4 weeks to 50k / 5 weeks to Beast

Well I've gotten a week behind on blogs again... it's now Friday of this "current" week and I'm just starting the week's entries! Uhhhh...

Monday

Did: 20 min bodyweight exercises

Getting home from camping and quite tired after unpacking, so just did 20 mins of bodyweight exercises and felt alright about that.

Tuesday

Did: 4.03 mi + 6.25 mi running

Intended to get 10-12 miles with D on his bike in the morning (another day off) but he was tired from a long weekend of biking, so we cut it off at 4 miles. We had a parent-teacher conference at D's school in the afternoon, which is about 6 miles from home, so I opted to run home to get the rest of my miles and a full #10kTuesday completed. Missed the track crew but enjoyed a little change of pace (and a day off from work!).

Morning session on the SRT with D

Running and biking

Running from schoo'

Wednesday

Did: 4.74 mi @ 8:51/mi

Early morning run since I'm back in the office. Looped through the neighborhood twice and felt good about getting that much in before the workday.

Thursday

Did: 7.11 mi @ 9:02/mi

Altamont climb + bonus miles with the early crew, over 1000 ft of climbing done in about an hour! Lovely cool and full-moon morning on the mountain.

Friday

Did: 4.08 mi @ 10:21/mi

EZ miles on the SRT after dropping off D. Pretty sunrise through the clouds over Paris Mtn!

Saturday

Did: 4.05 mi @ 8:19/mi (road) + 15.01 mi @ 12:22/mi (trail)

Wanted to get started relatively early but don't like running trails in the dark alone... so got in a short quick run through Furman in the early hours before heading up to Pleasant Ridge. Parked at the top lake lot just as the sun rose and headed our for 2 full loops (including the short and long loops). It was a beautiful quiet morning, felt a little sluggish at the beginning but got into a good rhythm and ended up with a faster second loop by about 10 minutes!

Sunday

Did: 30 min weights + 5.0 mi @ 10:19/mi

Got a half hour of weights done in the morning - really struggling to keep up with strength training lately with the high running volume, but happy to get a little bit done.

In the afternoon we went to Conestee and I took a suuuuuper easy run to end the week with FIFTY MILES!!! 😁

Weekly Miles: 50.27 miles 🎉🎉🎉

5 weeks to 50k / 6 weeks to Beast

Monday

Did: 3.73 mi @ 9:30/mi 

Wanted an easy run, didn't get out early in the morning, ran in the neighborhood (hills) during the middle afternoon (warm) and just... well, I got through it. It wasn't terrible but definitely wasn't the run I wanted to start off the week. 

But it was New Shoes Day :)

Tuesday

Did: 10.18 mi @ 8:17/mi avg

Yesssss another 10-mile Tuesday, this time with some track work in the middle! Got started early before meeting the track crew downtown. Ran 3x1mi repeats (7:09, 7:05, 7:03) not super fast but decent, then hot 400 at 85s or so. Finished with another couple miles to hit the 10 total. 

Wednesday

Did: 6.06 @ 9:45/mi avg

Got out early on the Swamp Rabbit for some nice and easy miles. This run was exactly what I wanted it to be, kept the heartrate under 160, just felt great.

Thursday

Did: 5.67mi @ 9:55/mi avg

Altamont with the crew this morning... considered doing more than 1 climb, but after feeling a little cruddy on the downhill I decided to stick to one repetition. Maybe next week. Glad to get back to climbing though!

Friday

Did: 3.0 mi @ 9:32/mi 

Just a short run before leaving for a weekend of unplugged wooded bliss! Long camping weekend + 2 days of vacation is exactly what I needed.

Saturday

Did: 20.18 mi trail run + 7.13 mi mountain bike ride

Ran ALL the trails at Jackrabbit on Saturday morning starting out just after a big rain storm rolled through. Still got sprinkled on a little, but it was nice and kept the temps down. Felt great through the first ~15 miles of the "old" trails but saved the last 5 miles of new trail for the end (new trails are harder) - that was tough. 

Then of course per tradition, we did the sunset SABA Beach ride, with D in the lead, and all enjoyed a lovely night ride back to camp.

Sunday

Did: 9.51 mi mountain biking

Enjoyed a nice group ride covering many of the main trails, part with D and part without. Even Scott and I got to do a loop on Sneaking Creek together!

Total miles: 48.8

Not too shabby! Close to the 50 mpw goal. 

6 weeks to 50k / 7 weeks to Beast

In France for work this week so I am fully expecting to NOT hit any big mileage goals this week, and do lots of walking.

Monday

Did: 16 min bodyweight workout + 1.8 mi EZ run

Started the morning with a little bodyweight workout in the hotel room. 

3 sets of 20 crunches, 20 heel-touch obliques, 20 reverse crunch, 20 side-step w/ resistance band, 10 pushups, 10 curls (each side) w/ resistance band, 10 squats, 10 reverse fly w/ resistance band. 

Not too bad for a quick little workout!

Took a short easy run with a colleague after our very long and tiring workday. The sun had decided to come out which was lovely!

Tuesday

Did: 9.8 mi @ 8:33/mi avg, with 2 tempo sections

Oh man it was awesome to get a long run in at the end of a long workday! This trail (Chemin des Droits de l'Homme) has been a fantastic find and it enabled some speedwork in the midst of a chunk of miles. 

