Ethan Cannon

I'M BACK!!!!!!!! Had a great mission and now I am getting ready to go again for BYU. 

6 miles easy, though it should have been a lot easier at that pace. 

7 miles. Titan 10, some core. Exhausting but that is to be expected. Afterwards feels good though. 

A short run. Some strength exercises at home. About midway through had lower calf pain that didn't get worse till the end of the run. 

7 hilly, hard miles. Titan ten.

5 miles. Core work. 

10 miles. Pretty fatiguing. I realize how nice it is to run with other people. They really distract you from the pain you feel. But it's ok. This'll make me stronger. 

This is exciting! I ran 8 miles today and was wayy faster than last week and it also felt quite a bit easier. This is the first real, tangible difference I've seen in my running. Awesome! I was feeling it a little in my stomach though on the way back becasue of breakfast and decided to not do strides. 

Ho corso sei miglia nella pioggia, poi ho fatto anche i strides. 

8 miles. 

6 miles. No strides today since my bursa was feeling a bit. I'll do them tomorrow. 

Really wacko run since my four year old running watch basically decided to die on me. I was supposed to run 7 miles and I think that's about what I ended up doing. Also four strides, not super hard like last time but a lot more controlled. 

Hmm. I did my long run up RoxyAnn again. Today was the first day I tracked my run on mapmyrun afterward, where I found out my run was actually just 9.42 miles. That means I really was hardly going under 8 minute mile pace. Now, remember that there is a 1200 foot elevation gain involved, but still. Pazienza. 

RIP IRON MAN TRIATHLON WATCH. You have carried me for four or five years. From my rise in high school to one of the faster runners in the district, to freezing cold tempo runs training for track my senior year, to those early morning summer mile repeats as I prepared to walk on at BYU, to two years of serving the Lord and trying not to be late to appointments. You've served me well :)

8 miles hard with lots of hills. Strength.

7 miles. Felt pretty tired today. Hopefully it wasn't related to the job I started yesterday. T10.

8 miles. 

Pretty tough run up past the Lighthearts. 

8 miles, felt good. Strides on a not super even surface. I think it helps to do core before I run because it wakes me up and I'm not too tired. 

Nice good long run doing more than one roxy Ann loop. Honestly I felt like it was faster than 7:35 pace but apparently that's what it was. I felt like I was rolling. Core. 

I did my first double today, five miles in the morning and five in the evening. Little humid in the evening after a thunderstorm. 

Nice 7 miler up Roxyann. Though I haven't run Too many miles in them, I've had my shoes since January 1, 2015, and it seems like it's time for a new pair. 

First double on a full work day. Didn't go bad at all. Tonight I felt super hungry as I ran and therefore tired, but I think that'll go away once I get used to night running again. T10/IP.

7 miles, a little tiring probably also because I just ran last night. Strength. 

Oh yea!!! Best run since I've been back. I felt great. Running uphill I didn't feel exhausted or anything. I meant to only do 8.5 but I underestimated my pace and ran 9.05 miles on a sick new route I found out in the wilderness. 7:25 overall pace despite a 1200 foot elevation gain on the way up is awesome! Feeling good. Core/T10/IP

There was abbastanza adversity this morning as I was #chafingthedream on my traditional Roxy Ann long run. Also, I started feeling my bursa again but decided to keep going. I'll have till Monday to rest it, which should be sufficient. All in all, 7:20 pace for the hilly 12.5 miles isn't bad (and a lot better than last week). 

Yikes. Today I ran toward Home Depot because it was the flattest way to do my first workout in years. First note Is that I've become an expert at running a decent pace, but running consistently fast on this fartlek was pretty awkward for my body. It wasn't very pretty but I'll get back into it soon. Second thing is that I wasn't able to run for as hard or as long as I had hoped because of my bursa. I am starting to realize why and with some good care am confident that within a couple days of recovery I'll be ready to go again. 

7 miles recovery. Hoping that bursa gets better. T10/Core

Great run up Roxyann. It was easy and I was going pretty fast. Today I wasn't supposed to be recovering so it was more aerobic. I tried a new trail they have there. Won't make that mistake again. It's a miracle my ankles are still intact. Core/T10

Well, in the same way that my slow work sped up a lot in the first month I was doing it, I hope my fast work does to. There is certainly room to improve. On a rainy morning I went down to Bear Creek and the bike path to do a tempo run. I FINISHED IT! Bursa was alright. It was slow; 24 minutes for exactly 4 miles. But soon afterward I felt fine. Like some part of my body isn't ready to go faster yet but the rest is.

Its good to note that despite working 21 hours at the retirement home the last three days, I didn't feel any lingering exhaustion from that. 

7 miles

12.3 miles, 7:10 pace. So a nice improvement from last time! Saw a bunch of army dudes. Good Roxy run. 

