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

AM: I slept in, and after I got out of bed I did short Carterville from my house for an easy 6 miles. 

PM: The group met up and we split once for two different runs, and the group I ended up in was doing river trail, and I realy didn't want to do that, so Joe and I did Carterville by ourselves. We held down a good, even pace for the most part. 

AM: After my last class I went for an easy run on my own. I went out 2.5 miles and back on Carterville. Then after some lunch, and took my first exam!

PM: For workout today, we ran over to the Lake loop for our tempo. After regrouping at the usual spot, having some pretty interesting conversations about Breaking Bad on our way there, we went to the van and put on our flats and got some water. The workout for the traveling squad was a 6 mile tempo with 60 sec recovery at half way, so you could say it was 2X3 mile with little recovery. Those of us racing at SUU this Friday, as well as 880 guys, and fat camp, did the regular Lake Loop tempo. We had a governor of 5:15 for the first two miles, and then after that my goal was to run the loop faster than the first time I did it. 

     We came through the first mile in about 5:11, so a bit fast, but coach liked the rhythm we had going, then we hit 10:23 at two miles. Here we turned onto the little road, and the group split. I broke away with Doolin, Nick, Jon, JZ, and Trevor. We strung out a bit more over the next mile, and I hit 3 miles in 15:32. Here Doolin had some confusion and thought we were stopping for 60 sec rest, so Jon, Nick,and I passed him. Jon started to slowly pull away from me for a bit, then we stayed that much apart until we turned back onto the finishing stretch of road. Right around where the last little hill in the road comes, Doolin caught me, and finished maybe 4 seconds ahead of me, with Jon a little bit ahead of him. Finished in 25:41, or 5:16 pace. 

     Happy with the workout. I got my goal, I finished in 26:10 last time, so almost a 30 second improvement. My pace was also a lot better. I had a good pace going up until mile 3.5, though, and I would have liked to stay on it more than I did. I shouldn't have let Jon gap me, I don't know why I just let him go without trying to go with him. At least that's something to work on for next time!

     We went back over to the van, got some water, then Coach talked a bit, then we headed back to the locker room. I hit 11 when we got to the track offices. Then after that, we lifted and did DB bench, PVC squats, distance jumps, bar squats with the bar extended over our heads, and lat pulls. After that we went over to the training room and stretched, then I took a 15 minute ice bath. I'm almost not sore at all after weights now!

AM: I went over to the locker room after my last class for my usual short morning run, and I saw Tommy there. He was going ten, and I had plenty of time, so I hopped in on ten with him. We had some really good conversation going for the run, so it flew by! Long Carterville, then we added around the tennis courts and in the back door of the locker room. 6:34 avg

PM: I met up with the guys at practice for a run. I joined the 8 mile group and we did medium Cartervile for 8.5 miles. It's been awhile since I've had one of these higher mileage days! 6:37 avg

AM: Easy four in the moring right after my last class.

PM: There was a workout today, but those racing on Friday weren't doing it. I'm so sad I missed 5XMile at Kiwanis :) We ran to Kiwanis and I did two laps with the guys warming up for the workout. Then everyone not doing the workout ran the loop backwards during the first repeat and we cheered the guys on. After that Nick, Briggs, and I ran up to the North side of Kiwanis and then over by New Heritage, and then down the street to University Ave, then back to the locker room where we hit 6.6.

AM: The race isn't until the afternoon, so I went for a shakeout this morning. I saw a few guys in the locker room right as I was going to run, and they thought I was crazy for running the day of a race. Anyway, I went out a mile and a half on Carterville, then I came back to the locker room, grabbed my old matumbos, and went over to the indoor track for some strides. I did 4X80 meter strides, focusing on turnover and arms. I was felt really good on those. 

Early PM: We headed out to SUU, and stopped on this random road and took a bunch of pictures like half way. We stopped for some food, but I packed myself some raspberry jelly sandwiches, and some snack, so I just had that. It ended up really working for the race.

PM: We got to the course and made our racing jerseys. Fat Camp baby! They ended up being really cool. It was really insanely windy and sort of cold, augmented by the wind, so I wore a long sleeve, a running sweater, and my hoodie. We dropped off our stuff by the line, then did the course once. It was a loop around a golf course, full of rolling hills. The race was 6k, which was three loops. The worst part is that there is a steep, gravel uphill, that leads onto this downhill dirt road, that was almost like concrete, so that wasn't fun in spikes. After one lap around, we sat around some more, I spiked by spikes, then we went for another lap warm up, and after a potty break, I did a little more warm up, then put on my spikes, and did some drills and finally strides. Then we all went over to the line, did a few more strides, prayer and cheer, and lined up. I took off all my stuff right before toeing the line. 

My goal for this race was just to go out really conservatively, and move up during the race to where I should be. I went out too hard at the Autumn Classic, and that brought down my race. During the warm up, I was feeling pretty flat. Like I wasn't just about to race. The wind and cold I think just put me in that mentality. 

The gun went off, and there was a lot of jostling because the course narrows pretty fast. I just stayed out of trouble, and was maybe in the top 25. I stayed in the bulk of the pack, and drafted as best I could for that whole first lap. I wanted to make a move right around the steep uphill, but I told myself not to panic, and I stayed right around top 20 until the first lap passed. After the first lap, I made a move on the long, gradual uphill, which happens to be the longest stretch of the loop. I passed a bunch of guys there, and caught the chase pack, then moved past them and starting closing on the lead pack. I caught them when we turned and started heading over to the gravel uphill. I stuck on the tails of the lead pack for the rest of that lap, which consisted of two UVU guys, Nate Jewkes, and Nick. On the third lap. Nate pulled away, and a UVU guy fell back. I passed him, then went up the gravel hill for the last time, but he caught me on the downhill road part, and from there we just kicked it in to the finish. I finished 5th in 19:50.

Overall I'd say this was the first time I have been happy with a race this cross season. I stuck to my plan, executed it when I had to, and it payed off. I think this race gave me some confidence for my next goal, and I know what I have to do to keep improving. 

Our team also did really well. Had the BYU Unattached team been scored, we would have won the meet! So that was cool.

Afterwards Coached talked to us a bit, and then we took some pictures with our Fat Camp jerseys on, and we did some cool down. I did two laps and change for a total of 10.5 miles. I felt pretty good for just having raced hard!

AM: Met up with some guys at 7:30 to get in our long run. We went 7.5 up the canyon and back, at a nice, steady pace. Luckily, I was running with Lil Jon, Tracy, Trevor, and Alaska, so we kept the pace pretty relaxed, which is what I'm used to. We started slower, and picked it up as we went long, but never really past 6:20's or so. 6:40 average overall. It was cold when we started, but enjoyable cold, not miserable, why-am-I-running-outside cold. Tights weather is upon us!