Thatcher's Running Blog

I ran with Neal today. I felt pretty good, and we picked up the pace a little today. We averaged 6:27 pace. We started out in the 6:40's on the way out, and on the way back we averaged about 6:15. It felt pretty easy, and it felt good to get a faster paced longer run in. My achilles felt good, no pain. 

I was home and I ran with Morgan and Gemachu. They were doing six eight hundreds, and I decided to do it with them. I didn't push it too hard, but it was still a good workout. I did 2:24, 2:22, 2:22, 2:19, 2:25, 2:15. The first couple were pretty easy, and Gemachu was a couple seconds behind me, with Morgan a little bit back. On the third one, I pushed it a little harder, so it was a little faster. On the fifth one, I could have gone faster but I didn't push myself hard enough. I backed off a bit thinking I would take it easy, but I overcorrected and it ended up too slow. This caused Morgan and Gemachu to slow down, which was my fault. I was feeling pretty tired, but I wanted to hit a 2:10 on the last one. I went through the first lap at 65, and was feeling pretty good. With 200 to go, I seized up and couldn't go any faster. I just struggled to sprint in, but wasn't going very fast. I ended up at 2:15, Gemachu 2:17, Morgan 2:18. It was a good workout and it wasn't too hard. I should have been better prepared for it, because I think I was pretty dehydrated and got a really bad headache and blurry vision after. I cooled down about four miles with Gemachu after.

I ran at Sugarhouse Park with Gemachu and Ben. Our average was 7:00. I only did about 6.7 so I would be ready for my race tomorrow.

Today was the Earn Your Turkey four mile run by Mountain View High School. I wanted to get a good time, but most important, I wanted to feel like I put in a good effort and ran a good race. I warmed up for 15 minutes with Gemachu. I didn't get as much stretching in as  would have liked, but I felt pretty good.

I started out pretty fast, and was right up in the front. I stayed close to the front pack, but a little before the mile, the top six or so pulled away. My first mile was about 5:05. After this, I tucked in beside Aaron and another guy. I stayed with him for a while, but he started pulling away a little before two miles, and I let him and two other guys go. Looking back, I really wish I had pushed to stay with them, because I would have done much better. My second mile was 5:15. After this, I was by myself the rest of the race. This caused my third mile to be really slow. It was 5:30. I pushed myself to catch a guy in front of me, and I gained on him, but he was too far ahead. He pulled away in the last half mile. I finished fairly strong, but I discovered that Gemachu and Sasha were gaining fast on me. My last mile was about 5:20.

 This wasn't a great race, but it wasn't horrible. I felt better in the middle of the race than my last couple of races, and I didn't die at the end. I felt like I gave a better effort, but I should have stayed with the group in front of me, and I would have had a better race. I cooled down with Gemachu after.

I ran out by Churchill and on the trail by Wasatch Blvd. I was a little sore, and didn't go very fast. I did eight miles in about 57:00.

I added 5.25 on the treadmill later. I felt much better than this morning, and I did a mini-fartlek. I added in a few 400 meter pushes at 5:20 pace, and I ended with half a mile in 2:30. I felt great and averaged 6:39.

I did thirteen miles today. I ran to Skyline and did three miles around the school until Ben and Gemachu came. Gemachu wanted to run on the grass for his leg, so we did ten miles at sugarhouse park. It went by pretty quickly and it was a fun run. We averaged 7:12 pace. I was planning on doing a couple more miles, but my legs were too sore and tired.