Gotta Run...

Just an easy 5 today on the canal trail.

Drove up to Provo on the bus for BYU invitational.  We went to Provo track to practice.  I ran 2 miles and then did a few quick 200s to get my legs limbered up.  

Medley Relay was the first race today around 3:00. Our team was ready to break the school record. It was a perfect day! Our 400 runner, Colten, was sick and was throwing up but wanted to run it anyway. We were in the last heat, lane 2. Mitch ran the first 200 and handed off to Presten. It was a bad handoff but they made it in the lane. Presten came around in 3rd and handed off to Colten. Colten fell back to 6th but still ran an good 400 and gave it all he had. When I got the baton I was in 6th place and the first guy was over 50 meters ahead of me. I passed a few guys on the first lap to get in 4th. First lap was a 1:57. I looked at the clock and it read 2:37 so I knew I had to run the last lap in 58 seconds to break the record. I thought, no way was I going to catch the first guy but I gave it all I had. On the final stretch I caught up to the other 3 guys and barely pulled ahead right at the finish line to win! Presten and Colten caught me before I fell over and held me there while we looked at the time. It was 3:35.5, only .4 faster than the school record! Coach got my split time at 1:55.5! That is a second faster than our 800m school record and a 2 second PR off the last medley 800 I ran! We were all so excited and ready to take state!

I ran the 1600 afterwards. Halfway into the first lap I immediately got stomach cramps all over! Kept a good pace for the first 2 laps, but my legs were shot after that. Last 2 laps were 1:10 and 1:12! Way slow! I ran about 4:35.

Basically same workout we did before BYU.  2 easy miles and a few quick strides.  Tomorrow is region and we are ready.

I was so ready for region today.  We had region at Snow Canyon.  The first race was the 1600.  Josh stayed with me for two laps and then dropped back to help his teammate get 2nd.  I won with a 4:28.  Didn't have a long time to rest before the medley.  Colten wasn't feeling good again so we decided to switch Colten and Mitch places.  Colten ran the first 200 and handed off to Presten.  He put us in first by a few yards.  Mitch ran the 400 in 53 seconds but the Cedar guy put them in a 3-4 second lead for the last leg.  Josh was running the 800 and he was around 30-40 yards ahead of me.  I ran the first lap in around 56, which is a little fast.  On the back stretch I pulled within 5 yards of Josh.  I came around the last turn and passed him into the home stretch to win.  I think we got a region record but I don't know the official time.  Somewhere around 3:35 so it could be another school record too.  My 800 split was 1:56.  Our team is looking pretty good right now so we may just pull it out.  Watch out Cedar, here we come!

Iced down Wednesday night when I got home and got in bed after studying for A.P. History test.  I was ready to run the 3200.  I decided I really wanted to go for the school record in the 800 so I didn't push it at all in the 3200.  I just drafted off Jon from Cedar until the last lap and made sure I just beat him at the end.  In the 800 I ran a 59 first lap, which was too slow for the record, then I picked it up and kicked it in at the end to win with a 1:56.40.  Only .18 faster than our school record!  My legs burned for 10 minutes afterwards!  It was horrible but I got the record.  So in all I got 2 school records this year, and 2 region records!  Now it's time for state!  I'm excited!  Our team got 2nd by 7 points.  We messed up in the javelin and a few places, but I know we can take Cedar at state.

Ran a few miles with Joe and Matt today in the wind.

Another short run with Joe and Matt.

This will be my last blog for a few days.  We are leaving for state tomorrow.  Just an easy 3 with Joe today.  I feel like I'm rested and have loads of energy.  I'm ready to explode!

Did the same workout as BYU.  My legs were sore from something I did on wednesday.  I ran a few miles and did a few quick 200s. 