I made it to the trail and decided I'd run as fast as I could to the turn-around point (knowing I had to return, of course) then take it easy until I had 2 miles left before the end of the trail (and would be back on busy city streets) and run again as hard as I could til that point. I came up with this plan on the fly and didn't use my lap button on my watch, but my mile splits tell me that I did pretty well... sub-8 pace, even mid-7s for a good bit of the speedy parts!

I got rained on for part of the run, but it didn't matter... just felt fantastic!

Wednesday

Did: 4.89 mi @ 10:01 min/mi avg

Slow pace today due to navigational challenges in the park, but at least this time I made it to the park! It was really pretty, a nice trail around the outside of a golf course, and a bridge over the Agout River which, unbeknownst to me, closes at 7pm each night... I just happened to be approaching it at exactly 7 and chased the security guy up the stairs to get across before the gate was locked! Other than that excitement, a very nice evening run.

The bridge gate

Agout River

Gourjade Park

Dunno why there's a castle in the golf course

Pretty Castres

Thursday

Did: 2.63 mi @ 9:42/mi

Short on time but wanted to get in a little run before the final dinner in Castres. Did a loop out to the Chemin des Droits de l'Homme and back around into town. Almost could navigate the whole way without my phone... really enjoying learning this town. :)

Friday

Did: airport walking, at least 1 mile from ATL Terminal F to A

Transatlantic flight and far too late of a night the night before.... oooof this was a rough day. I knew traveling from 6am til 8pm was going to give me basically zero chance of "real" exercise, but wanting to maintain the streak of Stravativities and 10k steps, I made sure to record the long walk across the ATL airport from one end to the other. Not sure of exact distance, but based on stride my watch said I went at least a mile! 

Saturday

Did: 30 mins weights

Strength training, hooray! This felt great to get some good weight lifting done. 

Sunday

Did: 15.01 mi @ 8:30/mi avg

Wow, this was a great long run! Didn't really have pace or distance goals in mind for the day, but set out early and met the downtown group for a small loop, then finished a longer loop back to the trail and ended at the Swamp Rabbit Grocery for a lunch treat for myself. Felt strong through the whole run, and pace showed it! Very happy with this run, especially after an exhausting week.

Enjoying lunch in the sunshine

Total Miles: 34.13 mi

Ok, that's not nearly as bad as I thought the week might end up with all the travel. Quite pleased with this total for a "low mileage" week! :)

7 weeks to 50k / 8 weeks to Beast

Goals this week: 

45 mpw

20-22mi long run

Monday

Did: 45 mins strength training + 2.2 mi walk

Decided it was time to get some strength training done... because that Beast isn't going to uhhh run? climb? whatever... itself. 

After dropping D off with my folks and having dinner, I took a walk downtown which was quite lovely. 

Tuesday

Did: 8.17 mi @ 8:11/mi

Great session at the track this morning with the downtown crew! There was enough interest from others that we moved our Track Tuesday meetup to include the downtown folks and ran at the Greenville High School track, just like we used to do years ago (wow, it has been that long!). Fun to see lots of folks out and working hard.

Did 4x800 (3:24, 3:24, 3:24, 3:19) + 400 in 79s.

Then I ran extra since the warmup/cooldown is shorter, and got the 8 miles I wanted for today.

Wednesday

Did: 6.08 mi @ 9:23/mi 

I don't know what it was about today's run, but man it was SO NICE. I ran from TR to Furman, around the lake, and back up. 

I made sure to keep it an easy, low-HR pace and felt just fantastic the whole time. Such a good mental boost to get out before the craziness of the workday started. 

Not sure what happened at the end there, but kept it below 160 for the rest of the run!

Thursday

Did: 6.74 mi @ 9:16/mi w/ 5x hill repeats

I was ::thisclose:: to bailing on the run because work was already crazy and I barely had enough time before my morning meeting to squeeze in the run. Thankfully I have running friends that can tell me to get my butt out the door and quit making excuses, so I did, and it was awesomeeeee to get this run done! Ran around the neighborhood and through the equestrian park before going to the big steep section of Riverbend Rd for some hill repeats. Did 5x (1:07, 1:04, 1:05, 1:04, 1:00) on the hill and then made my way back home just in time for my morning meeting. 

Friday

Did: 3.14mi @ 9:55/mi 

Easy 5k for today, had to slow the pace to keep the heartrate low but still a nice loop through TR to start the day.

Saturday

Did: 21.02 mi @ 10:47/mi

Whewwww this was a long run! My original plan to run loops at Trailblazer for miles 13-18 were foiled by totally overgrown trail and wayyy too many spiderwebs for my liking. Yikes. I was a little discouraged after discovering that since the off-road loops were supposed to be a nice break in the middle of the long run, but I stuck with it and got the rest of my miles around Furman. 

Yep, accurate representation.

...and then I hopped on an airplane and flew to France! (oooof sitting for a long time after that run was HARD)

Sunday

Did: 2.26 mi walk 

Took a walk in the rain after finally getting to the hotel and settled in Castres. It's supposed to be pretty crummy weather the first part of this week, plus it will be crazy busy during the day. I'm anticipating several rainy runs or walks. 

Weekly miles: 45.15

Long run: 21

Goals = MET!! 🎉