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

Today we met at Sugarhouse park. We did the cemetery run with two loops and then a big grass loop once we get back to Sugarhouse park. As always, this run seems like an eternity. When your just getting back to Sugarhouse park you feel like it was ten, but then you still need a big grass loop. Anyway I started out with Natalie and we were going at a pretty fast pace to try and catch Ben who was ahead of us. We weren't catching up so I surged to Ben and Nat fell behind. When I caught Ben I looked back and Nat had made up a lot of ground but she never caught us. From there Ben and I ran to the cemetery and we did the two loops. Ben got ahead of me close to the end of the second lap and I never caught him. From there I just tried to maintain a steady pace, which I guess I did. 6:51 average for ten miles is not bad, especially coming off of a fifteen miler on Saturday. It was sopping wet the entire run, which sucked. Terrible weather today. I will do my core right after I finish blogging. Here is my Garmin link:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/103394964 

AM: Today we met at Wheeler farm for a killer interval workout. Two miles warm up then  three sets of 1-2-3 with 1-2-2 recovery. Then a cool down to make it ten for the day. All my splits and stuff are on Garmin connect, but they are really confusing cause there are like forty of them. I counted thirteen laps around the loop thing. I hit 5.11 miles during the intervals. My right hip was killing me in the last mile in the cool down. I will do the massage stuff Bill told me to do. I did my core when I got home and I will massage my hip a little later. Here is my Garmin link: 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/103648169 

PM: So I needed some more mileage today in order to hit my 60 this week. I was planning on four but I was still about half a mile away from my house when I hit four so I went to 4.5. My hips had been hurting a bit and my foot has felt better so I decided to take a chance and run in my Nikes. Before I put them on, I slipped the soles from my Mizunos into the Nikes to see what that would do...... They felt amazing. Better than my Mizunos. I think they actually helped my foot feel better. I will do that and take them to the run tomorrow and see what happens. Anyway, nice run. I was doing a quick pace, but nothing that requires real pushing. Here is my Garmin link:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/103737120 

Today we met at Shoreline trail right across from the zoo. Today was more of a recovery day for me.  Easy seven miles, but on the way back Ben and I pushed it, especially on the uphills. To make it seven we went up the little trail by the surveillance gate until we hit 3.5, then back the same way. Did core, wall sits, step ups, and arm swings after we finished the run by the drinking fountain. My Nikes felt great today. Looks like it was the soles that were giving me trouble. Great run, I'm not tired at all. I really used it to recover. I will have to run later tonight as well. Here is my Garmin link:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/103868665 

PM: Needed some more miles for the day so i did 3.5 to put myself at an even 35. Easy, boring run. It was a bit too dark, but it was the earliest I had the chance. Here is my Garmin link:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/103927647 

Today was our annual bike and run. This year the Brighton team joined us. I was paired up with Maggie this year. We did really well! We were ahead up until the turn around, and we made a lot of ground on the people who were ahead of us. We were third overall, and second from East. Hooray for Chic-Fil-A gift cards! Next year if we are paired together, we are gonna win no doubt. Afterwards we had a group breakfast and I almost got Ben to puke! JUST A FEW MORE PUKING SOUNDS! It was a huge success and I had a blast. I can't wait until next year's Bike and Run. Here is my messed up Garmin link because I was unknowingly stopping it and forgetting to start it:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/104110843 

PM: Needed some more mileage for today so ran an easy three miles. Boring run, but really hot. I did it in the heat of the afternoon, but despite that I was going a good pace. Here is my Garmin link:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/104143759 

Today we met at Liberty for some easy speed. One lap warm up, then a lap fireman, then two laps cool down and a little extra to make six. Easy workout. Now to rest for the race tomorrow. Here is my Garmin link:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/104262755 

