Tristian Merchant Training In Alaska: Week 3

8/19/20 - Nice and easy

Today was a nice and easy day we just did one of our usual routes from our school. This felt pretty good, nothing special about this run. The total for today was 6 miles and we had 6x150 accelerations which are pretty tiring actually.

Today is our Pick up today we do this about every week we are lengthening it today to 11 minutes at around tempo pace for me. I did it a little slower than last week with 5:05 for the average pace on the pickup. Just doing grass loops had to keep it in check for a big workout tomorrow. The total for today was 7.54 miles at an average of 6:16 pace overall and I didn't feel too bad. Verse of the day was: Since we live in the spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit. Basically just learning to live as best as we can as a Christian and living life as Jesus would. This year is a lot about personal spiritual and physical improvement.

This is one of my bigger workouts and doesn't sound too crazy. Basically my coach wanted me to go out conservatively in a 5k dual we had and cut down after the first mile. This didn't end up happening. I went out a little too hard just feeling good and maintained that pace. It was like 4:53 miles the 5k ended up being 15:08. Then I had 2:40 walk and 1.7 jogs at about 6:35 to the nearest track 90-second walk 8x400 at 67, 67, 67, 67, 66, 66, 66, 65 all with a minute rest tried to do a mix of walking and jogging for the rest. Then I had a 1.7-mile jog back to the start. This was a pretty warm day actually for Alaska it was saying like 78 degrees. Definitely happy and grateful for this workout. Definitely feeling blessed every day.

Today was really easy. I just wanted to shake out the legs after yesterday's hard effort. I went up to some trails with 2 of my teammates. We did an easy 4 at 7:50 pace just trying to feel looser.

This is our long run Sunday we are trying to just keep it pretty relaxed. Waking up early to try and get on schedule for school is not very fun. We ended up doing 12 with the first two-mile just really warming up with the first one being 7:48 then ran in the low 6-minute range for 9 miles and then took the last mile easy. This was done on a bike path that goes through anchorage on a greenbelt so it's pretty nice for long runs. Today was love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and mind.

Monday runs are usually pretty nice runs with the team. We did 8.4 up a road and down a trail with 6 accelerations after putting me at 9.1 this was at 6:42 pace and ended up feeling pretty good. It's kinda weird having school now and ended up missing my lunch so that wasn't great. I was pretty hungry today.

Today we drove to our state course and did a nice little fartlek there with 3 minutes on 3 minutes off. This is a very hilly windy course and it was also pretty slick with all the rain we've been getting. All and all it was pretty good we did 7 sets of that and then my coach had josh (the other senior) and I do K at what he wanted our race pace to be on the course having me do 2:58 on a track compared to the course felt very nice. With warm-up cool down and the workout, it totaled to 7miles

This was a pretty easy day just 5 miles at about 7:05 pace then 6 accelerations I did feel a little under the weather so that's not great since it's rona season and all.

Today was pretty relaxed, 2.4 then 12-minute little pick up on a muddy bog trail averaging 5:02 for the 12 minutes. This went better than I thought since I hadn't felt too good and the trail was pretty muddy. My coach talked about a verse where God said he'd be with you if you want him with you and he won't leave you which is always an encouraging verse to hear. Still feeling a bit fatigued most likely the new sleep schedule but I'm checking my temperature to make sure I'm not coming down with something.