do or dont there is no try

7.5mi conversational going down into Medford coming up McAndrew's Rd. and back home. I felt good and I ended up doing about 7:30's average. 6x30sec strides on the cherry lane hill.

6.5mi conversational on the Coal Mine Rd. loop. I felt pretty tired and groggy, my legs just weren't feeling great.

Got a ton of sleep and felt energetic in the morning. Ran 6.5mi at about 7:15 pace on the Coal Mine Rd. loop, got home and felt good so I did 6x30sec strides on th cherry lane hill.

Spent the night at Enoch's and didn't get much sleep. We woke up in the morning and went to run at Britt Trails with the team. We were supposed to do 50min cruising but got lost so it ended up being a bit longer. Overall it was good, I just hate the super steep parts, especially coming down because its hard on my knees.

Ran the 6.5mi Coal Mine loop and felt great. I truly love getting to run on my own all summer, especially in places as beautiful as this.

Ran for almost 80-90 minutes at a progressively fast pace today. We ran at Sterling Creek Trail and I was with Gabe for most of the time. The run was pretty quick, we definently sped it up a ton on the way back but overall if felt good. I'm just glad this week is finally freaking over.

Today was my first tempo workout of the summer, I got out of bed and started running but didn't feel good at all. I did about 2.2mi warmup then started the tempo portion. I was planning on doing a little more, but only ended up doing 3mi cuz I wasn't feeling it at all. Splits were 5:57, 6:10, 6:23 with hills mixed in. Overall, I felt terrible and it was a pretty off type of workout. I was so tired that I could barely get home afterwards! Oh well, I got it done, but I guess today was just another building block in moving towards my ultimate goals.

Today I did a 7.5mi loop that involved a lot of hills including running up McAndrew's. I didn't feel very good at all during the run, in fact it was so hot at 11am that on the way up McAndrew's, I stopped at this one waterfall display thingy and jumped in! haha I felt a lot better after that. The run was 7:47 per mile. When I got home I did 4X30sec hill repeats on Cherry Lane and that was it.

Easy 6.5mi Coal Mine loop today, felt okay. I decided that August 12th I'm going to do a Bear Creek Park xc race as kind of a time trial to seee where I'm at. I'm pretty excited for that, I think it would be nice to go mid-17's. I won't be tapering at all though, my next 2 weeks are pretty hard.

AM: I did 5.1mi moderate easy then 6X30sec strides on Cherry Lane. Felt the best I have all week, hopefully I'll feel good again tonight.

PM: Went out for my 2nd run at about 5 when it was like 96 degrees! I felt really good though and I ended up doing about the same pace (7:30) as my first run for 5.1mi. Today was a really good day of training.

Easy 6.5mi aerobic run doing the Coal Mine Rd. loop. Felt pretty good doing 7:50's.

AM: Woke up to go on a long run with some guys on Toothpick Trail in Ashland. We had to stop a few times cuz Cody was having IT Band problems so I ended up running with Branden. We ran for approx. 45mins and it was a pretty good pace for hilly trails.. I guess when you run trails with Branden it's never an easy run though.. he is one strong guy!

PM: Since I didn't get much of a run in this morning I decided I would make time for a run in the evening. All day I was riding bikes around and swimming with friends so I didn't expect to feel good but whatever I decided I wanted to go fast. I did 6.50mi running down towards Good Bean Coffee and doing a few loops around there. I took a GPS and I ended up running 6:45, 6:32, 6:27, 6:25, 6:25, 6:42, then 3:40 for the last half mile, my total time was 42:55 and it felt absolutely great the entire way! Maybe I should run at 11pm everyday..? Overall, a great day and great week of running.

Woke up, ate a little something then headed off on my run. I started the tempo portion after about 1.5mi of warmup and it felt okay. I ended up running 3.53mi of tempo @ 6:14/mi pace, it was alright but I guess it's still early. I felt pretty non-energetic and my legs weren't feeling great, maybe its cuz I was up like all night trying to fall asleep. Also, the tempo was on rolling hills so it wasn't easy. Overall, good day, I hope Thursday's tempo will  be a lot better.

AM: Did 5.1mi easy then 6x30sec strides on Cherry Lane hill.

PM: Did 5.1mi with Ethan and it felt like 10mins of super easy running! I should probably run with people more often, it makes it a lot easier.