Tempo run time. I started at North Phoenix/ Barnett and ran towards Bear Creek. In other words, I was running downhill. Plus (confession time) I was running in front of cars and basically ended up hauling for about 10 minutes. Alas, the dream came to an end and I ended up pushing my tired legs and panting my way for another 17 minutes before I planned on the fly to call it quits at 4.5 milesish. Hopefully I can get better. Core/T10

7 miles up Roxyann. Felt good enough to do Strides. 

uh oh. Once again I miscalculated and did over 9 miles up by the Lighthearts. And once again my bursa (and this time my knee, too) were feeling tender. Maybe it's the steepness of the hill. Felt a little tired today. T10/core

Ran a 3 minutes hard, 2 minutes recovery (but still "up") fartlek. Having learned my lesson from Monday, I made a simple goal to finish faster than I started. It worked! I did 5 miles, but only got the splits for miles 1,2,4 and 5. They were 6:15, 6:05, 6:00, 5:50. Then my knee started hurting bad ended my cool down early. 

Had to shut it down after 5 because of bad IT band pain. 

I believe I did 10.5. It band pain is a lot worse downhill so I ran up Roxyann fine and coming down it hurt so it took it really slow. This has definitely taught me A lesson. I had not been taking care of my body on a strength and injury prevention standpoint. A few minutes of core a day just doesn't suffice. So I made a new goal to do strengthening and IP stuff for 20 minutes a day. I'm confident that soon I'll be strong and injury resistant. 

5 mile tempo run on the BC greenway at 5:48 pace. Started feeeling the IT at the end so I called it quits after a short cooldown. 

Drove out to Home Depot for a run on the flat. Had I been totally healthy I would have enjoyed running hills but now is not the time for that. Did 6.5 miles more or less. My knee started flaring up, actually pretty bad, but then near the end of the run it started feeling better, even with a slight down grade! Woo hoo! 

NOTE: TODAY I GOT NEW SHOES. I REPLACED MY ADIZERO TEMPO 6 shoes with ADIZERO TEMPO 6. 

Went a bit farther than yesterday. IT still hurt after a while.

Felt good during my 4-2 fartlek! I don't think it was a ridiculously fast pace. Right now my legs are still just not quite there yet. But I was stoked to be able to do 6 miles of workout after my 2 mile warmup. I didn't have any IT problems until the very end, which is why my cooldown was short. I seriously felt my glutes (which I've been working on) kick in and help out. 

good longer run 

Awesome run! I was happy to be able to finish the whole thing and my IT band hardly hurt that much. It was the first time in a long time that I ran my long run on the flat. So when I clocked on of my miles (number 5) in at 6:10 (but being timed, that was probably faster than I had been going), I got excited and tried to "squeeze the trigger" bit by bit. My last five miles show that, to continue the analogy, I got a little "trigger happy" and ran out of gas. Next time I'll do better. The miles were 5:47, 5:36, 5:38, 5:45, and 5:46. Altogether 5:43 pace or so which is faster than my most recent tempo run! That's exciting as well as informative (perhaps a more intense warm up before hard efforts could be helpful). Gym. 

3 mile warmup then a 6 Tempo run going on the bike path north from Hawthorne park. Felt some IT pain about halfway in, so I actually turned back 30 seconds early, but it never developed. Once again, it was on the cool down that it hurt so I finished that early. Once again I went out too hard. I didn't keep splits but it was probably pretty fast going out and a little slower coming back. Gotta get better with that.

8 miles out past Home Depot. Knee hurt. 

Well, I survived my 9 miler. I am bummed that I don't feel like my health has made huge strides forward. Maybe I need to rethink my recovery plan. 

Fartlek 5-2-4-2-3-2 and then repeated again, for about six miles total. Felt good. I literally didn't feel any knee pain till the moment I finished my last hard effort. It also seemed almost too easy. By now my legs have learned to grind longer distances, now they need to learn to be quick on the short ones. Good effort. 

9 miles. Started feeling my band at about 7 miles, not bad. 

Long run on the greenway. Maybe next time I won't time it so it won't be so competitive lol. Here were the splits I got: 6:43, 6:25, 6:15, 6:15, 6:05, 5:55, 5:45, 5:35, 5:34, 5:43, 5:42. It band felt really good. Rather, it didn't feel at all which is really good. Sub 6 pace overall and 5:40 pace for the last 5.

The good news is my IT band was really chill today. The less good news is I did my 6 mile tempo at only 5:44 pace. This mirrors a lot my 2014 season. Back then I went a while where I didn't get any faster. I'm not too concerned, some more mileage and fast running  will put me right where I need to be. 

8 miles, the most pain free I've been in a while. Gotta still take care of it, but I'm obviously happy.

Went a little farther than planned because my pace was a little faster. 6:30ish. IT feeling sore but no pain, we'll see about adding in hills maybe by the end of the week. 

6 mile fartlek on the BC greenway, 3 up, 3 down. Averaged 6 minute miles overall so the "up" parts were probably a bit over 5 minute pace, by my estimation. It's hard to tell. Felt good though. 

8 miles, couple of strides. 

13 mile long run. I did about 9 miles fine at 6 minute pace, so it seemed like it would have been a good one, until I felt an excruciating pain in my lower leg that caused me to walk. Later on I ended up being able to jog home. Yikes. Gonna do some research and learn about it. 

