The King of Controversy

3 miles and then 4 stadium hill sprints and 4x100's. Easy run with the 2450 loop. Then a little workout afterwards. I can't believe that Sergio was running with us the whole way and beating most of us. The future looks bright for our team with young runners like him coming up especially with the current strong freshman class.

My favorite run and our normal pre-race run: Sandbergs. We ran only 4 miles again with 4x200's so it was a really easy run. It was scary though as the freshman almost died but luckily Matt was there to save the day and sacrifice part of his shirt to the monster that came out of Sandbergs.

Same old warm and cool (2 mile warm, 1 mile cool). 2 seconds slower than my time from last week but then again it was a little bit longer than the Cedar course. Legs a little sore, didn't have my head in the game (or race, I guess), and my form was really crappy but other than that (oh wait, that pretty much covers everything). Just kidding. I was satisfied with my time but I just wish I had finished better. I'm still trying to figure out how to kick because I haven't hardly kicked on any of my races except Hurricane. I know I could cut off a couple of seconds and could of cracked my PR again if I had kicked so I'll try to figure that out for region.

5 miles with 4x200.

2 miles T + 1x1000 I + 1x400 R + 4x200 R w/ Pizza warm/cool. The workout was all on the track. My legs were a little sore but I felt like I was able to do it okay. 

PM - Only 3 miles to hot nails and back. Not the normal pre-race run this time sadly.

I felt really good with my race today. It was a new PR for me on this course but sadly 2 seconds short of my normal 3 mile PR and 13 seconds off of my goal for this race. My legs felt really good today but I started to feel the burn in my legs about halfway through the big lap and was going to slow down. Luckily Coach's quotes that he gave to us hit me hard and I told myself that I could give a little bit more. It really helped me push through the pain and played a big part in how I raced today. I was a little disappointed that Jake was sick though because one of my goals for me this season was to beat him (in a official race with other teams because I have beat him at the time trial). Our JV boys finished off our season with an awesome race and won easily with Matt's number 1 finish and many other top 10 finishes but sadly they don't give trophys or medals to the JV teams. Our JV girls were good but sorry to say did not win. Both our Varsity teams took second with great races from Mike and Stoner who finished 1st and 2nd respectively in their races. Can't wait to race again in California in a couple of months.

PM-Green Springs run. I really hated this run coming into it but I really loved that we flew down the hill on the way back and were running a 6:30 pace which made me laugh because that is faster than my race pace. 

PM-Workout on the track today after team pictures on the PV. We ran an 800, 600, 400, 200, 400, and then another 200 in that order. We were supposed to get faster every time and I was doing really well but died off on about the last 400 and was really disappointed with that. Pizza warm and cool.

PM-Ran to the middle school and did wave hills which are just hills in guess what?...a wave shape. I didn't run as good as I should have but still felt a little tired by the end.

I almost didn't do this run because I was being lazy today but at about 7 pm decided to run towards Arctic Circle and was going to turn back there but I felt good so I pushed all the way to Target and back to my house which is about four miles. I had a lot of fun with this run because I was alone and it was cool and the downhill from Sunrise Tire to Target was so nice and I felt like I was just flying. Super fun run.

PM-A workout called Master Blasters which is just a relay of 200 meters with teams of three. We were supposed to have a team with a level 3, 2, and 1 but my team was Andrew, Logan, and me. We didn't finish last but didn't finish first either. My legs were dead even before we started and by the end I wasn't even running my normal run pace. Harts warm and cool.

After getting to our hotel, we ran around a high school and got some mean words from some very cool soccer players. I felt pretty good even though it was freezing and was really satisfied with my striders afterwards even though the grass basically froze off my toes. I went with the Freshman Five (only four because Preston wasn't and isn't ever with us) to TGI Fridays later that night and I paid over half the tip which was more than we were supposed to pay anyways. We gave Coach a hot wheels car with our signatures and a poorly spelled Happy Christmas note on the box (praise Nick for that spelling).

Today we did a hill workout up and down the Foremaster hill by Sunrise Tire. It was my first time ever doing it and boy it was a killer. I ran over there with all the Varsity guys but I got left in the dust when we started running the hill. We were supposed to do the hill 5 times and I was dead after the first one. I felt really weak when some of the Varsity girls started passing me despite starting after me. Luckily it only happened once but they got really close on the last one. On the way back, I almost got passed by them again because I was running so slow but I got back to my usual pace and they didn't get close again.

