Eugene Marathon/ 50 Miler RUNdown Week 8: 2/11-2/17

Happy Humpday! I’ve got my speedwork on the treadmill this morning, then hoping to get in the rest of my runs this week outside (if the weather cooperates!). How’s the weather where you are? I have no energy left to continue to dress in a million layers, with my spikes outside anymore. I’m perfectly content with just holing up on the treadmill and catching up on shows at the moment. I really do miss those perfect running temps and none-slippery surfaces though….

I ran 50 miles again last week and this is my last week before I have a cut-back recovery week! Yay! I’m feeling strong, focusing on getting a bunch of sleep, and refueling with GOOD nutrients!

Monday, 2/11: 5.3 miles easy at 11:20 851’ up & yoga to recover

Tuesday, 2/12: planned 7 miles @ tempo, but plantar fasciitis was not having it so cut it after 4.5 miles and got in extra strength.

Wednesday, 2/13: 6.15 miles easy @ 9:35 322’ up / yoga. Followed by the best dessert out there. Popcorn & Justin’s Dark Chocolate PB Cups.

Thursday, 2/14: Rest day! Went skiing!

Friday, 2/16: 14 miles split into 2 runs (7.3 miles in the AM / 6.75 miles in the afternoon/ strength to recover). I wanted to get it in all in the AM, but had the kitties vet appointment and ya know- life happens! So I adjusted and got it into two runs. Total elevation gain was over 1, 500’. Also YAY for muddy un-covered legs. Even though it was only one day, I know that spring is just around the corner!

Saturday, 2/17: 12 miles easy @ 10:02 pace with 150’ up. Another blizzard, another treadmill.

Sunday, 2/18: 8 miles with 1.5 warm-up / 3 x 1 miles (7:24 / 7:11 / 6:58) with .37 recovery between sets then 2 x 1 mi @ 5% incline at 8:48 pace? / then cool down until I hit 8 miles. Felt incredibly strong and I think I could have gone faster on those mile repeats, but happy with the results! 15 minutes of strength beforehand.

Total Mileage: 50.01 miles

Total Elevation gain: 2, 823’ up

Post-Run Recovery And Why It's So Important

Happy Tuesday! SO we’re officially back to winter this week (or well until at least probably March it looks like…). Mid 20’s are the high and negatives/ very low single digits until infinity. This is also my last PEAK mileage week before recovery next week. So while I know I’ll be super busy (and also on the treadmill more than usual), I know that spring is just around the corner AND that it doesn’t matter where I get my runs in, just that I still put in the effort. I’m ready to tackle the challenge. Just hoping it stays remotely warm-enough on Friday morning for my first 20 miler of this training cycle! Wohooo. I’ll be getting 36 miles over Thursday/Friday and am switching up my rest day to Sunday this week (normally I have it on Wednesdays) because it just works better with my work schedule this week. Here’s to hoping I don’t need to be THIS bundled up for my run on Friday!

With my increased mileage, I’ve really been focusing on recovery. Whether you believe in active recovery days or complete rest days (I’m somewhere in between normally- I like to do something, but nothing that requires much effort). Some of my favorite ways to spend a recovery are swimming, getting a massage, or doing yoga.

When you train hard, your body begins to breakdown to adapt to the continual stress. When you recover, it gives your body time to repair those muscles. When you don’t take recovery seriously, you put yourself at an increased risk of injury, illness, or burn-out (among other things). Luckily there ARE things you can be doing to help speed-up that recovery process (and help your body get ready for your next run or big workout)! I also found a lot of great information in this article by Runner’s World.

Here are some of my favorite ways to boost recovery (whether post-run or ON my recovery days)!

-Drink a lot of water and replenish any electrolytes. Think of water as the means to turn your muscles from ice to snow. It gives them their fluidity after you’ve been running with them for an extended period of time.

-Refuel with real food. 4 to 1 ratio of carbs to protein. I’ve been focusing more and more on refueling immediately after my run and I think it helps so much. You really need to plan-ahead post-run, but doing-so will help your body recover and decrease your risk of any sort of injury or illness. Dark Chocolate Almond Milk is one of my favorites or PB on Toast with Honey and blueberries or bananas.

