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

AM: I met up with Bill and Chris at the river trail on 5300 S for a long run. Chris and I were going 15 and Bill was going 20, so we did 7.5 out and back and then Bill just continued on for another 2.5 miles and back on the south part of the trail after we got back to the cars. When we started, we warmed up for 2 miles and then started 30X(1 min on/1 min off). Every third rep, Chris and I would turn and recover the opposite direction to meet back up with Bill. I believe our turn around was at about the 18th or so rep. The on was supposed to be at around 80%, which ended being about 5:20's most of the time. We averaged 6:43 for the whole run, and I believe our average for just the fartlek portion was in the 6:15-6:20 range. The on's weren't really that hard to hit, and the fartlek made the 15 miles go by pretty fast. Still, I felt drained by the time we finished. Because of so much turning and running back, we hit 15 with a little over a quarter mile left before the parking lot, so Chris and I just walked back. I had my protein shake once I got home. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/288650049

AM: Went on an easy four this morning. Felt great, 6:25 avg.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/289013523

PM: After the usual track stuff, we did our Avenues hill run. We ran down 1300 E to South Temple, then regrouped at T street. They were pretty easy until we passed the cemetery, where they get a lot steeper. After we finished on 11th ave, we ran back to East the usual Shriner route. I was feeling pretty tired today. I felt amazing on my morning run, but at practice that energy was gone. It was the tired I can only best describe as my legs feeling hollow. I don't think I realized until now how hard the run yesterday really was. That was a lot of time running at a fast pace. When we got back, Chris, Sarah, and I did a grass lap while everyone else got back. Then we did our 2 progressive 300's. I had to chase down John. I nearly caught him on the first one and that made me move a lot faster, but I don't think he went as hard as he should have. My times were 41 and 43. Then we did one grass lap to get to 8.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/289013517

AM: Went on an easy four miles. These mornings runs have been at a quicker pace lately... 6:30 avg

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/289377968

PM: After the usual track stuff, we warmed up a mile and then a mile speed changes, and changes shoes for speed. 3X1200 with a lap recovery, and 6X200 fast, with a half lap recovery back to the start. My goal times for the 1200's was 3:30. I wanted to make sure I didn't go too hard on the first one, so I took it out in 70, and then came back with (69,69) for a 3:28. I recovered the lap and then jogged about another 150 meters out to the group and back. Next one was 3:30, in all 70's. Same recovery, then the last one, in 70, 70, 69 for 3:29. I tried to close with a faster lap, and for the most part was successful. To think of it positively, all I had to do was run one more 70 and I could have hit 4:40 miles! Another lap recovery and then we did the 200's. We were supposed to run these as if we were kicking in a race, so they would be quick. I hit 27, 28, 29, 29, 27, 27. John would pull away a bit right off the start, then with about 120 to go I would work to close on him and finish a half stride behind him. It was nice to be able to catch up to someone in workout. Then I did another lap in my flats, changed shoes and did some cool down to be at 9.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/289377966

AM: I decided to go for a longer run this morning to cushion my mile. I originally planned for 6, but went a little far when I added some of the Shriner run, so I hit 6.5

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/289725633

PM: After the usual track stuff, distance went over to the gulley and did three laps. The fence is closed off again >:( so we had to do figure eights in the gulley to substitute for a full lap. I think we ended up running a little more than three laps. Then we met over at the white tree at Sunnyside, were we did three sets of arm swings, then ten strides across the soccer fields, and then back to the track and we added a two mile loop down by East towards Judge, and back for 8.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/289725622

AM: Went for an easy four on my own.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/290080067

PM: After track stuff got done, distance went up to Sunnyside for a fartlek workout. We did a lap around the park and back to the white tree for warm up, then after some arm swings, did 10X(90sec on/90sec off) around our usual soccer field loop. Most of my on's were in the 4:50 range, just depending on how much hill I got in the rep. A lot of them were in the low 4:40's :) Afterwards, we did another lap around the park and went back to the track, where I added a grass lap to get to 8.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/290080056

AM: Went for an easy four on my own.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/291544596

PM: Today we had the usual day before race workout. We did two miles warm up, two miles speed changes, and two miles cool down. UVU Invite tomorrow!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/291544585

AM/PM: This was the longest I have ever been at a track meet in my life. We got to UVU at 8 am and didn't leave until 8:30 pm. What was worse was I was only running the 3200, which was the second to last event of the day, so I got to sit around in the hot sun for over ten hours until my race! At least I got to work on my tan while I waited ;) (except now I look like I'm a different ethnicity....)

      Anyway, the race. I went for a two mile shakeout in the morning part of the meet, and then sat around until my race came along. After a quick run to the store for some much needed food, we got back and Chris and I started warming up. We got two miles in, then another mile of speed changes we did in the parking lot. We got to the bullpen just in time to be seeded and then we had to wait for another 15 or so minutes once on the infield of the track to actually start. I got in a good amount of strides and then we all lined up. I was seeded #3, so I was in lane two. We started and I got out really well. I didn't have to sprint to get good position and just wound up in the front. They started us in two alleys, so after the first curve the other alley of guys merged with us. Two guys went out hard and settled right ahead of me, so I stuck on them. I honestly didn't feel like we were going that fast, but I could hear that we were gapping the group behind us. We came through in a 69 first lap, which was slow if anything. I passed the first guy ahead of me, and then by 600 meters had passed the guy in the lead. I knew those two guys would fall off, but I didn't think I would break away from the pack this early on.

      I took the lead and came through the 800 in 2:19, which was a perfect split. My goal for this race was just to hold 70's for as long as I could. At this point, I knew that I wasn't just going out too hard, so I started to push the pace and try to extend my lead. I forget what my third lap split was, but my mile was 4:40. Again, right on. So far, this race was going unusually well. I think it was in the fifth lap that I took a glance back, and saw that I had about 30 meters on the pack. I know I shouldn't look back, but I just couldn't help it! I looked back again during the seventh (I think) lap, and had extended my lead to about 40 or so meters. I just focused on keeping a solid pace the rest of the race, and finished with as fast of a last lap as I could. It's really hard to kick with no one around. I know that my last lap was a 70, so laps 5-7 were slower. I know I can push those laps a lot harder if there were people with or ahead of me. That was the only bummer with this race. I had to push the pace on my own again, but fortunately, I won't have this problem much longer... especially not at Arcadia :) But all in all, a good race. It's against the runner's code to be unhappy with a PR, you know!

      Afterwards, I did two miles cool down before we finally left the meet. By the time we got home I was absolutely exhausted, mainly from just being in the sun all day and not doing anything, and I passed out. I woke up the next morning and realized that I needed four more to hit my miles >:(   Boo. I hate not hitting my miles. 86 is such an uneven number :/

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/291544569