Training Rundown Week 8-MS Run The US

50 miles this week! I somehow always feel like it takes me a bit to adjust to running 50ish miles a week and then it becomes easy (ier). It's crazy to think that I'm now less than 100 days away from my MS Run The US start line AND less than 8 more weeks until the Salt Lake City Marathon! I was able to hit all of my paces this week and am feeling really strong. I shifted back to my early AM workouts and think that was a major difference in feeling more like myself and not so 'scatter-brained'/ in a funk!

Monday: 10 miles; 1.5 warm-up; 7 miles @ TM 8:20-8:35 (actual: 8:22); 1.5 cool-down. I love when I start getting to the point where I can hit my goal marathon pace without even looking at my watch every 2 seconds. 60 minute Yoga class after work!

Tuesday: 6 miles easy @ 9:43. I split this run up between teaching skating and did about a mile before with Stella and the remaining 5 afterwards solo. It's SO nice to run outside after work and have it still be light out.

Wednesday: 8 miles; 2.0 warm-up; 3 x 1600 @ 7:13 (actual: 7:08, 7:07, 7:05); 2.0 cool-down. I did this on the treadmill since it was cold out and I'm just not a fan of speedwork when it's chilly. 60 minute Pilates Jumpboard Reformer class at lunch.

Thursday: 6 miles easy @ 9:43. ~300' elevation gain. 

Friday: 10 miles easy @ 9:58. 600' elevation gain. 15 minutes of strength & stretching.

Saturday: 10 miles easy @ 10:52; 1, 392' elevation gain. Almost died on this one, but really glad I pushed through it!! SOOO much elevation gain and so hard. My legs were completely dead afterwards

Positive Splits:

• Hit my paces in each workout
• Got in 2 strength training sessions
• Finally got to go to Yoga!
• Foam rolled almost each night before bed...really helped me sleep well!

Negative Splits:

• Nutrition wasn't the best this past week.
• Easy runs (for the most part) were a bit fast

Training Rundown Week 7- MS Run The US

Happy Humpday! I cannot believe I'm already almost 2 full months into my training plan! It really flys by and next week I'll be LESS THAN 100 OUT from my May start line (and much sooner for my Salt Lake City Marathon). I honestly feel like January just came and went so quickly. I've been in a bit of a funk lately and so I switched up when I did each of my workouts last week and that REALLY helped. I ended up starting my week with some tempo miles and did my long run on Thursday afternoon/early evening. I really had an inkling to run long all day at work Thursday and had the perfect window to do it after I got out at 3:30!

Monday: 10 miles; 1.5 warm-up @ 10:00; 7 miles tempo 8:20-8:35 (actual: 8:27); 1.5 cool-down. Rocked it. Felt strong and pace never felt hard.

Tuesday: 6 miles easy @ 9:55. Split this run up between teaching skating in the afternoon. 2.6 miles with Stella; 45 minute break; 3.4 miles solo

Wednesday: 8 miles (actual: 7 miles); 1.5 warmup (.5 warm-up); 400, 800, 1200, 1600, 1200, 800, 400 (400R- all done @ 7:08-7:13 pace on the treadmill); 1.5 cool-down (.75 cool-down). I started and finished this run by 6:30 in the morning at the gym (had to be to work by 7) and felt really strong and was going to finish out and get that last ~1 mile later in the day, but I felt strong and was good with just leaving it as is. 60 minute Jumpboard Reformer at the Pilates studio over lunch

Thursday: 14 miles long slow 9:03-9:18; 14 miles (8.6 miles; 1 hour break; 5.4 miles on treadmill) @ 9:03 . Felt strong and a bit sore. Normally I try not to do two hard workouts back-to-back, but where my Wednes run was done by 6:30pm and this run didn't even start until after 3:30pm, I felt recovered and ready to run hard (knowing that I'd take the next few runs super easy)

Friday: Rest Day. Switched around my rest days again. I had a terrible day at work and was feeling a cold possibly coming on. Slept in and just focused on recovery.

Saturday: 8 miles @ 9:59 on the treadmill & 30 minutes strength (started a new strength training program)

Sunday: 7 miles @ 9:58 599' elevation gain

Positive Splits:

• Hit all my workouts
• Sleep was a priority this week
• Foam rolled almost every night before bed
• Took a few Epsom Salt baths to recover
• Hit over 200 miles in January!

Negative Splits:

• Was 2 miles short on weekly mileage goal
• Didn't get in 3 strength sessions (only 2)
• Still no yoga :( 

Happy Wednesday! How's your training going?!

Training Rundown- Week 6 MS Run The US

HUMPDAY! I am still re-adjusting to my running schedule and last week was a bit of a disaster in terms of half of my runs were on the treadmill and I had a hard time hitting my tempo pace on Wednesday. I still got my mileage in, but it was not pretty. OH WELL. Time to move on from it! 

MONDAY: 1.5 warm-up; 4 x 1200 @ 5:20; 1.5 cool-down (actual: 1.0 warm-up; 4 x 1200 (5:20, 5:20, 5:20, 5:20); 1.0 cool-down

TUESDAY: 6 miles easy on the treadmill @ 9:55

WEDNESDAY: 1.5 warm-up; 7 miles Tempo @ 8:20; 1.5 cool-down-> 10 miles total. This was hard on the treadmill and the gym that I was at in Denver just had a different vibe. Change is never easy folks. 

THURSDAY: 6 miles easy; (actual: 7 miles easy @ 9:40); Went a bit too fast on this one, but felt so good to run outside! 

FRIDAY: Rest Day. I was so exhausted from traveling and driving home on Thursday, that I decided to take the day off. 60 minute CoreReformer class at lunch.

