Getting back in shape!

Just nice and easy, legs felt really light.

Today was the annual First Dam run. I felt good going into it, trying to carry momentum from the state meet. In the morning for breakfast I ate some grapes that might or might not have been bad. 

I warmed up a mile and saw Tyler at the starting area. I thought he would be my main competition in this race. We lined up and there was a small lead group of about 8 or so. We were all close and two guys that didn't know what they were doing were leading. Then Tyler made his move and started gaping. Almost at the same time me and a local triathlete named Glenn surged away from the group at around mile 1, which was about 7 minutes. We caught Tyler and I kept my momentum to gap them a little. I held my lead till about mile 3 which I was at 17:40. There they both caught me and we ran as a pack. Me and Tyler alternated the lead and started gaping Glenn. Then at about mile 4, instead disaster struck. I took a big breath so I could make a move on Tyler but when I did my stomach felt it was an overinflated balloon. It wasn't a side ache, it was more of a stomach ache. Also at that time my headache that was minor the whole morning until that point flared. I slowly started loosing Tyler and I tried to make one final comeback but to no avail. Soon Glen caught me and he was going strong, he encouraged me and that helped me keep up but it was temporary. By mile 5 I lost Glen too and just struggled to keep going. The last 400 meters it eased up and I got a strong finish. At the finish I nearly collapsed and had to sit down just hold my stomach and take it in. Tyler finished first a minute ahead of me and Glenn was 4 seconds behind him.

I got home, drank some tea and took a nap. I woke up with my stomach feeling better so i convinced myself to go on 35 mile ride around Benson and Mendon. It was really pretty but I went way fast the last 15 miles cause it was getting late.

Went on a fun 5 mile run on the deer fence trail. Had many rough hills and the pace was not constant but it did feel a little to slow for most of the run.

Legs felt really light and good all day so I'm motivated to up my mileage this week. Went on a long mostly flat 10 miler to Benson and back.Kept a nice constant pace that felt pretty quick. Ran the last 800 of it at r-pace.

Went out with Sylvan towards River height that included a very steep hill. Sylvan surged up it and almost ditched me. I need to add more hills in my runs, I was not ready for that. Sylvan kept the pace fast and we met Mark out running and ran the last mile with him and a 200 meter stride. 

Not sure how to describe this run. I ate a lot before and didn't have to time to wait for it to all digest, so my legs were feeling really light and I was hardly tired the whole run but I just couldn't go fast with a full tank. Towards the end, the puking motions went away and I could run faster but for the first 3 miles i was proabaly going like 9 minute miles, and the last 2 were around 6:30.

Speed workout. Started with a mile warm up on the indoor track and then 5 1000 M on the outdoor track in the snow. A runner I was running with kept boxing me in and not letting me pass him so I didn't really feel the 1000's until the last one, which were supposed to be T-Pace. 3 800s were next. I was around 2:40 on each one. Last were 4 200s at R-pace then a 1 mile cool down. Later I did some strength training at they gym.

Took today off. Did some grueling strength training at the gym though. Decided today that I will run the TOU Marathon this summer for my first marathon and do the Bear Lake Brawl 70.3 Triathlon again. I plan to start swimming on a regular basis starting next week.

I got good 10 miles today. Included a pretty decent hill in the middle and the usually uphill first 2 miles. Felt great. I probably started going to fast towards the end of the run.

Started with an elongated warm-up picking up a runner at his house. We ran to Old Main and did 5 uphill 400s. They were all around 1:37 pace. I was on pace but the others were gaping me on the uphill, while I made progress on the flat sections. I was definitely feeling yesterdays run, but just my legs were tired while my breathing wasn't as labored. Weird, because for me it's usually the other way around.

Rolled my ankle walking down stairs today. It's been hurting pretty bad (I've been limping) and so I'm playing it safe by not running today, which would have probably would've been a 5 or 6 mile recovery run

Went on a very cautious 6 miler with my hurting ankle joint. I think i just sprained it, and since I wasn't using it, it became very stiff during this run. I had a hard time turning corners and really using this leg in general. Sometimes I think my high pain threshold is bad than good for me but I had to run today.

Went on a late night run, not that any of my other runs are much earlier, but I started out at 10:30 and went for four. My foot is no longer stiff and after much icing feels much better. I ran pretty comfortably and ran a a quick pace to make up for the short distance.

My foot has gotten better but to no overdue it this weekend I decided to take today off. Tomorrow is the Turkey Trot 10K. Was not able to do it last year and it is a hard uphill course.

