Andrew Rummens

AM - Woke up at 5:30 this morning to do mile repeats... did a 3 mile warmup to the cross country course and then did some dyamics and strideouts. Spence didn't tell us how many we were gonna do so we were forced to be conservative. The course started up a hill for 400m and looped down to make 850m, so we did about 1.75 loop to make a mile. It was a hard course. We hit 5:55 (super slow) 5:30, 5:32, 5:25, 5:15, 5:10, 5:07. They all went really well. I was dead during classes today though.

AM - Woke up at 8:00 so I got a good night's sleep last night (finally)... went on a 7 mile run

PM - 4 easy miles at practice

AM - 4 easy miles

PM - Mile run to the stadium, dynamics, another 2 mile warmup, then ran the 4 mile course with 5x90 second pushes, then did a mile cooldown... course seems pretty difficult, lots of hills. But I am excited!

AM - 7 easy

First race of the season! It went really good, I held up a lot better for a 4 mile race than I thought I would. It was only us and Westminster, so Coach Spence told us to treat this as a glorified tempo, but it still ended up being a really good effort. He set us up into groups before the race and wanted us working off each other, so that was really helpful. I was in the 2nd group with Kody, Mitch, Jon, Kaden, and Dylan. We were supposed to do the first 2 miles in 5:15-5:20.

Gun went off and we got off to a great start, considering there were only two teams and it was a huge line. I spent the first 800m just settling and and looking around for my group. We worked together and took it pretty easy. The effort felt really good, and we went through our mile in 4:56... 

2nd mile climbed up the back field, but the first loop up wasnt too bad. When we looped around the dirt pasture we lost a few guys right when we hit the 2nd mile split, 10:15. I was suprised because we didn't increase our effort but we didn't fall off to far from our pace.

3rd mile Kaden started pushing it a lot, and so Kody, Jon and I went with him. He led our pack for about a half of a mile before he started to fall off, so I took the leading job from him. I don't usually like leading, but since it was a joint effort, I wasn't too bummed. As we started to climb up the 2 loops again I started to fall off Kody and Jon... I am not sure what our 3 mile split was but it had to be around 15:30-15:40.

When we hit the downhill Kody and Jon had like 5-10 seconds or so on me, and I tried making it up too quickly. By the time we hit the final 300m or so on the grass I didn't have much left. I could have kicked it in, but I don't think I could have caught them, only catch them or be off my a second or so. Regardless, I still finished just 5 seconds behind them, so I'm not too bummed. 

Fun seeing everybody out to come cheer us on! A lot of people from USU woke up early to come watch us, so that was fantastic. My family also came up from Bountiful, so that was super cool. It is going to be a great season!

Went up Green Canyon with the team this morning. We took a recruit from Wyoming with us cuz he is up on his recruiting trip. He is a pretty cool guy

AM - What a day.. so slept through my alarm so I had to hurry and get up and sprint to the course to meet up with the team. They had already done drills and were about to start strideouts in flats, so I just jumped in with them... I felt pretty stiff and tired (duh)

We were going to do 2 sets of 5x600m with 300m rest. We got separated into 2 groups, and I was in the 2nd group. We were supposed to go between 1:55-2:00. 

On the first 3 sets I was dogging it in the back. Going up the hill hurt pretty bad, and I felt like crap when we turned onto the downhill, so I just hung behind Brett, Mitch, and Jordan. After the 3rd set, I started warming up a tad and I began to move up through the pack. By the end of the set I was with Kody, and we hit 2:00, 2:01 on the last 2.

On the start of the 2nd set Coach really separated us, so Colby, Justin, Dylan and Ben ran up front and the rest of us were behind. Kody and Jon worked 1-2 up front on the hill for the first 400m, and the rest of us worked off them. We hit 1:53 on the first one, then went back up controlled and went 1:57, 1:57... on the last 2 we pushed it a little more, 1:56, then 1:53. I led the last one, I wanted to finish the workout strong so I kinda dropped the hammer. Overall it was a great workout.

Went up Green Canyon again today... it was hot

AM - 10 easy miles with the guys up on Bonneville shoreline trail up to the Concrete Jungle. We went through this sketchy tunnel, which was fun, but the trail was overgrown with dead bushes so that kinda sucked

PM - Was late to practice cuz the shuttle took forever. I think I am gonna start bringing my stuff to class with me on thursdays so I can go straight from class to practices so I stop being late... anyways, went 2 easy miles and then got to pick up my spikes!!

AM - Easy miles in the morning

PM - 25 min warm up, stideouts on the grass with my spikes, (3x 200m)

8 miles progression on Mantua

AM - Woke up to run 8 miles with some of the guys up to Concrete Jungle

PM - 4 miles with 6x150m barefoot strideouts

AM - Ran a 4 mile warmup, then did 7x800m repeats and then 6x600m repeats at 5:15 pace, each with 90 second rest... it was really hard. It was cold and hailing at the beginning, but it changed back to just raining after some sets. 

We switched into spikes after three 800s which helped a lot with the mud and wet grass, but it did not make the workout easier.

