Thatcher's Running Blog

We just did four 400's to get ready for the race Friday. I'm still sick, but I felt great running today. When I warmed up, I wasn't feeling good, but once we got going, the 400's felt great. I did 71, 68, 66, 65. I wasn't even too tired after, and  felt like I could have pushed harder on all of them. It felt pretty easy. We did a long cool down after. 

1 mile to the weightroom and back.

We just went thirty minutes today. A little over four miles. I felt pretty good, and am ready for tomorrow.

Today was the UVU Invitational. I ran unattached again. I didn't have a very good race. I came through the mile at 5:08, and felt pretty good. I passed a few people in the second mile, and came through the 2 mile at 10:44 or so. I don't know if the second mile was off or what, because I passed people on that mile, and felt like I maintained the same effort. The last mile was bad. I was passed by quite a few people, I don't know how many. I was feeling terrible, but in the last 600 or so, I passed two people. In the last 100, a kid passed me, and I tried to catch him, but he barely beat me. I at least tried to catch him, and put in a pretty good kick. George and Trevor beat me by twenty something seconds, and I had beat them in both of the other races.

This was a really bad race, and I felt really, really bad. I don't know what happened. I felt good the first mile, but after that, I felt like I was just hanging on for dear life. My past three races have felt just like this. I haven't been able to race anyone, I just have tried to hang on until the end of the race and finish. If someone passes me, I try to stay with them, but I can't do it at all. It was especially bad during this race. The only thing I can think of is going out at 5:15 or 5:20, and maybe try to bring it down to 5:10, 5:05 after that. 

I went and watched the Kiwanis Invite High School xc meet. I ran around cheering my friends on, and got in about two miles.

Later, I ran four miles at my house. I went home for conference and did it right before priesthood. I was supposed to do a long run, but I didn't feel like it. I really wasn't going to run at all, but I finally decided I should. I ran in the rain, and didn't pay attention to pace. My garmin was dead. I just pushed it when I felt like it, and went easy when I felt like it. It was a pretty good run.

I felt much better today. It was really nice out today, and I felt great during the run. We went somewhere new today, on a dirt trail for a little bit, and it was awesome. I was running with Neal, Trevor, and George, and we all thought it was really nice to run somewhere new. It was just what I needed, and I loved it. We averaged about 6:27 pace, and it felt way easy. I wasn't even breathing hard a the end of the run. Our last mile was at 5:57 pace, and it felt awesome. I was just cruising along, and it felt easy and smooth. 

I also got my locker today, and shorts and a shirt. My cross country season is essentially over, and I don't know if I have any other races. I might be running in the BYU Homecoming 5k this Saturday, but I will have to see.

I was finally able to drag my self out of bed this morning and get a run in. I ran 3.7 miles easy. It was about 7:20 pace. It felt short and easy.

This afternoon, we did 1000 meter intervals.We warmed up about 2.5 miles.  We were originally going to do ten of them, but we ended up doing eight. Coach told the traveling guys to hit 3:07, and us to hit 3:14. (they were slower because we only had a one minute rest) Our first one was around 3:12. It was a little fast, but it was good. I was around the middle of the pack. The next several were around 3:10-3:12. I slowly moved up. I was in the front of the pack, and there would be one two people who were ahead of the pack. On the seventh, I was feeling strong, but I got a sideache with about 300 meters left. I managed to finish at about 3:12. After the seventh, coach told us we would only have one more. I managed to work my sideache out, and I pushed it really hard on the last one. I came through the 200 in 33, and realized I was in front of the pack, with no one with me. I decided to keep pushing it, and I felt really good. I came through at 700 or so, and was tiring, and was sure they would catch me. But I gave it my all, and no one caught me. I pushed it in and was at 2:54 with James about a second or two behind, and no one else very close to us. For reference, the top guys did about 2:54, with Stephan the fastest at 2:52.

I felt great on this workout, and it gave me some confidence. I realized going out slower helped me on this workout, and I was able to finish very strong. We cooled down about 1.75 miles.

