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

AM: Went on an easy three. Felt good.

PM: Chris and I did a two mile shakeout after arriving, then went on another mile warm up after they seeded us. I was in heat 11 of 13. There were sooo many milers. 23 total heats of boys and girls. The race went out conservatively (68), and I was in the mid to back of the pack. There was a large group of 6-8 guys right in front of me, and I swung off the first turn of the second lap and passed them (70). Then I was in fourth behind two guys running next to each other, and another guy Wyoming guy about 5 meters ahead of them. I went around the two guys on the back stretch of the third lap, and passed the lead guy going into the second turn of the third lap. Once I took control I fought to keep it for the last lap, and held off the Wyoming guy along the second turn of the last lap, but he swung off it and starting kicking hard on the final straight. He got about a stride ahead of me and was running out in lane three. Since I wasn't wearing my glasses, I thought he was running out in lane three cause of a finishing chute set up out in those lanes, but it was actually the pole vault set up. So I went out to lane three. but then he came back to lane one, and then I did too, so it was a great mix up which caused Bill the most anxiety of all. Anyway, this whole time we are kicking, and I think he thought he had it in the bag and made the worst mistake you can make on the kick. He slowed down before the line, and I was able to close on him and just barely edge him out. I was 4:33.89 and he was 4:33.90. I had no idea what my time was and Bill said he thought he saw 4:43 so I thought I ran that for about a day. And honestly I wasn't disappointed. I know I haven't been a high miles long enough to PR in anything, so I took the win and prepared for my 3200. When I showed up for it the next day, Bill was like "Oops, it was actually 4:33" so that was a lovely surprise. Although, it doesn't make sense to me that I would PR by like 8 seconds this early in the season with minimal training.

AM: I was feeling a bit stiff from yesterday, so I went for an easy five mile run. I felt great after I warmed up and averaged in the 6:20's.

PM: I arrived and did a two miles shakeout with Chris. After they seeded us we went for another two miles warm up. We were both in the fast heat. The race went out and I hit a 68 first lap, along with the rest of the lead pack. As the first 2-3 laps went by I just went with the pack and stayed as far inside as I could. Eventually, the pack strung out and Rory and some other kid were right ahead of me, and they were fighting for the lead of the chase pack. On the backstretch of lap 4 I passed both of them and surged away. The rest of the race I was caught between Jaydn, who was ahead of me and had fallen off the lead pack, and the guys about 15-20 meters behind me. I tried to close on Jaydn in the last two laps. and did make some progress, but I wasn't able to reel him in. I finished 5th overall in 9:44, which is a 15 second PR, and now I have a goal race-wise. Overall a good pair of races. For as little training as I have under me, I am surprised I ran this fast. I can't wait to see what happens once I am in racing shape!

Oh, and just as a side note, Ben Saarel won the two mile in 9:11....... and kicked with a 54.

AM: Today I met up with Bill and Chris for a long run. Kim dropped us off at a point which was mile 3 of the Des News Marathon, and we took the course all the way down Emigration and then once we got to the Zoo we did our Thunderbird run. I peeled off on Foothill and went back to my car. Bill wanted me to go for as long as I felt good, and I honestly feel like I could have done the full 20 with him, but my legs were a little fatigued from the races the past few days, plus today is the busiest day of the year for pizza, the Superbowl. Which means I got to work a lovely 9 hour shift on a school night. Somehow I managed to make it through the night. It was a good thing I stuck with just 16, cause I got called in early and stayed late, and was already absolutely exhausted as it was. Plus, my shoes are really high in miles and they are starting to hurt my feet. Time for some new Pegasus's!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/269519562

PM: I have promised myself that I will be consistent with this blog for the rest of the season. Let's hope I keep that promise.. We went on a run today. Up 900 S to Foothill, then up the street by Corner Bakery. We took that up to the yellow gate of Red Butte, then headed over to JCC and hopped on Popperton over to Shriners. Then we took that normal Shriner route back, and then once at the school we went out and back a mile on the route we had come back on to get to 10.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/269853138

AM: Went for an easy five miles.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/270191220

PM: Today we went out to the oval for a speed workout. We did 8 laps warm up, 4 speed changes, then a lap recovery to our stuff. After we all got on flats and spikes, we did another lap and went over to the 800 start. We did 6 X 800 at two mile pace. My two mile pace right now is 9:45, so I was hitting 2:25-2:26 800's. Chris and I were 2:26 for the first three, but we were hitting them in 72-74, so on the second half of the workout I focused on hitting even splits, and maybe even closing with a faster lap. The fourth one I slowed down the first lap too much, 74, and then over compensated the second with a 69, so 2:23. So for the next two I just focused on hitting a 71-72 first 400, then closing with whatever felt equal to that the second lap. And the last two were 2:24 and 2:22. With a lap recovery in between each, we did 4.5 laps to get to 10 for the day. The entire group had a good workout!