Did a mile warm-up and felt ready for the race. I knew this course would be difficult with the many hills in it. This was the biggest turnout I've seen for this race, there were so many people. I have ran this course before two years ago and finished with a 41 or something close to that. That didn't help though cause shortly after the start we missed the first turn, (like 15 meters from the start) and kept going straight. It was some guy in blue that was leading. I was close and about 10 or so guys had to turn around. It didn't hurt much but I couldn't help laughing at the mistake which probably cost me more time. 

I ran with Paul and JD for the first mile. It was a lead pack of about 8 people, including Sylvan and Henry. The lead guy in blue slowly started surging and gaping the group. That's when Steve shot from the pack and caught him. I surged too and caught the two of them. Now it was just me Steve and the blue guy (I didn't get a chance to ask him his name.) Steve than dropped back on the first uphill, I thought about it too because we were starting too fast but I wanted to see if I could keep up with the lead guy. On the second hill I started fading so I let him go as well. He never really took off fast and left me in the dust, it was much more gradual and I used him to make sure I was going the right way. I came in at 11:50 for the first 2 mile. At the 3 mile mark I was at 18:12 and felt a little discouraged by the time. I was still alone but I was expecting to be caught by my teammates or Steve. At the last hill I glanced back and Henry, Steve, Daniel and some really fast girl were within reach. I started to surge, cresting the hill. After around mile four, which I was at 25:20 I glanced back and their was no one. Here I started getting small side aches and I got too comfortable with my lead so I started to kinda slowly cruise. I probably shouldn't of done that, but at the moment I wanted to save some for a kick. The last .2 I heard steps behind me and saw Steve right there so I started surging. I made it to the finish with a 38:02, not bad but could be better. The winner finished 2 minutes ahead. Steve was close behind while Henry finished with a 39:44. Sylvan and JD finished in the 40s.

Overall I thought it was a good race and now the only races I have to look forward are Indoor Triathlons and worse even, Indoor track meets (running circles on a 200 Meter track bores me more than math) for the rest of the year.

Decided to change my usual route up by including an out and back into North Logan. I don't plan on doing that again any time soon though because at around 4 miles I got attacked by a rather strange dog. I was in a rhythm at a fast pace and boom, it jumped at me and I pushed it away. It wasn't big and if it had a collar I would've pinned it but it didn't. It didn't bite but it didn't go away either. It took me yelling and getting mad at it to go away.

Went on another long run today. Talked to the coach today and he want's to put everyone going to footlocker on the same workout plan as Jerrell. It is full of speed workouts with one like everyday. I don't think it would be good for me to switch my running that drastically nor do I plan on doing this new plan at all, though I might steal some of the workouts for some speed days.

Quick run around town. I've been contemplating doing a 5K tomorrow.

I somehow found the effort to wake earlier than I wanted and run this local 5K. I was expecting a small turnout but in turned out the race did a got job getting people out. I was wanting to make this like a speed workout for the week. I just trained through this race unlike the last few where I gave myself some rest the day before.

After a mile warm up I got to the start. The gun went off and a guy took off pretty quick gaping the the pack I was in. No one moved any moves to get him so I did. I caught him, he ran out of gas and I started pulling ahead. Soon though I was caught myself at about 1 mile. Henry, teammate from the cross country team started running right beside me. I ran with him the whole rest of the race and he kept surging and then slowing down hoping one of those surges would work. With about two blocks to go he surged again and gained about 10 ft on me. About a block left I kicked into another gear and went past Henry did not respond. I finished about 5 seconds ahead of him and 15 seconds on Kodey, a USU biker who used to run cross country in high school. I got in a 2 mile cool down in my racing flats, which I finally fully broke in. I've ran this course a few times before and it is quite notorious for being a bit longer than a 5K, so I was not that disappointed with my time. Later I went on a bike ride up to and past Amalga, leaving me wanting more.

Got new shoes today! There a lighter training shoe that I think I'll start using for workouts more and maybe a few races. Around mid-day I went up to Green Canyon and did 2 1000s, one uphill another down and 4 400s, all at R-Pace. I was running fastest towards the end of the workout, which I think I just needed to warm up more. Later went on a 4 to break in the new shoes.

Did a speed workout today. 6 400s at R-Pace with a 3 mile warm-up and an 800 cool down. Legs felt light.

After taking yesterday off I still felt a little sore during today's workout. It was 5 400s at R-Pace. Me, Sylvan, and JD drove up to the deer fence and met Mark to do them on a very steep hill. I was struggling on the hill and also didn't want to push that much. I plan on doing something easy tomorrow to get back in form with the footlocker race pretty close.

Was a very busy day so I had to stop by the gym and get my run in on the treadmill. I went T-pace to make up for the short distance.

We stopped at St. George to do our run. It was warm and we went at a pretty fast pace on the run, mainly because we were running the Mountain Crest kids.

Ran part of the course with Conner and his coach. The course was very muddy but their trying everything to pack it down for tomorrow.