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

AM: Came up to SL for the weekend. I decided to meet up with Bill and the East team to do their workout with them. I didn't do the first workout this week since I was sick, so I wanted to get in a second hard session. It was a good one for me, 10X400 at 65, which is just hard enough to get the heart working, but not so much that I'd be tired afterward. Plus, I was going to be able to pace the top guys since this workout was going to be a tough one for them, which was nice. It was broken up really nicely into sets with decreasing difficulty, 4X400, 3X400, 2X400, and then 400. We rotated having the inside and the lead for all of them, and we were right on or fast for all except for one when the guys got out too slow, but other than that good splits. It was actually kind of fun to be running speed again with my old team again. Afterwards we cooled down until we hit 36 laps, then I headed home since I had a busy day ahead.

 I never thought I'd say a speed workout would be fun.

AM: Met up with Bill, Dakota, and John to run in Park City. We started running on the usual groomed trail, but it was pretty loosely packed and it sucked, so we turned onto the road and did a big loop on a road around Park City, and I hit 12 almost exactly back to the car. While I waited for them to finish 15, I did core and sitting V's. Afterwards I had a blueberry pancake and some ham at Bill's house before heading home. 

AM: 4 miles on the treadmill this morning.

PM: Did the usual 10 miles on Carterville with a group of guys. Time to get back on #thegrind. Did hip reps, sitting v's, and back extensions afterwards

AM: The usual 4 treadmill miles this morning.

PM: Workout today. The plan was Lake Loop tempo, but the weather was not conducive, so we were on the track for good ol' mile repeats (3 to 4). We did our usual warm up outside, and it was pretty icy, so I guess it was a good thing to be inside. Once we got back inside, I did another half mile warm up, before changing shoes and doing a few strides. Once we grouped up, Coach split us into two group, gave us our paces, and we got started. My group was to hit 4:45 on the first, and guys could pick it up if they were feeling good. In between we had I believe 4.5 minutes recovery, where we jogged a lap slow. They went 4:43, 4:44, 4:48. On the third I was still right with the group, but we all slowed down. After that one, Coach noticed we were all tired and called it good at 3, and instead we did an 800 on the last one. He told us to keep pace relatively the same, and I hit 2:18. Then I changed shoes and cooled down on the track with JZ, Kenna, and Kathryn. 

Decent workout on a day where I was kind of tired. Just one day at a time! Afterwards I did hip reps, back extensions, and v sits, then I went to weights were we did some snatches, step ups, inclined presses, and full back extensions. I'm gonna be sore tomorrow!

AM: Easy four this morning on the treadmill

PM: Went on the good ol' long Carterville loop for 10

AM: 4 miles on the treadmill.

PM: Today was good old Lake Loop. Half of the guys are in New York, along with the Coaches, so there was a smaller group of guys doing the tempo without Coach there. The weather was weird, kind of a soppy cold. Coach didn't tell us how much to do, but the older guys decided 4-5. We started and hit a 5:05 mile, then 10:09 two mile. We started a bit too fast, and I definitelty felt it on the rest of the tempo. I hit 3 miles in 15:21, so still holding a good pace, but I died from miles 3-4. I called it good at 4 miles, and came in at 20:40. Overall the pace was good, but I slowed way down during mile 4 and there was no guys around me for me to work with. Once I stopped, I looked back and the majority of the guys had stopped at mile 3, so I guess it was a crappy day for everyone. Then we jogged back to the park, and once we were all together, we jogged back to SFH.

AM: Four on the weight room treadmill.

PM: Did long Carterville with a group that met at 2.

AM: Got in more miles this week than I expected, so I only needed 8 to finish the miles for the week. I considered doing 13 and hitting a bit higher in miles, but I had stuff to do that day plus I'm lazy. 

PM: Slept in and when I woke up it was raining. I put off my run until the afternoon when it had stopped raining, and finally got out the door for my run. Did long Cartterville from my house, and added a half mile up the canyon and back during the run to get 10.

AM: Four on the treadmill

PM: A group got together and we did 10 on the River trail. It's been awhile since I've gone that long on the trail, and it was actually sort of enjoyable.

AM: Did the usual four miles on the treadmill this morning

PM: Had a workout today. There were three groups, those racing friday, those racing saturday, and those not racing at all. The two groups racing did significantly easier workouts then my group, which did 1200, 2X800, 400, 800, 1200. What made the ladder tougher was going long short back to long. Coach gave us the paces for all of them, and we surprisingly hit them all or faster. They went 3:24, 2:14, 2:13, 61, 2:14, 3:27. The final 1200 was a bit tougher and I thought I'd run slower on it, but I still hit goal pace. Overall it was a good workout, this workout hurt but still felt semi-enjoyable; its been awhile since I've felt like this after a workout. Hopefully this is the first of many more enjoyable workouts. A group got together and I did 3 miles cool down to hit 10.

