AM: 4 miles trail (forgot GPS watch so I am educated guessing here). We ran for practice on the "roller coaster" trail at the fair grounds.It is the trail where a lot of four wheelers and dirt bikers ride because it is litterally up-down-up-down-up-down-etc. When I got home I ran another 4 miles on the trails next to my house.

PM: 6 miles@ Long run pace (6:30-6-45) on treadmill in salt lake hotel.

Strength Training: Core

2.5 mile warmup. 6*mile repeats @ 5:30 ave w/minimal rest. (Ran more like a fartlek because the rest was a pretty quick jog.) The mile repeat pace felt easy and I think Sean noticed I was doing it very easily so he let me go faster on the last few. Finished with 4*60m relaxed sprints, and 3 miles easy. This is the first 100 mile week I have ever ran, and I was surprised to realize that it wasn't very difficult. However, I understand I have only done it for one week, and  to consistently keep up 100 mile weeks is a whole different story.

So I will still play this very cautiously while having fun running and training and preparing for this upcoming XC season.

AM: Ran 5.5 miles w/ the team @ 6:53 ave pace which felt pretty pedestrian. But I was able to run with my teammates and have some pretty good conversation :) Afterwards I got back to the track and the middle school kids wanted me to help them win a 400m relay thing so that was fun.

PM: 4.5 miles with Jesse, weights with the team, 5 miles after.

Strength Training: Weights (Full body), core.

AM: 5 mile progressive run: 8 minute mile-7 minute mile- 6 minute mile- 5 minute mile.

PM: 11 miles easy  

Strength Training: Swimming

AM: 7 Miles Trail              

PM: 1 mile warmup, 9 mile HARD fartlek in 55:11 (6:07 ave pace): .4 miles@ 6:30 pace-.1 miles 5:00 pace-etc. (continuously no stopping) I was not planning on doing this workout today and i was going to do an easier one, but as I started warming up I felt VERY good. I enjoyed this workout tons. W/2 mile warmup and 1 mile cooldown.

Strength Training: Weights Full Body

AM: 8 miles@ 6:45 ave pace   

PM: 12 miles@6:30 ave pace on TM w/short pickups during run. 

Strength Training: Swimming

AM: Last night I was worried I pulled my calf at  the end of the run. So I iced it and this morning it felt better but it still didn't feel right so for the first time in my life I'm taking advice from Kamryn... :) I did 4 miles with the team including some 380ish meter repeats and some weird spartan playground course thing that my team won. Then after Kamryn told me to not run any more and just ice so that tomorrow it will be perfectly healed (hopefully) and then I can help my team 4 peat the Washington relay! The Washington Fair Half-Marathon relay is an important part of my history.

Freshman Year: Me and a bunch of other freshman (and one 7th grader at the time) made a relay team. Meanwhile all the seniors on the varsity XC team made a team. Everyone expected them to win. I was the last leg and I was running the 10k and I got the baton about a minute and a half after Josh Mccombs (Who was thought of as the fastest on the team at that time) I caught him at the halfway point and then he stuck with me. Long story short I beat him by .01 seconds.

Sophmore Year: Our same team went against Hurricane's local elite road runners. Once again I grabbed the "baton" about a minute behind. I caught up to him at the halfway point once againg except for this time the guy didn't stick with me and we ended up winning by over 2 minutes.

Junior Year: I grab the "baton" probably a minute ahead of Karl Wilcock (Hurricane High School's school record holder in the 800m-1:55, 1600m-4:12, and 3200m-9:22) Well I finished almost 2 minutes before hime, so today I still brag about the day I  beat Karl Wilcock! (Although I know he was not in his prime, and taking the race as a fun run with his family...I still like to brag :) ). And that is my history of the Washington Fair Half-Marathon Relay. :)

