The Renegade

Okay run today for coming on to my third week of consistent solid training. I went out about 2 with Mark near my house and then realised I was feeling to sluggish for that pace so I turned around and ran the river trail (I started feeling better there) before going back to the school. When I got to the track I did 2x200m in ~31.5 and 32. Then another half mile on the infield without shoes on.

6x600m today. We got in a half mile warmup, which wasn't quite enough, but oh well. After some drills we started. I pretty much ran the whole workout with Davis on my heels. There it is:        

6x600m w/ 200m jog in a 1:30 rest. 

2:13, 2:14, 2:06, 2:12, 2:13, 2:00

I didn't really feel like I was exerting myself. 1.5 miles after with a mile of strides, then weight room and another mile on the treadmill.

1 mile before our run. We started going up canyon road and then decided to run the Shoreline trail. That started a little over 3 miles in. It was pretty tough and slow going up the big hills and then when it started to level off my need for a restroom did the opposite. Luckily we found a port-a-potty and that made running feel a lot easier. We then ran through campus and on the road by the temple to get back to the school. 2x200m in 34 and 31, with another 400 after to round it off. That left me pretty exhausted and I have a 3 mile tempo tomorrow, so hopefully that goes okay.

One thing I can say is, today I learned my lesson. Half a mile wzarmup before practice, and then we ran to the tempo where I did a 3 miler. I ran it 20:24, which I know is way slower than it should be with the shape that I'm in. That really taught me not to go so long on recovery days, or else it isn't a recovery day anymore and it takes away from the quality of my workout. I would have felt alot better if I had just run about 8 miles the day before. We jogged back and I did a an extra miles worth of strides and jogging in between. Then hip drills.

Good recovery day. I didn't get to go as long as I would have since I had to do Driver's Ed stuff after school, but I think it was good that I didn't. I felt alot better than I expected after yesterday. I didn't feel amazing but good compared to what I expected to feel like based on how I felt all day at school. I just calculated the pace and it came out as a 7:53 but that's cool, it's been one of those weeks, and recovery runs are supposed to be slow anyways. I basically did the same loop as last Monday through River Heights, and the dirt road was in perfect condition compared to last time. I tried to hit as much grass and dirt as possible. Later I found out I could have got in 15 more minutes of running or at least strides before I had to go but oh well. Tomorrow 200m repeats in place of super long Saturday. I geuss i already had that on wednesday anyways.

I'd say today was an okay way to end my training week. Mark, Coach Strand and I met for 8x200m @ ~800m pace w/ a 200m jog in a 1:30 rest. That's what I did. They went another two. Here were my times:

35.6,     37.0,     34.1,     34.2,     32.7,     35.9,     34.9,     30.9

On numbers 4 and 6 I ran on the infield and just started a few feet back from the line because I was feeling slightly inflamed in the lower legs. That workout went by pretty fast. Definitley a more anaroebic workout, like the hills almost, but I think the hill workout is more fun to do. After that Mark and Coach ran a mile with me and left for a trail run (I would have joined them if I wasn't so close to my mileage goal) and then ran another mile and a half in a loop downtown. My breathing was really low and I felt like I could go farther, but I decided that I shouldn't increase my mileage yet just to be safe. The sun came out when I was coolibng down and it was pretty warm. Nice day other than the wind.

Today I didn't feel as jazzy as I expected to, which was kind of a dissapointment, but what can you do, you know what I'm sayin? I tried to hit as much dirt as possible, so I ran the whole canal trail, went halfway up the cliffside trail and ran down on Sumac Dr., and then I saw another trail that just led up to somome's backyard, so I ran up the hill a bit and ran down Canterbury Dr., and then ran a dirt trail through the nature park and nack on the dirt road in River Heights. It was a really nice day, and smelled exactly how it should after it rains. I wish I was feeling better though. My stomach was kind of bothering me and my lower legs were super tight to the extent where I felt some lactic acid seeping in, or I geuss it was still left from Saturday's workout. 2x200m strides after I got back.

