760.22 miles. 36, 821' up. Eugene Marathon Training Recap

I am off to Eugene TODAY!!! I cannot believe it. I started training for this race 22 weeks ago. I logged 760.22 miles (as of yesterday when I wrote this) and gained 36, 821’.

When I put my training plan together, I decided that I wanted to blend this plan with Hanson’s Marathon Method. I knew it would be challenging to try to train for both a marathon PR AND my first 50-miler within 5 weeks of each other. I normally would not recommend it, but I knew that the marathon PR that I had in mind could be done through just maintenance speed rather than gaining more speed (because I’ve ran at that pace - not considered ‘pushing it’ - during the last 3 half marathons I’ve done AND trained specifically for that marathon time goal last Spring as well).

So, I combined the two programs. I hit more weekly mileage to be in-line with my 50-miler training, kept in my marathon-paced medium distance runs (Hanson’s) to maintain speed for my marathon training, kept up with 3 solid strength training sessions a week, yoga one time a week to stretch it all out, and kept my easy runs real easy (I don’t think any were faster than 10:00 pace and many were in the 11:00 pace). When I had long, long runs I left pace leave my mind and focused on nutrition and running form. When I had speed, I focused on turnover, running form, and pushing through it. I power hiked and added in a whole lotta HILLS.

I ran through so many snowstorms, I’d like to forget them all. I also ran on ice and indoors so many times. I didn’t always hit my goal speed paces, but still worked through them mentally to achieve my ‘something is better than nothing’ goal. I gave myself grace when things weren’t working out AND I didn’t get sick. ONCE.

I took a rest day early or switched around my schedule if I wasn’t feeling a workout or run that day and stretched/foam rolled A LOT. It’s also a nice thing when your garmin watch tells you that your goals aren’t really that crazy.

I read a lot of running-related and mental-toughness books and implemented those into my runs. I PR’d the half marathon by 4 minutes during a workout run (I ran 7 miles easy before the half and had the goal of just maintaining marathon effort - which turned out to be about :20 faster per mile thanks to the lower elevation & downhill nature of the course).

Overall, it was NOT a PERFECT training cycle. I took real big down weeks to help my body adjust to the higher mileage of ultra training. BUT I persevered through some really tough runs when I wasn’t in it mentally. When things get tough during the race I will remind myself of everything I’ve gone through to get to this POINT. I’ve been envisioning the race and myself conquering those tough times the last few months and I’m really excited to challenge myself. Especially mentally. I love how Meb puts it in his book, 26 marathons.

I always set a bunch of goals for races and ultimately, the biggest one that I always want to accomplish is to have FUN. I love to run, challenge myself during training, and see where my potential lies come race day. SO, here are a few of my goals for the race on Sunday:

-A. Sub 3:40 marathon

-B. Negative-split

-C. PR

-D. Have a TON of FUN.

———————————————————————————-

-Favorite mantras come race day?

-Do you have a favorite race outfit? If so, what is it?

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

—————————————————

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!

Eugene Marathon/50 Miler Training RUNdown Week 4 : 1/14-1/20

Rest day over here! I’m finally starting to get into a good routine with my training and when my rest day is vs hard workout days. It’s funny how it takes a bit of time before you feel into the groove of things and your body adapts. I’m also excited because next week is my first cut-back (mileage) week of my 50 miler training cycle! I normally stay on a pretty consistent building mileage schedule, but am intrigued by the ‘cut backs’. I think it may help prevent me from burning out and staying able to continually build up the mileage without getting injured. I’ll swap out a few of my easy runs days for cross training days.

Also- just an update. I cannot be trusted to NOT sign-up for more races. Haha.

But in all seriousness- I’m SO EXCITED about this one! It fits perfectly in my calendar (as far as training/ far out enough from either of my goal races/ location) and not too far from home. Plus it looks like a really fast course, so half marathon PR—> I’m coming for you!!

Last week, I managed to get outside for several of my runs, but also hit the treadmill a fair amount due to the snow. It is what it is during the winter here and I’ll take whatever opportunity I have to get the miles in (whether it’s indoors or out).