When I woke up this morning my calf was still hurting so I was worried about it throughout the whole race. But then halfway through it loosened up and started to feel much better so that is a good sign. Ha! I think this "minor inconvenience" is a way of humbling me, because I think if I had not hit this minor bump in the road I would have just kept trying to do more and more. It is already feeling MUCH better and I know that if I give it lots of good rest and more iceing Sunday, I'll be ready to go next week and hit my goal at Cedar. Today at  the relay my team won once again and we finished uncontested this year winning by probably like 5 minutes. I could not get my GPS watch to start but all I know is that I ran approx. 6 miles (5.95 I think) in approx. 35 minutes. I know I went not very fast the first half of the race, but coming back the last 2-3 miles I started moving. It was good fun. Hopefully my gut is right and I'll be ready to go again by Monday :)

I am still going to be extra cautious this week, especiall with my calf, so I will take this week relatively easy, until I am ABSOLUTELY sure I will not have reocurring problems. However today I felt great and had no issues at all. After school (today was the first day) which consisted of my 2 classes (PE and seminary) I have all year :) Ha! I am so glad I worked so hard my Junior year (full high school schedule, plus 10 college credits per semester) so that now I can just focus on running and excelling in that as well as planning the future. Anyways after school I found Ky Vorhees on the track and I decided to join him in some interval work, and WOW Ky is fit! I was doing 600's with him and me being a distance runner thought I could easily out run him in some 600 intervals. I was wrong. He was pulling off mid- 1:30's easily, meanwhile I was struggling to run 1:40. Afterwards we did some 300's and I got even more embarrassed. In my defense I haven't really done any speed work for over 3 months now, but still... afiter that XC practice started and we did some trail running. Anyways the first race of the season is tomorrow, however it is more a glorified time trial than a race. I am interested to see where I am at, at this point of the year and if the summer of MUCH hard work has truly paid off. I have heard that the weather tomorrow will be less than ideal so if that is the case then my time goal will have to go out the door and I'll have to purely base my fitness on my competitors. Of course the goal is always to win, however, if the race does not play out very favorably and I lose I will not put too much concern into it. I still have all season, and the first race does not make of break the season in any way.

1.5 miles after school with Ky Voorhees. Then we rode over to the meet and I warmed up for I would assume about 2 good solid miles. The race went pretty well I started off and my race plan was to stick with the pack for the 1st mile and then break away. Well I did just that ...kind of. The entire first mile felt like a jog, and the only kid with me was Spencer Neaville from Dixie and I saw no D-hills kids. I was thinking wow! I thought D-hills would give me more of a fight than this (I was honestly a little dissapointed at first) So the second mile I started to get a pretty good lead and I couldn't hear anyone behind me so I think I got a little over confident here. When I finished the second mile and was heading on my 3rd lap I looked behind my shoulder and saw a pack of like 6 desert hills kids right behind me, out of nowhere! I almost wet myself! (sorry TMI) Ha! I was so freaked out so when I hit the track with 300m left I booked it and I was able to hold the lead till the finish. Anyways great race! I am happy with the time I hoped to have won with a little more of a lead than I did, but this was the first time I have ever ran faster the first Cedar meet than I did the previous last years last cedar meet in my career so I am very happy about that. I also have put in much less speed work than I ever have during a summer, so I am very excited to watch my times drop as I progress through the season. Next stop is Highland Invitational! And I hope to dip under 15 minutes there so hopefully all goes well again. Afterwards I cooled down 2 miles. Then when I got back home I felt really good so I ran 3 miles easy tonight.

AM: 3 miles easy (around 7:00 pace I think)

PM: 2 miles before practice, 7 miles Recovery pace during practice.

Hamstrings felt a little tight, but other than that I felt okay.

Strength Training: Upper Body/Core
 (I was hoding a 35 lb plate and I dropped it on my foot, so then I tripped and banged my shin aagainst it and opened up an old scar...not fun.)

AM: My watch is broken so I have no idea how fast I was going...but it felt fast. 5 miles total.

PM: Hill sprints 6*medium (200m?), 3*short (80m?) wow I'm clueless without my watch. Finished with some extra mileage. 8 total.

AM: .5 mile w, 4*800m@5k pace w/100m walk rest,1.5 mile cooldown.   