Afterwards was weights. It was a good day in the weight room, not too tough but not oo easy, just the right amount of work. Afterwards I did my hip reps and back extensions. 

After everything, I was exhausted.

AM: Routine routine routine. Did the routine four miles on the treadmill.

PM: Did long Carterville with Doc and some other guys at a good clip. Finished in 62 minutes

AM: Had to get on the treadmill really early today. Busy busy day ahead, but I got the usual 4 miles in.

PM: We had a mandatory meeting for the student athletes for Honor Code week today, and afterwards the had J-Dawgs. It was sooo good. 

A few hours later I got to the locker room for workout. I thought the J-Dawg I had early wasn't going to give me any trouble, but it still put up a fight on the workout. A lot of the guys left today for Washington, and another bunch of them are leaving tomorrow so they weren't doing the workout. That left a small group of us to do the fartlek. 10-5-3-2-1. I haven't done this workout in a while, but it was a good one to have on a day that there weren't very many of us and Coach wasn't there either. 

We ran towards the Lake Loop, then stopped and changed shoes at the last bridge, and started the 10 min from there. We ran from that bridge and took Geneva west to do Lake Loop backwards. We worked into a good pace at the beginning, then got the pace going just a little bit faster in the middle and we finished 2 miles exactly in the 10 minutes. We ran backwards some to pick up some more guys, then all kept jogging along the Loop for our 5 minute recovery. We got started again for the 5 minute and Doolin and I got out ahead and pushed the pace a little. We got a little over a mile in, and our average was 4:57. We all bunched up again and did our recovery, then got rolling on the 3 minute interval. There was less separation now since the intervals were getting shorter. We hit 4:55 for that, then after recovery, we got started on 2 minutes. Some of the guys had dropped out by now, so it was only like 3 of us and Doc doing the rest. We hit 5 flat pace for 2 minutes, then jogged backwards for a bit, and hit the last minute at 4:30 pace. We finished exactly at the bridge. 

We all changed shoes and ran back to SFH. I'm hapy to have this workout over with and the week nearly done too. It's been a stressful week with midterms, running, and life. I'm also happy with the outcome. This and the workout on Tuesday are good signs of my fitness. I'm so glad to be out of the 'getting back into shape' phase. Now I can focus on hammering some workouts.

Oh yeah, I didn't mention this earlier, but the day was absolutely perfect for running outdoors about an hour before we left SFH. I was expecting it to be a beautiful day for a workout, but when we left SFH, it was cold, overcast, and raining. When we got back to SFH, we were all soaked and splattered with dirt spots all over our shirts and legs. 

After a good shower, we headed over to weights. Medium tough day in the weight room. I really like how they are doing weights now. After weights, I stayed longer and did hip reps, back extensions, and sitting v's. And FINALLY, the day is done.

AM: I'm gonna be schuuper tomorrow so I decided to tack on a few more miles to lighten the load. I did 3 on the treadmill, then 3 more on the indoor track.

PM: After my lecture and lab, I showed up at the locker room and only Doc was there to go on a run. After a couple minutes Dylan showed up and he joined us for our run. To mix it up, we went up the canyon 5 miles to get our 10. On the way out our pace was pretty normal, but we picked it up on the way back. Probably about 6 flat for the second 5 miles. I was tired for the run, probably due to the mileage I've run this week with the workouts, and the slightly heavier load I did today. I did the usual hip reps, sitting v's, and back extensions in the weight room after. 

Thee day weekend!! Hooray for US Presidents!

AM: I am in Salt Lake for the weekend, and I had a busy day ahead, so I went for a quick 8 miles from my sisters place. I don't know why, but I felt like crap. That run seemed like it took forever and like I was going 5 minute pace, when in reality I was going like 6:40's. Hopefully my run later is better

PM: Once I had some time, I went for another five miles to wrap up the weekly mileage. I felt a lot better than this morning. 

AM: Met up with Bill, Dakota, John, and Chris to go for a long run down Emigration. We met at the T in the road, and they went out for a mile in the opposite direction first, then came back and I joined them as we headed up to the top of the road. Then is was the good ol' long run down Emigration, then we turned up towards the golf course, and took it to the van at Cowboy Grub. 

AM: No class today, so a bunch of guys met up at 9 to go for the longer run of the day. We did a run I've never done before that started on the River Trail, then we cut in this park, through some neighborhood, and eventually ended up behind the Walmart. Then we cut over onto Carterville, and took that back the long way by the Hospital. It ended up being 10.

PM: Later in the day, I went over to the locker room and went for an easy 4 miles by myself.