I'm happy that I can now hit a workout in low 2:20's quite comfortably. I did have to work, but didn't have to ever push to hit my time. What I'm not exited for is when these go from two mile pace, to mile pace :)

AM: Went during second period since I can do whatever that class. Four miles easy.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/270642347

PM: We went across 1300 E to the cemetery, where we did a lap, then went over to the south end and did four hills, then went around the cemetery again and did another four hill. Then we finished that lap and went up 500 S and got on Shriner run. I turned when I hit seven miles, which was just past the beginning of the cemetery on 11th, and should hit exactly ten back at the school, but I forgot to start my Garmin after the light at Guardsman, so my distance was about a half mile off by the time I started it again.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/270642326

AM: Went for an easy four on my own. Chilly morning.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/270642305

PM: We went down to Liberty, did a lap of firemen, followed by a lap of inverted fireman called postman, then back up to the school. I quite like postman....

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/272434262

AM: I went on an easy four mile shakeout this morning.

PM: At the Oval I warmed two miles before I went over to be seeded for the mile. They false started us the first time because there was still someone finishing their race. I could tell the first time we went out that this would be a fast first lap. The second start was no different. I settled into the back of the pack and hit a 64 first 400. Way too fast. I moved up a bit during the second lap, which was like a 69, but I never made any big, confident moves the way I did last week. From here, it was just about hanging on. The first lap was too fast and I was unprepared for that, so now I just had to gut it out for the remainder. On the kick I passed some Davis kid and then Rory passed me, but like last week, I was just barely able to pass Rory back by the line. I finished in 4:33.58 and he was 4:33.59.Two miles cool down.

        Although technically I PR'ed, I wouldn't really consider this a good race. I went into this race confident and knowing that I could PR again and break 4:30, but since there was no real "frontrunner" at this race today, all the rest of the guys fought over the lead, so that pushed our first lap way too fast, and then we slowed down the next lap. I did well at this race last week because we took it out conservatively and then I felt great and made my move in laps 2-3, whereas this race was quite the opposite. I never recovered enough from the first lap to make some solid moves. In the right race I know for sure that I can break 4:30 right now. Being the optimist that I am, however, I did learn that I can run low 4:30's even in a bad race, so this is my base mile time and I can only get faster from here. Plus this raced served as some preparation for Simplot. I'm excited to race the mile again!

AM: After arriving we did a 1.5 mile out and back warm up on the course, which was cutting it WAY too close to the start. I got to the line just as the guy called out "And we'll start the race in about five seconds." I barely had time to take off my sweater before the race started. I ran right over from the cars where I changed shoes and didn't even tie my flats or grab my gloves. This was already a formula for disaster. Despite all these annoying occurrences, I actually did well. The purpose of this race was to get in a solid tempo, and I ended up averaging 5:33 for a 6.2 mile tempo, so solid effort. The way out was fine and dandy, but the second I made that 180 degree turn straight into the snow... well for lack of better words, it sucked. The entire way back I got pelted with snow in the face and it didn't let up for a second. Plus I didn't get to put on my gloves, and my hands weren't just numb by the end, they literally felt frozen all the way through. It took a good 40 minutes to even be able to move them again. It actually really scared me. After I stood by the heat/fire lamps they had inside for a good hour, and went home for a one mile cool down, followed by the most amazing, hot shower ever recorded.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/272434229

AM: To say the least, it was a hectic morning. I got off work past midnight yesterday, so I slept in until 10, and  only woke to my mother dragging me along to go shopping with her. Once at the mall, my mom locked the keys in the car, so while waiting an hour and a half for my stepbrother to bring the spare, we went over to Ihop and pigged out. It was past noon and I still hadn't eaten a thing. By the time I got home it was past 2. I had to be at work by 3 but still needed to run, so the second I got home I went for 5 miles on a totally full stomach, which surprisingly wasn't that bad, and was only a half hour late to work!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/272434219

