Weekly Reflection:
I started the week with pretty sore hamstrings from racing Run to the Pub. This week my training focused on de-loading the intensity and increasing my volume and vert. The start of my first “build phase” for Scout. To de-load intensity I ended up only doing backsquats and deadlifts at the gym and skipping the entirety of the rest of my lifting. Honestly I skipped the gym more-so because I was busy than anything else but it was good. Another thing I did during the intensity de-load is no structured workouts, not even strides. My hamstrings thanked me and they recovered well. I spent more time than usual this week working on stretching and mobility.
Overall this week I ended up doing a little over 12k of vert which is pretty significant compared to the 1k of vert the week before and hardly any very at all while I focused on road runs during my half marathon training. I’d like to keep my vert at a minimum of 10k a week for the remainder of my training outside of de-load weeks. Mentally I felt so happy to be back on the trails and I got to do a significant amount of runs on trail with Twig who is improving on being with me during runs, very dramatically. Since she is a hunting dog, she is a dog that is bred to and enjoys doing her own thing independently around me rather than either leading or following me down a trail as many herding dogs will do. I am still working on her staying closer to me or at least being more aware of me so she will follow me the right direction when the trail switches back or has a junction. I particularly enjoyed my two long runs this week. The M trailhead to Sypes TH and back on the road is something I’ve always wanted to run and I absolutely loved the route. I expect to be doing it a couple more times during training hopefully. I went to Copper City for the first time and very much enjoyed the new scenery and some girl friends for company. Overall this week was very refreshing and I am glad I am feeling re-directed to training specifically for the 100 mile distance rather than the road speed I was working on in the first part of training.
Monday: 4.76 miles with 1,644 feet of vert
Notes: Easy run, Twig joined me for a drinking horse lap and then we did an M lap
Tuesday: 2.49 miles and 761 feet of vert // 3.77 miles and 299 feet of vert
Notes: Easy run, first run was with Twig on drinking horse mountain. We played “find the bone” with a real shed antler. Next I was going to go do an M lap but it was getting a little warm outside and I felt uncomfortable leaving her in the car for that. For the second run I went home and did an easy run around town in shorts and a t-shirt. Possibly my first shorts and T-shirt run all year?
Wednesday: 4.84 miles and 1,575 feet of vert
Notes: Easy run. Did this with Louise and Twig joined us for the drinking horse lap at the end.
Thursday: 3.96 miles and 1,309 feet of vert
Notes: Easy run. Kirk hill with Twig.
Friday: 1.9 miles and 810 feet of vert // 13.27 miles and 3,061 feet of vert
Notes: The first run was an M lap with Twig and Bryce and the second run was my solo long run. I ran from the M trailhead to the Sypes trailhead and then back on the road. It was an extremely enjoyable route and I wished I had been doing this for years already! It was really hot and I didn’t fully plan on this route until I just sent it. I ran outta water and walked a good bit of the roads on the way back but I was still super happy with my times. I had a fun flowy downhill on the way to Sypes TH.
Saturday: 16.87 miles and 2,805 feet of vert
Notes: Easy long run at Copper City with Savannah and Alexis. I have been wanting to come here to run for so long. Perfect day for it. I really enjoyed it until the end, I was really over the mountain bike pump tracks but overall a very nice place to run.
Sunday: Rest day!
Notes: I walked Twig up the middle cottonwood trail. It was so nice!
Des Hikes Thru 