The Mongoose

Headed up to Big John's Flat pretty early in the morning with some of the team. We took the Skyline Trail up until we got on the ridge, then we pretty much bush-wacked along the ridge through the trees until it opened up. When we got to the opening, Coach Thatcher said that he would give a pair of Smartwool running socks to the first person to Delano Peak. It was a little less than a mile of steep running/hiking to the top. I ran with Spencer for a little bit, then we took a short rest to grab some water and Scott joined up with us. We hiked for a little more, then when we could see the peak, Scott put on a little surge. Spencer took another rest, but I decided to reel in Scott. I caught him with about 100m to the peak and pushed through the burn to pick up the prize at the top. When everyone got to the top, we headed over to summit Mt. Holly. Some pretty technical running for the first little bit, but it was really fun. After that we ran back to Delano to meet with the team and come up with some individual and team goals. When we got there, we saw a group of 30+ mountain goats, pretty cool! Ran down from Delano back to the trailhead afterwards. Very fun run! 

In the afternoon we did our camp relay by Puffer Lake. 7 runners on a team, and each runner ran 6x400m legs. I had high expectations, having been on the winning team for the past 2 years. We fought hard, but we just didn't have it this year. I ran an extra leg to try and pace Sage to go sub 70 on the tough loop. 

Talent show later in the evening. It wasn't technically a competition, but me and Riley definitely won. After that we heard from some of the team alumni. Watched 'Prefontaine' after that. That movie is the bomb!

Went to the Skyline Trailhead again, but this time we ran towards Blue Lake. Still not very many flat sections, but what else would you expect while running in the mountains. We ran to a place that overlooked Blue Lake and Mt. Baldy. It was a really cool sight. Great run to wrap up a fun week at camp with the team, it was a very memorable one. I'm glad I was able to have this opportunity. 

Workout in the morning on the hill behind the school. Warm up, 6x500m hill repeats, 4x400m progression repeats, cool down. Felt surprisingly good after a pretty hard week last week. Really positive workout, probably the best I've ever done on this one. Good start to the week.

3 easy later. The rain was nice, hopefully it rains a little more. 

3 easy in the morning to the bridge and back.

First day of our main practice being in the afternoon. 6.5 easy around Webb Hill and through North Bloomington Hills. I felt good, but it was pretty hot outside, so we stopped at the park to get some water. I don't think I hydrated enough throughout the day so that is something I will need to work on. 8x100m strides afterwards.

3 easy in the morning to the Spectrum. 

2 mile time trial at the region course in the afternoon. It went okay, but I didn't run as fast as I thought I would. We had a really tight group of guys finish together so that was really good. 

3 easy in the morning to Hidden Valley.

7.5 easy around Webb Hill again but through St. James this time to add another mile. I felt good, pretty hot outside again today.

3 easy in the morning to the bridge. 

Fartlek workout at Little Valley Park in the afternoon. 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1. This was a tough workout, but the team did very well. It was nice to have the splash pad there and Sam's pool afterwards. 

7 miles this morning by myself. Ridge loop from my house. Good run to wrap up the week. I'm excited for the race on Tuesday.

3 easy in the morning to Hidden Valley.

6.5 easy in the afternoon to Jake Powell's house and back. It sprinkled on us a little bit at the start and the cloud cover was nice. I felt good. 8x100m strides on the turf afterwards then team night.

3 easy in the morning to the bridge. The guys were pretty antsy and I could tell that they were excited to race.

After school we drove up to Cedar for the first race of the season. 2 mile warm up and I felt good. It wasn't too hot because we had some nice cloud cover. Then we headed over to the starting line and did some strides. The start was weird. Coach Corry from Cedar was telling us where the course went and stuff, then he just said "Bryan will start the race." I was still talking to Josh and waiting for a start command when the gun went off, so that kind of sucked and pretty much our whole team got a bad start. The plan for the race was to run as a pack and push the last mile. We stayed relaxed for the first mile and a half and didn't worry about wasting energy trying to get to the front too soon which was good. We raced our plan almost to perfection and finished with a solid group of guys up front. 6 guys in the top 10 and 8 in the top 12. Great work from the team today for the first race of the season. #CREWbulonimbus 5x:30 repeats afterwards and cool down to finish off the day.

3 easy in the morning to the Spectrum. 

Workout in the afteroon at the region course. 4x1 mile repeats w/ 3-4 minute recovery. It was nice and cool and cloudy this morning but somehow it all disappeared by the time we did our workout. So it was hot and muggy but we were still able to put in a great workout. The team is really strong this year and I think we will do big things.

3 easy in the morning to Hidden Valley.

8.5 on the trails behind the school in the afternoon. Felt pretty crappy for the last half. Just not enough water during school or something. 

3 easy in the morning to the bridge.

In the afternoon we did a sort of relay/meet thing with Pine View on the region course. There were teams of 3 and each person ran one leg of the course. The first leg was 1.04 miles, the second was 1.05, and third was .85. I was on a team with Josh and Spencer and I ran the first leg. I took the lead from the start because I knew that there are some tight spots on the course and I didn't want to get stuck behind anybody with the race being a short distance for an xc race, and also because I didn't want to just rely on my kick and take the chance of someone out-kicking me. I felt good during my leg, and probably a little too good after I finished. I just couldn't channel my mile speed from track and make my legs hurt. I was 4:55 at the mile and 5:15 for the 1.04 (although my watch said 1.09) and handed off to Josh in first. He increased the lead and so did Spencer and we finished first and got the sweet prize, a framed picture of a stitched teddy bear and 3 bowling pins we all signed our names and times on so that was cool. After that we did 3x5:00 hard w/3:00 recovery and a short cool down. 

