Step by step, mile by mile

Ran to the dining hall, Calc, and after Calc to the track. Stretched for a bit and did some premeet. 400m w/ 1 min rest, 200m w/ 40 second rest, 200m. 71, 32, 28. I felt sick today, I was stuffed up the entire time and my stomach felt bad. Not too worried about tomorrow. It's only preseason, and I think I can beat my PR's pretty easily. 3k at 10, mile at 2, 800m at 4. Gonna run to chem tonight for a shakeout.

Sick

Light jogging on a busy day. I miss Garek's blogging. Too bad he DM'ed me a while back and said his blog is retired now

AM - Ran to and from Calc finals. I've never struggled in math, and I didn't today, but it sure was long and arduous. It's been storming hard lately. I felt pretty trashed but I'll chalk that up to not stretching/weather conditions for now. And probably from 2 days off.

PM - 7 miles in 46 minutes with Ethan. Weather was very rough. 8 strides after. Pace felt rough, but manageable. My body wasn't handling the conditions well. When I finished I was freezing and white as a sheet. It's been thirty minutes and I still am. Gonna go take a shower to warm up and stretch. Workout tomorrow!

Another 2 later to get dinner. My stomach felt pretty bad but my legs felt prime. Watch was dead but if it felt like the cadence and stride length of mid-5 pace, at an easy effort. Hopefully this feeling carries over to tomorrow! High mileage today, whoops.

AM - 2 mile shakeout to breakfast and back. Didn't stretch before so my form felt off, but I felt good on it. Still storming out.

PM - 2 WU, 2x(4x400) w/ 2 min recovery between repeats, 2 lap recovery between sets, CD for 10. Definitely a mental battle today. Conditions were terrible! 15 mph winds. Ran with Ethan. He made the recoveries pretty hard, he wouldn't let me do standing recoveries and had me jog with him instead the second I finished. It definitely made the workout harder, and it was already really tough. I hadn't eaten really anything and I felt kind of crappy. Avg time was 69. Was supposed to do 3 sets but after set one Ethan said either we slow the pace down or do 2 sets. Really had to work mentally on the last two repeats.

Busy studying for finals. Did core yesterday and I'm very sore from that.

Very draining day of finals. Was considering skipping running today but then decided I might as well. Ran to the rec, did a fast mile in 4:57, went downstairs, did some core, decided that the mile I just ran felt easy enough that I thought I could hold it for two miles. Unfortunately, my legs were tired from the previous mile. Ran another mile in 4:50(the treadmill wouldn't go any faster), and cooled down/strides for 8. Glutes felt tight on the CD. I only had a bagel for breakfast and a small salad for lunch, so today went pretty well!

Speed day! Warmed up three miles to the track. It was about 30 degrees when I left so I wore spandex, but brought shorts just in case. It ended up being a good move because I was pretty hot by the time I finished warming up. Changed and ran a lap in 69 just to stride out. My legs were pretty tired from last night's workout, I think it might have been the first time I did 2 sub 5 minute miles in a day. Glutes and hamstrings didn't have too much life in them. Workout was 2x(200,300) w/ 2/3 minute rest that was mostly walking. Went 27.9, 44.0, 27.6, 44.8. After that did some 80m sprints, then 3 100m sprints in 13.1(tailwind), 12.7(headwind), and 12.4(tailwind). Good workout! Coming in I wanted to go sub 30 for the 200's and sub 47 for the 300's, and it was super windy too so I'm happy. My PR's for these distances are 27.0 which I ran in early 2016 and 43.0 in early 2015(both w/ teammates pushing me). On the second 200m I thought I could beat that but I guess today wasn't the day, and I doubt I'm in 42 second shape yet. I think that 12.4 is a PR though. I hit the 200m in the last 300m in 28 but then my legs turned to lead. I liked this workout(that II found on Kyle Merber's blog), it isn't a ton of running but the running you do is high intensity. Felt good to be out of my comfort zone.

Logging some easy miles through Atlanta. Tuscaloosa is a pretty flat town, but I probably gained and lost close to 500 feet on this run, and my legs felt it a little bit. Woke up at 7 to get on a bus to Atlanta, got here at 2, and family was coming to see me soon so I left as soon as I arrived. Realized once I left that I hadn't eaten since yesterday evening so I had no life in me at all. Left Achilles felt a lil tingly on the uphill but now I feel fine. About to take my first icebath in 5 months.

7 miles in San Diego. After a six hour plane ride and basically no food or water the past couple days, I felt really bad on the run. Pace wasn't bad, started running 7:10's and brought it down to 6:30's by the end, but it felt difficult. Very hilly. I've eaten since then and I feel much better. Wanted to get 15 but it's alright.

