This week's goals:
- Long run of 15 miles OR split runs 12 & 6 miles, with 3,000ft 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
Well, I mowed the yard but that was it.
Tuesday
6.28 mi @ 9:28/mi avg
Holy hills, Batman! I tried out a new route from my house and omg the hills. Almost 750 ft climbing in a 10k.
Of course I also went out at the absolute hottest part of the day (gross). Yuck but wow. Didn't do the structured workout but I'd say this counts as hill training!
 |
| At least there was a nice view |
Wednesday
47 min trail run (3.5 miles)
Didn't cover as much distance today during the Wednesday night trail miles, but both Ivy and I were tired!
 |
| Sweet new GUTS trail socks |
 |
| Always time for a pond dip |
Thursday
rest!
Friday
4.7 mi @ 9:37/mi
Plan had 4-5 miles easy, Garmin suggested 45 mins base... so there you have it. Got out on the XC trails and did some random assortment of sections of the 5k but in the "wrong" direction just to keep things interesting. Legs were kinda still from Tuesday and knew I had a big day coming Saturday so tried to keep things easy!
Saturday
11.25 mi w/ 2,900 ft climbing
With some time constraints, I decided on the "split plan" option for the weekend long runs. Target was ~12ish miles and a lotta vert on the trails at Table Rock State Park. Up Pinnacle Mountain Trail, across on Ridge Trail, up to Governor's Rock, then back down Table Rock trail, finishing with a loop around the lake. The climb up Pinnacle is slightly more gentle than the climb up Table Rock, but I'd forgotten how overgrown that trail was... lord, I needed a machete! It would have been more runnable if there had not been such dense overgrowth. That was more mentally exhausting than anything.
 |
| Bald Knob for a quick break! |
Snack once I got to Bald Knob, then proceeded up the rest of Pinnacle (still overgrown). Did not go all the way to the summit because again the trail looked super dense, so I continued on Ridge and finally got to run!
Made it across and up to Governor's Rock for another quick break before heading down the many many stairs all the way down the Table Rock descent.
By the time I got to the Lakeside loop I was actually feeling pretty amazing and enjoyed the last couple of miles!
At the end there was a park interpreter who had one of their resident King snakes from the visitors center (which is closed for renovations) so I got to hold him! So cool 🐍
What a great day on trails!!
Sunday
6.4 mi @ 12:41/mi
Much easier miles today on the trails at SCRA, but still managed almost 1000ft of climbing with all of the little rollers! Took Ivy with me and she did AMAZING on her longest run ever... she's such a great trail pup! We ran out and back on the Bob Ross Parkway all the way to the Saluda River. On the way back, however, we got caught in an absolute downpour and wow was that exciting. I mean completely drenched, but she just kept trucking. I didn't get any pics of us afterwards because we were just trying to get into the car and not soak everything (mostly unsuccessfully) but boy that was a fun run!
 |
| Turtle friend! |
 |
| Snake friend! |
Week Summary Thoughts
✅ Long Run Split - 12 & 6, with 3000 ft elevation - Maybe not quite there on mileage but I think the total of nearly 4,000 ft of vert gives the extra credit needed!
✅ Tuesday Hill work - again, not the plan but enough hills to count this as complete!
🟨 Wednesday 50-60 min Z2 - a little short on this one
✅ Friday 4-5 easy - yes!
Total of 32 miles run, 25+ of them on trail - yeah!! 💪
Feeling really good about this week and the training so far, but I know the weekends coming up are going to be busy and with school starting, all the routines are getting flipped on their heads. Going to be tough to keep up with the miles and especially the long runs needed, but gotta just do the best I can.
