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

This was my first official day back to cross country. I don't remember starting summer workouts with quite so much mileage... Of course the ten miles were not continuous but they were split up into six and four. Overall it was a pretty good day. I had minimal pain except for a pain just below my knees that has been bugging me for quite some time now... It isn't a sharp pain but it is a background pain that is always there and I really feel it once i stop running for a little, and then start again. Today the advanced group met early at sugarhouse park and we ran the cemetery loop for a total of 6 miles. Once we finished the rest of the team had arrived and we ran down to fairmont park and did eight strides on the grass with one minute recovery in between and ran back to sugarhouse. The combined workouts gave me ten miles. I look forward to this years season and I was surprised by the outcome we had this year. The East High Boys and Girls Cross Country teams will truly be ones for opponents to fear this year!

Today was a pretty easy day. I had little pain. I could barely feel my knee pain from before. We did 2.5 laps in the gulley then back to sunnyside where we did 5-1 minute on/off intervals. After we did one big loop around the park and finished the workout. 

Today we met at liberty park and got right into the workout. We started out with one lap around the park warm up, about a mile and a half. Then we moved over to the hill and ran six continuous hill loops. After we finished that the advanced group added on about four miles to get to seven for the day. I had no pain today, just super soar. I am going to take an ice bath later and hopefully that helps. I stretched whenever i got the chance during the workout.

The run for today was supposed to be 6 to 7 miles but if i did that then i would only five more miles for the rest of the week so I decided to spread it a little more evenly. I did the four miles in the late evening and I felt fantastic afterwards (even though i ran on a belly full of hot cheetos).

Just finished an easy four mile run, although it didn't feel to easy. I ran it in the dead heat of the day..... probably not such a good idea. I was pretty dizzy as soon as I finished and I felt better after drinking like a gallon of water. But other than that I feel great. Not soar or hurting in any way. I'm on track to finish my mileage for the week.

Did four miles this morning before heading off to Lagoon. Felt great afterwards and had a lot of energy. 

Today was a moderately tough day. We started with running a 5k course towards Tanner Park and back. On the way back, Ben and I picked it up to see who could beat the other [and yes Bill, I did win]. It was nice to have someone else there that I can push off of. When we hit the road at Sugarhouse Park we picked it up to a 5:40 pace and held it there until we finished. By the end of that run I had hit 6.75. I felt pretty good after that and I wasn't too soar. Then we started the rest of the workout. We did 2.25 around the park, then came back to the field behind the Highland track and did some dynamic stretching and a 45 sec circuit. Afterwards we did a road loop around the park and I finished it through until i hit 1.5 to make it an even 10.5 for the day.

Today the team met at Jordan Park. We started doing a warm up ten minutes on the trail followed by two sets of 3 minutes on 2 minutes off intervals. Taylor, Ben and I pushed it on those intervals. Scott was with us but fell back after the first set. Then we were supposed to continue the run until we hit four and turn back but the trail was flooded at one of the bridges so we basically had to run around in circles until my Garmin said four miles, then run the same circles backwards until we hit the flooded bridge and then return on the trail to the park. Once we got back we did three sets of one minute step ups and arm swings and then core. I feel fine except for my feet are kind of tired and my quads and calves are crazy soar. Maybe I will take an ice bath...

Today the advanced met at Fairmont park for six miles. We just went out 1.5 in one direction and then returned and then out 1.5 again and back. Once we got back the rest of the group had showed up and we did the scavenger hunt. Towards the end of the scavenger hunt my knee started killing me. That pain on the lower side of my knee. My quads are also incredibly soar. Other than that the scavenger hunt was really fun. I'm pretty sure my team won. The other guys team cheated and didn't get all the stuff. And the girls came in pretty far back. Overall it was a fun day. Bill, I figured out how to get the whole Garmin thing straightened out. It's pretty cool. There's the link to today's workout.

 http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95725458 

We met at the Park and Ride today then carpooled up to Pipeline. It was the first continuous ten miles of the season (woot woot)! I started out doing an easy pace because my knee still bugged me from yesterday. I was running with Ben, Taylor, and Scott. After I got warm though it stopped bothering me so I picked it up and I hit about a seven minute pace with Ben right behind. I kept the pace under 7:15 even after we turned around. At about mile seven I let Ben take the lead because he said it would be a bit easier on me. I stayed with him until about 7.5 but he picked the pace up quite a bit and I didn't want to push that hard today. I think he was doing like a 6:40 pace. Slowly he pulled away and I maintained my pace as well as I could but my hips started bugging me a bit so I slowed to about a 7:25 pace. Then I came up to the very sharp hill right after the wooden bridge and that knock me off pace. After that I just went as fast as I could and finished the run to get ten for the day. Overall it was a nice day for a run like this and I felt surprisingly good afterwards, probably cause I didn't kill myself on the run. I got my Garmin to beep and do splits at every mile. I uploaded my workout to Garmin Connect and you can see the splits as well as graphs and such from my run. Here's the link for it:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/95886934