PM: I got off work around 10:45, so I got home and managed to convince myself to go for a run. I finished another five miles at around 11:30 at night. I surprisingly felt great and the skies had cleared up by this time of night.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/272434206

AM: Easy four on my own.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/272434200

PM: I didn't realize we would go to the Oval today because of Simplot on Thursday, so I didn't bring my flats, which was annoying. I hate not doing speed in my flats. After 8 laps warm up, 4 laps speed changes, then a lap recovery, we did our speed workout. 1 X Mile, followed by three sets of 3X300 with a lap recovery between each set. I was supposed to hit a 4:50 mile, but my Garmin shut off for some reason right as I hit start, so I didn't have any time for the first lap. I started it at 400 when Maureen called out 75. Great. All the confusion caused the first lap to be way too relaxed. The next three laps weren't fun, but I managed to pick up the pace enough to finish in 4:51. After two laps recovery we did the three sets of 300's. I hit two 49's, followed by six 48's, then a 47. We did five laps cool down to be at 10 for the afternoon. This was the last speed workout before Simplot!

AM: Went for an easy four right after first period.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/272885341

PM: Today we went over to the cemetery for our workout just like last week. We did a lap, then came over to the hill and did that four times, then did another lap and did four more hills, then we finished that lap to the gate. We waited for the rest of the group to catch us and then we went out 1.25 on the Shriner run, and then we went back the usual Shriners way to the school for 8.5.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/272885325

AM: Went for an easy four on my own.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/272885305

PM: We went down to Liberty and did one lap of fireman, then one lap of postal. Then we headed back up to the school. I booked it back up to the school because I had to be at a dinner at 5, so I stopped at 5.5 just outside the teacher parking lot.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/273676283

AM: Went on an easy three mile shakeout during second. My curse of forgetting my Garmin on race day is back :0

PM: We drove up to Pocatello and got situated in the Holt arena. The track would only be open to athletes for about another 10 minutes, so I quickly went down to get a mile in on the track before it closed. After that I waited around for a while just watching races, until it finally came time to warm up. We did our usual loop on campus and then I did some drills and strides right outside the arena. That was two miles. Then I went inside and got down to the bull pen area just in time to be placed in my heat. I felt good before my race, but my legs were a little antsy. I was seeded fourth in my heat. I got a decent start and was towards the back of the pack. I passed maybe one or two people in the second lap, and in the third lap I surged and passed the core group of the race. Probably about 6-7 guys. In lap four I passed another guy and in lap five I passed one more guy and was second. The leader was about 7 meters ahead of me. During lap 6 I should have made the surge to catch and pass him, but didn't make myself surge. Probably subconsciously due to the fact that it was only a prelim and I needed to 'save' for the final. I closed on him a bit, but he still had about 3-4 meters on me. I held off the guys behind me until the last lap, where two guys out kicked me.

        My time was slower than I was expecting, because I felt that my effort matched that of my races at the oval. But then again, this track has turns more than twice and tight as the oval, so that probably contributed to my slower time. Plus, I feel that I could have gone harder had the stakes been as high as the final. As much as I don't want to admit it, the race being just a prelim probably did affect my mentality when it came down to fight. Although, I'm happy to have made it to the final even with my slower time, and now I get to race in spikes! Excited for Saturday!

PM: I went for my run on my own today. I went along 1500 E to SHP and ran on the road until I hit three. Then I did 8X(1 min on/1 min off) on the road. I went out and back on the second lap to finish my last one at the 1500 E entrance to the road, and then went back to East the same route. I finished at 7.5 right in the teacher parking lot.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/273676277