Well today was the Minuteman 5k. I went into the race not really having a goal. I honestly didn't know how fast... or slow... I could run, considering my previous races. But I was happy with my race today. I had planned to run a two mile warm up, but I had hit above 2.5 by the time I got back to the race area, so I ended up doing three. Then a few drills with the team and some light stretching and strides by myself. I had a nice, open spot at the line. Dakota warned me that they start the race without a countdown so I made sure to be ready for the cannon fire. That was a loud cannon. I not only heard the enormous boom, but I felt it. I got out really fast. Right before the first uphill onto State St I found myself among the elite men. I was worried that I had gone out way too fast and considered slowing down a bit, but I was in a good position and I just went with the pace. At this point in the race I just didn't want to die, like I had the past two races. I felt good at the one mile, so I continued on with the fast pace. When I had turned by the Forever 21, on the opposite side of the island I heard Bill scream something, I'm not sure what, and I saw where he was and I looked behind me and Ben was about 60 meters behind. The stretch from that point to the last big hill was where I should have picked it up and tried to pass some people, had I known it was the last stretch. Anyway, I held on along this part of the race well enough, there was one guy that passed me, but I passed him going up the last hill. About halfway up the hill Ben caught me and he was booking it. I hadn't quite pieced it together yet that this was practically the end of the race, or else I would have tried to match Ben's pace, so I kept along my pace and once I reached the top of the hill I saw the flags which meant the finish, so I sprinted until the end. Overall I did well, I could have run faster that's for sure, but over a one minute PR is good enough for today. Next year I will have more experience on this course and I will know exactly how to race it. Afterwards I cooled down to hit 9.5 for the day.......I guess pushing to stick with Ben on all those long runs did pay off.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/10453148

Today I slept in, which is sadly the first time I have slept in for over a week. So I went running in the late afternoon. More like night. I started at about nine and went out two and back. Boring run. I warmed up as I went along and my pace increased. My stomach felt weird at first and I felt a bit sluggish, but maybe that was the Panda Express talking. Anyway that went away and I felt great for the last three miles. I did my core when I got home and now I'm going to start arm swings with some light weights so I did those. AND I found super awesome spikes for less than what I paid for my food at Panda!! Today was a pretty awesome day. Here is my Garmin link:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/104845319 

Today we met at Sugarhouse Park for day one of Hill Week. We ran one grass loop warm up, then we jogged over to the middle of the grass and stretched while Bill put up the flags to mark our hill. Then after jogging the hill once we started them and ran six with a two minute recovery. I pushed the first two, then backed off the next two, then Bill told me to get up to Ben so I pushed the fifth pretty hard, then I gave it all I had the last one. Then we went over to a small hill by the pond that is on the end of the state course and ran that twice, mainly just to give everyone an idea of what the end of the state course is like. After that we got some water, then did two big grass loops to bring mileage to ten miles. On the end of the second one Ben and I needed more so we ran to the drinking fountain, then a little more around the playground to make it ten. I probably could have pushed the third and fourth hills harder now that I look back. On the cool down I started to feel a small pain in my right knee that just got worse throughout the cool down. Here is my Garmin link:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/104981406 

Today was day two of Hill Week. We met at JCC to run the Dry Creek trail. We were supposed to run out to the small clearing before the downhill where the four mile mark is, then turn around and run the Big (capital B) hill ten times continuously, then just head back. But today when I woke up I still felt some pain in my knee from yesterday. I hoped that when I warmed up it would go away, but it just got worse the more I ran on it. When I got to the turn around point I stretched for a minute, but that just made matters worse. Heading back I had to start and stop a few times before I could tolerate the pain from my knee. I jogged back along the trail, running as fast as I could without bending my knee to the point where it hurt even more. Bill caught up by the time I got to the bottom of the big hill and he told me to only run the hill if it didn't make my knee feel worse. But it is particularly on down and uphills that it hurts more, so I decided not to push my luck and head back. Once I passed the rock pile, I had to walk down the big downhill leading to the bottom trail. I jogged whenever there was a flatter stretch of trail, but after a while even that began hurting too much so I just stopped jogging once I hit six miles I walked the rest of the way. Today was a pretty crappy day. After everyone had finished, Bill massaged my leg, and it seemed to help. I am going to take a 15 minute ice bath right after I finish blogging and I will do core after the ice bath. If my knee feels better towards the end of the day I will try to go on a small run.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/105225622 

