Blake Bennions running

6 strides and 2 miles at half marathon pace. Ended up being about 12:25.

Easy run with a mile at hm pace and 8 strides after getting home from watching the eclipse with my Becca Whitney and my parents. I found a pretty great spot at the center of the totality, way cooler than in 2017 when I just saw the partial. Had a great time.

Warmed up a couple miles and did 4 miles at hm pace. Probably a pointless workout this far out, I mostly wanted to keep getting a better feel of the pace but it was super windy and rainy today so it didn't feel smooth at all. In fact I averaged high 6:10s and it felt worse than the sub 6 pace from last Sunday. I did a couple strides before and after. I've missed a few runs the last couple weeks but I'll just call it a taper.

Hot day, just did a short easy run- mostly on the grass. Amazing how much more draining grass running seems when it's hot.

Easy run. I like how open it is in Ohio, there was a storm that just missed us and while I was at the track I could see the lighting flashing in the clouds a city or so over. Great night for a run and I felt good.

I did a half mile at hm pace and a couple strides. Hm pace felt good, it was a little slow at 3:11 but I was trying to simulate the start and trying not to get out too fast.

Shakeout before the race. Did 2 200ms at race pace, track team was out so I just used my Garmin for a little over .12 on the bike path. Not sure how accurate it was but it felt good, I also did 2 short strides about race pace.

Pretty confident I can average 6:20 pace or better. I'll try to take it easy the first mile and then run 6:15-6:20 for each mile for the first half, then I'll either try to hold on to the pace or speed up if I'm feeling good the last 5 miles.

Race did not go according to plan at all but I had fun. I started out just following a guy who'd mentioned he was probably going to run 1:21 before the race. I figured I'd just try to keep near him for the first couple miles. We went out a little faster than I'd planned in 6:11 but I just went with it, but then we sped up to miles 2 and 3 in 6:05 and 6:06.

We ended up with a group of 4 for the first couple of miles and then 2 of the runners gapped us before 5k and I ran with the girl in 4th place for the next couple miles. She was somewhat chatty and I felt good enough to reply but it also made it harder to stay in a good rhythm. We caught one guy around mile 4 and then she started to gap me around mile 6.

The race was an out and back and I never recovered from getting off pace with after the turnaround. I'd been under 6:15 for every mile before the turnaround and I couldn't get back under 6:20 after. In fact the wheels came totally off. It went 6:20 mile 7 6:30 for mile 8, 6:45 mile 9... And then I hovered around 7:00 pace the last few miles. Finished 1:25:54. The last mile I barely finished, I really went out too hard. The half marathon is tough because the pace can feel really nice and easy and it might be too fast. More than that I just don't have a good base right now, I think if I boost to 40 miles I could go sub 1:20 for sure. I think even 2 months at 30-35 miles and I'd be able to break 1:20. I was on pace for like 1:20:30 the first half of the race.

So not the perfect race, not an amazing time- but honestly the first 10k felt great and it was a pretty confidence building race. Time to get back into a better training schedule and maybe try run a 10k in 36 next.

Easy run with 4 strides. My legs are really sore. I need to start running 35-40 miles per week. I'll do that all summer and then start increasing my long runs up to 20-22 miles a couple times as month heading into the fall.

Too soon after the race, I was still sore. I wanted to do something fast though. So I did 400, 600, 400, 200 x 2 with 2 mins between reps and a lap between the sets.

Times were 74, 1:51, 72, 36.4, 72, 1:53, 74, 36.9. I also, being a genius, did the 600s starting on the turn facing the wind, so I got it twice instead of once. I also did the 200ms into the wind. But especially doing this pretty close to a race where I bonked out I'm not too disappointed in the times.

Easy run, a little over 2 miles on grass. Quads felt very sore.