The Mongoose

Happy new year! So I've been slackin' a little bit these last couple weeks. I've had some lower leg/hip pain and haven't been taking care of the little things so that kind of put me in a funk, but it's a new year and a fresh start! This will be my last week down here in STG before heading up to Orem!

AM- Felt really good during my run, no aches or pains, unless the cold just numbed my legs so much that I didn't feel them, haha. About 3.85 because I left my house going the wrong way to the middle school and was already 400m into the run before I realized it, haha. Weights at the middle school. Squats, no time for arm stuff bc of some stomach problems. I might run some more later depending on how I feel. 

Played some pickleball then met up with Ben and we ran 6 miles over by his house. Good to catch up with him! Felt strong.

Met up with Ben again at the high school and we ran the Ridge. Felt good except for a little tightness in my hammies/hips. Later I balled hard with some high school pals. I think I did pretty good for not playing basketball for a loooooooong time. 

Did the Kosmin test with the team at the high school. It went alright, and it was good to get some turnover because I've basically just been doing easy mileage since the beginning of October. So the Kosmin test is 60 sec all out, 3 min rest, 60 sec all out, 2 min rest, 60 sec all out, 1 min rest. Then your 1500m time can be predicted using your total distance and some equation thing. I made it about 1500m which gives me a predicted 1500m time of 4:17, which isn't great but istn't too bad either for not doing much running lately and 0 speed work. Not a lot of mileage today but some good speed.

Weights in the morning. Deadlifts. Went to Diamond Valley later with some pals to slide down a volcano for one last adventure before I head off to college. It was super fun! I made it back just before the high school team practice, but ended up getting there a little late. Coach Goulding pointed me in the right direction, and I turned toward the Spectrum but the team had headed out to Little Valley. I only went 4 and got back just before them. Did core and stretched a little, then a few more with Coach and Ben right after. Legs were a little sore. 

10 out in Warner Valley with the high schoolers. I was gonna head up to Orem today, but I had to finish getting a few things done so I’ll be heading up tomorrow. Last run in STG for a while. 

5 speed @33 min

10 recovery @67 min

7 mi speed @47 min

8 mi @ 56 min + 14 min bike

5@ 38min

13@ 90min

10 miles @70 min

8 miles speed @55 min

10.2 miles @73 min

11 miles @78 min

6 miles @42 min

9.5 mi @74 min

5 mi @30 min

12.3 mi @84 min

10.2 mi @69 min

10.3 mi @ 72 min

Pre race

First time racing the mile since state track my senior year of high school! I didn't hit my goal but it was a good learning experience.

7x300 w/2:30 rest

Calf was tight

800-600-600-400-400 speed changes

7 on the treadmill + 20 min on the bike

Cross training

The team raced at ID State today so 10 solo out to Rock Canyon and back. Calf was bugging forthe last 4. 

9 miles easy, most of it on grass. 

Another recovery day. 

3x(600,400,300,200)

Easy day on my own. 

Warm up, 8 miles steady-state, cool down. Good push for me today, gotta build that endurance!

A casual jaunt through the valley.

Trying to find Tim's hidden trail.

Legs were pretty sore. Another distance day.

2x(600,300,300), good stuff today.

Cross-training day. 60 min on the stationary bike. Averge HR was around 140.

Another distance day.

Solid workout, 7x600 @ mile pace w/2:00 rest plus 2x300 finishes. 

Treadmill workout at VASA. Warm up, 5x60sec pushes at mile pace, cool down. Lots of snow outside!

Last day with the guys this week before they head off to conference. Wishing them luck!

One of my teammates is doing a research project with the exercise science department to test whether or not running on an incline will reduce musculoskeletal impact. For the project, each participant will be running at the same percentage of his or her VO2 max, so the first test is a VO2 max test. It was my first time doing a VO2 max test in an exercise lab and it was pretty sweet! I think I could've stayed on the treadmill a little longer if I'd been a little tougher but it was a good push for the day. I finished up with some treadmill miles at the wellness center.

