step by step, mile by mile

60 minute run on the dot. Since today's a home game the town is SWAMPED. Too much weaving and jumping around to go quick, so I took it pretty easy.

AM - Abridged version - couldn't sleep at all, so at 4 I set out for my run. Got the Strava course record for University Blvd by about 30 seconds with a 10:26. The course is a tad short of 3000m, with 75 ft elevation gain. I ate something bad yesterday and I felt really bad on the run today. I should have broke 10 at least. Was sure I'd throw up the last couple minutes. Finished with a couple strides. My shoes were literally soaked with blood in the toebox area once I was done, not sure what from.

PM - trail run with UA run. The first mile I got pushed behind a couple guys started off ham and died off. One of them basically tripped me, and I hurt myself pretty bad. AT 2 everyone turned around but me, I went about a mile farther. I got hit by a thorny branch that made me bleed a bit. I did 3x30 second strides until I had to stop, my right foot was wet(from blood, AGAIN). Finished up the hill hard. Once I got back to the dorm I could see my right big toe got messed up pretty badly.

Not a good day for me.

With 12 days until the CC, here's the plan. Medium workout tomorrow. Some 200's on Tuesday. Not sure on the workout on Wednesday. For now, let's call it 3x mile repeats on the grass. 3x2400m on Friday. Longer run with a couple hill strides on Saturday. a few tempo 800's on Sunday. 1200, 800, 400 on Tuesday. Besides that the mileage is going down, the taper is going up, and sub 26:20 is in the books. I've done the 100-mile weeks. I've done two a day workouts. I've worked for this, now let's get it done!

6 easy miles. 4 up to the rec/ around the fields, stretched and did core, 2 back. Was busy today with classes and didn't sleep well last night. I didn't stretch after either of my runs yesterday because I was hurting from falling off the trail, so my legs were the first four miles. After stretching I felt a lot better for the last 2.

I guess I'll do a daily review leading to the CC. 11 days. Legs felt flat for the most part. 14 miles yesterday made for my highest mileage in a while, so I guess not stretching/falling down a trail will do that. For breakfast I had fruit/granola, lunch was refried beans and rice crispies with protein powder mixed in. Dinner was jasmine rice with fish and some peach cobbler. Popcorn & baby carrots later tonight. Also had a few apples throughout the day, and my first(and second) cup of coffee ever. Wasn't too bad.

2-mile warmup. 2x2000m going 600 hard, 100 easy, 400 hard, 100 easy, 300 hard, 200 easy, 200 hard. 500m recovery between sets. Not all out on the hard, but keeping a good pace. I had about 20oz of black coffee after breakfast before calc(2 hours before), and another 20 oz during material engineering(<1 hour before). It was hot out, and I just kept feeling worse as I went on. First set the times went 1:49, 72, 49, 32. Next set 1:50, then had to sit down for about thirty seconds. I was sure I was gonna hurl. I felt really sick. Tried the 400, hit a 75 then bagged the workout. Cooled down for 7. I was sure I was gonna throw up, but I didn't. Coffee might have health benefits, but I'll stick to my normal tea for now.

3 mile shakeout and drills before dinner. Still felt sick, I'll talk about that in the daily review.

10 days to the CC. Legs felt a bit tired when I woke up, but after getting up and walking to the dining hall and drinking some coffee I felt better. Felt real sick on the faster stuff today. Would've been nice to finish it, but the workout isn't easy normally, and conditions weren't great. Breakfast I had peaches and blueberries with some whipped cream, and a bowl of oatmeal, with coffee. Coffee before the run. Salad for lunch. I also got some rice but it was really wet and gross. Later to compensate I had some popcorn(topped with hot sauce), then went to get tea from the dining hall, where I had a very hearty portion of peach cobbler. On my shakeout run, that stuff had its vengeance. Felt like I had a knife in my gut. Felt too sick to even eat dinner until around 7. For dinner, I had some Vietnamese noodles with pork and veggies mixed in. Some rice crispies when I got back to the dorm.

