Scout Mountain 100 Training Log Week 1/20

In an effort to recommit to regular blogging, reflect more often and share my training for Scout Mountain 100 miler on June 5th, I’ve decided that I am going to publish weekly training logs to give others some insight on what I am doing to prepare myself for another attempt this summer. I am almost finished with the UESCA ultra-running coaching certification and I am applying my knowledge from this course to create my own personalized training program. In the past I had the help of a coach in preparing for this race which was extremely valuable in many ways but this year I feel ready to take my training into my own hands. It is my hope that I will be able to coach others in the future. 

I think the biggest advantage I have in training for Scout Mountain 100 again is that I trained for it very well last year, got injured and burned out, and DNFed the race at mile 87. From this experience I learned so much and I am applying it all to my training this year. You can read my race report if you want the details about how the race went.

Things I want to do differently this year include:

• Running with  other people more often to prevent burnout
• Taking regular rest weeks and recovery protocols more seriously as I feel this is why I ultimately got injured
• Increase the frequency of core workouts and have a 5 week block focused on VO2 max development as I feel that these are my weakest spots
• Significantly dial back on my weight lifting during peak training since I have significantly greater strength foundation as well as base mileage volume
• Keep easy runs significantly easy. I think I was running these recovery runs too fast in the past. 

Things I am doing the same as last year:

• 10 weeks of a push/pull lifting split with double lower body focus: primarily a back squat and deadlift day and a front squat and bench press day. I felt like this split made me very strong last year and I’m already starting at heavier weights.
• Using the sauna for regular heat training. I saw heat as a non issue at the race however many people struggled and the race even changed their start time due to the heat.
• Fueling practice on my long runs and no alcohol until after the race. I felt great being sober for almost six months and I think fueling went exceptionally well for me during the actual race.

This past week was week one of my official 100 miler training block. Including this past week I will have 20 weeks of specific dedicated training towards Scout Mountain 100. Previous to starting this block, I took an “off season” from running during October and slowly started to increase my mileage again to build a solid aerobic foundation. After building back to consistent running, I completed 3 weeks of almost 40 miles per week of easy and fun running followed by a rest week and then 3 more weeks of 50 miles per week and then another rest week. I did my first ultramarathon effort of 2026 at the Butte Run Club’s Fat Ass 50k Run on January 17th and I also sprinkled in a few uphill treadmill speed workouts here and there. Besides “off season” I followed a weightlifting program consistently for all of 2025. Here is what the first week of training looked like 

Week 1 of 20

Training Focus: VO2 Max

Sunday: Lift/Pull (normally would have done this on Monday but had some time constraints so I’m still including it in this week)

3 x 5 Back Squats at 125lbs

3 x 5 RDLs at 135lbs

Super set 1: 2×6 single leg dumbbell hip thrust @ 30lbs // 2×8 banded KB crossbody SLDL

Superset 2: 2×8 eccentric pull ups // 2 x 8 KB Gorilla Row @18lbs

Core workout

Sauna: 30 min

Monday: Hill/Speed Workout – Warm up // 3 x 3/2/1 1:1 work to rest ratio (hiking uphill inbetween) // Cool Down – 8 miles 1,749 feet of vert

Tuesday: Easy Run – 6.13 miles with Twig at Stone Creek 1,316 ft of vert

Sauna: 30 minutes

Wednesday: Speed workout – 20 minutes warmup // 10 x 2min @5%/8:34 min/mile x 2 min @1%/12min/mile // 20 minutes cool down – 8 miles and 920 ft of vert

Lift: Press

3×5 Front Squats @ 85lbs

3×5 Bench Press @ 75lbs

Superset 1: 2×8/side barbell OH walking lunges @50lbs // 2×10 Pushups

Superset 2: 2×8 goblet tall box stepdowns @20lbs // 2×8 top down db Z press @ 20lb dbs

Thursday: Rest / Sauna: 30 minutes

Friday: 4.5 hour long run – 16.38 miles and 5,505 feet of vert

Steam Room/ Hot Tub: 25 minutes

Saturday: 2 hour run – 8.37 miles and 1,106 feet of vert

Sunday: Recovery run with Women in Ultrarunning  – 4.89 miles and 308 feet of vert

Weekly Totals: 51.79 miles ran with 10,904 ft of vert in 11 hours and 56 minutes … plus an additional 11.6 miles of walking Twig 

Mantra: “Discipline and consistency do not care about how you feel. They only care about whether or not you did what you said you were going to do. Show up. Follow through on your commitment.” – I had this quote posted above my calendar last year. It was very helpful in getting me out the door on days that I did not feel like training. Every week I am going to share a mantra that kept me going throughout the week. I thought this one was appropriate at the start of this training block and I thought about it almost everyday. If doing corny things like this is what it takes then I will do it.

Reflections (informal notes to myself on this week of training): I was so sore from my core workout and pull day on Sunday that I didn’t feel fresh again until my speed workout on Wednesday… I think that the deadlifts and eccentric pull ups specifically did me in as it was mostly my upper body soreness that lingered the longest. My speed workout on Monday was definitely impacted by my lift but I’m hoping to regularly do that speed session before the lift on Mondays. The Wednesday speed workout on the treadmill was really hard but great quality. I think that my weakness of my VO2 max particularly shows here in the small difference between my warm up and cool down paces vs the pace I was running at for my intervals (10min vs 8:34). I would like to see this gap widen a bit more before starting threshold work however I think I’m only willing to do six weeks max of VO2 work before I seriously need to change training focus to threshold and then endurance. I’m super happy to be doing front squats again, this workout split is truly one of my favorites I have ever done although it is hard. I don’t think I hydrated anywhere near well enough during my long run on Friday which led me to almost pass out in the steam room afterwards. I also think I might have found out that the steam room can get significantly hotter than the sauna but I will have to test this out more. My heart rate skyrocketed into the 100s so fast and eventually got to the 150s. Usually it takes a whole 20 minutes to raise my heart rate in the dry sauna and then it doesn’t get as high. During my long run I did one M lap with a fellow runner who is pregnant and it took almost an hour vs my normal 30 minute lap. I didn’t mind it helped me keep the run easy but I added on an extra 30 minutes at the end because I was hoping to get to 16 miles at a bare minimum. I think I felt really exhausted at the end of this run because I know I didn’t fuel or drink enough water. Also, I haven’t done any concentrated vert like that since the Rut in September. I was stoked that my legs didn’t feel super sore on Saturday like I expected and I had an amazing run with friends keeping a solid pace on a snowy trail with rolling hills. My right foot and right side of my groin bothered me some this week but not significantly. I’m suspecting the groin could be menstrual related as it almost felt like one sided menstrual pain when I wasn’t running. I’m very happy that my knees felt pretty good all week long. The recovery run on Sunday was perfect. I started feeling a little bit sick near the end of the week but not significantly enough to change training. I focused on getting good sleep and taking LOTs of vitamin C. 

If you made it this far, thanks for reading. I personally think that reading other people’s training logs can be incredibly boring and mine is no exception. Clearly I have been inspired by others to write my own and sometimes I do gain a bit of insight by reading about the training practices of others. I enjoy being a student of this sport and the learning process that comes with tackling a challenging event to train for. Look forward to a shorter but similar training log next Sunday!