Cradle to Grave 30k Training - 5 Weeks to go

Week Recap:
This was a really good week. I got in all of my planned weekday workouts, had some fun on Friday mountain biking with Scott, and had two solid runs this weekend. Felt great (though tired) after the almost-13-miles on Saturday, so now I've officially registered for the Cradle to Grave 30k!

Weekly Steps:

Another week of 100% goal met!

Monday
Plan: lift
Did: 1 mi treadmill + 50 min weight lifting
I'm really digging the way this "must lift for more than 45 minutes" thing is changing my routine for weights. I'm getting to do more muscle groups, repeat some of them, and generally feeling so much better about the work I'm doing! Funny thing about putting time and effort into something... 😏
Warmed up with 1 mile on the treadmill just to get things moving, and I think I can tell that I'm coming down with some kind of funk... because my heartrate was muuuuch higher than it should have been for one mile, and I burned 100 calories based on heartrate (where usually I'm like half that). ?! Oh joy.

Moved on to lifting, 3x 8-10 reps for all:

bench press (65lb)
side-step w/ band
squat (75lb)
tri cable pulldown (45lb)
pullups (30lb assist)
tri dips (30lb assist)
deadlift (1x 40lb dumbbell)
arnold press (2x 16lb dumbbells)
curls (16lb dumbbell each hand)
fwd arm raise (6lb dumbbell each hand)
side arm raise (6lb dumbbell each hand)
standing cable row (30lb)
goblet squat (40lb dumbbell)
calf press (55lb)
hamstring curl (40lb)
quad extension (40lb)
[I forgot which things I did in which sets together... but I did all of the above in some order! Derp.]

Then finished with core:
3x20 toe touch w/ 16lb medicine ball, heels 2 heaven, mason twists w/ 16lb med. ball, and 10 pushups

Tuesday
Plan: 10k Tuesday
Did: 6.23 mi @ 9:14 avg 
Had to get this one done early due to a lunch meeting, and I was reminded just how good it feels to get my workout done first thing in the morning. When I got to work it was still dawn/early sunrise time and I didn't have a light, so I decided to do 2.2mi on the treadmill while the sun came up the rest of the way. It was hot and stuffy in the gym and I couldn't wait to get out! It was cool and beautiful mid-50s when I got outside and loved every step of the remaining 4 miles. It's also pretty nice to get your 10,000 steps done before 8am. :)

Wednesday
Plan: bike ride
Did: 10.7 mi @ 13.6 mph avg
Beautiful day today, so we finally got all the ladies out on the bikes together! Megan, Robin, and I did the Upstate Loop and had a great ride. Sunny, warm but not too warm, light breeze... ahhhh.

Wheeeeee

Thursday
Plan: tempo run
Did: rest
After being up part of the night hacking up a lung, I decided I should take a rest day in order to be prepared for a tough weekend of training. Plus, with no other rest day planned this week, it was a good opportunity for one. I did walk on the treadmill desk for about half an hour.

Friday
Plan: mountain bike at Bent Creek
Did: 11.8 mi mountain biking, avg. 7.4 mph 
Scott and I took our rare twice per year opportunity of daycare being open but having a work holiday to go  mountain biking at Bent Creek. I was surprised that I felt really good on the bike despite not having been recently, and I even conquered Green's Lick for the second time ever!

Green's Lick is the ~1000ft elevation drop over 2.5 miles

It was a challenging ride but I was really happy that I felt strong throughout. Great for building the leg strength and supplementing this running habit I have. ;)

The end of Green's Lick

"Wheeeee!"

Post-ride libations

Saturday
Plan: long trail run (12-13 mi ??)
Did: 12.87 mi @ 11:10/mi avg pace
Realizing that the tentative (at the time) race was less than 1 month away, I decided it was necessary to put in some long miles on the trails. Scott, D, and I headed up to Dupont on Saturday morning and I'd planned to run a truncated Yeti or Not 25k route that I'd mapped out oh so carefully. About a third of the way into the run, however, I somehow managed to make an epic wrong turn onto a trail that didn't exist on the map I was using.

The red is where I went... the blue is where I was supposed to go.

It took a while before I realized I wasn't where I was supposed to be, but Google Maps was thankfully able to show me I was indeed far from the planned route but it was easy to get back on course. I edited the rest of my planned route and finished up just shy of 13 miles. I was definitely tired by the end but felt sure that I could muscle out 5 more miles after another month of training.

 

Wintergreen Falls, early in the run

Pretty day in the woods

Close to the end!

Sunday
Plan: easy run (3-5 mi)
Did: 5.12 mi @ 9:45/mi
By the time Sunday afternoon rolled around, I was feeling tired and lazy... so I quickly put on my running shoes and headed out the door before I could talk myself into a nap instead! My hips/lower back were stiff and sore from running on uneven terrain Saturday, so I almost called it quits less than a mile into this run. Thankfully a nice family needed my assistance taking their Easter photos in a neighborhood park, so I got a brief rest before continuing and was able to finish with a few walk breaks and an easy pace. Glad I got these extra miles in - I need to build up the overall weekly mileage if I'm going to manage 18.5 in a few weeks!!

Total Miles run this week: 25.22