Next ten days of entries are gonna be long fyi. I'm gonna try to roll out, drain my legs, and take a hot shower for my legs before bed(9-9:30).

2 WU, 2-mile failed tempo, 2 CD. I felt alright on the warm up with Ethan. Plan was 2-mile uphill tempo from the lowest area of campus to the highest, 2-mile back down, and 2x1 mile's at the bottom. We started, and I had to jump on and off the sidewalk for cars pulling out(Ethan ran on the road). Got a half mile in on a pretty good pace, but just got hit with waves and waves of relentless sickness. I was so sure I'd puke, my stomach felt just awful. Managed to barely survive in an 11:40 for 2 miles. I (once again) ended the workout short, and jogged back to the dorm. My HR was weird for the run(the hard part), it got up to 190, which is over 20bpm higher than I've ever seen it. It's been 20 or so minutes since I finished and it's still near 100(my resting HR is 30-40)

Did plyometrics in the afternoon. Felt really flat at first, but better by the end.

Daily review - 9 days. Still felt sick to my stomach. Legs didn't have much life in them before the plyometrics. I think I'm gonna do some more of it in the afternoons in the next few days to get some pep in my legs. I think it was more of a mental thing, though. I'm gonna do a short speed thing tomorrow, and I'm gonna feel good, so it'll go well. I just have to be there mentally. Breakfast was granola w/ fruit and yogurt, potatoes, and half a bagel w/ tea. Lunch and dinner were both peach cobbler and an apple/granola/yogurt mix, with some rice crispies between lunch and dinner. Last time having peach cobbler for a while. I had so much of it these past couple of days I don't think I'll have fond memories of it though.

15 min warmup, 3, 2, 1 fartlek, 15 CD. Made sure to be running a manageable pace, not going too hard. Hit about 910m, 615m, and 330m on the hard. Fun fact, the pace is inaccurate(quicker) when running on a track normally, but when running the opposite way, the pace is slower.

Daily review - 8 days. Ran to my chem mid term in the evening. Coming back my knee hurt. Ate a ton after my test. I feel sick. I need to eat less

4 to the rec/on the fields, core/stretching, 2 back. When I was running on the fields the track/xc team was doing some grass repeats. I sped up around them. 6:37 avg pace.

Daily review - I've started reading "Born to Run". Great book. Geez, I can't remember the last time I actually finished a book(probably AP English of junior year). My stomach hurt a little on the run today, but something tells me I should be fine by tomorrow. My knee hurt for about 5 seconds on mile 5, but besides that it was fine. I felt pretty good on the run, mile splits were 6:20-6:50 and none felt hard, heat was bugging though. I want to get a good lactate threshold workout tomorrow, but I'm not sure what to do. I'm gonna do speed on Sunday, and some 4/8's on Tuesday. If any readers know a good workout to help keep a 5:15-20 pace down for 5 miles, I'd appreciate it.

Breakfast - granola w/ fruit

Lunch - Salad w/ a TON of olives(like 2 bowls) and a bit of rice

Post run - more olives and some 3 bean vegetarian chili

Dinner - 

AM - 5.5 easy with a fast 1k on the grass in 2:55 

PM - 2.5 shakeout

Daily review - 6 days. I woke up today with the intention of running a 5k on the track @ 8k pace or faster (16:25). I warmed up 2 miles to the track, but there was a football game going on so I was going back to the dorm when I saw the fields and figured "well, I have my spikes here, let's do something". My legs felt a bit tired, and it was really windy and the grass was quite wet, so I figured I'd only do a kilometer. Held a steady pace the entire time, didn't slow, and came in with a pretty nice time that didn't feel too hard, probably could have held it for a mile if I didn't start having a stomach issue towards the end. Ran to the rec restrooms and back to the dorm for 5.5. Gonna try the 5k tomorrow. I felt pretty good on the shakeout, except I had some chia squeezes before my run, which are pretty high in fiber count!

