The best pace is a suicide pace

First day of XC camp. 6 mile distance run with lots of hills. Not super steep hills, but really long. Mile warmup, and hit the road first four miles felt great, kept sub-7:30. Last two sucked. They got quite hilly. Ran an 8:10 and 7:52 before my legs practically gave out on me. Mile walking cool down

AM-Mile warmup, then repeats. 2x1600, 2x800. I was really dead after yesterday, but I did my best. After the first mile repeat, my legs were totally dead, this was a 5:26. I ran the second at 5:52, so I lost a lot. We then switched to eights, and shorter distances are better, but I was already dead. My legs were basically useless, so I sort of gave up halfway through the first 800. Pretty much just jogged the second 800. The first was like a 2:50, the second was more of a 3:15. Cooled down half a mile, and iced in the pond. It was really cold. The amazing race later today should be sick

PM-The "Amazing" race. About four miles. The pace was pretty slow, but there were lots of hills, and difficult challenges, giving it a cross-training/core value. My team finished second, but took last because we failed at tug-o-war. Decent workout overall. Swimming/paddle boarding/icing in the pond afterwards 

Death hill. 2 miles. 700 ft elevation increase. Race pace. Mile warmup, dynamics. Lined up. Went out quick, felt great to be racing again, so the adrenaline was high. First mile was moderately hilly, so ran 6:40's. The real hill began at the beginning of the second mile. Went as fast as I could, but it was steep. Finished first, with 15:36, so 11 seconds behind the record, really great time, but really wish I could've gotten the record. Oh well

slow, easy recovery day. Mile warmup, two mile shakeout run. Ran about 9:00 pace, and I was so sore, that even that felt like pushing it. Timed mile tomorrow, so should be good. Hoping to break five.

Speed day. Mile warmup, then a timed mile, tried to go hard, but I was sore, and my speed is weak right now. Wanted to go sub-5, ended up  5:09. Recovered from the mile and did 4x4 repeats. First three I held 80 sec. laps, consistency is good, but those were slower than my mile splits, so not good. Walked one lap between each repeat. Final repeat was 73, so better. Mile barefoot cooldown. 

Today was supposed to be an easy, slow-paced distance run. But Kenny and Clayton had other plans. Coach gave us a shorter course, and that was the beginning of the horror story that was my morning. We decided to go a bit faster after the first mile, due to the shortness of the run. The first mile was a 7:30, which felt good, the second was at 6:49, felt okay, then, everything changed. The third mile was very uphill, and I'm not gonna point any fingers, but whoever was setting the pace thought 6:25 sounded good. That was our third, very uphill mile. I died off the group after that, held 6:50's finished at 5.1 miles. Felt more like. A long tempo run, but, this will do I guess

Mile warmup. Ran mile to the HS for a moderate core workout. Ran back to the park on a longer route, 2.5 miles. Dynamics and went home. Ready for #tastytuesday

One of my favorite runs today, we did the flume trail. Time trials are tomorrow, though, so we didn't go as hard or as fast as usual. Mile warmup, than 2 miles uphill on the trail, and 2 more miles downhill on the road. Coaches had food for us at the end. Pop tarts and donuts. And some other things. Psyched for time trials, hoping for sub-17:45

Mile warmup, as usual. I was really patient today, which may have hurt my time a little bit, but it doesn't really matter that much. First mile or so, hung out in second place, then when we turned onto the canal road, I made my move into first. Held that for the rest of the race, but it got close. Not sure if it was Kenny or Clayton, but someone was breathing down my neck the whole way, pushed me pretty hard. Felt like less than 3 miles, but it's been measured so the time's legit. S/O to Austin and Mason for not getting burnt alive, and for taking time off to come watch me race. Ready for highland on Thursday.

after the warmup left me feeling pretty tired on its own, I could tell the workout was going to suck. Distance day, but I only did five miles. By mile four my entire digestive system felt like it was going to explode, and I was dehydrated, my mouth was full of that thick slimy stuff. I kept trying to speed up, but my gut just wouldn't let me. Avg. pace was 7:27, so really weak run today

Is there even a point in writing this if I didn't run? Missed my alarm, and therefore missed the mike warmup, which was the only running done today. Did a moderate intensity, but really short core workout, and received uniforms. Short, easy day

One last run on the dinosaur trackway. Drove to the trailhead, did close to a mile warmup.  Ran pretty hard to the lake, it's short enough that it's really fun to go fast, especially with all the down hill. Got to the lake first and jumped in a few times, the water felt great. Walked back to the cars and came home. School starts tomorrow, but I'm only going to one class, due to the highland meet. The race is only 2.9 miles, so I'm hoping the time will at least look fast, despite some crazy hills.