Saturday: 10 miles easy @ 10:06 (actual: 10.25 1, 025' gain).

Sunday: 8 miles easy @ 9:54 with 627' gain

Positive Splits:

• Hit my mileage
• Hit my speed workout paces
• Kept easy runs easy
• Gained a significant amount of elevation

Negative Splits:

• Tempo run was really hard and had to take a few breaks during it.
• Just felt tired and over worked
• Only one strength session fit in this week.

Training Rundown- Week 5 MS Run The US

Week 5 is done and gone! Last week went really well (for the most part). It has definitely been challenging to run and train during the month of January (normally I take this month off from any serious training programs and begin in mid-to-late February). I've also been working a BUNCH on the weekends and week nights teaching skiing, so that has not left a lot of room for any sort of flexibility. I got in 4 outdoor runs and 2 treadmill runs, so I'm pretty proud of that ratio and try to keep a few of my runs a week on the treadmill (just to keep my pace extra easy). I fit in 3 strength training sessions (including one Jumpboard Reformer Pilates class) and also was able to Epsom Salt soak twice/ foam roll a few times. I haven't gotten sick yet this year, so that is also a HUGE step in the right direction because normally this is where I start to get a week or two of a cold during marathon training as my body adapts. 

Monday: 7 miles; 1.5 warm-up; 6 x 1 km @ 4:24 (actual: 4:38*, 4:33*, 4:24, 4:24, 4:21, 4:20--> *done outside in single digit temps (too cold for me to do speedwork & did the remaining on the treadmill); .5 cool-down. I just became frustrated with this run (having to do some indoors & some outside) and ran out of time and just was ready to be done so cut it a mile short. Finished with 7 miles. 60 minutes of Jumpboard Pilates Reformer at lunch. Taught a ski lesson at night..so tired!!

Tuesday: 6 miles easy @ 9:40 on the treadmill. Slept in a bit too much (thanks to the kittens for being WAY too cuddly) and had to go at a faster easy pace than I normally like to between my speed & tempo days. 

Wednesday: 9 miles; 1.5 warm-up; 6 miles @ tempo 8:35 (actual: 7:51? I think my garmin was off and thinking my pace was more around 8:05/8:10); 1.5 cool-down. 30 minutes of strength training afterwards. I waited to do this run in the afternoon when the sun was shining and temps were right around 30*. It was beautiful and gained 202', which was pretty good for a tempo run! Epsom salt bath to recover at the end of the day. I also saw a bald eagle during the start of my tempo run and this was so important to propel me forward because the day that my grandfather passed, I was out on a run and saw a bald eagle and decided that that was his spirit animal! It was so great to know that he was watching me run. 

Thursday: 7 miles easy @ 9:55 on the treadmill. Kept the pace easy and felt strong on my run. 

Friday: 12 miles @ 9:03-9:18 long-slow pace (actual: 9:08). Gained 266' during this run and started before 6am. It was SO cold and most everything I had ended up freezing, but I got it done! 

Prep for my long run the night before! Getting up at 4:30 is definitely NEVER easy!

Saturday: 6 miles easy

Sunday: Rest Day

Positive Splits:

• Hit my long run pace
• Hit my tempo pace
• Fit in three strength training session
• Fit in two epsom salt recovery baths
• Foam rolled a bunch
• Nutrition was pretty good & hydration was on point!

Negative Splits:

• That speed workout was terrible. Total disaster!

Happy humpday! I hope your training is going well! 

Training Rundown- Week 4 MS Run The US

How does a month go by so quickly?! I seriously cannot believe that I'm already over 4 weeks into my training for MS Run The US. I've accumulated over 130 miles during this training cycle already, but will definitely need to bump that number up since I'll need to cover 175 miles OVER 6 DAYS in May! Overall, my schedule is still feeling really good and I'm super happy that I've still been able to fit in strength training 3 times a week through this cycle (one of my New Years Resolutions). I've also been able to keep up with Yoga once a week, which I think really helps stretch me out and not keep me so tight. I fit in a massage session on Friday, which really helped loosen my leg/ foot muscles up. This week had a lot of miles done on the treadmill because we had a crazy amount of snow/ice and it was just a bit too dangerous to run outside in the morning. 

Monday: 7.5 miles; 1.5 mile warm-up; 6 x 800m @ 3:35 (actual: 3:37, 3:35, 3:35, 3:33, 3:33, 3:32); 1.5 mile cool-down; I actually did a 2 mile warm-up run in the morning before work with a hard 40 minute strength/ foam rolling session then did my remaining .5 warm-up/.5 cool-down with my 800s over my lunch break to fit it all in. Felt strong and was happy with those later splits! I did this on the roadway since our track is totally snow-covered.

Tuesday: 6 miles easy on the treadmill @ 9:59 pace

Wednesday: 9 miles; 1.5 mile warm-up @ 9:50; 6 miles @ Marathon Goal Pace 8:35 (actual: 8:20); 1.5 cool-down on the treadmill; 60 minute JumpBoard Reformer Class at Lunch

Thursday: 6 miles easy on the treadmill @ 9:40 pace

Friday: 8 miles easy at 9:59 pace

Saturday: 8 miles easy at 9:53 pace

Sunday: Rest Day

Positive Splits:

• Hit my paces during my hard workouts
• Fit in 3 strength training sessions
• Kept my easy runs at a good recovery pace
•  

Negative Splits:

• Not enough foam rolling sessions
• Didn't fit in 3 strength training sessions
• Wasn't able to get in a Yoga session!

How was your training last week? Get in any good runs outside or stuck on the treadmill too?

Here's your daily kitten cuteness photo- how absolutely adorable are they?!?