Good workout we did 4x1000m w/ 200m jog in a 2 min rest. My times were 3:47, 3:46, 3:41, 3:37. I felt pretty good the whole time, and I started 100m behind Vickie at the beginning so it was good motivation to see how long it would take me to catch up. I just felt smooth the whole time so that was good. In the last stretch of my final repeat Mark and Coach Strand came up behind me and I just stayed with them for the last 50 meters and that gave me a quick finish. My average was 3:42 I think so that was about ten seconds lower than last time which was a 3:52, so I didn't go over my last average once. I'm glad training's coming along and I expect to keep improving alot based on the severity of my injury and what it did to my fitness, along with the fitness I was at right before it happened. (I forgot to say that my warmup was 3 miles in all). After that we ran 2 miles with a miles worth of strides which consisted of 4x100m w/ 300m jog. I felt better on those the more I did them and it was just fun to go all out. I ran those all around 14, but I was booking it. Some hip drills and lifting afterwards.

Today's run turned out to feel pretty good. Out usual small group drove up to Logan Canyon and ran the Logan River trail. The temps were in the 50s, and although we were in the shade the whole time, it felt just right. We started from 1st Dam and ran 4.5 miles to the 3rd Dam campsite. I felt pretty dang tight starting out, but it got better the further into the run we got. At 3rd Dam I stopped and waited for Mark and Coach Strand while they went out another half mile and came back. Not because I was tired, I just didn't want to run too many miles, since I'm already lopsided this week now. The trail was in pretty good condition, just a little mud here and there, and we took a way different from last time I ran it with Campbell brothers and Johnny and Thomas. We must have taken the steep route that time, because this was pretty easy in the last mile before turnaround. On the way back we were booking it, but I still felt pretty loose. When we got to the big hill we booked it up that too and I felt good. We skipped the strides this time around. Overall satisfying training run.

Great day today. We had an easier workout, but I think it was just to taper a little bit for Simplot. Jogged an 800 while waiting for practice to start, and then we did a 2-mile warmup to the fairgrounds and back. Our workout was

 3200m @ harder pace + 3x(400m @ 5K pace + 2x200m @ chosen pace)

The rest was full recovery after all sets, including the 2 mile tempo, with a 1 min recovery between the 400 and 200s. Harder pace for the 2 mile means still pretty chill. Coach wanted me to do it in 13:16, but I ran it in 13:08, and he wasn't too happy about that. Here are my times for the whole workout. (He said it was kind of a race simulation.) 

3200- 13:08 | 800 splits - 3:18, 3:17, 3:18, 3:11

Set 1- | 400- 1:28 | 200s- 36, 34

Set 2- | 400- 1:21 | 200s- 34, 32

Set 3- | 400- 1:25 | 200s- 33, 29

That workout was pretty dang easy in that I didn't have to dig deep or get motivated at any part, but it wasn't supposed be that way. On the 2 mile Vickie ran right behind me the whole time until I sped up in the last quarter or so, and she hit the right time, so I should have just stayed with her. The 400s were probably the hardest part of workout, and they weren't even bad. The second one hurt, but just because I took it too hard. All the 200s were simply just fun, because they were the only reps where we were aloud to go as hard as we wanted them. I felt super loose by the end, and as you can see I pretty much went H.A.M. on the last one. 2 mile cooldown after. I would've done more plus gone in the weight room but I had to leave at 4:35. (Dang piano) Looks like I have to go super low tomorrow if I wanna go longer on Saturday without going over on mileage this week. 😭 Now there's a struggle a freshman will never understand.

30 min. of running at just under 8 min pace,  tried to run on as much grass as possible (Willow Park and Woodruff). After that just a couple of strides. I felt better than I expected to, but I was dissapointed when I saw how slow I was running. Oh well I haven't had any lower mileage days until today. 

Well, we had a little miscommunication for our run today but it worked pretty much okay. I thought we were running in Green Canyon but we were actually running the Deer Fence. Long story. Anyways Mark and I ran for 2 miles and then we ran into Vickie who ran with us for 5 minutes until Mark had to turn around. So I just kept going until I hit Providence Canyon, and since I was dropped off, I ran home from there. The downhill was'nt kind to my shins though, and I could feel it the whole time in Providence, and I had to stop and stretch them every once in a while. I was alos noticing some stirrings in the metatarsal area of my left foot. Frustrating. The run felt pretty long, but only because I thought it was only going to be around 7, so I was quite pleased when I mapped this and saw how long it actually was. I geuss it woulden't have mattered anyway, as long as I'm within three miles either way of my weekly goal. Good week. I geuss the only thing is that I always feel injury looming over my head now. I just took an ice bath, so hopefully that helps my foot and my shins.