80 minutes on the stationary bike at the wellness center for cross-training day. Those suckers sure do make your booty sore.

Finished up the second half of my teammate's research project. Finished up with another 30 min on the treadmill.

Headed down to St. George for the weekend to see a friend who just got back from her mission. I took advantage of the nicer weather and got in a good trail run with the high school team out in Santa Clara. 

Easy 10 today testing out the new Hokas. They felt great!

Another easy 10 while the team recovers from indoor conference. We should be back to the track tomorrow!

Easy 10.5, felt relaxed.

Cross training day; 60 min on the stationary bike. HR around 140.

Workout today! Pretty much the first time doing speed work since Monday last week, haha. 2 mile progressive tempo on the track. Went through the first mile on pace around 5:00, then dropped back a little bit on the second mile. I was really feeling it on those last couple laps, haha! Finished off with 4x150 strides.

It was a good push for me, and it's helping my endurance. I stayed in it for the first mile and even led the 4th lap (we took turns leading, sort of) and kept us on pace. Also, I responded well after the tempo and finished strong with some good strides.

I think one improvement could be to push through the pain when there's a change of pace and fighting to stick with the pack.

Easy 10 with Ben before meeting up with Micah, Dallin, Brianna, and Jake for another 3. Good to catch up with those guys!

It's been a long time since I've run this far!

10x300 w/3:00 rest. Lots of rest, but my legs were tooooaaaaast!!! Feeling that 14 miler yesterday.

Easy 10 recovery!

Cross training! 25.5 mi/70 min on the stationary bike at the wellness center. I watched the NatGeo documentary on the sub 2 marathon attempt. It was pretty sweet! It got me thinking about the limits that we put on ourselves, and about what we can accomplish if we set our minds to it. The guy was 25 seconds off of sub 2, just 1 second per mile! Eliud Kipchoge is my runner of the week!

Wow! Today was a tough one! 16x400 w/2:00 rest. The first 12 were a little faster than 3k pace and the last 4 were at mile pace.

I hit 70.7, 70.7, 66.5, 67.1, 66.6, 65.6, 65.7, 65.7, 66.1, 66.0, 65.4, 66.0, 62.9, 63.5, -- , 61.4. I didn't do number 15 because was hurting a little bit and I didn't make it to the start line in time so I decided to drop it and get a little extra recovery for the last one. Other than that I felt pretty good! Solid workout for me heading into my first race with the team next weekend.

10 miles w/ Thomas

7 miles workout on the track

Easy 10 recovery with the froshes

Workout on the track cut short due to lightning :/ Would've gotten some more mileage later in the day but I had some little aches and decided to take it easy

7 miles pre-race in California

First race running with UVU! It went well and I was pretty happy with how I did and how I felt. This might have to be my race in the future!

Raced the 1500, I felt pretty good, I just need to be a little more responsive to moves in the beginning of the race and not get too relaxed. Good meet this weekend, I'm happy with how it went.

Mayor's loop from the high school, felt pretty good, but a little tired toward the end.

Headed over to Dixie State's track for a workout this morning. 12x400 w/ 90 sec rest. I felt pretty good, but had to take an extra 30 sec rest for the last 4 I think. I felt like I finished strong so that's good, because I feel like I struggle to push through the pain and finish hard in some races so I think this workout will really help. Interesting to think that this was the first track I ever ran on, probably when I was only 3 or 4 years old! It was also where I had my first official track practice with the Dixie Dashers when I was in 4th grade, haha. 

Explored some trails by the UC Riverside campus, my lower calves were bugging a little bit.

3 miles shakeout in the morning. 7 miles in the afternoon, a light workout to get the legs ready to go on Saturday. It was raining pretty hard! Calves were bugging quite a bit again today.

Easy pre-meet mileage with some 200s on the track. Calves still bugging but not as bad as yesterday.

Raced both the 1500 and 800 today. 

