Step by step, mile by mile

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.

Woke up at 6AM and drove up to dry fork canyon(about 8000ft elevation). The canyon was dark and really really cold. Ran 5 miles to the base of Red Cloud Loop, and did 6x(2 minutes tempo, 3 minutes easy) up to the top. Elevation gain was stupid high. All of them were exclusively uphill save #5, which I ran at about 5:15 pace. The trees interferred with my signal on my watch except for the repeat at the peak, which was #5. At first I was discouraged because it was 8 flat pace for the hard part, but then I realized that when I was coming down(fairly quickly) the pace was the same, so I guess it was off, so that's a relief. Ended up being 15 miles in the end, which is about 3 miles over what I was supposed to run but oh well. I gained a little over 2000ft elevation, and averaged sub 8 for the pace so three cheers for that. I took my mom out to Denny's after, and had some good banana walnut pancakes. I feel quite fulfilled.

I woke up pretty tired from hanging with friends last night. I was gonna split my mileage into two runs today, but I felt slow from yesterday so I decided "might as well just get another longer run" ran down canal and up and down Gov, then jogged to the KOA fields and did about half a mile of strides. Felt much fresher on the last one compared to the first. Jogged home. A little under 85 minutes for 11 miles. I didn't ice, roll out, and I barely stretched after yesterday bc I had to rush to breakfast, so def gonna catch up on that stuff today. Final note- tomorrow's tempo run will be up and down dry fork canyon, then I'll be camping that night and if I run the next morning it'll be on the campgrounds. Then I'm outta here. So this was my last run in Vernal. Although I find this town dreary and dreadful usually, I met a few quality people here who I'm gonna miss. Speaking of missing people, goodbye to my good friends Asa, Connor, Christian, and Chestnut who all leave tomorrow. Thx 4 the Mars, my DMs won't be the same without you guys. Or my instagram. Or blogging.

I did a time trial today. It went stellar so I'm putting it as a race. Warmed up 2.5 to the creek with Trevor, who was on the bike. I came in with a goal of neg. splits and accomplished that. I wanted to go 6:00, 5:40, 5:40, 5:40, 5:10. First mile was much quicker than I wanted, but didn't feel too hard. 5:34. Trevor immediately was gone on the bike. At the ten minute mark a started to pick it up. Next mile was a 5:27. Around mile three my legs started getting pretty tired and I had to dig a bit. Next mile was a 5:20. Here I caught Trevor and started getting some bad uphill. 5:20 again. Last mile there was uphill and downhill. Pushed it in for 5:00 for the remaining .97. Great work! I'm beyond blessed. Cooled down back to the truck and iced in the creek. I split a 16:25 5k, so PR. The course I ran on was aided, but it was also at 8,000 ft elevation so I'd say it breaks even.

Had a fun night with some good friends last night. We camped up in the mountains which was fun, but I got almost no sleep. "Woke" up at 6 and did three miles. Drove home and now I'm on my way to alabama!

7 miles in Colorado Springs. My stomach felt like trash per usual the night after hanging with Will. Quads were dead from an 8 hour car ride. My parents cancelled my race... again. So no race on Saturday and no 1000$. Dangit. Besides that stuff felt pretty good

It's cold in Colorado! 57 degrees on the snapchat filter this morning. Set out with a plan of a good fartlik workout. Well, I did three miles warmup, and when I started the workout I could barely get under 6:40 pace. My legs had no life in them and my feet hurt. I ate a TON for dinner yesterday so my stomach wasnt too well either. Changed the run to an out and back. 6.6 miles out, 6.6 miles back. Took 50 minutes to get out and 43 to get back, on the dot. After almost 12 miles my legs finally felt good enough, and my foot stretched out enough, to pick up to 6:10 at the slowest and 5:30 at the fastest. Doesn't sound quick, but I gained 250 feet in that stretch so def. Some good work.

I just got a call from the head xc Alabama coach about meeting with me! He said my 8k time was impressive. Hopefully that means something good.

Another 3.8 before dinner on the treadmill

First run in humidity. I ran pretty early in the morning but it was still pretty bad. I was full out drenched by the end of the run. Did 6 outside, not because of the humidity, but because Amarillo sucks to run in. Came back to the hotel and did two miles on the treadmill, with the last half mile at 5:20 pace. Core and stretching after.

5 miles on the treadmill in dallas. Completely drenched by the end. Gonna put in some good work this next week!