Hurdle the Dead, Trample the Weak

AM: 8.9 Miles Hike

Hiked up Bells Canyon. Really trying to get out and hike/walk more for recovery and to help strengthen my legs and bones in order to avoid injury. Had a great view the whole time.

PM: 5 Miles

As part of getting back into shape, today I did a easyish tempo run. I decided to run 5 miles at 7:00 min pace so not very hard, but I don't want to jump in too fast and get injuried. I averaged a 6:33 pace, so I'm feeling good. Did some good core and stretching before going to bed.

AM: 6 miles

Ran in the gully this morning. My legs were defintely tired from yesterdays run and hike so I took it a little slower, or well I thought. Must have been picking up the pace too much because at the top of shut up hill I had to stop and throw up, but I was still able to finish at a good 6:15 mile.

Hike coming tonight

AM: 6 miles

Ran around Sandy for 6 miles. Kept it relatively easy, but I subconsciously picked up the pace like I always do. But it was great to be out there and going hard.

PM: 3 X 10 pull ups

Ya, those were hard.

AM: 5 X 600 M

Today was great. I started with a 1 mile warm up and drills to help my form and strength my legs and then ran some great 600's. After the first 2 it started to pour rain which made it even better so I was able to run each one at a very fast hard pace. After the 5 I ran a 400 at 80% and ran a 60 which was great. Then I cooled down with a easy mile.

PM: 5 mile tempo run

I gave myself a 5 min warmup and 5 min cool down and then ran a 4 mile tempo completely by feel. I also brought my dogs with me so that I could wear them out before going to bed. The tempo fun felt great. During it some of the kids on the skyridge team joined me, but wasn't able to keep the pace for very long.

PPM: Stretching

AM: 6 miles

Ran a nice hilly run. After the first mile I had 2 miles of straight up hill, then 1 mile of rolling hills, then 1 mile of down hill, then the last mile was little bit of both. It felt good to be out and going. I ran at about an 7:00 pace.

PM: Tennis

Played tennis with some friends for about an hour.

AM: 6.5 miles

Ran the gully with Zach today. We started out pretty easy, but as the run continued, we picked it up. Ran the last mile hard (like 5:15 hard).

PM: 5.5 miles

Ran from my house to Alta High School and back at a really easy pace (8:300 - 9:00). Trying to work up to fast high mileage, but today was just to get the cardio with low stress on my legs. Felt good all the way through. Stretched afterward right before going to bed. 

PM: 4 miles

After a long 8 hour shift in the warehouse I got out a nice 4 mile run. I ran the the Skyridge High School track so I could run 1 mile barefoot and really focus on my form. Make sure my back is straight, I'm landing right on my foot, my head is pulled back, my knees are lifting and driving backwards. After running a mile there I quickly put my shoes back on and hit the asfault really focusing in on the feeling of a "perfect running form" and really zeroed in on making it muscle memory.

I found that when I really focused on my form and hit the streets again I was running a lot smoother and faster than I was before getting to the track, AND it was all with less effort which meant I could push harder if needed, but I kept it down to let my body recover. I most likely will be doing more of that in the future, because I really think it helped improve my running both physically and mentally.

Didn't get a chance to run today. I had to say goodbye to some very important people in my life and so it was kind of a rough day. 

PM: 6.5 miles

Today I ditched the watch and just ran in the gully. I needed to run out some feelings I had and I didn't want a watch to limit me from doing that. It felt good to do that and I was also able to run in my new Nike Pegasus' so that was awesome. When I got to the upper trail of the gully I really let loose and picked up the pace. Like I said I didn't have my watch, but if I had to guess on an average pace I would say probably about a 6:15 - 6:30 pace, so overall it was a good fast run. 

When I got home I did some core, strengthening excersises, and stretching.

AM: 5 miles

Me and my brother wanted to do a nice altitude run so we went up to Alta Ski resort to run. But becuase there was some kind of race going on in the canyon we couldn't get up there, so we decided to do Jacobs Ladder in stead in Corner Canyon. It was so rough. We went about 5 miles up Jacob Ladder and my thighs and calfs where dying, but I loved it. It was such a cool run, you could see the Salt Lake Valley as your going up, but then when you broke the tree line, you could also see Utah Valley so you had a gorgeous view of both.

