The King of Controversy

PM - 6.5 miles. 3x1600 at 85% (goal - 5:35) with 400 recovery and 1.5 miles warm/cool. Terrible workout today. I wasn't mentally tough and I ran like junk. I was right where I wanted to be on the first one but the next two were just the opposite of what I wanted to do. My times ended up being 5:41, 5:53, 6:10. I guess it was a great learning experience. You have to fail sometimes I guess.

AM - 3 miles. First morning run of winter training and my first morning run in forever. My foot hurt a bit but it was a great, slow run.

PM - 5 miles (trail - Mustang Pass). I decided to go to the trail to see how my foot would hold up and also because I didn't really want to run alone. It turned out to not be the greatest decision. My foot hurt a lot especially at the beginning (it kind of faded as the run progressed but it never totally went away). I guess I'll have to keep laying off the trails until my foot is totally better. 

PM - 9 miles with 18 min. AT tempo (goal - 5:44). I felt like I ran okay today. It still wasn't a great workout but it was definitely an improvement from Monday. I started off nice and I was doing good but not great for the first half of the tempo. I was just behind Preston but then I really started to struggle and I started falling of Preston a little bit but I just kept trying to refocus and get back where I needed to be. I was still struggling and the gap between me and Preston grew. Luckily, Jake caught me on the nice downhill by the Boulevard and I went with him and I was able to get rolling again and we started to catch Preston. However, as we started going uphill I started to struggle again but I kept fighting back and I finished pretty well. I still have a lot to work on but I did a lot better today. Foot hurt a bit at beginning but never bothered me during the tempo or after.

AM - 3 miles. Good morning run and foot felt great.

PM - 5 miles. Old Man Hills (2x800). Solid workout today. It wasn't great and I need to dare to push up with those top guys but I felt that I did pretty well. My times were 2:45 and 2:39. I sat back for the first 400 and tryed to push the last 400. It turned out pretty good but I definitely need to work on staying more relaxed. I've started to notice recently that my back tightens up as I start running faster. I'm going to try to work on that a lot more. Great run and the foot felt great.

PM - 4 miles. 3 miles easy and striders. Exploration run through Sandbergs. It was a good run but my right foot got all jacked up. It wasn't just my injury but my whole foot hurt so yeah. 

Race - I did the St. George 5k today with Paul, Nick, and Preston for fun and to help us hit our tempo (and some of the other guys just came to do their tempo). We got in a 2 mile warm up and got to the starting line. When the race started, we all got out fast and so did 3 other older guys. Nick, Paul, and Preston were right up with those older guys for the first little bit but I wasn't far behind. That group didn't last long and at about half a mile 2 of the older guys took off and the race started to spread out. I was just behind Preston at this point as a kid about our age passed me and started running right with Preston. It stayed like that until the turn around point as Preston started pulling away from the kid and I gave a good push as well to pass and pull away from him and he never challenged us again. The rest of the race was uneventful as I stayed where I was at, just a few seconds behind Preston (I guess it ended up being 6). I finished 7th overall and so PV took the 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th spots. I also finished 3rd in the 15-19 age division and got a legit plaque since Nick snuck into the top 3 overall. Super fun race  that I hope to do again but I was unable to hit my tempo of 5:24.