Highland meet. Really sucked. Real bad heat. Lots of ducks. The race may only have been 2.9, but the hills are insane. Plus this was my first real run in the heat. The conditions were as awful as they could be, the race was basically he*k for me. I felt totally drained on the line, yet the fifth fastest course time from my school was mine. Ran second from Uintah, Kenny was first, claiming the second fastest from the school on this course with like a 16:40something. I felt way dehydrated the whole time. I need more water. I also need to focus on cardiorespiratory strength in the future, I had lots of chest/side ache, and I couldn't get enough air. My other issue today was moving through the crowds, I was continually cut off and had a very difficult time getting around people. I need to improve my ability to smoothly and efficiently move through large groups of people, without cutting the course

P.S. Nathan, if you're reading this, it was a two star race.

super sore today. Highland sucked, it was bad to me. We did the mile warmup, which exhausted me. Then ran a lap around the high school, followed by strides, which together added up to about another mile. Ran to the bull and back for one more mile, then a really good core workout. 

I think the coaches spent the weekend in H--k, because today's workout was demonic. It starts with near 40mph winds. I checked. Ran from the HS to yellow hill. Most people stopped and rested for a second at the foot of the hill, but not me. I started straight up, for one set of ladders, after 3 difficult milez. The whole time I was on the hill, the wind blew directly against me. It sucked a lot but it was kinda funny. There were these two 9 or 10 year olds, who lived at the top of the hill they were walking home, and I was running behind them, I was in lots of pain, and the wind was brutal, so I was squinting a lot, and I suppose I must have looked pretty angry. When I got close these kids looked frightened, and started sprinting away from me. They looked really surprised (and relieved) when I ran right past them. Got to the top, and literally collapsed. I could hardly breathe. My legs and lungs on fire. My situation was dire. Eventually I got back up and walked it off, then started back. Galley must be my only real friend, because he was at the bottom of the hill with water. The avg pace was 7:25, but with hills and wind, I'd place the effort level closer to 6:20. Icing as I write this.

This morning when I was grabbing my stuff for practice, I accidently grabbed spandex instead of shorts. so I ran in my casual shorts today. Luckily it was only a recovery day, so it was just the neighbourhood and core. mile warmup and started the workout. 8:30 pace. Once in the circuit room, I avoided leg machines like the plague. I do have to race tomorrow. Focused ona few week areas, mainly shoulders and back.

Today was a learning experience. I did not do super well, and the team sort of flopped, too. Wasn't hydrated, didn't get sufficient warm-up. Don't quite have the pacing down yet, got too excited. I learned how to run the course the hard way though, I ran it totally wrong, but I'll be ready when real region comes. Note to self: take the first lap easy, be patient. Stay on the inside of all turns. Kick way sooner, course ends abroubtly.

Super easy day. Mile warm-up, then 2 easy miles. 15 minutes of "core" but I wasn't feelin' it and didn't do much. Psyched for the night hunt tomorrow, running in the dark is my favorite.

Great day! Finally had a bit of a breakout race, went uner 17 for the first time this season, so I'm getting back to where I once was. The course deffinitely helped, I absolutely loved it. The conditions also helped as it was cooled down, and I didn't have any sun in my eyes, plus running in the dark is exhilerating. Finally ran a race smart. I've been going out hard and trying to compete lately, but here, I didn't. I relaxed the first mile or so, then slowly picked it up. This was hugely successful, and made racing fun again. Passing people gives you more eenergy, which you can use to pass more people. I started towards the back of the middle, but finished in fifth. Team took 3rd of eight teams, we were close to Salem, so we're improving in the region as well. Timpview took first, their guys were flying. S/O to Clayton for top 10ing it with me. S/O to Kenny for almost top 10ing it with us. Our first three runners are a really tight pack right now, which is great for scoring, we just need to work the time down a little bit. 

Super intense day. Ran from the HS to the top of Docs beach hill and back, 6.25 miles, with friggin' steep hill. ran with Kenny the first half, ran low sevens, rested for a minute at the top of the hill and started back. As usual I got a huge boost from the downhill, and got a little bit ahead. after about a quarter mile, Kenny caught me. We ran together for a few minutes, then I died off a little. I hung back for a while, but then I caught my second wind, and got back with Kenny. We ran the last mile together, and it felt way fast, I think it was like a 6:20.  Average pace was 6:50. Iced at home.

Way sore from yesterday, had to walk almost half of the mile warmup. After dynamics, we did a two mile recovery run, and then played games. I'm gonna call the games half a mile of fast pace, cuz I was pretty active. Repeat/speed workout tomorrow, I intend to go ham, want to get back under 16:30 at BYU on saturday.

Repeats. Mile warmup followed by 1x1600, 4x800, 4x400, for a total of four miles. splits were 5:33 for the mile, low 2:40's for the 800's, and 75, 75, 80, 69 for the 400's. Pretty consistent for evertything but the fours. Feeling pretty good about today, got in some good speed, iced, now I have two rest days before BYU. 16:30 or bust.