Patrick's Blog

So today was my first ever 2011 Cross Country morning workout and it was a long one. I went to the advanced group that met earlier to do a longer run with the varsity people. So we met at Sugarhouse Park and did the Cemetery loop. I started out good staying up with the fast people like Tomy and Dylan for the first 2 miles about then I started to taper off and I decided to go with Amanda so I knew the run and to have her pace me. I was feeling really good until about the mile 4 spot and I got a huge cramp in the calf so I stopped and stretched it out because I knew we were doing strides after this and I didn't want it to hurt during those. And from then on it hurt a ton so when I got back to Sugarhouse Park I stretched a ton. Then I did the extra .27 or whatever it was to get the whole 6 miles of that. By this time I wasn't tired just in a ton of pain. My neck hurt and my calf really hurt. Then we got into our Newbies group. I was with Amanda, Tania, and Tess. They really aren't newbies so we meshed a group with Natalie. I was running down to Fairmont park with Natalie and her new freshman and they were all really nice. When we got to Fairmont park it was 1.5 miles there. So we got there and we stretched a bit, by this time my neck was really hurting but finally my calf had calmed down a bit. While we were at the park we did 8 100 meter strides. I felt really good on those. During each one I got a bit faster so by the last one I was almost winning. Between each one we had a minute recovery so I decided to look for four leaf clovers. Which I found one. Remind me to bring it Bill. So then we stretched again when we were done with those for a little while like two minutes and we jogged back. I jogged back with Natalie for a little while until me and a new freshman girl broke away from them. Her name was Jesse. She got tired and had to walk a tiny bit but then I got her jogging again and she jogged the rest of the way. Great job Jesse! Then when we got back to Sugarhouse Park we did a circuit. This is 45 seconds of Burpees, sprint 50 or however long it was, 45 seconds of jumping jacks, sprint, squats, sprint, mountain climbers, then sprint. We finished with 10 miles for the day. Then I did my core and weights. Overall my legs were exhausted after today but going to the advanced workouts is what I need to do. The other workouts are to easy otherwise.

Today at Cross Country we didn't have an advanced workout before everyone else! YAY. So we all met at 8 at Sunnyside park. The workout was run down to the gully and do 2.5 laps for the advanced group as a warm up. Then run back. I started the run out with Tomy and Natalie but then they just kept picking up the pace so I finished it with Amanda. When we got back to the park my legs were killing a ton. It felt like they got hit by a car. My knees were sore and my quads were really sore. Especially during those laps in the gully. So we stretched a little bit waiting for people to get back, when they didn't get back for a little while Emily had some people go back to the gully and retrieve them. In the meantime we did a lap where we would be doing the fartlek. So after stretching we did 3 one minute on's of arm swings. Then we did the fartlek. It was 5 one minute on and 5 one minute off. I felt good during those, my legs eventually warmed up. All of the new kids started really fast for the first one and eventually died and I just progressively got faster each one and passed two people each time I was on. Then I did 2 laps of recovery thinking we had another thing to do. Which we didn't so Emily said just go do a lap cooldown and I'll be at six for the day. Which I did and I was. Then I came home and did my crunches, push ups, planks, and leg lifts. My legs hurt probably from yesterdays workout and my back was also sore. But nothing really serious. Then I did a 15 minute ice bath to finish out the day. But for a run that doesn't have many miles in it, it was a really painful run for me today.

Today at cross country practice we met at liberty park. Since I had to put my phone in Amanda's car we were late getting to the group so everyone started in front of us. We were able to catch up to almost half of the people including some of the experienced people. So we did a lap warm up and that was it. Then we jogged over to the hill by the pond. We did 6 of running up the hill around some pole then back up the hill and that was one. We did that 6 times but I think Taylor and Tomy counted wrong so I actually think we did 7 but oh well. Then we were at 3 miles. So the advanced group was supposed to go and finish out to 7 miles. So as the newbies went right the advanced went left so we would cross them. While I was running I realized I was already at 16 miles and I need 35, I don't want to do too much one day and have to only do like 4 the rest of the week. So instead of doing 7 miles I did 6. During the hills my goal was to be in the top people to make sure I am still on Varsity, I finished right behind Natalie. In the third boy position. That made me feel really good. So for the cooldown Sarah and I went running through the sprinklers first and then noticed everyone was gone so we went on the cool down. We did 2 laps on the trail thing in the park. We caught up with Amanda and Abigail and they were like 70 meters ahead of us. At the drinking fountain we stopped and got water. Then we finished out the mileage with Abigail and again Amanda was like 50 meters ahead of us and we also caught her again. Overall my legs felt really good today, except during the hills I felt incredibly sick like I was going to puke but that is probably from I haven't done hills in a long long time. But on the last lap of the cool down my lower back and hips were a little sore but thats because of tiredness I think. Overall a pretty good day. 

Today since we didn't have a scheduled Cross Country practice I decided to create one. I texted a group of people to meet at 8 at the JCC trail. So Amanda showed up and we waited for a little while but no one else showed up, we decided to go out and up the trail.We no later got in the trail about 200 meters up, and there was like a river going right over it. For the first mile the trail was totally flooded. It was quite the adventure going over the rivers and around them. It was a really good strength work out to get good at climbing through rivers. When we got passed the huge hill we decided to turn around because the heat was getting to us and it was getting late. We went back the same way. When we got back to all of the flooded areas they were even higher than when we first went by. When we were going down the trail we decided to count them, there was 14 flooded rivers we had to climb over just in one mile. So in total I not only ran but I climbed that mountain a bit 28 times. It was loads of fun!!!! Then when I got home I did my crunches, push ups, and other core. Then I stretched for a little while because nothing hurt during this run and I liked it so I am trying to stay as loose as possible.

Today since once again we didn't have cross country practice I went on my own run. I woke up early and took my ipod. I went down to Sugarhouse Park and since I had to do 7 miles I decided to do the cemetery loop. I started out the run from my house and I was going at a pretty good pace but then when I got to the light on 17th east and 21st south my legs were already exhausted. So I went a bit slower and as the run progressed I got faster. So by the time I was on Imperial I was going back at a good pace. I did the entire run (including lights) in 56 minutes so that means I really picked it up when my legs were getting their energy back. While I was running and listening to my ipod I was watching my feet and I was noticing that I was running on the side on my left foot. I think it is time for me to get new shoes because on they bottom they are pretty warn out. Overall this was a really good run today for me, I felt like I was pushing and I knew where I was going. I have not done my core yet because as soon as i got back I had to watch Dinosaur Train and then I found out I was going to the arts festival. I will do it later tonight though. During the run it was hot but nothing hurt which was nice for a change. It was a great day to run for me.

Today since there was no cross country practice and I only had to finish out my mileage for the week and only had to do one mile, I decided to do a mini boot camp. I started out with the one mile run as sort of a warm up, I ran to Clayton Middle School and back. Then I went over to the wall and did 3 sets of 1 minute step ups with 30 second standing recovery. Then I went to the backyard and did wall sits on my basketball hoop. I did those for 45 seconds on because I have not done those in a while and those were tiring me out. I had a 20 second standing recovery for those. Then I did 3 sets of one minute arm swings with 30 second recovery. Then the calf raises 50 on each foot 3 times. Finishing out with the usual crunches, push ups, and leg lifts. I felt good during this because it was nice to only run one mile then come back and do some strength. When I was done I stretched a bit and now my hips hurt. As does a lot of other muscles in my leg.