Step by step, mile by mile

7 mile run on the ol' stomping grounds, feat strides.

11 miles, my first official practice as a senior. It feels pretty strange. I ran with Aaron, and we kept up a 6:51, so not too hard. Our first few miles were low 7's, so I sped up to a couple 5's to keep the pace a bit quicker. I blew ahead in the last mile. No one was even close to the two of us. Christian did about 2 miles less than us and still finished seconds behind us. Strides afterwards.

30 min shakeout and strides that afternoon.

Morning run with aaron. The arch of my left foot hurt badly during it, and continues to. Strides afterwards

Mile repeats today. 7 miles in total. Our team does them in pairs, and while you rest your teammate runs, sort of like a two man relay. Aaron and I weren't allowed to pair up with each other, instead coaches told us to choose our # 3 and 4(out of who were at practice), Christian and Jordan. I chose Christian. Kedric(the freshman who knocked me out of state last year) was told just to try to pace off me. The first mile Aaron caught me in the last 500m and beat me, he running a 5:16 and I running a 5:23(my last quarter mile was at a 5:50 pace). Kedric ran a high 5/ low 6. Christian ran a 5:40 and Jordan ran a 6, so I was alone in the lead for the next repeat. I lapped a few people, but then settled into an easy pace(6:20 for the last third). I finished in 5:37. Aaron finished in 5:40's. After that repeat my feet hurt from doing speedwork in Pegasus 30's, so I changed into my flats. The next repeat I ran a 5:27, and stayed in that range until the gap grew large enough that coaches told Jordan(and the rest of the team) to just to stop, and that the top boys would run a few more repeats while they watched. Aaron, Christian and I were the only ones to keep running. When Christian tagged me to start running Aaron went with me, and we fought for the lead until we got to the place where he caught me on the first repeat. He tried to surge, but I kicked the pace up a bit and finished in 5:23, he finishing 5:27(first quarter mile at 6:00, then we picked it up). The final repeat all three of us ran together(Christian, Aaron and I). I didn't feel good on the start, Aaron was pushing the pace and Christian was pushing me behind him, and I started wanting to quit. I held on though, and at the 800m mark I caught Aaron and Christian fell behind. I trailed behind Aaron, giving him space so he could win. However, in the last 300m I made a move and passed him, and my pace kept speeding up. my final repeat time was a 5:21, and Aaron ran what I recall was a 5:33. Christian ran a high 5:40. It felt good, I didn't push too hard, and stayed consistent. Strides afterward.

2 easier miles at 6:21 pace, followed by strides and core.

3 miles in the morning. Splits were 6:40, 6:00, 6:12. Strides and weights afterwards

8 miles that evening doing hill repeats, 1000m up, 1000m down. Averaged a very low 7 pace for the most part. Strides after

Today the varsity team met up with Harley, a former teammate now on the women's track/XC team at UVU. 2 miles from the park to the track, then 3x1000 repeats with a 600m jog in between. I took the repeats a little too easy, gaining the lead and then coasting there. The first one was about 3:15, with Mason and aaron about 5 seconds behind me. The next one I tried to stay with the team. Our first 200 was a 40, the next was a 43, the one after that a 49. At that point I sped up and blazed past the pack, running a 68 last 400. The others were still about 5 seconds behind me. On the final one Aaron started behind me in lane one, with austin and mason in lanes 2 and 3. At 100m in I started to take the lead, but mason cut me off and austin pushed me in to my lane, boxing me in. With 600m to go the three of them were running in a line about 10m ahead of me(I had mad stomach cramps during this repeat). On the straightaway going into the final lap I passed Austin, caught Aaron, but then the cramps came back stronger so I couldn't get mason, who ran around a 3:13. I did 3:19. I ran an extra mile more than the rest of the team coming back because I strayed in order to find a bathroom.

Another 4 miles up on the trails with strides that evening. Felt nice.

3 easy miles with strides in the desert about ten minutes after I woke up. I went 6:56, which was probs a bit too quick for a shakeout. I'll do an easier paced run tomorrow. It was blazing hot, which in a way is good because I'm not great with racing in heat so running in it should help somewhat. My team XC camp is on the 3rd 4th and 5th, and on the final day we have a 2 miles race up a steep mountain. Conner Mckeachnie has the course record of 16:29. My goal is to break 15 on it.

9 miles that afternoon. It was supposed to be an easy run, but the average pace ended up being 6:50. It didn't feel hard to maintain or anything, but I suppose I should have taken an easier day more lightly.