Eugene/ 50 Miler Training RUNdown Week 15: 4/1-4/7

HIGHEST MILEAGE WEEK EVER! (Unless you count MS Run The US…which in that case I’ll probably never get that high again ; ) …). I’m so proud of how my body handled the higher mileage and honestly, when I finished my long run on Saturday I didn’t feel like ‘drop dead exhausted’ - which tells me that the 50 miler is within my capacity! It has definitely been challenging trying to shoot for a goal marathon time AND a 50 miler, but I wouldn’t have decided to train for both if I didn’t think that shooting for a moderate marathon time wasn’t fairly within my reach. Some of my marathon effort workouts (especially in these last few high mileage weeks) haven’t gone week, but that’s kinda to be expected and I trust that when I make the switch back over to marathon-specific tapering (tomorrow!), I’ll be able to conjure up those goal speeds.

Monday, 4/1: 8 mi Hills 10:01 1, 201’ up & lotsa stretching.

Tuesday, 4/2: 5 mi EZ 659’ up 11:01 iN THE SNOW?!? & strength

Wednesday, 4/3: Rest Day/ Yoga!

Thursday, 4/4: 13.1 miles with 10 at goal marathon effort (8:54 today) 302’ up/ strength

Friday, 4/5: 6.18 mi 1, 036’ up AM / 7.02 mi PM EZ

Saturday, 4/6: 28 miles 10:21 931’ up / lotsa stretching & foam rolling

Sunday, 4/7: 4.11 mi EZ 12:14 449’ up to complete my MS Virtual Run! & some strength.

TOTAL MILEAGE: 72.41 miles

TOTAL ELEVATION: 4, 675’ up



Eugene Marathon/50 Miler RUNdown Week 12: 3/11-3/17

It’s so funny how the beginning of training feels like it takes forever to get through each week and then somewhere (always around 50ish days left or so) it just FLYS BY. We’re less than 40 days out from Eugene and I’m over my training hump. Most of my miles are already in the bank, this week is one of my last building weeks before the marathon (and then I’ll have a few more slightly bigger weeks before my 50 miler). It’s exciting to look ahead and see how little is left (compared to what I’ve done thus far)! I’m so happy with how my body is handling the mileage (it kinda feels AMAZING and I feel really freaking strong —> loving this point in a training cycle). Eugene will be the first time I’m running 26.2 since last year’s Salt Lake City PR (over a year ago!) - I cannot wait. Bring.on.the.miles.

Monday, 3/11: 5 mi RUNch easy 10:28 68’ up

Tuesday, 3/12: 1 mi warm up/ 4 x 1.5 mile repeats (8:07/ 8:07/ 8:04/ 8:15) / 1 mi cooldown. 10 miles & strength in the AM. Felt amazing!

Wednesday, 3/13: yoga in the AM- 5.15 mi easy in a BLIZZARD 11:07 92’ up with the last ~.5 with Stella.

Thursday, 3/14: 8 mi EZ AM after getting into the Beach 2 Beacon lottery / 3 mi EZ PM / strength

Friday, 3/15: REST DAY! Travel to Moab. Here’s something cute.

Saturday, 3/16: Race Day! 7 mi easy / 13.2 (according to my garmin) at 7:56 pace 815’ up

Sunday, 3/17: 11.07 miles easy 11:34 1, 192’ up. Super easy. Super tired. Happy to have got it in though!

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How’s the weather where you are?!? —> we’re FINALLY seeing some mud and warmer day-temps.

Favorite part of a training cycle? —> This. right now. I don’t hate the taper, but I’m still unsure how long my body ideally needs to taper (10 days? 7 days? 14 days? 21 days? ) —> what does your body love for a time for tapering?

Eugene Marathon/50 Miler Training RUNdown Week 10: 2/25-3/3

Another recovery is behind me! You would *think* that after running almost 60 miles the week before, I would welcome the recovery with open arms, but honestly it was TOUGH. I love my schedule and when I have these cut-back weeks I don’t know what to do with all the extra time! I feel like I should be RUNNING, not lounging about or cross-training. It feels like the taper except that I’m especially tired, but restless at the same time (I guess that’s normally how I feel in the taper too TBH).

I was SO HUNGRY at the beginning of my recovery week and probably ate something like 5 meals a day and my legs felt tired, but still not too bad. By mid-week, my legs felt dead and had no pep —> AKA why my speedwork on Friday felt especially amazing (…completely sarcastic). It’s also been really hard to see all these other runners on social media posting their ‘monthly mileage’ / hitting ‘x’ amount of miles / hitting ‘x’ paces (all OUTSIDE too? Does it not snow and ice and hit below 0* temperatures there or something?!?), while I’m over here on my recovery week waiting for my muscles and brain to feel ‘normal again’.

Janae posted this the other day and it really resonated with me. I just need to keep reminding myself of how much fitter and stronger I feel overall this training cycle than I ever have before and that the results will FOLLOW.

Monday, 2/25: 5.06 miles easy @ 10:03 with 120’ up during my lunch! Decided to get some extra sleep this week (one thing I do love about recovery weeks! All the extra sleep) and got my run in outside in the sunshine. It didn’t feel as challenging as I anticipated it feeling.

Tuesday, 2/26: Rest day. Opted for a rest day because I started to feel a cold coming on and I really want to avoid getting a full-blown sickness.

Wednesday, 2/27: 11 miles with 1.5 warm-up / 8 miles @ goal marathon effort (8:16) / 1.5 cool down. It was mentally challenging, but I felt oddly really strong. Also got in 30 minutes of strength

Thursday, 2/28: Rest Day / Yoga. Another rest day! Did some yoga to not feel like I was completely out of shape (ha —> isn’t it crazy how your mind always goes to that after taking an extra day or two off?)

Friday, 3/1: 6.1 miles with 1.5 warm-up/ 3 x 1 mile (7:52/ 7:45/ 7:30)/ 1 mi cool down & .5 mile cool down hike @ 12% incline 3.7 mph & strength. My legs felt completely dead and it was a struggle from the start. Glad I never completely gave up even my paces just were not there today.

Saturday, 3/2: Cross-training day! HIked up our ski mountain in Stagecoach (1 mile —> 800’ up). Was oddly VERY sore after this!

Sunday, 3/3: Still sore from skinning up the day before. Also a blizzard outside with sneaky snow-covered ice in spots and unplowed several inches of snow. 6.36 miles at 11:30 with 811’ up. Kept my pace easy and had to walk several spots because I kept slipping (didn’t want to wear any spikes today) on the ice-covered uphill sections. Still so beautiful out. 30 minutes of a new strength training program!

Total Mileage: 28.51 miles

Total Elevation: 931’ up

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How do you stop the comparison game when social media makes it so challenging?!

Favorite cross-training activity?

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?

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!