Run Till You Drop!!

Ran an easy 3 miles

Mile Repeats

5:00, 5:00, 5:00, 5:02, 5:09

We jogged in between sets it made it much harder than just resting

3 mile cool Down

Total 13.5 miles

Ran easy 12 miler on Mt. Road

Legs felt a little heavy

Easy 13 miler today on Mt. Road ended up in Farmington almost got to Centerville

Feeling much better today

Today was a really solid long run with the Ogden Fella's.

Started out with a warm up pace and around mile 5 settled in to around a 6:15 pace or faster

I was lucky that Ben had to go the bathroom so I could catch up and get my head back into the run.As they were dropping me, I was still hitting between 6 and 6:10 pace. From miles 12-14 I went 5:40, 5:32, 5:23.

We cooled down the last few miles and I was sure glad to slow down finally.

I impressed myself running that fast for that long I did not know If I could do it. I am feeling great about my training going into USA Half Marathon Championships in 2 weeks!!

Easy 10 miler on Mt. Road getting more comfortable with this distance on runs

Good Solid 8 mile Tempo today

3 mile warm up

5:32, 5:32, 5:41, 5:41, 5:34, 5:40, 5:37, 5:22

2 mile cool down

Felt good starting out just fell out of it mentally again for a little lit then had to do all in my power to keep it going. I do much better if I have individuals to run with but I need to get better running alone as well. Riley and I were the only ones to show up today. We both are expecting huge races next week at USA half marathons championships!!!

PR here we come!!

Easy 8 miler on Mt. Road felt tired and legs felt a little heavy

Today I decided to do 1,000's on the treadmill to work on my speed and turnover.

I started out with 2.5 miles for the warm-up and then I started the beast.

What I was told was that a 1,000 is about a .62 distance on the treadmill so I wanted to do between 7-10 of these. After each I was only allowed a 2:00 rest and that was an active jog at 8:00 min pace. I am use to doing just a 2:00 min rest just by standing there, so trying active rest was much harder than I thought as I had to keep moving not just stop completely.

1st was 2:43

2nd was 2:51

3rd was 2:50

4th was 2:47

5th was 2:50

6th was 2:49

7th was 2:50

The last 2 were really hard and I struggled to stay focused. Treadmill said that this pace was between 4:30 and 4:40 so that is good I guess. I just hope I can push through my races like I do work outs like this. If so I will see over a min and half drop in my half time and another 4 min or so dropped in my marathon time. I checked my heart rate after a few of these runs and it was about 180 so that is a plus, getting my body use to having a higher rate rate especially for long periods of time will pay off greatly in my races.

Work out = about 7000 meters so around 4 and half miles

Rest in between sets= about mile and quarter

Cool down was about 2.5 miles

Total around 10.5 miles today

Ran easy 10 miler on Mt.Road legs felt a little sore from 1,000's yesterday.

My legs will be in heaven next week as I cut mileage preparing for USA Half Marathon Championships!!!

15 miles with the Ogden crew which included Riley, Jon, Dave, Bret, and Steve.

We averaged about 6:35 pace or so. Felt pretty good, I am excited to rest this weekend.

Easy 6 miler on Mt. Road

I ran an easy 1.5 miles

I ran 4 400's about 4:50 pace

Then I ran 3 800's around 4:50 pace

Then 3 miles cool down

7 miles total for today

Easy 6 miler on Mt. Road

Easy 6 miler on Mt. Road

On the way back going from 7-7:30 which is really good as it is uphill feeling stronger!!

Easy 4.5 miles in Houston around the Hotel

Easy run with Riley Before USA Half Champs tomorrow

Did a few strides feeling really good!!

Looking to break 1:07 tomorrow

4.25 miles

It was here again another chance to run at USA Half Marathon Championships.I ran at the last USA Half in Duluth Minnesota and did not run a good race. My GPS broke right before the start and it was super hard to know pace without a watch it was like running in the dark. I wanted to redeem myself this year and run really well.

