π Personal Briefing - Thursday, April 23, 2026
Good morning. Here's your personal read.
πTraining
πToday's Plan
π― 5K - 2026-05-02 (9 days out) Phase: build β taper starts 2026-04-27 (4 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)
π Today (Thursday): 10-min easy run Β· 10-min abs Β· 5-min stretch Target pace: 9:30β10:00/mi (Z2, conversational) 2 hard efforts in the last 3 days - keep it easy today to protect recovery.
Best window: Lunch - 53Β°F, partly cloudy , wind 15 mph
πThis Week
Fri: no run today Β· 15-min abs Β· 10-min stretch - Friday rest from running - abs + stretch, recharge for long run Sat: 35-min easy run Β· 5-min abs Β· 8-min stretch Β· pace 9:30β10:00/mi - long run day - 35 min easy
This week: 4 runs Β· 4.3 mi Β· 37 min Zone check: 25% easy - β οΈ concern (build target β₯60%). Easy days are still too fast, RT. Slow to 9:30+/mi on easy days.
Recent runs:
- 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)
- Wed 04-22 Β· 1.1 mi Β· 9 min Β· 8:16/mi (Z3)
β 3 family walks this week - keep it up, those matter too.
βοΈNotre Dame Sports
πFootball
Two days until the Blue-Gold Game. Saturday at 2 p.m. ET on Peacock, Marcus Freeman's team wraps spring with the offense-vs-defense scoring format that debuted last year. Freeman and starting QB CJ Carr will both go mic'd up for stretches. With spring at midpoint, a handful of players are still held out by injury or transfer-rule restrictions, but Irish Sports Daily and One Foot Down coverage this week frames the roster as genuinely loaded - eight veteran transfers came in over winter to shore up the vertical passing game and specialist spots.
No new major recruiting or coaching developments since yesterday. Attention pivots fully to the scrimmage.
Upcoming:
- Sat Apr 25 - Blue-Gold Game, 2:00 p.m. ET (Peacock)
πWomen's Basketball
No new portal moves today. Niele Ivey's haul over the past week still headlines the rebuild: Louisville's Anaya Hardy (signed mid-April) and Princeton grad-transfer Madison St. Rose (committed April 19) both land in the backcourt. The counter-weight is KK Bransford, who entered the portal April 17 after three years in South Bend. Cassandre Prosper declared for the WNBA Draft on April 6. With four of last year's five starters gone, the roster still has gaps - expect more portal activity before it stabilizes.
π₯Lacrosse
Men: The Irish host Syracuse at 12:00 p.m. ET Saturday on ACCNX - note the noon tip, not the Blue-Gold Game 2 p.m. window you're used to. This closes the regular season and sets up ACC tournament seeding and NCAA selection. Notre Dame enters on a clean run: 7-6 over No. 15 Duke (Apr 18), 10-5 over No. 1 North Carolina (Apr 11), 12-8 at Richmond (Apr 4).
Women: Season's over on the conference side. The No. 6-seed Irish fell 9-12 to No. 3 Clemson in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals last night in Charlotte - the same Clemson team that beat them 13-9 earlier in the year. A win would have locked up NCAA tournament positioning; now they're on the bubble waiting for the bracket reveal. Final regular-season record: 12-5 (6-4 ACC).
Upcoming:
- Men: Sat Apr 25 - vs. Syracuse, 12:00 p.m. ET (ACCNX), home
Last Result:
- Women: L 9-12 vs. Clemson, ACC Quarterfinals (Apr 22)
πAround the Program
- Softball thumped Michigan State 9-1 in a 5-inning run-rule win yesterday (Caroline O'Brien 3-for with 2 RBIs). The Irish close the regular season at home hosting Boston College Apr 24-26 - their ACC finale.
- Baseball is still grinding for ACC tournament positioning after last weekend's series at No. 8 Florida State.
π΄Utah Utes
πFootball
Quiet between-practices day for Morgan Scalley's staff. Season ticket renewal deadline was yesterday (April 22), so any lingering fallout from that goes into this week's office paperwork. The Deseret News/KSL fan-sentiment reads from the weekend's "22 For U" Fan Day (April 18) are still the freshest pulse: strong turnout, genuine buy-in to Scalley's Ute-through-and-through narrative. The real test arrives in fall with the Big 12 slate.
