El Burro Blanco

Ran easy down the marathon course with The Circle. Like to stay off the marathon course as much as possible but knew we needed to get a little bit of downhill training.

It was super dark for the first 10 or so miles and Clyde unfortunately paid for it by literally barreling into a barrel. I lent him a hand but he felt like I was laughing at him. That was not the case. He took ridin' dirty to a whole new level! Lots of traffic didn't help either. It was super busy.

16.60 miles with 6:44/mile. Felt good and look forward to doing a big boy workout on Saturday down the course because it will most likely be the last free Saturday I have until the marathon.

Felt good to run with the guys again. It has been too long. They seemed to be fine after running such great races on Saturday.

2.55 miles from Jacob Hamblin after hiking a bit with the kiddos over there while Katey ran and I checked on the team. Good start to the week.

#BOHICA

3 miles this morning. Legs were a little sore from yesterday but felt okay.

Very hot this afternoon running at Little Valley Park. Took our top 8 boys and top 3 girls to do this workout since they were not running. 2 mile warm up, 6x800m and then 4x400m with a short cool down. I would alternate running with the boys and the girls on the 800s. Hot but they felt somewhat easier then I imagined. Hit 2:33-2:36 with the boys on 4 of them and just over 3:00 with the girls for 2. I ran 1:10 - 1:14 on the 400s. 7 miles total. I was plum tuckered out after the workout. I guess I am getting old.

The meet was hot tonight. Glad to see the team gut it out though. So proud to coach such a great group of individuals who want to work together as a team!

3 easy miles in the morning with the team.

6 miles in the afternoon down towards Hidden Valley trails. Great discussion with the boys about things they could accomplish this year.

Big Boy Workout (Mini today) with The Circle. Did the usual warm up and then got going. Plan was to hit 4-5 miles today since Saturday is the more important workout for me since it will probably be the last time I get to go on the marathon course before the race.

Hit 5:27, 5:22, 5:24, and 5:31 for the 4 miles today. Happy with this and then just eased into it until I met up with the guys. They ran well. I am really trying to be smarter about things with my training and not overdo it. I think my body will thank me later for it. 15 miles this morning.

3 easy miles this morning with the team over to the bridge.

3.5 miles this afternoon. Easy 3 to Hidden Valley Park to cool off and then 6x100m strides. Excited to see how the team does tomorrow with the Michigan workout.

Woke up really early (3:45) to meet the guys at the finish of the marathon. We drove up and got started around 4:45. My stomach was not feeling great but I knew I needed to work through it. Aaron and Steve took off and I just clicked off miles under 7:00/mile. Ran with Clyde for the first 9-10 miles while having a couple potty breaks. Much needed. My plan was to push the last 11 miles to see how I felt. Stopped at the top of the volcano to get fluids and got going. Here are my last 11 miles worth of splits:

5:34, 5:22, 5:25, 5:31, 5:23, 5:21, 5:34 (up Winchester and also caught up to Steve), 5:24, 5:17, 5:16, 5:25.

Very happy with the way this turned out. I felt really good these last 11 miles. I hope to use this as confidence heading in to the marathon. I was excited how I finished the last couple miles in town. That is usually a bit of struggle for me. 20.5 total miles and 6:00/mile for the entire run. Sweet!

Hurried over to the high school to time the time in our first Michigan workout of the season. Everyone rocked it out. I ran back and forth hollering times to the boys and girls. Very impressed with how they did today.