-Epsom Salt Bath or Ice Bath. Ice baths are amazing to decrease the inflammation in your muscles, but honestly I have such a hard time taking one (I’m always SO cold). So, I generally apply ice to any problem areas I have (normally my plantar & knee) and will then hop into a hot Epsom Salt Bath after stretching.

-Stretch! I used to overlook stretching (I know, I know…shame on me), but now I take a few minutes to stretch post-run (no matter whether I’m running late or not!) and also stretch before going to bed every night. I haven’t had one niggle this training cycle thus far, so I think it’s helping!

-Yoga. I love JasYoga (they have a few free videos on YouTube that I love) and their running-specific videos.

-Get out for a walk. Ultrarunner extraordinaire, Karl Meltzer, takes his dogs for an hour long walk every morning (even post 100 mile races!). I think that says the importance of getting out and moving everyday even for an hour.

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What are some tips you’d add?

What are YOUR favorite ways to spend a recovery day?

Eugene Marathon/50 Miler RUNdown Week 7: 2/4-2/10

Happy Humpday! We’re off to our yurt trip this afternoon and I’ll have a full recap for you on Friday. I’m so excited to just completely disconnect for the next 24ish hours. It’s amazing how draining social media/ email/ phones can take out of you. Anyone else feel this way? I think our cats will miss our clothes the most.

Last week I hit a bit over 48 miles and will continue building for the next 2 weeks (working lots of hills!) and then have another recovery week. I’m feeling strong and ready for my upcoming races. Can it be April/May already?!?

Monday, 2/4: 6 mi easy @ 10:34 98’ up. Commuting about with errands during my lunch break. Also sporting my pats hat because ya know they won the Super Bowl or something like that? ; )

Tuesday, 2/5: 1.5 mi warm-up, 7 miles at marathon pace effort (8:18), .65 mi cool down & 20 minutes of strength. I normally would have wanted to get to that 10 miles rather than stop my cool down short (finishing at 9.15 miles), BUT strength is really important and I wanted to get it in. So I adjusted my goals for the day and made sure to make time for strength training.

Wednesday, 2/6: Rest Day. 30 minutes of Recovery Yoga

Thursday, 2/7: 7.02 miles. 1 mi warm-up / ladder workout (400/800/1200/1600/1200/800/400 with 400 recovery between sets) / ? mi cool down. I was feeling really exhausted and slept in rather than getting this in first thing Thurs morning. So I switched my schedule around and was short on time to fit it in during my lunch break. My last 400 was at 6:48 pace and the others were a bit more conservative (7:14-7:20 pace I believe?) since I felt pretty crappy (major sinus headache and stomach was NOT happy). I still got it in and happy with my effort. Not every run is great and paces are sometimes not where you want/imagine them to be, but that is training!

Friday, 2/8: 10.10 miles easy @ 10:00 600’ up & strength. On the treadmill because it was -20 something out again in the morning. Lots of treadmill endurance building over here!

Saturday, 2/9: 12.02 miles easy @ 10;14 1, 332’ up. I was SO surprised with the amount of elevation I gained. My legs were definitely feeling it afterwards and an Epsom Salt bath really helped with it. I also played around with nutrition with real foods (perfect training for my 50 miler!). I brought along bananas, sea salt chips, and a dried pineapple (along with plain H2O & Nuun). It was windy out and the pace included walking breaks to get my nutrition out/ consume it/ put it back.

Sunday, 2/10: 4.01 miles easy @ 10:40 243’ up & strength. Legs were still so tired. My lungs felt great, but wow my legs felt like lead! Also did XC skiing before this, so rather than go up to 6 miles (goal was 4-6 miles easy) I stopped at 4 because of how my legs felt/ lots of other things to get done/ 45 minutes of exercise sounded good. Listening to my body more!

Total Mleage: 48.32 miles

Total Elevation: 2, 273’ up - most elevation gain this training cycle thus far!

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How’s your training going?

What’s your next race?