Today was our team hike up to Lake Blanche. The way up took FOREVER. Once we got there we ate some snacks and then Bill was ice bathing in the lake so after a little bit I joined him. The water was surprisingly clean. Then a few others joined in. After that everyone wanted to go to the patches of snow to build a snow man. Supposedly it would take ten minutes to get there, but ten minutes into the hike up to the snow it seemed we had barely moved, so I stayed behind and Nels, Maclean, Maggie and I had a jamming sesh. That was super fun. After an eternity the group that went to the snow finally returned from their "ten minute" trip and we all headed back down. On the way down, Maclean noticed some spots along the trail where water flows down the mountain, and we took those as short cuts. That turned out to be super fun. On Garmin connect you can see where we cut out from the trail on the player. Anyway, we finally made it back to the cars and we all just carpooled back down to the park and ride. Going up my knee felt okay, but towards the end of the way up I could start to feel the agitation. Heading back down it killed. For almost the entire way down my knee felt really bad and by the end I couldn't bend it enough to get on the car. When I got home I got off my feet and that made it feel loads better. I am going to ice it later and I will take ibuprofen. The next few days of rest will hopefully be just what I need to recover from that annoying injury and get back to training hard. I'm going to try and stay off my feet as much as possible and I will take ibuprofen for the entire rest period.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/105545066 

Today was Camp Tuttle for Peer Court. My knee had just been getting worse and worse so I talked to Bill and we decided I should take the days I would be at Camp Tuttle off. So no running today. My knee felt better towards the end of the day, although I could feel it get aggravated when ever I walked from the main  lodge to my cabin because it was uphill. Had a fun day at Camp.

Today was the second day of Camp Tuttle so no running again. My knee felt even better than the day before and it felt immensely better than it had during the middle of the week. I hope that it fully recovers by Monday. 

Today I hit the pool in the morning. I had talked to Bill yesterday and he said to do ten minutes warm up, then 10 X 1min on/1 min off, and he didn't specify a cool down but I just did another easy ten minutes. When I got to the gym there was a triathlon going on so it took forever to find parking. I didn't know there was a West Valley City Triathlon. Once I finally got in I did some arm weights and some core exercises first then hit the pool. After my warm up I started the intervals and on the "offs" i would check my pulse. I never got my pulse higher than 90. No matter how hard I tried the "on" it never went much higher than that. I thought I could get my pulse to about 120 but obviously not. I cooled down afterwards and then headed home.

My knee felt good during the workout. It never felt more aggravated. I will massage and ice it later as well as take ibuprofen the rest of the day and hopefully tomorrow I can go on a small run. 

This morning I went for a small run to test my knee. I have iced, massaged, and taken ibuprofen for the past three days, I was hoping that it would at least not get worse. I started out feeling okay, just sluggish from not running for three days and having eaten a huge cereal two hours earlier. At mile one I stopped to stretch and sort of feel my knee and see how it was doing, and it felt good so I kept going. If my knee still felt okay, I was planning on going to two, then returning the same way, but at 1.47 I suddenly felt a jolt of pain go through right below the knee cap. It wasn't excruciating or anything like that, but none the less pain. So i turned at 1.5 and came back for three. The rest of the way was okay, although my knee did seem to get worse. Once I finished I stretched a bit and I could feel it more aggravated. I iced it right away but that didn't help, my knee felt the same. I gave it a quick massage and then took three ibuprofens because I had to shower and get ready to go to the mall. I am so sick of that annoying injury. I have done all I can these past few days and I'm getting frustrated that it won't go away. I hope it does go away in the next day or so, so that I can get back to training and be ready for the race on Saturday.

