Wage War On Slow Running

I broke 9 on the reaper today! Very happy to report an 8:59.58, as timed by my coach. After our warm up we were off and I started with Tyler, eventually moving up and catching Brady at the end. I know he wasn't going 100 percent but still happy about that. It was a great reaper and I'm really happy with my improvement. We then did our cooldown, stretched and did abs.

Great distance run today with my boys Tyler and Ali. The 60 minute run got off to a really fast start. We had a couple of guys who haven't been to practice a lot and we're trying to stay with us, and I guess we just wanted to get ahead of them. We ran to Lindon and down Geneva road towards Utah lake. We went out thirty and and the run ended up lasting 62:16, with a distance of 9.39, pace of 6:38 per mile.I finished with Ali and then we did strides. I did 5 so I could hit 10 miles, and my total distance for the day was 10.05.

Just want to give one more shoutout to Connor who leaves on his mission on Wednesday. I'll miss you dude!

Speed workout! Mile warm up and then a pretty complicated workout: 800 fast, 200 jog, 600 fast, 400 jog, 400 fast, then a mile rest followed by a two minute standing rest, then the same distances again with the same rest and the distances again. Then mile cooldown. It was hard but a great run and I was able to finish 1st on the team.

This morning we did a 60-minute distance run. We ran out to discovery and then farther out, turning around near AF hospital. We discussed on the run whether Marilyn Monroe is still alive or not. I asked Nicole as I passed by and she didn't know. I hit 9.04 on the run for a 6:38 avg. pace. We then did strides, another .52.

PM- Mile warm up and four buddy 800's. Brady was gonna be my buddy but he swapped me out for Aspen. Can't blame him. I ran with Matt and we had a bit of a competiton going with Ali and Tyler. I was able to catch Tyler on a couple laps but in the end he and Ali beat us. Props. Mile cooldown, and total mileage for the day was 13.69. 

On Friday we did a warm up run to discovery park, and then did mile repeats there. Boys and varsity girls did 3 and I believe job girls did 2. It wasn't my best workout and I felt kind of tired but my splits were 5:35, 5:34, and 5:27. We then cooled down back to the high school and our total distance was 8.13.

Today was an 85-minute capillary run. It was definitely tough, but the boys and I hit it head on. We went north on the canal and ran 42:30 out, turning around near Lone Peak. Ali, Tyler, and I essentially stayed together the entire length of the run. We got back early so we finished on he track, and I hit 12.68 at 85 minutes, with a 6:42 average pace. We strechted and had some donuts.

PM- Today I bought some new running shoes at Utah Run, the Saucony Kinvara 7's. I did a 4.09 recovery in the evening with them. I could really feel the extra padding, especially at the end of the run. Hopefully they'll be a good pair.

Reaper today. We did our regular warm-up and then started. I ran a 9:04 and was able to stay in front for most of the run. I finished first as well. A few seconds slower than last week but still very happy with my time. Regular cool down followed by stretching and abs.

Finally back on my running blog! I spent most of this past week at an art camp at BYU and was finally back at practice on Saturday morning. Saturday was a 90-minute capillary run, our longest cap run of the summer. I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep up as well as usual after missing but it was a solid run. I stayed with the guys in front for the entire way out, fell back a bit on the way back a few times, but was able to catch up. Riley, Brady, and I finished on the track together. I stopped at 90 minutes but then went a little bit further to hit 14 miles. The run was 14.01 in 1:30:21 with an average pace of 6:27.

Reaper today! It was pretty good but Brady is back at SUU and Tyler was late, so I didn't have much competiton to push me. I ran a 9:08, so not as good as the past two weeks but still solid. I finished first on the team. With warm-up and cool down mileage was 6.12. Stretched, abs, wall-sits, and shin splint excercises. We had a debate during wall sits whether we could hit faster reapers if we did less of a warm-up. We'll have to test that out one of these days.

Our new varsity uniforms came today and they are sick! After we got ours Tyler, Riley, Brian, and I delivered the other uniforms to our teammates.. It was super fun to deliver them all and it hyped me for racing season a ton!

Tuesday's run was a 60-minute distance run. We ran to discovery park and then made it all the way to AF. There were some arguments on the run but it happens. I back with Riley and eventually others caught up to us. We hit 9.62 and then we did four strideouts for another .52. Kneaders afterwards with Nicole, Mia, Melanie, Tyler, Matt, and Ali. We also saw Preston there. It was a good time.

PM- Speed workout at 5 was 8 buddy 400's. Tyler was my buddy and we were in close competition with Reed and Matt for the entire race. We all pushed each other and thanks to Tyler's hustle we pulled out the win. Regular warm up and cool down and afternoon total was 4.15. 

Wednesday was a speed workout. Mile warmup and then we ran 8 800 repeats. For the first 200 on each we ran a 3-mile pace then sped up to a 1-mile pace for the second, then back to 3-mile pace and then to 1-Mile pace. We had a 400 jog rest in between the all of the first four repeats, a 5-minute standing rest in between the fourth and fifth repeat, then the jog rest in between the last four with a mile cooldown. It was a great speed workout, and I spent most of it running with Tyler, Ali, and Reed. Riley wasn't there because his knee was hurting. I was able to finish first but lots of people on the team did well in the workout.

60-minute run Thursday. We didn't go as fast as usual because the time trial is coming up, but still a good run. We ran to Timpanogos High School and on the way back Riley's knee started to hurt. He told us to tell coach he would be back a little late and then we heard a cry of pain, but we still ran back. We finished the run, did strides, strechted, and we're getting ready to do weights when we realized Riley wasn't back yet. Tyler, Matt, Brian, and I hopped into Brian's Bronco and went to look for Riley. We found him on the east side of Valley View, living off of some grapes he found on Tanner's Trail. That was pretty funny. 

