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Personal Briefing

πŸŒ…Personal Briefing - Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Good morning. Here's your personal read.

πŸƒTraining

πŸƒToday's Plan

🎯 5K - 2026-05-02 (9 days out) Phase: build β†’ taper starts 2026-04-27 (5 days) This week: Aerobic base with one hard day (sprint or tempo Wednesday) and a Saturday long run. Next week: Finish taper and race-week shakeouts. Why today: Each easy day pads your aerobic base before the 5K; hard days sharpen; long run builds durability. After this: 10K on 2026-06-20 (58 days out)

πŸƒ Today (Wednesday): 10-min easy run Β· 10-min abs Β· 5-min stretch Target pace: 9:30–10:00/mi (Z2, conversational) 2 hard efforts in the last 3 days - keep it easy today to protect recovery.

Best window: Evening - 50Β°F, light rain shower, wind 15 mph - rain likely, consider treadmill

πŸ“ŠThis Week

Thu: 10-min easy run Β· 10-min abs Β· 5-min stretch Β· pace 9:30–10:00/mi - keep the easy base going Fri: no run today Β· 15-min abs Β· 10-min stretch - Friday rest from running - abs + stretch, recharge for long run

This week: 3 runs Β· 3.2 mi Β· 28 min Zone check: 29% easy - ⚠️ concern (build target β‰₯60%). Easy days are still too fast, RT. Slow to 9:30+/mi on easy days.

Recent runs:

  • Fri 04-17 Β· 2 mi Β· 17 min Β· 8:36/mi (Z3)
  • Sat 04-18 Β· 3.6 mi Β· 34 min Β· 9:18/mi (easy)
  • Sun 04-19 Β· 1.1 mi Β· 11 min Β· 9:09/mi (easy)
  • Mon 04-20 Β· 1.1 mi Β· 10 min Β· 8:34/mi (Z3)
  • Tue 04-21 Β· 1 mi Β· 7 min Β· 6:47/mi (Z6)

βœ“ Nice walk yesterday (13 min). 3 family walks this week - lifestyle win, not a run substitute.

☘️Notre Dame Sports

🏈Football

The countdown is on to Saturday's Blue-Gold Game - the 95th edition of the spring scrimmage, airing live on Peacock at 2 p.m. ET. Marcus Freeman and starting quarterback CJ Carr will both be mic'd up for a stretch of the game, which uses a revamped format pitting the offense against the defense with points awarded for things like offensive first downs and defensive tackles for loss. Spring practice is now at its midpoint, with a handful of key names still sidelined by injury or transfer-rule restrictions.

The 2026 schedule got its final shape this month: the Irish open the regular season with the Shamrock Series against Wisconsin at Lambeau Field and close the year on the road at Syracuse. On the recruiting front, 4-star safety Khalil Terry decommitted from the class, a setback Freeman's staff will need to patch in the secondary.

Upcoming:

  • Sat Apr 25 - Blue-Gold Game, 2:00 p.m. ET (Peacock)

πŸ€Women's Basketball

Niele Ivey is rebuilding on the fly after losing four of last year's five starters (Prosper to the WNBA Draft, De Jesus/Moore/Cowles to graduation), and the portal is doing the heavy lifting. Over a five-day stretch, the Irish landed two high-impact transfers: Louisville's Anaya Hardy on April 17, and Princeton grad-transfer Madison St. Rose on April 19. Hardy started on a Cardinals team that reached the Sweet 16, shooting a ridiculous 66.6% from the field as a sophomore. St. Rose is the bigger headline - a 5'10" guard who averaged 15.8 / 4.5 / 2.2 for a 26-4 Princeton team that grabbed a 9-seed in March.

The one that stings: junior forward KK Bransford entered the portal on April 17 after three years in South Bend. She's the second starter lost in the portal era, on top of the graduation/draft departures. More portal moves to come - the roster still needs shape.

πŸ₯Lacrosse

Men: The Irish are rolling. Notre Dame has looked like the best team in the country for weeks and just kept it going with a 7-6 win over No. 15 Duke on April 18, after an earlier 10-5 rout of North Carolina (April 11) and a 12-8 road win at Richmond (April 4). They're squarely in the national-title conversation heading into the ACC tournament and NCAA selection.

Women: Finished the regular season 12-4 (6-4 ACC) and wrapped it with an 18-3 demolition of Louisville on April 16 - freshman attacker Grace Maroney set a career high with six goals. They enter the ACC tournament as the No. 6 seed and open against Clemson (No. 15 RPI). Dance-card positioning for the NCAAs depends on how far they can push through the bracket.