6.5mi Coal Mine loop felt great. I'm starting to get excited for next Tuesday's 5k I'm doing! I think tomorrow's tempo will be a good indicator on how I'll do.

AM: Tempo run today. Did 7.8 total and 3.5 of it was tempo, my splits were 6:15, 6:09, 6:07, then like 3 something. The overall pace was 6:11 and I felt fine so I was alright with it, most of it was on rolling hills.

PM: 4 miles around 4 or 5 in the afternoon in 90+ degree weather with my dog Jimmer. Felt alright, I had just gotten home from riding back from Nick's house. I did like 16mi of biking today cuz I went to Nick's and back then rode my bike to the pear farm to pick later in the evening. It was a pretty tiring day.

6.5mi Coal Mine Rd. loop. Felt good, I'm going camping today up at Mcloud so hopefully I'll get to have a fun long trail run tomorrow morning.

Today we were camping near Mcloud, California at this place called Camp Alhoma. I decided to do my long run going from my camp all the way to the waterfalls in Mcloud so I could meet my family there. The route was about 10.2mi there then I knew I would want to get another 2 in when I got there. So I set off at 3800ft of elevation (kind of an altitude run!) and started running on Highway 89 towards Mcloud. I felt super good the whole way and my splits ended up being: 7:56 (uphill), 7:08, 7:16, 7:12, 7:15, 7:09, 7:04, 6:58 (downhill), 6:52 (downhill), 7:27 (hard uphill), 6:57 (down the hill), and 7:21 (up the hill again). Plus like another minute and a half of running.. My average pace was @ 7:13/mi for 12.2mi and I was really happy with it! There was a net loss in elevation of like 290ft, but still overall I felt great and it was a successful day! Oh and I got a super nice ice bath in the 55 degree Mcloud River afterwards!

6.4mi easy this morning because I'm racing tomorrow!! I'm pretty excited and I hope it goes well, it would be nice to go 17:30's and I think I can since the Crater XC team plus a ton of other fast people are running it! I'm super antsy to finally get out and race, the forecast is 80 degrees with rain so it should be a blast!

I was excited all day to finally be able to race, I really needed a confidence booster before the start of XC season. The race at Bear Creek is one I'd already done in the past and I knew a lot of people doing it, so I thought it would be a fun one! In fact, the course is super fun. We get to run on plenty of different surfaces, jump over creeks, and have an awesome time! When 5:00pm rolled around, the local news sent out a warning that severe thunderstorms were heading our way.. I didn't know what to think so I just decided to go to the race and run my best! When I got there, I did 2mi of warmup then I realized the race started at 7:30 not 7:00! Oopss. So I kinda had to warm up twice but whateverr. 7:30 came and there was no sign of rain, thunderstorms or anything! Super fortunate. At the starting line I spotted a ton of Crater XC guys that were super fast and good friends of mine. I knew that there was plenty of competition and that this was going to be a great race!

The race started and I got out pretty good, I ran with Nate Edwards for most of the 1st mile which we hit in around 5:40, it felt really good. The 2nd mile I cruised through mainly on my own and I don't know what my split was but it felt fast. And lastly, the final mile I pushed it feeling pretty good and ended up crossing in 17:26!!! At the finish line I got to talk with a lot of the Frosh/Soph Crater guys (whom I beat!) and do a 3mi cool down with them. Overall, the race flew by super quick (with perfect weather) and it felt great! I definently exceeded my expectations and I know for sure now that big things are coming this fall!

Today was the 1st day of my school's (South Medford) cross country camp! On our way to camp at Lake of the Woods, we stopped at Fish Lake and did a 6-7mi run on this sweet trail. I ran with Branden, Cody, and Gabe and we went pretty fast so I ended up getting pretty tired having not yet fully recovered from yesterday's race. Every year camp is an awesome experience! We pretty much just run, eat, and have fun so it's like one of the best week's of the summer!

AM: Today is the day we run up Mt. Mcloughlin as a team. The night before Coach Wallace divides us into groups based on fitness and the slowest groups leave early in the morning while the fastest leave later. The group I was in left at about 8:45am and it included about 10 guys who were all varsity capable runners. We started at the Pacific Crest Trail (2.5mi longer than everybody else) and did some light jogging first to get warm, then we started doing 60/60's for awhile. There were lots of breaks because a few people in the group weren't in great shape but we ended up getting it done! Long story short, we finished the run/climb together in 2:35mins doing 8mi approx on the way up then ran down. The round-trip was 13.5mi for my group but I'll just say we ran 10.5 since there was a good amount of breaks and walking.

