Week 4 goals

This week I need to do 46 miles. I'm going to try and do my long run on Tuesday again and then average out the rest of the miles to about 7 a day. I also want to make sure I do all of my pushups and situps everyday this week except for Sunday, my rest day. Next week I will be at Harvey Cedars so I need to plan out how I'm going to work that out. It should be interesting. I also want to figure out a way to start video logging and taking pictures of everything I do.

Sunday + Week Totals

Sunday was my day to rest. I also couldn't do anything anyways because I was sick all day. I wanted to use David's hot tub but I had to stay home all day and relax.

Miles: 52
Pushups: 240
Situps: 20 minutes

Week 3, Day 6, June 26

I ran pretty early this morning. I went back over to Wyo and ran trails over there. I ran for 50 minutes and did 7 miles. After the run I quickly stretched and ran to work quick so I could get home and get ready for my grad party.

Week 3, Day 5, June 25

Today I ran with James around his house at 8 o' clock at night. We ran for an hour and it was a pretty good run. I'd say we did about 8 miles and although we were moving pretty quickly it felt nice and relaxing. When I got home, I did 150 pushups and 10 minutes of situps.

Week 3, Day 4, June 24

Today I went back over to Wyommissing to run. I ran from their track to my church and back and then finished the run with some trails. I ran for an hour. I think I did about 9 miles today. It was one of those runs where you just couldn't stop going fast which I was really excited about because it was my first run like that this summer. I hope I keep having days like this and I continue to get stronger and stronger as I train.

Week 3, Day 3, June 23

Today I ran with James at Wyomissing. He showed me some trails over there that I've never seen and it was a great run. We ran pretty late at night so the temperature felt perfect. We ran for about 57 minutes and I estimated we went about 8 miles. I'm really excited about all the places I found to run over there and I think I will be running over there a lot more now.

Week 3, Day 2, June 22

Today was my long run. I ran from my house to the school which is about 3 miles. Then I ran with the high school guys and did the Bunker Hill run which is about 9 miles. So I felt a 12 mile day was pretty good. When I got home I did 90 pushups and 10 minutes of abs.

Week 3, Day 1, June 21

Today I did an 8 mile run. I did it around 10 o' clock but it was still really hot out. I ran a giant loop around my house. I felt pretty good for the first 6 miles and then I died by the last 2. I think I'm going to start runningat better times of the day because of the heat now. Tomorrow I will be doing my long run. I'm going to try and hit 11 or 12 miles.

Week Goals

This week is the start of week 3. I have to do 52 miles this week. It should be pretty tough but I think that I am ready for it. I think I'm going to try and get my long run done on Tuesday and then the rest of the week I'm going to try and average about 8 miles a day.

Hot Tub + Week 2 Totals

I finished this week and my legs are really tired. I went up to David's hottub this Sunday night and it felt really good on my muscles. I'm hoping it will rejuvinate me for this week's runs. I'm thinking about going up there every Sunday Night.

Miles: 46
Pushups: 350
Situps: 40 minutes

Week 2, Day 6, June 19

Today I had 6 miles left to do for the week so I just ran around my house. I however thought it would be a great idea to start the run in the middle of the day. Well lets just say that it wasn't a great idea and by the end of the run the heat zapped me and I felt dead. O well though, I will have tomorrow to rest and then I can start Week 3.

Week 2, Day 5, June 18

Clint, Jones, and I decided to go over to Mifflin today to run. We ran around their cross country course and on some roads around the school. We did 8 miles and we were going to do hurdles but the gates were locked up. Then we drove over to Wyo's track to see if their hurdles were still out and to our luck, they weren't. At home I did 90 pushups and 10 minutes of abs.

Week 2, Day 4, June 17

I ran in the chip once again today. I got another nice relaxing trail run on my legs. While I was in the chip I heard a bunch of cop cars on the roads near the chip. It kind of scared me. I thought somebody might have been hiding in the chip so I hightailed it out of there. Haha. Anyways, I went to the otherside of the road where those trails are and ran up there then. At home I did another 100 pushups and 10 minutes of abs.

Week 2, Day 3, June 16

I ran in the chip for 7 miles today. It was a pretty tiring run but the trails also took some stress off of my legs. I ran by myself so it got pretty boring after awhile. When I got home I did 100 pushups and 10 minutes of abs.

Week 2, Day 2, June 15

Today I decided to go for my long run. I ran about 10 miles and it was actually a fairly hilly run. I ran up Furnace Road and then towards Texter Mountain, down past Egan's house and back to the High School. I felt pretty good during the run even after a tiring day of working. The entire run took about an hour and 15 minutes. Maybe a little bit less because I had to stand at a traffic light in the beginnning of the run. I got my 100 grams of carbohydrates right away and then drove home and did some pushups and situps. I was incredibly tired for these and it took me forever to get started but when I finally did, I did 60 pushups and 10 minutes of abs. I'm thinking I should make an excel spreadsheet tomorrow also so I can start logging all of these miles, pushups, and situps that I have done so far.

Week 2, Day 1, June 14

Today I ran from home. I started off feeling pretty well and then about halfway into the run I started to feel sick. I ran back home and decided to take a bathroom break and then went back out to running. I felt better on the second half of the run. I ran about 7.5 miles and it took around 53 minutes. I didn't get to do any pushups or situps tonight. I wanted to go watch the baseball team play at the Reading Phillies stadium. They were playing Twin Valley in the state semi-finals. By the way, this was the most exciting game I ever saw. Aaron Price hit a walk off homerun in extra innings and it was so awesome. Now they are playing in the State Championship Friday in Altoona.

