Train insane or remain the same

3.25 miles and then 1 mile barefoot speed changes on the turf. Then finished up miles to 9.5. We did a loop across pioneer, over the pioneer/saw mill road overpass and to the high school. I actually did some core today lol  

AM: Last morning run of the XC season! Thought I would switch it up and do 4 on redwood ;) 

PM: 7 miles by Collins house, shortcut by Kylie Labrums house to the dip, back to the high school by the junior high.

I've already had my last xc as a team, but tomorrow we leave for footlocker and my last overall xc race ever! These 4 years have gone by so fast. 

6 miles in Mesquite 

4 miles and then strides and pre meet 

1.5 WA with Collin. Strides. Wasn't feeling bad but wasn't necassarily feeling the greatest. It was starting to get hot. The race went off and I didn't get out fast enough so I got boxed in and pushed to the inside. The opposite of what I wanted to do. It took a lil while but I got to the outside. First mile was 4:51. Bout in 30th. Switchbacks were sick. Poop out was fun as always. 2 mile split 10:07. Coming down Reservoir Holt screamed at me with all his heart and told me I was in 15th. I thought holy crap and then sped up and went for it. In the gauntlet I passed soon to be 10th place man, Jackson Mestler. 3 mile split 15:06(pr) Gave it everything on the track and closed on number 8 and finished just behind him. It was insane. I was going for top 24, even tho I got boxed in I wasn't very far off the lead. Then passed a couple guys each hill and everything came together. Shout out to everybody that cheered me on in the race. I could hear so many people and it made the difference.  

1.25 cooldown with Jackson, he's from Eugene and committed to the U of O. Then hit up the beach and ran about a half mile on the beach and then a bunch of football. 

Went up to the oval to do a workout with Garek and got to do the famous East warm up. 2 miles, mile of speed changes. Changes shoes, jogged a lap. The workout was 5x1k's with jogging about a lap and a half for rest. Bill had me do them at 4:40 pace, or 2:55. First two I hit 2:56 and 2:55. Then for 3 and 4 he had us do the first 200 faster, settle into the pace til about 100 left and pick it up a lil. I hit 2:54 and 2:55. For the 5th one he didn't have us start out faster, but we picked it up with 300 to go and each 100 picked it up more. I hit 2:52. Then we finished with 3x400's. I didn't know the pace for the first one so I just kinda went a lil behind Garek. Hit a 63. We were supposed to get 2 seconds faster each time and I did that getting a 61 and 59. Really good workout, especially since the last running I did before today was on the beach on Saturday after the race and I sat on a bus all day Sunday. My breathing was completely fine just my legs felt heavy. I feel totally ready to kill it at nationals and feel like I'm in the best shape of my life by far. Cool down half mile to 11.5

AM: 3.5 on redwood and strides 

PM: Mile warmup backwards on the track then a 4.5 loop 

Met up with Bill at sugar house park and he set me up with a good workout simulating some stuff from nationals. Not sure how much warm up, then workout of 3x 3 minutes on and 500 meter hill loop. 2 minutes rest in between the two and 3 minutes in between sets. Got .55, .57, and .57 for the fartlek. Then 1:47, 1:36, 1:37 for the 500's. Didn't know where to go the first one and turned late and kinda got different distances for each cuz it was black and I couldn't see the flags. Effort was good and I'm happy with the last harder effort before the race. Shout out to the Bielaczyc fam for letting me sleep over and save some time driving to the airport tomorrow. Flight leaves at 11:25. It's gonna be a blast! 

3 in the morning with Garek around the Zoo. Got back and did .25 of strides and a lil cool down. 

Plane ride was sick. It's so nice only spending 2 hours getting to San Diego and having them give you snacks, it was awesome. So then we hoped on a bus to the Hotel deal Coronado and it's the greatest hotel I have or will stay in. It has 1000 rooms I bet and it's so nice. Got our gear and took a super quick interview. Then just chilled and had some snacks. They had free Gatorade and I took 4 cuz I never get free Gatorade lol.

Then we went for a run and guess who was there? Alan Webb! He's so sick. If you haven't seen his vid of his 800 workout in prep for his attempt at the AR 1500 or mile, you gotta see it, it's insane. I told him how I watched it and then showed it to the other guys and we thought it was insane. We went on a paved path beside a sweet road that had the harbor on one side and just really nice. There was a dirt path that formed next to it so we ran on that and called it trail running. Went out somewhere around 2.5. We don't know exactly how far we went. I stayed with Garek and Paul Roberts my roommate. He's from Lyons high in Colorado. He's so fast. He got top 5 at NXR SW the last two years and ran at NXN. This year he decided to double. He got 3rd behind Casey and Alek @ SW. 11th at Nike, but should have been higher cuz he was leading the race till 300 to go when his vision went black and there are so many fast guys he went all the way back to 11th. Then he got 2nd at his MW regional. The top three guys, him John Davis, and Ben Veatch all were right by each other.

On the way back we started running with Jorge Torres, the only guy to ever qualify for FL nats all 4 years! And listen to what places he got. 13th as a freshman, 5th as a sophomore, 2nd to a guy who had won it the previous year and was a legend, then 1st place his senior year. Then we had a meeting with the guy who directs the west regional race. Doug Todd, he's here and is our captain, chaperone guy. Then we had dinner and t shirt making. It was way fun. We all put West vertically down like the jerseys, then savages cuz we are all savages. Then our Instagram name and had everyone sign it. I also had everyone sign the left shoe of the new pair of Asics they gave us. It's the 33-FAs. I had seen them around in running warehouse and stuff. We put them on right after we got them and they feel way nice. Very soft. They aren't a shoe that's gonna get very many miles but I have a couple pairs so rotating them will keep em nice and I'll get the best out of them. 

A couple laps around the course. The course is awesome. It's got everything. Uphill downhill grass dirt windy. Did .4 at sorta race pace then some jogging then strides and stretching. Now we're back at the hotel just hanging out. Garek and some of the other guys were feeding the seagulls on their balcony and then a guy from the hotel came and told us to stop. 

Not sure how long the warm up was. Was trying to save battery on my watch. Got out good. First mile I was in either 39 or 40th place. It sucks when everyone goes out fast and they are the 39 other best runners in the nation and so when my running style is to start off slower I was straight to the back. First mile was sub 4:50 then the hill and with those two together it just wiped out my legs. It was decently packed so if I felt good I could have moved up 10 or more spots so top 30 but my legs just wouldn't go so I passed a few more guys and got 34th. I passed talon with not much more to go so looks like today he went slower then Connor baller pace. We just took a super funny interview together with milesplit so when they post it go watch it. Wanted to be better but it just wasn't gonna happen today.

Awesome season tho. If I could I wouldn't change a thing about this season. I accomplished all my goals and more. I have been so blessed these past 4 years of xc. I love the sport more then anything. Because I don't do anything other then run all my friends are from running. And I have made the greatest friendships and I am so grateful for that. I love you all and thanks for all the support.