Well I didn't think I'd make it this far....

AM: Today has been a monumental day. My first 20 miler! I met up with Chris at Bill's house, where the three of us did Bill's Wasatch loop. Since I am too lazy to describe all 20 miles of it, I'm just gonna say it was long ;) (plus there's the link if you really wanna know) The loop was slightly over 20, and the only thing more unbearable than continuing running after we hit 20 was walking a half mile back to Bill's house, so Chris and I just went to 20.5. My Garmin died at about 17.5, so we just went off Chris's Garmin. I felt tired after, of course, but better than I expected to feel. The full 20 really isn't that bad once you get into a rhythm. I also had a protein shake right after, and then one right before bed. Now that we are going to start our last stretch of high miles and longer speed before the season., I have to get consistent again with my protein shake like I did in the summer. I think one of the reasons I was able to take the mileage so well during the summer was because of my shake. I'm excited of this next phase of training!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/275030770

AM: Today we went for the same loop we did two weeks ago for our long run. We met at Cowboy Grub, then carpooled up to Park City and Kin dropped us off at the end of the road which eventually becomes Emigration Canyon. We went down another road to a yellow gate and back, which was about 1.4, then started up the road to the top of Emigration, then took that all the way down the canyon. Once we were by the zoo, we got on our usual Thunderbird/Flagpole run. Once we got to Foothill, we went north on that about a half mile out and back, then back to the cars at Cowboy Grub to hit 15. I thought I would feel totally wiped out after this and yesterday's run, but I actually felt really good after this run. I must credit it to the protein shake! Woohoo, 35.5 miles in 2 runs! 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/275030725

AM: Went on an easy three right after first period.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/275825010

PM: Today we went out to the oval for a speed workout. We did our usual 8 laps warm up, then four laps speed changes, then a lap recovery. After that I measured the distance from the finish line to the four hundred start, and put a cone that far from the 200 meter mark to be our 600 start. The workout was 2 X (800, 600, 400, 300, 200, 100) with the 800's and 600's at mile pace and the 400-100 at 800 pace. My goal times were (2:15, 1:41, 62, 47.5, 31, 16). This workout was the first one we've had with mile pace or faster stuff, so it would be tough. Plus, we put in some big miles these past few days. I felt fine energy wise, but even before we started I could tell my legs were pretty beat up. I wore my Victory Waffles that I bought for prelims at Simplot. It would have been a good idea to break them in before running prelims in them, so I just decided to run this workout in them.

       I hit a 2:16 800 and 1:40 600 to start. After the 600 my legs were starting to protest. The 400's are really what scared me the most. I hit a 61, then 48, 29, 14. The 400 definitely hurt, but then the rest of them are shorter stuff, so really what I focused on going into the next set was the 800 and the 400. We had two laps recovery after the first set and I was really not looking forward to the next set. I was definitely feeling the miles by now. I pushed and hit a 2:15 800. then 1:41 600. Although I was hurting and had to push to hit those, at this point I could tell I was going to be alright with the rest. I hit a 62 400, then went 48, 28, 14.After we did 3, I think, laps cool down to be at 40 laps, or 11 miles.

      I was happy that I hit all my times in this workout, particularly with my already dead legs. This was the first workout with faster times, and I'm glad to have it over with. My legs are BEAT!

AM: Went on an easy three on my own. My free periods are the only reason I can even keep up with school and running.

Something weird happened and now I can't find this link.....

PM: We went on a recovery-ish run today. We took 900 S all the way up to Foothill, then took the VA loop over onto the Shriners route. We went out 4.75, which was almost to the fire station, then went back to the school the normal Shriners route. I'm surprisingly not sore, just a little tired.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/275824995

PM: I took the morning off from running. In the afternoon, we did our 2100 S loop, which was across 1300 E to 21st, then own to 900 E, and back to the school along that. Once back at the school we did a loop over to Yale and back because we needed quite a bit to get to 6. I was really tired during stretches and drills, but felt better in the run.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/276135616

AM: Easy four on my own.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/278983202

PM: We went across 1300 E to the U flagpole, then back towards the Westminster flagpole, but we went further down 1300 E, almost to the light on 2100 S and turned to be at 4 at the school.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/278983188

AM: I woke up today to mildly warm, sunny morning with no wind and was excited to run the 15k. On my way there, I passed 8400 W on the 201, and it was like I had driven into a snow globe that was being shaken by an angry toddler. Shortly after parking, I went for a short warm up with Bill, and to my great surprise, it was miserable. The wind and snow were absolutely intolerable, and then all of a sudden you I saw a bright flash of light and shortly thereafter, thunder. This was the universe saying "Tomy, I'm warning you, don't run the 15k." Well, I've never been the disobedient type. Besides, the point of today was to get in a good tempo, and my goal was to average below 5:40, but it was blatantly obvious that wasn't happening today, so instead I hit the treadmill for the longest workout of my life. I warmed up a mile, and then did a six mile tempo at 10.5 mph at 1% incline, so about 5:45ish pace I think. Treadmills are my absolute downfall, so this workout was one of my proudest. I ran another 6 miles on the treadmill to get 13 on that plus the two I did at the race. I wouldn't mind not seeing a treadmill for a few years.