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Today's workout was an 8 mile progressive run starting at 6:45 and speeding up by 15 seconds every mile so our last mile would be 5 flat. Hayden and I met at first dam and ran up towards USU. Our first mile was a little slow because of the huge hill that we have to run up to get to the university. The first 4 miles felt decent, but both of our legs were dead from yesterday and running with spikes for as long as we didn't help at all. It was quite clear with how we were feeling that hitting those low 5's were going to be really hard but we both tried to push hard despite our sore legs. Our last 4 miles were a little above or a below 5:30. Still was a killer workout and I can definitely feel it in my legs. We cooled down for a mile to get 9. Am I glad to be done with that one. 

My legs are so tired and I'm way fatigued. To my luck we had a hard hill workout planned so yay. Hayden and I met in Providence to a 30, 60, 90, 120 seconds hill repeats on the Center street hill. We got a mile warm up and then started. I pushed the hill hard every set, then jogged to the bottom where we didn't get a rest then started again. By the time the 2 minute interval came around I was already sucking for wind. I was dead but talked to myself and asked myself how good I wanted to be. I got .30 for distance and barley passed the mark that I always shoot for. We then ran to Don's and visited with him for a couple minutes. We needed to get about 6 for mileage so we drove down to Zollinger park to cool down. It was hot. I was tired. It sucked. I love to run. 

Finally after a long hard week of difficult runs and sore muscles we had a recovery run. This was the first day of track which is awesome! Our coaches have really wanted us distance runners to participate in team warm-ups which took forever because it was the first day. Ended up doing 5 really easy miles around Hyrum which still really hurt my legs. I got to run in my new Adidas Ultra Boost which I really like. Got back to the school and did a barefoot mile on the turf. We have a really hard workout planned for tomorrow so I'm really looking forward to that.

Don was able to come out to mountain crest and coach us during our workout so that was good to see him. Our workout was four 1 mile intervals at two mile pace, then a 400 meter jog between each. I could already tell that going that fast was going to be tough because this week has just been killer on my legs. My first mile was 4:52, but after that mile it was quite apparent that hitting my 2 mile pace wasn't going to happen. My next 2 mile were low 5's, and my last mile was in 5:10. I hurt but I'm glad that it was a good workout. Don told us that he didn't expect us to get hit the times right on because of the hard workouts that he was giving earlier in the week. Cooled down to 6.5..

This morning Hayden and I went on an easy 10 mile recovery run starting in Providence. We ran past 1st dam and up the hill to USU looping back to 4th north and back to Providence. My calves were really sore from yesterday and I didn't have very much energy. Average pace was 7:42 which was nice because I haven't ran that slow in a long time.

Today Don gave us a really easy workout just so he could make sure we were feeling better from last week. Just an easy 4 miles. But first we started with team warm ups where I ran a mile on the track, and did team stretches. I was feeling pretty good and the air outside was perfect. Hayden, Eric, and I ran past the stake center at a real comfortable pace. Back at the school we did 4x100m strideouts on the track and then finished with a half mile barefoot on the football field. Today was just an awesome day. I can't wait for the real racing to start.

Just trying to get feeling better from all of last weeks workouts. I don't want to keep digging myself into a deeper hole and I need to get recovered. I warmed up for 2 miles and then put my spikes on and did 4x800 at a little faster than 5k pace. I was pretty consistent on all my times. I finished each around 2:30. I felt pretty good but just a little sore. Ran to canyon elementary then back to do a barefoot mile.

Well I woke up pretty sore again today which is nice. Not really but Don wanted me to take it pretty easy again. Did some team warm ups then took off to go do 6 easy. I'm really suprised that I have still been so sore. Usually I will feel sore from a really good workout for two days tops. I tend to recover really quickly, but apparently not this week. But anyways, I did McDonalds loop and went down main street in Hyrum for a couple of blocks then headed back to the school. Had 5 miles when I got there so I ran a mile barefoot on the turf. Maybe I need to incorporate mile protein in my diet to help me rebuild my muscle quicker.

Each day I keep feeling better but Don suggested that I still take it easier until I feel like I'm 100 percent. For aerobics this morning my class had to do a mile and half run on the track. I ran at and easy to moderate pace and finished in 8:30. Ha I didn't want to look like a try-hard so I didn't really run hard at all but geez everybody was going like a 9 minute mile pace, so it made me look like I was flying when I wasn't. For track I did 8x200 at just a bit faster than mile pace with a 200 meter active recovery in between each set.. I was really conisistent and hit anywhere from 29 to 31 seconds. I felt pretty good even though it wasn't a hard workout by any means. Cooled down for a mile to Canyon Elementary and then did a mile and a half on the turf. I can't wait to when I feel 100 again and do some hard track workouts. Peace. 