Woke up early and ate a bagel and drank some juice.  Then we went to the track.  1600 was the first race and the girls were just starting when we got there.  I ran a mile to warm up and did some quick strides to loosen my legs up.  The still felt pretty sore.  I didn't know what was going to happen.  I was ranked 2nd going into the race behind Luke Puskedra.  Ran a slow first lap in 1:08 and picked up the pace after that going 1:05, 1:04, and 1:04 for a total time of 4:23.88.  Just one hundredth of a second faster than my PR!  Yay!  And I took 2nd barely in front of Mike from Morgan.  This boosted my confidence because I knew my legs were ok.

Medley relay was later on in the day around 4:00.  We were ranked 1st going into the race but we knew Cedar and Park City were right with us.  We figured if we got a PR we would win.  Mitch and Presten ran the 200s and got it to Colten in 3rd.  Then Colten dropped to 4th when he handed to me.  I got into 3rd on the backstretch and paced my first lap.  Then I went all out the 2nd lap but it wasn't enough to catch up to Cedar and Park City. Even though we got a 2 second PR we still got 3rd!  We ran 3:33.  All of us PRed in our splits.  Ryberg from Park City ran a 1:53 split!
 

Woke up and my legs felt a lot better than the day before. Ate another bagel and got some juice. Then we went to the track and waited for the girls to run all their 3200s. Some guy got hit by the javelin through his leg! That postponed everything for another half an hour. I didn't run till around 10:00. This time I had a good start and kept it up the whole race. Ran a 1:10, 1:10, 1:13, 1:12 for the first mile in 4:45. I started to get tired on the 6th lap and was breathing hard. I was running right with Mike from Morgan for the whole race. I debated whether to pass him or not because I could tell he was tired. I decided to wait. On the last lap I took off and passed him along the backstretch. I got 2nd behind Luke with a 9:33. PR by 8 seconds! Luke ran 8:54! Insane!

The 800 was my last race. Montes from Ogden who was ranked 1st was hurt and didn't run. I was up against Ryberg and Luke. First lap was horrible like always in the open 800 with everyone throwing elbows and cutting people off. I finally broke loose and got behind Luke at the end of the first lap. Just pulled it in the second lap and beat Luke at the end to get 2nd with 1:57. Ryberg won with 1:55.

I felt pretty good about my performances and my legs felt better after all my races than they did before all of them. Our team went on to get 2nd! We beat Judge by 4 points. Cedar won. We got 2nd with only 7 guys! Got home around 12:30

Just a quick mile today to keep my legs somewhat loosened up.  Taking a short rest for a bit and maybe I'll go down to Cali and see if I can break the school records.  Not sure what I'm doing yet.  Anyway I ran in the heat and dived in the river afterwards.  Oooh that is so nice!  I felt so good today!  I just laid there and listened to the river for a half an hour all alone.  It was beautiful! 

I've decided to rest for 2 whole weeks.  I've decided my body really needs the rest before I start building up.  Also, I'm wondering why everyone keeps saying go slow on long runs.  I can see 7:00 pace for really long runs, but if I'm training for cross-country I'm going to be running sub-5:00 miles for a 5k.  How can I do that when I only practice at 8:00 pace?  Anyway, after a long break I'm going to slowly start building miles and work up to 70-80 miles a week over the summer.  Then when the season hits, I'll probably jump back down to 40-60.  And a few weeks before state I'll hit some speed work and back off on the long mileage a bit.  If I'm only going to be running one race that's only 3 miles I'm going to have to have some speed training no matter what.  Sub-5:00 miles for a 5k are not attained by always practicing at 8:00 pace!

Thanks for all the advice!  So according to what you guys are saying I should be running around 60 miles a week up until a few weeks before state and I should keep my speed training throughout the summer.  And that I should push the hard days and keep the easy days really easy.  I'm thinking maybe I will build up a really strong mileage base over the summer while weightlifting and cross-training at the same time.  Anyone know how to coordinate weightlifting and cross-training with mileage?  I have a membership at Gold's Gym and I usually workout and play racquetball and swim laps about 3 times a week.  How should I coordinate that with my workout schedule?  Do I workout on hard days or easy days or on long run days or speed days?  

Also, since I really only mainly care about state, when should I begin changing my workouts in order to peak at state?