Anyway I completely died going up, but coming down was great. When I got home, had a nice breakfast of a recovery smoothie and some eggs. Gotta mow lawns today and more running will come tonight.

AM: 2 miles

I ran with Trevor on Porter Rockwell Trail for only 2 miles. He's pretty slow and out of shape so it wasn't the run I was hoping for. Afterwards we played some basketball in the park.

PM: 4.5 miles

I got Zach to run with me in the gully, but he didn't want to go super far so we only went 4.5 miles in the lower gully. Strengthening excersises and stretching after.

I realized today that I need a new group to run with. I've been trying to run with others, because it actually gets me out there running, but everyone I run with is kinda slow (not to sound rude or anything). So this week will be a week of finding a new running group.

PM: 8 miles

Ran up to Alta Ski Resort and ran 8 nice elevated miles. It felt good to be back up there and I enjoyed it. Instead of run the normal camp ground loops I turn and run up the mountain until I found a trail that I could follow back down. Got some nice pictures of the scenery and what not. Also found an abondoned mine shaft that I hope to explore later.

PPM: 3 mile walk

Walked around the neighborhood to help my legs recover and strengthen.

PM: 7 miles

Ran a nice farlek today around Lehi. Started with a 15 min warm up, then 3 min hard 2 min easy for 20 min, and finally a 15 min cool down. I ran it around a loop that got both good up and down hill running so it was great. I took the warm up a little too fast so I think it hindered my 3 min hard efforts just a bit, but I'll fix that for next time. Also I want to move my warm up and cool down to only 10 min to get in more hard running. 

PM: 10 miles

I couldn't find my watch today so I ran an old 10 mile loop I made in high school. Was gone for 74 min so about 7:30ish pace which isn't bad for my first 10 mile since I've been home. I felt great the whole time and ended strong. Can't wait to keep progressing.

PM: 3 miles

Just 3 easy miles on a treadmill to keep my legs loose.

PM: 2 miles

My companion from my mission just came home and I told him that I would help him get back into shape, so I ran 1.5 slow miles with him and then .5 by myself at a faster pace.

PM: 2 miles + soccer game

Had an indoor soccer game so I did a lot of hard short sprints there. Afterwards did 2 rage miles.

PM: 8 miles

Met up with Zach at Porter Rockwell and we saw David there so we invited him to come run with us. It was really fun to run with them and talk. We kept a pretty even 7:30 pace for 7 miles, then I ran my last mile at a 5:29 to get a fast finish. Felt great. Good things to come.

400 Splits

1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
74 sec	71 sec	72 sec	72 sec	71 sec	72 sec	71 sec	69 sec	70 sec	67 sec

PM: 5.5 miles

Had a great workout today. Ran a 1.5 mile warm up, then 10 X 400 m (on the road with a slight incline at the beginning), then a barefoot 1.5 mile cool down. Had some great splits, was trying to stay around 72 secs, but it took me a couple of trys to get the pace down. Then the last 3 I threw in a little more effort to try and go sub 70 sec. Loved it.

Also today at the warehouse we had a guy bring his watch to see how far we walk each day. We found out that we walk on average about 15 miles a day in the warehouse working, so little fun fact.

Stretching and some pull ups right before bed.

AM: 12 miles

Well today I was supposed to wake up and run 6 miles with Zach and Tavin on the Bonneville Shorline trail, but they both bailed on me, so I just decided to go by myself. So the plan was to run 10 miles on the trail, BUT I got lost and ended up running an extra 2 miles so yay. I kept it relatively conservative, because my legs were soooo tired from yesterdays workout, but I averaged about an 8:30 pace which isn't that bad. Can't wait to get back out there.

Spent the rest of the day roofing.