P.S: This was the longest, most difficult three miles of my life. I felt incredibly sluggish the entire way and I once I got home I came surprisingly close to throwing up. I felt better after the fifteen miler the other day. Here is my Garmin link, although I'd prefer you not click it and see my embarrassingly slow splits: 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/106569097 

Today we met at Sugarhouse Park for practice. We started with running the state course as a warm up, then ten hill loops on the hill by the flower beds on the west side of the park, then we did two 45 sec circuits on the soccer field of the usual stuff, popcorns, jumping jacks, squats, and mountain climbers, and for a cool down we ran the state course backwards. I didn't start my Garmin for the jog from the hill to the soccer field where we were going to run the circuits, so it was about .25 off. But anywho when we got to the end of the cool down I was at 8.3 which give or take is close enough to 8.5. My knee was feeling okay up to this point and I don't want to push my luck so I stopped there. I noticed that on the mountain climbers, my knee felt fine if anything better. So maybe I will do some of those later to try and stretch out my IT. We'll see how it goes....

PM: I feel cool. I just figured out a way to do some awesome Garmin stuff. Check this out:

Although it is cool, the link is just better cause you can't see very much on the Garmin preview window. 

Today we met at Liberty Park for practice and our Dutch Oven Breakfast. We started with one lap warm up, then I put on my flats and we jogged over to the start. Then six strides and we started our workout. 800 with equal recovery, then a mile with 800 recovery, then another 800. After that we jogged to get some water and then began the cool down. I hit 2:29 for the first one, then 5:29 for the mile, then 2:27 for the final 800. I would have liked to run the mile in the lower twenties but oh well. I was a little passed 6 when I got to the drinking fountain and most were going to eight, but my knee felt really agitated and I just decided to go to seven. I'm glad I did because it started hurting more once I got home. I will ice and massage it as usual. Right after practice we had our Dutch Oven Breakfast and it was really good!! It was fun and a good experience for the team. I did my core when I got home. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/107081600 

I had to miss practice today because of registration:( But the team was going to Pipeline for a long run today. I think it is the last time we go up there this summer. It wasn't a complete loss though because right now I think it would be better if I started doing medium runs both in the morning and at night. Long runs just hurt the knee too much. That way I can still get in some mileage but not aggravate the knee. Anyway I got back later than expected because of the TWO HOUR WAIT for a schedule change, and I didn't even end up being able to get it changed. I will have to change it once school starts. So I ended up starting my run around eleven thirty. I knew it would be really hot but I wanted to get at least a small run in this morning. I was feeling okay throughout the run, just the normal annoying background pain, but in the last quarter mile I did feel it get a bit worse. I ended up turning at two miles because of the blazing heat. It was too hot and I was really uncomfortable the entire run. I will run later tonight. I was able to push a bit harder on this run even in the heat, but still it is much slower than two weeks ago.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/107306385

P.S: I did a lot of research yesterday online about the pain I have been having. After about an hour and a half of Wikipedia pages, blogs, articles, and Youtube videos, I learned that the most common solution for IT band pain is RICE. But, in many articles, I read that it really isn't necessary to take a break off running. To just stay away from hills, both the down and up can be a cause in the first place, and to stay off roads because of the banked surface. That bit really made sense to me because I tend to run on the right side of roads a lot more than the left, which puts my whole right leg under more stress than the left. Also, it said leg or foot rotation can contribute. I also have a problem with that. AND IT SAID HIKING IS ALSO REALLY BAD FOR AN INFLAMED IT. The best thing to do, in most articles anyway, is to keep running the smaller runs at a pace that feels the best for your particular pain, as well as Icing, Massaging, and Ibuprofen. And it said that a foam roller is vital.... hehe. I guess i better go get one. So that is what I will do, I froze some water in paper cups and I will ice every possible time I can. Although I am open to suggestions?