Breakfast - 1.5 bagels w/ an apple and some tea

Lunch - Salad, apples/peaches, omelet

Dinner - big salad

3 miles warm up with a 400m in 80 just to stride out a bit. Very windy. 400, 400, 800, 400, 800, 400, 400 @8k pace. 200 recovery on the 4's, 400 on the 8's. Times were 7l, 77, 2:35, 77, 2:36, 78, 70. Finished with 4x200's pacing @ the start and kicking w/ 150m, 100m, 75m, and 50m to go. cooled down back to the dorms for 9.6 miles in 60 minutes.

Daily review - 20 mph winds! 5k wasn't happening. The wind definitely made the workout a bit harder, but the pace was sustainable, I just let my mind sort of wander. First 400 I forgot that this was supposed to be 8k pace. Both the 800's were either even or slightly neg splits. Went a bit harder on the last 400. I began to feel some lactic acid on the last two 400's, but the 200's flushed that out. Looking forward to some easy days! I wasn't that focused today, but it was the paces I need to hit on Friday so that's good(maybe a couple seconds too quick).

Breakfast - bagel and chia squeeze

Lunch - large salad w/ fruit

Snack - bagel with chia packet

Dinner - Huge salad with rice

1.5 bagel w/ chia packet & popcorn

5 miles easy

Daily review - 4 days! My calves were very tight from 4-ish miles straight in spikes yesterday. I took it easy because my legs were a bit tired, but the pace was pretty good! The run didn't save, but for the most part the pace was in the high 6:30's/low 6:40's. Getting excited!

Breakfast - granola w/ fruit and a half a bagel and a chia packet

Lunch - salad w/ fruit and two bagels

Dinner - salad w/ fish 

After dinner - another bagel, some fruit, and pickle juice to numb the calves... We'll see.

2 W/U, 1200 @8k pace, 800 @5k pace, 400@mile pace. 3:55, 2:34, 73. 400 recovery. Strides and CD for 6.5.

Daily review - 3 days! Very windy out there today. Legs started to feel a little tired on the 400, so I took it a little easier.

Breakfast - bagel, oatmeal, potatoes, fruit

Lunch - salad and fruit

Early dinner(3 PM) - bagel and a salad with fruit

Later dinner (7PM) - a bit of rice, but there wasn't really anything else. Tried to get an apple, but it was rotten. Just went back to my dorm and had 2.5 bagels and some Italian ice instead.

2 W/U, 4x200 w/ equal recovery, hurdle drills/flexibility, CD for 5.

Daily review - 2 days... wowzers! I know myself pretty well, and I know if I get nervous I'm not gonna race well. I ran a 26:40 and up until the last mile I didn't even realize I was in race mode, so I just gotta chill... It's hard, though. First 2 200's I just focused on short steps and went 33 and 32. Next one I paced the first 100-ish meters and then kicked it in. Last one I started jogging briskly with 50m left in the recovery, sped up to pace for the next 50, started striding for 50 after that, next 50 started kicking, and last 50 turned over. On the cooldown, I saw Cerake G. and we waved to each other, He runs for Oklahoma and was(and still is) a way fast dude. He and Conner used to race each other a lot back when I was a frosh. Well, Conner's gone, so I guess it's my turn to race him!

Breakfast - Granola and fruit. Less than usual.

Lunch - salad and rice(and an apple)

Early dinner(?)(2PM) - 2 bagels and some rice

Dinner - MONSTER salad. I got a ton of greens, olives, corn, pico, and black beans to make an amazing taco salad.

2.5 easy w/ 3 strides (6:35 pace, nice)

Final review - pace was easy today. Made sure of that. Highest the heart rate got was 130, even on the strides which were ~5:00 pace. Made sure to focus on breathing and form and staying relaxed. Tried a new technique called "centering" which felt good. Studied up on racing mentality and stuff like that. Left calf was a bit tight, I'll make sure to roll that out.

Ever since late may I've been training hard, and now comes the time to prove that. My body is in good shape, and that combined with the race mentality that I'm going to collapse before I give up, and I think I can do 26:20. No, I KNOW I can. So, if I could stay in all my loyal readers thoughts/prayers, it would mean a lot.