9 mile run (workout tomorrow) and NO evidence at all of anything from Saturday! Woohoo! What a miracle. Still Felt a little like an old man with being stiff and such. 3 strides. 

NOTE: After speaking with him on the phone, From today I am implementing a training program designed by Isaac Wood at BYU. I'm not sure how I'll mesh it exactly with my previous training plan, but I don't think it will be that hard, it's a lot of similar stuff and I think definitely worth trying. 

AM: 11 mile run. 6 mile progression after warmup. Splits: 6:23, 5:54, 5:42, 5:27, 5:23, 5:34. Still should have been more controlled. But I'm excited because at every pace I run it feels easier than it used to. Hopefully that can continue up and up. I hope this training helps me to be able to handle hard workout at paces much faster than this. Felt good though. 

PM: 4 mile shakeout. First hilly run in a while hurt but was good.

8 miles. After last night's run I was understandably a little tired. I might start taking iron supplements again just to be safe.

11 mile run. It wasn't supposed to be hard or anything but I still felt like I should throw something in to spice it up, so every four minutes or so I did a one minute burst. Felt alright.

8 miles, four strides. After one of them a lady commented: "did you run out of gas? This hill (there was barely an incline) doesn't seem too steep but when you run it or walk it it's pretty hard". Lol

Yay for RoxyAnn again! 2+ loops was about 14 miles according to my calculations. It was obviously a lot of hills to put my body through and my highest mileage since coming home so I didn't try to push too hard but I ended up right around 6:45 pace. That's pretty good. Felt good. 

4 mile tempo run on the greenway with a three mile warmup and cool down. 21:41 or 5:25 pace. I only checked my time at mile 2, so I could be going off of feel rather than pace. Because of that my splits were actually pretty smart, all between 5:23 and 5:27. 

PM: 5 mile shakeout in Portland.

10 mile run in Portland through the streets and then at Mt. Tabor park. It was good. You always feel a little out of it on vacation just because you're out of your routine. But there's no reason why this week of training can't be very beneficial as long as I make sure to get proper rest and do my supplemental exercises. 

Nice run on a long smooth Forrest road. After logging it it seems I was kind of going quick (6:25 pace) and ended up running like 10.8 miles. Cool I guess. 

Fartlek run. I really wanted to run the up sections not all out but at race pace, like 5 minutes/ mile. Went 5 off, 2 on after a three mile warmup. Felt pretty strong.

9 miles in the Forrest, 3 strides. 

Wow, awesome way to finish vacation. Yesterday I was a bit bummed about the whole way out being downhill and way back uphill. So I decided to run on a different road that initially led up. And up. And up. At times it got fairly steep and I had no idea when it would end. But I sure love running up mountains, so this was perfect for me. Almost got to Lolo pass. About a 2000 foot elevation gain. Beautiful view of Mt. Hood and a little waterfall shower on the way back. On the return trip I realized there were even markers every tenth mile. On the way out I had slightly overestimated my pace so I did about 15.3 miles total at just under 6:45 pace. 

10 miles out and back on coal mine road/ firehouse loop.

Morning workout at the north medford track. 6 by 1000 with 2 minutes rest. 3:11, 3:10, 3:10, 3:11, 3:08, 3:06. Felt alright. I had hoped to be a little faster. Time to work on stuff like this I guess. 

Evening: 5 miles.

9 miles past Home Depot. Blackberries everywhere, they were super tempting. Next time I'll go early and bring a bucket. 4 strides. 

Morning: 11 mile run. Fartlek on the greenway. 5 minutes up, 1 minute hard. Just under 6:20 average pace.

Evening: 5 miles. 

Yikes. 9 miles, then only two strides because at the end of my run I think I squeezed a blood vessel or something and felt some pain on my lower upper outside central (left) thigh (lol). Today I felt a little beat. The past couple times I have doubled I felt a little tired the next day, which doesn't surprise me a ton seeing as how I am essentially running, going to bed, and then waking up and the first thing I do is...run. But another concern is that I have always prided myself on the hilly training conditions I face every day (long runs, tempo runs, easy runs, etc.) But now that I am doing 8-10 miles a day every morning to avoid doubling 5 times a week (which I believe is the right choice for sure), it is simply pretty hard to not be daunted by or have that "hard day" feeling before or during a nine mile run around where I live. Hills are good but I may need to go somewhere else more often to chill off the intensity by just a hair in the future.  

Felt pretty tired at the beginning which wasn't great but I got a nice second wind and was able to do my three loops on RoxyAnn. A bit over 6:45 pace in the end. 

(3, 4.5, 3)- Great workout at NMHS. 4 by 1600 with two minutes rest (except after number two when I ran to the bathroom and got three minutes, but my opinion is that if anything that made me get out of my rhythm and go slower)- 5:03, 5:05, 5:08, 5:04. 

PM- 5 miles. 

Great run on Roxyann. 4 strides. Feeling very blessed To be so aerobically fit right now to get up that hill quite fast (29:15) and not feel challenged at all.

10 miles past Home Depot.

