The Renegade

Ugggh rough day. Headed out for a three mile tempo on the canal trail, but just ran to the temple as a warmup and started from there. Did a couple of stretches and then I got started. I told myself to be more relaxed the first mile, but it didn't seem to help how I felt. I felt just as bad as last monday and my footing was really uncooridanated and terrible, despite the canal being more of a service road then a trail. Splits were 6:23, 6:32, and 6:19 for a 6:25 average starting slightly uphill. I just haven't had a good workout yet, but at least I've realised that and know that my fitness isn't actually THAT terrible. I just need to do this on a good day. It was also pretty hot, and I feel that after sleeping in, runs never feel as good as they could have felt even with the added sleep. After that was over I took a while to recover and then did two of the hill reps that we did during track to get some uphill running stimulation. They felt quick but I think they were like 34s. Then I did a slow jog all the way home.

Good morning run on the Deer Fence with Spencer and Hayden. Got started at about 8:20 which is early for me, and we started at Prov and headed north for an out back which was backwards to the way I've usually done it. Pretty chill and fun run for the most part, it was great to catch up with the guys. Hayden is training to walk on at USU, (which I guess I sort of am too) and Spencer doesn't leave on his mission to Ghana till the end of the Summer so we'll probably do a lot more running together, and I'm glad to hear that Hayden I have sort of the same goal because we can push eachother a bit. It felt like we hit Dry in no-time compared to doing it the other way, then we extended up the canyon a bit and turned around at three. We stopped a few times so it made it easier. I pushed it a little on some of the last hills but I think the pace was still crappy, not sure because my watch wasn't being kind. So Ragnar in a few days with them and the Freedom Run on the 4th which is great race that will be dominated by #theHJP.

So I got a small job with a surveyor (measuring things for building and maintenance projects) which was yesterday and this morning, so I wasn't able to run then  but for some reason I was exhausted and took a large nap all day. I woke up at about 6 and after awhile decided I did not want to run nearby so I drove up to Logan Canyon for a run that was quite refreshing. I parked by the first gate so I didn't have to run up that big hill and then started and felt pretty good. I tempoed it (relaxed tempo) after a half mile up to the top of switchbacks (just after two miles) with 6:45 mile then chilled out for a mile before turning around and then when I hit left the single track at the bottom of the switchbacks I started cranking it a little more and ran a 6:13 and 5:57 last two. Great run (helps when you just feel good), kind of a pseudo workout but I think something like this is the best way to get an aerobic workout in this time of year and I will prolly try to run this trail a lot fast by the end of the summer. 7:03 avg. and I got five strava segment PRs.

I met Jack at Old Maine today at around 7am to go on a good run with him since he is leaving on his mission in less that a week. It was pretty nice, just the right weather and everything (wish I would run in the mornings more). We kept it pretty easy since he really hasn't run since state, but still ended up with a 7:33 ap. Our course looped up to Lundstrom, then we hit the canal trail by the country club and came down, ran a bit on the xc course for old times sake, then headed up the hill and back to our starting pointing. We saw Johnny driving when were going up the hill haha. I need to run with him soon.

If anyone didnt know I ran on #THEHJP Ragnar team, so that's who I did it with if you were wondering. I road down from Logan with Van 1 (left at 4pm) which was actually pretty fun because I got to hang out with people I wouldn't have. So that took like 5 hours, and then I switched vans in Liberty and then it was my turn to run at about 10pm, and this leg was crazy uphill, from Huntsville to Snow Basin, although it did have one full mile of substantial downhill with was a nice little break. Anyway when I started I thought I could do 7 minute pace but then my first mile was 7:37 and I was like oh crap. The downhill mile was about 6:00 but the average still ended up being way slow (8:00) but it did have 1,700 ft of gain. When I got up to the lodge noone was there and I waited for Connor to come get it from me for like 5 minutes but it's all good, after leg 4 we were locked in 5th place. Napped for about an hour and a half under the stars in Morgan which was nice. That run hurt I'm not gonna lie.

My next leg, Leg 24, was a 2.2 along Echo Dam and into Coalville. It was very cold being around 5am but this was the first leg where it was getting visibly light and you could hear the birds chirping which was cool. So I got the wristband from Denver and tried to go pretty hard and averaged 6:00, so not super fast compared to the 5:00 to 5:15 that most of the team would do for this but I still got 17 kills almost 18. This time it was a much smoother handoff with Baller. So then I walked to the suburban, made myself a delicious PB&J and then knocked out for a couple of hours in the car, shoutout to Talon and Jake for joining me and not being wimps and sleepin in the school. Then at some point I woke up and sun was shining brightly and we our new driver (Denver's mom arrived) and we hurried to the exchange in Park City. It was actually kinda cool to go there again cuz it's been a while, seems like a nice place. So yeah Jake had a good leg and Talon wrecked on Ragnar hill with the fastest time of the race and Brandon B. and Collin M. had crazy downhill legs that looked tough and then Penver Derry killed it. I tried a Gu, it was weird. When I got it was waaay hot (around noon) in Midway which is not the prettiest town, and I opened with like a 6:20 (6:34 on my watch but it didn't connect until a half mile in) and feeling really good I ran like a mile and half in town and then turned towards the hills and as soon as I hit a slight incline my legs SHUT DOWN LIKE SOMEONE FLIPPED A SWITCH and so I crawled along at 8:30 pace up a windy dirt road. At one point it kind of levelled out and I felt better again and could go faster, but then it got steep and I was dying, not gonna lie I had to walk a couple times. Soon I turned onto a red dirt single track which went up to a the top of hill then headed down. I was trying to fly down it and was at a pretty good pace. Then I hit a wider road and my heart palpitation came into play and I started to get stomach problems so now I was crawling DOWN the road. If I was feeling normal I would have been FLYINg believe me. Sped up a bit a fixed my form for the camera then I hit an extremely steep downhill and had to shuffle. At this point the distance was 5.9 and they said it was 6.1 LIARS. This bikepath thingy wound like a snake for another mile with a few surprise hills, then I saw Jake and he told me I had 3 minutes to break 21 and I tried to push it up one lasat hill and then it wound back down and I started to accelerate then the whole team joined me and it was sick. I was goin a bit fast and had a gap on them and felt kind of weird but oh well. It felt so good to be done and celebrate. We won the hs division and got 5th overall.

Gosh dangit another one of my monster posts.