I don't remember my 600 splits but the 800s were 2:40, 2:38, 2:37, 2:35, 2:38, 2:39, 2:38

Ran in the afternoon because of the rain and my class schedule... felt pretty good

Ran out to Concrete Jungle again in the afternoon but instead of doing an out and back we did a loop around First Dam and then down Logan Canyon. 6x150 barefoot strides after, head out to Montana tommorow for the MSU Invite

Drove out on the bus to Bozeman in the morning. Got there at like 2:30 and went to the course later to preview the course... it was legit. The first mile and a half was uphill, but the rest of it was pretty flat with a few rolling hills. Did 8 strideouts

Went to the race and it was awesome... I was a little nervous because I was sore yesterday in my quads and calves but they were fine today. The course was freezing in the morning but by the time the sun came up for the race it was fine.

I was expecting the first 300m to go out faster than it did but by the time we got to the top of the hill I was in the top 20 which I was no expecting. After the first half mile it then started to get crowded and jostling around. It was hard to find my group but by the mile I was able to get them. Went through a lot slower than I though, but a controlled 5:18

The 2nd mile was pretty controlled, Cody and I just cruised around and tried to stay out of trouble. Hit 10:38

3rd mile was progressively downhill, with a few zig-zags but it was easy. Came through 3 miles in 15:53

Mile 4 was really hard, but I mentally ran tough and told myself if I could hang on Cody till 4 miles, I can coast down the final mile with relative ease. Went through 4 miles in 21:20

Cody started to move pretty good at the 4 mile mark and I couldn't go with him. I just tried to hang on and catch these guys from Idaho State, but my legs began to lose their turnover. With about 300m to go before the loopty-loops leading into the final 200m, Kaden flew by me. It shoced me, so I started my kick, but I realized I had to go over the small hills, so I decided to save my kick till after. I couldn't get Kaden, but I was able to pass a Montana guy.

We won! We beat Montana State by like 8 points or so, which was pretty awesome! We also put 3 guys in the top 10 (Colby, Ben, and Justin) and all top 7 of us were in the top 20.... awesome race!!

AM - 4 miles

PM - 4 miles

AM - Early morning practice, ran a 4 mile warmup, then did 600 repeats with 300 shuffle jog. 

First 4 were pretty easy, we started at the bottom of the hill and hit 1:55, 1:55, 1:53, 1:52.

We then got a 5 min break before our second set, which was just 600 with more rest we were just supposed to be faster. We hit 1:44, 1:47, 1:44, 1:50.

Last fartlek set was just 3 fast 600s, hit 1:49, 1:52, 1:52.

2 mile cooldown.

Got to sleep in today, did the Concrete Jungle trail up to a dam (honestly I am not sure if it was 1st or 2nd dam, but one of them) and back. 

10 easy

Left for Salt Lake to get on our plane at 6:30, arrived in Minneapolis at like 12... course was super humid and hot

Woke up at like 8 to get breakfast, then we headed to the course at like 10:30. It was really warm and sticky so we shortened our warmup.

Start was pretty smooth, we got the outside box so it was easy to not get boxed in the first 200m but it funneled after like 300m so it was scary. At about 1k we had our group all working together and we came through in 3:07ish, about 195 place? 

2k to 5k we just maintained, we didn't press at all which was nice because we probably couldn't have made much moves because it was so crowded. Went through 5k in 16:20.

After 5k we were supposed to move, and I started to move up with Tyler to catch up to Spencer. We moved up with him and he went with us, and we started moving pretty good. We were passing some UVU and SUU guys which was good. At 7k it got really hilly, and I lost my form. Tyler gapped me and I couldn't close until about 100m after we crested the top of the hill, but by then it was too late to try to catch back up. 

Coming into the final straightaway I was feeling pretty good. I saw a Weber guy ahead of me which helped me start my kick pretty early. I started passing guys pretty easily and as I started gaining momentum I was passing a lot of guys. I passed the Weber guy with like 50m to go, and I inched out a Colorado State guy at the line.

As a team we took 14th, which our goal was top 12, but we had some off days for two of our top guys and we're missing Dylan so we'd be up there any other day.

The girls took 10, and Kashley Carter took 20th which was incredible. She was like 130 at the 1k, and she passed like 100 people in the final 3k which is what Coach said.

Overall, for how hilly the course was, I am happy with my race. There really isn't anything with my race I would go back and change, which I haven't been able to say about a race in a while. I am bummed that Tyler beat me cuz if you put Kody in as our #6 guy and Dylan as our #4, that puts me right now at #8... I know I can only control how good I can be, and I am happy that I was able to push Tyler to have a good race today too, but I obviously wanna be as good as I can be as well.

AM - Ran 8.5 miles on the Concrete Jungle with Justin, Tyler, and Kody

PM - 4 miles with 4x strides

6:45 practice (got to sleep in!!)... drills, 2 mile warmup, 6 mile fartlek, 3 mile cooldown

Easy 9 miles up Concrete Jungle and then down broken canal trail up back onto campus... it was windy but fun with Justin and Kody