Cloudland Canyon 50k Training (Week 12 of 18)

Weekly goals:
- Split long run weekend 13+13
- 45+ mileage

Monday
Planned: strength
Did: 35 min strength
I had to do a morning strength session due to an all-day class at work... not my favorite, and I was limited on time. I did a lot of stretching because my legs are tiiireeeddd. Better than nothin'.

Tuesday
Planned: 8+ mi track Tuesday
Did: 7.0 mi treadmill speedwork
Rainnnnny morning (although not as thunderstorm-y as predicted so probably could have braved the mist to run the track... but eh) so I headed into work early and hopped on the treadmill.
2x1mi/2min recovery @ 7:30/mi
2x1000m/2min recovery @ 7:00/mi
2x600m/90s recovery @ 6:40/mi
2x400m/75s recovery @ 6:15/mi
Holllllerrrrrrr and these paces felt easy until the last 400... even though the miles are supposed to be at my 10k pace, the 7:30 is sub-PR pace.

Wednesday
Planned: early morning run
Did: 8.27 mi @ 8:21/mi avg
Ran with the early group this morning, got a few miles done before meeting up at 5:30 to run the West Side 6 route. Got ahead of the group and turns out the lead pack didn't actually know the route (oops!) so we didn't quite do a full 6 miles. Still, was wonderfully chilly this morning and last night, a sign of the seasons changing, I got this notification for the first time since spring!

Thursday
Planned: trail run
Did: 6.43 mi work trail run
This ended up being an afternoon/end of workday run. In honor of October being breast cancer awareness month, work organized a 5k run/walk to raise money and awareness. I did not buy a pink t-shirt, but I participated in the 5k. I guess my competitive edge got the best of me, because I did the 5k in less than 24 minutes! Then, I ran the course in reverse to get in the miles I needed.

Friday
Planned: rest
Did: rest

Saturday
Planned: 13 mi trail
Did: 13.2 mi @ 9:32/mi avg
Ended up doing a road run Saturday, decided to climb Altamont to get in some hills. It was a slow climb but I didn't walk any, so I count that as a win.

Not much to say about the run... legs were tired by the end but not bad.

Sunday
Planned: 13 mi stroller
Did: 13.04 mi trail run
Hit the trails at Paris Mountain for a midday run. I thought it would only take me ~2.5 hours to do 13 miles, but I underestimated the slowness of climbing Sulphur Springs, plus I decided to do the "hikers only" section of Brissy Ridge (it's steep and rooty). So yeah, slow going there. It was also WARM today... ugh, bring back my cool fall temps. Still, it was a beautiful day in the woods.

North Lake

Reflections

View from Brissy

Week-ending thoughts:
47.94 miles total
Aw yes, high mileage. Feeling good but man, back-to-back half marathons on the weekend is tough. Still, grateful to be feeling good and strong.

Cloudland Canyon 50k Training (Week 11 of 18)

Week Beginning thoughts: Hoping the rain doesn't affect run plans for the week. Also getting any kind of miles on Saturday is going to be difficult.

Goals: 45+ mpw, 18mi trail run

Monday
Planned: strength
Did: 55 min strength
Good lift today. I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow... increased weight on chest & back, did deadlifts a little differently. I think my suspended calf raises have been helping because I get fewer cramps/tightness when I'm running lately. Hopefully that means I'm doing something right!

Tuesday
Planned: 8+ @ Track #10kTuesday
Did: 9.34 mi @ 8:29/mi avg
Oh yes, another 9+ mile morning and first run in sub-60F temps! Hooray fall running!
Got out early and did 2.7 miles before meeting up with track buddy Angela. Once we got to the track I decided on 2x1000, 2x800, 2x600, 2x400 - only had time for one of the 400s at the end, but everything else was amazingly consistent and decently fast!
2x1000 = 4:26, 4:25
2x800 = 3:23, 3:18
2x600 = 2:28, 2:25
1x400 = 1:29

Wednesday
Planned: lunch trail run
Did: nothing
Ugh... rain and work and meetings...

Thursday
Planned: treadmill tempo
Did: 2x2mi treadmill = 6.03 mi @ 8:01/mi avg
Got this done early to avoid getting overrun with meetings and such. Felt pretty easy again, pushed the pace on the second repeat and only really started feeling the fatigue in the last ~ quarter mile or so.

Friday
Planned: yoga or rest
Did: 5.77 mi @ 8:51/mi avg
Made up Wednesday's run today and it was beautiful outside! Felt easy and free to just run in the cool air and sunshine. So nice!

