Braydon Domont crosses the finish line in victory formation at the Brooks PR Middle School Mile Invite (Andrew Brown photo)
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Week 1
July 14th: Today was my first day back after an extended break due to a knee injury not related to running. We completed five miles with 6 x 200s at the end as a short workout to improve turnover. The goal was 32 seconds, but we averaged a little too fast at 28 seconds per rep.
July 15th: Today, on our training schedule was 7 miles at an effortless base pace. We completed it at an average pace of about 7:15, and our coach at BBCHS has had us doing a lot of core work and lifting after our runs. We then did some running form practice and core work to help prevent injuries as we progress into the more complex parts of training.
July 16th: Today, I was on my own for training, and as I used to run for Dixon Distance Club out of Dixon, Illinois, I had to steal one of their classic workouts for the day! It was a 2-mile Warmup, followed by five miles at a very easy tempo pace (about 6:00 for us), and then a 2-mile cooldown. A very long amount of time on the feet for a run, but it's not a very hard workout if you pace it correctly.
July 17th: Today was just a base mileage day. I love to go out and run, not for pace or heart rate or any other data my coaches want to track after a run. I did a 7-mile run at a 7:30 pace, just building some aerobic engine for workouts that come later in the training build.
July 18th: We don't do these a lot as freshmen, but today was a double-run day! It was 3 miles early in the morning, and then we came back later in the afternoon for a 6-mile fartlek. The workout consisted of a 1.5-mile warmup, 3 miles of 1 minute on, 2 minutes off, and a 1.5-mile cooldown. This workout was very fun since we were able to split it up. Definitely felt it the next day though!
July 19th: Another day of my Favorite run, base mileage of 7 miles at 7:30! You'll notice a lot of these during base phase training, we do them because it's so early in the season so they help build an aerobic base before we do some more speed/harder workouts as we get into season.
July 20th: Another favorite day of mine, being able to do a base run of 7 miles @ 7:30 average pace! This concludes the week, and as we move into the next couple of months, I'll start implementing long runs on these Sundays instead of base mileage.
Total Weekly Miles: 52
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Week 2
July 21st: Today was another one of the double days! We have a 5k easy run in the morning at about 7:00 flat pace. Just something to get the legs moving and moving fast. Later that afternoon was a five-mile cutdown. Starting at 7:00 flat and ending at 5:23 pace for the last mile. In these runs, I focus on maintaining my form throughout and keeping my heart rate down.
July 22nd: Today was an 8-mile run at a 6:50 pace. This was one of the runs where I just hopped on the treadmill and stopped when the Spotify Playlist ended. I use these runs not to gain physical fitness but to gain mental fitness. I use these to just get into a zone and find out if I truly love running.
July 23rd: Today was another one of the fan-favorite 7-mile runs at an average pace of 7:30. Everybody's gotta love the easy day runs.
July 24th: Today was the day before the big day! The pre-meet for Detwiller at Dark! I was excited to finally race some high schoolers in XC and test my skills against some of the best in the state. It was 5 miles at a 6:50 pace with 4x200m long strides at close to race pace-ish.
July 25th: Detwiller at Dark Race Day!!! The race went pretty well. I think I just needed that race to learn how these races go. I ended up finishing 11th, but I had to make up a lot of spots in the last half of the race. I liked that type of strategy, as I was almost able to close the gap and catch up to the main pack of about eight guys. It wasn't a super-fast time (15:34), but I was proud that I was able to execute and hold my own against the best in the state!
July 26th: Today was a half recovery run, but also half a regular mileage run. It was 6 miles at 7:00 mile pace. This was just to clear my legs off the race the day before and get ready for the rest of the training block.
July 27th: Rest day from running, with about 10 miles of biking to build some strength in the legs. This rest day wasn't on the schedule, but my body was telling me something wasn't right, so I just cut the run from the day to listen to my body.
Total Weekly Miles: 41 miles
Week 3
July 28th: 7 miles @ 7-minute mile pace with the team to continue building the aerobic base for later in the training build
July 29th: Today was a long run of 8 miles at a faster pace (6:45). This is some of the longest threshold work that we like to do as a way of building some endurance for the longer tempo efforts.
July 30th: Today was a busy day outside of running. Had to find some time at around 9 P.M. to get the run in. 7 miles @ 7:15 avg pace will do for the day!
July 31st: Another 7-mile run, but we tried to play around with the paces on this one. It was more of a progression run ending in a sub-6 mile at the end! Average pace: 6:30
August 1st: Pretty simple workout today of .75 miles at Lactate threshold (5:23) and 0.25 at an effortless pace. We did that about 3 times for the workout in the humidity. We train in the humidity because it's a cost-effective version of altitude training, but it helps when you come in later in the season and the air is denser and colder.
August 2nd: Today was another tempo-ish run, with 6.5 miles at a 6:30 pace, followed by 4x200-meter strides after the run. When we shift into XC season, I love being able to do 4x200m strides, as it helps my body transition into longer stride efforts.
August 3rd: Today was a big day of travel as my family and I headed to the Bahamas, so there wasn't running today! Only a bit of core and some strength training. I wanted to use this day to do some of the little stuff because if I can get more consistent with that, it can make some big differences by the end of the season!
Total Weekly Mileage: 43 miles
Week 4-
August 4th: Another day of rest as I continue with the recovery, lifting today and a little bit on the stationary bike. Riding a bicycle can help a lot with building better form for running too!
August 5th: I returned from a short break with 6 miles at an average pace of 7:45. I aimed for the lowest heart rate I could achieve during this run, which ended up being an average of 129 beats per minute. These runs aren't intended to gain fitness, but rather to recover from workouts.
August 6th: Today, I completed my first set of timed threshold reps! It was 5x5 minutes at Lactate Threshold! With a 2.5-minute recovery in between reps. I ended up with 7.5 miles done after the whole workout. This workout gave me a lot of confidence in my fitness heading into the season!
August 7th: 6 miles at 7:30 pace to get some recovery in from the workout the day before. Keeping heart rate low, averaging 128 beats per minute!
August 8: 2nd workout of lactate Threshold reps this season with 6x4 minutes with 3 minutes recovery jog in between. I tried to keep these slower, around 5:30 for the reps, but ended up speeding up to around 5:20 for the last one! Another workout that just keeps building my confidence as we head into the XC season!
August 9th: I felt confident with how my training has been going, so I left some room to gain fitness later in the season by cutting the mileage on this run. I ran 5 miles at an average pace of 7:15 to keep the legs moving and also to recover from the more challenging workouts this week.
August 10th: Today was a rest day from all activity as I traveled back to the US. A great first month of base training to set my fitness up for this Cross Country Season!
Total Weekly Mileage: 31 miles