I'd just like to thank everyone that helped get me to this points . No matter what happens in the arboretum tomorrow, I'm giving everything I have for you guys. 

ITS GRIND TIME!!!

I can't even describe today. I felt like I lined everything up perfectly, but today just really wasn't my day. Then again, are race days ever my days? 

Got to bed at 7:30 last night. Got some good sleep. Woke up a couple times thirsty, got water, went back to bed. Woke up at 6:30 and my stomach felt pretty bad, but I thought I'd be fine. Had an apple, a banana, and some oatmeal for breakfast. Got to the meet. Surrounded by all these great DI athletes... It was pretty neat. But, I told myself, I'd trained hard for this, I was just as good as these guys. Get to the starting line and I heard "Eugene?? It's Eugene!" It was my good friends Max and Will from Team Prep USA, now running for Kennesaw State! We talked for a bit and then the race started. Man, I don't even know what happened. It felt like everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. I got pushed a lot. I stumbled down the hills and tripped over roots. Around 4k my back started tightening up badly. I noticed my left hamstring was tight yesterday but I stretched it out after my shakeout. from miles 3-5 my primary focus was on making it to a port-a-potty. And that's all I have to say about that. 

Obviously I'm a little upset about training all this time just to fail when it matters. Huge S/O to my roommate Grant for coming to cheer me on. Only race splits I remember hearing were 5:16 for 1 mile, and 23 for 4 miles.

It's really irritating to be able to run workouts and do well and when it matters, you fall flat. So I'm gonna train to the point where even my bad races are something to be proud about!

PM - 3 miles

Gonna start doing my runs in minutes. 30 this morning. Glad I took yesterday off, my legs felt much better. Not good, but better. That course really beat me up.

Another 30 minutes in the afternoon. I ate a lot of junk food over the weekend, but now I'm ready to put get some quality mileage in these next few weeks.

AM - 15 minutes. Suprisingly didn't feel any sickness from yesterday, but I wasn't out for long.

PM - 45 minutes. Ran to the fields, took off the shoes and shirt, and just ran on the grass, letting my mind wander. It was nice.

AM/Noon - 60 minutes easy before lunch. Very hot today, but I toughed it out. Again I ran to the fields and went barefoot until I had about 7 minutes left. Excited to build my mileage back up again. I hate to admit it but I think I was in better shape in August.

PM - 20 minutes easy before dinner.

AM - 50 minutes. Slept in to be well rested for my calc test, so it was once again very hot out by the time I set out. I made sure to do the most hilly run I could in the time I had. I did a faster k in the middle in 3:24. Legs weren't really wanting to do quick stuff, but I sped up throughout it.

PM - busy with classes. S/O to all my blogger buddies of which I have too many to list at the moment. Special S/O to PV for winning state, and Zack and Ryan for running great races!

AM/noon - 30 minutes. I felt miserable, it's too (explicative) hot here. I'm not a fan of Alabama. But I guess I just gotta start running in the mornings. Had ice tea and this peachy oatmeal thing after which made me feel quite a bit better.

PM - set out a couple hours later for a 60-minute run with 7x1 minute pickups on the grass in the middle. Glad I got the bad running for the day out of the way, bc I actually felt pretty good on these. Avg'd .21 miles on the pickups, which didn't feel too hard, definitely could have held it for longer. Did some strides and stretches and cooled down. I think I'm gonna go back to mileage over minutes. It feels better.

AM - 4 miles before breakfast. Felt real good so the pace was a bit quicker. It was actually fall weather today, I had to wear a long sleeve shirt because it was in the 50's! Very windy.

PM - 8 miles. My main trainers have almost 500 and 600 miles on them, and I'm really not too fond of the structures, they're kind of clunky. The pegasi have done me real well in the past.

