too far ahead and I sped up quite a bit. Caught both of them and had to weave through a ton of dumb 5k people. Finished and cooled down with Adam, Connor, Asa, Tyler, and Jared. Good learning experience today, I learned that it's WAY worse to go out quick the first 2 miles in a 10k bc there's over 4 miles left lol. Also need more salt. Fun time overall, the course was way more hilly than I thought but I didn't do terrible. Gonna train hard and drop a large PR at deseret. S/O to bloggers Connor, Adam, and Thom who got top three in our age division. And good luck to Kenny!

4.8 once I got back. About 7 flat pace.

Easy run in the morning. Felt like crap at first but better as it went on. Still went really easy. 7:24 pace. Planking while typing this. AP scores are out, I haven't checked but I really hope I got a 5 on AP Bio. No one's ever got a 5 from uintah and I think I have a good shot. Except the fire alarm got pulled during the test so we had to evacuate. Threed times.

Ran 7.8 pretty easy in the heat, avg pace 6:55. My last mile was a 6:15. It was really really hot and bright.

AP Bio: 4

AM - 7 easy rec/canal, no watch. Pace was probably 7 flat-ish. Stayed up last night waiting for some stuff to go down that never did so waste lol. Neither of my alarms went off so I ran at about 9

PM - 30 min WU(4.2). 8x200m w/ equal recovery, 30 min CD(4). It was crazy hot out today. I read Alli's blog and I guess she's just such an inspiration that I started to have stomach problems on this run bc I aspire to be her. 200's went 31, 29, 32, 29, 30, 30, 31, 28. Good work. Gonna stretch and ice in the canal.

Ran the long road at McCoy. First 5 I felt good, then soaked up the view at the turnaround ledge for a minute or two. Turned back, got about half a mile in, realized my picture i tried to take didn't work, so I turned around, took the picture again, then turned around again. After that I felt pretty trashed. The trail was pretty hard, there were some points so steep I had to walk down, but I ran up every hill so that was good. I saw a snake, and by saw I mean stepped about 6 inches away from a rattlesnake in the middle of the road, to which I jumped about 2 feet in the air and made a pretty girly noise(don't tell Alli). 11 for the run. For these next few days I'm just gonna get all my miles in on a single run, then just do some core at night and see how that works. 2 hour progression run tomorrow. I'd like to get 17 miles in the time limit but we'll see. Stomach felt trashed again today. Iced in the creek again. It was brutally freezing.

Long progression run, and very possibly the hardest run of my life. It wasn't crazy painful, I just really had to dig deep to press on. 2 hour run, first 40 minutes easy, next 40 picking up a little, pushing the pace a bit that last 40. Splits went 7:41,7,39,7:28,7:24,7:16,6:53,6:52,6:39,6:40,6:45,6:33,6:18,6:10,6:19,6:21,6:13,and 6:30 pace for the last .6. Avg pace 6:48. Hit a half marathon at 1:25:57. I didn't think I'd be able to even get 17 miles, so I was pretty happy today. Bonked those last couple miles but still kept it up pretty good. I ran on road, trail, everywhere. Cooled down for 19.

AM - 7 miles on the 1400 route. I usually go super slow the first couple miles, but I went normal pace instead, and slowed down around mile 3. I felt good again once I hit the uphill though. I slept in until 10 so it was pretty hot out. Avg pace 6:48.

Not a great start to the day. Original workout was gonna be 1x2 mile, 2x1 mile on the roads. Well yesterday we had pie for dessert and I ate a lot of it. I don't usually eat sugary stuff, so I felt pretty crappy today. I tried to get going a couple times, would get maybe a third of a mile in, and stop because I knew I wasn't feeling well enough to hold it. I did manage to get a mile in on Aggie. I pushed the pace, but didn't go all out. 4:50. I might try a short easier tempo workout this evening.

AM - 7. My achilles hurt after yesterdays morning run, I guess running my second fastest mile ever, in trainers, on a road, comes back to haunt. I massaged it all during church and throughout the day. I slept in a bit today, got going around 7:30. Did the rec loop/canal with some strides. Legs felt pretty trashy but felt better as I progressed. Avg  pace 6:49. I need to work on my hips, they've been hurting while I run lately.