Workout in the late a.m. today. We warmed up 1.5 and then did our stretches and everything before the workout. On the track we did 8x400m w/ 400m jog in a 3 min rest. Felt pretty good, but it wasn't that hard of a workout. My times:

80,   79,   80,   78,   77,   75,   77,   70       Avg.- 77

Coach told us to run them around mile pace, and I geuss I'm okay with what I was running. Of course the last one was 4:40 pace, but the that doesn't count (last one fast one, right?). This definitley wasn't as hard as the last set of 400s we did, which had 2 min rests. I ran most of them with Keith and Vickie somewhere close behind me on all of them, and it was definitley nice to have that extra support. 3 mile cooldown, and then 4x100m strides in 13.89, 14.37, 13.53, and 14.12. They didn't feel too good. 400 more to round it off, with hip drills and lifts. 

Oh boy, I'd have to rate this in my top fives worst feeling runs ever. Mark and Vickie really wanted to go out toward Mendon, so I went with and we went out about 5 miles and turned around. In the first half we were going at a faster pace than I'm usually comfortable with, but luckily Mark took off when we turned so he wasn't dictating the pace. So we took the fastest possible way back which was 4 miles instead of five. It was slower, but still totally grueling the whole way. My form was broken so bad I'm sure, and my legs felt incredibly heavy and fatigued. I would much rather race a fast 5K and feel good than do that again. I geuss it was dehydration and soreness from our workout yesterday, plus I needed a restroom the entire time back. When we were finnally done we did some 100m strides on the turf barefooted, and they didn't feel too bad at all. Then some hurdle mobility which I missed most of in the bathroom, and some hip drills and core. Good day. I don't feel to bad as I'm writing this and my shin splints aren't really there, so hopefully it stays that way tomorrow. I'm planning on just an easy slow run tomorrow, around five miles. 

2 mile warmup and then a 400m race pace stride in 73, so like 4:42 pace. I geuss you could say that was quick seeing that my PR is 5:15 but I'm hoping to break that tomorrow, just probably not by that much. then 2x200 in 32 and 35. The first one I ran with Mark and that's why it was so quick. So both pretty fast but I was practicing going out aggressive on all of those. I literally pretended I was racing. Then I did another 2 miles and when I got back coach had me do some barefoot strides on the field and hip drills and core, along with practicing a couple starts, maybe 30-40 meters with Mark and Johnny. Those were good for getting used to aggressiveness because they were with someome significantly faster than I am. Well, I'm excited for tomorrow, and I like to see that I was naturally going out so quick, because I don't usually start races too fast. I think I'm ready for a PR!

 We left the school at 1 and got to Pocatello at around 3. Mile warmup and then we did some fast strides on the track, which was a really weird feeling. After that we do some stretches and a half mile cooldown. My shins sort of hurt. My race was at around 8:15, so it was 5 hours away. It seemed to go by pretty fast though. On my warmup I felt really good, and I was energised as heck by the time we lined up. 

The gun went off and I got boxed in on the first lap, which frustrated me because I fully expected to have a better start than anyone (who doesn't), but I worked my way out of it, it just took a little more energy. Quarter one was a 73, which made me glad because that's exactly what I ran for my stride yesterday, so I was ready to go out fast. The whole race felt like a frenzy, and I was pushing it pretty hard the whole time, and I had to, because I started feeling lactic acid in my legs after lap 1. Coming through the 800 I was going at a 5:04 pace, so that got me kind of excited, but of course the race slowed down. I never got passed though, and I'm still on a streak of not getting passed on a race once since indoor started. I feel like my kick could have been better since I was distracted trying to see what the clock said, which stops after the first person crosses the finish line (pretty irritating). 

Well, that was a PR which will definetley get dropped by a lot in the next few months. It's kind of funny to think that with all the countless miles that I've ran since I PR'd last April, I've never ran one of those as fast as I did today. 

I didn't get chance to cooldown before we left  to eat, but after we got to where we were staying we ran a couple of miles in the dark at some soccer fields nearby. 

7 miles on a dirt road outside of Pocatello. It was uphill for the first half, and I was feeling really tight in the shins, and dehydrated. So Mark and Coach dropped me and I pounded it out for the next half hour, shins hurting the whole way. It was easier in the breath in the way back but not on the legs. I was just not having a good time. I was tired and by then my whole body was tired. We stopped at the ISU outdoor track before we got back to the arena. Did some 100s with 300 jogs. Gosh those sucked. 

