The King of Controversy

My goal for this week is to just go have some fun. The trouble I have been having is that I just start worrying too much and start thinking too much and it holds me back. I'm just going to go out and run not think and have fun and not worry. 

AM - 8 miles. 4x1600 at 85% (goal - 5:35) with 3 min. recovery and 1.5 mile warm/cool. I struggled again today. Not much else to say but that I just need to find my groove again. My times were 5:41, 5:39, 5:41, 5:52. 

PM - 3 miles. Great shirtless run with my bro.

AM - 3 miles. Good morning run. I mostly ran by myself because I didn't want to go fast with the rest of the group. Good yoga session after.

PM - 7 miles. 16x200 at mile race pace (goal - 35.5) with 1-2 min. recovery and 1.5 mile warm/cool. I love these quick workouts since speed is my biggest strength. My times were 37.08, 36.98, 36.46, 35.61, 35.88, 36.17, 35.51, 35.54, 35.06, 34.82, 33.99, 31.95, 30.98, 30.84, 32.18 and my watch messed up on one.  I was hoping for a faster time on the last one but I got trapped in but it's all good. Super fun workout and not too hard.

AM - 3 miles. I felt pretty good.

PM - 6 miles with 15 min. LT tempo (goal - 6:24). We got out very fast today and I felt that really ended up hurting me. I fell off a ton and my average pace was like 6:20 or something like that. Very terrible workout. 

AM - 3 miles. Same old cold morning.

PM - 5 miles trail. We went over to this trail in Middleton. It was pretty sandy in some parts which made it kind of difficult. Overall though, a very fun run. 

AM - 3 miles. I felt very good this morning. Very good morning.

PM - 4 miles. 3 miles with striders. Nice slow run today for once. We just followed the girls to Sandbergs so it was very slow for most of the run. Striders felt great.

Warmed up about 1.5 miles with some of the guys and then got to the line. We warmed up maybe a little late but it meant that we didn't have to wait very long for the race to start. 

Race - Mile 1 - 5:55. When the race started, me and Preston just took it pretty easy and ran with the DH guys for the first little bit but thought they were going a little slow so we got around them. Mile 2 - 6:08.  We picked it up a bit but still very easy for those first 2 miles since it was just all downhill. Mile 3 - 6:02. It started to level off a bit at the beginning of this mile but then we dropped into Hells Hole. Mile 4 - 6:01. This mile was a bit harder with the little rolling hills in Hells Hole. Mile 5 - 6:13. This mile was a little slower and tougher as it flattened out. We caught up to Jake at the end of this mile and he started to come with us. Mile 6 - 6:39. This mile was disatrous as I made a huge mistake. As we came to the aid station, I went to get some water and when I crossed behind Preston, I hit his legs tripping him up and making him hit his knee hard. He got up quick and said he was fine but it ended up ruining the rest of his race. This mile had a slight uphill and we slowed quite a bit but I wasn't too worried since we still had a long race ahead. Mile 7 - 6:39. This mile was pretty flat as we started coming down the Dam Road but it was about the same as last. Mile 8 - 6:17. We got rolling again on this mile and caught Krenny. Mile 9 - 6:30. Our group started to split here and me and Jake started to pull ahead of Krenny and Preston around the hill. Mile 10 - 7:03. This mile slowed significantly because of Majestic Hill. Me and Jake were still together on this mile as some sizziling fast DH guys flew past us. Mile 11 - 6:16. As we came down off Majestic, I started to gap Jake a bit as I started to pick it up a little more. I caught Dallin and Trevor (which really suprised me) on this mile. Mile 12 - 6:36. Coach cheered for us on this mile and I started to pick it up a little bit on this mile and started to pull closer to Andrew. Mile 13 - 6:13. As we hit the turn around to the finish, I saw that more of the DH guys were getting very close to me and I also wanted to go catch Andrew so I really started to pick it up. 0.1 mile - 5:53 pace. I was only a little bit behind Andrew at this point but I just couldn't get myself to kick very hard. I ended up only 1 second behind Andrew on the results but it felt like it was a lot more than that. I was very happy with my performance today and I just had a ton of fun. There were sections where I probably could have pushed a little harder but overall a great race. My foot never bothered me and the rest of the body felt really good (maybe too good). It definitely was hard but it was a lot easier than I first anticipated. I think it was mostly because I just stayed pretty relaxed and didn't really think but just run. It was such a great experience for my first half marathon and I definitely think after high school and a mission and all that stuff, I think I will get into this kind of racing.