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

Great run today. 6.65 miles in 50 minutes which averages out to 7:31 min/mile. I headed out planning on pulling off a 25 minute steady state run. Twelve and a half minutes out, 25 minutes maintaining my pace between 7:00-7:30 and then a 12:30 cool down. I tried talking myself into cutting back once I started as I had some aches and pains still, but I fought through it and maintained in the 7:10-7:15 area for much of the run. Very, very good for where I'm at right now.

I'll be back to where I want to be in just a few more weeks. I'm shooting for 35-40 miles this week and today got me off to a nice start.

Good run today. It was an easy run around BYU campus, but I averaged 7:39 pace. It felt pretty easy.

Crummy run today. My monday workout finally caught up to me, and slowed me down quite a bit. Average pace was close to 9:00 min/mile, yuck. Just wandered around in the suburbs to the east of byu

I was going to take the day off, but I decided to go running with one of my friends at night. Problem is, I didn't wait long enough after eating. I felt like (and wanted to) vomit throughout most of the run. I ended up getting extremely loopy too. My roommate said i was acting like his friends did when they got high on weed...weird. 

I need to run today, but I woke up this morning, looked outside, and just did not want to. It's much colder this morning, and the thought of having to put all those clothes on and trudge up university parkway did not seem appetizing. Tomorrow will hopefully be better, and I want to run 10 miles.

I woke up this morning and had no desire to go running. Perhaps I need this long weekend off... I know that I should go out for a run, but at least now I will give my body some extra time to recover. I've been getting a bit of shin splints and my right foot hurt badly last night. A little extra recovery should help me out for next week.

Oh boy, my garmin wouldn't turn on for about 10 minutes just barely, and I was worried about it. But I looked through the manual and found that you can push lap/reset and mode and it will reset the watch.  By the way, it found the satellite signal very quickly this morning. Does anyone know how to make it do that all the time?

Nice run out to Timp View High. My body felt crummy, and I turned around a little bit earlier than I was planning. It worked out well however, because I got back just on time so I could get ready for class (which I ended up not going to...) 8:04 min/mile average pace. My knees hurt, along with my shins. I hate pains and injuries associated with running.

It snowed last night so I went to the indoor track to just be warm and away from ice. 20 laps in 30 minutes, so roughly four miles. Pretty good. My friend Avery was there with another girl on her floor, and I had some fun passing them every couple of laps. They kept on talking about tripping me up, but I evaded their mischievous attempts.

Nice 6.5 miles in the afternoon. It was warm to put on the short shorts and run up University and down Timp View Drive. A girl crossed the street 100-150 yards in front of me, and she looked like she was going pretty fast. I decided to catch up and see how fast she was going, but then I had to stay in front of her even though she was booking it at almost 7:00 min/mile. I decided that she must have been on the track or XC team here at BYU.  That pushed me out to 3.25 miles at the 23 minute mark, and I wanted to give myself some extra time to get back now that she wasn't following me. My average pace going out was 7:15. Coming back was 7:46. So 7:30-ish average.

I went running with my friend Avery this morning. Nice easy run around campus, but I'm afraid I won't be able to run with her much more. We didn't have much to talk about, and I felt like I was dragging her behind me on a rope. I wanted to just go, but was tethered back with her. Average pace of 8:42.

I went out with my friend Olivia. She hasn't ran for quite some time, so she had some trouble after the first mile. At 15 minutes, she said she would just run back and I could keep on going. Ended up hitting about a 7:28 min/mile pace for the next 3 miles. Pretty good, but my shins are really acting up. I'm ready to go for 10 tomorrow, but worried about if my body can handle it.

Felt like crap today. I slept in until 11 because my roommate woke me up in the middle of the night. I wanted to do 10, but I struggled to even pull off this.

First run after a great weekend. My best friend from high school had his mission farewell (but he isn't leaving until April 1) and I spent some time with all my friends away from BYU. Met a very cute girl and want to take her out later in the week. But, with all the fun, I got crap sleep again, and could not fall asleep until one last night. Woke up, did not want to run, and slept for another hour.

I finally went running after most of my classes at 2 and it is hot outside. My body is not used to 60 degree weather at all, and I had sweat pouring everywhere. I ran in the suburbs east of campus and ended up running up a bunch of hills. It was tough, but I had a wonderful view of the mountains and Utah Lake when I got to my halfway point.

Good, but tough run today. Ran around campus and then up on my usual path down Timp View Drive. Averaged 7:40 min/mile but it was tough to keep on going at some points. 

Roughly five miles this morning. My watch only got 4.67, but I couldn't wait for my watch to get the signal for the first 0.3 or so miles Average pace of 8:04 min/mile. My legs were definitely fatigued today, but it was a good decision to change my longer runs from Monday-Wednesday, to Tuesday-Thursday. 

