S2S Training: Week 7 of 14

Whoaaaaa we're halfway there... !!!

Week 7 plan/goals: Busy / Recovery

• Long run = 8 mi or rest/6mi with 1,000ft vert

September Midweek Plan: Fitness Maintenance

Focus: Preserving your massive August engine while your weekends are locked up with busy schedules.

• Tuesday (Key Workout): 10km Speed / Tempo. 1.5-mile warm-up. 3 miles at a hard, controlled tempo pace (roughly your 10k to half-marathon race pace). 1.7-mile easy cool-down.
• Wednesday (6:15–7:15 PM): 60 minutes on singletrack. Note: Sunset drops fast this month. Bring a light source for the final 20–30 minutes as forest shadows deepen. Practice accelerating for 30 seconds out of trail turns to build agility.
• Thursday: 3–4 miles flat, effortless recovery running.
• Friday: Full Rest Day

Monday

recovery 1 mi walk

Just easy today... recovering from the big weekend!

Tuesday

6x hill repeats

Ran with some early peeps downtown on the Bennet Street hill repeats - man those were spicy, especially in the ridiculously hot humid days. CAN IT BE FALL YET.

Wednesday

45 min easy singletrack

This run was hot garbage... or at least I felt like garbage because it was so hot. WHO KNOWS. 

Is my waning patience for hot weather running showing?? At least these are pretty trails with lots of lovely wildflowers.

Thursday

Cadre Dan's GORUCK Headbanger Light

4 miles under a 20# pack and lots of PT - pushups, squats, ruck swings, and of course a dip in the Reedy River! Great ~3 hours with an awesome Cadre. 🫡

Friday

7 mi at Your Mom's House

Anticipating being out of town for the long weekend ahead, I decided to get in my long-ish run on Friday afternoon. Went to SCRA and was able to get 7 miles done with ~900 ft of climbing in the time I had, so that was close enough to the 8mi/1000ft goal. We'll call that good! Once again, TOO HOT.

Cute little deer sighting! 🦌

Saturday & Sunday

Just a few walks

No significant/recorded activities other than walking around at the bike race, breweries, and beach for the weekend. 

Week Summary

✅Long Run 8 mi/1000ft vert - yeah, we'll call this one done (close enough)

✅10k Tuesday hills - yep

🟨Wednesday 50-60 min singletrack - based on effort I'd say I did this but it was a bit short of goal. Between it and the "skipped" Friday easy run (subbed for long run) I'll just give it an overall yellow.

17 miles this week - yikes, dipped that total a bit lower than I would have liked. Some weeks be like that, tho.

S2S Training: Week 6 of 14

Last week of the August training block "Focus: Build maximal leg strength and engine before your August 29th 6-hour race."

Week 6 plan/goals: PEAK SIMULATION

• Long run = 6hr race
• 10k Hill workout: 10km Hill Strength. 1.5-mile easy warm-up. 3.2 miles of continuous hilly terrain (or 5 x 3-minute hard uphill bounds with a slow jog recovery down). 1.5-mile easy cool-down.
• Wednesday 50-60 min Zone 2 trail
• Friday 4-5 miles easy (optional)

Monday

3.2 mi pup run

Gloriously cool morning meant the pup could join me for a few miles after school drop-off time!

1.5 mi trail walk

Walked with Ivy during NICA practice.

Tuesday

6.25 mi sprint workout: 3x3x15s @ 5:05/mi

Traded hills for speedwork today and though it was hard it felt great to push pace! 3 sets of 3 surges, 15 seconds each at a target 5:05/mi pace. Basically an all-out sprint, but was pretty happy with how well I hit the targets! Garmin even gave me a 99% execution score. 🟢😁

Speedy spikes

Wednesday

1 mi pup walk + 2 mi pup trail run

Didn't get the amount of running done at SCRA in the evening since mountain bike practice got cut short by thunder & lightning in the vicinity. At least had 2 miles before they called it!

Thursday

42 min work gym + 30 min walk

2 mi walk to Greenville Drive game

Friday

1.5 mi walk to find my keys

When you leave your keys on your car bumper and drive away, you end up going on a long walk to retrace your route and find them. Sheesh.

Saturday

Event: The Blacklist

Sunday

Recovery SUP + 3.4 mi hash run

Playing in WNC for leg recovery - stand-up paddleboarding in Lake Julian plus a short hash run in Asheville. 

Week Summary

✅Long run = 6hr race - yes! 💥

✅10k Hill workout - ok, not hill workout but a very good speed workout substitute. Calling this a yes.