PM: 1 mile warmup, 3 mile Tempo run doing the region course in 17:12 (stopping my watch at water stops.), 1 mile cooldown. The tempo run felt pretty terrible, my calves killed and I was really dehydrated. I stopped at mile 1.5 for about a minute, and at mile 2.5 for about another:30. I was hoping to not stop, but it was SO hot I needed water pretty bad. However my time was pretty quick. I ran this tempo faster than I raced during both my Freshman and Sophmore year.

4 miles easy later tonight.

Strength Training: Core

Well today I woke up and I stood out of bed and I was hit with an immediate wave of pain in my calves. So I have basically waddled like a penguin for the day. Then my mom saw me and she "grounded" me  from running for the day. She said that she cant let me go running when I can't even walk right. So we went to the lake and did some swimming and 60 minutes of deep water running. I am sad that I did not run today, and it upsets me to get zero miles like this, but if I have learned anything in the short 17 years of my life, it's that: I should always listen to my mom. Hopefully she is right, that by Monday I will be ready to get back in  the full swing of things, and be able to start working harrd again. I guess with the race on tuesday, the hill sprints on thursday, the 800's and the tempo run on friday, it was just to much for my calves to handle. Hopefully next week will be a better week, and my calves will be stronger and ready for more fire :)       Strength Training: Swimming

AM: My calves still hurt this morning so I went to my chiropractor and got some therapy on it, and it already feels better. He said the pain should go away soon and to just be cautious for the rest of the week. I will still race at Highland and on the plus side I'll be pretty rested so I am still going for a fast time. I have never raced highland before but looking back at other runners I think that a 15:15 will be my goal. However I think if the race goes just right a sub15 will not be out of the question. I believe it is wise to set more realistic goals, however I do not think a person should deny themselves the opportunity to do something great simply because they have set their standards too low. I just did1 mile of very slow jogging and a ton of core workouts.

PM: 1.5 miles before practice with Ky. .5 mile warmup at practice plus about 3 miles of slowish miles before coach made us stop because of the weather. The wind was really bad and the lightning was very close, and the rain turned into hail...not too fun. Elias claims that he legitimately got lifted off the ground for a few seconds... :) calves feel much better, the rest helped as well as the massage this morning. Although it still feels funny so I will stay cautious.

I talked once again to my chiropractor and my coach and we decided if I was to race at Highland to take  today completely off of running and do XT instead, and tomorrow just 1-2 easy miles and some strides, so that I am totally healed by Thursday and don't risk further injury. But I must make one thing clear...I HATE NOT RUNNING!!! I feel like every second I'm not running I'm falling behind.   I know I need to relax and just let myself heal, but it is SO hard. I hate not being able to work hard. Anyways, I just needed to vent for a bit, because I'm going crazy here. Also I feel fat. Ha! I think I am mentally freaking out here. Anyways, still excited for Thursday, I just need to remind myself I am just as fit as I was last week, yet I'm even more rested now.   I'm physically in good shape, I just need to remain mentally confident.

Biking- 30 minutes

Swimming- 30 minutes (Deep water running)

Core/Upper Body Strengthening

I went today and talked to Doctor Carr and got some more treatment done, and he gave me the okay to race tomorrow. He said I can resume training, but to stay cautious for the next 10 days or so before jumping back into my regular training intensity and mileage. I ran today and it felt good, so I have given myself the okay as well.

AM: Therapy treatment

PM: .5 miles before practice. .5 mile warmup, 1 mile to 800m repeat spot, 2*800's@ 5k pace, 1 mile back to the track, .5 mile cooldown. Water running after for around 30 minutes. As well as some drills in the water.

Strength Training: Swimming

Highland invite: This race in my opinion was the worst race I've ran since desert hills track meet la few months ago. I think I jumped into this race both physically and mentally unprepared. Right from the start I couldn't keep up with the leaders and fell near the back early in the race as the race progressed...I didn't. I simply couldn't get my legs to turnover, I felt very flat and slow. I have learned a good lesson from this though and I have found some weaknesses I need to work on as I progress through the season. Anyways now I have about 12 days or so to regain my strength and confidence so that I can redeem myself at Dixie.