Had an awesome workout today. That makes two workouts this week where I went faster than my goal pace (and an easy run to boot). 5 mile tempo run at 5:16 pace. Also I think my body is getting smarter and more intuitive on pace than it was before, because once again I ran very even splits. Miles 1-2 were 10:31 and miles 4-5 were 10:34.

I wanted to meet up with my high school coach so did most of my mileage and then warmed up with them for their work out. I don't think it would be wise to do it again. Afterwards I felt pretty sore and achy. I think it's best to just do my run, do my exercises, and then take a cold shower. But other than that it was alright.

I ran out of time and had to run only 1:45, which I estimated to be 14.5 miles on Mount Ashland. Boy was it hard. I've never taken altitude very seriously but I think it got to me today as I peaked around 7000 feet. And the last time I did this, I had yet to learn the philosophy that a long run shouldn't be at recovery pace so I guess with me pushing more it was bound to be a bit harder.

3 mile warm up, then 8 by 800 with 90 seconds rest at NMHS. 2:30, 2:29, 2:30, 2:30, 2:31, 2:30, 2:30, 2:23. 

PM: 5 miles. 

I drove down the hill to avoid making the firehouse loop too brutal and did it from the bottom of cherry. Felt alright for having run last night. 4 strides.

Ran with my friend Carmen, who recently finished her college running career. She ran a 2:08 800. It was weird running 8 minute pace, it was super easy. Afterwards I didn't feel like I had even run. I guess I'll keep that in mind if I ever need some serious recovery. 

8 mile "power" run, as it was described by my coach. Don't ask me what that means, probably just another term those crazy utahns made up ;) Anyway I ran 43:03 or 5:23 pace. I took splits every 2 miles: 10:37, 10:58, 10:44, 10:43. Pretty good overall but I really need to build some speed in addition to my endurance which is my forte right now.

Evening: 5 miles.

Notes: you always know things are going well when you PR in practice. My current 10K PR is 34:05 from the 2015 Rex Lee run. According to my pace I hit 10K in 33:27. Solid. Also, this is I believe my highest mileage day of all time. I just didn't feel comfortable doing any less warm up or cool down than I did this morning so that's how it ended up. 

IT band felt a little sore today but I'll plan on taking an ice bag tonight. Other than that my overall energy level wasn't bad at all considering how hard and much I ran yesterday. 3 strides. 

Roxy run felt really good. I wasn't very tired despite going farther than ever before (over three loops). Only problem was an IT band that felt at times tender. 6:42 pace was alright I guess.

Went to the greenway for 2 by 2 miles with 4 minutes rest. Ran 10:08 and 10:16. Not what I was hoping for, but I remember how first I learned to run at a moderate pace, then a faster pace, now I'm learning to run at an even faster pace again. If I can stay healthy I believe I'll get to where I need to go. 

Evening: 4 miles to avoid hurting a sore IT band.

9 miles. I didn't do my strength workout afterward or the strides to be careful, but my IT wasn't hurting too bad. 

9 miles at Hawthorne park. 3 strides. 

5 mile tempo run on the greenway at 5:11 pace. I felt great and very loose the first two miles, which I did in 10:18, and a little shaky the last two miles (10:27). Then I did 4 by 400 at 70 seconds. I was just guessing the pace since I had forgotten to map it out. Pretty epic workout overall.

Evening: 5 miles

9 miles from the bottom of cherry. My IT band felt funky so I didn't do strides. 

Long run to cap the week. Felt alright. I was a bit worried for my IT band so I cut off the last half mile, but it never flared up. Didn't time myself. 

9 miles past Home Depot. Felt good but decided to do strides Wednesday instead of today. 

Evening: felt blessed that the smoke went away enough that I could run outside. It's been really smoky the past few days. Ran 5 miles. 

It felt good to be a little off the books in terms of pace for the first time in a while but I still feel like I gave my fartlek type workout a good solid effort. Not unlike when I did this at BYU, I went hard on the first portion. And I felt like I was flying. The next was a little rougher, then my speed built back up toward the end. It was 8-5-3-2-1 with 5-3-2-1 rest at Hawthorne. 

Evening: altitude camp begins! Just an overnight trip with my family but it's a great place for training at 4500-5000 feet, and boy did I feel it tonight! 5 miles recovery but my legs felt like jelly. Soon I'll get used to it though.

10 miles up around Hyatt lake. Felt better than yesterday. 4 strides. 

4 miles on the greenway with a three minute jog between each one. Saw some good things in this workout. My splits were 4:53, 5:01, 5:00, 4:54.

Evening: 5 miles

NOTE: TODAY I STARTED USING MY NEW ADIZERO TEMPO 7s. 

9 miles past Home Depot, strides. 

Felt good from the start today and was able to push the pace and finish my highest mileage week of all time! (80 miles). This was also my highest mileage run of all time. And it was the fastest I had ever run Roxy (6:28 pace- 7 seconds per mile faster than my previous PR). I felt super good in all ways until the end when my leg started hurting. Hopefully I can take care of it and it'll be fine by my workout on Monday. 

8 by 1000 at the NMHS track with 90 seconds rest. Honestly my very best repeats were the ones where I was getting less rest instead of more (because it naturally varied of course). I'm not sure why. Certainly showed improvement. 3:06, 3:05, 3:06, 3:08, 3:06, 3:05, 3:07, 3:04. (3:06 average). 