1500- I was a little nervous about how my calves would hold up, and I almost decided not to race, but I did and my calves didn't bug me at all during the race so that was good. My time from last week put me in the slowest heat of the 1500, and almost the slowest time, hahaha, dang. It was a good race though, I got into good position and the race went out at a good pace, 46/47 for the first 300m. Second lap was pretty slow, about 67 seconds. Just before we hit the finish line with 800 to go, I made a surge and moved up on the inside to take the lead. Well that must've woken everyone up because a few guys behind me surged ahead and I was back in 4th like 50m after taking the lead, haha. That lap was a little faster, but not by much, about 66 seconds. The last lap I just tried to push hard, and ended up surging past a couple guys on the backstretch. Both passed me with 100m left and I was able to catch one of them just before the finish to take 3rd. It was a pretty good race; I was more aggressive which was my goal, and I ended up with a 4 second PR from last week. 

800- My calves were bugging again after the 1500 and I wasn't sure if I'd run the 800, but I was pretty sure they wouldn't bother me during the race and decided to just go for it. I ended up in the slowest of 4 heats again because I didn't have a seed time. The race didn't go out very fast, I think it was 29 for the first 200 and 59 at the 400, but my legs were just toast from the 1500. I tried to hang on for as long as possible but ended up with a 2:02 for 4th (out of 5, haha) in my heat. It was okay, I just think I'm not used to running that fast for that long since our training has been more 1500 specific.

Overall it was a solid meet. There are good things I can take away from both races, and also things I need to improve on. 

Decided to take today to cross train and give my legs a little more recovery from the last couple weeks. 90 minutes on the stationary bike at the wellness center w/4x15sec pushes at the end.

An easy run with the boys. My legs were feeling a little sore.

2x(600,400,300,200) on the track today. Lots of wind, but probably the best I've felt so far on this workout. Feeling good heading into this weekend's race. I don't know what I'm racing yet but I'll be ready! Also tested out the new steeple spikes today, they were awesome!

90 min bike

80 min bike

2 hour bike

60 min bike

3.9 plus 30 min bike

3.5 miles plus 20 min bike

60 min bike

3 miles plus 20 min bike

1.5 plus 80 min bike

4.5 plus 20 min bike

2.8 plus 70 min bike

4.6 plus 40 min bike

Season recap:

This outdoor track season had its ups and downs. Coming into the season I was pretty excited and antsy to get back on the track and race. My workouts were going well and I was consistently hitting about 50-60 miles/week. I felt healthy going into my first race and was really content with the results (9:35 in my steeple debut), but I knew I could do better. Unfortunately I started having some calf pain the day after my first race. I continued to have lower leg/foot pain that persisted through the season. I tried out some different methods of treatment but the only thing that seemed to help was rest. I ended up doing a lot of biking to try and maintain my aerobic fitness but I think I just didn't benefit from it like I was hoping to. I think I still did fairly decent at conference given the circumstances, and placed 5th in the steeplechase and 15th in my first 5k on the track.

I can't be too disappointed about the season. I feel like my goals were realistic and achievable, but I might've increased the mileage and intesity too quick for my body to handle. I'm taking this week off to just relax and let my body heal up, then next week I'll start doing some cross training to start off the xc season. I'm excited for this season but I need to take it easy and not get into it too quick. 

Happy 24th birthday to my sister! Started off my cross training week with an hour swim at VASA. Haven't used my swim muscles for a loooooooooooooooooooooong time!

1 hour ride at the UVU wellness center this morning. I watched the documentary on Netflix about Vince Carter and it was pretty good. 

1 hour swim this morning at VASA. I really don't know how far I'm swimming, haha. 

1 hour bike at VASA

50 min swim at VASA before heading down to STG

1 hr swim at VASA

6 mi w/Jaiden out in Little Valley. Left hip was suuuuuper tight, probably from just sitting around a lot these last couple weeks. Did some light lifting after at the middle school.

4 mi solo this morning out to BH north and back. I was soooooo sore from lifting yesterday which was a huge surprise because I really didn't lift that hard. I loosened up and I felt okay. My hip felt a little better than yesterday as well. 