🟨Wednesday 50-60 min Zone 2 trail - had to cut short, but did something

🟨Friday 4-5 miles easy (optional) - took the rest option to prep for race day, calling it yellow because I didn't run but it's not a red because it was optional

40 miles for the week = strong!

Race Report: The Blacklist

A couple months ago, I got a message from a race director friend with a link requesting I join the waitlist for an upcoming invite-only event. Miraculously my calendar was open, so I clicked "sign up for waitlist".

Turns out, "sign up for waitlist" meant "you're in" and that was all she wrote! And that's how I signed up for a 6-hour trail race without knowing what I was doing. 😄

Luckily it turned out to be one of THE BEST spur-of-the-moment decisions I've made... the whole day, start to finish, was top notch. The weather was perfection, the whole vibe was incredible. 

Swag on point!
button-up tech shirt, personalized dog tags, topo running hat,
and a little treat (🔥⚽) in the shirt pocket. 😊

Sunrise on The Farm

The race began at 8am with the simple mission: run as many 4-ish mile loops as you can in the allotted 6-hour time for the race. And yes, you have to finish the lap within the time limit for it to count. No partials. 

I had a modest goal of 5 laps - this wasn't a speed race for me, mostly a time-on-feet with a healthy amount of distance. I figured anything over 20 miles would be a good day for me. 

Everybody pumped and excited!

It was all smiles for at least the first 3 laps - held a steady pace under an hour each lap (including time to refuel/reload water, etc at the start/finish). 

There were 3 water crossings per loop

Thankfully lifeguards were there to help us cross safely.

You have to be goofy sometimes to make the miles pass! 🐒

Pretty pinestraw paths

At the halfway point I figured a 6-loop goal was more than doable, and although the pace dropped off steadily I was really happy that I used up all the available time (save 8 minutes) without too much stretch of effort or delay. 

The last 2 loops were a struggle - breaking through that 16+mile wall is always rough! Was incredibly happy with the result of nearly 25 miles total, plus getting to run in a new pair of Topo VISTA shoes as part of the shoe demo was awesome. 

The rest of the afternoon was a cookout/low country boil, dance party, raffle giveaway, and oh did I mention they had a tattoo artist on site for post-race ink??

Run In logo = 25% lifetime discount!

Can't say enough positive things about this event from G.O.A.T. trail running... crossing fingers for a repeat invite next year. 10/10 will attend if I'm lucky enough! 

Go Out And Thrive! 🐐

S2S Training: Week 5 of 14

Week 5 plan/goals: Pre-Race Taper

• Long run of 10 miles OR split 8 mi / 3 mi with 1,500 ft vert
• 10k Hill workout: 10km Hill Strength. 1.5-mile easy warm-up. 3.2 miles of continuous hilly terrain (or 5 x 3-minute hard uphill bounds with a slow jog recovery down). 1.5-mile easy cool-down.
• Wednesday 50-60 min Zone 2 trail
• Friday 4-5 miles easy

Monday

rest

Yes indeed. Needed!

Tuesday

6.35 mi @ 9:49/mi Altamont run

It's been since the Paris Mtn 20k in December that I've run up Altamont road, and with the need for vert I decided it was time to tackle it again! Met with a couple of friends who agreed to do crazy things with me and we made our way up and down the mountain. 

Gorgeous sunrise treat!

2.3 mi @ 13:14/mi

Super short and easy run at Rockers run club including a slip'n'slide and beer stop. Fun times!

Wednesday

50 min (3.7 mi) singletrack 

Took a late afternoon spin on the trails at Your Momma's House (SCRA) and was slower than normal but trying to keep the heart rate in check for Zone 2. It was quite hot and legs were still pretty cooked.

Mama & baby deer!

Wheel of trail fortune!

Alt Rock 

Thursday

43 min strength

Found some workouts online that I decided to follow, one is about downhill running strength and the other is a simple 3-workout rotation that I should be able to do, although requires gym access so I can't do at home which is the difficult part. 

Friday

4.2 mi easy run @ 9:51/mi

Out and back on flat roads at work, still stupid hot but some clouds rolling through helped. 

Saturday

8 mi trail

Ran during kiddo's bike race at Poinsett State Park which has lovely trails but being in the lowcountry means it's even muggier than usual. I'm hoping that's what drained me so badly because this run should not have been that difficult, but after 8 miles I was toast!

The spanish moss is so pretty!

Skinner's Shed 😱

Palmetto Trail was not maintained... turned around.