Evening: 5 miles.

Its only 7:30 am but I'm executively deciding right now to not run tonight as planned but tomorrow night instead to rest my body. Today we are making the 13 hour trek to Utah and I had to wake up at 4:20 to run. My run went about as well as can be expected under the circumstances. It felt a little tiring and at times I was lightheaded but at least I didn't feel any injuries. Pretty incredible that I haven't gotten less than 7.5 hours of sleep ever this summer until last night.

Nice 10 mile run in the morning toward Spanish fork. 3 strides.

Afternoon: was supposed to meet up with some guys to run in Provo but they didn't show up so I did 5 miles on my own. Just a tinge of IT pain, trying to take care of it.

Ran a 5 mile tempo run from Mapleton. A lot of it was into a storm up hobble creek canyon. It hurt pretty good and I'm sure whatever the pace was it was nothing insane. But hopefully I'm in good shape. This was my last hard workout before practice starts! 

Evening: 4 miles. Felt my IT band.

Ran up hobble creek canyon again. Still getting used to the altitude but the positive side is that my IT band felt fine.

Dang that was a run. This time since I was going farther I actually ran a good ways up hobble creek canyon. I went pretty hard from the start but didn't have it mapped out. I turned around as if I had been going at 6:30 pace, but the only mile I measured was a 6:15 which was probably the steepest mile I ran all day. So it was a great run until at about mile 14 the wheels kind of fell off a bit since I'm not used to having to run uphill at the end of a long run, especially a 17 miler. 

Well, there could be ways to gain more confidence the day before the first practice. But I doubt the Israelites were feeling very confident when their army was reduced to 300 prior to fighting a huge army. Today I ran 10 miles and it wrecked me. Nevertheless I had some nice tender mercies along the way. It was boiling hot on my first real afternoon run since coming home and I think the biggest thing was that I had eaten pretty recently. At first I started feeling more and more sluggish before I got downright sick. I stopped twice to kneel down and relax in the shade a bit. One of the times a guy stopped and offered me water and a ride. I accepted the first. Later on I was able to stop again and throw up, which finally liberated me from having to do a mega slow jog. What I learned: HYDRATE more than I have been, especially in this dry climate, and don't eat after 12:00 tomorrow!

Well, it's been a good bit of training since I got home- 1058 miles to be as accurate as possible. I can't wait to see how I do!

Apparently we needed to have gotten a physical within the last 30 days in order to run with the team. So it wasn't gonna happen today. It was just me and another kid named Denver who has a brother named Cade Perry on the team who Isaac deemed worthy of trying out. Kind of reminds me of 2014 with Tanner and I. But I had gone with my plan and hadn't eaten since 12 so thankfully Denver decided to come do mile repeats with me. We went to the intramural field and ran 5 of them with 3:30 rest in supposedly about 5:10 average but I felt like I was running circles around him (not cuz he's slow, but because he had the GPS and I had no idea where to turn and stuff. The only time it was easy was when I was behind him but I was almost always on his shoulder, side by side, or in front).  

Felt really good to be running with the guys again. You can run 10 miles and yet feel so relaxed (TBH it was barely under 7 minute pace and on flat, but still- it felt easy). And tomorrow we go to hobble creek! Andiamo!!! 

What part of my body did not hurt today? My eyelids? My fingernails? Haha. We ran up hobble creek canyon. I was over ambitious and went out too hard. And I paid for it. It was super hard, I felt awful at the end. The good news I suppose is that I ran 48:57, which is a PR even though its early season. Hopefully I can run smarter next time and maybe even break 47. Today was also my first day of weights. It felt good to be back.

Felt a little better today. We ran pretty slow to recover from our tough effort yesterday. I still have a stomach ache but hopefully by tomorrow I'll be ready for a strong effort again.

I also did 5 miles in the morning. 

15 miles on a rocky trail in Spanish fork. My legs felt a little beat up. Thankfully tomorrow is a day of rest before we workout Monday! 

Great workout today. It was hot outside but I didn't really feel it. I also didn't feel tired from the previous week. We went to the legendary intramural fields and did a 5K mostly alternating every 400 meters between "hard" and "recovery", which was still pretty fast- it was supposed to be in the 5 minute range, but 10 seconds per lap slower than the fast 400. I really liked the workout this time. I ran 16:25 for the 5K. Then we took a ten minute break and ran a 2 mile in similar fashion. I hit 10:22 for that one. 

10.5 miles, a couple strides

We did a 4-3-2-1 fartlek with 3-2-1 rest at Kiwanis park. Feels weird that this isn't my strength right now. I won't lie, the thought has run through my head: "Am I really a miler?" Then again, how many times since my mission have I run anything speed oriented? Not many. Oh well, time will tell. In my opinion it was just the right effort for three days before a race. 

9 miles, three strides. IT band felt a little. Hopefully I can rest it up. 