I ran for fifty two minutes today. I'm not sure on the distance, but I think it was around 7.5 miles. We started out slower, and picked it up at the end. I felt pretty good today. We went on an new run today, and it was fun. The next couple days will be pretty easy, and I'm running the BYU homecoming 5k on Saturday.

I ran pretty easy today with Neal. We just had a good easy run and talked the whole time. I just wanted it to be over today. I didn't feel bad, but I didn't feel great.

I didn't run much today. I went and watched the Region 2 Cross Country Meet. I ran around cheering, and I warmed up with Gemachu about 25 minutes.

I really wanted to break sixteen minutes today, just like I have every 5k since June, where I ran a 16:06. But once again, like the last four or five races, it didn't happen again. I started out by warming up three miles. I thought warming up longer would help my race, because I've been doing better with a long warm-up in practice, and with starting the first couple intervals out slower.

I felt pretty good, but I didn't have my flats, and I wore my normal running shoes. When the race started, I tried going out slower, so I wouldn't die like I did in my last couple races. I didn't push it too hard up the first hill, and I was able to recover pretty well. After that, I pushed it harder, and my first mile was 5:15. (this was about where I wanted to be) The second mile was much faster, and I could tell. It was still only five minute pace, but it felt too fast. I don't know why a five minute mile should feel so fast in a race, when I can do four fourty or fifty something in practice, and it doesn't feel too fast. But anyway, Michael Vick passed my right around the start of the second mile, and I tried to hang with him, but I couldn't. I really just couldn't move my legs any faster. I don't know why. I came through the two mile in a pretty good time though, I was at 10:15. That's about the best I've been at two miles for a 5k ever. A guy passed me, and I told myself I could go with him. I stayed with him for a little bit, but then I couldn't do it anymore. After that, it was terrible. The guy in front of me gapped me by quite a bit. My third mile was 5:50, I slowed down fifty seconds on the third mile. I also got a sideache on the last mile, which didn't help at all. Even though I slowed down so much the last mile, I didn't get passed by anyone but the one guy. I almost did, but I was able to hold two guys off with a decent kick. 

 I felt pretty sick after,  and my ears hurt a lot. I managed to cool down four miles about 7:30 pace, and work out my sideache. I don't know why I'm racing so poorly, but I would be satisfied to be even close to as fast as I was at the beginning of the summer, even though I expected to be much faster than that now. I don't really know what my next race will be, or if I will even be racing anytime soon. I'm just going to keep training hard with the team, and improve in workouts, and play it by ear.

It was cold today, but it was a pretty good run. We went out for 30 minutes, and back in 27:30. I ran with the freshman guys. Our average pace was 6:34. Our last mile was 6:00, and it felt easy, which bugs me because on Saturday my last mile was 5:50, and it felt very hard! My hip flexor is a little sore, but I'm going to ice it tonight. 

Four easy miles in the morning. Today was the coldest it's been so far, but it wasn't too bad once I got going.

For practice today we did a 5,000 meter fartlek and a 3200 meter fartlek. For the 5,000 we went 400 hard, 400 easy, 400 hard, 400 easy, 400 hard, 400 easy, 1200 hard, 800 easy, 600 hard. The hard pace was supposed to be 74 second 400 pace, and the "easy" was supposed to be 84 second 400 pace. I was right at the front of the group for most of the 5,000, but dropped off a little bit at the end. I finished up at 16:08, the fastest was Brandon at about 16:00.

We had a ten minute rest, and we went into the 3200. For this, we went easy, hard, easy, hard(800), easy(400), hard(800). I stayed back a little bit on this one, and I moved up on the last easy 400. I pushed it really hard on the last hard 800, and I was about 2:19 on that. I finished up behind Trevor and Miles, and I almost caught Miles. My time was 10:03 or so. We measured it after, and it was a little bit short, maybe ten seconds or so. But it was still a good workout, and the top guys were only about ten seconds faster than me on their 3200.

I warmed up 2.5 miles and cooled down 2.5 miles, so that makes ten for practice, and 14 for the day.

