The King of Controversy

AM - 7.5 miles. Back to the same old barefoot warm up and then 6x1000 at 85% (goal: 4:36) up at the dirt mile (or should we call it the dirt kilometer). The times were bumped up today but compared to track, these are still really slow. My times were something like 4:23, 4:38, 4:34, 4:30, 4:29, and 4:36. I wasn't as consistent today but it was still some pretty good times and I'll probably be wishing for this speed come the end of the season. 

PM - 3.5 miles. Arctic Circle run today with the team and then I ran home after weights and plyos. It was hot today but I was able to lead the pack no problem even with a slight sideache. I think I got that fuel (and sideache) from that Moose Tracks Shake eariler at Arctic Circle (where I work now bytheway). Weights were pretty good but plyos were tiring. 

AM - 6.5 miles. 1/1 today instead of a 30/30. My distance was 268 meters (134 meters on recovery). I felt like I did pretty good today. I got to 15 repeats (which is where Coach stopped us). I missed my distance on the 12 and just barely hit it on the 13 but I picked it up and was able to hit it on the next one and kill it on the last one. Last day of Kids Club was pretty fun. 

PM - 3.5 miles. I ran over to the high school today and ran the course for tommorow's time trial to get a feel for it. I saw that Coach Holt was also running it. It was fairly hot (like normal) but the course was pretty tough and it wore me out. I think the most critical part of the race is the grass section between the baseball fields and tennis courts. The grass is very bad on this section and there is a slight uphill towards the tennis courts and a slight downhill towards the baseball field. There probabaly won't be people cheering for you or even watching on this section as well and it will be an easy place to slow down because of this. 

AM - 6.5 miles. Today was our first time trial and I was just really happy with how I did. I beat my old PR on this course by 28 seconds and almost 2 min. faster than my first one last year. I got out fairly quick and me and Andrew stayed pretty close to the leaders for the first lap. On the second lap, I started to take the lead on Andrew and pushed it a little harder trying to catch some of the guys in front of me. I finally passed Krenshaw just before the big hill and was fairly close to Dave, Reed, and Nick coming into the final lap. I caught up with Nick at the top of the big hill on this lap and told him to come with me but he ended up leaving me in the dust so it was kind of embarrassing. I caught up with Reed around the final turn (Nick was gone but Dave was pretty close) and told him to come with me as well but he to started to take off just like Nick. The start/finish line had been moved so it was farther from that turn and I really had to get refocused right here. My body wanted to give up so bad but my heart wanted to beat those guys even badder (I don't think that is a word). I finally sprinted (or at least tried to sprint) at the very end and I barely beat Dave and Reed. I took 6th on the team in this race (basically 8th since neither Abel or Byron raced) which is still way good for me and makes my goal of making Varsity this year a lot closer than I originally thought. I really hope I can continue these results throughout the season and see what I can accomplish.

PM - 1.5 miles. I went out for my afternoon and I just wasn't feeling it so just decided to cut it short today.  

Runner - Coach told us at camp to research a runner and I chose to do Alberto Salazar. Alberto's birthday is actually today and being born back in 1958 in Cuba that makes him 55 years old. He was a great marathoner in the early 1980's, winning the New York Marathon 3 years in a row from 1980 to 1982. He also won the Boston Marathon in 1982 in an epic battle and one of the closet in Boston Marathon history with Dick Beardsley. Salazar was also succesful in high school (trained with the Greater Boston Track Club) and college (University of Oregon) where he was a state cross country champ in 1975, was on a NCAA championship team in 1977, and was an Individual NCAA champion in 1978. Alberto did not win many more big races after his Marthons in 1982 and now he contiunes his love for the sport as a coach. He currently works for Nike on the Nike Oregon Project, a program where he trains a group of some of the best long distance runners in the world. Some of these runners include: Mo Farah (the 2012 5k and 10k Olympic Gold Medalist), Galen Rupp (Silver Medalist in the 10k in 2012 Olympics), and a more recently added Cam Levins (2012 NCAA 10k and 5k champion). He also coaches Mary Cain but not as part of the Oregeon Project. That is just some basic info about Alberto Salazar.

AM - 8.5 miles. Half mile warm up and then 8 miles with 3 miles tempo (goal - 6:40 to 7:00 min. pace) at the river trail. All of us level 2's started out together but eventually our group narrowed down to me, Nick, Andrew, Preston, and Jake T. It was a really good tempo and we were actually going a lot faster than our intended pace. I forgot to put it on auto lap but our total tempo time was 19:22 which is like an average of 6:27 per mile. Very good tempo and it was so much easier with a big group. The run back up 2450 was tough because I was so worn out after but I mangaged to make it back.

PM - 3 miles. Normal three with the team and then weights and plyos afterwards. Sad turnout today for this run. 

AM - 7.5 miles. Barefoot warm up at Little Valley Park and then 3 miles barefoot on grass and 5x1 min. hills and 3x30 sec. hills. Pretty sad turn out today, just like any park day. I felt like I did pretty good today on my hills. The grass run was pretty good but the grass was terrible at that park. On the hills, I pushed as hard as I could and I was able to get farther up the hill than last year when we did this hill. I even led all the boys (we just had one big group today) on the last minute hill for me. The 30 sec. hills were kind of crappy because I was feeling a little crappy after those minute hills. I felt light headed and my legs were tired from the previous hills but I still pushed pretty hard up those hills. My right achilles has bugged me a little bit the last two days and I felt a little shin pain a few days ago but my foot pain is starting to get better so that is good. This week has been great and I've really noticed how much I've improved this summer this week. I've gone from being the back to middle pack on workouts and races and now I'm starting to push up with that front group a little more. 

AM - 4 miles. I went and did laps around the Pine View Middle/Pamorama Elementary track at about 8 this morning. It was a nice slow run. My achilles is a little buggy still and my foot pain isn't all the way gone but it was a good run.