Before the St. George Marathon I was training with my old high school coach who coached at Air Force Academy and William and Mary and now he coaches about 10 athletes that run half and full Marathons. As I was training under him I was slowly losing motivation to run. He wanted me to run all of my workouts alone. Some people can do that but I cannot, after running on high school and college teams I prefer and was use to runnign with others. It makes time go by faster and work outs seem to go much smoother. As I decided to drop my coach I started training with the amazing Ogden crew which includes but is not limited to.....Ken, Bret, Steve, Dave, Jon, Albert, Bryant, Riley.

They have helped to push me in workouts and I have become much stronger training with them. My old coach wanted me to even go 6 min pace on my easy days, on my easy days now I run hills and trails nice and slow and try to enjoy myself and it has helped me to stay motivated and get to love running once again.

At USA Half Championships my roommate was Riley and that was great as we were able to pump each other up getting ready for the race. The only bad part was that Riley got sick earlier this week so that was not good.

We warmed up for 2 miles with John Coyle and Jake Krong. I was feeling good and was really excited to race. This was my first race racing under Skechers and wanted to make them proud. My training has never been this good leading up to a half marathon before so that gave me a lot of confidence I could run well.

Gun went off and I took off. First mile the goal was to be around 4:50 to 4:55 and it was I as about 4:52 or so. In my head I was thinking this is not that bad if I can stay as close as possible to this pace then I will have a great race. At the 5k I was 15:30 so 5:00 min pace I was feeling good and trying to stay loose. I was running ina  good pack of about 8 or 9 of us so that was incredibly helpfull to keep pace and hold on. As the race went on I felt that I was keeping the pace but I aws slowly dropping off. 5k to 10k I was averaging 5:07 pace so 10k was 31:21. Still feeling good and trying to stay focused on the task at hand of my goal of breaking 1:07. The long straight aways felt really long at times especially since no body was dropping and there was now a huge gap between our pack and the one in front of us. The race got much harder right around 8 I looked down at my watch and kept seeing 5:15 or so pac and I coul dnot believe I was dying so much. It was rough but I just tried to hold on as much as I could. At this point this is where I should have pushed more and threw in a surge, it would have helped me to stay more in a rythem and not have gotten comfortable like I was. 10k to 15k dropped to 5:10 pace averag, 15k split was 47:21. 15k to 20k continued to fade dropped to 5:14 pace, 20k split was 1:03:36. Last  3 min or so was 5:02 pace but to late to save the day. Ended up running a 1:07:01.

Best race of my life in the Half Marathon by a min and a half. Old PR 1:08:30 to New PR 1:07:01.

I was very happy with my race. Mentally I faded a little bit but I suprised myself and stayed strong longer than I thought I could. I now know that I can push my boundaries and look forward to a great 2014. I plan to hopefully break 1:06 this year in the Half Marathon and break 2:24 in the Marathon.

Cool Down for 2 miles with John and Jake.

Ran Easy 8 miles on Mt. Road. On the way back averaged between 7-7:45 pace it is getting easier runing up the hills my legs are getting much stronger than they use to be I can tell a huge difference and that is very encouraging. This is the best shape I have ever been in, in my entire life.

Just hope I can stay healthy and continue to PR in the Marathon and Half Marathon the rest of the year!!!

Met up with Dave, Ben, and Riley to go for a good solid long run.

We started at Wal Mart and ran around the roads for 20 miles. I had no idea where we were until the last few miles, good thing I did not get lost ha

We averaged about 7 min pace for the entire run. Legs started feeling really tired the last 6 or so miles. Runs like this help a ton in training for the marathon. They help my legs get comfortable running longer distances and getting use to running tired.

Easy mile and half warm up to Kaysville Main street. I was planning on doing 400's at Davis high but there is still snow on the track.

I ran 8 400's started in front of Davis and went down the street towards the gas station.