PM: I had to like beg Coach to let me run a little more today! He's worried about me getting injured but I told him I'm used to this kind of mileage so he let me. I did 3.5mi with Carmen pretty easy just to get in a extra few miles, it felt good.

AM: This day of camp is my favorite cuz we do an awesome adventure race! The race consists of 8 teams of 6 (you don't get to choose), and each team is divided into 3 partnerships from there. You get to choose your partner and you have that partner for the whole race. There are 3 legs: 1. 2.5mi run, 2. 5.5mi bike, 3. 1.5mi canoe. You have to stick with your partner at all times through these so your pretty much only as fast as the slower partner. I was pretty excited cuz I was fortunate enough to have Gray as my partner! We had a great time doing all the events together even though he's not in great shape and we ended up finishing 5th as a team.. not too shabby. Overall, I had a great time and it was an awesome race!

PM: I did 4mi in the evening with a group of about 5 people to get in a few more miles.

AM: 4mi early morning with the team.

PM: I didn't even start my run till like midnight cuz I got back from the stake dance late!! I knew I needed a speed type of workout so I decided to do 4xMile with 2min recovery in between. I did the repeats on North Phoenix going from Juanipero to Calle Vista. Splits were 5:56 for the first (downhill), 5:48 (uphill), 5:38 (downhill), and 5:41 (uphill). Overall a good workout and a great week!

Today I woke up and ran with the team. The workout was 15min warmup then 6x1min hard on surrey hill with 3min in between plus 8x30sec hard with 2min in between. Felt good and ran with the stronger guys, I needed the speedwork. Afterwards we did about a half hour of cooldown.

AM: 5.5mi with the team. Had to cut the run short cuz of an appointment but still had fun and ran about 7:30's with Gabe.

PM: Ran 4.7mi at a good pace, felt real good.

Went to Fichner Park and decided to do a Fartlek/Interval type workout. 2mi warmup then did 5 hard, 5 easy, 4 hard, 4 easy, then 3, 2, 1.5, and 1 with 1:1 work to rest ratio. It was a pretty hard workout because the grass was super thick!! I definently needed the speedwork and over all it felt pretty decent. I don't know the distance so I'll guess it was 2 warmup, 3.5 workout, and 2 cooldown.. 7.5mi total.

AM: This morning I woke up and went out to breakfast with my sister Christine who is leaving for college tomorrow. I got home and immediately set off for a run hoping to beat the heat. From the start, I wasn't feeling good at all. As the run progressed, I continued to feel lightheaded and itchy in wierd spots. By the time I was finally almost home, I was feeling absolutely terrible. I felt super hot and itchy so I hosed myself down and started itching a ton. My dad (he's an allergist) saw me itching uncontrollably so he gave me zyrtec and also prednesone (don't know how to spell that word). My face then began to puff of really bad and I started to barely be able to breathe! My dad got a special inhaler which I took 4 puffs of plus he gave me a shot of something in my arm through a needle. After that, he quickly rushed me to his office 10mins away and long story short, I was okay after that. Apparently I had an anaphylaxis which I have know idea what that is. Overall, it was pretty scary but whatevs I got 6.5mi in even though I almost killed myself!

PM: I felt a lot better throughout the day, I slept for like 3 hours cuz of all the drugs that made me tired. I got out for another run at about 10:30. 5mins in I saw Ethan so I ran with him and ended up doing 6mi total! oops. Whatever, I felt great so it don't matter.

60min with the team, ran with Gabe for most of the time up at Surrey. Got back and did 3x300 at a little faster than 5k pace, everything felt great.

Today I worked 5 hours, made bank, rode my bike around, and hung out with friends like all day so I didn't get out on my run till about 8pm. It was super nice weather though! I knew I would probably be tired from my long day so I decided to do 12 at goal pace 7:30. The run consisted of going up Cherry Lane, down Hillcrest, down McAndrews, a few miles around Cedar Links golf course, and back home taking a detour down Black Oak to Barnett. I was averaging like 7:10's and feeling pretty good up until about 9mi in. Then, I think it was my achilles that started to ache slightly? It went away within a mile though so that was a relief. I definently felt tired the last few uphill miles coming home.. My legs were just done from a long week of working, running, and not quite enough sleep. But I'm super happy with the week! I hit some high mileage while continuing to stay healthy and work hard! Overall, todays run was 11.9mi @ 7:23 ave pace.

