Redemption

New Years Resolution: Be more specific in what I write down for my workouts so I can be able to look back for future reference. Especially be more specific in my strength training workouts. Instead of just saying "did strength training," actually put what I did with detail.

Still in California. I ran 4 miles @ 6:30 pace the first two miles, about 7:00 pace the last two (I got kind of lost) to Rancho Cucamonga track. I did 5*80 yard sprints w/parachute, 2*up-down bleachers, because we were short on time and needed to start driving home before it got too late. I ran a cool down mile.

I am not very impressed with how the past two weeks of my training have gone. I just got back from a trip to California, and did not have very much time to run. So I did not do what I should be doing. So remember myself take this as a learning experience and make sure that I wake up early enough to get a sufficient workout in on vacation, because no matter what I tell myself, I will not have enough time to run in the evening!!!

Anyways today's workout was 5*1 mile @ 5:05 w/400m jog Rest.

I don't know if it was that fact that I have ate nothing but junk since Christmas or that I didn't eat breakfast or lunch today (other than two lindor chocolates :( ) or that I only slept 4 and a half hours. But I do know I wussed out, and I need to start being tougher if I expect to make it anywhere is this beautifully brutal sport. I ran my first one in 5:09 and my legs were on fire! They did not want to move!  As I jogged around the track gearing up for the second one my teammate was having a hard time as well, so he left. The second one was even worse and I slowed to a 5:16. My third one I put on my new spikes so I could hopefully move faster, but it didn't help much because I still struggled to a 5:15.  After that I started feeling quite light headed so I started to ADAPT the workout (AKA be a wuss) I still did the 5 mile repeats with 400m jog rest, but I decided to run at 5:30 pace and then sprint the last 200m as fast as possible (hoping that would make up for the slower pace) So I finished with 5:23 that mile and was not sure what my last 200m was but I assume it was around :31. Then my last mile was around the same time as my 4th but I reseted my watch for the last 200m sprint to get an accurate split. My last 200m on that one was :30.2

So I will give myself credit for at least doing the 5 mile repeats and not lengthening the rest, but I really should have just pushed it harder because I know physically I'm in shape to do it.

Strength Training:

7-7-7-7 squats on half-med ball (the thing that is super hard to balance on) (two leg-one leg-other leg-two legs) w/10 pound medicine ball for added resistance. Med ball pushups 10-10-10-10-1 (left hand on ball-both hands-right hand on ball-alternate hands plyo-both hands). 4*80 yard sprints with parachute. 10*up down bleachers. 15-15 One leg squats w/one arm shoulder press 10lb med ball. Hip flexor band workout 25-25-50-50-50-50 (latteral leg raises left leg-right leg- latteral leg raises using bottom leg to strengthen the inner thigh- other leg- lay down and lift knee to chest in fast motion, simulates the knee lift in running, using band for resistance.Other leg). 3x10-10-10 Rest :30 2x10-10-10 Rest :30 1*10-10-10 (*Crunches w/med ball and leg in air- mason twists w/med ball- *same as first ten.). 2*1:00 crunches.

Finally I learned from my mistakes! Ha, I am taking another trip to Salt Lake today. The workout was 4 miles in the morning, 4 miles in the afternoon. But I knew I should just do all 8 miles in the morning because when I get to the hotel there won't be enough time to go for a run. So I did it all in the morning, and was gratful because it turns out I was right and wouldn't have been able to run. :)

Workout: 8 miles easy.

Strength Training: None

I was way sore when I woke up, so I was a little bit worried about the workout today. I met up with Sean at the BYU indoor track again, and had to start with walking to warmup, ha! I couldn't even jog. I slowly got to where I could move at least 6:00 pace before Sean arrived. But I definitely was not ready to do intervals. The workout was 10*1 Lap (320m). He wanted me to hit 54's (4:30 mile pace) which shouldn't have been too difficult, but my first one was :58...It was kind of a shock to my body to try to get it to move faster. I then started hitting 54-55 seconds like I was supposed to after that, and then I'm not sure what he said my 9th on was but I'm guessing it was around 51-52. My tenth I picked it up and hit :49 (4:05 mile pace). So I was dragging a bit, but in that slow (I think it's super slow) indoor BYU track I'm pretty content. Afterwards he had me go out on the road for two miles at about 6:30 pace. It was funny I step outside of the indoor track, and immediately the BYU distance track team comes running by. Ha, so I just ran up to them and joined them, and saw Ryan Waite again. They were going nine miles so I just joined them for a mile then turned back. After that Sean had me do hill sprints 4*to the top (around 150m I assume). Then when I got back to the hotel I figured I did six miles altogether that morning, so I ran another easy four miles to make it 10 for the day, and then did some weights, just upper body though. My legs are beat!

