Week 1
Monday 7/1
We usually do a mile warmup and dynamic drills before almost every run. Today was 60 min easy run as I chatted with Born and Linscott. Legs are feeling a little stiff two days after my first hard long run of the summer. Finished the day off with some strides and team stretching. Overall felt good.
Tuesday 7/2
Another mile warm up with some drills. Shortened run to 50min because of the heat. Today I ran with Saford and born for a majority of it, we were all rolling by the end. Finished off with some specific stretching along with our regular routine.
Wednesday 7/3
Workout day. Mostly the whole team including myself did a four-mile tempo. I slowed my pace down about 15-20 sec from what I would like as it was very hot and my first tempo. The heat did get to me a bit but tried to stay focused especially during the third mile. Once the whole team finished we cooled down together to get to about 9 miles on the day. Not a great day but not terrible for my first tempo.
Thursday 7/4
After our team was paraded around downtown Arlington heights I decided to run in the peak temperatures around lunchtime. Not my best decision. 45min by myself. Felt decent though, averaged about 7min pace.
Friday 7/5
Another recovery. Got to about 8.5 miles on the day including all the drills. Felt sluggish from the tempo but that's to be expected since it's been a couple of days now.
Saturday 7/6
Went to our team long-run spot in Barrington with a small bunch of our guys. However, I only did about 9 miles with a friend of mine who stopped by to chat during the run. We probably went 7:10ish pace from what I could tell. Feeling recovered.
Sunday 7/7
Put on my racing shorts for the first time in a while. Jogged about 5 miles to the local 5k/10k Fourth of July race in Arlington heights. Ran with my good friend Quinn Cunningham who is gearing up for the Chicago marathon come the fall. We ran together the whole time, chatting every now and then, finishing in about 38min. Got to 11.1 miles on the day, making this my long run day.
Week 2-
Monday 7/8
After our usual warm-up, the team took some time to meet and converse with all the new freshman and youngsters on our first day of cross country camp. After that twelve teammates got a hard effort in on our workout loop while I ran the opposite direction, watching them grind it out. I reached about 8 miles on the day. Feeling good after yesterday's effort.
Tuesday 7/9
Usual routine warmup. Then your recovery with the team. I was feeling more sluggish than everyone else and got dragged most of the eight miles as everyone was very excited for our upcoming trip.
Wednesday 7/10
Thirteen of the guys on our team caught a flight to Flagstaff, Arizona. We went about five miles to get the jet lag out of us. We were fortunate to meet Ben Rosario, Scott Fauble, and Erin Clark, all of whom had some amazing advice for us young amateurs.
Thursday 7/11
We woke up early to get to Biff's Bagels for the weekly gathering of runners of all ages. Safford, Born, and Linscott decided to do ten miles with Scott Fauble and some other impressive runners. I was running with the coach, Max, and Oiler as we met some guys who were from Eastern Kentucky University and UNC who were out in Flagstaff training as well. We had some fun conversations, exchanging running stories and experiences. We also saw Steph Bruce and her husband, some NAU boys, and some other high school runners who were soaking in such a unique run. We capped off this unforgettable run with some fresh bagels from Biff's Bagels, of course.
Friday 7/12
Another early morning and we drove quite a distance to get to the Grand Canyon before the heat rolled in. Most of the boys did around 6-8 miles, however, a twisted ankle from yesterday had become a bit swollen so I decided to ice it throughout the day as it was a bit painful to run on. Despite my ankle, the views of the Grand Canyon were very astonishing and seemed unrealistic.
Saturday 7/13
My ankle feeling good this morning so I went out to a dirt road recommended by a few of the NAU guys. Mostly a rolling road, there were two big rolling hills on our first four miles that we would eventually have to go up on our way back. We did four miles out easy and four miles back hard. After the first hard mile, I had max next to me. He dragged me along until the last mile where the hill made our legs feel like eighty pounds. At the ends we all cooled down, getting to 9 miles.
Sunday 7/14
Easy recovery for the whole group after a tough effort yesterday. We found ourselves on an isolated dirt road (a Scott Fauble recommendation) in the mountains in the background and cattle all around. I and a few others went ten miles with the rest going a bit shorter. Feeling great and excited to get back to the whole team at camp in Arlington heights.
After these two weeks, I had around 65 miles the first week then 55 miles the second week
