Turn your rut into a groove.

am--6 Harts/AC/Truncated DI. A little cooler this morning. The kids were running on tired legs. Good recovery run for them. RHR--49. 

pm--3.5 Hot Nails +. Good run w/ the crew. Felt cooler at 98 degrees today. Thank goodness for October. 

am--3 AC. I went easy this morning because I woke up TIRED. Nice run this morning w/ a discussion and interpretation of dreams. RHR--52.

pm--3 Frontside loop of Barrel Roll. A nice trail jaunt before heading to Cedar for the meet. Had a desert tortoise sighting. 

pm--6.5 Tready miles @ a hotel in Orem after a long day making pure cider & spending time with the in-laws. I'm thinking a lot about xc right now & the phenomenal kids we have. Purty lucky.

am--5.75 Harts/AC/Sandstone-Costco Loop. Good weather and an antsy pace. RHR--49. 

pm--3.25 Did the warm and cool w/ the girls. They ran a mile time trial today, followed by a fast 200. Awesome. 

pm--3 Grass Loops at Sandstone. Just the varsity girls. We had a nice chat today about goals. 

am--5 DI/AC. Good group. Good weather. Good run. RHR--49.

pm--5 Ran around Bloomington Hills Park while the varsity kids did a workout. I even jumped into the tempo a few times, which felt pretty good. 

am--5 DI/Scary Bushes/Mini-Costco Loop. Had a good time listening to the girls yell, "Slow down" at each other for 20 minutes. RHR--50. 

pm--7 Green Springs to Alli J's house w/ 8x striders. On the way back, Caroline jumped in the fake blue pond. The girls have a ton of fun together. 

am--4 DI/Stop Sign. I love the mornings this time of year. The end of darkness and the beginning of light. The temperature is normally 5-10 degrees cooler, but I'll live. RHR--51.

pm--4 Sunrise Hills. I mostly kept time for the girls. My legs were feeling the week at the beginning. 

am--10 Santa Clara Mountain (Suicidal Tendencies). I decided to finish this week w/ a good effort. Perhaps it'll put something into the cosmos to give the kids a little more power on Tuesday. I didn't feel especially great starting off, but I got going. The bigger week was apparent when I failed to pick up my feet and almost biffed twice and also when I had to power hike up a section of the trail that climbs to sidewinder. RHR--59.

am--DI/Past the scary bushes/Reverse DI. Good run. Now for a day of testing and grading and meeting. RHR--52. 

pm--4 Little run w/ 4x 200. I felt good. Pumped some iron after. Swoling. 

am--6 DI/Stop Sign/Reverse DI w/ Sandstone extension. The kids were in good spirits this morning. That bodes well. RHR--52. 

pm--3 Girls' version of Neon Spider. Everyone seems to be feeling decent after the race and in good spirits. RHR--52.

am--7 Rim Circuit. This is seriously my favorite trail loop in the world, and it was beautiful this morning. This coming off of a terrible night's sleep. The dog woke me up 3 times. I could never get back to sleep. Thus, it took a mile or two to knock the dust off. Nonetheless, the restlessness of the night was revelatory. 

pm--4.5 Ran the warm-up (DI) and then around the track as the kids did their workout and cool. I love these kids, their attitudes, and their hard work. 

am--7 Lutheran Loop and Middleton Trail. The morning was beautiful. Got a nice retelling of the Woman in Black. Sounds like a nice spin-off of Harry Potter. RHR--53. 

pm--3.5 Just some running. I like where my weekly mileage has been, so I'm trying to stick around there for a while. 

pm-- 4.5 Steady-state tempo w/ the girls. We warmed up to the middle school and ran mid-7s around the field. They did a couple wave hills, and we headed back. Nice few days running w/ the team over the break. 

am--5.5 Harts/Scary Bushes +/Reverse DI. I honestly thought it would be raining this morning, but it wasn't. It felt darn right nice out though. Good to get back to school and plow through today in hopes that time flies. RHR--51. 

pm--3 Sandberg's pre run. Kids are in good spirits. 

am--7 Morning run w/ Serenity in the mix. I felt peppy despite waking up w/ a headache due to one-sided nasal congestion. RHR--53. 

pm--3 Pre-state run at the middle school near the hotel. 

am--7 Sandy run with Holt then a jaunt around the mall with the kids. Looking forward to some fun races.

am--4.5 Middleton. Had a big group to begin with, but people turned around at various points. Interesting emotions today. I told the girls what happened yesterday, or at least all the info I was privy to. I hope they can process it in a positive way, but they had a right to know. 

am--6.5 Newer Morning route w/out the extension past Coral Cliffs. It was beautiful out this morning, and the run was needed. I have much on my mind right now. It can be tough to assess influence. RHR--51.

pm--3 Uptempo run to the middle school and around the hood w/ some wall ball thrown in the middle. Kind of fun. 

am--7.75 Power Road/Lower Zen w/ Andy and Tom. We started early w/ headlamps. It was nice and peaceful. By the time we flipped, people had gathered for some kind of race, and the dust was rising. Nevertheless, it's always good to get out on the trails. RHR--51.

am--5 Harts/AC+. Decent run. The girls have been chomping at the bit since state. What does that mean? RHR--52.

pm--8.5 Long Run into Middleton and up towards the turkeys. We did 2x (1min. and 2 min. pickups w/ 4 min. recovery). Followed it all up w/ barefoot striders. Had some girls braving the run w/ the top group. That's always fun.

am--5.5 DI/Sunrise. Small group at a decent pace. It almost feels like Fall. RHR--49. 

pm--3.25 Round-a-bout run to Hot Nails. We didn't quite make it there because the sidewalk was closed. We did find a staff though. 

am--5.5 DI/AC+. Coudy morning, so the moon and stars weren't as evident as they have been the past few mornings. I'm thankful for these cool, quiet mornings. On another note, my calves are a bit tight. I've stretched more than usual. We'll see how it helps. RHR--51. 

pm--6 Bigger afternoon than I was expecting. Just ran around the track while the kids did their workout, but the miles added up. I did jump in on bits and pieces of the 1,000s w/ the girls. Great stuff from the kids today. 

am--3.5 AC+. I was tired this morning, so I used a few more minutes of shut-eye. Ended up running what the kids run. Thankful for the rain, but the subsequent humidity made my long-sleeve shirt superfluous. RHR--48. 

pm--3 Easy run on and around Telegraph in the rain. 

am--5 Harts/AC+. Good morning run. Coolest of the year. RHR--52.

pm--3 Ice Cream/Costume run. Lots of good costumes. I was Coach Cappy because that was what I could improvise in 5 minutes. Felt dead this afternoon. 

am--6.5 Ran around the Bicentennial Park w/ some tempo and a bit of quicker stuff when I jumped into some intervals. The kids are looking strong. RHR--52.