Running From Finals

57 minutes Death Run 

Todays run was my favorite yet. It felt so good to just get out and push myself as hard as I could for our workout. I hope we do that one again sometime. One thing I enjoyed a ton was the nervousness before the workout. I'd not felt that in quite a while so that was exciting. When we started the run we were pushing rediculously fast. Our first mile was a 5 36 ,and our second was a 6. After a while we died down a bit, but overall I felt solid. I stuck with coach Logan and Jose the majority of the time. Eventually, they made a hard move and I fell off. Scottie ended up catching me and thinking I had another lap I stuck close behind him hoping to outrun him. Unfortunately, I was in last and didn't know it. I think this is a good lesson because it teaches me to never postpone making a quick move in a race. I was little frusturated with where I got out, but also pleased at the same time which is a good thing because I think that this helps me aknowledge that I pushed myself and did well but can strive for much more. Also I matched my 5k record and am SUPER pumped about that. I'm glad to be picking up where I last left off. Unfortunately, I've been getting some terrible knee pains in my left knee probably from ramping up the minutes so quickly since I wasn't around all XC season. I'm hoping to keep my minutes a little lower than everyone else for at least a short period of time so I don't screw myself up again. Thats my main worry about this year. I just am hoping to have one season where I'm injury free. I'm going to try and work toward this by taking some serious time to stretch and ice. Today I spent nearly an hour doing that. Overall today was a great challenge. I'm happy where I ended up at ,but I definately won't settle. I want to be able to do more and stick with the very top guys all the time. This will take some commintment not only in workouts but also stretching and recovery. It'll be hard but I know it's worth it. I can't wait for tomorrow this time my goal is to not postpone a chance to move up whenever it comes. 

53 minutes 

The 6 Minute Test 1800m

One Good Thing: I was always on the attack going after somebody rather than trying to avoid being passed. I didn't get passed once and almost caught Nathan while pushing forward. 

One Negative Thing: I could've kicked a little earlier and still think I could've gone faster. I wish I'd placed maybe one spot ahead of where I did. 

I'm finally going back to reflect on friday's race. I have some mixed feelings about the race , just like the thursdays death run. The good side of things is that during this race I met my goal of not procrastinating pushing up to the next group, I moved up one spot from the day before, I'm not hurting horribly, and I was ten seconds off a PR even after Thursdays competition. The bad thing about my run is I would have liked to still place higher, maybe up by Mikey and Alex, but I think that is a good thing because it means I have definable goals that are attainable. I was only a good 40 meters behind Nathan and maybe 60-70 meters behind Mikey and Alex which makes me happy cause I know I have the ability to stick with those guys still. Looking at that, I am really picking up where I left off which I am happy about ,but I am going to keep pushing for more. I am trying to make sure I am never just comfortable where I am resulting in settling. One of my favorite things about this race is that I was never comfortable sitting where I was and just avoiding getting passed. I really focused in on who was ahead of me and tried to go after them. It was such an awesome feeling. I couldn't believe how much better I did really focusing in on that. Another thing that really helped me was at my hardest moment during the race I thought to myself that I could choose an easy out and hurt myself in the long run or I could choose the harder decision and end up better off overall. This helped me keep pushing through. Overall, I was fairly happy with the race. 

75 minutes 

Fun run, but I'm feeling really frustrated. I've been feeling the same pain I was feeling when my injury was starting to happen last season in my left leg rather than my right leg this past week. I think it's from being to ambitious with the minutes. I tried ramping up fairly quickly. I might consider cross training the next two or so days instead of just running which unfortunately probably means pool running for me. We'll see how it goes though I'm going to talk to coach tomorrowz

45 minute pool run 

Today felt good it was nice to get off of the legs. I'm glad I'm getting ontop of pains early rather than waiting. I'm thinking I'll probably take at least till Friday to get back to running with the team. The pool run was solid. I made sure to keep my intensity up and push myself a bit.

60 minutes of pool run

I tried to push it today. After about 10 minutes of regular effort, I picked up a bit and went as a hard as I could. At first, I only went for about two or so minutes with 30 second breaks, but by the end I was going 5 minutes as hard as I could and 5 minutes at normal effort. I did about 4 sets of the 5 minute intervals. It was good, I felt like I was able to push it some even with it being a pool run. 

50 minutes 

Not sure how to feel about to day. The run was awesome and I enjoyed it a lot. It's always nice being out with the team, and I love just getting to get out and push myself a bit, but I'm still nervous about my leg at the moment. I'm definitely still feeling some pains and am trying to modify how i run in order to continue having this problem. I'm thinking that I may be on my toes a little too much, I really don't know though I need to look into my form some more though. I think it could be part of the problem. I'm not totally sure if I'll do the full run tomorrow or not. I'm kind of at a loss with what to do. It's frustrating being so nervous to run, but also feeling the need to do so. Sometimes my pains dull out over time and fade away, but I've had several similar pains that have pushed me to start limping and that has frustrated me big time. Hopefully, I'll be able to tell what I need to do in the morning by kind of Gaging how I feel.