PM: As if this day's entry wasn't already long enough. I went out for another four tonight once it got cooler. Ben gave me some good advice about massaging not just my IT, but also my entire quad and hamstring, so I did that, and might I say quite vigorously. Apparently it worked because I didn't feel my knee for the first mile, which was great :) Since I was feeling really good after mile one, I decided to push the rest of the run, and see how fast I could get one of my mile splits. So I starting hauling. Mile two was a 6:05 split, which I thought would be sub-6 but whatever. The rest of my splits did slow down, but I was still well under seven minute pace, which is fine with me, especially since I haven't done a fast continuous run in a while. If I didn't have to stop at two lights and for a few incautious drivers pulling out of parking lots, my splits could have been faster. After I finished my knee felt pretty good considering how fast I pushed. It even hurt less than it did this morning, which was really good. After I shower I will give it another good massage, then ice it, and of course ibuprofen. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/107406517 

Today for practice we met at Sunnyside Park. We did an easy 2.5 mile warm up in the Gulley from Sunnyside, then back to Sunnyside and we did ten strides from the white tree to the goal post. About 70-80 meter strides. Then two laps around the park and a little extra to get to six. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/107556873

After that we voted for team captains and dispersed. My knee was feeling good before practice and it wasn't feeling much worse after. Iced and massaged like crazy when I got home. It seems like I'm getting better, slowly though. I will just keep on doing what I've been doing. Later today is the BBQ and Fun Run to determine our Varsity for the first meet. So consequently, I shall blog later.

PM: Today was the Alumni Fun Run and BBQ. I did just under 1 mile warm up. Then we jogged over to the start and we did 1 stride. Sad. Then we started. The course was unmarked this year, but Bill explained it to me so I was good. Not. I took two wrong turns and added a little over .2 of a mile to the course. Anyway good run, I didn't push it very much. This was the first run where I didn't have someone to catch up to so it sucked. Anyway I was first for varsity boys. Then we ate and they announced team Captains. They are Dylan, Scott, Natalie, Abigail, and Annie. Congrats guys! Sweats before the season ends this year?

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/107817081

(this excludes the warm up) 

Today we met at Liberty for a small workout because of the Settlement Canyon Invite tomorrow. One lap warm up, one lap fireman, four strides, then one lap and a little more to get to 5 for the day. Easy workout. The usual reports for my knee. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/107817075 

Today was our first race of the season, the Settlement Canyon Premier Invite. I did a two mile shakeout run during the boys jv race to cheer them on, then took a long break until i had to warm up for my race. I did a one mile warm up, then some strides at the start. I got out well, and was in about twelfth place. Two guys dropped off behind me and one guy in front of me also fell behind. I realized I was in eleventh place so I decided to surge past two guys running close together, one of which a Bountiful guy, I think his name is Colby. He stuck with me for a while and got a few feet ahead of me at one point but I caught and passed him on the turn into the trail. This is what I love about this race, after the road, the course just flies by and you can really use it to your advantage. Then once on the trail I caught the next guy and passed him cause he was dying. Eventually I also caught the next guy, who was maybe forty meters ahead, and passed him. After about a minute I looked back and saw that the Bountiful guy was maybe fifty meters behind and trying to catch up, so I picked up the pace a little once I came up to the small clearing along the trail. After I picked it up, I realized I was comfortable at the pace I was doing, so I picked it up more. After two minutes or so I couldn't see any guys behind me. Anyway I got to the big puddle and kicked it in. The entire time I thought I was eighth but I was happily surprised to here I was seventh. Once I reached the line, I looked back and the next guy was maybe 60 or 70 meters behind. Overall good race and the entire team did really well. I'm excited for the season!!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/108065710

Today is my birthday so..... no running :)

Today we met at Cottonwood Complex at 3 in the afternoon for workout in order to get used to running later in the day. We warmed up just a little over two miles, then stretched and did the longest strides ever. After those I was at exactly 3. Then I reset my watch and we started the half's on the course. My times were 2:45, 2:42, 2:55, 2:53, 3:07, 2:55. On the fourth one is where I sort of rolled my ankle in a little ditch on the downhill, and the fifth one is were I really felt it. On the last one I just fought through the pain. I was pretty consistent, except for the fifth one. Then I just cooled down to hit eight. My knee felt great, there was almost zero pain after the workout. Another week of massaging, icing, and ibuprofen and it will be completely better. As for the ankle, a few days tops. Just have to ice that as well. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/108713825

It was soooooo hot!! Definitely need to bring more water tomorrow.  