Didn't run today because my shins hurt to much and I was feeling groggy from sleeping in, plus the weather was really nasty. First snow since December. Really it was for my own good because I know that if I keep running through my shin pain, my season will be over before it's even started. I probably won't run on Monday either, just for extra measure.

One more day off to top off the small break, just for good measure. My shins feel a lot better though.

Tough run today. I jogged a half mile while I waited for coach to show up and he got there and we stretched, ran to the dump road, and then did a bunch of dynamic stretches. It was just me and coach, so he paced me. 3 mile today, just like a few weeks ago. I'll lay the splits down first. 

3 miles- 3:17, 3:02, 3:27, 3:11, 3:26, 3:21 / Avg. 800- 3:17 / Avg. Mile- 3:34  

Total: 19:45

So after that first mile, I fell hard because it really put me in the hole. I can't believe I ran a 3:02 in a tempo, because that's what I was averaging in 800 reps last month. So not a good idea. And I was the one wearing the GPS watch so I should've payed more attention. I really started to hit that wall halfway through, so most of it sucked really bad. I ended up way over my lactic threshold, seeing that my legs were completley filled with that nasty stuff by mile 3. It's just weird to think that that hurt worse than a race and I was racing 17:50 for the same distance last cross season. I geuss theres a difference between feeling good and going fast and feeling good because your going easy. Different kind of fitness too. At one point we were running at a 7:05 pace, and that's really demoralizing because I remember going sub-7 on easy runs in the summer with Mark and feeling good. I geuss the three day break could've done something to me also.

Anyways we ran back and did some 100m strides with 300m jogs in 14.7, 14.7, 14.76, and 14.6. Really slow and sluggish on the jogs, and the strides were basically all out. Then we did some hip drills and hit the weight room, where I did some more reps and sets than usual, mainly because I was angry about the workout. 

Close to an hour easy on the CT-CS-RH loop. (too lazy to write it all out,) I felt tired, but I ame into this week just knowing that it was going to be tougher, even with lower mileage. I started to feel okay once it turned doenhill, as always. 4x100m strides on the turf barefoot after.

Big workout today. 1.5 miels warming up, lots of stretching, and then the prescribed workout was as follows:

(2x1600m @ 6:30pace w/ 400m jog in 3 min rest) + full recovery +  (3x800m @ 3:00pace w/ previous rest) + full recovery + (3x200m @ chosen pace w/ 200m jog in a 90 sec rest) 

Data

Mile #1 400 splits- 92, 96, 98, 97 / Time- 6:23

Mile #2 (forgot split buttton) Time- 6:22

800s- 2:56, 2:53, 2:51

200s- 29.89, 31.36, 29.62

So I didn't get a lot of sleep last night, and it probably took from my workout a bit, but ti's fine. The miles were slower than I've done for some of the 2 mile tempos and they didn't feel as good, but I was tight. Then for the 800s it was nice to push it and go a little faster. I'm glad I was able to run them so fast, and they didn't feel too bad either. I could feel a big blister forming under my left foot, and it was kind of weird because I've been running on those shoes for every workout since january and never had a problem and they're not worn out because they only have 40 miles on them. I change into my spikes for the 200s. The first one actually felt pretty controlled so it surprised me that it was a sub-30 because I don't run a lot of those. I noticed that the spikes felt a little too big, something I didn't realise before even racing in them. There seems to be too much extra space in front of the toe, but it should be okay, they just don't feel as fast as they should. After that I realised I had to go so I did an extremely short cooldown. 

Good recovery run. I did some loops on grass fields in nearby parks so most of my running was on soft surfacces. Afterwards I did some short strides.

Ran the Deer Fence trail in the late afternoon. It was kind of windy but once you get running it isn't cold at all. I didn't feel too good until the last 2.5 miles maybe on the way back. I went further than I ever have before on it, and that's to the bottom of the huge downhill slope and then turning around. It was not fun going up that, since I was running 9:30 pace at best. Then after I crossed the road again and got up the hill over Providence, I felt pretty good. It seems like even when I'm having a sucky run on this trail, I always start to feel quicker on the way back, and it's more uphill than going south. My blister got worse throughout the run, and after being still for a while and getting my haircut, I could hardly walk on it. Also my right leg feels worse. I wish I would've iced it more this week, but I'll do that a lot more from now on. I'm just really worried I'll have to take a another break that's bigger this time and loose all of my momentum going into outdoor.