Saturday
Planned: afternoon Altamont run maybe?
Did: nothing
Rain and being busy = nada.

Sunday
Planned: 18 mi trail run
Did: 18.13 mi / 2,558 ft elevation gain
YES. This was a great run even though it didn't go as planned. My original thoughts were to follow this route minus the 4th loop. I drove up to Dupont and got parked at Corn Mill Shoals by about 9:30 and set out. First loop was the Burnt Mtn loop - trails were pretty quiet but squishy from all the rain Saturday.

Wet trails

Quiet morning

Rocky downhill of Burnt Mtn

First loop went well - some climbing, and some steep rocky downhill. Good practice for technical footwork.

Morning sunlight

I set out for the second loop, which would take me through Reasonover and to Lake Julia... but the first thing I would have to do is cross the shoals. Normally this is a crossing with just a few inches of water running calmly over it.

The shoals

That's the trail on the other side

The rain had made this a deep and swift section... so I had to plan an alternate with most of the forest now inaccessible to me. I took a second loop around Burnt Mtn then headed towards Little River trail, which would take me to Cedar Rock & Big Rock trails.

There was still some water to cross

The trails were a bit flooded in some places

I got a little lost at one point... the trail goes out onto an open rock face and it looks like you're supposed to just go across and enter the woods on the other side... but I got there to a NO TRESPASSING / TRAIL CLOSED sign and thought... crap, now what?? Thank goodness for the MTB Project app that showed me I was actually off the trail I thought I was on... I was supposed to follow the tree line UP the rock face, not across it. Whew. I found my way the rest of the way on the slick rock trail... lots of up up up, and finally reached the top!

Summit #1

I'd decided that I would do two loops of this trail, too, so I didn't stop to take as many photos the first time through. I made the next loop my lunch break and of course felt much better about my navigation.

Just.... ahhhhh!

😍

I could have sat there for hours... but I kept on, and then did the final loop on Longside > Pine Tree > Cascade and had to add just a tiny out-and-back on Twixt. Then I was done and felt AMAZING. Mentally, I could have done it all a second time... physically, though, I was tired. Not totally depleted, but it was time to stop and eat LOTS OF FOOD. There was definitely a Cook Out milkshake obtained immediately after I got home.

Miles: 39.27

Short on the weekly mileage but felt so good about the long trail run, nothing else matters. 

Cloudland Canyon 50k Training (Week 10 of 18)

Week beginning thoughts: I need to stretch more.

Goals: 40-45 mpw, split long run 12 + 12

Monday
Planned: strength
Did: 45 min strength
Not as much enthusiasm behind today's workout, but got it done. I think everything (body and mind) is tired from the weekend's hard efforts!

Tuesday
Planned: 8+ mi
Did: 9.24 mi @ 8:22/mi avg
Yesssssss this mileage! I started out at 5 again, got in close to 3 miles before meeting up with one other runner buddy for some track time. Did a ladder workout and felt pretty good. Again not quite the top speeds on shorter distances that I feel like I should be able to do, but I have to remind myself that if I've already got 5-6 miles on my legs, I shouldn't expect to bust out a sub-6 pace, even on a 400.
400 - 1:38
800 - 3:26
1200 - 5:08
800 - 3:25
400 - 1:33


Wednesday
Planned: 5-6 mi trail
Did: 5.37 mi @ 8:42/mi
Oh man, the difference one week and 25 degrees makes! Felt SO GOOD out there, the miles just flew by. Definitely no walking breaks today. woooo!

Thursday
Planned: tempo ?
Did: 6.01 mi @ 8:04/mi avg
2x2mi on the treadmill this morning... I thought this would drag by but honestly I was surprised how quickly the miles ticked off and even though I was running sub-7:30 pace for 2 miles, it felt easy.

Friday
Planned: rest or yoga
Did: rest

Saturday
Planned: GE Cross-Country 6k + extra
Did: 3.87 + 3.79 + 4.15 = 11.81 mi 
Had a race this morning (final Corporate Shield race of the season!) and decided to get there early, do a loop of the course before the race, then do the race, then do another loop after I'd finished. It worked out pretty well! I really liked getting a preview of the course since it's a new location for the race this year. I saw some deer and enjoyed beautiful sunset views around the Hartness Nature Preserve - usually it's a sub-division closed to the public, but we were allowed in for the race.