AM - Walked my sister to her school in the morning, then ran a mile back. My pace for the most part was 5:30-40. After about 30 minutes left for my real run. A little over half way into the first mile I realized I was going a little quick and ran a 2:18-19 last 800m for 4:58. Stopped after that for about a minute, ran to the park and jogged around and back to the apartment for 7.

PM - 8 on the same trail as yesterday. Man I'm out of shape. Had to take a couple 15 second breathers after some brutal hills. 6:40's for the pace so that's good. For lunch I had fried rice but it turned out to be a portion larger than my head. To-go boxes are for losers, but my stomach felt like a loser on the run too. I'm eating lots of veggies, carbs, and meat lately, hydrating well(even though the weather here still beats me up), and icing and rolling. Feels great to be healthy. Def tired from some good work today.

Moderate run down a trail to the lake. Pace was somewhere in the 6:30's, watch stopped midway. Difficult trail. Made sure to grind the uphills. I felt good the first 3-4 miles and hurt for the next couple but felt strong in the end too. No stops. Can feel the uptake in mileage in the legs.

Drove down to University of San Diego for another speed session! 2 sessions in less than 5 days. Woof. 400, 200, 200, 200, 300. 200 recovery between everything. Times were 61, 27.0, 27.4, 26.9, 44.5. Ouch. If I had spiked myself I'm pretty sure I would have bled straight lactic acid! My arms were full of it too which I've never felt before. The 400 and 300 didn't feel too hard, 400 was just striding out and 300 couldn't go fast.  CD for 7.

2 miles to get my sister from elementary.

6 easy miles on the trails. Gained about 350ft and almost all of that was in the 4.5-5.5 mile so that was a bit tougher. Once the hill started to get more gradual I focused on keeping my form solid because my legs were tired. That was around 6:00 pace, which wasn't too hard of an effort.

AM - raining hard outside, so I had to try to do a tempo on the treadmill. Did a mile in 5:00 and stopped. I had some chips and salsa about 40 minutes before the run, and the AC wasn't working. I'll try something quicker later if it stops raining.

Did 2 miles of 1 minute on, 1 off. Wanted to go for an hour but it was still raining hard and I just didn't feel great.

Nothing today. Planned on running in st George with Sage but it there wasn't enough available sunlight. 

Past 2 months have been pretty unstructured. No races, scarce core/strength, running fast when I wanted to go fast. Running slow (on the rare occasion) when I wanted. I found a pretty good plan for weekly training. My first race is mid January. I think I'll race the 3k and 600m as tune-ups. I'll see how my fitness is but I want to be under 9:00 and 1:30.

First run at a mile altitude, in 15 degree weather. Ran the first mile split in the pleasant surprise of a 5:19. Felt WAY easier than I'd have thought. Chilled out after that. Altitude was rough, and I felt the first mile on mile 8. Throats felt terrible from the cold/altitude. Partied way hard after that with Shauntel, she's a cool cat. S/O to Kedric for driving past me twice on my run, being the first and second person for me to recognize back in Vernal. I missed this place bad.

Noon - 6 mile run at McCoy. Pace was somewhere between 6:10-6:20 which is pretty good for an incredibly hilly run where the primary running surface is snow/ice. Could have gone quicker normally but I had a side stitch.

Another 6 about 2 hours later. No watch, but same effort. No ice so maybe a bit quicker. Gonna do a ton of strength w/ shurtdog in an hour so a very productive day!

8 miles in 53 minutes. Went a bit faster because Trevor was biking behind me. Went a little quicker than I planned today but it's okay. Pace wouldn't have felt as bad if I hadn't wore too many layers and I can't handle heat too well. Going to do core/legs with Trevor later today.

AM - morning run at the indoor with Rylie, Reagan, and Talon. Legs felt pretty wasted from last night's lifting so it was nice to go easy. Did a stride or two to loosen up. Core after, S/O to Rylie for inviting me!

PM - I got back from my morning run and felt terrible. I thought I had a fever but I wasn't running a temp. I got a ton of shots yesterday and I accidentally flexed mid-shot so my left arm has been hurting pretty bad since yesterday. Legs felt heavy so I went on the track to loosen up. 2 mile WU, and strides for 200m, 100, 2, 3, 4, 3, 2. CD for 12 for the day. Times went 36, 15, 33, 48, 68, 50, 33. Nothing tough today, just trying to make a wrecked body feel better. Wore half-tights and a short sleeve shirt so it was pretty cold out. The insoles in the A6 feel pretty good, no arch pain

8 miles easy, but still a little quicker than I wanted. Ran from my house, up gov trail, back down bc the end was under construction, and down to the rec center. Taking a hot bath as I type this because my legs hurt a little. Not injury type of hurting, the kind you get when you bump up mileage/intensity.

