Weekly Totals: 52.23 miles (running only) and 13,146 feet of vert
Reflection: Here is the awkward part where I skipped a week of training because I miscounted how many weeks I had left from the beginning oops! I have realized this for the past month or so but I finally just skipped the week # on this post. Twig and I were on our first camping trip together this week so please enjoy the details of our trip more so than training! Also this week came right after I raced the Serengeti 50k so it is pretty mellow despite still significant volume. My legs were just tired all week but it was a good training stimulus! Highlights of the week include getting to see the last 20 miles of the Scout Mountain course with Michaela, 4 M laps, a hill speed workout with Margaret and exploring a new trail system in Missoula with Twig. Honestly I think this might have been my favorite week of training so far. Lots of adventure.
Monday
Malans Peak Hike: 4.5 miles and 2,044 feet
Notes: Just a hike with Twig on the leash for most of the time since we were in an urban area I’m not as familiar with. It was challenging with her on the leash. I did this peak because it was on my route and I see a lot of Utah runners who do it on Strava. I wanted to check it out and wow it would be such an awesome shorter but still challenging run to have access to on the regular. I love checking out the local training hill! In Bozeman it is our “M”.
Jardine Juniper Trail Run with Twig: 6.05 miles and 1,253 feet
Notes: It took me longer to find camping than I expected which is so funny because I was actually looking for paid camping which I almost never do. Since I was with Twig I just didn’t want us to have any trouble by accidentally camping in a sketchy free spot. Welp it turns out that I found us free camping anyways because all the paid places were closed. We had the whole campsite to ourselves. The trail we ran from the campsite was absolutely stunning but this did turn into more of a hike than a run for me. I was just feeling tired from all the travel and still recovering from Saturday. I wanted to go farther to actually see the Jardine Juniper but it was quickly getting dark and I wanted to get Twig inside the tent to figure out sooner rather than later if she was going to have any problems. She did great!
Tuesday
Paris Peak Dirt Road/ Trail Run with Twig: 6.00 miles and 837 feet
Notes: This ended up being a lot of hiking as well. There was a good amount of snow on the road and trail we had to post hole through. I could have gone longer but we turned around so we could go enjoy yet another amazing free campsite to ourselves!
Hike with Twig: 4.68 miles and 1,056 feet of vert
Notes: We were just wandering around looking for sheds and instead found a dead porcupine that Twig decided to roll in the guts of and get very stinky!
Wednesday
Hike with Twig: 2.04 miles and 289 feet of vert
Notes: From the Gibson Jack Aid station of the Scout Mountain Course. We were killing time while waiting for Michaela to get off of work.
Long Run with Michaela: 21.13 miles and 5,184 feet of vert
Notes: We did the last 20 miles of the Scout Mountain course! We have been wanting to do this together for so long. I couldn’t believe Michaela suggested that we start it after 5pm on a Wednesday night but I said YES! And I’m so glad I did. This was such an informative run for me. I was surprised by how steep the descents were and how shallow all the vert was. It was a lot of vert but the downhill felt worse than the uphill. Michaela was the best tour guide and I am really looking forward to her pacing the last 23 miles for me. I felt extra fatigued during this run but it was a great simulation of what mile 100 will feel like. This race is going to be super tough to finish! We got to the top of Scout Mountain right at sunset and the temperature dropped dramatically but luckily once we went down in elevation it got warm again. Conditions were predicted to be very stormy and we got lucky. We didn’t get back to the car until 11:30 pm. What an adventure.
Thursday
Unplanned rest day driving home from Idaho
Friday
4 M laps with Twig: 7.56 miles and 3,287 feet
Notes: It was snowy but the trail was good! Twig only did the first three laps with me and then she turned my car into a dog fart gas chamber when I came back after my 4th lap solo. It was so nice to bust out some M laps. I haven’t done more than two M laps in a row this year which is crazy to me. I’m trying to get to 100 total lifetime efforts on the M before moving away from Bozeman for school. I should have less than 15 left now. I fell so hard in the mud on my third lap. My knee has a giant bruise and my running vest and all my clothes were covered in the mud. Oops!
Saturday
6 x 3 minutes Hill Workout with Margaret: 6.61 miles and 1,709 feet of vert
Notes: Insane this is my first hill workout of the training block and Scout Mountain is so close! I was supposed to do this earlier in the week but moved it because of the opportunity to do Scout Mountain with Michaela. I was so happy Margaret texted me to run. She is running Huron 100 miler which is the same day as scout! She is a freshman at MSU and such a good athlete. This workout was really fun to do together and it was nice to show her my favorite trail for her first time! The foothills will be dramatically missed when I move to Missoula. I want to get this trail tattooed on me so bad. I could write an essay about how important it has been to me.
Sunday
Blue Mountain with Twig: 4.86 miles and 876 feet
Notes: Twig and I went to Missoula to check things out. I think this will be our regular off leash running spot! It was soooo pretty. The ponderosa trees were outstanding and something that is very different from Bozeman. The trail network here was really convoluted so I spent a lot of time looking at my map. I wish it was a bit steeper from the trailhead. I had the thought that Missoula people must be so good at running because the trails are so shallow they can actually run up the hills the whole time vs hiking like all of the steep stuff here in Bozeman! I can’t wait to explore the town more.
Twig having fun at Blue Mountain in Missoula. Notice the ponderosa pines!
Des Hikes Thru 