50 Miler Training RUNdown 5/5-5/12

Happy Humpday! I’ve finally put together my shopping list for my 50 miler

The cats are well-adjusted I think. Every morning I wake up and find a new toy on my bed. Ha.

Last week was my first taper week and it was pretty low key. We traveled until Tuesday evening, so most of the week was spent either on the road or adjusting/unpacking.

Monday, 5/5: 30 minute progression run on a treadmill at the hotel in Buffalo!

Tuesday, 5/6: Rest Day

Wednesday, 5/7: 5 miles easy. Running at sea level feels so much easier!

Thursday, 5/8: 6.2 miles 10 minute warm-up/ 4 x 5 minutes hard (1 min Recovery)/ 10 minute cool-down & some strength

Friday, 5/9: Rest Day/ Yoga

Saturday, 5/10: 4.3 miles total including impromptu trail 5k and took 3rd female overall

Sunday, 5/11: 8 miles easy

Total Mileage: 27.3 miles

My Foundation Is Built And 50 Miler Training RUNdown Week : 4/29-5/5

Happy Humpday! It’s a nice transition to focus all of my attention solely on the trails. It’s certainly something that I’m not really great at, but that I enjoy. I got my last back-to-back long runs done yesterday (34 miles in 20 hours with 2,500’ elevation gain) and they felt pretty good! I’ve been focusing on engaging my glutes more and also strengthening them, since I will DEFINITELY need them to do my Mt. Washington Road Race next month!! Ekkk! I’m not sure what will be more challenging- Mt. Washington or my 50 miler. Ha. I’ve also been doing some heat-acclimating since I know it will be plenty warm this summer (but hopefully not for my races)! Monday & Tuesdays run were both in the low 60’s with not much cloud-cover. I’m looking forward to a nice break from running AND training after my 50 miler in just 17 DAYS?!? What!?

Last week I just listened to my body and didn’t hold myself to any sort of training schedule (for the most part). My FOUNDATION of my training has been built and now all that I’m doing is securing it for my upcoming races. There’s no need to do anything crazy at this point and that’s oddly satisfying. I think back to those training runs when I REALLY wanted to quit, wasn’t feeling it, or pushed through some crazy moments of doubt and am really proud of what I’ve already accomplished in 2019. I’ve been able to give myself more grace when I didn’t feel like running or hitting ‘x’ mileage and carried more gratitude with me on every run.

Monday, 4/29: 6 miles easy. 3 min slow run / 2 min walk in Eugene. The amount of trails that are present in Eugene was amazing and the views from this run did NOT disappoint. So glad we stayed within 1/3 mile of the trail (AND mile 14 of the marathon course)!!

Tuesday, 4/30: Rest day. Did a nice long ~5 mile walk along the ocean, but otherwise took the day off of any sort of exercise.

Wednesday, 5/1: 8.02 miles easy. 3 min run/ 2 min walk in Seaside, OR along the beach. Couldn’t ask for a better view and softer surface to run on than the ocean floor!

Thursday, 5/2: 12 miles easy. 4 min run/ 1 min walk in Portland, OR on the hotel treadmill before flying back to CO. I felt really comfortable on the treadmill and was going to go outside at one point to finish up my run, but just went with the flow and stayed comfy on the treadmill with a nice view of the traffic outside.

Friday, 5/3: 6.01 miles easy 10:43 721’ up. Back in CO in the mountains. I had fasting blood work done in the morning, so decided just a few super easy miles were the best idea since I didn’t feel the best post-blood draw.

Saturday, 5/4: 6.26 miles easy 9:40 150’ up. Some easy miles before seeing the Avengers movie!

Sunday, 5/5: Rest day. Did an afternoon hike, but otherwise took the day off and felt 0% guilty about that.

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Total Mileage: 38.31 miles

Total Elevation: 1, 049’ up

Eugene/50 Miler Training RUNdown Week 17: 4/15-4/21

Monday, 4/15: 6.04 miles easy 10:51 894’ up, 1.92 miles easy to & from the gym, & strength

Tuesday, 4/16: 7. 5 miles with 1.17 warm-up/ 4 x 1 mile (400 R) @ 8:41, 8:17, 8:15, 8:09 / 1.25 cool down. Originally had 6 x 1 mile repeats, but I took more time to foam roll & stretch in the morning rather than run. Focusing more on warming my body up before putting it through a hard workout.

Wednesday, 4/17: 6.1 miles easy at 9:55 123’ & strength. I brought my ultimate direction backpack, picked up a book from the library, ran to the gym & did some strength, picked up probably 5 Ibs worth of mail, and ran back to work. It was beautiful out there, but my backpack sure was heavy on the way back —> extra cross-training for my 50 miler ; )

Thursday, 4/18: 1.5 mile warmup, 3.03 miles @ goal marathon effort (8:30) - taught skating for 30 minutes - finished up my run with 7 miles @ goal marathon effort (8:30) with some strong headwind in sections (I swear it changed directions on me even when I hit the turnaround point) , 1.57 miles cool down. Felt strong, relaxed, and focused on my form (mainly engaging my core & knee drive UP to the sky) during the run. I didn’t really want to stop running at the end!

Friday, 4/19: 8.15 total miles. Started on one trail and pretty quickly hit super slush. Switched to another trail and got in a bit longer run before I hit slush, so finished it up on the roads. It was so nice to get out on the trails though! 682’ up 10:44 pace

Saturday, 4/20: 8.01 miles easy 10:37 574’ & yoga. I kept wondering what I would do if a Mountain Lion popped out in front of me. I still have no idea what I would do. Also ate a meatball sub & ice cream before this run. It wasn’t nearly as terrible as I anticipated it to be, but will probably not make it a habit of eating that before running. Ha. Some recovery yoga post-run rather than strength because that is what my body was telling me it wanted.

Sunday, 4/21: REST DAY

Total Mileage: 50.72 miles

Total Elevation: 2, 464’ up

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Eugene/50 Miler Training Week 16 RUNdown: 4/8-4/14

Ok, so if you say my post yesterday then you know that things did NOT go as planned last week. BUT I’m moving on and not dwelling on it. We can only do so much and sometimes, it’s our bodies way of communicating that we need to slow down before injury or illness happens (and I definitely DO NOT want a repeat of Vegas Half 2018 where I had bronchitis leading up to/at the race!).

Monday, 4/8: 7.55 easy miles at 10:24 157’ up

Tuesday, 4/9: Rest Day/ Yoga

Wednesday, 4/10: 10 miles with 7.52 at goal marathon pace (8:35 I believe today?) & lotsa strength

Thursday, 4/11: 8.5 miles easy at i’m not sure what pace with 480’ up

Friday, 4/12: 5 miles easy @ 9:58 and lotsa strength

Saturday, 4/13: Rest day. 9.5 hours in the car….fun!

Sunday, 4/14: Another rest day!

Total Mileage: 31.05 miles

Total Elevation: 637’ up



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