Workout: 1.5 mile warmup,10*320m @ :54 average w/150m jog for rest, except 4th and 8th I had 320m jog rest. 2 miles @ 6:30 pace. 4*150m hill sprints. 4 miles easy.

Strength Training: 8-Rest-6-Rest-4 Barbell Shoulder Press. 1*25 Lay on bench on stomach butterflies. 1*25 Shrugs. 7-Rest-6-Rest-5 Bench Press. 7-7-7-Rest-6-6-6-Rest-5-5-5-Rest-4-4-4-Rest-3-3-3-Rest-2-2-2-Rest-1-1-1 Preacher curls (Start from bottom, go up halfway-Full-Start from halfway, go to top.). 5*To failure of Tricep Cable extensions. 10-7-5-3-2-1 Situp workout (A workout I made up a while ago...to hard to explain.). 3*:50 Planks.

I have two free class periods after 1 period (which is *racquets class *not sure if I spelt that right) So basically since it's a PE class I go to school in my running clothes play badminton for 1 hour and a half, then I went out on the track and ran 5 miles nice and easy which felt good! Technically I was not supposed to run this morning, but it's like why not! I mean I have 4 hours of nothing to do, I might as well go for a run.

After school I did an 8 mile Fartlek run with David, and it felt great! It was a very good workout, and me and David both were impressed with how it went. We did not have a GPS watch but we agreed that the workout was pretty fast and hard. We both took turns doing a surge as long and as fast as we wanted, and the other had to follow. After each surge we would go right back to around 7:00 pace until we decided to surge again. I felt super good today, and the most UNsore I've been in a while. Fun workout!

Workout: AM- 5 miles easy PM- 8 mile Fartlek, pace unknown

Strength Training- P90X Ab ripper. Not sure how I feel about this, because I have done it so many times, that I don't think it does me any good anymore :/

I probably made these runs a lot harder than I needed to, I ran my morning run on this dirt trail behind my house, that is pretty hilly and loose dirt, it made running the set 6:30 pace quite difficult. I can't remember each individual mile (I'm sure there's a way to find out, I just don't know how), but I averaged out 6:31 mile pace.

After school I ran with David and we started at the High School and ran to swig, turned right followed this trail that led up to Devils Throne which KILLED my legs, and then went to the elementary school and followed the road back to the track. First mile 6:23, second mile 6:38, third mile (Devils Throne hill on this mile) 7:11, and my last mile was mostly downhill 5:38. So it ended at about 6:28 mile pace average.

Workout: AM- 4 miles@ 6:31 pace w/.5mile warmup and cooldown

              PM- 4 miles@ 6:28 pace w/1 mile warmup and cooldown (including 4*100y strides)

Strength Training: None

My shin were starting to hurt a bit today so I decided not to go out for my usual morning "scenic viewing." (That's what I call the morning runs I've been doing...since technically I'm not supposed to run every morning.) I should make up some cross training workouts with the bike I can do instead, or go swimming in the mornings. So I guess I will start doing more of that, since it's non-impact it'll be good training as to not aggravate my shins. So today went a bit weird. I was with the people that I train with, and we were all just sitting around my phone to find out from Sean what the workout was today. As time went on, they started to complain that it was getting to late and that they had stuff to do, so let's just do our own wourkout today. So I agreed, and decided to do something on the track. I felt like doing something fun and fast on the track, since it's been SO LONG. I like to run...but I LOVE to run fast :) I decided quickly in my head that we would do a workout Coach Prince would have us do a lot of which are interval pyramids. 100m Sprint all out, (no stopping at all through whole workout) jog 200m, run 200m @ mile pace ( :36, too slow), jog 100m, 300m @ mile pace ( :51, right on :) ), jog 400m, 400m @ mile pace (1:07), jog 400m, 400m @mile pace (1:05), jog 100m, 300m @ mile pace (:50), jog 200m, 200m @ 800m pace (:30), right after the last 200 we just kept running slowed to maybe 7:00 mile pace for 300m, then ran all out for the final 100m. It was a very fun and good workout! It felt good to go fast again. It's been a while, and my body isn't used to the speed. We warmed up with a mile, and topped the workout of with a nice 3 easy miles. Well afterwards I finally had recieved the workout which was supposed to be mile repeats :( I should have just done them, because I had a feeling that would be what I was going to do today, since Sean informed me earlier that he wanted me to do them this week. So that was my bad on my part. :/

Workout: 1mile warmup, 100-200-300-400-400-300-200-100 @ paces explained earlier w/ jog to starting line of next interval for rest (Again. Explained earlier.), 3 miles easy.

