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!

Eugene Marathon/ 50 Miler Training RUndown Week 5: 1/21-1/27

Happy Humpday! I’m so glad we’re already halfway through this week. It’s getting close to our yurt trip and I’m so excited. I also just can’t wait for a few days off.

Monday, 1/21: 5.30 miles easy @ 11:40 pace with 838’ up. I definitely felt super tired & sluggish on this run, but was really surprised at the amount of elevation I gained. I’m starting to get stronger with those hills!

Tuesday, 1/22: 30 minutes of strength & 1.5 mi warm-up / 6 miles @ goal marathon effort (8:20) / 1.5 mi cool down. 9 miles total. originally had some 1k repeats on the schedule, but decided that this morning felt like a good one to get my tempo run in and I’m glad I did. I started out at a conservative pace (8:41) and bumped it up from there until my last mile was under 8 minute pace! All done at 0.5% incline and on the treadmill since it was an icy mess outside.

Wednesday, 1/23: REST DAY!

Thursday, 1/24: another snow day! 8 easy miles on the treadmill

Friday, 1/25: ANOTHER snow day! I did this speedwork on my treadmill at home (it’s not the best for going fast, but I made do). 5 x 1k with 400m Recovery between sets & 1.5 mi warmup & cool down. 7.5 miles & then strength work afterwards

Saturday, 1/26: 6 easy miles!

Sunday, 1/27: strength & followed by my longest run since July! 15 miles on a mix of snow covered trails & then slush-filled roads

Total Mileage: 50.82 miles!

Total Elevation Gain: 2,171’ up

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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

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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

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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??