Running is a means and never merely an end

4.5 easy around the Rec center / speedwell area. I found this super sick abandoned and hidden boardwalk thing in the middle of the woods back down the road off Parker Farm that leads to The Cove.  You can tell no one has been out on it in a long time, but it still holds up! I'd like to go have a picnic out there sometime.

Ran around Ashe loop & Fairview, then up to SCC and up the trails just a little bit, then turned back (too steep to keep on keeping on without going like 10 minute pace). 8:22 average.

7 around Western / up speedwell, then 4x100m barefoot strides. 8:13 average on the run.

Mountain biked 2ish miles to Cullowhee falls and back with my friend Landon, which of course isn't far, but is still a solid workout just from hills. Hills suck on bike! Stepping up my quad game to say the least.

3.85 + 2x100m strides to get to 4. 8:00 average. First run on the new greenway in Cullowhee!! I thought it was supposed to be 2 miles long, and even though the bridge at the end was closed, it was only like .9 so I just ran it down and back twice. I guess the 2 miles was actually 2 total if you go down and back haha. Shoot. Still! It will be great for little 3 mile shakeouts along the river, no cars.

6 miles at 8 flat pace. I started at the rec, then ran up through Western onto speedwell, then up Parker Farm out onto The Cove road again, then back, around the loop, and back down to the rec. Felt pretty good.

First non-bodyweight lifting sesh of the summer! All legs, then did bodyweight core. I'll probably be feeling that tomorrow in my legs.

5 miles at 7:57/mile. Parked on North River road, then ran back out to Webster and down to the end of South River road and back. Got a little creeped out because a guy in a bright blue truck across the river on Old Settlement was like following me, just idling along parallel to me at the same pace I was running for a solid 15 minutes....yikes. I felt okay cause the river was there, but I was worried he'd just go and cross the bridge and come onto South River rd. Anways! Felt good to shake out my soreness a bit from lifting yesterday.

Biked 5 miles afterwards on North River road, out to the public river access and back. Quads are getting stronger! 4:09 pace.

8 miles usual loop around downtown Sylva/Dillsboro. 8:12 average. Range was 7:51 (2nd mile) to 8:34 (6th mile). Proud of myself for getting up the big hill (I need to name it so I can refer to it by a name on here!) without stopping! Its like half a mile straight uphill, and the last 200 meters are the steepest, adding insult to injury haha. But I did it!

Core circuit afterwards.

Orientation day, so I was at Wofford all day doing o-staff stuff and didn't get a chance to run. Lots of walking around though, for what that's worth.

4 miles at 7:58 average around the Rec Center/Parker Farm area. Last mile was a 7:32, yay for finishing strong.

Full-body bodyweight circuit afterwards at the Rec.

5 miles at Western. I planned on 6, but I was a dummy and waited till the middle of the day, so it was like 90 degrees and I was just dying of the heat. I cut it a little after 5 and then did 4x100m strides, then got in the river and swam around for a while to cool off/cool down.

Bad. Bad bad bad on a number of levels, wow. I ran Buchanan loop and everything was fine, then went out down Webster rd to run to the highschool, around, and back up....about halfway to the high school everything went bad and I just started feeling exhausted. I Stopped at McNair rd to rest for a minute, then once I got to the high school I stopped twice more, then again on McNair on the way back. Averaged 8:22 but I stopped so many times in there to rest, which is pretty much embarrassing. It was toasty but I don't think it was the heat that got me, I just felt really awful and lathargic in general.

Again...bad bad bad. Dang it, I don't know what is going on. I went with my mom in the car to her office downtown (woke up early to beat the heat), then planned to run a Courthouse/downtown loop (3.5 miles) then all the way back home (3.8 miles). Again, things started out fine for the first 3 miles or so, then everything just went bad and I started feeling pretty rough. But I didn't have my car and was like 4 miles away from home whether I was feeling it or not, so I just had to keep trucking. I guess that was good, so I couldn't give myself an out. The way back home is mostly uphill, so that wasn't helpful...but I kept going till McNair again (like half a mile from home), took a breather for the final big hill before my house, then hit the hill and finished.

I'm wondering if my iron may be low... 3 sucky runs in a row where I started out alright and rapidly got tired? Sounds like what all my teammates who are iron-defficient dealt with, but for longer of course. I don't know when I can get it checked, but in the meantime, I am going to start being intentional about eating iron-rich foods just in case.

First workout of the summer!! And it actually went really well, contrary to the rest of this week (I did eat some red meat and my collard greens (iron) last night...just sayin). Went to the rec for this fartlek.

2 miles warm up, then 6 x (2 min on, 2 min off), 2 miles cool down. My total average was 7:58 including WU/CD, but those middle 3 miles were 7:26, 7:27, 7:14. The "on" was supposed to be 7:08 pace, but I definitely misguaged that and ended up doing more like 6:30 pace. But that's fair because "off" was supposed to be 8:41, and was probably more like 9 flat. Felt kind of fun to get some pop in my legs!

Full-body bodyweight circuit afterwards. Special attention to my hamstrings for prehab.