4 mi easy w/some light lifting and core after

5 mi easy in the morning plus 35 min swim in the afternoon

4 mi easy w/some light lifting after

5 mi out on the dirt road in Washington. I've honestly felt kinda tired this week for the miles I've been putting in and the pace I've been running at, but I guess this is my first week of running since conference so I'm still getting back into it.

8 mi this morning before weights. Looped around Little Valley Hidden Valley. Itching for more trail runs but I run too early in the morning for trails!

Easy 4, did some of it with the high schoolers who were doing 5. Ankles and calves were bugging, I think it’s feom playing a little basketball the other day, I’ve gotta do some lower leg strength stuff because I don’t want to repeat this last track season. Also did 35 min swim later. 

6 mi, woke up kinda late so it was hoooot. 

6.1 mi, did 5 with the high schoolers and finished up on the track. Felt good, ankles/calves were much better. 35 min swim later. 

4 mi easy this morning. Played some basketball last night and I think I went too hard because I was totally dead today! Had a lot of aches and pains, especially in my left hip. Got a good roll out and stretch before heading over to shadow Laynee's dad. It was really cool to see what his job is like and I got some really good advice.

I was still really sore from playing basketball on Thursday so I decided to swim instead of run today. Tomorrow I'll have a good recovery day and be ready to go on Monday. 1 hr 10 min swim.

Easy 14 with Kev-tonimor today. I felt good and relaxed.

Workout on the track: 2x1600 w/5:00 rest (4:49, 4:49), 1x1000 w/3:00 rest (2:55), 2x800 w/2:30 rest (2:18, 2:17), 2x400 w/1:30 rest (64, 62). Feeling better with my breathing.

Got in maybe a couple miles cheering at the state course but nothing worth logging. Congrats to the DH girls on their first ever team championship!!!

Put a little gravel in my travel. 12 miles from Mama Chus to green pipe and up the canyon. The quads were feeling it today.

Another track workout. Some 800s at tempo pace w/1:30 active recovery (2:24, 2:28, 2:26, 2:26, 2:26, 2:29, 2:27, 2:26, 2:26, 2:25, 2:25, 2:26). Felt really smooth today, and surprisingly good after that trail run yesterday.

Saturday long run from my apartment up the canyon and back. Went up relaxed and cruised on the way down. Solid way to finish the week.

Workout on the track: 4x(1200, 400) w/ 1:30 active recovery after the 1200s and 3:00 active recovery between sets (3:32, 66; 3:31, 67; 3:30, 67; 3:32, 64). Didn't feel as good as I did during last week's workouts, but it's probably from the long run on Saturday. 11 total for the day.

Lots of studying today, didn't make it out for my run. 

Last little workout on the track before conference. 5x(300, 200) w/ 200m jog inbetween the 300 and 200 and 2:00 active recovery between sets (49, 30; 48, 30; 51, 31; 47, 30; 49, 31). Felt alright today, but super stressed with schoolwork. I had a chemistry test today so I've been cramming hard for the last few days. 11.13 total.

Easy 10 after we flew into Seattle. Didn't get a lot of sleep last night so I felt a little tired. 

5 miles pre race on the course.

Race day! 1.92 mi warmup, race, 2.31 mi cool-down. I got out and felt alright but I think I just didn't really go for it. I didn't respond when the pack started pulling away and kinda got stuck in no-man's-land. Big thanks to my teammate Jared who helped push me. We worked our way up and still both ran 8k PRs, despite not feeling great. Proud of the other guys on the team for being competitive and racing hard. The guys got the dub for the first time in a few years (in 2016 we lost by 1 point and in 2017 we lost in a a tie breaker). Pretty cool experience!

Ended up running another 10.02 to try and hit my weekly mileage. Not sure if it was more beneficial or detrimental but I felt alright so  it didn't hurt.

Coach said to take today and tomorrow off so no running for me today other than a couple miles I probably got running around at the regionals course cheering the guys on. 

