Blake Bennions running

Started the meet out with a not great 1600m, I ran about 4:35 and took 6th. But I put the slow start behind me and loaded upon food, including hot dog, not a great idea, but I was hungry. Then I ran the 800m, I got into an intense mindset and when we started I ran what I felt was a good pace, I started in last and worked my way up. With 500 left I remembered what Andrew said always thought around the middle of the 800m "this isn't so bad, I can keep this up". The first lap was :59 and I started going, I started passing a lot of people with a big kick, I felt really steady, I kept thinking i would run out of gas, but I didn't! I think if I'd know how much I had I might have gone sub 2:00, but 2:01 was a nice PR! Finally I broke out of my horrible 1 race mindset, I wanted to do the 3200m cause I was feeling on fire, and it was a good workout opportunity, and I thought I might even score a couple points. I ended up running 10:30 or so, not bad for so late and after all that. Then i ran the 4x400m after a small break, slightly extended by the lights going off. I ran a 54, fastest split on the team! Even though the meet started off on the wrong note, it ended up being great!

Ran the Wasatch pepperwood loop with Ashton. Really drained and sore from yesterday, I'm going to come back even stronger! Food is especially good right now, after a quadruple event meet and a good long run, I'm just about ready for lots and lots of food and rest.

Warm up and 4 miles on the track, then striders. Relaxing and resting up for region. I took the AP Psychology test today, 1/3rd of the way done. Looks like it might be raining and storming at region, it might make it possible to make a run for champion though.

Warm up and the lower loop with a couple laps on the track, then 6 striders. Weather could be a factor so mostly tomorrow I'm just concentrating on qualifying for state and scoring 8 points.

Needed to get this race out of my system, I'm really excited for the 800m though. I want to run 29, 58, and then kick with everything I've got. In the mile we went out good wit a 66 but, Christian took the lead but then he died and ran a 70 second lap and I had to work my out of the pack to get going and by that time with the slow pace at like mid 3:20s at the 1200 I kind of just wanted to qualify. But in the 800m I've got a plan and I'm going to execute.

So close to sub 2:00, I ran 58 and then just barely didn't finish where I wanted. At State next week I will make it for sure, 4:25 and sub 2:00! It was a difficult race, I'm excited to run some really fast times at State! I also ran a 53 second split on the 4x400m, I'm happy about that!

Warmed up and then ran an easy 30 minutes plus some laps around the gym. Tomorrow will be a good workout, right now I'm only concentrating on the 1600m, taking it one race at a time, I need to run 4:25.

Woke up at 7:00 this morning and decided to sleep another 30 minutes because I got in a little late from Provo last night, when I woke up again it was 8:33! Practice was at 8:30! So I rushed over there, usually it takes 25 minutes to drive to Alta, today was by far the fastest I've done it. I warmed up 2 miles and then ran 6x400m at 66, recovery was walk the turn and jog across the field, so about a minute a less, not sure. I ran 66, 66, 65, 66, 67, 64. The last one Murphy said to make it fast, no specific time, and I jogged into it so that helped. Tough workout, it was rainy and cold. But I hit my splits and I pushed hard, I gave a great effort and it was an excellent workout.

Warm up and then 45 minutes in the gully. Nice and easy day, it felt good to get a long run in. I can run 4:25 at the state meet.

Warmed up and then did 6x200m in 29-33 seconds getting faster. I did a pretty good job, I went a little to fast with 31.5 for the first but after that it was good, ending with a 29.12. Then a 1.5 mile cool down. Last track workout for Alta, I've had some great workouts these past few years, gonna miss running on this track.

Warm up and the 20 minutes easy with 6 striders.

Warm up and then about 20 minutes of running, probably a little more, then some more stretching. I'm ready for tomorrow. I'm excited to run in the State Championship 1600m! No past races matter, its just this race, I'm going to run faster than ever, its State, the last meet of High School, I need to leave it knowing I gave everything I had and more.

I started out the race well, I didn't want to waste energy fighting around in the big pack so I got on the end of it, the first lap was a little slower than I wanted at 67.5 so I picked up and started passing people, when I was coming around the corner to finish the 2nd lap Coach Murphy yelled that I needed to make a move, so I gave a little boost and caught up to guys that I knew would be running sub 4:30, the 800m was 2:13 so my 2nd lap was great, the 3rd lap I stayed with a few guys and then I surged with 500m left, something just told me to. I passed Jacob Warner, Adam Wood, and then with 200m left I caught up to Adam Jensen, I was starting to get tired and on the last stretch Adam Wood and Jacob passed me again, one of them cut in a little early and I had to slow down to avoid spiking them, but last 100m of a race they were way too tired to notice I was there haha, I finished in 4:27, top 10 in Alta history, 30th at the entire state meet 1A-5A, I might race the 1600m some more on my own, I enjoy it and who knows, maybe there's another PR for me! 800m tomorrow, that's all that's on my mind. Sub 2:00 tomorrow, I know I can do it, I will go out in 57 or 58 and then I will kick with everything I have. I've earned my entry into this meet over the past 4 years and tomorrow I'm going to run an amazing race.