Afterwards I played a good few hours pickleball where I reclaimed my title! Note: I love Pickleball, and am pretty sure I could go pro in it. Then I met up with Justin Gubler and my dad coached us with strength training drills focusing on core, back, and shoulders. Which the workout was cut short due to time restraints, because I was going to go time my Dad in his first mile TT I'm training him to run a marathon, and he trains me in strength. So we make a good team. :)

Strength Training:Warmed up with 2 minutes of jump roping, and 2 min of up-downs. supersets of 3* 25 situps on situp bench with 10lb med ball (left, middle, right) and 4*12 Lat pull downs. 4*12 (each arm) one arm dumbell press.

8 miles easy.

Strength Training: Core

8 miles easy 

Strength Training: None

Alright, so technically I was supposed to do this workout Thursday, but I was feeling sore and kind of sick. So my coach let me do my two easy days (Friday, Saturday) on Thursday and Friday instead, and do the mile repeats today. I knew I was going to need my full arsenal to complete this workout, I knew it would take everything I had. So I kind of had to set my self up mentally to think of each mile as a  race (by myself) to be able to hit the times. So I warmed up just as I would for a race, I ran a mile, did some strides, did my drills, used my inhaler, and even put on spikes. Which I probably shouldn't have used my spikes considering my calves are in some serious pain now, but I knew I needed them to be fast enough for the workout. My first mile was 5:10 which was too slow, but I wasn't worried because I still felt good. I immediately started jogging my shallow 400m rest, and then immediately began my second one, 5:12. Again I was too slow, so I started getting nervous thinking Oh great. I'm just going to keep getting slower. I was starting to feel the workout aerobically at this point, I was starting to struggle with my breathing a bit, but surprisingly I felt good neuromuscularly (not sure if I'm using that word in the right context?). My legs still felt strong, so after again completing my 400m jog of rest I began my next one. This time I focused on each individual lap, I said to myself alright I will hit each lap exactly at the pace I'm supposed to, and not even let myself think or worry about how much I have left, and if I will be able to finish. It worked! My third was a 5:00. Right on pace :) I started late, so by the time I finished my third it was pitch black, and so I couldn't see my splits for the next two miles until I finished. I had to rely solely on feel. Also suprisingly I started feeling super good I got in the "zone" or whatever you want to call it, where I decided, Well it's not going to get any harder than this so I might as well stop thinking about the pain, and start pushing the pace more instead. My 4th was a 4:58, and my fifth I got so excited I was doing so good, and almost done I closed with a pretty good 4:51 mile (1600m technically). So I averaged a 5:02 in the end, which means that with only having 400m jog for rest, I can probably say it was  one of the greatest workouts of my life :) I've done mile repeats before like during cross country, and have hit about the same splits, but in cross country we'll get around 5-7 minutes of rest between each mile. So I can definitely say this was definitely the most successful mile repeat workout I have ever done. Afterwards I went and met up with my Dad at the Washington rec center and jogged a nice little over 2 mile recovery run in my trainers. :)

Workout: 5*1 mile @ 5:02 average w/400m jog rest. Including 1 mile warmup, and 2 mile cooldown.

Strength Training: None

Note: Need to get more organized with my strength training, and do it more often.

8 miles light fartlek run on road behind walmart, my legs were hurting a bit and I struggled to get them to move very fast, but after a while I started feeling better and cruised the last couple of miles. I have to run alone at night (which I actually don't mind very much) now because I got this job that is right after school. It will just last a month though, so I can train with the team once track "officially" starts. I also figure that I could start running in the mornings, but a lot of times Sean has me do doubles, so I figure I'll either have to run in the mornings in the dark alone, or at night in the dark alone...or both. So I might as well make the most of it. As lame as it sounds I actually have grown wto enjoy running by myself, I get to focus more on how I feel, and it teaches me to become more self-dependent on hitting my splits when I run. Also I like the fact that I can take as many bathroom breaks as my body needs considering I won't have David complaining about how I have to go to the bathroom so much. Haha! ;) Just kidding David...but seriously :)

Workout: 8 mile Light Fartlek

Strength Training: Lunge switch plyo squats 1*1:00, Sled machine squats backwards (sorry myself, that's the best way I can explain it) 4*12, 4*10 Dumbell deadlifts on bosu ball. Core workout using body ball, I tried hard to imitate Galen Rupp's workout I saw on Flotrack (http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/249744-Workout-Wednesday-Season-7/video/684139-WOW-Rupp-in-the-Weightroom). However, it is much more difficult than it looks..

