Weekly Totals: 39.23 and 6,184 feet of vert
Reflection: The focus of this week was recovery and I did my best to lean into it. I took an extra rest day for the second week in a row and it was really hard to do that mentally. All week long my legs felt so dead but I reminded myself that the purpose of the week is to get me ready for the next three bigger weeks. Every little bit of vert I did felt so much harder than it normally feels but the road running felt really good. It was interesting to note that only my legs felt tired and nothing else. Usually when I get really beat down from training I end up feeling it in my whole body but not this week. Just an interesting observation. Any time I walked up a couple of stairs in regular life I could feel how tired my legs were but other than that I felt amazing. This is the third week in a row I have skipped the gym and I don’t think I have done that in a whole year. I’ve missed two weeks in a row a couple times but not three (at least that I can remember). I can feel a very obvious difference in my strength and it is kind of disappointing that it only took three weeks for that to happen. I’m planning to get back in the gym the next two weeks but keep it lighter and simple. Sadly I only have two weeks of my gym membership left (for reasons I can’t share here yet). The two long runs I did this week both felt really hard to start but turned around by the end. I think it is just taking me a very long time to warm up which is not unusual for me. I can’t believe how close I am getting to Scout!
Monday
20 minutes with Twig on a leash and 30 minutes solo on pavement immediately after: 4.5 miles
Notes: I took Twig out on her first road run which mostly just consisted of us fighting on a leash. She did okay. I didn’t realize until we did this that I had never seen her hold a trotting pace. I hope by the time August rolls around that she is much better on the leash since that is how I am planning to exercise her before I start class for the day.
Tuesday
1 Hour EZ on the Foothills: 4 miles with Twig
Notes: I felt great other than my legs which were really tired. Today was a really slow day for me. Twig made it better of course.
Wednesday
1 Hour EZ around town: 6 miles
Notes: I really enjoyed this road run. I think that getting so much vert has turned most of my training into hiking and after getting to run so much more for my road block I have been itching to actually run more. I think this side effect of road running has surprised me quite a bit lately. Scout Mountain is heavy on the Vert so I need to remind myself that 90% of the race is going to be hiking anyways.
Thursday
Rest Day
Notes: It was really hard for me to enjoy this rest day at all. It was so nice outside and I wanted to go do something. This is my second week in a row with two rest days and I don’t think I like it. I think it was warranted last week but this week it was so painful to do nothing.
Friday
3 Hours EZ Foothills and Sypes Loop with the Road: 13.3 miles
Notes: This is the second time I’ve run this loop and I love it so much. I felt pretty bad for the first half of this run considering it is a recovery week. My legs just felt dead like they have all week. I ended up bouncing back on the road and was able to run every step of the road. I couldn’t do that last time I did this run, granted I dramatically ran out of water. I was prepared today and did this 10 minutes faster than last time.
2 Miles at Give Big Backyard Boogie: A local fundraiser for our run clubs. I’m happy I went to support but quickly realized this was not productive for me to do at all. My legs felt tired.
Saturday
2 Hours EZ at Brackett Creek Run Club: 9.2 miles
Notes: I felt so slow again today like my legs just wouldn’t move but I reminded myself it was because I did a long run yesterday! I did half of this on an uphill gravel road and the other half on a really nice runnable trail but I still ended up hiking most of it.
Sunday
Rest day
Notes: This rest day went much better.
Des Hikes Thru 