How I became the best

Easy 7 miles after we got home from St George

Warmed up before the girls race one mile, and another mile before my race. Got in 2 strides before the start. Start was pretty similar to Saturdays race, Heston went to the front and I tucked in right behind him. About 1200 in, there was still a Salem Hills kid with us, and Nate was right behind me. We dropped him pretty soon and passed mile 1 in 5:17. It felt really easy, which I was pleasantly suprised about. I let Heston keep leading for the rest of that lap. At about 2400 I could tell Heston was slowing. Nate and I ran on either side of him. 100 meters before the 2 mile, I made a big surge and automatically gapped them. After 20 seconds or so I couldn't even hear them behind me. Honestly for the next 800 I was running scared, I kept thinking of how Heston came up on me in the Salem race. I still felt really relaxed and easy because of the slow first 2 miles, and at 800 I looked back to see how I was doing and realized I had gapped Nate 20 seconds and Heston was way back, he must have been having a bad day or something. From there I picked up the pace thinking I might still get a decent time. I had a good finish, but I didn't sprint all out because I didn't really need to. Cheered people on for a little after I finished. Finished in 16:24, got in 1200 cool down. 

Just found out the course was actually 3.15 miles, so I guess thats a pr. It felt slow though so I'm not sure.

4 miles later with a 1 mile tempo thrown in, not too bad. 

Crappy workout today. Jogged a mile to the sports park. The workout was supposed to be 600 400 200 400 600 with 100 rests, but what ended up happening was 600, 550, 400, 200, 525 with like anywhere from 2 to 5 minutes rest because we couldn't figure out where we were supposed to go. I was kind of disappointed, I really wanted a hard workout. Maybe I'll do one later. Ran back to the school and another 800 cool down.

Warmed up a mile at the gym then did 3x1 mile hills. First one was 3% grade starting at 9.5 mph and finishing at 11 mph. 400 recovery. The second was the same but the incline was 3.5%. 400 recovery. The third one I started at 4%, 9.5 mph, and progressed to 7%, 11.7 mph. Felt good, the only really hard one was the last one. Cooled down 800.

5 miles easy, it was hot though so it didn't feel easy. Murray Invite tomorrow.

Pretty lame race today. Got to Murray at 2:30, race was at 4. Warmed up a half mile at 3, then another mile before the race. Got in 4 strides. My start was really good and I got into the top 10. I stayed right next to Heston and focused on not losing any ground on him. Down the hill Heston got 5 meters on me and I worked hard to get back to him. I still felt like I was relaxed and I thought I was having a great race. I was still with Heston after a mile. At mile 2 I was in about 10th, but I was really fatigued. My coach said I was using really long strides, not overstriding, but going around the turns and uphills I was working harder than everyone else because of my long strides. We've been working on that all year, I'm not sure how I forgot. I gradually started falling behind and people started passing me. After 3 or 4 passed me I put in a bug effort to stay with one of them, but I just kept losing contact with people. At the big hill I surged really hard up the first half, but immediately slowed down for the rest of it. 3 people passed me there. At the top of the hill I stumbled because my legs were giving out on me, then Nate passed. I think 5 to 10 more people passed me in the last 300. Really really bad finish. I was really excited to have a good race, but I guess I'll just have to use this as a learning experience. Talked to Angie afterward and she thinks if I fixed those few things I could have been top 10 and up with Heston. 1200 cool down with Nate and Heston then sat around for a few hours. I also think I need to stop doing extra workouts, I think its just tearing up my legs. 

10 miles kind of easy. Started at 7.5 mph and increased 0.1 mph every half mile until I got to 9 mph then I slowed down a lot. Felt good.