Today was the start of what I call the hard weeks. In my opinion, the next 5-6 weeks are the hardest training we do all xc season. Today I went to practice at 4 and apparently it was a long run day.. What! I just ran long on friken Saturday but apparently Coach is changing long runs to Monday's throughout the school year so whatever. It was pretty dang hot so I wasn't exactly prepared to run a "super hilly" 11 miler. We started out the run and I felt pretty good so I ran out by myself in front but I got super tired going up the HUGE hills so I got caught by Gabe and Tristan 4.5mi in. I ran with them pretty quick for another 1.5 then Tristan started throwing up so it was just me and Gabe booking it under the sun in the middle of nowhere. I was literally feeling like crap, it was so hot and I totally underestimated the hills and heat. By mile 8.0 Gabe had left me and I was running alone once again. I don't know how I made it back to the school.. It was truly a mental battle and I definently prooved to myself that I can do hard things! Overall the run was 10.2mi at 7:29/mi pace! This may have been the HARDEST long run of my life.

Didn't think I was gonna feel good in today's workout cuz of yesterday's hard work plus the 95 degree weather, but I though wrong! Today's workout was 8x 3min hard/ 3min slow jog around the baseball fields on grass. I started out feeling okay and ran in the front with Cody for the first few but he dropped off cuz his calf hurt like interval 4. Then Gabe and Tristan started to push the pace on the next few, mainly Gabe though. We were really haulin and it was friken hot! The last one we went pretty hard and Gabe barely beat me.. darn. Overall it was an amazing workout though!! I felt pretty darn good for a hard day and I averaged 5:24 pace on the hard efforts and did 4.47mi hard. Afterwards, I cooled down and stretched and Coach told us that next Saturday we have a 3200 time trial! So I'm looking forward to that!

Got home and did 3 easy miles cuz I needed them.

Ran with the team but had to cut my run short today because I was going to a friend's party, 6mi total.

Today was super friken hard. The workout was 2mi warmup, 7mi cruise intervals (5min hard 1min jog for 7mi), 2mi cooldown. All in 95+ degree heat at Fichner Park. I was at the lake all day before practice so I felt pretty tired, but I promised myself to give it a solid effort cuz I know this workout will make me better. I started out in a group of 5; me, branden, cody, gabe, and tristan. But suprisingly, they ALL stopped before we even got 2mi through the intervals! Actually, it's not that suprising, they made up a bunch of semi-true/lame excuses for not doing the workout. So I had to do the workout on my own and I definently felt it. I definently went to hard the first few miles cuz I could feel it really bad later. The heat got to me REALLY bad and I don't know how I finished but I did! Without a break for water. Overall, the workout wasn't great timewise.. I got slower as I went but I still averaged 6:30/mi including the 1min slow jogging! And.. I threw up major bad afterwards. I got done and EVERYTHING came out. Coach insisted on giving me a ride back to South and by the time we got back I felt a lot better. Did 1.5mi cooldown on the track. Overall, a great day! I can feel the fitness improving every run!

AM: 7.5mi easy (7:50 pace) with one of the new coaches, Coach Crick. He's a cool guy. Then 3x300m strides when I got back. Might run again this evening to get in a few more miles.

Today was an "on your own" day so I decided to do a little tune up on speed. I came up with a workout I thought would help, 2mi warmup, then 8x.41mi hill intervals with a jogging .41mi down the hill recovery, then finishing with a 2mi cooldown. I felt like crap during the warmup but when the workout started I began to feel better. I did the repeats on Calle Vista going from Fieldbrook up to Lone Oak, it's a good place for intervals cuz you're on a steady incline (90ft total gain) so you can go fast and it's not like super steep or anything. The whole time I felt really good and I ended up finishing feeling like I didn't push myself all that hard (I think this is because of the long rest). Whatever, I needed a speed workout and I think it helped! I'm very pleased with my training over the summer, especially these last few weeks, and I can't wait to see what's to come!

Went to Lake of the Woods for my long run today since my parents were going mountain biking. I did 11.5mi but didn't feel very good, the overall pace was 7:50/mi. I don't know if it was the altitude or what, but I really wasn't feeling it. Whatever, still got it done.

