Turn your rut into a groove.

am--7.5 Foremaster Loop w/ Wendy's Extension and 6x Track Striders. Nice run this morning. Later in the day, our first boy, Arthur Walt, was born. Great day. RHR--48.

am--7.5 Got the kids off to school and ran a little before I went to get Mama and baby. The achilles feels ok, especially after I get going. Erged 3k after. RHR--50.

am--5 Same as the other morning workouts. I did the warm and cool w/ the girls and did some running here and there for times and the recovery in between reps. RHR--49.

pm--3.5 Old morning route in the afternoon. It's getting warmer, and my darn window winder broke. 

am--1.5 Morning run w/ weights. It was beautiful out. I didn't get any miles in before because the kid had a resless night. RHR--50

pm--5.75 Middleton w/ the secret park and a few minutes on the Middleton Trail. We did striders on the field at the end. Although it was a scorcher, I loved every minute of the run. I'm falling in love w/ the tough things. 

am--7.5 Kidney Loop via Serenity. It took me a while to get going this morning, but the juice finally flowed. I love runs like this because the pace gets stronger and stronger. Generally, I work down to a tempo pace. Hollows one out. RHR--50. 

am--5.25 Trail run near the Draper Temple (Coyote Gulch or Springs?). Twice in the run, there were 300 ft. climbs in just over a mile. So the pace was a little slower than normal. I think the girls appreciated that. Pretty jealous of those trails. 

Finished The Princess Bride on the bus ride home from SLC. It's different than the movie; I won't say better. The reader gets a bit more backstory but has to have the movie to fill his/her head with those character quirks that make it such a classic. As with Ender's Game, I found something useful for real life in this book. Westley's stoic attitude, in particular, his unflinching resolve while strapped to the machine, is exemplary. I'll see if there is a way to transfer that from the pages. 

am--5 Running during the kids' workout. Another good workout for the kids. RHR--50.

pm--2.25 Loops on the softball field after a nice heart-to-heart with the kiddos.

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko is done. I've read it before but saw it in a new light. The book is about a young man, white father and Laguna mother, and his struggle to deal with his heritage and PTSD after WWII. My favortie line comes from his gma: "It seems like I already heard these stories before . . . only thing is, the names sound different" (260). Preach, grandma!

am--3.5 DI w/ Dallen/Weights/Harts. Nice push w/ Dallen and good run after w/ the girls. I love my job. RHR--50. 

pm--4.5 Outback out-and-back w/ striders. We ran in some beautiful weather, hit a nice pace, and got back to a lightning warning. Thus, we did striders in the hall. The explosiveness of striders aggravates the achilles. Other than that, it felt better today. Erged 2k.

am--6.25 DI/Almost Stop Sign/Lutheran LED. We got some rain last night. How lovely! The entire run this morning was at a strong pace, especially the last few minutes w/ Julien. Excited for Region this afternoon and tomorrow. RHR--51. 

am--5.5 DI/Wieghts/Harts/Reverse DI. Good morning running. I felt peppy, due, perhaps, to the good showing we had yesterday at day 1 of region. I was sweating up a storm by the end of the run. Some heel drops made my life a little better. RHR--50. 

am--4.25 Tuweap Loop via Serenity. I slept in a bit before I got out. Hit a decent pace and loved it. RHR--48. 

pm--4.75 Mustang Pass w/ 6x striders. It was hot out, and the stickers were attacking. Learning to love the tough things. 

am--10.5 Reverse Firestation w/ Quail Ridge and some running w/ the girls before and after their workout. By the end of my initial run, I was working down to the mid-6s. The run was hard but good. The girls looked great in the workout. Good things are coming this weekend. RHR--50. 

am--4 Lutheran LED/Out on Panorama. OK morning. I slept in a few minutes and still got in a couple miles before the kids came. RHR--47.

pm--4.5 Telegraph out-and-back. Achilles is feeling decent. I opted out of striders to see if that would mitigate things. 

am--3.5 DI/Harts. The achilles is annoying right now. Not terribly painful but never absent for long. On a lighter note, the weather was perfect this morning. RHR--51.

pm--6.75 River Trail w/ CV pick-ups. The pick-ups and recovery between always totalled 5 minutes--1 on, 4 off, 2 on, 3 off, 3 on, 2 off, and 4 on, 1 off. Really nice group working together, getting stronger together. Had a little meeting after about Bob Firman. 