Monday, 1/14: 5.95 miles easy @ 10:08 23’ up

Tuesday, 1/15: 5.35 miles with 1.5 mi warm-up (6 x 400m at 3% incline 8:30 pace/ 400m R)/ .65 mi 12% incline hike & strength. I cut this workout a bit short because my back and stomach were feeling off. I still felt like I gave it decent effort when I could!

Wednesday, 1/16: Rest day! Did some yoga.

Thursday, 1/17: Planned to do 12 miles in the morning, but the snow that we got was insane. I fit in 7.5 miles in the morning with 272’ up & strength and then got in the remaining 4.5 miles after work on the treadmill. Still got in the milage, just not normally how I am used to getting it done!

Friday, 1/18: 8 miles easy at 9:49 average on the treadmill & massage in the afternoon!

Saturday, 1/19: 6.02 miles easy at 10:36 860’ up & yoga

Sunday, 1/20: strength & 9 miles total with 6 miles at goal marathon effort (8:28 pace). Not my fastest, but I stuck with it despite not feeling super strong.

Total Mileage: 45.02 miles

Total Elevation: 1, 833’ up

——————————————————————————

Favorite cross training activity?

Favorite way to spend a rest day?

Eugene Marathon/ 50 Miler Training RUNdown Week 3 1/7-1/13

Humpday! How’s your week going so far?!? I can’t believe I’m FOUR WEEKS into training for Eugene/ my 50 miler! I’m honestly loving the blend of the two training plans. I’ve got some speed in there, but also some longer runs where pace doesn’t matter so much. I’m continuing to build up my elevation profile slowly so as to not get injured and trying to fit in some cross training at least once a week. Last week was a bit warmer, so I was able to get in most of my runs outside, but this week we’re back down into the negatives in the mornings so I anticipate most of my runs will be on the treadmill and that’s OK. Treadmill runs are still helpful and in the winter, they’re pretty necessary for me to get in any sort of speedwork (most of our roads are still icy that I need to wear my stabil-icers, which I just do not trust when increasing my speed). I always err on the side of caution in the winter rather than slip on ice because I want to be running into my 90s!

Monday, 1/7: 5.12 miles easy 11:24 pace with 678’ up. 1/2 mile swim at lunch! Had to run through ~3 inches of snow since they hadn’t plowed yet. Definitely a great cross-training for my ultra! Slowed down my pace since I felt really tired this morning and worked on my breathing. If it started to feel hard, then I slowed down. I’m all about listening to my body now especially with a speedwork session on tap the next day.

Tuesday, 1/8: 8 miles! 1.5 mi warm-up, 8 x 600 (7:21 pace worked down to last one at 6:58 pace), 1.5 mi cool-cown & strength. Fit this in on the treadmill. Had to hope around on a few treadmills to get it done, but felt in control and nothing too challenging.

Wednesday, 1/9: Rest day! Fit in some yoga to stretch it all out.

Thursday, 1/10: 8 miles easy & strength. Had to piece this run together throughout the day (due to it being something like 3* outside in the morning and too cold for anything beyond a mile) then a few miles before teaching skating and then a few miles after teaching skating. Sometimes you just gotta make it work with what you have!

Friday, 1/11: 13.05 miles at a steady-state pace 9:24 603’ up! Planned to get in anywhere between 12-14 miles and felt really good with this one. All finished before 7:30am too!

Saturday, 1/12: skied all day! Legs were exhausted, but got in 4.25 very easy miles at 11:03 pace on the treadmill & strength training.

Sunday, 1/13: 9 miles- 1.5 mi warm-up/ 6 miles @ goal marathon effort (8:15 actual)/ 1.5 mi cool-down & lotsa stretching/ soaked in the hot springs post-run

Total Mileage: 47.42 miles

Total Elevation Gain: 1, 359’ up

—————————————————————-

Where are you able to run most of the time in the winter?

Do you have an indoor track that you can do your speedwork?! —> If so, I’m JEALOUS!

What are you currently training for?! How’s it going??

Eugene Marathon Training Week 2 RUNdown 12/31-1/6!