Last Result:

  • Men: W 7-6 vs Duke (Apr 18)
  • Women: W 18-3 vs Louisville (Apr 16)

πŸ“‹Around the Program

  • Softball split at Syracuse over the weekend (W 6-2 Apr 18, L 2-3 Apr 19), then closes the regular season at home: Central Michigan Apr 21, Michigan State today (Apr 22), Boston College Apr 24-26 for the ACC finale.
  • Baseball dropped its series at No. 8 Florida State (Apr 17-19) - still fighting for ACC tournament positioning.

πŸ”΄Utah Utes

🏈Football

Morgan Scalley's first offseason as head coach is shaping up differently from the Whittingham era. No spring game this year - instead, the program hosted a "22 For U" Fan Day on April 18 inside the Spence Eccles Field House, with players signing autographs, a kids zone on the field, and a live interview segment with Scalley. Early read from players: high energy, visible loyalty to the university (Scalley was a Ute from 2001-04 and has been on staff since 2006).

It's a quiet-but-deliberate spring. Deseret News and KSL coverage frames the fan response to the Scalley era as cautiously optimistic - he's the guy who's been here the whole time, and there's real buy-in. The big Big 12 test comes this fall.

🀸Gymnastics

A painful end to the 2026 season. Utah was knocked out at the NCAA regional final earlier this month by Minnesota and UCLA, ending a 49-year streak of qualifying for every national championship. The Red Rocks had been the only program to make every single NCAAs since the event began - that's gone. Three individual qualifiers (Avery Neff in the all-around, Ana Padurariu on beam, Ella Zirbes on floor) made it to Fort Worth for the NCAA semifinals on April 16 but didn't bring home individual hardware.

Plenty of soul-searching ahead for a program used to being in the final four. The bones are still there - Neff is one of the best all-arounders in the country - but the streak era is over.

🌰Ohio State Buckeyes

🏈Football

The 2026 Spring Game (Saturday, April 18 inside Ohio Stadium) went to the Gray defense 35-26 over the Scarlet offense. The offense jumped out fast - a 17-point first quarter featuring a Julian Sayin 4-yard TD run and a 40-yard deep ball from redshirt freshman Tavien St. Clair to five-star freshman wideout Chris Henry Jr. - before the defense clamped down across the second and third quarters.

The quarterback battle is the story. Sayin is the presumed QB1, but St. Clair was productive enough to keep the conversation interesting, and Henry Jr. (4 catches, 96 yards, TD) flashed the kind of ability that was advertised on the recruiting trail. Ryan Day has a real problem in a good way.

πŸ“‹Around the Program

  • Basketball has been busy in the portal. Incoming: former Cal/Michigan guard Justin Pippen, ex-Kentucky forward Andrija JelaviΔ‡ (both committed April 10), and third-team All-A10 guard Jimmie Williams from Duquesne (15.1/4.5/2.6 last year). Outgoing: Taison Chatman, Gabe Cupps, Mathieu Grujicic, Devin Royal, and Colin White. Jake Diebler is rebuilding the rotation from scratch.
  • Former Notre Dame wing Jalen Haralson - one of OSU's top targets - picked Tennessee instead. A miss that hurts.

πŸ”οΈTreasure Valley

🍽️Food & Drink

The spring restaurant wave is rolling downtown. The Boise Post - a rooftop restaurant on the 16th floor of the new AC/Element by Westin dual-brand hotel on Grove St. between 10th and 11th - is on track to open this spring. Elsewhere, Seattle's Fire & Vine Hospitality is putting an El Gaucho into the former Western Proper space, and Coa Cantina (tacos + full cocktail program) is targeting an early-2026 opening. Worth keeping your downtown dining list loose for the next couple months.

πŸŽ‰Events & Things to Do

  • Wed Apr 22 (tonight): Clutch at Knitting Factory, 8 p.m. Β· AFI at Treefort Music Hall, 8 p.m. Β· Dirtwire at Treefort, 8 p.m. Β· Gimme Gimme Disco at Knitting Factory, 8 p.m.
  • Fri Apr 24: Drew & Ellie Holcomb - Never Gonna Let You Go tour - Egyptian Theatre, 8:30 p.m.
  • Sat Apr 25: Capital City Public Market opens for the 2026 season at The Grove Plaza (827 W. Main St.) - downtown's Saturday ritual is back.
  • Sat Apr 25: DynaDuo Presents: Contortion at 9th St. Parallel (Knitting Factory), 8 p.m.

πŸ“°Local Headlines

  • Boise State extends Spencer Danielson through 2030. Three conference titles in three seasons earned him a long-term deal - not a shock, but noteworthy for the stability it signals.
  • Medical cannabis initiative backers are pushing toward an April 30 signature deadline with the Secretary of State's office. Close to the wire.
  • Weather: A powerful cold front arrives tonight, interrupting what's been a record-setting April. Worth factoring into your evening run - the training note already flagged rain and 15 mph winds.

πŸ”—Worth Reading

Generated on Wednesday, April 22, 2026

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