am--5.5 A little loop to warm up the achilles, then a decent run w/ the girls w/ 6x striders after. Other than a little soreness in the quads, I didn't have any ill effects from yesterday's work. RHR--50. 

pm--2.25 A small group of us ran around the softball field in the rain. Refer 3k after.

am--5.75 A variation of my old morning route. It was almost chilly this morning, but everything warmed up nicely. I ended up hitting a decent pace and wanting to push the hills. RHR--50. 

am--4 A quick run around BYU. RHR--56.

am--5.5 Utah Lake shoreline run. Good convo, good pace, good times. Kids are doing cool things at state. RHR--54.

pm--2.5 Ran on the treadmill until it broke. Erged 2k in 8:12.6 after. I'll run up to the end of this month then take few days off before xc starts.

am--7.5 Kidney Loop w/ a progressive effort. It took me a few miles to warm-up and get my breathing settled. By the end, things went smoothly. RHR--50. 

am--5 Easy run into Green Valley. I took it a bit easier than yesterday. RHR--56. 

pm--3 A short, chill neighborhood run w/ my buddy, Clint. He's getting into running and was nice enough to take it easy on me. I also picked up some shoes w/ a little more support to see if a little variation will help my achilles. I've had success w/ mild stability shoes in the past. So here goes nothing. 

am--7 SC Parkway out-and-back via Serenity. I started out to start out and end up gradually increasing the pace. (This happens when I don't have anyone to talk w/ me.) Ultimately, the run turns into light tempo pace, tempo pace, and down near CV pace. Comfortably hard work. 4x 30 sec. on the erg after. RHR--53. 

pm--7.25 Grass loops at the SC Rugby grounds. I decided to make this an afternoon run, and, truly, it was pleasant. The best preemptive strike for a warm afternoon run is constant hydration throughout the day. Granted, it wasn't exceptionally hot today. I've also noticed over the last few weeks that the pace of my runs is about 45-60 seconds faster than last year. The training we've been doing over the last year really does build a nice aerobic engine. RHR--50. 

On the book front, I finished another one--Reach for the Summit by Pat Summitt. It's a great book for teachers and coaches. A few things I like about the book: 

1) She was successful in helping female student athletes grow as athletes and people. Any coach worth a grain of salt would hope to do something similar. 

2) Success, although defined differently by different people, is hard-fought and takes a commitment. Pat talks about success at Tennessee being a national championship, while success for her son is sleeping in a bunk bed. 

3) Attention to the mental aspect of life and competition is just as important to team building as the physical, perhaps even more important. Pat had some great coaches to help her with this. 

4) The anecdotes were scary, sad, and funny but all contributed to the lessons. We learn through stories. 

5) Pat was an in-your-face disciplinarian. I grew up with one of those. He is my dad. It wasn't always easy being the only son of a sergeant and coach, but I'm thankful for the lessons he has taught me. I continue to realize he was right most of the time. 

am--7 Near Zen w/ Tom. Took our time, enjoying the weather and nature. Most of the conversation centered on Jordan Peterson. He sounds like an interesting mythological thinker. I'll have to check him out a bit more. RHR--53. 

pm--5 Green Valley Loop. Chill run in the gloaming. RHR--49.

I read an angsty young-adult novel over the weekend--You Don't Know Me by David Klass. The voice was charismatic and the story engaging. I don't read books like this often, but it was a nice detour. 

pm--6.5 4x 5-min. intervals @ 8k pace. The on section starts at 1 minute and increases by a minute each interval w/ the rest shrinking. I did this at the SC Rugby ground. I'm loving the grass for its strengthening and softening qualities. 

I'm not sure why I'm running in the 97-degree afternoon--actually, I have a tough time waking up when no one is counting on me--but it definitely calluses me for difficult workouts in the future. Surprisingly, I didn't have an elapsed time, so I had to work off distance. I was nearly right on w/ .75 for each 5-minute section. Good work today. RHR--49. 

am--8 Ivins out-and-back via the SC Parkway. I got up. Yay! My legs feel a little beat from yesterday still gave a little push at the end. I'll probably take a small break until xc practice starts on Monday to see if I can heal up my heel. RHR--51.