"It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves"

Haven't posted in quite some time...My running hasn't been going so great, but I have been getting in 4 days a week. Even if it is only 3 miles a day. I need something to train for, something to motivate me.

I went six today, which is the longest I've ran since November when I had to take some time off for injury.

Slept too much on Sunday and stayed up late so I was essentially unconscious when I turned off my alarm. I'm extremely lucky someone texted my roommate or I wouldn't have made it to class. Day was chock full of stuff to do, and I couldn't go running at night.

Bleh. Running is not too great anymore. I need to continue pushing through while I slowly build my endurance back up. Average pace 8:30-ish.

A bit better today than yesterday. I went to bed at a good time, but still had trouble waking up. I was reading Advanced Marathoning yesterday, and realized that my form isn't as good as it should be. I worked on decreasing my vertical motion and keeping my shoulders and arms loose and moving in the forward direction. Prior to today, I've been moving them, but my elbows have been tense and keeping my arms up close to my body. The new way felt like it took some more energy, but it did make me run faster easier. Average pace: 8:00 min/mile.

Ran on the treadmill while I was back at home for the weekend. Not terribly entertaining, but I forgot to bring cold weather clothes back with me.

Mile warm-up followed by 4x400s with a 400 break. First one at 12 mph, the rest at 11 first 200 then 11.5 with the last 100 at 12.  I know that I need to have a higher frequency when I do 400s, but having not done any speed work for a while, it was needed.

Not a very good run today. My body just couldn't go, and my average pace ended up being 8:42. It was a recovery day from doing a couple of sprints yesterday, but I was hoping for a bit faster pace.

I ran into two problems prior to today's run: it snowed last night and my legs were still recovering from 400s on Monday. That's how long it's been since I've done speedwork. So, I decided that a nice jog around campus would be nice, and somewhat safer because the grounds crew are out in the morning salting the snow.  I came very close to slipping once, but felt slippery ice beneath me many times. After the first mile, I started to feel better and decided to still take it easy, but throw a little speedwork in. I did 10 steps normal followed by 10 steps faster, increasing in increments of 10 up to 50 and then worked my way back down. I wanted to do more, but the snow/ice discouraged me, and kept my speed down for some of the faster portions.

I've been reading that the best runners run on their toes and I decided that I need to start working on that today. It was amazing how much faster I could go (more than 1:00 per mile) by landing on my toes, but it felt so awkward. I will continue to work on it, but it could be a while before I'm economical at it.

Any suggestions on running on toes would be very welcome. Especially for running downhill.

This was the best run I've had in some time. I felt a little sluggish when I started but was still able to run strong. I feel good about where my running is headed, and I'm finally getting my strength back. Seven miles at an average of 7:43

Splits

1- 7:11

2- 7:54

3- 7:47

4- 7:55

5- 7:55

6- 7:55

7- 7:24

3x5 minute temp sessions at sub-6:45. It felt great to be running faster again. The third one was toughest, and I sent some time running a little too slow, but sped up as much as I could. I had a 3 minute break after the first and a 2 minute break after the second.

Played Ultimate Frisbee for Family Home Evening. We had 3 groups come together and had a bunch of people. Lots of sprints and things. I'm going to regret this tomorrow.

Just a nice, easy run this morning. I woke up and didn't want to run, so I went inbetween classes in the glorious Provo weather. My body felt tired and beat up from Ultimate Frisbee and tempoing yesterday, and I figured I would average around 8:30. My legs just went though, and I averaged 7:34 min/mile around campus.

I wanted to do more this morning, but my body refused. I'm still sore from running on Monday. I just need to focus and make myself run daily. If I do so, these hard workouts will get better and better and I will become a better runner. Watch was funky this morning telling me I was going 6:45 up part of Temple Hill when I knew it couldn't be more than 8:00. Elevation was weird too, but it says I averaged probably around 8:00 min/mile.

I had a neurobiology quiz this morning, and kept on imagining how amazing it is our body can correlate the running motion. I wanted to hook myself up to an MRI and see how the primary motor cortex is working relative to not running.  If I don't go to med school, or don't want to build a sub-light space engine, I think I will study running on the brain.

Short run up to Rock Canyon Park. I went with a girl in my ward, so my average pace was 8:56. I woke up feeling great with 8.5 hours of sleep. Much more than I usually get.  I know I'm capable of longer runs, but I need to challenge myself with longer distances.  It's my goal for next week.

Roughly 4 miles in 40 minutes. I went running with one of my friends, Avery, and kept the pace to about 10 min/mile. I accidentally stopped my watch when I thought I was starting it, so I don't know for sure. Just up and back on Canyon road.

Looks like it's going to be 6 days of running this week woot woot. 

Great run this morning. I stayed up until about one last night. My best friend came down to visit from Draper, and he took us over to the mall. Walked around and stopped in at Gamestop for the fun of it. I found a copy of Grand Theft Auto Vice City for 7 bucks and thought it was a great deal, and my roommate and I needed some new fun game to play. Of course, once we got back to the dorm, the game crashes every five minutes. I guess it's for the same reason Taken is always sold out when I go to see it. It's a sign.

 Back to the run this morning. Slept from 1 am until 10 am. I woke up earlier at 7:30 and 8, but I wasn't in any hurry to get out the door. Plus, I wanted to wait for the Sun to warm up the air. Finally went running just after 11. I went up University to 9th East and then over to Timp View Dr. Ran the whole length of that street, turned around and then continued down 9th East until the end of campus and back. Total length was just over 8 miles, and the time was 1:02:29 which averages out to 7:35 min/mile. Great, great pace for that distance. As bad as taking all of those weeks off in December and as slow as I've been getting back to running, my body needed that rest. I've improved my pace and form quite a bit. Soon I will be back into some good speedwork, and then my body will improve much more.