Mile time trial today. To be honest I hate time trials because they suck and it's like racing when there is really no race. You don't have the usual adrenaline going through you so the feeling is a lot different. I warmed up to 2 by running on the dirt road east of Canyon Elementary. When I got back to the school I switched into my vic's and my coach started me out. My coach started a big group to run the mile while I was warming up so it was just another slower kid and me. I felt pretty good the first lap. The only thing that sucked was until from the 300 back to the start there was a really big headwind. That sure slowed me down a bit. By the last lap my split was was a 3:33. I was still feeling really good but I just didn't have that urgency to start pushing all out. I picked up the pace just a bit and crossed the line in 4:40. That's kinda slow for me but I don't really care. I didn't have the racing mentality. Cooled down to 6 with Eric.

Headed over to Sky View at about 8:45 to register and warmup. Ethan was supposed to be there so we could run this together but he was lazy and slept in. Did a mile and a half warmup. Everything felt really good, and my new Kinvara's felt good too. When I got back everybody was walking to the start line, so I didn't have time to get some water but that's fine. When we started, the first half mile of the course was up hill, but I'm way glad that was at the beginning instead of part way through it. I could tell in the first 15 seconds of the race that I wasn't going to have anybody staying with me. I created such a big gap between second place and I, it felt like I wasn't even racing. The downhill felt real nice and I just focused on striding and keeping good form. Felt really good the whole race and ended up with a 16:59. I'll take it. Later I cooled down a mile and a half with Claire along one of the trails by the canal. When we got back her mom insisted that Hayden and I go with them to get a shake from McDonalds. That was super nice of her. 

Later in the afternoon I did 4.5 in Nibley to finish with 10.5 for the day. 

First time getting to run this whole week. I got sick at the beginning of the week and had to miss our first meet which sucked. Ethan called me up and asked if I wanted to do some trail running with him and Claire. I was down so I met at his house then we picked up Claire. We drove up Birch canyon and started running up the mountain. So early in the run I already felt out of shape. I was out of breath and just didn't feel to great. Ethan was hauling up the mountain so I stayed with Claire. We stopped at the top of every ridge to look out over the valley. The view was sick. When we got to the very end ridge we took a break for a bit and tried rolling rocks down the mountain which was super fun. On our way back we got some awesome downhill which felt really nice. I felt awesome to start moving fast again after a week of doing nothing. When we got back to the car we did 3 more miles up Smithfield canyon which was fun. Claire invited us over after the run for a snow cone, and her mother made Ethan and I a sandwich so that was cool. Glad to be back at it again.

am: 1 mile in 6:45 for aerobics in the morning.

pm: 7 mile at a moderate pace. Don wants to make sure I am feeling a hundred again before I start doing some fast track workouts. Did upper turkey sheds to McDonald's loop. Instead of turning back to the school I kept going down main street in Hyrum. I've been missing cross country so I turned at the cemetery and ran down cemetery hill. Ran down the road on part of our home course then back up the other side of the cemetery. Got back to the school and finished with a barefoot mile on the turf. Feeling better everyday, so that is good.

Don gave me a ladder workout to do on the track, It was 200, 400, 600, 800, 800, 600, 400, 200. I between every interval you would do an active recovery jog of half the distance of what you just ran. I haven't worn my Nike Victory spikes that much so I decided to do the workout in them even though I knew it was going to kill my calves. I warmed up for a mile to Canyon elementary then started. To be honest most of it was a blur. Everything just seemed to go by so quick. I was feeling pretty tired during the whole workout which explained my need for a nap later that day. I could just remember the last 400 and 200 hurting way bad in my calves. It was a pretty decent workout. I definitley could have ran a lot better but I guess I'm just getting back into the flow of things after not running all last week. Cooled down for 2 miles with Eric out to the turkey sheds.  