4 miles easy on grass, my shins are starting to hurt a bit, and I don't want to risk anything.

The workout was 8*400 @ 70 sec w/ 400m jog rest, and 3*200 @ :30. So I wasn't too worried about this workout, it was a nice brisk track workout but nothing killer, I started even later than usual, and it was pretty windy. I ran 1:12 (I always struggle with my first rep of an interval), 1:11, 1:08, 1:09, 1:08, 1:11, 1:08, 1:06. Not a bad workout, I felt good, but the wind made it tougher than it should have been. The 200's I used the wind to my advantage and coasted my first to in :28.7, and :28.3, my last one I let loose and ran as fast as I could :25.5, which isn't bad for the cold.

I know my mileage has been super sad this week, but I DO NOT want to repeat what happened last year so I am really taking this week easy (especially today and tomorrow) to rest and ice my shins, so that they don't act up on me anymore. I also want to make sure that they are feeling good, so the race at BYU won't hurt them even more.

1.5 easy miles on grass.

Another easy day 3 milles easy on grass.

BYU Indoor: MILE- This easy week has helped, because my shins didn't hurt at all :) So I think I'm ready to get working hard again. The first race was the mile, and my coach just wanted me to run it kind of like a hard tempo and stay relaxed and hit 4:50. Just to kind of get back  in swing of things. I ran 4:47 so exactly what I wanted to do basically, I felt good! I stayed relaxed the whole time, and ran pretty even splits, and ran 10 seconds faster than last year! Last year I went all out, so I know I've made some big improvements :)

800- The 800m he wanted me to go hard, so I was a bit worried at first because I got super tired, and wasn't feeling entirely up to the race. Also I soon found out I got put in the fastest heat where everyone had like mid 1:50 pr's. So I was afraid I would get last and suck. Ha! Last year I ran a 2:13... so I really wasn't expecting much in terms of a quick time, also I know that BYU indoor always runs pretty slow times. So I was thinking 2:06. The race started and my legs felt heavy right from the gun. But I just stayed with the pack anyways. After the first 200m I slowed A LOT! I dropped to last place, and they had a good 10 meters on me. I then started to say to myself Nephi, what are you doing? You don't even hurt that bad! (After you haven't raced in a while, it's hard to remember the pain you're supposed to be in.) So as I passed by sean with 350m left he told me to make my move, and go start passing, so I made my move, and I made a big one. I immediately caught a couple guys and moved to 4th place and actually started gaining on Isaac Faux in 3rd but ran out of time. I hit 2:04 and actually really surprised myself! Also I finished with a lot left in me so hopefully next time I can push harder, especially that second and third 200. I talked to Sean and he said that I am right where I need to be right now to reach my goals. We will just keep cutting off time as we prepare for 4:15 and 1:54 this season. NINE SECOND PR from last year!!!!

After the race I did lunges and bleachers with my brother, as well as using the sauna and weight room at BYU...which I really don't think we were allowed to do, but it felt nice anyways. :) 1 mile cooldown.

10 mile recovery run, It felt good. I felt pretty tight the first couple of miles...like always. My body is pretty slow to warm up most of the time. I think I need to get better at taking care of it after I run. I need to do better at stretching, and maybe icing some days after runs. Anyways, though, I felt good after 2 miles and picked up the pace quite a bit :)

Strength Training:2*10-10-5-5 XP (Cross Pushups), 50 situps-:50 Planks-50 situps, :50 planks- :50 planks- :50 planks- :50 planks-:50 planks (middle-side-middle-side-middle), 60 mason twists, 50 leg lifts.

8 mile run w/4 mile Tempo to begin. This run was pretty tough because it was pretty hilly, and half of it was on a dirt road which doesn't neccessarily qualify for fast times my first mile was downhill and I ran 5:12, my second mile was a pretty good uphill the whole mile I surprised myself with it still under 6, 5:50, my third mile was flat, but I never recovered from the hill of the third mile so I hit 5:50 again. My fourth was mostly downhill, but had a difficult little uphill at the end that made it quite challenging, 5:40. So I finished with a 5:38 average, which I am pretty proud of considering the hills. Good workout! I then finished it off with a 4 mile jog.

Workout- 4 mile Tempo w/hills @ 5:38 average, 4 mile jog.

Strength Training- 50- :30 rest-Failure- :15 rest-Failure Pushups, 15-:30 rest-Failure-:15 rest-Failure Pullups, 15-:30 Rest-Failure-:15 Rest-Failure Dips. Core Circuit workout.