Ran the anchor of the 4x400m, Andrew didn't show so we had Chandler run instead. I got the batton something like 100m behind the next team, some said more, I ran my best, the time was 50-52, I looked at the clock right when I got the batton and it was something that ended with 4 and I finished with it ending at something that ended with 4, I made up a good amount of ground but you know how it is. It was fun but i need to concentrate on the 800m, I need to stick with the pack and then start passing them once the pace calms down, I'm going to push with all my might and hopefully something great will come out of it.

Rough day, I realized yesterday that no matter what happens and no matter what goes wrong, its your attitude that determines how you do in a race. Today I ran hard, not the best race, but I made a brave move with 500m to go from last place to the front. I should have cut the guy off and held my momentum at the front but I stepped back to avoid that and the last 200m I got passed by a couple other guys. Bad feeling when I saw the time on the screen. I'm not done with track though, next week I'm going to run sub 2:00 by a large margin. I will be fresh, it will be sunny, I wont have to run in lane 2 and 3 for half the race, I'm going to run a very fast time. After that I will keep racing the mile, I want to break Kramers MTC record of 4:31, and I want to improve my PR more if at all possible. I'm going to have a lot of fun. Its weird to think I will never race for Alta again. I've been blessed with a great coach the past few years, Coach Murphy really is one the best out there! I'm going to miss running here, I really hope USU will give me a spot on their team, I would do almost anything to keep running track.

A little over an hour of running in the mountains with Tayte, good amount of uphill! And then some striders after that, going to run the 800m time trial on Thursday probably. A lot of rain when I was driving home, one of the heaviest rains in Utah I've seen! But I could also see areas just 10 miles away or so where it wasn't raining so that was really weird, same thing happened at State, weird weather the past few days.

Warmed up 2 miles on the lower loop and then did 2x400m at 62 and 4x200 at 29. I ran 60.4, 62.0, 29.2, 29.0, 28.8, 28.8. So it was a good workout. It felt fast, not easy, but when is sub 4:00 mile pace easy? Warm up was a little fast, I really want to break 2:00 on Thursday. When I was a freshman I kept running the mile for a month after track was over to break 5:00, and it finally happened the last day of school. Hopefully I run sub 2:00 this week and then I can start racing the mile for sub 4:25, that way when I go to California the 2nd week of June I can run sub 4:20 at sea level, and just like that I will have an incredibly fast PR! If it doesn't work out like I hope, that fine, I will have had a lot of fun training for it, and I'm proud of my 4:27 at state! But if it does, that will be incredible! I cooled down on the 1.5 mile loop above the school.

40 minutes of running with Zach, about 5.3. I felt alright, after an easy day tomorrow I think I will be ready to break 2:00. That will be a very good accomplishment, I've been dreaming of sub 2:00 for years but wasn't close to it until a few weeks ago, now it feels like I have plenty of power and speed to get it done, hopefully by a couple of seconds!

Ran easy 2.75 with the 2015 Alta xc team, also Adam Jensen ran 7:21 in the root beer mile, check it out! I started getting a sore throat last night, worse today by not bad. Had a slight headache after school today. But I'm feeling pretty decent, I think I will be ok for the 800m, if I dont get it, I've got plenty of time. But I think I've got it!

No 800m race today, too sick. Ran the warm up and then 30 minutes with the guys, I was gonna do another few miles tonight but my lungs and throat were feeling pretty crappy so I decided to rest today, and get in a good run tomorrow, 9-11 probably.

Feeling sick, not sure if or how much I will run today. If I'm feeling better tonight, I will try 4-5 miles, hopefully tomorrow I can get in a good run.

I was more sick today than yesterday, but I ended up going on a run to see if it would make anything better. The first mile or two were pretty awful, my lungs were dead. But by the last mile I was feeling really good, and now my lungs are feeling stronger than they have since the sickness began. I think I just needed to get my body working. I'm still coughing quite a bit, but tomorrow I think I will go for a gully run, maybe Wasatch pepperwood. I love the gully, I wish it was bigger!

