🌅Personal Briefing - Saturday, April 25, 2026
Good morning. Here's your personal read.
🏃Training
🏃Today's Plan
🎯 5K - 2026-05-02 (6 days out) Phase: build → taper starts 2026-04-27 (2 days) This week: Two hard days (Monday tempo, Wednesday intervals) plus a Saturday long run; everything else easy. Next week: Finish taper and race-week shakeouts. Why today: Mon tempo and Wed intervals build race-specific fitness for the 5K; Sat long run builds durability; easy days protect the work. After this: 10K on 2026-06-20 (55 days out)
🏃 Today (Saturday): 35-min easy run · 5-min abs · 8-min stretch Target pace: 9:30–10:00/mi (Z2, conversational) Build phase long run - 35 min at easy pace. Building toward 5K.
Best window: Lunch - 53°F, sunny, wind 4 mph
📊This Week
Sun: 10-min easy run · 10-min abs · 5-min stretch · pace 9:30–10:00/mi - taper - keep it easy Mon: 10-min easy run · 10-min abs · 5-min stretch · pace 9:30–10:00/mi - taper - keep it easy
This week: 5 runs · 5.4 mi · 46 min Zone check: 29% easy - ⚠️ concern (build target ≥60%). Easy days are still too fast, RT. Slow to 9:30+/mi on easy days.
Recent runs:
- Sun 04-19 · 1.1 mi · 11 min · 9:09/mi (easy)
- Mon 04-20 · 1.1 mi · 10 min · 8:34/mi (Z3)
- Tue 04-21 · 1 mi · 7 min · 6:47/mi (Z6)
- Wed 04-22 · 1.1 mi · 9 min · 8:16/mi (Z3)
- Thu 04-23 · 1.1 mi · 9 min · 8:19/mi (Z3)
✓ 4 family walks this week - keep it up, those matter too.
☘️Notre Dame Sports
🏈Football
Today is Blue-Gold day. 95th edition, 2:00 p.m. ET kickoff at Notre Dame Stadium, Peacock. Tony Simeone on play-by-play, Ian Book on color, Caroline Pineda on the sideline. Marcus Freeman has called this spring "very active, efficient, productive, and physical," and after last weekend's closed jersey scrimmage the staff has been unusually upbeat. CJ Carr enters the day as the unquestioned starter; the names to watch behind him are Kenny Minchey and freshman Blainey Dyer. Receiver Fitzgerald keeps trending up as a Malachi Fields replacement, and edge Rodney Dunham has worked his way into the starting rotation.
Day 2 of the draft cleared up a few things, complicated others. Jadarian Price closed out Round 1 at No. 32 to Seattle - a mild surprise after Day 1, which makes Notre Dame a back-to-back program with two backs in the first round (Love at 3, Price at 32). Round 3 brought the receiver and the tight end: Malachi Fields to the New York Giants at No. 74, Eli Raridon to the New England Patriots at No. 95 (Drake Maye's new red-zone target). Billy Schrauth and Aamil Wagner are still waiting; Rounds 4-7 run today starting at noon ET, and both should land on Day 3.
That puts the Irish at four picks through Round 3 - Love, Price, Fields, Raridon - with the Day 3 count to be determined this afternoon.
Upcoming:
- Sat Apr 25 - Blue-Gold Game, 2:00 p.m. ET (Peacock), Notre Dame Stadium
- Sat Apr 25 - NFL Draft Rounds 4-7, beginning at noon ET
🏀Women's Basketball
Quiet day after Tuesday's portal close. The two confirmed pickups remain Anaya Hardy (Louisville sophomore) and Madison St. Rose (Princeton grad transfer, two-time All-Ivy, 13.2 ppg) - St. Rose is the one with a real path to start next to Hannah Hidalgo. The big swing-and-miss this cycle was Iowa State's Audi Crooks, who chose Oklahoma State's reported $1.4M NIL number over a Hidalgo pairing. Recruiting class is the offset: Niele Ivey already has the No. 1 high school class with five top-100 commits, which will need to be the engine after four of the top five interior players graduate.