Not a good day for me. I had a full day of high school, then had work immediately after school, then had my Political Science night class at DSU right after...I only managed to squeeze in 4 easy/worn out miles in at like 10:30pm. I should have woke up early before school...anyways at least I got in 4 miles, it's better than nothing.

The workout was 8*800m @ 2:18-2:20 w/300m jog rest. So I expected pain. I knew it was going to be VERY difficult, I got onto the track and warmed up as if I wsa going to race and felt pretty good. I started the workout and was hitting right at 2:20's and at first the wind was fine. But after the 3rd 800m the wind kicked up a TON! So everytime I hit the backstrectch I was basically crawling. I slowed down to hitting 2:24's and the rest just wasn't enough for me, and I ended up having to walk a lot of the rest. As I neared the last three, everything got really fuzzy and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't slow my heart rate. Everything just became a kind of blur. My seventh one was the worst because I couldn't even run in a straight line, I was zig zagging all over my lane and I hit by far my slowest one: 2:26. When I got to my last one I legitimately ran as fast as I could and had to fight the crazy wind for what felt like the entire time and only hit 2:20.12. When I finished I probably was a little more dramatic than I needed to be, but nobody was there at the track but me so I figured it was alright, and I just collapsed on the ground and laid there panting for probably a good 20-30 minutes, before it got too cold and I crawled over to grab my clothes and start my cooldown 2 miles. I can't remember exactly every single split, but I know I averaged 2:22.5 for all 8. Which isn't too bad...but not too great either. Considering the wind I am pretty content. I hate not completing a workout just right though, so I will ask Sean if I can give this same workout another shot next week. That's what I did with the mile repeats two weeks ago, and it worked out great the next time I did it.

Workout- 1.5 mile warmup, 8*800m @ 2:22.5 average w/300m jog or walk rest, 2.5 mile cooldown.

8 mile fartlek run, I didn't use my GPS watch for pace, I just went a familiar loop and ran how I felt. I pushed it pretty hard, and David was with me so we both got a pretty good workout in.

12 miles easy (7:00 mile pace) it felt good to finally run a long run without having to stop and go to work halfway through and finish later. I just went a good 11 miles straight. I did a mile earlier before work.

This workout felt really good! It wasn't a killer, but it was still satisfying :) I hit my paces right on, and felt pretty smooth. I really wanted to concentrate on my form and staying relaxed this workout. The last 1 minute I decided to cut loose a little bit because I was feeling really good, and hit the first 300m of the minute in :45. I just wanted to put a little speed into it. 

Workout- 1-2-3-4-3-2-1 minutes w/1:30 Jog Rest @ Aerobic Threshold Pace (which Sean told me was 5:05 mile pace) Along with a 2.5 mile warmup and 2.25 mile cooldown.

Strength Training- 4*25 Squat drop sets. 4*1:00 core circuit workout. 3*50 Plyo Squats. 50 pushups, 25 situps.

The strength training workout hurt A LOT...

8 miles easy...REALLY easy. I am very sore from yesterday's strength training session.

I was very worried about this workout today. I was..and am...still really sore from Monday's strength training. The workout was 13*400m @ 69-70 seconds w/200m jog rest. I warmed up just over 2 miles, and was able to kick the soreness out, and actually started feeling pretty good. I did a few strides and started. I ran with David, and he's great to do intervals with, because he likes to go out hard the first 200, so he usually paces me perfectly. My first one was 1:06. Then I started feeling really good after that and hit 1:10, 1:10, 1:09, 1:07, 1:07 1:09, 1:08, 1:09, 1:08, 1:07, after my 11th it started to kick in and hurt a bit, but I still felt good, and was in the "zone" :) my 12th was a 1:07, and the last one Sean usually has me push pretty hard the last interval. So I took off hard and came through :29 the first 200m, I wasn't expecting to go quite so fast (I had in mind more of a 1:02) but when I came through in 29 I had the urge to try to hit sub 60 seconds, so I pushed it hard the last 200m and came through 58.8. So I was very happy with how the workout went, and am excited for things to come. I did this workout during the peak of this cross country season and averaged 1:11's, and finished with a :59. So I have noted some improvements in terms of finishing speed and basic fitness from then. I finished with a 2.5 mile cooldown, plus a little extra when I got home on the treadmill to try out my new shoes. Sadly they are too big :(

Workout- 2.25 mile warmup, 13*400m @ 1:07 average w/200m jog Rest, 2.75 mile cooldown.

Strength Training- Plank/situp circuit workout.

8 miles easy/circuit training. We would run a few laps, and then do a workout, then repeat.

Strength Training: Biceps, Triceps, Back, Shoulders, core.

5 miles easy