My throat is still sore, but my lungs are feeling stronger. I ran the gully longer run, I didn't feel great but I feel a lot better afterwards. Hopefully I will be able to run sub 2:00 this week.

Woke up with a sore throat and a bad bloody nose, but it went away after a while, my throat still is having problems, so with the workout today my throat started getting in the way of my breathing and so mt lungs weren't getting enough oxygen, but when I tried coughing the mucous out of my throat, I lost even more oxygen and had to keep breathing through the mucous, so as a result, the more I tried to clear it up, the worse it got. I ran 6 400s of the 8-10 I was supposed to do and then didn't finish the 7th. I nailed my splits up to the 6th one, 70, 68, 66, 65, 65, they were starting to get unusually hard, I'd been feeling quite a bit worse than usual since the start but at that point it was feeling really bad, on the 6th I really started having some problems, I ran the lap perfect until I slowed before the line so it ended up being 67 or 68 even though I'd been on 66 or 65 pace the whole lap. I had started having a lot of trouble on the last couple and I just wasn't getting oxygen during the reps or recovery, I felt like I was going to suffocate after every rep, but I pushed through up until the 7th rep, I started it out but after only 150 meters I was out, no oxygen, so I went off the the side and hacked up for a while before walking back to the start. After resting 5 minutes or so I joined Zach and chase for the last 5 minutes of their 20 minute run, it wasn't super easy but wasn't that hard either, I was still having trouble breathing, and my calves were starting to cramp up because there wasn't enough oxygen, but I got through it and then ran a few hundred meters to my car. I'm proud of my effort though, I didn't finish, but for being sick I pushed through well and gave the limit that my body could give today. I think I overestimated my health, but I am feeling a lot better than I was earlier, hopefully by Friday I will be back to full health for an 800m.

Also Coach Murphy told me about the Leadville Marathon yesterday, I am so excited!!! Its such an awesome race, and its such an extreme marathon, the elevation and elevation gain make it a highly difficult trail race, its like Jupiter Peak Steeplechase but bigger! So I'm really excited about getting to run that, looking at past results I know its an ambitious goal but I want to break 4 hours, and hopefully be up near the leaders! I'm in better shape than I was last August, and although I've never run that long, I'm going to try and get as close to winning it as I can! I'm grateful that Murphy introduced me to mountain running, its a lot of fun and its one of the things I'm better at in running!

4 miles with Pulpy, and chase mikey and austin for the first 20 minutes. It rained quite a bit during the first half mile so I felt wet and uncomfortable the rest of the run. Pretty congested today, maybe I will do 20 more minutes was tonight if my nose starts clearing up.

Easy 30 minute run and 4 striders, also some core. Hopefully I'm all better tomorrow, I really want that sub 2:00 800m. I need to be a able to breathe though haha. Played in the Alta ping pong tournament, won the first round and then I lost to the guy who won the whole thing in the 2nd round, same as last time!

Made an attempt at sub 2:00 today, but was too sick. I decided to run it anyway because I've been doing premeet for a while and haven't raced in 2 weeks and I wanted to stay sharp. Pulpy, Austin, cubby, and Mikey paced me, each paced me for a 200m. I started feeling really bad at the 2nd lap, I ran a great 58 for the first lap, but the second lap I started having trouble with my lungs, each breathe kind of rattled my lungs, kind of like wheezing, breathing through mucous. I kept going hard, I didn't think I was on pace but I kept pushing, on the home stretch I thought I heard someone yell 1:55 with about over 50 meters left and I kind of thought I was done, I still strided in strong, but when I realized how close I was it was just a little too late and I didn't get it. After I finished, breathing started hurting, normal breaths hurt just a little, but when I breathed in deep it hurt quite a bit. So for being this far off of 100% and running my PR, I am going to rip that sub 2:00 barrier apart next week once im healthy, I know I can get 1:58, maybe 1:57. So im excited about that. I was planning on running once I got up to the cabin... But from the way it looks, not tonight. I will run tomorrow, and try to go home tomorrow night instead of Sunday morning. I think the only thing here that I dont feel horrible about eating are bananas, I think pizza is the next healthiest thing haha. I guess I will find a trail to run tomorrow, im going to try for 10-14 miles tomorrow. Then Sunday will either be full rest or a few easy miles, and then I want to race the 800m on Tuesday again, but I need to talk to Coach Murphy and see when I should race, how much rest I should give myself.

80 minute run in the mountains. I need to do more mileage for Leadville, I should be able to do a 2 hour run of 16 miles comfortably. Haven't run that long in a while, mile and marathon training are quite different! Good run today, this will be a tough race!