3 loops of the course. A couple strides. "So, it is before the the grass of east bay golf course the doom of our time will be decided" -Theoden

Someone once said in a flo track video something along the lines of: "the problem with setting high goals is that you get knocked down a lot". Honestly I shouldn't complain, I'm in pretty good shape for being just a few months off my mission running XC which I'm less good at than track. But, being me, I was kind of bummed haha. Oh well, back to the grind, hopefully I'll continue to watch my fitness improve during cross and get to the point where I can get some big PRs in track. 

Nice run along a trail that went through the foothills near the Y. I liked it. Then a couple strides. 

Good workout today, I beat my 2 mile PR (converted from 3000) on all three reps of our 3 by 2 miles w/ just under 5 min rest. I ran 9:49, 9:54, and 9:54. I felt great during the whole thing until the last rep when I got a ton of these sharp sticky things in my flats that hurt and immediately gave me blisters. In fact, I may have felt a little too good. I was in the chase group which was separated so I never felt as pushed as I would have with other guys there. To me that's part of the BYU walk on magic. You train all summer thinking you are working hard and then when you get there and are running faster than ever but are in last place it forces you to really push yourself. But overall today was good. 

10 miles

Today wasn't my best workout, but I'm happy because aerobically I felt fine, I just felt Tuesday's workout in my legs (and in my feet) still. Come next week, I hope to be better prepared. Today we ran the Michigan: 1600 on the track, 90 seconds rest, 1 mile grass loop, 90 seconds rest, 1200 on the track, 90 seconds rest, mile grass loop, 90 seconds rest, 800 on the track, 90 seconds rest, mile grass loop, 90, 400, 90, mile. My splits were: 4:47, 5:17, 3:43, 5:19, 2:26, 5:17, 66, 5:07. Note: the grass loop miles may have been a tad short since we were cutting the corners a bit and since I was so far back I wasn't only getting like 80 seconds of rest.

5 miles in the morning.

10 miles, three strides. Felt good. Blisters gone!

Beautiful run today on a hilly trail in the mountains. 6:13 pace for 16 miles. It's been quite a week, I'm happy to have a day off before getting at it again next week!

I just had the thought today about how grateful I am to be able to run. What if I didn't have that break in my day from the classes and schoolwork and stress? Running to me is like sleeping to other people. The only reason I got through two years without it is because I was doing the only thing that is even more important. At BYU we talk a lot about finding our purpose after our missions and stuff. Running isn't my life purpose necessarily, but it sure gets me out of bed and encourages me! I love it! 

Today we went to the intramural field for mile repeats with 4:30-5 min rest. I did 4:57 and 4:56 on the first two. On the third one I hit 2:25 at 800 when Michael, the kid I was running with, stopped. Apparently coach had been saying that people behind a certain mark were going to only do 800s. It was so weird stopping in the middle of a rep. I never like not doing what I feel is the whole workout, and so I kind of had a chip on my shoulder as I ran the next 800s in 2:22 and 2:17 w/ 3 min rest. An interesting byproduct of this was that I felt my speed to be coming back a bit though. At some point, I'll need to start training 880 full time and now I'm a bit more confident that I can do it. 

Enjoyed the sun 

On my ten mile run 

It was fun

But now it's all done 

3 strides

Morning: 5 miles

Afternoon: 9 mioes, strides, weights. I wonder if the reason I felt a tad tired today is because whenever I've done doubles in the past, the second run was always the shorter one. Now that I'm at BYU that has had to change. Idk, I'm sure I'll get used to it.

10-5-3-2-1 fartlek on the intramural field. Didn't feel amazing, nor did it feel super bad. Just a good workout. 

Today was a really stressful day with school. I took two midterms. Everything was taking longer than I had thought and I ended up not being able to run until 5 or so. 

Lesson learned again. Do NOT eat right before a run. So far I've only found peanut butter to be acceptable to my body. I feel fine when I'm eating it but then while I'm running, even if it's an easy day, I feel awful. Having said that, it was a beauitful, nice, longer run. I had been considering running in the morning but thought this would be a better choice.

Shout out to the varsity team for WRECKING it at the Dellinger invite. First place with 17 points. It's cool to be a part of that. 

My long run ended up being da solo up Provo Canyon. I've noticed an interesting pattern over the past three weeks. On tuesday I have a great workout. Thursday I still feel it a little and don't run quite as well. Then by saturday I am pretty tired. I know my body pretty well and I felt like if I was rested, I could have run as fast as sub 5:45 pace today. I ended up doing 5:52s. I have the fitness but idk why I get tired throughout the week. The intensity is high but I've done more mileage than this over the summer. Intersting note to pay attention to. 

10 miles up on the Y on my own since I had a science midterm to take this afternoon. Didn't do strides since I felt my achilles a bit on those steep hills.

Today I got cut. Bummer. There are reasons why I would keep myself but also reasons I would cut myself if I were coach. Now my plan is to work and build fitness through the end of October, take a week "off", and then start getting ready to roll by December when there will apparently be one spot up for grabs. Hopefully I can run a fast mile by then. 