1:10, 1:12, 1:10, 1:13, 1:12, 1:11, 1:09, 1:11

All ended up averaging no slower than 4:50 pace.

A few miles for cool down, calves felt a little tight but not bad. Down to gas station was slightly downhill, coming back slightly uphill.

Total 7 miles

Ran an easy 6 miler on Mt. Road. Trying to not use very much energy as I have the SLC 5k tomorrow morning.

I woke up feeling good and tried to visualize the race. I did the usuall pre race routine and was a little hesitant if I could run fast as it was pretty cold outside. I knew that I was still going to give it my best effort. I ran the 5K as a warm up and then about 4 or so strides.

I kept playing it out in my head that if I have anyone close the last 800 meters, I am going to give it all I got and throw in a huge kick.

The race starts and Riley takes off very quick! I stayed about 5-10 feet behind him and was feeling pretty good. I took a look at my pace and it said 4:36, I was like holy crap dont die!! I held on for as long as I could, I came through the mile at 4:44 way fast for me. I was still feeling pretty good but after the mile my watch reset to current pace it immediately went to 5:00 flat I was like oh no I am dying. I held on for a good little while at this time Riley really started to gap me. At the turn around halfway point I saw that there was a ton a people right there behind me. I tried to stay relaxed and as I saw this, I threw in a surge to keep up the gap. It worked for a little bit but not much. At the 2 mile mark Scott and Bryant passed me, I stayed with them stride for stride for a little bit then I dropped off about 50 feet behind them. Just as I visualized it came down to 800 meters left and I saw them about 50 meters in front of me. I thought to myself dont sprint now just throw in a surge so i did and I started slowly catching up to them. As I passed them I sprinted with everything that I had and passed both of them and took second with a 15:10. It was my new life best on a road race and I was super happy with my performance.

1st mile 4:44

2nd mile 4:58

3rd mile 4:50

last little bit was 4:20 pace.

Right after the race I did 4 200's with Jake Krong and Riley, and Dave.

Went 31, 29, 29, 27 not bad after a race I felt pretty good suprisingly enough.

Cool down 2 miles

Total 8.5 miles

Going into this run I do not think I was the most excited. I heard that we might be trying to hit around 6:30 pace for 20 miles. I was nervous as some of the long runs I get dropped because I do not have the endurance to hold on to such a quick pace.

The run this morning at 5 AM consisted of Bryant, Riley, Bret, Dave and I. We started out around 7 min pace and then eventually worked down to faster pace. We hit a hill in Ogden by the Toll road and I hit a wall. I could not go any faster and the group started to gap me. Besides the hill the rest of the run went smooth and I think I am slowly gaining strength through endurance runs. They do not seem to kill me as much as they use to.

I ended up going 18.5 miles and ran with the group almost the entire way. Legs felt great today.

This run gave me confidence that I can run a great Marathon if I pace myself correctly and get my miles up around 90 or 100. If this happens then there might be a chance to break 2:20 in the Marathon!

Ran easy 6 miles on Mt. Road.

Knee felt a little sore and left achilles was aching so I decided to cut it short and make sure it does not get worse. I cannot afford an injury at this time as this is the best shape I have ever been in, in my entire life for half and full Marathon training.

Warm up 3 miles

8 mile Tempo run

5:22, 5:25, 5:31, 5:27, 5:42, 5:30, 5:29, 5:25

Average 5:29 pace which was my life best on an 8 mile tempo run. Felt pretty good, I was tired but happy. That was also my fastest run over the bridge with a 5:42.

Cool down 2 miles

Easy 8 miles on Mt. Road

Felt pretty good.

Easy 3 miles warm up

1st mile rep was 5:10. It was pretty icy. Ran a mile back to the main road and then I did 4 more 1 mile reps at 5:10. It was cold and foggy. I ran them alone so it was much harder, I usually have Riley in front of me to push me so it was a big difference.

3 min rest in between reps .75 running active rest

3 mile cool down

Total 12.75 miles