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Week 17 Training Recap

Average Resting Heart Rate: 51

Total Vert: 7,200

Miles: 45.7 (includes hiking)

Let’s start with the Good this week:

Total Vertical – 7,200 is the highest number to date since training started on January 21. I got in more hiking this week including an attempt at Whiteface in the White Mountains. While the snow is gone on the trails in Concord there is still plenty of snow and ice an hour north of me.

Resting Heart Rate – average heart rate is getting higher, to a better number. 47 is just too low even for a fit athlete. As I look at my watch just now Average Resting bumped up to 55. This means no dizziness and just feeling better all around. I’m not sure why it plummets like it does, and I actually think it may have something to do with humidity but I will continue to monitor.

Weight Training – I’m back in the weight room and I love the new routine. I started on a machine that will hopefully help me do a real pull up.

Hiking in the Whites – hiked in the Whites with Alex, his pup and Winnie. I love being in the White Mountains and we hiked into the Sandwich Range Wilderness. (Should’ve snapped a photo of the sign.) I always love being in a wilderness.

Injury Free – I’m injury free!

The Bad/Unfortunate

I didn’t hit the big mileage that I planned for this weekend. Saturday was a bust after running 11 miles on the Concord trails including Carter Hill (the photo above), falling and injuring my left pinky that doesn’t bend from being broken in 2014. I was nervous about the swelling and getting worse so I headed home. At 14 miles I called it. Once I was home I didn’t go out on another loop. Motivation was low on Saturday from the pain and cold temps. I need to work on this dedication/motivation issues when I need to finish training plan miles. Sunday started with a 4am wake up call and drive to the trailhead to meet Alex. The hike was awesome – not too steep at first and a bit of a monorail most the way. The mileage was supposed to be around 8 but we turned around at the first icy ledge that seemed like certain death for curious dogs. But the bad part is that I really thought I’d come home and run 13 miles and I didn’t. Hiking was the highlight of my week!

I had a head cold all week. On the weekdays when I knew I had to do mileage (a pro in the middle of the con statement), I did the miles but felt awful most of the time.

Today, Monday, April 29 it’s time to regroup and commit to miles, weights, stairs, hiking and night runs. My cold is over and I’m injury free. Time to get strong and get ready for the next 30 miler milestone on May 11.

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Game of Thrones, Season 4 Daenerys Targaryen

I gave into popular culture and started watching Game of Thrones.

I tried a few time over the last year and never made it past episode 1 on the first time and second try. Then finally on the third try I made it past episode 3 and knew I would watch until then end. I only made the third attempt because my co-worker/friend told me, who happens to read A LOT, it is truly just a great story – well told – minus the blood, gore, nudity (full frontal female nudity only, shall I say) and a lot death, which I abhor.

One month later I’m binge watching Game of Thrones, which is ill-advised but I really don’t listen to anyone. I’m on Season 4.

GoT came at a good time – I’m training for the ultra race, the ultimate race, a race I’m not sure I can finish but mentally I need to think I can. So, recovery this race season is Game of Thrones.

The character I love: Daenerys Targaryen. Why? She knows what she wants. She turns a bad situation into the best situation. She has great mental energy.

I say that not knowing what happens in the final season that is on HBO right now – which I don’t have.

Right now, okay maybe tomorrow (it’s been a long weekend of not meeting goals) I’m going to feed my desire to achieve by taking in everything this character embodies.

Okay, maybe the last quote was more political than personal but the personal is political – so there.

Week 17 recap tomorrow.

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Heading into a big mileage weekend

It’s Saturday and I just got back from a warm-up hike with Winnie.

4 miles around Marjory Swope

And hitting Jerry Summit twice for some added vert.

Now it’s time to head out for 25 miles. I’ve been fighting a head cold that is now heading into my lungs but it’s very minor. However, yesterday running up hills was hard!

I’m heading for the hills west of Concord and not sure what the mileage of the first loop will be. The plan is to come back to my house to refuel and then head out again to finish the miles. It’s wet and muddy out there but I’m up for the challenge.

Tomorrow is a hike up north for a 4,000 footer and then a 13 mile recovery run. This is it. This is what I have to do to get strong and be ready for 100 miles.

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Training Recap, Week 18

The TARC Spring Classic 50K on Saturday was painful and I battled negative thoughts during the first two loops.

Half way through the first loop I hit a rock or root and fell, hard, to the ground and into bushes landing on my right shoulder. I got up quickly and realized that I wasn’t injured but cut my left hand. Since it was raining I had all kinds of wet vegetation on me. I was more embarrassed than hurt. I started running and the only thing that hurt was my hand. Thank goodness. If I fell on the first loop when my mind was working well, I better pay attention on the future loops.

The race was so well organized. The food was good. I ate PB&J and grilled cheese on every loop. The water bottle fillers were awesome and helpful; very friendly. I loved that the aid station at every loop had my drop bag waiting for me. I ran pretty light and didn’t carry much water or my soft flasks because I knew every 10K I would have Tailwind and water. I didn’t use Perpetum until the 4th loop and it really help my energy level because during the third loop I realized that I might not make the cut-off and didn’t even know what the the cut-off was. My mind was so out of it that I couldn’t figure out how long each 10K loop took me. Was it an hour? 90 minutes? I couldn’t do the math. At the aid station before heading out on the 4th loop I found out that I had to start the 5th loop by 2:15. It was 12:15. Could I do one loop in 2 hours. My mind couldn’t figure it out so I headed out on the 4th loop to go as fast as I could.

While running the 4th loop I realized that I hate it when people have to wait for me; I hate inconveniencing people. If I barely meet the cut off, the race director and all his people would be waiting for me to finish and that makes me feel bad. I thought that if I was cutting it too close I just wouldn’t go out on the final loop. As I got closer to the end of the loop I realized each loop took about 90 minutes to finish.

I came into the aid station at 1:45 (phew!) and headed out on the last loop; everything hurt so much. Now I just wanted to finish as fast as I could so I didn’t keep race volunteers from leaving and get my 31 training miles in.

I don’t fully understand why I felt so weary most of the run. It wasn’t super hilly, the total elevation gain was just under 1,000. It could just be that I was still tired from a running 38 total miles last weekend.

As I ran this race I thought about all the things I need to do for the next 5 weeks before my 50 miler: more weights, more stairs and more time on my feet.

Gear Note: I wore the Lone Peak shoes and SmartWool socks. By the 2nd loop they were pretty soaked from the rain showers and I thought I would stop and change shoes but by the time I got back to the aid station an hour later, my feet seemed dry. Amazing. So I didn’t waste time changing shoes, I wore them the entire 31 miles.

The week of training was good. No knee pain and while the total mileage this week was less than last week, I’m okay with it knowing I pushed a little harder than I normally would on Saturday. Next weekend I’m going to try for more elevation gain and get the mileage back up where it should be. Weights, night running and stairs are all in my plan this week!

Average Resting Heart Rate: 51

Total Vert: 2,100

Miles: 51.3 (includes hiking)

This Week’s Plan



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Getting Ready For BIG Miles

Tomorrow is the TARC 50K in Weston, Ma. I’m excited for this race. It’s not really a race but a training milestone. I pretty much just need to finish and beat the cut-off times.

Then on Sunday, run 10 miles.

I’m ready.

Marjory Swope Trails today.

Today, Friday is a recovery day so I hiked with Winnie this morning and took her on a few long walks during the day. This morning it was sooooo humid.

91% Humidity – geez.

I’m going to bed early and then heading south of the border, the New Hampshire border.

Race report to follow shortly.