Training Log + I don’t like it anymore?!

(Top, shorts, shoes)

Twenty miles–> the first one of this training cycle was a success (hard, very hard, but I completed it).  

I tried drinking Maurten 320 for the first time (along with a graham cracker) on the drive to the trailhead, and I loved it.  It took me about 20 minutes to drink the entire thing, but it worked like magic on my system.  I felt so energized at the very beginning of the run.   Usually, it takes a few miles to start feeling good so this was a welcome change.  I’ll continue to drink this before long runs and big workouts.  Next time I will fill the bottle with some crushed ice too, because I feel that will make it even better.

I froze three of these bottles the night before the run.  When we first left the cars, I took one frozen bottle and one non-frozen bottle.  As soon as I was done with the first bottle, my frozen one had melted and was perfectly cold.  It felt so good to dump some of it on my head too. 

We were back to our cars at mile 15.  The other two that were frozen were perfectly chilled by the time we got back to our car.   This trail offers zero shade and so having cold water was very helpful.

These bottles fit perfectly in my shorts pockets and they didn’t bounce around.

The first 7.5 miles we took easy, and then we did 7.5 miles at tempo pace.  It was so hard. 

This trail includes rolling hills the entire way.  I ignored pace because I was on a trail but pushed myself to continue a hard effort the entire way back to our cars.  I wanted to quit every mile, and I was alone for this portion, so I listened to music to help pump me up.   It is so weird…. I don’t enjoy listening to music anymore while running and I’m not sure why I didn’t pull my headphones out.

At 15 miles, we made it back to our cars.  I took a gel at miles 5 and 10 and then had candy at mile 15.  We were doing easy miles for the rest of the run, so sugar is sugar, and gummy bears did the trick.

Although, their cool-down pace is a bit faster than mine, ha.  My friend on the left recently won a huge 50 miler in our area, and my friend (he is the one that is coaching us) on the right recently ran a 2:30 marathon.  

My watch hit 20.01, and I sat on the ground for a while.  Running is hard, but I think that is why we like it so much because it challenges us in the craziest way.  My lower back was sore at the end of this run?!  Any idea why?

I came home to forts being made and fresh buttermilk biscuits that they had made together.  This niece of mine is something else.

Andrew was working all weekend so it was just the four of us.  

On Sunday morning we went out and explored a bit.

And Beck tried to eat dirt the entire time.

I swear my sister and I were just doing this and now it’s our girls doing this.

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I decided to post my training a month at a time, so here is my training for July.  My previous training logs are here and here!

7/1:  Mt Timpanogos! 15 miles + 4,400 ft of climbing.  Legs were sore for a few days because of this, and it was a new pr for me on the way up and down on this mountain.

7/2:  7.09 miles @ 8:40 average

(55 miles total for this week)

7/4:  9.17 miles with a 5k in the middle (18:54)

7/5: 8.05 miles @ 8:15 average pace

7/6:  14 miles @ 7.17 average.  2 x 2 mile, 1 mile, 4 x 200s. Hilly course… 1000 ft of climbing

7/7:  8.41 miles trails w/876 ft climbing @ 8:43 pace

7/8: 7.03 miles @ 8:26 average

7/9:  14.25 trail miles with a 13k race in the middle @ 10:24 pace with 2500 ft of climbing for the day

(60.96 miles for the week… didn’t have another .04 miles in me;)

7/11:  10 miles @ 8:34 average on the roads

7/12: 15 miles total @ 7:17 average with 6 x 1 MTC Mile (1 mile mostly down, part flat… 5:18, 5:28, 5:24, 5:22, 5:20, and then I finished with a 5:06)

7/13: 8.04 miles @ 9:01 average on the trails + 917 ft climbing

7/14: 18 miles total—> 1st 10 up to Silver Lake (2500 ft climbing), 3 x 2 miles with .5 recoveries down AF canyon (some flat, mostly down): 5:54, 6:00; 5:43, 5:31; 5:17, 5:32.

7/15: 7.2 miles @ 8:51 average

(65 miles for the week)

7/18: 7.11 miles @ 9:55 average on trails (1100 ft climbing)

7/19: 14 miles @ 7:32 average with 2 miles @ goal 1/2 marathon pace (around 5:50) and 4 x 30 second strides.

7/20: 8 miles @ 8:02 average

7/21: 6.2 miles @ 8:41 with a few strides

7/22:  Off

7/23: 1 mile @ 10:00, 13.2 @ 6:01 net downhill, 3.44 miles @ 8:24 cooldown

(53 miles for the week)

7/25: 10.35 miles @9:32 average with trails and roads.

7/26: 7.04 miles @ 8:30 average.

7/27:  15.05 miles @ 7:13 average with 3-mile push, 1-mile push (straight uphill), and a 3-mile push.  3-mile pushes around a bit slower than half-marathon pace, and I pushed as hard as possible on the hill.  4.07 miles later in the day to get some heat training @ 8:26 average.

7/28:  8.72 miles @ 8:45 average

7/29:  4.76 miles @ 8:46 average

7/30:  1st 20 miler in a few months! Deer Creek trails @ 7:48 average. First 7.5 easy, tempo for 7.5 miles and 5-mile c/d.  Rolling hills the entire run.

(70 miles for the week)

Random tangent but I came across this picture of my alarm clock on a blog post of mine from 2011… It just took me 11 years to get there.  These goals take patience!

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Has anyone else tried Maurten 320? What were your thoughts? Have you ever tried some sort of drink before a run similar to Maurten 320?

Running with music? Do you go through phases when you like it and don’t?

Who else works weekends? Sometimes or all of the time?

Ever use candy during a run? What about frozen water bottles?

-Andrew thought I was being risky about the frozen water bottles, but I knew they would melt pretty quickly against my body during the run ha.