AM: When I got to the locker room, Ward was just arriving too and it was nice enough outside that we decided to run outside. I did 5 with him.

PM: We had Lake Loop tempo today. We ran out there, then at the park we changed shoes and jogged over to the corner to start. Coach didn't give us an governors today, or a goal pace, but it would have probably just been the usual. Keep the first two miles no faster than 5:05, then go by feel. We hit mile 1 in 5:06, then mile 2 in 5:04, and I was feeling good but for some reason I was feeling some hip pain. I usually don't feel any until the later in the tempo, the 3.5 to 4 mile range, but by then I know I can push through it since the tempo is almost done. It started hurting much earlier than usual, so I pulled out at three to not push the pain. I wish I could have finished the tempo, I was feeling good and the guys were rolling, we hit 3 miles in 15:14, and a couple guys dropped their pace for the last two miles and PR'ed huge on Lake loop. I ran back to the park with the rest of the 3 mile group, then once everyone was back, we headed back to SFH where I hit 8. I decided to leave it there and not add to 10 because of the hip. Hopefully today was just an off day for my hips rather and nothing else. 

After we hit weights, where we had a pretty tough day. There was more of an upper body focus today, but there was still a good whole body lift. Once that was done, I did my hip reps, back extensions, and sitting v's. Man I'm pooped.

AM: Four easy miles on the treadmill.

PM: Went for the usual ten miles on Carterville with a few guys, then did my usual post-run routine in the weight room.

AM: Decided to sleep in and just do one medium run today.

PM: With the time trial tomorrow, and a light workout today, I cut out my morning run and decided to get about 8 miles in at practice. We did the usual warm up route, then I did another half mile on the track, then changed shoes and a coupe strides. The group time trialing tomorrow was only doing 400, 2X200 at 59-60 and 28-29. We were just timing ourselves, and I came in at 60 for 400, then after a good recovery, 28, then another good recovery, 27. After the workout we changed shoes and went for some cool down. We went out 2 miles on Carterville and back, then I added a mile and a half on the track with a few of the guys who did the regular workout to get 8.5.

Did my post-run routine in the weightroom afterwards.

AM: Went for an easy 3 miles shakeout run on the treadmill this morning. 

PM: Today there was a time trial mile and 3k, and I wasn't sure if I was even racing, especially with how Tuesday's workout went, but Coach and I decided that I was in good enough shape to at least race to see where I'm at. So I we did the usual warm up, and I did another half mile on the track, then I changed into spikes and did several good strides while the 3k was going on. Finally it came time to line up and after Doug gave us some stickers, he lined us up and we were off. 

My goal coming into this was just to race. I wanted to get myself back into the racing mentality; I've been out of it for so long that I just needed to remember how to fight. I really didn't care about time, just to go with the guys as much as possible. That being said, Ryan was pacing us through 800 to 2:08-:09. We started and there was a little bit of jostling around for position, which I think is good cause it helps bring a more legit race feel. I just hung out nearly all the way in the back of the pack for the first 400, which I believe was a high 63/low 64, then made a move and passed about half the pack and sat in about 4th or 5th on the outside. I held it there until 800, and I made a move to pass another guy or two, but that was right as Ryan was done pacing, so the pace slowed a bit, and my surge carried me into the lead. I knew I wasn't really in good enough shape to take control, push the pace, and hold off all the kickers, but since I ended up in the lead, I decided to just hold a good pace. I held the lead until exactly 1200, and a pack of 4 that was sitting on me surged past me. I didn't respond quickly enough and they got away from me just enough for me to loose contact, and from here those guys stayed the same distance away. I did manage to get myself to kick, but not enough to catch the pack ahead. 

Afterwards, I changed shoes and once a group was ready, we headed out for cool down. We did Von Lohse, then I added a half mile to get 8 for the afternoon. After I got my post-run stuff in the weight room done.

This was a good time trial for me. The time is no head-turner, but more than time that I got a taste for racing again. I fought and assured myself that I'm coming back, and with a few more weeks of training I know I can do much better. The best thing from the race was that as soon as I finished, I was excited to race again and knew I could run faster. Plus, I gave myself a base line to work off of and gauge future performances. Glad to have the first one out of the way!

AM: Met the group that was sleeping in and running at ten. It used to be a smaller group of guys who didn't want to run earlier, but the amount of guys showing up to run later keeps growing. There was 15 guys on the run today. We did the usual canyon long run, and the group was going 15, but I only needed 12 to hit my mileage, so I turned at 6 and ran back by myself. That wraps up 85, time to go back up!