I went home and came back to run 1k repeats on the intramural field. Isaac wouldn't tell us how many we were doing (idk how I feel about that) so it hurt for sure, but I wasn't redlining like I normally do on workouts. Perhaps that's a good thing that will prevent burnout. Anyway I ran 3:08, 3:09, 3:06, 3:09, 3:08, 3:08, 3:09, 3:03 with 1:40-2:00 rest. 

10 miles, two strides 

The good news is that this was the first thursday workout in a few weeks that I felt like I wasn't running with the previous workout in my legs. It was also my first sub 60 400 since 2015 haha. It had to happen sometime. Unfortunately, I ended up getting out in front and was running almost all of the intervals on my own. I know if the BYU team was there they'd be hauling on this workout. So I can't get complacent. The good news is that I know how to train not only for XC on my own (summer of 2014 and 2017) but also was training pretty da solo in 2014 for track as well as 2015. 

We did 3 by 800-600-400 cutdown for 7200 meters total and a lot of rest (so we finished after 6:00!) I ran (2:27, 1:51, 66), (2:22, 1:45, 67), (2:17, 1:43, 66), (2:18, 1:40, 59). 4-5 minutes between sets and more than rest equivalent to the previous repeat during sets. 

Morning: 5 miles. It was warmer than the last time I doubled and I went a lot faster. 

Afternoon: 10 miles. Didn't do strides because I felt my achilles.

I was busy this morning so I didn't run until the afternoon. With this in mind, and knowing what I ate throughout today, it's a miracle I didn't collapse. I mean, it's not like I had only eaten brownies, but you need good fuel and preperation to run 16 miles at sub 6 pace. I didn't get my pace exactly, but I am relatively confident it was faster than last week. Nice day to run in the canyon. 

Over 10 miles and strides. I checked my pace just once using mile markers on the river trail today and I was running 6:15s. That's no surprise. When I run alone that's kind of what happens. Maybe I should back off a hair.

I bounce back and forth with how I feel about training with the farm team. Once again, I didn't feel as beat up after today's workout. Complacency can be a significant issue in running. Yet at the same time, track season is a ways away. With each workout I do I am gaining confidence and a feeling that I am building traction and getting stronger and faster. I believe that will propel me to a good track year. Today we did 8 by 800 at Kiwanis with a bit over 1:1 rest. The whole thing felt pretty good except around reps 5 and 6 where on the steep downhills I felt some tough bowel problems. Thankfully, I didn't entirely fall apart and felt better by the end. 2:30, 2:27, 2:24, 2:23, 2:24, 2:25, 2:23, 2:19. 

Uh oh. Woke up this morning with a sharp pain in my lower outer left knee. I feel like this has happened before, and I may have even written about it on this blog. Perhaps I should make an injury log. Not sure quite what it is. I ran anyway and only ditched strides. While running it felt fine, when I would stop it would hurt to start again. I took some ibuprofen and hopefully will be ok. Felt good other than that, I'm in great shape right now.

Today's effort didn't really feel like a workout. 64 400, 3 min rest (though it was supposed to be less), 2:22 800 (5 min rest), 2:29 800 (we were only supposed to make it feel like the race so I let someone else lead this one and chilled), 3 min rest, 61 400 (difficult, but I focused on keeping my form completely together and being relaxed). Knee felt fine during the workout, I'm hoping it's getting better! :) 

8 miles, strides. Knee felt almost 100 percent today! Sweet!

Morning: woke up at 5 to drive to Pocatello. I had a bit of a sore throat, but not too bad. While I was racing I didn't feel anything wrong with it. I didn't feel like I did great myself on one of the most insane courses I've ever run (super steep downhill followed by super steep uphill), but I was really proud of our team for winning the race, beating Idaho State on their home course 32 to 36. Not bad for a "running club". 

Night: I needed to get in more mileage so I went for a run. You know what it feels like when your legs just start moving faster without you even asking for it? That's what happened. Before I knew it, I was rolling 5:30s or so on the way back. I love that feeling of going super fast and having it not even feel challenging. 

Tried a new combination today, past the MTC and then instead of turning around, going on the business park loop. It's beautiful at this time of year. 3 strides. 

Weird workout today. It was 10 by 600 with 2 minutes rest but Isaac wouldn't tell us before how many we were doing. Didn't really matter, cuz I lost track of how many we had done. Whenever you lose track of how many you've done, it means you are going easy. He had us running 1:46-1:48 and was pretty serious about it. It was good to run as a pack but I was getting super antsy. I would have rather been unleashed a little earlier to grind a bit. Numbers 8 and 9 we were allowed to go faster and we did them in 1:40. That felt good, it would have been a solid pace to do for the whole workout. But we only did two of those, so on the last when, Isaac had us stick as a group for the first 200 before letting loose. We went through in 32 high. I was pretty impressed with my close, probably sub 57. I finished in 1:29. That definitely means that even during cross season I'm probably in the best 800 shape of my life. Then I did weights in the ghetto weight room. Splits: 1:48, 1:47, 1:46, 1:47, 1:47, 1:46, 1:47, 1:40, 1:40, 1:29

Little over ten and a half miles. Felt my Achilles a bit so I didn't do strides.