We arrived in Pocatello and I had about an hour to my race, so I went to the bathroom and put on some cold gear to warm up outside. I did two miles, then did some drills and fast strides in the field right outside the stadium. My legs felt good, but not antsy like my past race, which was a good sign. I came inside and took off all my cold gear and grabbed my spikes to head down to the bull pen. I decided to race in my Matumbos with needle spikes, which apparently are better for the wooden track. They were an okay choice, but I think wearing a more cushy spike would have probably been a better choice. The spots where the spikes sat in my shoe put a lot of pressure on my foot. But, they weren't so bad that it in any way impaired my race, I don't think. For the sake of comfort, a more cushy spike would have been best. Anyway, they seeded us and eventually we got over to the line. I was right in the middle of the big waterfall, right where I like to be. The pack took off and just as in the prelims, I was towards the back of the pack. I stayed there through the first 400, which was a 65, right about where I thought we'd be. During lap three I made a big move and passed maybe 6-7 guys and slipped into fourth. I was right behind one guy and the two lead guys were probably 7 or so meters ahead of us. During lap four I swung off the curve and moved into third. Over the next three laps I closed the gap between me and the two lead guys, which went from about 7 to 4 meters. It was here that I should have made the surge to catch and pass them, but I was scared that if I did I would have nothing to kick with, which might have been true. I stayed behind them and off the last curve Skylar from Davis kicked passed me, at which point I kicked as well and held off the approaching footsteps (which on this track are quite loud) behind me.

       I am content with a 4:30 flat. I didn't think I would get here until outdoor, so I surprised myself in that sense, although to break 4:30 would have been nice. Plus, I learned a lot from this race. I need to be more patient with my moves. I made my move really early (lap 3) in the race, and in doing so used up some of my surge energy. I could have moved up during laps 3-6 slowly, and then had some more fuel in the tank to surge to the lead guys or kick harder. So, at least I know what to improve on. But as Bill always says, you can't be disappointed with a PR, in my case by three seconds. Any day you can go from the oval's track to this one and still PR, is a good day.

       After Bill, Sarah, Chris, and I went for the run that Bill, Natalie, and I did last year for cool down. We went over to the Red Hill Trail and took that to the cemetery, where we did two laps, and then headed back the same way to the Holt arena which put us at 6.5 cool down. It's sad to think that I would get to race Simplot again:(

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/275030807

AM: Today has been a monumental day. My first 20 miler! I met up with Chris at Bill's house, where the three of us did Bill's Wasatch loop. Since I am too lazy to describe all 20 miles of it, I'm just gonna say it was long ;) (plus there's the link if you really wanna know) The loop was slightly over 20, and the only thing more unbearable than continuing running after we hit 20 was walking a half mile back to Bill's house, so Chris and I just went to 20.5. My Garmin died at about 17.5, so we just went off Chris's Garmin. I felt tired after, of course, but better than I expected to feel. The full 20 really isn't that bad once you get into a rhythm. I also had a protein shake right after, and then one right before bed. Now that we are going to start our last stretch of high miles and longer speed before the season., I have to get consistent again with my protein shake like I did in the summer. I think one of the reasons I was able to take the mileage so well during the summer was because of my shake. I'm excited of this next phase of training!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/275030770

AM: Today we went for the same loop we did two weeks ago for our long run. We met at Cowboy Grub, then carpooled up to Park City and Kin dropped us off at the end of the road which eventually becomes Emigration Canyon. We went down another road to a yellow gate and back, which was about 1.4, then started up the road to the top of Emigration, then took that all the way down the canyon. Once we were by the zoo, we got on our usual Thunderbird/Flagpole run. Once we got to Foothill, we went north on that about a half mile out and back, then back to the cars at Cowboy Grub to hit 15. I thought I would feel totally wiped out after this and yesterday's run, but I actually felt really good after this run. I must credit it to the protein shake! Woohoo, 35.5 miles in 2 runs! 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/275030725

AM: Went on an easy three right after first period.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/275825010

PM: Today we went out to the oval for a speed workout. We did our usual 8 laps warm up, then four laps speed changes, then a lap recovery. After that I measured the distance from the finish line to the four hundred start, and put a cone that far from the 200 meter mark to be our 600 start. The workout was 2 X (800, 600, 400, 300, 200, 100) with the 800's and 600's at mile pace and the 400-100 at 800 pace. My goal times were (2:15, 1:41, 62, 47.5, 31, 16). This workout was the first one we've had with mile pace or faster stuff, so it would be tough. Plus, we put in some big miles these past few days. I felt fine energy wise, but even before we started I could tell my legs were pretty beat up. I wore my Victory Waffles that I bought for prelims at Simplot. It would have been a good idea to break them in before running prelims in them, so I just decided to run this workout in them.

