Thatcher's Running Blog

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.

My heel was hurting a little bit today, so I took it pretty easy. I did 5.75 miles at about a 6:50 pace.