Good, good run today. Full hour of running with only a short break less than a minute at the halfway mark.  7.8 mph.

Went with my friend Avery this morning.  She mentioned that she had heard about there being trails up above the Provo Temple, and being the sadistic person I am, said let's go. I've been up there multiple times, and everytime I've taken a girl up there, she dies. (I'm not knocking on girls at all, just the typical person who runs to just be fit.)  

So we went.  I was able to coach her up past Temple Hill without stopping, and then went up for an additional 2 minutes while she took a break.  She was ready when I got back and we just jogged back down.  Average pace ended up being 8:57.

Took my shirt off too. That was fun, seeing how many dirty looks I could get from people simply because I have a white chest. I joked to Avery that since my body is a Temple, it should be white because of its glorious perfection. Maybe if I would go to the weight room that would be true.

Yuck. My Saturday runs of late have been absolutely horrible. I just get out there and can't go at all. Well, for the most part. I was waiting at a very long stoplight and some kids on the BYU track team came up behind me. I knew they would be fast and let them go once the light changed, but stayed 10 feet behind them for a mile before they turned onto a different street. It wasn't very tough, and I knew I could have stayed for longer, especially if my body wasn't fatigued. It was a good marker for me to see how much I have improved. Average pace ended up being about 8 min/mile.

But, I am now establishing rules for my Friday activities. 

1) In bed by 11.

2) Friday run needs to be in the morning to allow for 24 hour rest period

3) Don't go to parks in Provo in the middle of the night. Especially when there was an armed robbery a quarter mile away and the police are out looking with shotguns and rifles.

Took the day off today. I wanted to let my shins have an extra day of rest and cut my mileage for the week back to 30.  I hate getting back into running condition because it involves so many injuries everytime.  

My roommate is very sick today, and has only gotten out of bed to throw up and go to the bathroom.  I'm praying that I don't come down with it. That would be the worst thing that could happen right as I feel like I am about to break through and get some better mileage and running in.

Thought about doing a longer run today, but figured that if I kept it easy then my legs would have an extra day to heal. I kept the mileage/time low, but went a little too fast. I average 7:29 min/mile but had erratic mile paces of 7:00, 8:11, 8:15, 7:02, 6:55 and 7:35 (for the last half mile). Add in that I ran and down Temple Hill and that was a little too much stress for my already injured shins. Hopefully I can still have a good week and slow down the pace while running for the same time periods and let my shins have a break.

Not feeling too great today. Slow pace and ending up taking a shorter route back to my dorm.It was fine outside until I went out there, then it started snowing and kept on coming down the whole time I was running, but luckily I dressed for cold weather.

Only 5.59 miles today, compared with yesterday's 5.5. I took 5 more minutes to run only a tenth of a mile more. That is a good enough explanation of how much slower my pace was today. I was comparing my current shoes to my retired ones, and I think I need some new shoes. Maybe that will reduce the stress on my shins enough that they can heal.

My friend from SUU is coming up tonight to go to a Silverstein concert with me at Murray Theater. It's going to be amazing, but I might end up taking tomorrow off to let my body rest. If you want to listen to Silverstein check them out here:

www.purevolume.com/silverstein

I'm taking the day off. It's snowing outside, and my body needs to rest. I am so sick of being injured.

Bought new running shoes yesterday, the DS Trainer 14s. Hopefully that can solve my problems.

I also went to a concert for one of my favorite bands, Silverstein.  It was really good, but standing around for a couple hours sure didn't help my shins feel any better.

I wasn't going to run, but I had a burning desire to do so. I ended up pushing it quite a bit and averaged 7:11 with my fastest mile 6:32. When I was running downhill, I flew. The power in my legs felt so wonderful, but I'm going to regret going so fast tomorrow.

I need some help figuring out what my problem is however. It's now been 6 months post-marathon and my body is nowhere even close to where it was then. I can barely sustain a six mile run, compared to going for 10 easy before. I took some time off in December and had crappy mileage in November, but there is something wrong. My body is not coping with the stress of running, and I'm afraid that I'll end up taking time off again to let it heal. Anyone have any ideas why my body isn't recooperating?

I ran roughly 40 minutes around the indoor track today. My new shoes, DS Trainer 14s, came today and I wanted to try them out while keeping it easy on my shins. Felt very good until I switched halfway through to my old shoes and my shins started hurting after about five minutes. I'm not sure if it was my shoes or just that point in my run. Felt very good compared to last week and I'm happy for that.

Yes. I ran only two miles today. Very bad. I wanted to stay on the indoor track so I went to lift weights for about 45 minutes until the track opened up. I started out with fatigued arms and my stomach started to act up at about 1.5 miles. I finished the second mile and hoped that being outside would help me feel better, but nope. I went back in and didn't want to run. Hah.

At least I ran and lifted...