Week 1 Totals

Miles: 33
Pushups: 300
Situps: 40 minutes

Week 1, Day 6, June 13

I had 3 miles left on my schedule for this week so I quick finished them today. I didn't do any pushups and situps because I went to Arnaud's going away party. It was a good end to my first week and I am ready to start hitting higher amounts of miles in the coming weeks.

12 Week Summer Schedule

Coach sent me my mileage goals for the summer. It doesn't seem like too much but I'm sure the pace will still make it tough.

Week 1: 33
Week 2: 46
Week 3: 52
Week 4: 46
Week 5: 52
Week 6: 59
Week 7: 52
Week 8: 59
Week 9: 65
Week 10: 59
Week 11: 65
Week 12: 65

Saturday June 12, Rest Day

Today I didn't run because of the all night graduation party and then a lot of my friends graduation parties today. I do however think it would be a good idea to post up my 2 goals for this XC season. My first goal is a 26:00 in the 8k and to be top 12 on the team.

Week 1, Day 5, June 11

Today I was tired again. I have to graduate tonight, I worked already today. It was a long day. But I went to the chip and ran with James anyways. We did about 5 miles in the trails. It was a nice and relaxing run. We ran for about 35 or 36 minutes. Then I went home to do pushups and situps. I did 50 pushups and 10 minutes of situps.

Week 1, Day 4, June 10

We had a two hour delay today so I ran a little bit after school ended. I ran around the neighborhood and then up to Nate's house and back home. I didn't feel so great because I didn't sleep much last night. I had a huge project due for AP Government so I didn't get to sleep until late. I did the entire run in 49 minutes and it was about a 6.5 mile run. When I got home I stretched, ate, and did some workouts. I jumproped 150 times and then did a minute of the chair sit exercise. Then I did 100 pushups and 10 minutes of abs.

Week 1, Day 3, June 9

Today I just ran a little bit. It was raining a lot and I only did a couple miles. I did like 4 just around my house and it took 28 minutes. I didn't do any pushups or situps. I really wanted to but I had to leave quickly to go into church. I'll probably make sure I do a lot tomorrow.

Week 1, Day 2, June 8

Today I ran 6.5 miles at Blue Marsh with Clint. When I started, my legs felt pretty tight from yesterday. Once I got into it though, everything seemed fine. I had a headache a little bit through the run, but my legs and lungs felt great. The run took us 44 minutes. This put our pace at slighlty under 6 minute miles. After our run, I stretched and got my 100 grams of carbohydrates right away. At home, I did 100 jumps of the jumprope to build up calf muscles, and I did the chair sit against the wall for a minute to build up my thighs. Then I did a little bit more stretching and some pushups and situps. I did 100 pushups and 10 minutes of abs. Tonight, I did the leg against the wall thing again to drain the lactic acid out of my legs. I'm thinking I will do this every night before bed. Today was another good running day but I'm sure I will be sore tomorrow morning.

Week 1, Day 1, June 7

Today was a great start to my training. Nate Jones and I ran the Sportsman run. Sportsman is about 8 miles. The first half is uphill and the rest is either level or downhill. I felt pretty good. Nate and I went at about a 7:30 minute mile pace. That is a pretty quick pace for our first day back but it felt pretty good overall. When we got back to the school I stretched my legs out and got my 100 grams of carbohydrates right away. When I got home from practice, I stretched a little bit more, rolled out my legs on my new roller, and then did pushups and situps. I did 50 pushups and 10 minutes of situps. I wanted to do more but I had to get ready for a senior sports banquet. After the banquet, I sat with my legs against the wall so I could drain all of the lactic acid out of them. I might do this every night before bed. I think it would be helpful. I also talked to David and he is going to let me come over to his house once a week over the summer to go in the hot tub. Overall, it was a great first day and I'm excited to lace up the shoes again tomorrow!

Tomorrow

It starts tomorrow! Here I come college training!

RunningRuah

So my two week break is almost over and I'm getting geared up to start running again. One of my goals over my two week break was to establish why I run. I have decided that God should be the focus of my running and i want him to be. I was reading 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 in the message version of the bible. It says, "You've all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs, one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You're after one that's gold eternally. I don't know about you, but I'm running hard for the finish line. I'm giving it everything I've got. No sloppy living for me! I'm staying alert and in top condition. I'm not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself." God is calling me to train for him and race for a gold medal that will never tarnish or fade. I need to take that seriously and honor him with what I do. The best way I know how I could honor God is with my running so that is precisely what I'm going to try to do. I'm going to train for cross country at Liberty not for a gold medal in running, but for a gold medal God gives me for eternity. If I give my best into my running and do it to honor God, he will give me his gold medal, which will totally outweigh any gold medal I get for running.
To keep myself motivated, I've come up with my own little running method, theme, or whatever you want to call it. I've created something I'm going to call "RunningRuah." In the Hebrew language, the word ruah is the word for spirt and the word for breathe. Running Ruah is a way to keep me motivated and remind me of 3 things; Run, Spirit and breathe. I'm going to run, I'm going to let the spirit fill me, and I'm going to breathe out the spirit as I run. Every breathe I take is important and while I am a runner, I should be using the situation I am in to minister to others and show God's love. So simply put, I'm going to Breathe the Spirit out of me as I run so others can see God's works.
I'm ready to go and start training. Hopefully my plans will work and I can honor God with my running this summer. All I know is that I am excited with what's to come and I can't wait to see what God throws my way.