Off

New season, new me! I shaved my mustache to mark the beginning of the indoor season so today was a pretty big day. 15 with the guys up 800 and into the canyon a little bit and back. It's starting to get cold! But not cold enough for tights and long sleeves. I may have to invest in some arm warmers for now.

Another day another dollar....less. A chill run today with the dudes but I was a little tired to be honest. 

A solid 12 with the guys. Pretty tired again today. Need to sleep more and maybe get my iron checked to make sure that that's not anything that's conributing to my exessive tiredness. 

Easy 10 with some of the guys. We had to make a pit-stop at this one park to use the bathroom and that place has the coolest jungle gym I've ever seen. I'll be back. Also drove down to St. George later in the evening where I'll be for Thanksgiving break, yezzzzz! 

Hip/IT band/knee were bugging me on the left side. Just some tightness that I need to work out, but I decided to listen to my body today and just take it easy. I didn't end up running but I went to the weight room and did some strength exercises to try and loosen it up a bit for tomorrow. 

Back running in the land of cotton! My hip/IT band/knee were still bugging a little bit so I put off running for a while, but I rolled out a bit and finally made it out and had a solid run. Ran up through BH North to the river trail and popped out by Lin's in Washington, then looped back through LV. Solid run and my leg wasn't bugging too much, but I guess I didn't give my lunch enough time to digest and I almost threw up a few times haha. Solid week to start the indoor season. Didn't hit my mileage goal for the week without the run yesterday but it's probably better for me to be relaxing and listening to my body right now. One step at a time!

AM- 5.02 out toward the river trail and back. Just trying to wake the legs up, also I don't want to do a 10 mile cool down later lol.

PM- Workout on the track at DH. 12x400 between mile and 3k pace w/90 sec active recovery (68, 69, 67, 67, 66, 67, 66, 66, 64, 64, 65, 63). Felt pretty good and the pace wasn't too challenging. Did a few miles cool down with Coach Fielding catching up on everything. Congrats to the DH girls for signing their NLIs today! Welcome to the team Lily and Trin! 

Went up by Hidden Valley then looped around the river trail and headed back through BH north. Felt pretty tired from the workout yesterday, and my left quad is really tight now so I'll have to get that loosened up. Tomorrow will just be an easy day then I have the Gobbler on Thursday! 

Easy pre race miles, getting ready for the Gobbler tomorrow! 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

AM- I arrived at the race feeling quite fatigued from the workout on Monday, then weights and basketball on Wednesday (most certainly a poor decision the day before a race). Nevertheless, I did a couple miles warm up and started to loosen up. Unfortunately I had to wait in line for the bathroom for what seemed like an eternity (probably like 15 minutes) and sort of tightened up a little. I got out of the bathroom right as the 10k was starting, so I had 5 minutes before they started the 5k. Basically I had enough time to strip down into my traditional robes of combat and get to the line. I quickly made note of the competion near the starting line: one collegiate athlete, a few high schoolers, some middle-aged men, and a handful of  overly-ambitious prepubescent children. The countdown reached its end and we all shot out from behind the line. After about 100 meters, it seemed as though my competition had narrowed down to one high schooler from Lone Peak. We quickly ran into the back of the 10k pack (I'm not sure who decided 5 minutes would be enough time to separate the 2 races), and had to weave our way through them. The pace felt a little too comfortable, and sure enough, we came through the first mile in 5:27. I picked it up and tried to press the pace and he didn't go with me. When we hit the turn-around and hopped onto the river trail heading back to the finish, I saw that I had about a 20 meter lead on the next guys, so I just kept pressing. With about a half mile left I assumed that I had a pretty sizeable lead, but I passed some people who then started cheering for the guy in second not long after I'd passed them, so I tried to pick it up a little more. My lead was big enough and I was able to get the dub. I cooled down a mile with Drew, Preston, and Laynee, then ran another 3ish miles to my house. 

PM- In what I now recognize as a very poor decision, I got in some more miles after going to town on a tasty Thanksgiving meal. Fortunately I was able to keep it all in.