A big S/O to my good friend Nick Hill, aka Hell Raiser, who leaves on his mission to El Salvador tomorrow! He was the first person to ever add me to their favorites. Good guy. 

AM - my alarm didn't go off so I was late for work. Only managed to get three in during break. 6:58 avg pace.

Warmed up 5 miles. Went to the track and found out football was already there. So I drove to the park and measured out a quarter mile loop. It involved both a 90 and 180 degree turn. Ran 4x400 @5k pace. I wanted to hit 75-77's, but I kept worrying the turns would slow me down so I'd speed up. Equal recovery. 70, 69, 71, then took off my shoes and did a 63. I felt kind of trash from the start of the warm up so these times were good. Cooled down for 12 miles @ 7:08 pace. On the cooldown these little kids were yelling at me, and calling me some quite colorful derogatory terms. lol I worry about our country's future more and more every day

Neither of my alarms went off this morning. I woke up 20 minutes late, and couldn't find my keys for another 20 minutes. So I got to practice, and the team had already done a mile repeat. I warmed up maybe half a mile and did the 3 other repeats with the boys. Wet grass, 5 90 degree turns, 2 180 degree turns, and 15 miles with speed yesterday make for not great times today. Times weren't awful though. I immediately was able to jog around until the next repeat so I know I wasn't going hard. First half mile of the first one Clayton and I battled it out for a while. We both died pretty hard. Splits went 5:09, 5:12, and 5:14. Ran all of them alone after maybe 200m so I wasn't too motivated. Cooled down with Kenny and Clayton, where they played Pokemongo the entire time smh.

Ran a little over 5 more in the blazing heat in the afternoon. Avg pace 6:48. Did strength training after. After a while this college girl came and asked if she could do my workout with me. I told her I was about to leave, so left a little early. Just ended up going upstairs for the rest of it.

AM - 5 miles hilly. Pushed the hills a little. 6:58 avg pace Iced in the canal after.

PM - Warmed up from the church to the track, did a lap, ran 6 strides, did a pretty relaxed 400m in 70, and cooled down back. Got myself a granola bar and some coconut water because I deserved it. It's crazy hot out. I felt pretty sluggish the first mile of the WU then progressively felt better. 5 miles @ 6:39 pace. I feel really good about tomorrow(race day)!

Ugh. Had to wake up at 4:30am for work. Got off at about 6, ran 3 miles on aggie, 6:57 avg pace. Did one easy stride. I discovered the finish for the race tonight. Now I just gotta find the start line... Went to bed again at 7:30 and woke up at noon. So I got like 12 hours of sleep.

RACE

I had to stay at work for a really long time and didn't get to really eat all that much today. I had a ten minute break at about 5:30 where I was able to squeeze in a quick meal. Got to the course at 8:20. For the first time ever they actually measured out a 5k correctly on Aggie, normally it's either 2.9 or 3.2. Did a couple strides, put on my bib, and got to the starting line. Long ceremony. The starting gun was an assault rifle which I found funny. Anyway gun goes off and I take off at a good pace. Suddenly this guy who looked just like Lagat gets right on my shoulder and starts like pushing me! Looking at my watch I think we hit a 65 second first 400. Ugh. The guy died about a third a mile in, but had put me in such a predicament that I felt pretty crappy by now. Hit the first mile at 5:03. Ugh. Felt way worse than it should have. Hit the first turnaround and the Lagat guy is probably two minutes behind me. Mason and Kedric weren't too far off though. After maybe 2/3rds of a mile into the race my stomach started to feel real bad, I was sure I'd puke. Ugh. Really suffered through a 5:47 second mile. I was able to recover during the second mile and kick the last 1.1 in 6:08 to win in a 16:58. Really wasn't a great race for me, 1-2.75 felt like a trudge. But, a PR and win so no complaints. Cooled down on the course backwards. Saw the Lagat guy, and despite REALLY wanting to say something snarky to him, I told him "good job" to which he shot me a dirty look. I won by about a minute, Mason got second with a high 17, Kedric got third. The people who put this race together did an awsome job.