My Achilles still hurt today. Thankfully, during the workout it was ok. I'm icing it right now and didn't do weights today. I'll be more careful tomorrow and not over push myself, but focus on recovery. Hopefully all will go well. I didn't feel quite up to snuff today, but I was just reading yesterday something by Alberto Salazar where he was saying we try too hard to be at 100 percent on workout days. A little fatigue (on workout days- not race days) isn't a problem. Anyway, it was a crazy workout though. 3 mile tempo run up around to the Mariott center and then back down and around (just under three loops total). Then we had a good bit of rest, like 9 minutes, and did an 800 and 5 by 400 with 90 seconds to 2 minutes rest. I ran 15:34 for the 3 mile, then 2:22, then Isaac had us cut down: I ran 68, 64, 63, 61, then on the last one he told us to show some heart and (I know it's cheesy but) that really got me through it just a hair under 59. 

Uh oh... I started running and my Achilles' tendon said "no". Did an hour on the elliptical and my bike. Gotta get healthy! 

I think I'm getting better. Hopefully I'll be ready to go by monday. But I wasn't today. 90 minutes on the eliptical.

Test number one was thankfully passed. I had a good idea to go for an 8 mile easy run today, then hit the eliptical for the remaining "two miles". It went well. A little soreness, but at that speed, nothing was too bad. Tomorrow will be the second test- will I get better or worse after today? My calve raises felt good. 

Today we did a 3k time trial. I was very blessed to be able to run it. Then I was responsible enough to not do the workout afterward which was totally the right choice even though it was hard to not finish the workout. I talked to Isaac before about not going all out. In a way, I didn't. I certainly wasn't saving up energy, but I also felt that feeling in your thighs where you haven't run hard in several days and that slowed me down. I ran 9:01. 17 second PR not including altitude. I was hoping to be sub 8:40 at altitude right now. But first I gotta take care of my Achilles and keep on chugging. 

8 miles running, 2 miles on elliptical. Achilles didn't feel as good as I hoped. We'll see tomorrow. 

A couple of big things happened in the past 24 hours. One is that I finally decided on a major. The other is that I talked to my coach and he approved me taking my week break between XC and track this week instead of two weeks from now so I can get healthy instead of limping through the end of cross (or potentially worse) and also more Minimze time not doing workouts. Hopefully during these next few days I can a) get healthy and b) get reset for track. It worked great in 2014. 

Ran with tanner

I ran in the morning like I normally do and my achilles was kind of tight. Today I upped the heel raises to 20 and did another set in the afternoon.

7 miles. Definitely felt better, but I think I'll wait till Thursday to work out.

Still not there! Darn it. 5 miles then 5 miles on elliptical 

5 miles, then five more on the elliptcial. Plus some extra biking since apparently singlets aren't allowed in the weight room. Isaac is having me take two days completely off now. Yikes! It sounds like the right thing to do. But it won't be easy. I love running!

Ran to the field house, did elliptical for an hour, ran back. I felt while I was running zero pain- all that concerns me was that my body was naturally (against my will!) "limping" by not putting stress on my left foot/Achilles. Idk why. Does that mean I'm not healthy yet? We'll see Monday. 

5 miles. Turned around cuz it hurt again. 

Today I ran to the gym to do elliptical. All week I've been doing elliptical, no running. Treating it a lot more aggressively including some other exercises for mobility and balance in the hope of getting better. Additionally, I have way ramped up my heel drops because I read that for elite athletes 15-25 isn't enough to put it under stress. Today I still felt like I was limping a bit. 

Hour on the elliptical. 7.32 "miles"

Ran to the gym to do the elliptical

Ran some and then did the eliptical as well

6 miles. Felt a little stiff towards the end, but no pain

Once again a little stiff, but no pain

7 miles, felt better than ever. 

NOTE: Today was Black Friday so I bought my 7th pair of Adidas AdiZero Tempos. I won't start using them right away (they're technically a Christmas present from my parents) but just so I can remember how many pairs I've purchased, that's the number we're up to now!

8 miles, felt even better than ieri

8 miles. Felt a little tug. I'm not sure if I'll work out tomorrow or no.

I just want to make sure I'm getting better, not worse. It hurt a little today so I just ran rather than risk it. 

7.5 miles 

8 miles. A little faster, and pain free, but still My body was naturally wanting to avoid stressing the Achilles. 

Basically the same as yesterday. No pain, but plenty of clicking and lack of feeling relaxed. If it's not improved by Monday, I might go back to the elliptical. 

Left leg felt pretty good- started feeling some pain in my right Achilles! Uh oh. Maybe it's because of the way I switched doing my heel drops. I found another way that doesn't put stress on either Achilles to raise my other foot.

Still some old tightness in the left Achilles and a bit of fresh pain in the right Achilles. Interesting to note how taking a day off (Sunday) seems to not help at all at this point. Maybe quitting running cold turkey isn't what I need.

Feeling good. No pain in the right and the left is feeling better.

Right achilles was hurting earlier in the day randomly in the afternoon but I felt pretty alright during the run.

Ran

Didnt feel great

Went to the gym. I gotta get over this!

elliptical