🥍Lacrosse
Men: noon ET today at Arlotta - note the early start, two hours before Blue-Gold. No. 1 Notre Dame (9-1, 2-1 ACC) hosts No. 5 Syracuse (11-3, 2-1 ACC) in the regular-season finale on ACCNX. The stakes haven't softened: Syracuse can claim at least a share of the ACC regular-season title with a win and a Duke result going their way; Notre Dame is sealing its committee resume. Syracuse has won the last two meetings, including the 14-12 ACC Semi upset in 2025. Thomas Ricciardelli has averaged 14.25 saves over his last four ACC starts.
Women: Selection Sunday is tomorrow at 9 p.m. ET on ESPNU. USA Lacrosse's latest bracketology still has the Irish (12-5, 6-4 ACC) as a "last four in." It'll be a tense Sunday.
Upcoming:
- Men: Sat Apr 25 - vs. Syracuse, 12:00 p.m. ET (ACCNX), home
- Women: Sun Apr 26 - NCAA Selection Show, 9:00 p.m. ET (ESPNU)
📋Around the Program
- Softball beat Boston College 5-1 last night behind a two-hitter from Weiss. The series continues this weekend at Melissa Cook before UIC and DePaul midweek tune-ups, then the ACC Championship at Virginia May 6-9.
- Baseball torched BC 12-2 last night at Frank Eck - a 10-run fifth did the heavy lifting. ACC tournament positioning still in play; the tournament begins May 19 in Charlotte.
🔴Utah Utes
🏈Football
The NFL Draft picture for Utah is one of those nights to remember even if you didn't grow up in Salt Lake. Both Spencer Fano (No. 9 CLE) and Caleb Lomu (No. 28 NE, after the Patriots traded up from 31) went in the top 28 picks Thursday - a first-round tackle pair the program hasn't had in living memory. Day 2 was quiet for Utah, which mostly underscores how the talent on the roster was concentrated in those two. Rounds 4-7 today; expect a late name or two.
Spring practice continues to grind underneath the draft noise. Morgan Scalley's first spring as the lead has the staff focused on a fully rebuilt offensive line - all five 2025 starters gone - under first-year line coach Jordan Gross. Sophomore back Daniel Bray (339 yards from scrimmage as a freshman) is being used as a true Swiss-army-knife in the install. Recent additions worth tracking: USF transfer James Chenault and Lamar transfer Nick Brown in the secondary.
🤸Gymnastics
Eyes shifting fully to 2027. Three commitments locked in for next year's class - five-star Canadian National Team gymnast Gabrielle Black, four-star Ayla Miller, and rising star Madison Denlinger - which is the bench depth the Red Rocks needed after Avery Neff and Ana Padurariu's tough exit at Fort Worth. Carly Dockendorf's sales pitch about "power" and "energy" is the standard coachspeak; the actual signal is the recruiting wins.
📋Around the Program
- Men's basketball portal additions keep rolling. TJ Burch and Taison Chatman were added Tuesday, Alec Anigbata on Monday - Alex Jensen is essentially rebuilding his rotation from scratch after the 10-22 debut.
🌰Ohio State Buckeyes
🏈Football
Ohio State's Day 2 added three more to a draft class already in the program record books. Round 2: Kayden McDonald (DT) at No. 34 to Houston, Davison Igbinosun (CB) at No. 62 to Buffalo. Round 3: Will Kacmarek (TE) at No. 87 to Miami. That gets the Buckeyes to seven through three rounds - Tate, Reese, Styles, Downs, McDonald, Igbinosun, Kacmarek - and Rounds 4-7 today should add more. Ryan Day's Round 1 milestone (back-to-back four-pick first rounds, only program in history) will likely become a "best three-round haul of any team in this draft" milestone by tonight.