  

  

Loop 1 = 3.87 mi @ 9:18/mi

Got back to the start area for the team photo, then we were ready to race!

#team

I wasn't sure what sort of expectations to set... I'm usually not all that fast on a cross-country course (sub-9 pace for sure, but probably somewhere in the 8:xx/mi pace). We set off and I wanted to try to get in the top 3 women for the Milliken team. I knew I wouldn't keep up with the fastest one, but I kept pace with the other fast female. I was in front of her from about Mile 1 to ~.5 mile from the finish, and she passed me on the final stretch, but we were close enough that I did manage to place in the top 3 for the fast female team!

Finish result = 3.79 mi @ 7:38/mi avg

After hanging out at the finish for a while I set off for loop #3. I took an easy pace and enjoyed the quiet course all to myself. Felt like I could have kept going for a while but with nobody else around and the neighborhood technically being "closed" I decided to cut it and head out.

Final loop = 4.15 mi @ 9:53/mi avg


Sunday
Planned: 12 mi stroller run
Did: 12.14 mi @ 9:25/mi avg
Morning rain pushed this run to the afternoon, but ended up being great anyway. D and I ran from Furman on the Swamp Rabbit up to TR then came back and took a long loop through campus. Followed him for another ~ mile walk as he rode his bike when we were done.




Weekly total = 44.57 mpw
Woo hoo! I didn't realize how close to 45 I was this week... wow. Feeling great and strong. I do still need to stretch more. I found a lacrosse ball in our basement (why?) that is great for rolling out some tough spots in my glutes and lower back. Looking forward to another good week.

Cloudland Canyon 50k Training (Week 9 of 18)

Ummmm so apparently I can't count? I've been on a 14-week plan and realized that it was actually 18 weeks until Cloudland. Good grief. Well I guess that's good for me! I sure didn't feel like I only had 5 weeks left.

Goal is to hit 40 mpw again to build some consistency there.

Monday
Planned: strength
Did: 58 min strength
Sometimes strength sessions drag on and I can barely muster 30-40 mins of focused effort... today was the opposite! I had more that I wanted to do but ran out of time. I need to do more PT for my IT band and general stretching, though, because I can tell some of my leg muscles are stiff.

Tuesday
Planned: Track Tuesday + extra
Did: 8.47 mi @ 8:35/mi avg
Got downtown early and did ~2.5 miles on my own before meeting up with the crew for Track Tuesday. Did 3x mile repeats on the track (7:02, 7:15, 7:09) - not stellar speed but felt like good hard work. Feeling like a rockstar getting 8+ miles in before work, too! 🙌

Wednesday
Planned: work run
Did: 5.01 mi @ 9:41/mi avg
Goodness this was a SLOG. It's so freaking hot outside and it's OCTOBER. I ran the trails at lunch today and had to walk for 3 extended periods. Just yuck. Can it please get cool???

Thursday
Planned: treadmill run
Did: 5.05 mi @ 8:25/mi avg
Morning speedwork on the treadmill, did 3x3x400 at increasing paces per set. This didn't feel hard at all! Making me think I need to increase speed overall and possibly try to race something short this fall.

Friday
Planned: rest
Did: rest

Saturday
Planned: long trail run (~15 mi)
Did: 15.03 mi @ 10:38/mi avg trail run
Set out at dawn for this long trail run at Jackrabbit Mountain where we were camping for the weekend. I ran literally every trail in the entire park and it was awesome! I definitely felt tired by the end but my last couple of miles ended up being some of the fastest... I call that the "horse-to-the-barn" effect.

Trails at dawn

Sunrise over the lake through the trees

Viewpoint

Um, what? Where??

SABA Beach

Bonus: 7.62 mi mountain bike ride
As the tradition goes, the last night of camping everyone joins in a night ride out to SABA Beach. No photos because, duh, it was dark, but was a fun ride! It ended up being my one and only ride during the weekend but I was OK with it.

Sunday
Planned: short trail run (6-8 mi)
Did: 7.15 mi @ 8:54/mi avg road run
I opted to be lazy on our final morning at camp, which was definitely the right decision. Got to enjoy making breakfast and packing up camp before heading home. Decided to run in the neighborhood in the afternoon (BECAUSE IT'S NOT UNGODLY HOT ANYMORE!!! 🎉🎉🎉) and opted for a hilly Green Valley run.


Miles run: 40.71 
YAY
Another 40-mile week and boy I am feeling it. But hooray, feeling good about 1) the 25k in a month and 2) building to 50k in 2 months. EEk!