El Burro Blanco

Today was a very special morning with the team. We hiked/ran up to Delano Peak (12,169 ft.). Highest peak in Southern Utah. We had a great discussion about goals and team building stuff and it was amazing. It seriously looks like the alps up there. We were fortunate to see 50 mountain goats once we got to the top. Absolutely amazing. I need to get Katey up there.

1.75 miles this afternoon with our relay. The coaches' team did well and took top 4 out of all the groups. We did a .25 mile loop but did it 6 times. Sat in Puffer Lake afterwards which felt great again. Hard to go anaerobic when you are at 10,000+ feet. Saw some great things from kids today.

After watching Prefontaine as a team I took some of the team up to the dumpster. Every night they have a bear come down and chomp on stuff. We got close and put the lights on and watched the bear eat. He had to be at least 400-500 pounds. Pretty cool to see but sad he had to eat garbage.

Ran with the boys today over to the overlook of Blue Lake. Everyone was pretty tired but they gutted it out and did well on the run. 8.5 miles round trip. Lots more deer and elk.

Happy with how camp went this year. Lots of great memories and experiences. I wish I could have got a little bit more mileage and a few better workouts but I am not going to stress about it. Busy week next week as we head back to school. Yeah!

6.15 miles total this morning. Ran some of the dirt hill repeats with the girls but ended up trying to get pulled along by the boys for their last couple. #oldgraymareheaintwhatheusedtobe Plyombata and stretching after.

6 more miles this afternoon. Ran 3 miles with the team for afternoon practice and then ran over to the Spectrum for another 3. My shoes are ripping so I might need to retire them. Dang!

Met up with the Circle again for our usual Tempo Tuesday run. Not as hot but super humid. I guess that means I sweat so much more. Usual 3.5 mile warm up, VRPB, and then got started. Hit 5:36 for the first mile and just tried to stay relaxed for this one. I ended up hitting 5:37/mile for 7 miles. Thought the splits would be a touch faster but happy considering the humidity. The Circle finished really close to each other. It was very special. Probably the best workout for the three of us in a long time. 13.25 miles total. Apparently this loop gets longer each week.

Saw the team finishing up their morning run so I hopped in to finish up with them.

6 miles this afternoon with the boys around Webb Hill. They did well considering the heat. Excited for how the season shakes out for both the boys and girls. 

6 miles in the morning. Ran with the team and then did my own 3 after wards. Officially the first day back to work. It seems like I never left.

3.5 miles this afternoon. Did the warm up and then cooled down while the team did a time trial. Not the best day for the team but not the worst. Only can improve!

3 miles this morning. Basically did 2.5 miles at 5:30-5:45 pace to catch up with the team since I was a touch late. Good push I guess.

6 miles this afternoon running with the girls and then tracking back to pick up kids. Really hot right now. Proud of how the team is doing.

5 miles this morning. 3 miles with everyone and then another 2 with Boston who woke up a touch late. 

9 miles this afternoon at Little Valley Park. Solid Fartlek workout this afternoon with the boys. It helped a ton to have the splash pad close to soak in during our recovery. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 with equal recovery. Most were at 5:40/mile and under. Very happy with how the team did in this workout. The pack is looking really good. Cooled down a little with the other coaches to the pickleball courts. John said the water was refrigerated. I believe him after drinking it!

The Circle + Steve + Haydo for a bit met at my house and then we drove 26.2 miles up towards Central. We ended up just above Brookside and started there. Lots of adult conversation and weird jokes for the first little bit. I felt pretty tired at the start but just told myself to continue working into it. Stopped at mile 8 for water/Heed w/a GU and then again at 16 for the same thing. The temps started to pick up quite a bit but I was glad I brought my sunglasses. They saved me today.