Solid day today! 2 mile WU, 2x(3/4 mile), 1x(1/2 mile), 2x(1/4 mile), all at 5k pace. Rest for everything was a 60m jog around the track, drank a sip from the water fountain, jogged 60m back, started the next rep, so short rest. Went 5:05 mile pace for everything. Great workout, on the fast parts the pace felt easy and after the ~1 minute rest I felt ready to go again, so I think 5:05 was the perfect pace for me at the moment. 3 mile CD w/ strides for 8 miles for the day. Long run tomorrow!

Got 3 miles into my 14 miler at 6:35 pace for all three splits, then my HS XC coach Galley waved me down. Talked to him about running, life, and Ben Saarel for a while. When we finished it started to rain so I ran back home. I'll try for a longer run tomorrow, if I don't eat too much xmas junk. Happy holidays to all bloggers!

Conditions at McCoy today were awful, plain and simple. Could only get in 5 today, but I'll make up for it with some doubles later in the week 2 miles of fartlek at Liberty after dinner. Wanted 5 but hour wasn't enough recovery food-wise

Merry Christmas to anyone reading this.

Noon - 2 mile WU, 4x800 in 2:25, 2:24, 2:22, 2:21. 1:45 rest. Tougher workout than I thought, I really had to stay strong mentally. Felt much harder than Friday's workout, I woke up around 3AM this morning and felt super sick and I guess I haven't shaken it completely. I'll chalk that up to way too much Christmas dinner. Drove up to the Quailbrook church after and ran 2 miles up and down Gov. It was super packed with snow and ice. It was great. I was reading a letsrun forum yesterday about breaking 4 for the 1500, and someone said "make every workout a quality workout". That'll be my 2017 mantra. 

5 miles fartlek on Gov extended a couple hours later. Didn't save the run but it was either took just a bit more than 30:00 or just below. Looking at the shadows cast from the sunset my form looked and felt great.  Definitely my most solid double to date. Went and stretched, did core, and did strength at the rec after. Worked my hamstrings harder than the rest.

AM - Did an easy 6.5 in the morning with Kedric. I benched the bar many times yesterday and my arms were sore. I'm probably quitting running to chase a "mr.universe" title. Felt nice to just run real easy and have a long, semi-inappropriate conversation. I hate to say it but he's got a good future ahead of him in running.

PM - Ran laps at legacy. Did laps 4 and 8 fast(each lap is exactly one third of a mile). Ran the first one in 1:36 and the second in 1:28, but hit the lap button a few meters too early on lap 8. Stretch/core/strength after

9 mile fartlek, 6:21 pace. I set out at 1 and I hadn't eaten since breakfast and I was afraid I'd feel flat but in the end it was good. I felt really good today, effort wasn't crazy hard and switching gears on the dime was easy. I remember I felt a little lazy and unmotivated knowing I wasn't doing a workout today but I'm glad I set out because it was a solid run. Stretching after

4 miles fartlek a couple hours later. Core, drills, and strength after. Felt great, no watch.

AM - 5 mile fartlek to Bee's and back. I ate something yesterday that hasn't settled well, and my right knee felt a little tight the first 3, but besides that a very enjoyable run. I worked the final mile(all uphill) pretty hard.

PM - 4 miles fartlek. My knee hurt a little, but not an injury. I hit it on my car door getting out to run. Accidentally swore(I was in an LDS parking lot). Yikes.

Had a lot of pasta last night, and two bagels for breakfast, so I was carbed up. Drove up to 7,000ft for an 800m time trial. 3 mile WU. Ran on somewhat slick, hilly roads. Net downhill, but the uphill was brutal too. Gave it everything I had for 1:56.7. Drove back down to Gov and ran another 5 miles. I haven't done any speed in 2 or 3 weeks and I've been focused on 5k and 3k stuff so it's sweet to still run quick(in the preseason). I really have no idea how Conner Mantz did two of those back to back.

Noon - 5 mile fartlek. Pushed the pace a bit the first 2 miles, then felt tired for the next two, but I felt good again for the steep uphill mile so I kept a solid pace on that. 8 miles fartlek for 3000 for the year. Felt trash and threw up after. Felt better after that.

I'm grateful for being able to run 100+ mile weeks and to never have taken more than a few days off because something hurt. I'm grateful I didn't get injured this year. I'm grateful I'm smart enough to be educated at a pretty highly ranked engineering college for free. Im grateful I'm on the dean's list. I'm grateful for friends and family who love me. I'm grateful I'm healthy. 

2016 has definitely been a tough year for me, in running and in other aspects. I really hate the whole "new year, new me" juxtaposition. Come tomorrow, I'll still be Eugene. But 2017 is gonna be a great year. I'm only just getting started.