πMen's Basketball
Alex Jensen's roster overhaul after a 10-22 debut year continues at pace. Two more signings dropped this week: TJ Burch (a late-season breakout at his previous stop - 15.1 / 3.9 / 2.8 and 2.4 steals in the final stretch) and Taison Chatman, both announced April 22. Alec Anigbata signed April 21. Jensen is essentially rebuilding the rotation from scratch - a familiar story in the portal era but one that'll test the program's patience.
π€ΈGymnastics
The offseason settles in after the painful end in Fort Worth - no national hardware for Neff, Padurariu, or Zirbes at the April 16 semifinals, and the 49-year streak of making NCAAs as a team is officially over. No new news today; the conversation shifts to roster construction for 2027.
π°Ohio State Buckeyes
πFootball
Tonight's the night. Round 1 of the 2026 NFL Draft kicks off at 8 p.m. ET in Pittsburgh, and Ohio State is chasing a milestone that hasn't been matched in 59 years: four players in the top 10. The last school to pull it off was Michigan State in 1967 (Notre Dame did it first, in 1946). The four projected Buckeye top-10 picks:
- Arvell Reese - edge/linebacker, widely mocked to the Jets at No. 2
- Caleb Downs - safety, AP All-America first team
- Sonny Styles - linebacker, 43Β½-inch vertical (best among 6'4"+ prospects since 2003)
- Carnell Tate - wide receiver
All four were key pieces of the 2024 CFP title team. Reese and Downs made AP first team; Styles and Tate made second team. Beyond the top 10, there's a wider Buckeye contingent expected across rounds 1-3. It's the kind of night that underwrites Ryan Day's recruiting pitch for the next decade.
πAround the Program
- The spring game (Saturday, April 18) wrapped with the Gray defense taking it 35-26 over Scarlet offense. Devin Sanchez and the pass-rush duo of Kenyatta Jackson Jr. / Beau Atkinson were the headline standouts per Eleven Warriors. Julian Sayin still has the inside track at QB1 but Tavien St. Clair kept the conversation alive.
- Basketball portal work from last week still stands: Justin Pippen, Andrija JelaviΔ, and Jimmie Williams in; Chatman, Cupps, Grujicic, Royal, and White out.
ποΈTreasure Valley
πEvents & Things to Do
- Thu Apr 23 (tonight): Clutch at Treefort Music Hall, 8 p.m. Β· Defeated Sanity at Treefort, 6:30 p.m. Β· Chris Webby at The Shredder, 7 p.m.
- Fri Apr 24: Boise Off-Road & Outdoor Expo opens at Expo Idaho, 12β7:30 p.m. (3rd annual; $12 day pass, kids under 12 free) Β· The Big Paddle Party at Idaho River Sports, 6β10 p.m. (free - live music, food trucks, riverfront hang, raffle benefits local rivers) Β· Drew & Ellie Holcomb at Egyptian Theatre, 8:30 p.m. Β· Trinket Trade at JUMP, 5β8 p.m.
- Sat Apr 25: Boise Off-Road & Outdoor Expo continues, 10 a.m.β7 p.m. Β· Shade City Brewfest at Idaho Botanical Garden, 1β6 p.m. ($45, 21+, craft beer + live music + food trucks) Β· Indie Bookstore Day at Rediscovered Books, all day (Golden Ticket hunt, exclusive releases) Β· Drew & Ellie Holcomb continues if you missed Friday
π½οΈFood & Drink
Nothing new on the opening side today - the spring pipeline (The Boise Post rooftop atop the AC/Element on Grove, El Gaucho in the former Western Proper space, Coa Cantina) is still on the watch list but no firm dates have shifted.
π°Local Headlines
- Weather: The cold front that rolled through midweek clears out. Today settles around 60Β°F partly cloudy; Friday edges to 63Β°F. Good news for Saturday's long run - should be the most comfortable conditions of the week.
πWorth Reading
- Ohio State chasing 59-year NFL Draft milestone tonight - Spectrum News on the four top-10 Buckeyes and what it means.
- Irish fall to Clemson in ACC Quarterfinals - Official recap of the women's lacrosse 9-12 loss.
- Notre Dame softball run-rules Michigan State 9-1 - Caroline O'Brien's three-hit night headlines yesterday's home win.
- How to watch the Blue-Gold Game - One Foot Down's viewer's guide for Saturday.
- Ute fans pile in for the Scalley era - Deseret News on the "22 For U" turnout.
- This Week in Boise: Apr 20β26 - Rooted in Boise's full weekend rundown.
Generated on Thursday, April 23, 2026