We ran a 6 mile long hill workout into Green Springs but we ran down like we were going to Sandbergs or running the 2450 loop backwards. We turned around just after the curve at the bottom of the hill and ran hard but not quite tempo (although it was about my tempo pace) up the hill. I was able to stay up with the Varsity guys until just after we went under the freeway. I didn't fall too far behind and ran with Andrew the rest of the way to our turn around. Casey had helped a little bit in me getting to the top because after stopping for a little bit came up from behind and pushed, literally pushed, me into the ground. Okay, he didn't push me but that faster pace that he pushed me to was pretty much as bad. I even stopped shortly afterwards and at my turn around because Casey's push was so bad. The rest of the run flew by as I left Josh and Andrew in the dust because they hit every single stop at the cross walks while I only hit two on the way back.

AM-Normal Arctic Circle run. Missed yesterday's morning run but got there today. Super excited for these to be back even though it was pretty cold. 

PM- Today we did the 5 mile mall loop run thing. It wasn't too bad at first and I felt really good but just after we passed Slickrock park, my stomach killed and my pace was really slow the rest of the way. We had striders after and I felt really good again. I was able to run them at a fairly strong pace and my stomach did not hurt.

AM-3 miles. Same old Arctic Circle run. I ran in shorts and a t-shirt and it was really cold. I should probably wear at least a long sleeve shirt next time.

PM-Somewhere around 7 miles. We had a workout today that was supposed to be kinda like a Michigan because it was a speed change workout. We started and ended as always with Harts warm and cool then we did the workout in a pyramid style with the minutes (1,2,3,4,3,2,1) going at a hard pace for each time followed by a recovery of the same time. I was feeling really good for the first half and was able to catch up with Josh and run with him (or pretty dang close to him) for a lot of the middle minutes. I died off though on my last 2 minute (just like every other workout or race) and wasn't able to catch back up. I was really satisfied with how hard I pushed today, I just need to work on finishing workouts and races. 

I ran on my own today at about 4 pm. I was going to run with the Freshman Five but didn't know when they were going exactly. I had my mom drop me off up in the desert in Green Springs because it seemed like a good alternative to roller coasters. I really tried to work on my form today especially on the hill running. I worked really hard on getting my knees up and keeping my breathing calm because it always seems as if I'm dragging my feet and I get breathing so hard even when I'm not even running hard up a hill. It really helped me keep a steady pace up and after the hill and kept me from slowing down afterwards. I ran back down to my house and on the way saw some of the runners that ditched us for the play. They seemed surprised to see me as if they were the only ones who ran towards the end of the day (sheez those actors).

Today we did a 2000 time trial, 2x1000, 3 min rec, with Harts warm and cool. I was really happy with my workout today. Coach really wanted us to focus on running our average 1000 time (which I didn't know because we haven't done 1000's on the grass in a while) and then matching it or beating it on the other ones. All I could remember was some of my times from early in the season which were around 3:40. I crushed those times though with times of 3:20, 3:21 (a time of 6:41 on 2000), 3:21, and 3:19 sequentially. I was so happy with those times and was really surprised when some of the youngsters were keeping up with me and Sergio, I think even beat me. It's really cool though because it means we are still going to have some tough JV runners (if they don't make Varsity first).

AM - 3 miles. Nice and easy Arctic Circle run. A little cold but not too bad.

AM - 6.25 miles. We did the Michigan this morning because of scheduling conflicts. My time was somewhere around 29 minutes flat so not quite B standard but a lot better than last time where I got about 29:40. I was feeling pretty good at first and was able to stay about 100 meters behind Hunter. I lost him sadly about halfway through. My legs weren't super tired like some of our workouts but my arms sure were. I was really mad at myself for not being mentally strong and letting my form to go all wacky that last of the workout. I was still satisfied with my run though. I definitely want to get B standard next time.

PM - 3 mile grass run at 2450 park. We ran through the dreaded desert where everyone hurts themselves. I think we are in the clear though this year as no injuries have been reported yet from this run. I really liked this run because it was fairly easy and a lot more comfortable than wearing shoes. But it is more dangerous because of the dog poo that some people stepped in (ha Coach).