This past week was my fifth week of training for the North Face 50K on April 9. My mileage is starting to ramp up a bit and this ultra training thing is starting to seem more real. I finished this week feeling strong and confident, with one third of the training behind me. I know it’s going to get much, much tougher in the weeks to come. But I have to say, I’m really enjoying this process so far!
Monday – Rest.
Tuesday – 3 mile easy run on the treadmill, followed by some strength training. I decided to do some ‘real life’ strength training and shoveled the foot of snow off of our front walk.
Wednesday – 4 mile hill workout on the treadmill. My run included six quarter mile hill repeats with a total of 464 feet in elevation gain.
Thursday – Rest.
Friday – Cross training: Jillian Michael’s 30 day shred level 3 DVD workout
Saturday – 16 mile long run around Blacksburg. I had to do this run all on paved trails, since the dirt trails I normally run are still covered with deep snow. A couple of my friends were down visiting for the weekend. My one friend, Jackie, and I try and get together for a run when she’s in town. When she initially asked me about what my plans were for the weekend, I told her I had a 16 miler on Saturday. I asked if she wanted to join me for part of the run, but she enthusiastically said she would try and run the whole thing. She’s never run more than 6 miles. We ran a route that would allow her to drop around 10 miles if she wanted to. But lo and behold she toughed it out and ran the whole way with me. I was very impressed!
It was a gorgeous day for a long run. The temperature was in the upper 20’s at the start and it warmed up to the 40’s by the finish. We started out on a trail I used to run on in college all of the time – the Huckleberry trail. We also explored a new trail that connects to it. I was happy to find all of these trails had been cleared of snow.
On our way back, we decided to run around the Virginia Tech campus for a bit. We made our way over to the football stadium, and found that the entrance to the tunnel was unlocked! This is the tunnel that the football players run through when they come onto the field.
It was fun to go out onto the field in the snow and look at the empty stadium.
At this point we were at mile 10 and decided to start making our way across town towards to the house where a bunch of our college friends live (and where my friends who were visiting were staying for the weekend). We ran by their house a little past mile 14.5, and they came out to cheer us on as we ran by. Then, after a mile and a half out and back that felt very long, we finally hit 16 miles!
Our cars were actually about two miles away, back at the beginning of the trail where we started our run. So we had to get a ride back over there to get them. First, though, I oversaw Jackie’s very first ice bath which she actually completed by sitting in the front yard and burying her legs in the snow.
Sunday – 4 mile run with Kim in the afternoon. I was worried that my legs would be sore, after running my 16 miler all on pavement the day before. Surprisingly, I wasn’t sore at all. I just felt a bit tired.
It was a gorgeous day out, and Kim and I both got to wear shorts. We thought it looked funny to be running in shorts in the snow, so we snapped a picture at the halfway point.
Much of the run was in the snow, since the trail is still covered in a couple inches of snow in most places. That made for a fun run, though. I also started breaking in new shoes. Same model as my old ones, but these are purple – my favorite color!
Total Miles: 27 miles
January total: 102 miles
This weekly workout recap is part of the Weekly Wrap link up, hosted by HoHo Runs and MissSippiPiddlin’.
How was your weather this weekend?
Who else is in training for something? How is it going so far?
Turkey Runner 
Warmer. Lots of melting
LUD
We had some flooding from all of that melting this week!
I finished week 2 of training for my 10k. Both runs have been OK, nothing spectacular, but I got them done and felt good afterwards.
I love that post-run feeling of accomplishment! It’s very satisfying 🙂
I am so impressed that Jackie ran all 16 miles with you! That’s a big jump from 6!
I know, right!? She has got some serious mental game.
I love your two trail pictures up top because they are very different but equally as pretty. Jackie did great to run the whole 16 miles. And, that’s a very clever way to get an ice bath! It does look odd to see you wearing shorts while running in the snow. Thanks for linking with us Meagan.
I like the combination of shorts and snow 🙂 I’d like more weather like that! It’s fun to run in the snow while not actually freezing.
Go, Jackie, go! How awesome that she was able to hang with you for 16 miles! I can’t even begin to tell you how jealous I am that you got to run through the tunnel and into Lane! You must be living right! 🙂
I’m so glad we decided to go through campus and see if it was open 🙂
How in the world did you get her to run that far with you? Good gosh to make that much of a jump is awesome. So how sore was she the next day. I’ve never taken an ice bath but I bet I could do it in the snow that seems way more fun!! Thanks Meagan for linking up!
I didn’t do any convincing at all! (Okay, maybe at mile 14.5 when she wanted to drop… she was so close, though, and I knew she’d be kicking herself later!) I actually asked her many times if she was sure about going for 16 and she was all for it. Crazy girl. She did say she nearly screamed when getting out of bed the next morning, haha, so I’d say she was very sore. She was feeling almost back to normal yesterday (Thursday), though.
Gorgeous scenery! And, I am really impressed that your friend was able to go from 6 to 16. Makes me almost think I could do an ultra someday, ha ha.
Go for it! I never thought I could do one, and now I’ll be putting that to the test in April.
Your trails pictures are beautiful! Your friend did an awesome job going the full 16 miles with you. That’s a big jump from 6 miles. Shorts in the snow? I couldn’t do it.