Still trying to be cautious, especially after highland. Next week I'll put that hammer down again. I feel good!

30 minutes Running       

30 minutes Biking

Did not get in near as much running and exercise as I wanted today, I watched my team race at SUU (It turns out it's harder to watch a race and not be in it, than to actually race. As I was there watching them I was running the whole time and cheering them on as well as warming up everyone and cooling down and stuff. I planned on running more later and doing some weights but the day turned out to be pretty crazy busy and I didn't get home till midnight. It probably isn't the worst thing to take this day easy because of the small tear (strain) in my calf I had last week. But I feel entirely better and haven't had problems since Highland, so things are looking good for next week. I'm excited to start working hard again!

Strength Training: Upper Body/Core (1 mile easy after to cooldown muscles)

AM: 4 miles progressive (6:20ave)                  

   PM: Run to the H (.6 miles dirt hill) I did this HARD and it payed off this is the first time I got the top first on the team (hills are my weakness...but I love them anyway), then we had a team meeting and ran back down, and coach let us go up the trail a bit more to get more of a workout. Afterwards we got back to the track and Kody was doing 200's and a bleacher workout, so I joined him...200's are NOT as easy as they were in track. Ha! I don't quite have the same speed but it will come back easily. After practice me and Jesse did a couple more miles nice and easy. Felt good to be back with the team.

AM: 4 miles fartlek                

PM: We started practice and lightning got pretty close so we had to workout inside and we ran around this weird 10 laps to the mile track, which hurt my joints a bit because we were sprinting (it was NOT banked), we also did workouts then afterwards coach sent us on a 1.5 mile cooldown. After practice me and Jesse went out to the real track and ran 1*1000, 3*800 (these we did on the grass), 3*400, 3*200m @ 5k pace (except for 200's, they were faster) the  intervals were ridiculously easy. I had never been able to run 5:00 mile pace so comfortably. Great workout, today was the best I have felt maybe forever? Good day hopefully I can keep feeling like that.              

  Strength Training: Lower Body/Core

Noon: 3 miles before practice.            

PM: Around 9 miles fartlek (easy running with 2*.7 miles, and 1*1.3 mile @ 5k pace thrown into it.) .5 mile warmup/.5 mile cooldown.     

Strength Training: Core

AM: 4 miles easy with pickups             

PM: 1 mile before practice, .5 mile warmup, 7.5 mile Tempo Run on trail (My ave. pace was a 6:02 on the first half, and then I'm not sure the second half because my watch was dying. The trail was VERY difficult so I am very pleased with the pace. It hurt REALLY bad.) 2 mile cooldown.       

Strength Training: Lower Body

Today was supposed to be my easy day, but I was hoping to run at least 10 miles today. We traveled up north to Provo, right after school and got dinner, so I was not able to get much running in. Entirely my fault. However I made it pretty tough to make up for the lack of mileage. At the treadmill in the hotel I ran 3 miles in 18:10 with the last 2 miles under 6 minutes (my last mile was a 5:30).               Am: 2 miles easy total                                                                                                     PM: 3 miles progressive tempo.                                                                            Strength training: Core

Today I met up with Sean and he had me run 3*1 mile and 2*800m. I was supposed to hit 5:35, but I didn't have my watch and I ended up coming through at 5:08 my first mile. Again, it felt really easy and comfortable. My 2nd one was a 5:11 and it still felt really easy. My 3rd was a 5:17 because Sean wanted me to slow down more. On the 800s I was doing 2:18 and got a 200m jog for rest. (When you run XC for enough years you learn that rest and water is a delicacy. Do not take it for granted) Anyways I was feeling good until the last 800m and with 100m left I started to throw up. But on the plus side I was still staying pretty relaxed. When I finished I gagged for a bit but still felt good. Great workout! I warmed up with some strides and 2 miles easy and cooled down with about 1.5 to 2 miles (didn't have my watch so I'm not for sure).