I ran with Neal and Blake today. We kept it pretty easy. My heel was hurting today, and I iced it. Besides that, I felt good. We were about 6:50 pace.

I planned on running this morning, but my foot/heel was hurting, so I decided not to.

I didn't really feel like running this afternoon either, but I did. The traveling team and coach were gone, and some guys who were here decided not to do the workout today, so our numbers were limited. I guess only the truly committed guys ran today.

For our workout we did six 3:00 intervals. We weren't really pumped for this workout, but it ended up pretty good. I'm not sure my position on the first five, but we were all pretty close together on all of them. The last one was my best though. I was feeling sorta sick to my stomach, but once we started, I cut in right behind James. I stayed right with him until thirty seconds left, and pushed it hard, finishing just ahead of him. We finished a lot ahead of everyone else. I'm not sure how much, but I would guess ten seconds at least. My heel hurt pretty bad, but I iced it and it's feeling better. I don't want to get a bad injury now, so I'm going to talk to the trainer tomorrow, and if necessary take some time off. I figure now is a better time to take a break, because I won't be racing for a while.

Does anyone know what my injury could be? My heel hurts on the outside near the bottom of the heel. It doesn't seem like a muscle pain, but it doesn't hurt when I push on it. It seems to warm up as I run, and it hurts when I push off of my foot, and hurts more when running on my toes.

Nothing today.

I went  easy today. I ran in Salt Lake with Morgan, Shalaya, and Gemachu. My heel felt pretty good, but still a little pain. It felt better though. We averaged about 7:00 pace. The last 400 was about 74, I had forgotten how fast Gemachu likes to finish.

My heel was feeling better, so I ran today. I didn't do too much though. I just ran 40 minutes with Blake. My heel hurt a little bit, but not much. We finished pretty strong, and it felt good.

Today we did four mile repeats. My heel was feeling pretty good, and I can hardly feel it now. It was really windy, so that may have slowed down the times. My splits were 4:59, 4:58, 4:58, and 5:04. My times were good, especially considering the wind, but I didn't feel good, and I didn't do great relative to the other guys. On my first one, I was in the middle of the pack, and I didn't push it too hard. On the second one, I was in about the same position. I was about the same on the third one. The fourth one was the worst. I tried to stay with the other guys, but didn't. My arms tightened up in the cold, and I couldn't move any faster. I was close to them with four hundred to go, but the last four hundred was really slow. At 1200, I was a second or two ahead of where I had been on he others. It was an okay workout, but I should have been closer to the other guys. I am improving, and it was good considering how I felt.

I didn't really run today. My heel was hurting, and I didn't really have time. I went to the high school state meet and watched. I ran around some, and warmed up and cooled down with the skyline team. It was fun to watch and there were some really great performances.

Today we did a five mile tempo run. After watching some of the races yesterday, I was pumped up and wanted to see how much I really had. I decided to push it hard and try to stay with the top group for as long as I could. We started out by warming up 2.5 miles. I was feeling pretty good, but not great. It didn't matter though, because I've realized I don't have to feel great to have a good workout. 

We started out and it didn't feel very fast. I tried to stay with the top pack, and I was able to. We came through the mile in 5:08. I was feeling pretty good, but it got harder as we went on. I came through the two mile in 10:02, so I ran a 4:54. I managed to stay pretty close to the top pack, but by 2.5 I started falling back. I came through three miles in a p.r. though, I was at 14:53 or 14:57, I can't remember. So that puts my third mile at about 4:51 or 4:55. After this I dropped back more. I could tell I was hurting from going out that fast. I came through four miles at about 20:15, so that mile was about 5:18-5:22. On my last mile, I pushed it a little harder, and finished at 25:27, so a 5:05 average for the five mile tempo run. I had more to give in the last mile, but I didn't push it too hard. This was one of my best workouts ever, even though I could have run it much smarter. I decided to push myself harder than ever before, and see how it played out. If I had stopped at 5k, I would have beat my best time by over thirty seconds. This helps me know how much I've improved, and I feel that I could have taken run at least a 15:20 if I had pushed it even harder to end at 5k.