About 11.5 miles up around Navajo Lake with some of the guys. It was nice to get into the cooler temps up there, and it was actually a little chilly when we started. Felt good, nice way to wrap up the week.

3 easy in the morning to Hidden Valley.

In the afternoon we did our .5 mile warm up and were doing calisthenics when we had to go inside due to lightning in the area. We ran about 4 miles in there waiting for the storm to pass before Coach called it a day. Ran 3 more later when it cleared up, it was nice.

Lightning forced us inside again this morning. 30 minutes easy around the track upstairs so I'm assuming at least 3 miles.

Things cleared up in the afternoon so we were able to do our hill repeats. 6x500m water tower hill repeats w/ equal recovery. Great workout from the guys today, good competition between everyone that will make us stronger. My cumulative time for the 6 repeats was 22 seconds faster than last time, more than 3.5 seconds faster on average for each rep. Cool to see the improvement in just a couple weeks work. Some 200m finishes on the track afterwards and a short cool down. 

3 easy in the morning to the Spectrum.

5.5 in the afternoon out towards Sunriver. Pretty hot but then it started raining after we finished so that was good. Grateful for this rare supply of moisture that has sustained our arid biosphere.

3 easy in the morning to Hidden Valley. 

In the afternoon we went out to Little Valley to do some dirt mile repeats. There was a pretty nice headwind for the first .5 mile, but it didn't slow us down too much because it was a slight downhill. It was a good loop, and it actually didn't even really feel as long as a mile, but it was. Cooled down a little bit afterwards. I felt good, and I feel ready to rock it out on Saturday. It will be a fun race. 

3 easy in the morning to the bridge.

Pre-meet stuff in the afternoon. 4.5 miles easy out past the Spectrum with 6x100m strides afterwards, then team night. 

Race today. We headed up early to Cedar for the SUU Invite. I got in a 2 mile warm up with the guys before the race and headed over to the start line. The race went pretty good. I felt kind of flat, which was weird with the lighter week and all. I stayed pretty relaxed for the first mile, but I think that I just tightened up a little bit on the second, so I need to focus on running more relaxed throughout the entire race until I make that final move, then still run smooth to the finish. The team ran very well again, all 7 guys in the top 11, flippin' sweet! There weren't very many teams here outside of region 9, so our first real test against 4A and 5A competition will come next week at American Fork, where I think we can do very well again. I'm not sure on the time yet because the results haven't been posted, I think it was around 16:00, but I will change the entry to a race report when I figure it out. 

3 easy in the morning to Hidden Valley. 

8.5 easy in the afternoon out on the trails behind the school. I felt like death today. It was pretty hot, but I drank a lot of water during school so I thought I would be fine. Wrong. I felt okay for the first 4 miles, but I struggled on the way back. With about 1.5 to go I wasn't sweating and I started to get goosebumps, and felt cold, but not the good cold that you would want when it's 100+ degrees outside, it was a weird cold. I felt a lot better once I got inside though, and then I was fine. I don't know why I felt that way because I was drinking water during school, but I guess I will just have to drink even more water.

3 easy in the morning to the bridge. 

In the afternoon, we were about to leave the high school to head to the region course, but it started raining and there was lightning in the area, so we had to stay inside. I HATE RUNNING INSIDE. I will never live in a place where you have to run on an indoor track in the winter. We jogged around inside for a little over 20 minutes before the storm blew over and we were able to head over to the course. We warmed up about another .5 mile before starting the second 2 mile time trial of the year. Last time was about 3 weeks ago, and I ran 11:15. I felt pretty good today, and we had a little cloud cover, although it was so dang humid from the rain before. I just focused on staying relaxed, and planned on speeding up towards the end. Well I stayed relaxed and led the whole 2 miles with Josh, and we were 10:51 according to my watch, so not too bad for how relaxed I felt, and a pretty good improvement from last time. 

3 easy in the morning to the Spectrum.

6.5 easy in the afternoon with 8x100m strides afterwards. I felt a lot better than I did on Monday. Coach fell in the swamp. 

3 easy in the morning to Hidden Valley.

In the afternoon we went to the region course for our workout, 2x2 mile repeats. Super hot and humid today which made the workout tough, but we all pushed through it. Good stuff from the team. 

3 in the morning to the bridge. 

In the afternoon we drove up north and ran the state course and did some strides. 

American Fork Grass Relays today, definitely one of my favorite races. The weather was awesome, it never really got too hot and it was overcast the whole time. Spencer started the relay off for our team, he did awesome and handed the baton off to Jaiden in 8th. Jaiden passed some more guys and got us into 3rd I think, before handing it off to Sage. Sage battled it out with Provo and Lehi and passed the baton to Josh in 2nd I think. Josh put a 12 second gap on Lehi and handed it off to me. My legs didn't feel great, but I knew that if I could just hold that lead coming into the gauntlet, then we would finish 2nd. The Lehi kid was good, and he gained 5 seconds on me on the last leg. It was tough, but I had a lot of help and motivation from the coaches and guys on the team. We finished 2nd to American Fork and had the 9th fastest time in the 16 year history of the meet, which was pretty flippin' sweet.