AM - 5 miles of regret for not stretching yesterday. Avg pace 7:30.

Finally did it! 6:50 avg pace progression. I started late so it was pretty hot out by about mile 7. I changed the path so the 40 minutes fast were on a tough uphill. Last time for the three 40 minute segments I averaged 7:40's, 6:50's, and 6:20's. This one I averaged 7:20's, 6:40's, and 6:30's. I should have gone slower at the beginning. Really wanted to quit those last 30 minutes but I toughed it out. I had a Gu this time, around mile 8, which tasted pretty good, but after I finished I drank a ton and threw up and it was nasty. I just drank probably a liter of Gatorade and I think I'm gonna throw up again. Weighed myself after. About 5 pounds lighter than I've ever seen myself.

Went to Uintah XC practice. 8 miles. Went 7 miles with Kenny, Clayton, and Kedric. Clayton dropped after 3 miles, and at around 4 Kenny started surging and I stayed close behind, Kedric just maintained so we lost him too. At the canal I jumped on to a side road, which cost me momentum but now I could speed up without Kenny surging away. Dirty move but oh well. This got me about a second on Kenny so I decided to speed up because I think he was tired from all the surges he made. Pushed the last mile, but certainely didn't go hard. 5:49 split for 6:39 avg pace. Cooled down a mile with Jacia after.

AM - 7 miles easy at McCoy. I took the pace easy, but probably gained 600 ft elevation of trails. Did 80 pushups at the peak. A few strides at the end.

15 miles miles down Canal, down main, up Gov, down Aggie, and past the church, finishing at the creek.

AM - I've typed this report three times for it to be deleted. 8.5. I tried to do a fartlik and got about 20 minutes in but it felt too hard, haven't been sleeping well.

PM - Ran 3 miles WU to the KOA fields for some speed. Basically the fields consist of 4 soccer fields, each about 10 feet higher than the previous. So flat, a steep hill, more flat, ect. It was a good workout. Started out running up, across, and down twice in a 2:19 half mile. Jogged for 20 seconds to get across, ran up the fields, jogged 20, ran down, did that twice. The quick part was a little shy of 200m and I was hitting the uphills in 29 and downhills in 26 so it was some good work. I felt really good. I ate some cornbread literally 20 seconds before I left my house so my stomach hurt, but besides that I felt very good. A bit tired on the cooldown. 7 miles @ 6:35 avg pace. More mileage than I planned for today, but some good work, plus I might be able to hit 100 miles this week and still taper the next few days. Lastly S/O to my main miner Cason for updating his blog.

AM - 5. Legs felt tired. Also didn't eat anything before, and worked until 11:30 PM yesterday so that might be why.

PM - 2 down to the park, did some mediocre strides on the grass (too windy), ran back. Avg pace 6:45

3 miles WU, then a workout of 400, 400, 800, 400, 800, 400, 800, 400, 400. Equal recovery. I found this workout on Jake Krong's early blog as a tune up before he dropped a fast 10k time and it seemed like a good workout. I felt pretty dead on the warmup, and I was def. running on some tired legs in the workout. Didn't go too fast, was mainly feeling out pace. Recovery was all around 6:50-7:10 pace, so more floating then jogging. 76, 77, 2:36, 76, 2:36, 78, 2:36. After the last 800 my left foot started really hurting on the outside. I floated 200m and knew it'd be dumb to finish the 400's. No cooldown, but I'm gonna stretch and ice it out. I don't really feel like running 12 tomorrow with a race on monday, so I guess I'm cursed to never hit a 100 mile week by the blog standards. 6:29 avg pace, 5:58 pace with the warmup excluded

Foot still hurts.

I officially leave Vernal August 4th, although the 1-3 I'll be a counselor at our xc camp so Idk if that quite counts. On the fourth were driving down to stay st George, then Sedona AZ, Amarillo, Little Rock, and ending in Tuscaloosa. I'm excited to get some good runs in. I might run a race down in Flagstaff on the 6th, we'll see.