Sunday

lawn mow

No workout but mowed the lawn. Decided to get in the last 3 miles of the weekend mileage with some planned easy miles on Monday morning.

Week 5 Summary

• 🟨Long run of 10 miles OR split 8 mi / 3 mi with 1,500 ft vert - short on miles and vert
• ✅10k Hill workout: 10km Hill Strength. - yep
• ✅Wednesday 50-60 min Zone 2 trail - done
• ✅Friday 4-5 miles easy - done

A little shy of 25 miles for the week seems like such a huge drop from over 40 last week! But I guess that is the point of a drop-back week and I'm hoping it means I'll be in good shape to tackle more this week and perform well at the 6-hr next Saturday!

S2S Training: Week 4 of 14

Week 4 plan/goals:

• Long run of 22 miles OR split runs 16 & 10 miles, with 5,000ft elevation
• 10k Hill workout: 10km Hill Strength. 1.5-mile easy warm-up. 3.2 miles of continuous hilly terrain (or 5 x 3-minute hard uphill bounds with a slow jog recovery down). 1.5-mile easy cool-down.
• Wednesday 50-60 min Zone 2 trail
• Friday 4-5 miles easy

Monday

rest

Too much to catch up on after being gone all weekend and part of last week.

Tuesday

6.24mi @ 9:52/mi XC

Didn't quite do the hilly workout, just ran XC trails at lunch... felt good for the first 5k but man I died after that. Heat, hydration, fueling... something wasn't right. Heart rate was through the roof. 

Those splits 😣

Wednesday

4.86 mi trail run

OK well what I lacked in hills on Tuesday's run I made up for tonight! Ran at SCRA (aka Yo Mama's House) while D had practice, but we had to start from a different entrance due to some construction at the main parking lot. Technically the trails are closed but we were allowed to practice so I didn't ask questions and went ahead and ran. 😅 This side has more moderate (blue) trails so had quite a bit more hills than the green ones from the main lot! Got 725 ft of climbing in under 5 miles 😳

Thursday

40 min strength + 1.5 mi walk

Finally back in the gym at work for a little upper body and core work. I say it every time, but I have to make this more of a priority/consistent behavior. I saw a meme or post on Instagram that said "make it routine, make it boring, take out the guesswork". Basically do the same routine every time in the gym. Same exercises, so you don't have that decision fatigue going into it. Might make sense... will have to find a routine I like first though 😂

Friday

4.63 mi @ 9:46/mi

Fr8 Friday run club - easy miles on the rail trial for 45 minutes. 

Saturday

17.9 mi trail run w/ 4,700 ft vert

Oh boy this was an adventure! Asked a trail running friend for a route recommendation and this did not disappoint (though was quite tough!). The loop started at the Black Mountain Trail in Pisgah, up in a counter-clockwise loop over several peaks and back down.

It was already warm starting off, but I had my bag packed with as much water as I could carry plus my emergency filtration bottle, as well as snackssss for days. The initial climb (~2,000 ft over ~4 miles) was brutal and slow-going, mostly hiked it, but the views of Looking Glass Rock from the higher peaks was amazing!

There were rumbles of thunder in the distance for about the last half of the run, and I could see the dark clouds but they stayed away thankfully.

Saw a little baby snek friend!

Got low on water and filled the reservoir from Avery Creek after the insane descent into the valley. This worked great and was much needed before the climb up Pressley Cove.

 Finished with a couple miles of downhill back to the parking lot... legs were toast after that, and got to the car just in time for the rain to start! Perfect timing to head to the Hub for refreshment.

Sunday

7 mi trail run w/ 1,200 ft vert

Since yesterday's run was more distance and vert than the first of the "split run" plan, I shortened the mileage from 10 to planned 8 miles, but ended up with 7 because the vert here was more than needed. Also my legs (and soul) were dead. Definitely didn't eat enough food after the Saturday adventure to make up for what I burned and I could feel it today! Hikers-only Sulphur Springs was roughhhhh.

Unhealthy-looking deer who did not care I was so close 

Blue-tailed skink!

Week summary thoughts

✅ Long run with 5,000ft elevation - 18 + 7 miles, 6,000ft = done with bonus elevation

✅ 10k Hill workout - not so much hilly, but made up for it Wednesday so calling it done

✅ Wednesday 50-60 min Zone 2 trail - see above, 60 min trail done

✅ Friday 4-5 miles easy - yep.

Just over 40 miles for the week, 35 of them off-road miles. I feel strong and positive about my training this week! It was exhausting and I'm looking forward to a bit of a "down" week ahead.