Training Tuesday: Marathon Fatigue

Happy Tuesday! I’ve got another 7 miles at goal marathon effort on the ‘mill this morning (it’s just too cold/ icy out to do this in the early mornings on the roads in the winter, so I’m building up my mental stamina) and some strength. I’ve come to really look forward to my early morning Tuesday alarms (4am), although when it first goes off I definitely look something more-so like this:

SOURCE

I’ve been wanting to do a post about marathon fatigue for a while now because it’s something that I honestly always forget about (and I’ve ran 6 marathons). It’s those first 4 weeks or so of training (for me, anyways), where everything feels terrible. Your legs feel dead, speed is just not happening, and anything surrounding marathon pace is plain ugly.

Your almost always tired and the fatigue in those easy recovery runs is 100% REAL. I always equate those recovery runs to running through mud, with weights on your legs. Which is honestly how these runs should feel like. They’re getting the blood flowing, your main goal is to NOT work your cardiovascular system too much (save it for those speed/long/tempo runs in your week!), and it’s just working out all those kinks. Which is why it should feel hard/terrible/aweful.

Your body is also adjusting to a new schedule, which is one of the hardest things for me! Getting into a new routine is CHALLENGING. Until I make it a habit, it’s a struggle to get up early, find a good time each week to fit in my strength/ yoga/ rest day/ long run day etc. After those 4 or so weeks, I’ve finally adjusted (mentally AND physically) to training. I know how I’ll feel after certain runs and by trail and error (many marathon training cycles to go off of), and also when running/training works best for you. Unfortunately, if it’s your first or second marathon you may not yet have this down.

Marathon training takes a lot of time and energy. FIguring out how it works into your schedule and ADJUSTING to it takes PATIENCE. It’s not going to magically feel good overnight (or rarely will you ever feel great until after race day) and it takes a few weeks to adjust to ANY new training plan/schedule/routine (like anything in life, right?). I think getting over that 4-5 week training hump is hard with every new training cycle I begin and sometimes I find that it isn’t working and something needs to change. I did this for my goal Fall marathon (LV Rock n Roll) and found that switching to the half would be best for me where I was in life at the moment. That’s OK and sometimes it’s harder to acknowledge where you are versus where you want to be and make adjustments from there. Give yourself time, patience, and grace.

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I’d love to know your tips when beginning a new cycle (marathon or something else!)- do you find to have an adjustment period? How long does it take for you?

Favorite day of the week? —> Almost always Thursdays. You’re on the cusp of the end of the week and by then I’ve got my long workdays behind me!

Where are you able to train right now ? Roads? Trails? Treadmill?

Eugene Marathon/ 50 Miler Training RUNdown Week 6: 1/28-2/3

Happy Humpday! Another week almost halfway gone ; ) Last week was a recovery/rest week (I’m blending together a plan from this book and this one for both my marathon goals (sub 3:40!) and to complete my first 50 miler)- the recovery week is built into the Ultra Training and I’m all for it to help my muscles recover after the last few weeks of high mileage/ long back-to-back runs and then it will also help sustain me (mentally) for the next few months of training. I did do one hard workout (marathon training schedule)- with 7 goal marathon paced miles, but then everything else was super easy or else just lots of sleep/rest/yoga/ cross training. It was exactly what I needed to feel rejuvenated for the next 3 weeks before I get my next one!

Monday, 1/28: REST DAY! Wanted to swim, but I forgot something very important when you want to swim (AKA my swimsuit). Did some nice yoga to stretch out at the end of the day.

Tuesday, 1/29: 1.5 mi warm-up/ 7 miles at goal marathon effort (8:23)/ 1.5 mi cool down & 30 minutes of strength. My legs felt absolutely terrible at the beginning of this run and I got on the treadmill that feels “off” so I’m super happy to have mentally pushed through it!

Wednesday, 1/30: REST DAY! Yoga using this video. One of my favorites!

Thursday, 1/31: 5.31 miles easy to finish out January!

Friday, 2/1: 3/4 mile swim!

Saturday, 2/2: 8 miles easy with 446’ up at 9:55 pace & recovery yoga

Sunday, 2/3: 7 miles easy in crazy wind, but warmth! Strength afterwards

Total Mileage: 30.35 for recovery week!

Total Elevation gain: 1,534’ up

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What are you training for right now?

Favorite run of the week? —> I’m really loving the challenge (both mental and physical) of goal marathon paced miles. After I finish those runs, I feel INVINCIBLE!