My calves are pretty darn sore so it definitely made this run really fun. Don told us to do an 8 mile progression run starting at 7 minute mile pace and then go down by 10 seconds every mile. In my head I was thinking that this was going to be pretty easy because he has had us do much harder progression runs. Starting at 7 minute mile pace sounded pretty easy. Nah. My calves were shredded and the pain didn't leave my legs the whole run. Hayden, Trey, and Eric all came along and we ran hollow road. At the top of the Nibley Dip hill I had to stop for a couple minutes to catch my breath because I felt like I was dying. Hayden and I pushed the hill pretty hard. We ended up having to run past Mountain Crest and past Canyon elementary and back to get 8 miles. The last mile at 5:50 pace actually felt a lot better than most of the other miles which was pretty weird. Maybe I was just excited to be finished. This is the kind of run that I am so glad to be done with. Cooled down on the turf barefoot to 9 miles. After Hayden, Eric, Joe (yes, I stopped and got joe) and I went to the Logan track meet just to watch. Cameron did pretty good in the 800 so good job to him. I need a protein shakkke. Peace.  

Time trials again, but this time it was different. My time would be my qualifying time that my coach put me under for our first invitational. I'm actually not going to go off on this because it makes me furious for a couple reasons. I only got a half mile warm up then ran a 3200. Finished and did upper turkey sheds with Eric to finish with 6 miles. I came home and took a nap then ran another mile. 

Hill repeats with Eric today. Did a mile warm up then started. We did 30, 60, 90, 120 seconds repeats on the center street hill in Providence. The first 2 intervals weren't very bad but the 90 and 120 second intervals sucked. I've had some pretty good workouts all week long and so I wasn't doing this workout on fresh legs. On the two minute interval I got to the top of the hill and past the sewer on the road that I always try pass. Got a pretty good workout, but this is one of the easier hill workouts that our coach gave us. Cooled down to Von Baer park and found some cool trails that I never knew were there. Finished at 6. Probably should've gone more. Oops.

At about 3:30 I finally got enough motivation to go run. Drove to Zollinger Park in Providence and head towards cliff side. I got some pretty good hills in this run, but I wasn't pushing them or anything. Today was supposed to be a pretty easy day. Once I got to cliff side I ran to 1st dam then up the hill to USU. I suprisingly wasn't very sore and was feeling pretty good. On the way back to Zollinger I picked up the pace just a little bit. Average mile pace was 7:09. Can't wait for this next week because I got a lot of really good workouts planned. I don't have a meet yet until April 9th so I don't have to taper for anything soon.

So I woke up this morning so glad to start my first day of spring break, just to look out the window and see a winter wonderland. Great. I wanted to get a tan on, but no. That dumb ground hog lied! Hayden and I thought of places we could go to run so we decided to go to USU and try to get in the field house. It turned out that the USU track team was using the track, so that was a no go. Since we were both dressed warm we decided to just run on the campus. Don gave us a workout of 4 mile repeats at 5:30 pace. I was actually planning on combining 2 of the intervals together and then pick up the pace to 5:10 pace. That was going to be really hard since I wasn't going to be on a track and it seemed like every direction that I turned the snow and wind was being blown right at me. Warmed up for a mile then did the workout. I was sopping wet and still had to do 6x200 at mile pace. After my 3rd 200 my femur started hurting but I couldn't tell if the pain was in the bone or it was muscular. I decided to not do the last 3 because it is smarter to be safe than sorry. Didn't cool down because, well, I was already cold. :p I wish I could've gotten more milage but I didn't want to hurt anything. Stretched later and it feels like the pain was in my muscle, so I should be good. Peace.

7 easy miles with Hayden at about 4 o'clock. It felt a little chilly outside, so I dressed pretty warm but I ended up regretting it because I got way too hot. Ran to the highway from my house and then to Hollow Road about a mile and half down it then turned around and ran back. I felt really good physically. Average pace was 7:01. We have a way hard hill workout planned tomorrow so that makes me happy. 

Well I had a tough hill workout planned for today but I just decided last night that I'm going to race at UVU on saturday, so I am going to do the hill workout after my race later in the day. I'm going to run the mile by the way. I did 7 at an easy to moderate pace. I know yesterday was easy but I just want to make sure that I'm feeling fresh for saturday. I started from my home and did the same route as yesterday, but instead of turning back I kept going down hollow road and up Blacksmith Fork hill. I was just going to run to my grandmas house in Hyrum and get a ride home from my mom who was coming a bit later. I had kind of a stomache ache so it made the first 7 miles kind of miserable. Grandma fed me lots of junk food when I got there so that was awesome. A couple hours later I did a mile at my home in 5:46 which felt pretty good.  

Today I did 6 moderate paced miles around Nibley. The air felt lovely and I felt really good. Only thing is I got pretty bored running by myself. Hayden is in Moab right now so I got no one to talk to on my runs. Average pace was 6:20. Followed by 10x100m strideouts. Finished to 7 miles. Excited to race at UVU.