Today was just not a good day. I won't go off about anything that happened in my personal life, I'll just say that it was a bad day. My workout didnt help either, we were doing the same thing as last week (8 x 3min hard/ 3min light jog/walk) so I felt like a good goal would be to hit 5:20 pace this week to improve a little. Sadly, that didn't happen and the workout turned out to be 5:37/mi pace and I didn't feel good at all, just like yesterday. If I wanted to, I could blame my poor performance on the wind, heat, the 6mi bike ride to practice, or just being tired the day after a long run. But I hold myself to a higher standard. I'm glad I at least finished the workout, but I need to make sure I'm more consistent for now on. If I want to truly reach my potential, then I need to execute workouts better, stay consistent, and ultimately give it 100% every darn day. Nuff said.

A few weeks ago, Coach Wallace introduced 4 new coaches that will be with us this season. Ever since we've done things a little differently, like before practice everyday, even easy days we will do this super long warmup routine that seems kind of pointless. I don't think we need to be wasting a half hour just to warmup for a friken easy run. Anyways, today I ran with Enoch and we (he stopped at like 5.5 actually) ended up doing about 8mi at 7:25/mi pace, it felt really good suprisingly. It's nice to have him back and running after being gone for a month, I think he'll be pretty darn good this year! When we got back we did 3x300m strides on the track and called it a day. Now that school's started I need to be extra focused and all so I can make sure I have the season I want. Tomorrow is a really important workout so I'm hoping to stay focused and do well!

So today's workout was almost the same as last thursday's, just a little different. We ran to Fichner, did our warmup routine, then started a workout of 1 lap around the park on the path (about .8mi), then 1min jog until we hit 7mi total. I was kind of bummed that Gabe and Branden weren't here to run with (Branden's working and Gabe's having ITB pain) but I promised myself that even if I had to run by myself, that I would still give it hard, solid, tempo pace effort in the heat. The first 2 we ran as a group of guys, but after that it didn't workout anymore cuz the rest time was all messed up since the guys fell back. I ended up running with Cody and feeling pretty darn good until 5.5mi when he dropped, then I was by myself ahead of everyone. I felt really quick and ended up running pretty fast for a hot day and all! I averaged 6:33/mi pace this week which is slightly slower than last, but this week instead of 5min/1min we were doing like 4:45-4:50min/ 1-1:10min of slow jog/walk (too much rest sometimes since the guys were slow getting to the starting line) so really it was A LOT faster. I definently hit sub-6 pace average for the hard portion cuz the watch was reading off like 5:55pace for most of the time, so it was pretty darn successful! And also I was super consistent meaning I went out at a pace that I could keep the whole time. Overall, I'm super happy about the work I'm putting in and I can't wait to get out and start racing!

7 something miles super easy with the team plus 3x300m strides after plus the "warmup" of course. For tomorrow's 2mi time trial I'm hoping to go around 10:30, I think that would be a good spot to be at.

Today wasn't the best day for a race. I got to the track at 8:15 a little late so I had hardly any time to go warm up and run. Before I knew it, it was 8:35 and we were starting. We started and I felt really good the first lap and stuck with Branden, Cody, and Tristan, but we went through in 75 a little fast so I decided to lay off a little. Bad decision. After that, I was running the remaining laps by myself and I wasn't getting into racing mode and I couldn't find the motivation I needed to go harder. I went through 1600 in 5:18 and it felt pretty easy, but by then the 3 lead guys were way ahead. I ended up finishing and regretting that I hadn't pushed myself harder, it didn't even feel like a race. For now on, I'm going to make it a goal to latch on to people in races so I won't fall back and have to do all the work myself. Overall, it was a fun day and I'm not necessarily dissapointed, I just know I have work to do. Next Saturday I wanna really have a stellar race.

5.5mi up Roxy Ann to the power plant and back home in the afternoon. It felt kinda hard, my legs were pretty tired going up.

I think I might have a little injury. Today during our long run this tendon on my inner leg (I later figured out it was where my hamstring attaches behind the knee) started to hurt like 5mi through. I played it safe and ran back to the school so I only ended up doing a little over 7 at 7:04 pace. I came home and talked to my dad and he told me to stretch my hammy a bunch, ice, and take some ibuprofen so thats what I did. It's just a little tendinitis so hopefully I'll be better and able to finish the workout tomorrow.