Tomorrow is the time trial, so we did an easy 40-minute run this morning. I ran with Tyler, Matt Morrison and Reed. We had some good discussions, some related to running and some not. We hit 5.29 then did three 200m strideouts where we got faster each one. Reed invited us over for waffles after, and they were delicious. We also watched a Harambe tribute video there that Ali and Brayjo found.

Saturday was our time trial. The varsity hopefuls all took it pretty seriously and we treated it like a real race day. We warmed up 1.6 reviewing the course at Manila pond, drained our legs, and then raced two miles. The girls went first, and then the guys. Tyler started out fast and I stayed with him for a while, but eventually Riley passed us both and I sped up to keep up with him. He got a bit ahead of me, but by the end of the race I was able to get super close and I ended up taking second by one second, as timed by my coach. He got a 10:32 and I got a 10:33. Tyler took third, Brian took fourth, and Ali took fifth. Tyler got 10:47 and Brian and Ali were super close, both with a 10:57. Looking over last years time trial we realized that eight guys on our team this year performed better than the top runner, Riley, did last year, which was encouraging. Very proud of all my boys and the girls did well also. Did a cooldown and then Brian, Riley, and I swam in Manila pond and Riley tried to catch ducks. Then we cooled down further to get back to coach's, ate breakfast, and swam in his pool. The time trial made me super pumped for XC season and I can't wait for Grass Relays. I'm ready. 

Well, summer is officially over and we had our first after school practice. It was 800m relays, with varsity boys doing 6. My team was Matt Morrison, Ali, Brayjo and I, and there were three varsity boys teams and three varsity girls teams. Coach had two girls teams and us run one direction on the grass 800 loop, and two boys teams run the other direction on the 800 loop. We waited until everyone had finished each time to start a new race, and switched direction each time. It was hard running with no guys to push me, but my AP for the six 800's was 5:14 per mile. After coach told us he did the speed workout that way because sometimes in races we may not know exactly where the people we need to beat are. We cooled down (with an unexpected trust catch or two), stretched and did abs.

AM- First morning run today! The first of many great morning runs I'm sure. We met at 6:30 and did about 3 slow miles. I think we did the loop.

PM- We ran 60 minutes. It was our first afternoon distance run and it was tough. I started fast with Riley but slowed up at the end. I got 8.75 in the 60. Stretched afterwards.

AM- Second great morning run. I think we did Apple Grove.

PM- Speed workout. Mile warm-up as usual. First we did 200m of each of our excercises (high knees, butt kickers, bounders, skips, and backwards high knees) and then we did 30 30's. It was hot but we got through it. I got 2.53 in the 16 minutes. Mile cooldown, stretched and did abs.

AM- Third inspirational morning run. We went south, but the run sure didn't.

PM- Ty and I decided to run with Lone Peak today after Steven Boggis invited Tyler to. Got to see some great friends like Zac, Josh, Seth, Craik and others. We ran to PG and passed my house and Tyler's, then went back. We got 8.9 miles in at a reasonably good pace of 7:11. We also got drinks at American Heritage which was kind of funny. Once in a while it's really fun to go on a run with another team.

AM- Morning run to Lindon Park.

PM- We had an easy afternoon workout because of our race the following day. We did 3.9 miles at a slow pace, then three 200's: slow, medium, and fast. 

Saturday was Grass Relays at Westlake high school. It was a great experience, a pretty good race for me, and a good confidence booster for my cross country season. We took the bus to Westlake, jogged the course, and then races began. I warmed up with Tyler about an hour before and then I had the opportunity to run the first leg of our five-man relay team. It was about 11 when boys varsity started. I ran a 10:36 as timed by my coach, finished my leg in 11th place and handed off to Tyler. We did the best we could and we finished twelth at the meet. Brian, Ali, and Riley raced next and we didn't all have the best races ever, but I'm still proud of all of the guys and it was a good day for PG. We definitely did a lot better than last year which is very encouraging. I was also glad I got to see Zac, Josh, and Seth from Lone Peak, Casey, Carson, Patch and Mckay from American Fork, as well as other friends there. Overall it was a good way to kick off the season.

AM- 3-mile morning run for recovery.

PM- Monday was the day before Pre-Region so we did an easier run. 3.8 miles at 7:46 pace. Then we did 3 200's for another .38.

AM- 3.04 morning run.

PM- Pre-Region race at Westlake high school. We got there and warmed up 1.44. We all raced together. It was late at night and I was a bit tired but I was hyped to race and determined to do well. It was a hard, tiring race but I was able to go pretty fast. My first mile was too fast with a 5:07, then I dropped down to a 5:31, and then I picked it up to a 5:21. I need to work on not going too fast that first mile and that will help me be better. Once we were on the track I started speeding up and got hyped enough to pass Tyler. He did a really good job and passed the finish line right after me. I got an official time of 16:02 and he got a 16:04. I was out of it after the race but the varsity was wall super happy and pumped about the race. My previous best 3-mile was a 17:06 at region last year so I PR'd by a ton and was super happy about that. It was a great race. We cooled 1.41 and the a few of the AF girls passed us so that was cool.

AM- 2.55 morning run.

PM- Mile warmup, then we did buddy 800's. It was hard because we had just had a race the day before, but we got through it. I was with Tyler and we came in second to Riley and Reed. I got 3.9 miles. Mile cooldown.