The guys picked it up around mile 19 and I just kind of hung back. I knew we had some good hills coming back into Ivins. I feel fairly confident and strong on the hills. We had three decent hills to climb up and so I decide to take one last GU at mile 22. It was a great shock to the system and I decided to really push the last little bit back to my house. I didn't really look at my watch but I knew I was progressively getting stronger. I finished that last 5k with all the miles under 5:30 and the last one at 5:24. I was happy with this type of a finish. 

We did stop at mile 25 to hit the splash pad real quick so the last mile could be enjoyable. It was! 6:25/mile and hit just over 2:46 for the full marathon distance. Legs are a little sore but it didn't help that the XC team washed cars for a few hours as a fundraiser. I need a nap.

Happy with the way the week ended. School officially starts and XC is in full go mode. It should be exciting. Dave and I talked a little about the upcoming season. Apparently I am a little orny this time of year according to Tier 1. Good times. Happy to run with such a great group of men.

3 miles in the morning.

6 miles with the boys towards Coach Powell's house. Overcast and a little bit of rain made it quitie enjoyable. Excited for tomorrow.

Ran with the Circle this morning. Super muggy and hot from the get go. My legs were still flat from Saturday and knew it wasn't going to be pretty. Should have postponed it. Did the warm up, usual potty break, and then got started. I hit 5:38, 5:37, 5:36 and decided I was going to do more damage if I continued to push. Got up to Clyde and he called it good early. Happy we did this because Dave was super sick. Hope we all get feeling better. Drudge fest for the rest of the run. Sometimes this occasionally happens. 

Caught up to the team and ran a little with them to finish off the morning.

First meet of the year went well and was very happy with how things went. Boys and girls ran well. Great start to the season.

3 miles in the morning with the team. 

7.5 miles this afternoon at Bloomington Hills North Park. 2 mile warm up, 3x1 mile repeats + .5 hard finish to push the boys in on the last one. Hit 5:50ish on all three and then "tried" to push the boys in. They dropped me like a bad habit. Hot today but happy with the workout from everyone.

3 miles in the morning.

8 hot miles in the afternoon out on the trails. This was the run I was dreading most this week due to the weather. We had a big group of guys for the first 3 miles and I had everyone except the top 7 go back early. The heat was brutal today. Solid run from everyone in the heat. Super proud of both the girls and boys right now. Lucky to coach such a great group of young adults. Very impressed with the work ethic and determination from everyone.

3 miles in the morning.

5 miles in the afternoon setting up the Desert Relays. Really fun meet.

Super tired from the week and ended up sleeping in and just spending time with the family. Pushed the kids over to the park. Totally worth it. Not how I wanted to end the week.

3 easy miles with the team this morning.

Dealt with lightning all afternoon so the team ran inside around the school. Dang lightning.

Big boy workout this morning with the Circle. Checked the lightning and it was mainly over Utah Hill. Wasn't too worried about it. Very hot and muggy again this morning. 4.4 mile warm up which included a VRPB. Got started on the 8 mile tempo and felt pretty good. I didn't worry about my splits but just wanted to focus on how my body was. Felt amazing the first 4 miles and then turned right in to the wind. Head wind for the next couple miles. I just tried to stay relaxed and work through it. I could see the lightning and and hear the thunder gettting closer. Not good!

Kept catching muddy spots and dealing with lots of water on the trail. I almost slipped really bad once on my backside because I caught a patch of mud. I survived though. Got rained on a little at the end which helped. 5:42/mile. I thought it was a little quicker but looking back the head wind really slowed me down. Happy to get this in. The thunder and lightning were right over the top of us on the cool down back to Clyde's house. We had no choice but to finish up. We all survived! 15 miles total.

.5 miles running with the team as they finished running inside the school.

5.6 miles this afternoon with the team. 6x500m dirt hill repeats doing some of them with the boys and then pushing Laynee and Rachel. The old gray mare he ain't what he used to be. The team looks very good right now. Just need to keep everyone healthy. Legs were pretty tired this afternoon.

3 miles in the morning.