The tendinitis did not feel good today so I took it off. Big bummer, I was hoping to get in a workout today but I know the best choice is to be safe so I don't put my season in jeopardy. I biked instead to the very top of Hillcrest, super hard and it was fun. Overall its about 12mi and there is almost 1800ft of gain!! I will be icing and stretching a lot to try and get back to running ASAP. I'm still planning to race Saturday so hopefully that will work out.

My tendonitis felt a lot better today, I could barely feel it at all as I went throughout my day. I did another bike ride today, this time up pine ridge which is like 9mi total and 1200ft of gain. I'm planning on running tomorrow and doing the workout if I can.

My tendonitis hurt slighltly in the warm up so I decided to play it safe and not run, huge bummer.

No running today it didnt feel good, super frustrated. And no race tomorrow

no race today. I think its getting better though. Hopefully i'll be able to run next week

20mi bike on bear creek trail with andrew today

tried to run today but after a half mile it started to hurt a little and it felt tight so i stopped. definitely wont be racing tomorrow. ive been doing ice massage, massage, and a ton of stretching and it seems to be helping, but this thing is healing really slowly.

no run but i did a fun bike ride

no run. Hopefully i can tomorrow though.

tried running today but it felt tight and started to hurt after .75mi so I just stopped. Next time i run i think im going to just try to run through the pain and see if it goes away after a few miles.

short bike ride.

bike ride almost all the way up pine ridge. Ive been super sick so ive taken the last 4 days completely off.

Finally got to actually run today!!! I did part of the workout with the team and felt great, my tendonitis hurt a little but it never got worse as I kept running on it so I guess thats a good thing. I warmed up then did 4x800 @ 6:25 pace then 2x1k with some faster guys at 6:10. It felt super easy and I hope I can keep up the running! I'm taking really good care of the tendonitis and I'm stretching and icing a ton.

good workout today, my tendonitis is feeling better and im still in pretty good shape. ran intervals at about 6:10 pace and felt pretty fresh.

today was a pretty bad but fun race. I was in one of the jv races at nike pre nats so i was hoping to place well. I went out too hard the first mile and went through the mile with the lead pack in 5:25. After that everything went downhill, i slowly died off and even got beat by lance!! bummer but im glad im finally healthy

did a nice run today and felt good up dark hollow. im glad i can run again

Finished a workout today!! 7x1k at 3:39 ave with 3min rest in between, felt great. Im glad to be running and healthy again, I think I will gain my fitness back quickly

easy run with strides. im slowly building up again, excited for the race saturday.

Did some cruise intervals at Fichner today. I ran with Joel and Ethan and we did 6:10 pace average on the interval portion and it felt really good. I can feel myself gaining fitness quickly.

Great race today! This course is super hard, its at Lithia and its virtually a 3 lap race where you run up the hills and back down. It is super hilly and everybody usually gets way off their PR's, I went through the mile 5 secs behind lance and allen in 5:42 and it felt pretty good. The next mile was about 6:00 and I moved up into about 6th. After that an incredible thing happened. I charged up the final hills then sprinted down and out kicked this kid to finish in 3rd!! It was crazy and I felt pretty good, I can feel my speed coming back. Apparently I tied the winning jv time from last years race by jason so I was happy about that. Overall, im happy about the race and super excited for the fast George Fox course.

6mi today with the varsity guys, im getting back into shape pretty quick but im just going to keep the low mileage for the rest of the season.

Warmed up 1.5mi then did a workout that was 4x30sec hard w/ 1min jogging recovery, then 3x800 at I pace w/ 3 min jogging recovery, then 4x1k at threshold pace w/ 1min recovery all on grass. The 4x30sec felt fine, I don't have great speed right now. I did the 800's in 2:47, 2:49, and 2:50, those felt pretty good I started to loosen up. The 1000's were 3:51, 3:51, 3:53, and 3:48, those felt really good also. Good tune up workout, we are starting to taper a little bit, districts is coming up.

4mi easy. Super busy with homework these days.

Cruise intervals at Ficher park today. Ran just 6 of the laps which are about .8mi with about a minute and a half of rest in between. Our times were faster than goal pace and we did 4:53 laps and finished with a 4:48. I felt pretty good, our pace was a tad over 6min/mi. 

4mi easy with team.

I dont know really what happened this race, I just didn't have it in me and I didn't feel good. I think part of it might have just been being sick for the last few weeks, its hard to say. I had a fun time though, the course is awesome.

4 easy, really busy with school right now.