AM: Slept in for a while, then lounged in bed for another while, but finally got out the door. I went over to the locker room, then changed and headed on my run from there. I did long Carterville for 10 miles. The run was solemn but peaceful, what with no cars or people around on Sunday in Utah Valley. I love the second looks I sometimes get from people walking to church. 

AM: The weather this morning was absolutely perfect. I regretted even bringing a light sweater with me. Once at the locker room, Tracy and I did Von Lohse backwards. The weather was just perfect. Lets hope it stays like this for more than an hour.

PM: I got an amazing suprise when I got to the locker room, workout was going to be on the outdoor track today! The weather was still fantastic, miraculously. We did several grass loops for warm up, then changed our shoes and did some strides. Then coach told us the workout. 5X800 at 3k pace. I've been feeling that I needed a good 800 workout, and today was just the day! The group was aiming for 2:14-2:15. The first one I sat in the pack, and we hit 2:15. We did a lap in between each, but would cut over to the start line from the end of the back straight, so just under a 400 meter recovery. Next one I sat behind the leaders and we hit 2:14. Then I led one and we hit 2:13, then Nick led one and took it out pretty hard and we hit 2:10. I went with Nick on that one and didn't realize how fast we were going until like 400, so I spent myself a little too much for the last one. On the last one our group sort of merged with the front group and I hit a 2:12. A great workout overall, but I would have liked to close that last one in under 2:10. Partly due to going a bit too hard on the second to last, but more likely just not being there fitness-wise, yet. 

We changed shoes and then for cool down we ran to the end of Dirt Trail, and headed back. It felt soo amazing to be able to run in nothing but short shorts again, plus we had a big group on the cool down, and it reminded me of Cross Country :') On the way back to SFH, I picked up my shoes at the track, and hit 11 right at the doors. Afterwards we had weights. The lifting part was pretty manageable, but we also had some tough core work to do and after both of those, I was spent. I've been doing core pretty consistently too, so it really was a tough day. Then after I did my hip reps, but scratched sitting v's and back extensions since we did them or something very similar already during our lift. 

Then I showered, and went into the weight room and talked to Judd about a little pain in the arch of my foot, I think its a bit of plantar. He told me to come in before my runs and get it worked on, then taped my foot up. It felt better as I was walking home just with the tape.

One more good workout in the books!

AM: Went for the usual 4 miles this morning with Thatcher. We did Von Lohse forwards. Another beautiful day!

PM: Before I ran, I got some ultrasound done on my foot. I think I have a bit of plantar going on, so I want to kill it now before it gets worse. I decided to switch shoes and run in my new Pegasus and see if that could help. I went for a run with a group that was just going to do grass loops around the fields at the track and intramurals. Nick and I ran with them, then once we hit  4 miles, we headed back to the indoor track for the team lap. After that, a group got together and Nick and I went 6 miles with them. They were doing long Carterville, so we did short Carterville to hit 10 for the afternoon.

Afterwards I did my usual stuff in the weight room, then did the Nordic Air recovery system for 15 minutes. 

AM: Did four miles on the treadmill this morning despite the beautiful weather again. I was just pressed for time. 

PM: Workout today. Day 3 of perfect weather. We warmed up to the outdoor track, then did grass laps until I hit 3 miles, then came over to the stuff and put my spikes and did a couple strides. MPFS is this weekend, so everyone racing was doing a really light workout, and everyone not racing did 18X200. Eazy said the goal pace was 30-31, so naturally we started at 30's. We each had a partner, and we rotated every rep, with those who lead the previous one going to the back of the back. Doc and I were partners, and we switch the inside on every rep too. The first two were 30's, then the rest were 29's until the 16th, which was a 28, then Eazy sat a bunch of us on the second to last for some reason, and the last one was a 27. Right around rep 9 they started to hurt, and by number 14 I had to work to get my legs moving fast enough to hit those 29's. The workout was hard, but it was a good one. Defintely got some good turnover and speed going in this workout.

Afterwards we headed out for cool down, but my left foot was hurting, I think from running all the reps the same direction on the track. I turned at 1 mile and headed back with Nick. Once back at SFH, there was no weights today cause of the race, so I did my usual stuff in the weight room and was finally done for the day.

AM: Went for the usual 4 on the treadmill thism= morning.

PM: Did Carterville with some of the guys at 2, then went into the weight room and did my usual stuff. My foot was hurting again today, hopefully today will be the worst of it.

AM: Did 5 miles on the treadmill

PM: Did short Carterville with a bunch of guys doing steeple drills after the run. Once we got back to SFH, I did a mile on the indoor track and then went back out and did the indoor warm up loop to get 10. My foot was hurtin again, but less than yesterday. Both of my arches are still aching though.

Did my usual stuff in the weight room after, then went into the training room and got some ultrasound on my feet, then got some arch support tape on both my feet.