An idea(or two) about upcoming training:

I think I'm going to do an easy run in the morning from now on for Monday-Friday, and a real session in the afternoon, either a faster-paced run or an actual workout. I'll do a long run on Saturday. I think I might start taking Sunday's off again, which has been an on again/off again thing for me, but last November was a time where I was really hitting some quick paces, and what I was doing was fast stuff every time I ran, and taking Sunday's off

AM - 3 w/ strides. Watch was being wonky w/ the pace

PM - 4 miles. Tried to do a 2-mile tempo, started off around 5:35 pace, then worked it down to about 5 flat, but suddenly my back tightened up way bad up and I had to stop until it stopped seizing up. On the way back a golf cart cut in front of me so I pushed the pace to catch up to him for a minute or so. That was around a high 5:30 pace.

7 miles. Felt pretty good so I kept speeding up bit by bit. Did a 6:40 mile, then a 6:20, then a 5:56, then a 5:36. After the 5:36 my back seized up again and I had to stop. I looked up some stretches but none of them seemed to do the trick. Ran home for 7 miles @ 6:14 pace. It's a shame I had to stop, because I felt real good today, and I think I had some more room to improve the pace. 

3 quicker miles before dinner, then core and some back stuff.

About 1.5 W/U, 3 x hilly mile repeats, CD for 6. Back had the seizing thing for just a bit on the warmup, but I realized I was going sub 6 pace and slowed down and it went away. First repeat had a lot of uphill then ended with some downhill, second one was a bit of uphill then a fair amount of downhill, third one had light rolling hills. First one went 5:23, followed by about 3 minutes of jogging, then a 5:13, then about a minute of standing rest, finishing with a 4:59. 

The second mile repeat might have been a bit faster, I forgot to hit the lap button when I started and didn't realize until a couple minutes in. I was pretty sure I started at .44, so I just ran until .45 or so and subtracted about 3 minutes from the first repeat and added. The last repeat I had to jump from the sidewalk to the road and back a lot, plus by a quarter mile I was averaging 4:40 pace or maybe a little quicker, so yeah that worked with the hills to slow me down a bit. Avg pace 5:50 w/ the WU.

2 miles to Publix and back to get stuff for dinner. Didn't record the run but had my watch telling me the pace. About 6:20 going up and 5:40 coming back down. Racing a 5k on Saturday.

Legs felt tired today. 10 miles with 3x(4x400) in the middle in 85,80,75,70. Third set ended up being closer to 80,80,70,70. 10 miles @5:55, with another mile after stretching at the rec. Pretty good work for my third harder day in a row. I decided to bail on the 5k on Saturday. I just don't wanna pay 35 dollars when I already paid for a race next week. Starting to get in good shape!

No IHOP :( Had to run to Publix instead bc Lakeside was closed.

AM - 4 easy down to the rec with one lap on the fields. No watch. I woke up, ate some candy corn, and headed out so I felt a little sick.

PM - 4 to the fields again. Wanted to go further but my stomach wasn't feeling too good.

Originally was gonna do 5, and I felt not too great. I lied in bed all day watching Netflix, only getting up to brush my teeth and get some candy corn(the only food I had eaten prior to the run. after ending my run at lakeside for dinner, only to walk around to discover the hall was closing, I decided to run to Moe's and felt a lot better. I was going around 6:10 pace despite it being uphill. Bought 2 burritos and ran back, to-go back in my hands(the burritos were quite dense). I'm sure that looked strange to any passerbys.

I found a 2 mile race here in town later in November. 2 miles. I managed to go sub 5 on one of my mile repeats earlier this week, I guess I'll see if I can hold it for twice as long. I've been exchanging emails with a coach of a Track Club not too far from here. He asked if I'd call him to discuss running for his club. If it'll get me closer to making the UofA team I guess.

3 miles before lunch. It's way too hot out. Wore a very thick shirt which I regret

5 miles in the afternoon. Didn't feel too good. Did 3x30s strides.

2 miles during laundry in twelve minutes. Pretty bad cramps from dinner but even with that I was moving pretty quick.

Couldn't sleep. ran at 2 AM. Avg pace 6:20.