Today practice was at Sunnyside. I had twisted my ankle the day before so I was pretty sure I wouldn't make it through today. Anyway the run today was up to foothill, then down around to gaurdsman and then continue on the shriners run until you hit four, then turn. I got around foothill, but once i was by the parking lot my ankle just hurt too much. I hit like 2.3 ish miles for the day. I was landing really wierdly on my left foot in order to ease the pain and it was screwing up my form and I was in a sort of limp/run. So i decided to stop and not risk screwing something else up as a result of forcing my ankle and I just did core and waited for the group to be done. Bill told me to do the alphabet with my ankles, so I will do that as well as ice and ibuprofen. Hopefully its better by tomorrow. 

Not worth a Garmin link. 

Today was the first day of school so we met at the track for practice. We did one mile warm up, then, then 10 strides, then we started six laps of the circuits on the bleachers, then we ran to the gulley, were supposed to do two laps, but I only did one because my ankle was feeling a bit worse and my IT was starting to act up, and then run back to the track. Pretty easy day, just boiling hot. Thank heavens for that ice machine. I will ice and the usual tonight. Here is my link:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/109192928 

Today was our xc "Tryouts." Some new people actually showed up, which surprised me. We did a mile warm up and a mile speed changes. Then changed shoes and started our 3 x 3min on/3 min off workout. I was consistent throughout. I got to about 930-ish meters on the first one, then just past 900 meters on the next two. Dakota caught me on the second one, which surprised me, and stuck with me on the third one. Good job Dakota, way to push! Now just push like that the rest of the season. Then we cooled down about two miles to put me at six. My ankle feels loads better. I'm pretty sure it will be completely healed by this weekend. I did my core when I got home. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/109405668 

My stomach felt really uneasy after the workout, and only got worse when I got home. Top It is not a good food to have for lunch and especially when you have second lunch. Anyway I don't feel hungry now but a little later I will make myself eat something before I go to bed.  

AM: Woke up early and went for a small run. Easy, two miles out and back. I didn't think I would say this, but it was actually a bit hot. Much hotter than I thought it would be at 5:30 in the morning anyway. My ankle feels a little better, although icing yesterday failed. I have been really busy since school started and am not putting as much attention as I should to my little injuries. I will make that my goal these upcoming days. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/109609499

(I forgot to turn off my Garmin after my morning run and the start button was hit at some point after school so that's why my average pace is 14:28 and why there is a huge, straight red line form my house to the East track)

PM: We met at the track and ran down to liberty for an easy workout. We ran along ninth down around liberty to the fountain, then we did four hill relays, then three strides on the grass, then ran back up to east and added two laps around to get five. After we finally did ice baths! Best ice baths on Earth. I will do my usual massaging and icing rituals in order for my long run tomorrow.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/109609488 

Today I had to go run by myself. Ugh I hate long runs by myself. Anyway I was out the door by 7:30. I ran from my house down to 8400 W and then south along the Magna run. I was feeling good up until about a mile and a half until the turn around point where I got to the steady incline. I was feeling wiped out before the turn around. It didn't help that my turn around was right at the top of the next hill either. So I got through the two biggest hills of that run. I average just under an eight minute pace at the turn. My ankle also felt really tired at the turn. It was necessarily hurting, but it just felt sore and kinda tired. I think it was because of the slant on the road I was running on for a while... probably should have run on the sidewalk. I caught my breath and headed back. I felt a lot better going down those hill than up and I started doing a low seven pace. I felt good overall on the way back, and once I finished my pace had dropped to 7:33. I hate long runs by myself. I did my core when I got back home.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/109721627 

PM: I gave my legs a good massage in the evening. They needed it. On both my IT's and my calves, hamstrings, quads, and hips. After I did some stretching, which felt great, and then I did the alphabet with my ankles twice, and exercised my left ankle ankle a bit. Then I took some ibuprofen and iced my ankle. I did some more core right before bed.