Well I'm not running Deseret. My foot still hurts, but the pain is going away bit by bit. The main reason is I wasn't aware that I couldn't pick up my packet today, which I only found out as I was driving up. Piss-poor day

Some good work today. Didn't run much, but very proactive. Woke up and the foot barely bugged, took my ibuprofen. Went to the lake with the family and aqua jogged for about ten minutes. Got home, ate, went and biked just under 16 miles in an hour at a high resistance on the stationary while watching House(great show), then did a lot of good core. Also parked pretty far off from the rec, and jogged there and back, and my foot felt fine with no recent pain meds! Gonna try an easy short run tomorrow #blessed2Bback

AM - slept through my alarm so ran alone. Three pretty easy. Iced in the canal for a couple minutes. Foot bugged a little bit the first mile then faded away. Now it bugs about the same, but I haven't taken my ibuprofen yet

PM - biked about 17 miles. Foot bugged after

Ran a mile with the team on their warmup, but that was just to get the affirmative to be the camp counselor this year. turned out to be a negatory. Apparently I'm too young, and all the girls will fall for me. Too late. Haha I dread telling Jacia and Kyrie the horrific news. Biked four miles in the morning, and 17 in the afternoon. All at high resistance, all >15mph. Gonna swim some laps tonight. My foot didn't feel awful during the mile, but it didn't feel good, so I think I might just rest until Sunday or Monday. I really hate being inactive though.

Pool jogging for an hour.

After 9 hours of working and a smoothie/bowl of cereal at 8 AM powering me through 14 waking hours, it's 7:30 and I'm ready to eat a whole lot of mexican food as my final feast while living at home.

Update- I'm entering a comatose state.

Important update- I saw a doctor on my foot today. He said plantars fasciitis. Aparantly the outside of my feet are flat as a board. Good news and bad news. Good news is that it's extremely easy to prevent, I jjust have to get good shoes and do stretches, so I'll be back running VERY soon. Bad news is the verdict feels off. Plantar's is more of a heel injury, which I have no problem with. What do I know though.

AM - five miles before my last day of work at USU. I'm giving a 15 minute talk on octopus poison. The avg pace was 6:49 so I've kept in shape. Had the expected leg pain one receives from 7 days off running, and my stomach was totally destroyed from about three pounds of Mexican food last night in celebration of me not having a fracture/tendonitis. I stretched a lot yesterday/a bit this morning, and there was almost no foot pain. That was without pain relievers.

PM - 3 miles rec loop. I swear I always feel sluggish the first mile, okay the second, and just dandy the third mile every time. And the paces always show. This time I could barely feel my legs. The last mile I was stumbling and once I stopped I was dizzy and got the hiccups. Paces were 7:11, 6:37, 6:19, so not too shabby for dead legs. Did my core after.

Run was supposed to be easy today, but the trail I chose was just brutal. Gained almost 700 ft elevation by the end. Now it didn't have the sheer difficulty of Jackalope or deathhill, but Jackalope only has two miles that are pretty strenuous, and deathhill only one. This run had about 1.5 that wasn't too bad, but the other 9.5 was killer. I slept in so it was pretty hot out by the end of it as well. Lots of sharp turns and drop off's that killed the cadence. Traction was pretty bad too. Good work today. A large S/O to AlliJP for being born quite a while ago

My feet were hurting yesterday, they were really tight for some reason. I also attended a wedding and hung out pretty late with Will. So as a result I felt pretty trashy when I woke up this morning. Plus yesterdays run was pretty hard. I decided to move the workout to tomorrow. Ran down to the KOA fields, got a few good strides in, jogged back home. Stomach was wrecked from yesterday

Broke out a classic for my shakeout, the ol' pegs. My feet felt good in them. It was storming outside and quite windy. The first mile I resisted the tailwind, but then for half a mile I let it just carry me in a nice 5:45 pace. Turned around and the wind was killer.

I'm changing my Colorado race to one in Texas. Money is three deep and it seems pretty lowkey so maybe 6 years of running slow at elevation will give me a killer return in my home state.