30 minutes

Today was frusturating. I decided to try running and had to stop midway through the workout because I started limp every time my left leg came down. I've been so frusturated that I could mess myself up this many times so easily. It has made me feel kind of useless this past year when it has come to track and cross country just becaue I haven't felt like I've really been able to contribute to the team or participate much. Although things have been extremely challenging injury wise, I think its also given me a chance to improve my patience. It has been really difficuly, but I'm still not ready to give up. I am going to keep stretching and icing. At this point it may be good to go visit the physical trainer during practice as well, so I'll likely do that tomorrow. I've started limping a bit again so hopefully I'll be able to get rid of that fairly quickly. 

Went for an hour run today. It felt pretty solid. It was one of those runs where you just feel like pushing the pace a bit, so I stayed under 7s for the first 6 miles. After that I chilled out a bit. The route I took went over the boulevard, down to the college,  back through 700, and then I hit the river trail for the rest of my run. 

85 minutes 5A.M.

It’s been a rough week for running because of the trip but today was great. I went and did a nice long roun in Hanover, Pennsylvania. It’s beautiful here-lots of green stuff, old churches, and colonial houses. Plus, fantastic BBQ and thick ice cream. My only complaint is the humidity. It looks like I hopped in the shower every time I walk outside. I miss the dry heat but for now the food and scenery will suffice for a nice trade off. We’re off to Gettysburg & Philadelphia tomorrow (Monday). Also finished Desert Solitaire. It’s a fantastic book. I would highly recommend it. 

50 minutes 

Had a good run through Philadelphia today. It was so difficult running in the city because I had to stop nearly every 2 blocks due to cars, and the streets were so crowded that it was hard moving. Still it was great seeing all of the historic sites as I ran by. I ran to Elfreths Alley, the oldest residential street in America. Also, I ate a really good Philly cheesesteak after my run, so that was eventful. 

Treadmill too cold to go outside

60: Solid 8 mile loop through hogle zoo and foothill. Felt nice to get off the treadmill and out on the road. Hopefully, the next 2 days won't be freezing, so I can actually run outside. 

56 minutes:

First 6.5 at a solid 6:43 pace. Last mile and a half was slower coming up campus. 

9 miles:

A bit of new knowledge for the future. NEVER eat at the pie before running and NEVER try and run past 11:30 at night in Salt Lake haha. I left at 11:30 got feeling sick, decided to trax back to the U, but trax was closed so I ended up running through downtown salt lake at midnight. It felt a bit sketch but some dude was like rediculously nice and offered me his beanie. Of course, I turned him down. Pretty sure he thought I was homeless hahaha.

New record for distance. I ran up to Hogle zoo, through the foothill neighborhoods, up parleys towards park city, back down foothill, over to sugar house, and then back up to the dorm. It was a solid 1000ish feet in elevation change and I did it at 7:30s. Towards the end I was running up hill and saw a dude coming towards me on a skateboard, or so I thought. It turned out he was just standing sideways and I was tired enough and my vision was messed up enough that I could not figure out what was going on hahaha. I wanted to finish out the last 6 miles and get in a solid 20 but my phone died as I was coming in, so I couln't count the miles.

Good 6 at 6 am! It was too cold for running and my face was ready to shatter. Definitely wrecked after yesterday

Today was freaking fantastic. Me and Ethan got up at 6 and caught the train to trolly. From there we ran to liberty park in 27 degree weather. At liberty we did a really solid workout. We ran intervals. It went 4 minutes at 6 minute pace, 2 minutes at 7 pace, 6 minutes at 6 pace, 3 minutes at 7 pace, 8 minutes at 6 pace, 4 minutes at 7 pace, and then we finished with 4 minutes at 6 pace. It freaking hurt after monday. My legs were cramping so hard and it was freezing out. Still, it felt so so good to run like that. We put in a quick 6 miles at an average of 6:30 pace between the whole workout, and finished it off with another mile to get us to eight. Great way to finish before the break. Now Im looking forward to getting home and eating some turkey.

So good to be home. I did a loop on the river trail. I averaged 7s for the whole run. It's so nice to be out of the elevation and in the warmth. I needed it. Also, I'm dead from monday and wednesday. Hopefully, Ill be feeling better by monday for the next set of workouts. Well see. 

Long day. Solid pace. 7s all around. Last Run before I head back to Salt Lake where the snow is waiting.

Long run through the valley. I think the inversion is getting to me cause I start to get a throat burn everytime I run now. I've heard the inversion effects runners but I just kinda shrugged it off. I'll have to do some research. Also my right leg is feeling on the brink of some weirdness. Last week was a lot at once. I want to pull back a little bit and bring the pace down this week. At the same time, I'm nervous that I really should just be taking the week off for the sake of caution. Not sure what I'll do yet. I guess it depends on how I'm feeling tomorrow. 

Ran with Ethan. We did some crazy hills, kept 7 minute pace average, and had 3 sub 7 miles. We did foothill to Parley's and back. Running only made me a little late for class haha.