Thatcher's Running Blog

I went up to Jeremy Ranch this morning with Skyline. I went out five miles easy, about 6:55 pace, and came back faster. I came back at about 6:20 pace. Overall pace was 6:37. My last mile was 5:54. It felt pretty good, but I was feeling a little bit sick after.

 Later I was at Skyline for their cross country fundraiser. It's a "24 hour running marathon". I did three miles in 17:55, then finished off with a 65 second last lap for fun. (I wanted to beat my friend Morgan, who did three miles in 18:30) Everyone is running 20 minute legs at a time. I might have to run another one tonight.

About 3.5 at three in the morning for the "running marathon" went with Brett around to the school and around. It was peaceful and slow. But it wasn't nice running at 3 am.

Later we all ran the last mile together of the running marathon. I am really tired from almost no sleep, but it was fun. I also took a long nap.

Today I ran with Skyline at Sugarhouse Park. We did 5 1000's on the grass. I think some of the distance was off, because the splits were all over the place.

We warmed up and got going. The first interval had some uphill and downhill, and was at 3:12. I felt pretty good, and it wasn't too bad. The next one was 3:33. It had a steep hill, but I think it must have been long or something. I felt okay on that one, but not great. The next one was 3:27. This one was flat, then had a long hill. I felt really tired on this one, and struggled to stay ahead of Morgan. The fourth one was 3:30, but I think it was a little bit long as well. Morgan was right with me on this one, and I was pretty tired. The last one felt pretty good, and I beat Morgan. The time was 3:00, but it was short.

After, we did ten hill sprints. I felt pretty strong. I then did a cool down.

I talked to the my coach (really my old coach), and he suggested I drop my mileage down a lot starting now. My race is three weeks from Saturday, and I need to taper for it, so I have the best race possible. I have been feeling fatigued in intervals and workouts, and it is probablly from the high mileage. I'm going to drop somewhere around 50 miles, and maybe even lower than that the next couple of weeks.

I slept in today because I was up late watching the olympics. I ran six miles easy, at a 7:42 pace. It felt pretty good. I did seven strides after.

I didn't have time to do my run in the morning, so I did it this afternoon. It wasn't too hot today. I ran six miles at a 7:25 pace. It felt really easy, and my legs felt good. I did eight striders after.

Today I went to Liberty Park for a tempo run. I did three 1.5 mile tempo runs. Going in, my goal was to start out at 5:15 for the first mile, then speed up the last half mile. I warmed up one lap and did some drills.

My first repeat felt pretty good, and I was at 5:12 at the mile. I tried speeding up, but I didn't push hard enough and did my last 800 in 2:40. My overall pace was 5:17 for the first one.

On the second one, I came through the mile at 5:12. This time I picked it up more, and did a 2:32 last 800. My overall pace was about 5:10.

On the last interval, I pushed it the hardest. I came through the mile at 5:02, and pushed it really hard the last 800, to finish it in 2:25. My overall pace for the last one was 4:58. 

This was a great workout. I didn't get much sleep last night, so I didn't know how good it would be, but I guess the lower mileage is helping me. This was my best workout in a long time. I cooled down about two miles.