Back to above 40 miles per week! Also last week was SO COLD. Multiple negative temperature mornings, which meant getting a bit creative with when I could fit my runs in. I did my best to run outside when I can, but I generally do not run outside when it’s below 5* (give or take). I also have determined that it takes FOREVER to get all those layers/ stabil icers on my sneakers/ hats/ mittens/ hand warmers on, so sometimes sheer laziness wins out and I hit the treadmill. What can I say- somedays it’s just pretty nice to wear just a sports bra, shorts, and binge watch some Gilmore Girls. I’m human.

just too cold to really be doing anything besides cuddling with the cats and heated blanket.

Also got a belated Christmas gift from my mom- looove these lush bath bombs. I’m trying not to use them all at once (also trying not to take a bath every single night to save on our water bill, but it’s HARD because cold temperatures + soothing warm water + great smelling bath soaps = baths are so necessary).

It’s finally starting to quiet down a bit at work (so needed), but I also found that taking a runch break last week really helped de-stress me. Most days I’m unable to take a lunch break (due to teaching skating lessons in the afternoons), but when I can get out it feels pretty amazing. Let’s recap last week shall we?

Monday, 12/31: planned 6 miles easy, but wanted to get in a good ‘end of the year mileage number’ so I ended up with 6.81 miles at 10:45 pace on the treadmill because I just re-did my treadmill run and wanted to take advantage of it!

Tuesday, 1/1: planned 1.5 mi warm-up, 12 x 400m, 1.5 mi cool down, but actually did my strength and then called it a rest day. I was feeling really exhausted and had the complete day off of work so just decided to take advantage of it and listen to my body. It was amazing and so glad I did that. Not every run needs to be perfect and sometimes listening to your body will do wonders.

Wednesday, 1/2: planned rest day, but since I took my rest day on Tuesday I ended up doing 1/2 mi warm-up, 5 miles at goal marathon pace effort (because it was 5* outside at 2pm) 8:38 pace, 1/2 mi cool-down. Avg pace was 8:54 78’ up & also fit in some yoga. Felt pretty good until close to the end of the run, where I got so cold I had to check to make sure my nose didn’t fall off. Don’t worry it was still there.

Thursday, 1/3: 1/2 mi warm up, 5 miles goal marathon pace, 1/2 mi cool down, but did that yesterday so I stuck with 8.06 miles easy at 10:13 548’ elevation gain over my lunch break! Also fit in my strength (started a new strength routine on Tuesday and will stick with it until March then do a whole new one to prevent becoming stagnant) that morning before work. Sunshine + hills + 20* weather felt incredible.

Friday, 1/4: 12-14 miles easy, but had my first back-to-back long runs on schedule so to the treadmill it was (considering how it was -5* outside and I could only fit it in early in the AM)! Goal was anywhere from 12-14 miles and ended up with 12.5 miles. I varied the incline from 1% for the first 60 minutes then rotated through 1% -> 2% -> 3% rolling hills for the next 55 minutes. 9:40 avg pace. Also working on my nutrition! I tried out Huma Gels and LOVED them. I’ve got some Spring Energy gels coming too to test out. I also have found that sweet potatoes right before a run makes me feel AMAZING. I’m going to try out some sweet potato toast with almond butter before my runs this week and will let you know how it goes.

Saturday, 1/5: 4 miles easy- ended up with 4.10 miles easy at 10:31 453’ elevation gain. We went snowshoeing in the morning (great crosstraining) and my butt was SO sore from my incline treadmill the day before/ hiking in the morning.

Sunday, 1/6: 1.5 mi warm-up, 12 x 400 (400R), 1.5 mi cool-down & strength- 1.5 mi warm-up, did my strength, did 6 x 400 then called it because I felt my knee starting to feeling a bit not so great (and our treadmill isn’t the best for speedwork), .75 mi cool down. I came up short, but I’ll get it next week!

Total Mileage: 42.74 miles

Total Elevation gain: 1, 079’ up

——————————————————————-

Favorite Bath bomb scents or bubble bath?! I’m obsessed.

Coldest temperature you’d head out for a run? Am I a big baby over here?

Favorite crosstraining activity?