Today I decided to run in the evening. I was planning on four, but I procrastinated on homework, as usual, and I had to rush back home to finish it, so I ended up doing only three. I felt good, my ankle felt pretty good, only a very small glitch of pain is present. Very small. By the end of this week, hopefully, it will be 100% healed. But it is good enough where I can run on it pretty comfortably. I got back and did some core. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/110220514 

Today for practice we warmed up in the track, one big grass loop. Then we formed a circle and stretched on the field. There was three options for a run today, the beginning, intermediate, and advanced. I did the advanced run. From the track up to foothill, then left and along foothill until the cemetery, then one loop in the cemetery, and then out and along 1300 E until 800 S, then back up to the track. I was feeling good today, and it is the first day in a few weeks that I have been injury free, well almost anyway. So I decided to push this run. I began with the group, but caught up to bill after Gaurdsman. After a bit of chatting, I brought the spirit of Ben back to cross country, and picked up the pace. I was hoping that a few, or at least one, of the guys would try and push with me, but no one tried. As far as I could tell. By the time I turned left onto Foothill, I had pretty much lost all the guys. I hope that soon some of the guys will step it up and go for it. I was feeling pretty good, but by the time I passed Gaurdsman while on Foothill, my ankle started to feel tired, again. Not necessarily hurting, just tired. I felt an unusual stiffness/soreness in a place I have never felt anything before. The place about 2/3 of the way up the outside part of the shin. I forgot to ask Bill a way to stretch it, but I will just do the shin stretch and hopefully that does something. I averaged 6:51 by the time I was back in the track. While everyone got back, I decided to go to five. Just when I was finishing, a few guys and Bill were entering the track, and Bill said to get to the three hundred mark. We did a 300 chase. On the first one I was to catch Patrick, and we ended up crossing the finish line at the same time. On the second one I was to catch Natalie, and not let Vuong catch me. I did close the gap on Nat, but I was still about 15 meters behind here at the finish, and Vuong nearly caught up to me! Good job! After that I just went to six miles and headed home. I will go for a run later.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/110462555 

AM: This morning was our first morning practice of the season! We started a little past six a.m. and ran along 15th E until the fountain at Sugarhouse Park, and the varsity had to do one outside grass loop, and then back. I felt good, and I guess I pushed pretty well, because I averaged 6:44 for the whole run, including all the hills. That just means that I can push harder next time!! Anyway we got back, showered, then had some french toast, courtesy of Papa John. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/110731128

PM: Today for afternoon practice we warmed up a mile, then one mile speed changes, then we did 2 X 200, 2 X 400, 2 X 200, all with equal recovery. I was feeling this morning in my legs a bit, but was still very consistent. My times were in order: 33, 33, 70, 70 (stopped my watch a bit late), 33, 32. I would have liked to run those 400s under 70. After we cooled down one mile to put us at five. I felt okay, my ankle was a bit tired, but we took an ice bath at the track after the cool down and that helped greatly. After we had a captains meeting and then we had a team dinner at the Shields'. Yummy. 

Here is the speed minus the recoveries: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/110731115 

Today was Pre Region. I was feeling a bit tired from yesterdays workout, since I haven't been doing two-a-days ever since I twisted my ankle, but I guess it is now time to get back into condition. I warmed up two miles around the course, cheering on the girls. I put on my spikes and headed over to the line. We were standing there for probably close to ten minutes before the race started. I got out well, maybe a little too well. I was dehydrated before we even finished passing the softball field, and it just got worse. I have never been that dehydrated. I held on to third for about the first mile and change, and then two WX guys caught and passed me, but then one fell behind. I fell back about three more guys during the course of the race. I was trying to make a more, but I just didn't have it in me. After bessie, I just finished the race with whatever I had left. Pretty sucky race for me. I was like 8th or 9th. I know I could have been third, easy. I think it was a culmination of things that produced this race. I was tired from the day before, I didn't get a good nights sleep, I didn't warm up enough or hard enough, and I didn't hydrate enough. Oh well, today just wasn't my day. Friday will be better. It was definitely a learning experience though. My ankle feels alright, and apart from that, no injuries to report:) Now to jsut get back into shape.....

 Here is my race: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/110947356