We cooled down 2.5 miles, and I feel pretty good, but my calfs are sore.

The run started out with a bunch of people, but we ended up with me, Trevor, Neal, and Brandon. We went out pretty easy, but hit a couple sub 6:20 miles going back. The overall pace was in the 6:30's

So today I was going to get up around six, and go running before a 5k my parents were running in. After that, I was going to run with my mom and pace her to break 21:00. I was really tired, so I didn't get up at six, and I only had time for 4.5 miles before the 5k. I ran those at about 7:00 pace. After that I ran with my mom. The first mile was 7:07, the second was about 6:54, and the third was around 6:35. Her time was about 20:57. After that, I added 3.5 miles at a 7:00 pace. I was planning on doing fifteen miles total, but my calfs and shins were really sore, and my heel hurt some.

Today we just did five 400's. We're doing a "race" on Wednesday. Everyone but the top nine (who are going to conference) is running. It will be four miles at Kiwanis Park, where we did the last one, so I can compare my time. I'm not going to go in with any plan, just go out and race. I'm going to try not to think about it too much, just have fun. But today the four hundreds felt pretty good. I didn't feel great, but it was okay. My times were 65, 64, 64, 64, 62. Everyone was pretty close. 

Something interesting happened today. While we were warming up to the park, I tripped on some metal thing on the ground and face-planted. I landed on my knee, shoulder, and cheek. It didn't hurt badly, but there my knee was bleeding a lot. I got it bandaged up after my run. I bet my shoulder and knee will be sore tomorrow. 

We just did six easy miles today. I felt pretty good, but I felt a little sick to my stomach.

We had another time trial today at Kiwanis Park. Coach said it was a race, but it was basically a time trial. I tried not to focus on a race plan at all, just go into it like I do in practice, and give it my best shot. I didn't want to think about it too much. I warmed up two miles, and my knee was hurting, but it was bearable. This time, we ran the loop the opposite way than we did last time. Also, more guys were running, since not as many go to conference.

I started out in decent position, right behind the front pack, with Trevor. The first mile was pretty good, about 5:03. On the second mile, Trevor pulled ahead, and I stuck with Neal. I didn't feel great, but I stuck just in front of Neal. We came through the 2 mile in 10:20. I was on a good pace, and I was still with Neal. I don't remember where Neal passed me, but it was somewhere in the third mile. George also passed me, and passed Neal. At this point, I was way back. I don't know what the problem was, but I couldn't push myself any harder. I didn't get my split on the third mile, but I'm sure I slowed down a lot. I still wasn't far behind Neal, but he was building a lead on me. With about a half mile to go, I figured I was a little bit more than ten seconds behind him. I tried to push it to catch him, and I gained on him, but he pulled away in the last 400 meters or so.

I'm not sure what my time was, and I don't really care. Neal was at 21:27, so I guessed I was at about 21:40. I was slower than last time, and everyone else improved a lot since the last one. I really don't know what the problem with my races is. In the last tempo run I beat at least five of the guys who beat me today, and I beat them by a lot. I know I had a lot more in me, I just wasn't able to push myself like I should be able to in a race. It's obviously a mental block, because I know I'm much faster based on my practices.

I decided to take it easy the rest of the week. I'm going to keep the mileage low, and then start building a base for indoor track next week. Coach said we'll be backing off the speed workouts for a while. I'm also going to start lifting weights three times a week, because I haven't been doing that. I really think the weights helped me achieve what I did in track, when I lifted consistently during the winter and spring.

Today I was planning on going thirty minutes easy, but I felt good. I did 27:00. My splits were 6:45, 6:17, 5:52, 5:20, and I was at about 4:40 pace for the last half mile or so. I just felt really good, and decided to push it.

Today we dressed up in costumes for our run. We ran around Provo and around campus. It was pretty fun. We did about 55 minutes, eight miles.