5 miles in the afternoon with the boys over towards the freeway and back on the trails. A little warmer this afternoon.

3 miles in the morning. The mornings have been hard on me lately.

7 miles total this afternoon. Did 4x1 dirt mile repeats over by my parent's house. Slightly overcast made this day perfect. Goal was to run with the boys at 5:50ish pace. They went quicker than this each time and finished very strong. I ran a 5:12 last mile and was dropped like a bad habit. We had 10 solid boys sticking together today. Wow! Won't let them get this excited too often. With the lighter/recovery week I was okay with this.

3 miles this morning.

5 miles this afternoon with the team. Did an easy 4 miles out along the Arizona Strip and finished with 6x100m strides on the turf. Excited to see how the team does tomorrow.

Big boy workout with the guys this morning from the DC Trailhead. Warmed up going to River Road and then came back down. 3 miles fast, 7-8 miles at Tinman, and then 2-3 miles fast again. 5:24, 5:23, 5:18 for the first three miles and then 6:02/mile for 7.5 miles. I was short on time because I needed to get back to the high school for our bus. Didn't feel great once I stopped to use the bathroom.  Jogged one mile easy down the trail and then decided to do once last mile hard. 5:18 for the last mile. Cooled down a bit after wards.

Good workout but I know I could have finished it off if I had more time. No worries!

Very happy with the way the team did today. Varsity Boys, JV Boys, JV Girls = 1st place overall, Varsity Girls = 2nd overall = Coach Fielding is happy!

3 miles easy this morning.

8 miles out on the trails with the guys. It was quite hot today. Yikes!

13+ miles this morning with The Circle. Felt good going into this tempo. Did the usual warm up and then got started. No potty stop which kind of made me nervous. Started out and clicked off some pretty good miles. Felt decent through 5 miles and then the stomach started acting up. Hit 6 miles at a 5:34/mile and then needed to stop and dry heave/whatever for a bit. Jogged mile 7 and then decided I needed to finish strong. Hit a 5:40 for the last mile. Nothing spectacular.

Ran a little bit with the team once I got back to the high school as they were finishing up.

5.5 miles this afternoon. Did the warm up and then a little bit of a cool down while the team did their 2nd time trial on the season. Lots of improvement from the last time. Very happy!
 

3 miles this morning.

6 miles this afternoon. Lots of rain yesterday made the trails yucky today. I paid for it. We had a giant mud puddle to navigate through and I decided to hop along the side in the weeds to see if I could get by. Bad idea! I hit a patch of mud and ended up going down right in the water. It was about a foot of water and I got mud everywhere. The boys could not stop laughing. Not one of them asked if I was okay :) It smelt like the bog of eternal stench!

3 miles easy this morning.

7.5 miles this afternoon with the team at Bloomington Hills North Park. 3 mile warm up and then 2x2 mile repeats over hay bales in preparation for the grass relays this weekend. Lots of fun for the team. Hit 11:52 for the first one and then ran a 5:45 for one mile and relaxed until the boys came back around and then pushed them in the last half mile. Cooled down a little after wards. Good work from the team today.

5 miles this morning. 2 before meeting up with the team and then 3 with the team to the bridge and back.

4 miles this afternoon on the state course at Sugarhouse Park. 3 miles easy + 8x100m strides + .5 mile cool down.

Did not sleep well last night. I only had a mat to sleep on since we were crammed in the hotel room. Stomach wasn't sitting right. I told the boys last night the coaches would do the workout after the grass relays if they took top 2. They finished 2nd overall to American Fork and ran the 9th fastest time ever in the 19 year history of the meet! Girls took 9th overall as well. Very happy with this.

Got my running stuff on along with the other coaches and did a mile warm up, 6x:30sec. hard/:30 sec. easy with a slight cool down. Not too bad but way more happy about how the team did today. A move in the right direction for sure. 2.5 miles total for me.