2mi warmup then same workout as last week on Tuesday except this time all on the track. 4x30sec hard with 1 min rest, felt good on those even though I have pretty terrible speed. 3x800 at I pace with 1:1 active rest (jogged a lap), did those in 2:46, 2:48, 2:42, they felt controlled and pretty easy. 4x1k at tempo pace with 1 min active recovery, did those in 3:42, 3:42, 3:40, 3:36, and they felt pretty easy and super controlled also. 1mi cooldown

5 on my own late night, got home from the temple trip late.

Did a few cruise intervals, they felt fine

5 easy on my own, districts is on Wednesday.

My foot hurt really bad today, apparently i have a slight plantar fascia tear.. again.

Ran the JV Race at Districts today just cuz I felt like racing. It was pouring rain and super windy so it was a super hard, intense race at Lane. I went out well and stayed with 3 guys from my team: Lance, Joel, and Cole. We kept in a small group 30 meters back from the South Eugen guys that were leading. We hit the mile in 5:38 then Lance and Joes started to surge so it was just me and Cole. After that, I started barely being able to breathe! I had to spit like every 5secs for some reason! Whatever I still did well and got an 18:02 for the hard 5k. Now I'll take a week and a half off and have a fresh start for an awesome winter and track season!! I'll post in a few days to outline my goals and training.. Im going to ease back the mileage a bit and work my way into consistent training.

4 easy today. When I don't run I gain like 5-10lbs haha.

Pulled my groin playing football today. Probably won't be able to run for like a week.

I tweaked my back really bad yesterday playing tackle football so I don't think I'll be able to run till the end of the week.

After looking back on this summer/fall, I have come to the conclusion that the reason I got injured was mainly the fact that I really upped the speedwork and long intervals mid-August and didn't drop my mileage enough to handle it. My hamstring acted up and I wasn't able to have anything close to the season I wanted. Since I have never before in my highschool career had a completely healthy XC/Track season, I have decided that this winter/spring I am going to change that. I'm going to work harder, be smarter, and enjoy my training more than I ever have before. I'm not going to get ahead of myself and run too fast or work too hard when I shouldn't be. My main goal for this upcoming outdoor track season is to have fun and stay healthy.

First, I'm going to incorporate A LOT more stretching into my running routine. Part of the reason I get injured so often is because I am so inflexible! Also, I definitely slack off and don't stretch anywhere close to enough. Each day I am going to go through a lengthy stretching routine after I run. I know flexibility is going to be key achieving my goals.

Secondly, like last years winter track, I will be doing A LOT of specific strength work. Like last year, I will be in the weight room twice a week doing legs (power clings, squats, plyos, dead lifts, stairs), arms (bench, good mornings, pull ups, push ups), and core (I don't know the names of all the exercises but they are freakin hard!), all with Coach Stemple and the rest of the Panther Distance team.

Next, I am going to be very careful with my mileage. I'll start out really low and move up not more than 10% a week and I'll be using the 3 week building/1 week drop mileage formula thingy. Pretty much I will just be following Coach Stemple's training program completely. His program involves not very high mileage (40-55 in base phase), short speed work throughout the winter to build speed and form(30m flies, relay races, 100m on/100m off type workouts), short hilly tempos to improve strength and speed, and a lot of strength and weight room activities. Like last year, I'm hoping to be there each of the "workout" days all winter (strength days, tempos, and sprints).

Lastly, I am just hoping to have a lot of fun and stay healthy. I enjoy running most when I have a goal in my mind and I am slowly progressing towards it. I think if I stay focused and motivated this winter, the times will come and I will be able to have a GREAT track season.

8.5mi on the bike today up Roxy Ann, beautiful sunset. My groin and back are both not fully healed so I probably can't start running for a few more days.

Woke up this morning and my tweaked back was even worse! I guess I probably can't run till Monday so I'll just bike and lift for the next few days.

A little over 4mi with the guys today after school up Orchard Home on hills. My groin is still bothering me a bit, it bothered me throughout the run so I came back a little early to loosen it up with stretching. I'm just going to watch it really closely over the next few weeks and just do light running. Stretching routine + Core work + Lifting mainly lower body stuff (power clings, dead lifts..)

30min on the bike + Upper body work with dumbbells on my own. I usually do a routine where I'm doing push ups, pull ups, curls, tricep thingys, and thrusts. My groin also felt a lot looser and better today.

Easy 4.5mi mainly flat, my groin felt A TON better today. When I got back I did Stretching routine + Core + Lower body weights.