Easy mileage. Played some more basketball last night and I really felt it on the run today. Didn't feel like I really warmed up until I was about 6 miles into the run, haha. 

Back in Orem. Got in a longer run luckily when the weather had chilled out a little bit and stopped snowing. I even got to soak in a little sunshine for probably the 15 minutes of the day that the sun was out. 

9.13 total in the morning for the workout. Had to do it earlier by myself because of a group project later. The workout was supposed to be 16x400 w/90 sec rest around the same pace as last week, but I was only able to do 12 because of the time. Felt a little more tired than last week so the pace was a couple seconds slower. I hit 68, 69, 69, 68, 69, 68, 69, 69, 68, 69, 69, 67 for the 12. 

4.22 later at night on the treadmill. 

Easy mileage today. Ran Castle with Adrian and Scott.

Made a split decision to take a test an hour before practice because I was going to have stuff going on after practice. Didn't finish in time so I ended up doing the workout on my own again. I did 2x(600, 400, 300, 200, 100), everything at 64 second 400 pace w/equal distance recovery jog. Rainy and windy but I was pretty close to the times for most of the intervals. First set was 1:37, 66, 49, 32 16. Second set was 1:41, 65, 49, 32, 15. Did a couple miles cool down and called it at that. Felt pretty tired today.

Easy miles, did Carterville with Adrian, Kevin, Geff, and Scott. It was rainy and I got my first bloody nipple.

Pre race with the boys plus 2x200m starts and 2x100m finishes. 

First race of the indoor season, also last race before a short break. Ran the 3k at Weber and it went okay, but I was too conservative. Ended up with a 9:04, which converts to 8:45 for altitude and track. I felt like I could've run a much faster time today but it's all a part of the learning experience. Excited for track!

11.6 mi stationary bike @ 33:12

22 mi on the stationary bike to celebrate birthday numero 22

20.9 mi stationary bike @1:01:00

20.7 mi stationary bike @ 1:00:00

24.1 mi stationary bike @ 1:01:05

32.3 mi stationary bike @ 1:32:10 to finish off a week of cross training, back to running next week

Easy miles w/ Jared and Abby

More easy miles, did the 800 loop w/ Jared and Mazzie. Did an hour on the stationary bike afterward.

8 easy with some of the guys

Easy 6 out in Lakeside with some of the guys plus an hour on the stationary bike afterward

5 easy miles

Easy 9 with Parker up Provo Canyon to finish off the week. Headed down to St. George today! 

First run back in STG. Ran down Brigham Rd to Bloomington then took the river trail back through BHN. 

5 mi with the high schoolers out to BHN then another 5 with Coach Fielding looping around Webb Hill. 

AM- Started out as a shakeout. Planned on doing an easy 4 with a workout later in the afternoon, but I felt alright and I knew we'd be leaving back up to Orem later so I decided halfway through to just get the workout over with. 2x8:00 pick ups @ 5:00-15 mile pace w/2:00 rest. I felt alright but not great, averaged 5:13 pace for both. Finished back to my house for a little over 9 miles.

PM- Got some extra mileage in before heading up to Orem. 

10.02 miles solo this morning in Orem. Felt super sore from the workout and the drive yesterday. 

Another easy 10 w/Jared in Orem before heading back to STG. Lots of traveling this past week and I'm really feeling it. 

Wanted to get a good long run in at a slightly quicker pace to finish off the week. Picked a good 14 mi loop that was pretty flat and didn't have many stops. Only ended up stopping once for a quick bathroom break and another time at the light on River Rd by LV. Splits were 5:56, 5:48, 5:43, 5:46, 5:47, 5:50, 5:52, 5:58, 5:57, 5:59, 5:58, 6:02, 5:51, 5:42, 0:44.9 (5:31). Average pace was 5:52. Looking back I could've eased into it a lot more. I felt some tightness in my left hip a few miles in but decided to push through it. It got worse as the run went on but nothing bad enough to stop me. First time doing something like this so I was pretty happy with the results but I still have a lot to work on.