       I hit a 2:16 800 and 1:40 600 to start. After the 600 my legs were starting to protest. The 400's are really what scared me the most. I hit a 61, then 48, 29, 14. The 400 definitely hurt, but then the rest of them are shorter stuff, so really what I focused on going into the next set was the 800 and the 400. We had two laps recovery after the first set and I was really not looking forward to the next set. I was definitely feeling the miles by now. I pushed and hit a 2:15 800. then 1:41 600. Although I was hurting and had to push to hit those, at this point I could tell I was going to be alright with the rest. I hit a 62 400, then went 48, 28, 14.After we did 3, I think, laps cool down to be at 40 laps, or 11 miles.

      I was happy that I hit all my times in this workout, particularly with my already dead legs. This was the first workout with faster times, and I'm glad to have it over with. My legs are BEAT!

AM: Went on an easy three on my own. My free periods are the only reason I can even keep up with school and running.

Something weird happened and now I can't find this link.....

PM: We went on a recovery-ish run today. We took 900 S all the way up to Foothill, then took the VA loop over onto the Shriners route. We went out 4.75, which was almost to the fire station, then went back to the school the normal Shriners route. I'm surprisingly not sore, just a little tired.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/275824995

PM: I took the morning off from running. In the afternoon, we did our 2100 S loop, which was across 1300 E to 21st, then own to 900 E, and back to the school along that. Once back at the school we did a loop over to Yale and back because we needed quite a bit to get to 6. I was really tired during stretches and drills, but felt better in the run.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/276135616

AM: Easy four on my own.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/278983202

PM: We went across 1300 E to the U flagpole, then back towards the Westminster flagpole, but we went further down 1300 E, almost to the light on 2100 S and turned to be at 4 at the school.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/278983188

AM: I woke up today to mildly warm, sunny morning with no wind and was excited to run the 15k. On my way there, I passed 8400 W on the 201, and it was like I had driven into a snow globe that was being shaken by an angry toddler. Shortly after parking, I went for a short warm up with Bill, and to my great surprise, it was miserable. The wind and snow were absolutely intolerable, and then all of a sudden you I saw a bright flash of light and shortly thereafter, thunder. This was the universe saying "Tomy, I'm warning you, don't run the 15k." Well, I've never been the disobedient type. Besides, the point of today was to get in a good tempo, and my goal was to average below 5:40, but it was blatantly obvious that wasn't happening today, so instead I hit the treadmill for the longest workout of my life. I warmed up a mile, and then did a six mile tempo at 10.5 mph at 1% incline, so about 5:45ish pace I think. Treadmills are my absolute downfall, so this workout was one of my proudest. I ran another 6 miles on the treadmill to get 13 on that plus the two I did at the race. I wouldn't mind not seeing a treadmill for a few years.

AM: Bill texted me pretty late this morning that he was meeting up with some blog guys for a run, and by the time I got to Sugarhouse Park, they had left, so I did a 4.5 mile loop on our Cemetery run, and then came back to the cars and waited. I only had to wait like 10 minutes before they finished their 10 and Bill kept going to get his 20. I joined him and we did a lap in SHP and then the cemetery run. I had to go to a farewell so I ended the run once we got back to the cars and Bill kept going to get his 20. I finished with 12.5.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/278983133

AM: Easy four right after first period. I messed up my garmin at some point, but I did a loop I know is four.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/278983110

PM: We went over to the Olivet cemetery and did three laps, then got on Shriner route and went to the fire station, where we headed back along 11th ave and then went up to Popperton and took the Red Butte Gate way back to the school for 12. The Popperton hill is a LOT nicer when you go down it :)

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/278983095

AM: Easy four on my own.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/278983073

PM: We went down to Liberty and did 3 laps, then went back up to the school where we added the Yale loop and a bit more to get to 10.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/278983061

AM: Went for 4.25 right after 1st period. I thought this run was exactly four, but it is nearly 4.25. So I added a wee bit to get 4.25.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/278983029

PM: We went over to SHP and did five reps up Poker Hill and then five reps on the state hill, after which we did another lap while running the outside perimeter of every parking lot we passed, and then went back to the school. I went to 10.25 to compensate for my ambitious efforts from this morning.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/278983015

AM: Easy four on my own.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/278982991

PM: We went up Sunnyside to the Hogle Zoo, where we got on the Thunderbird/Flagpole run. Once at the fountain, we turned and went back down the 1300 S route, and then went across 1500 E and added some in the gulley to get to 10 at the school.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/278982979