The spring closed last Saturday in the rain - Gray defense over Scarlet offense 35-26, freshman Chris Henry Jr. with a long touchdown grab from Tavien St. Clair, Julian Sayin holding QB1 but not closing the competition. Earl Little Jr. continues to recover from a minor knee scope; back in a few weeks per Day.
📋Around the Program
- Basketball portal: Duquesne's Jimmie Williams (15.1 ppg, third-team All-A-10) is in. Ohio State remains one of three finalists for Notre Dame transfer Jalen Haralson alongside North Carolina and Tennessee. Out: Devin Royal to Villanova. New TE add: Northwestern transfer Hunter Welcing (28-296-2 in 2025) and former Alabama five-star DL James Smith (28 tackles, 6.5 TFL, 2.5 sacks last year).
🏔️Treasure Valley
🎉Events & Things to Do
Today (Sat Apr 25):
- Capital City Public Market at The Grove Plaza, 9:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. - running every Saturday now. If you're downtown after the long run it's a good wander.
- USS Idaho commissioning - the Navy's newest Virginia-class submarine is formally commissioned today. Mostly a TV/news moment, but Idaho's namesake going active service is unusual.
- Sheep migration near Beacon Light Rd - about 2,500 ewes and lambs crossing this morning. A foothills tradition; you'll see the headlines on KTVB if you don't see the herd.
- Boise Off-Road & Outdoor Expo at Expo Idaho, 10 a.m.–7 p.m. (final day of the 3-day run; $12 day pass, kids under 12 free).
- Shade City Brewfest at Idaho Botanical Garden, 1–6 p.m. ($45, 21+, Idaho craft beer + live music + food trucks).
- Independent Bookstore Day at Rediscovered Books, all day - Golden Ticket hunt, Tango's Empanadas truck, exclusive releases.
- Shakey Graves at Shrine Social Club Ballroom, 7 p.m.
- Leslie Gulch–Mahogany Mountain Caldera field trip with the Idaho Museum of Mining and Geology, 9 a.m.
Sun Apr 26: Banda MS at the Ford Idaho Center arena, 1 p.m. · NCAA Women's Lacrosse Selection Show, 7 p.m. MT (ESPNU).
🍽️Food & Drink
Restaurant pipeline unchanged: The Boise Post (rooftop atop the AC/Element on Grove) still tracking for spring, Boise Thai Noodle House at 908 W. Main targeting spring, Hemlock steakhouse (from the Spitfire Tacos team) moving into the old Richard's space. No new openings or closures to flag this morning.
📰Local Headlines
- Boise unveiled a $660K upgrade at Veterans Memorial Park - 18-hole disc golf course, nature playground, safety improvements. If you've avoided that park because of the older pathway lighting, the upgrade addresses it.
- Spencer Danielson signed an extension through 2030. Boise State football locks in the head coach for five more seasons. Worth noting if you were ever thinking of catching a game on the blue.
- Idaho Rainbow Bridge faces replacement. State is debating the cost of preserving the historical look versus a modern replacement - the kind of slow-burn infrastructure story that ends up shaping foothills travel for a decade.
🔗Worth Reading
- Seahawks select Jadarian Price at No. 32 overall - Seattle's official write-up on Notre Dame's second first-round back.
- Patriots select Caleb Lomu at No. 28 - New England's analysis of the Utah tackle pick.
- Patriots add Eli Raridon at No. 95 - Pats Pulpit on the Notre Dame tight end pairing with Drake Maye.
- Three things to watch in the 2026 Blue-Gold Game - ND Insider's pre-game scout.
- Previewing No. 5 Syracuse at No. 1 Notre Dame lacrosse - Daily Orange on the noon kickoff.
- This Week in Boise - Apr 20–26 - Rooted in Boise's weekend rundown.
Generated on Saturday, April 25, 2026