High Speeds

Four in the morning.

Got 11:07. The course was slow. I don't think I pushed myself as hard as I could. I did not have real competition.

Did about 1.5 combined in warmup and cooldown, giving me 7.5 for the day.

4x300 in 48.2, 46.9, 44.9 and 44.0.

Did a 10K time trial today in 34:41. It hurt, Maybe I could have gone 10-20 seconds faster. But I got my goal of sub-35:00, so I'm happy. I enjoyed General Conference.

Three in the morning. I warmed up a mile with my Dad. I felt good during the race. The course had a lot of downhill, but the grass kept me from really accelerating. I did beat my Dad by 20 seconds. A large contributing factor was the turns on the course. I gained a couple seconds on each turn. He had also done a 5 mile tempo in the morning. However, I've started to get an edge on him over shorter distances. This race was the first one against him where I maintained a gap the whole time. In every other race where I won, it all happened over the last 200-800 meters. Cooled down one mile or so after the race, giving me a total of 6 for the day.  

Did 4X300, 48.9, 45.9, 46.9, and 46.0. About 2 seconds slower than last week. It may be due to the 10K on Saturday or to a little extra wind in the canyon today. I felt more tired than usual during  the intervals. Saw Logan Norris on the trail. 

Matt Paulson decided he'd join in on the fun today. He won in 10:20. I stayed with him for about 400-600, then fell back adn got 10:56. Matt's GPS showed 2.02 for the '3K' course. I'm inclined to believe it. That would explain my abnormally slow times on the XC courses this year, while I'm performing fine on the road or track.

Pulled my Dad for a 3 mile tempo. I got 15:42 (PR), he got 15:48. It happened over the last quarter. I felt relatively good for the first two miles. It started to hurt in mile 3. I did not want to run any faster than 79 per quarter. But with 800 to go, an 'engine' turned on. It felt like some external force was moving my legs -- some subconscious process. I felt the same way last Saturday at the end of my 5 mile tempo. My Dad stayed with me for a quarter in 75, then dropped back when I really cranked it up. I got 73 for my last quarter. Mile splits were (by my watch) 5:15, 5:20, and 5:07. 

Did an 800 on the track in 2:12.3, a PR. 

Eight easy in the morning.

  Did my Eagle Scout project today. We painted 16th of a mile marks on the first 4 miles of the Murdock. The marks are the same as those on the Provo River trail (those of you who are familiar with the trail or its marks can skip the following explanation). The marks start with 4 triangles, then 1 triangle a 16th of a mile later, then 2, then 3, then 4, and the cycle repeats. By allowing accurate. frequent splits, they make running on a trail much nicer. They enable me and my Dad to do speed workouts in the canyon. Without them, or a simliar system, the only way to do quality speed is on the track.

  Down to the project.

  We started a half hour later than I had planned. Since the marks needed to be protected for 20 mintues after being painted (or so we supposed), I had developed a plan calling for a half-mile long train of paint watchers following the measuring wheel. A team of watchers would guard two sets of marks for five minutes before moving on, and then the next team would move into place, and so forth. The plan called for four teams total, including the lead painting team. We had 12 people total, including me and my Dad, which ended up being just right.

  On paper the plan looked good. When I attempted to implement it, however, several flaws were discovered. Since we were running late, I didn't have the time to instruct the volunteers as much as I should have, and some of the problems were due to that. Still, my plan hadn't accounted for certain factors, such as distance. I ended up having to do a lot of yelling. A couple of times, we made  Andrew, a homeschooled teenager who ran with us during the summer, run back ro give instructions to the trailing volunteers. Also, the timing of the paint-watching shifts got messed up or misunderstood. The paint dried faster than I had expected, and we ended up moving faster at the end to finish before dark.

    Though it had to be adjusted during the project, the plan succeeded. The project was completed, and no one got hurt. I learned a lot about leadership and logistics. Some last-minute organizational help from my Mom made the project much better. I'm glad that I could get it out of the way. The Eagle Project is a big part of the reason that only 7 percent of scouts make Eagle. The thing I will remember most about this project, though, is that I managed to plan and carry out a project where the majority of the workers literally watched paint dry :-).

  Took the ACT again today. Felt about the same on English, better on Math (no time trouble, much less guessing), worse on Reading (got into time trouble, had to guess on 5-6 questions. Partly due to a hard first passage. Also, I accidentally filled in some ovals on the Science test when answering Reading questions, and had to erase and re-fill in the proper ovals. It really flustered me.) and better on Math. My guestimate for my scores is 34-36 on Math, 33-35 on English, 28-32 on Reading, and 33-35 on Science.

   Ran a mile home form Orem High, then went to the Murdock Canal Trail with my Dad and ran 7. He biked, having already run 20 in the morning. The 16th of a mile marks we painted for my Eagle Project yesterday were still there. That is, they'd dried without peeling or getting stepped in. There were some faint smudges and some of the triangles were a little less than ideal, but no major messes. So I think I can safely call the project a success.  

Did another 800 meter time trial toda. Got 2:11.4 -- a PR and a family record. When My Dad started at 300 meters, I felt like I couldn't keep up, like I was about to be dropped. Then, I gritted my teeth and found those extra gears in the last quarter,