AM: Salt City Mile

It was my first time racing in a while and I'm really happy about it. I was able to fork out a 5:07 which wasn't what I was looking for, but I'm still happy about. I went out strong with the lead group, but I think I went out too fast. I surged just a bit to try and gain an advantage of the group and it slowed me down on the "3 lap" of the mile, but I finished strong. It was fun to go out and race and I also made a couple of new friends. Can't wait to see improvement in my next race.

PM: 7 miles

Ran out to the gully and ran the gully long run. I guess that it's super popular on Labor Day, because I either had to stop or change my course for about 10 horses. Either way I still ended up averaging about a 7:40 pace. For whatever reason (I think I ate too close to my run) my stomach was upset to whole run, but I ended up handling it pretty well. Overall I am surprised how fast my fitness level has grown. I didn't feel like I was straining myself at all during that run like I have recently and my shins have be pain free for a while now. I can't wait to start bumping up the pace and mileage in the upcoming weeks.

PM: 8 miles

My biggest enemy in running is heat and today was a hard battle with it. I ran pretty well though, had to slow down in a couple of spots so I could conserve some energy, but overall I would say that I won this one. Didn't think my body was ready to run this far averaging a 6:50 pace, but it kinda happened so, ya. Can't wait to see what else I can do.

AM: 4 mile walk

Man it's been a couple of rough days. I was attacked by an angry swarm of wasps and bitten all over. My legs went into shock and have swelled up a ton and so I haven't been able to run until they recovered. So this morning I walked to test them out and see how'd they do.

PM: 8 miles

Wow my legs feel great. Must have gotten some running serum in those bites, but I felt great. Ran 8 miles averaging a 6:44 min pace. Feels good to be flying again. Afterwards I ran 6 striders.

PM: 6.5 miles

I didn't get to do what I wanted today workout wise becauase my truck was in the shop until 6 and so I couldn't drive to the gully so next week I will run the gully 2 times, but one time is good enough. I took it faster than usual because I'm trying to ramp up my mileage and pace to improve my times so today I averaged a 6:40 min pace which I'm pretty proud of. But it will get faster and faster within the next weeks. Stretching and pull ups right before bed.

PM: 7 miles

I played 2 soccer games today back to back so amid the running I got a lot of 10-20 sec sprints.

Still hurting from yesterdays games, so a rest day is needed.

PM: 4 mile hike

Went on a crazy hike. It was 2 miles to the top, but we gain 1000 feet with each mile so it was wayyyyyyy steep. When I got home to run, my legs were real shakey and wobbly so I called it a day. Did a good hard set of pull ups though.

AM: 11 miles

Today just kinda went on auto pilot. Walked outside ran down the street and just started going without a planned route or workout. After a couple of miles I found myself at the start of the gully, then at the park up top so ended up doing the gully longer run and than ran home. I averaged about a 7:20 pace. My legs were super tired from yesterday's hike, but I pushed through.

I decided that I am going to walk more in the evenings to help with my recovery, but sometimes I get bored so I've started to listen to podcasts. Any suggestions for some good ones?

PM: 8 miles

Ran an easy 8 miles with my little brother. We kept it slow, averaging an 8:40 pace.

PM: 12 miles

Had an amazing run today. Went out to the Draper Alpine Road and ran up and down it until I got 12 miles. I gained a total of 2,158 ft while averaging a 7:13 pace. It felt really good and I felt great the whole time aerobically and physically. More to come tonight.

AM: South Jordan Half

Had a great race today. Overall I placed 2nd and ran faster than my goal pace. I took it out faster than I wanted though. First mile was a 5:4....but ended up averaging a 6:18 pace so I'm happy. I felt great pretty much the whole time. Around mile 9, I could feel my legs start to weaken and the pace to shake, but I think I held it together pretty well until the end of the race. Afterwards went and got some post race pancakes and hashbrowns.

Giving my body another day to recover from Saturday's race. Did a lot of walking though.

AM: 8 miles

Drove up to Bonneville Shoreline and ran an easy 8. Averaged a 7:40 pace overall. Around my turnaround point I did start to feel my legs stiffen, but it went pretty fine. More to come tonight.

AM: 3 miles

Some very cold morning miles

AM: 3 mile walk

PM: 3 easy miles