week in workouts + i ran 30 miles in one day!
31 miles one day, rest the next. I caught on to the spreading Yeti Ultra Challenge through a couple of folks I follow on Instagram, and since I, like the rest of the running community, aches for a race, nodded my head to the task. I want to acknowledge first that this is NOT for everyone, particularly if you have not raced at least a marathon before – I frankly wasn’t even positive this was for me especially knowing I’d have to face a 90 degree temperature on multiple legs. I did it, though. I found it a wonderful confidence booster and an unforgettable milestone.
I will post more about the Yeti Challenge in the next couple of weeks. With my running mileage increasing steadily and comfortably, I’m less engaged with my indoor trainer and am finding cycling more burdensome than usual. I may be suffering a tinge of burnout and after this week decided to cut down my biking mileage slowly in the coming months. Ideally, I’ll keep a 2+ hour session in the mix, but whether that happens or not remains to be seen. Running, leastwise, has felt quite good even following the Yeti Challenge!
Monday, 5/11: 30.91 miles, 15.4 mph cycling (120 minutes)
Awesome interval session to start the training week! I performed a ladder session at various cadences to simulate a tempo to threshold progression. Went as follows:
- 20 minute warmup with 5 x 1 minutes faster turnover
- 4-3-2-1 minutes continuous @ 84-86, 86-88, 88-90, and 90+ RPM
- 5 minute recovery
- 1-2-3-4 minutes continuous @ 90+, 88-90, 86-88, and 84-86 RPM
- 5 minute recovery
- Repeat set one more time
- 20 minute @ 82-84 RPM
- 20 minute cooldown
Tuesday, 5/12: 6.03 miles, 10:21 pace + 45 minute full-body circuit
I’m very pleased that my easy paces have largely drifted into the mid-10s. Midway through the run, I started getting a bit hot since my route doesn’t have any shade and the sun blared on my back despite relatively lovely conditions otherwise. I also barged into 18 mph headwinds during the final pair of miles. Regardless, I enjoyed my outing and left some time to do 4 quick strides after.
E2MOM: 4 rounds, 1 minute rest after each round.
- 20 weighted lunge pulses per side + 10 reverse lunges per side
- 15 jump squats + 10 pushups + 10 jump squats
- 12 push press + 15 reverse flies + 15 underhand rows
- 12 knee-ups per side + 15 triceps pulses
- 30 criss-cross mountain climbers + 30 X toe taps + 30 flutter kicks
Wednesday, 5/13: 6.45 miles, 9:47 pace + 27.46 miles, 15.7 mph cycling (105 minutes)
Two phenomenal quality sessions today! First, the road work. My legs felt springy from the get-go despite soreness from yesterday’s strength circuit. I kicked off with a 2.12 mile warmup with a few surges and stopped to perform some leg swings, squat pulses, kickbacks, and side lunges. I almost never do a *real* routine prior to speedwork, but figured I should try and see what gives.
The workout: 6 x 400m with 400m recovery. Nothing fancy or prolonged, just seeing where I’m at as far as harder efforts go. The first three intervals the wind helped carry me along, but the final three I ran against it and found that despite the gusts I still felt strong. Splits: 7:48, 7:36, 7:36, 7:32, 7:18, and 7:20. I’d say it was a pretty good jumping-off point to guide me to my theoretical marathon goal!
Gave Pittor some love after filming a yoga video in the morning, which involves a low-impact dynamic warmup sequence. Stay tuned!
- 20 minute warmup with 5 x 1 minute fast cadence drills
- 5 x 3 minutes as 1 minute 88-90 RPM, 1 minute 90-92 RPM, 1 minute 92-95 RPM/3 minute easy recovery
- 5 minute recovery spin
- 30 minute tempo @ 83-86 RPM
- 20 minute cooldown
Thursday, 5/14: 22.8 miles, 15.2 mph cycling (90 minutes)
Easy spin that really didn’t feel so easy. My leg soreness grew after yesterday’s sessions and made my quads heavy and unwilling to move. I threw in some :30 higher cadence bits just to give myself some variety and hopefully wake the legs up. Helped a bit, but I was glad regardless to finish.
Friday, 5/15: 30.96 miles, 10:19 pace, 5:19:36 – Yeti Challenge finisher!
I have a very comprehensive blog post in the works regarding the Yeti 24 Hour Challenge, so I won’t go too far into depth here. What I will say is how remarkable this was and how proud of myself I still remain for completing this. I did not run any of the sets intensely, I instead focused on steadiness and even energy levels and fueling adequately between legs. I napped briefly a couple times and finished my final set with J on the bike beside me playing upbeat tunes. I came inside at midnight to the most glorious shower and a huge plate of homemade nachos that he whipped up while I cleaned off. I’ll leave it at that for now. Stay tuned for my upcoming recap – I’ll discuss the breakdown, pacing, fueling, and celebrating, because this certainly was a feat worth christening in the most thorough way possible.
Saturday, 5/16: TOTAL REST
I have not taken a rest day in a long while, but I fully embraced it on Saturday. I slept in (until 7, not even a 1 am bedtime forces my body to relax into the midmorning!), did a very light 20 minutes of restorative yoga, and enjoyed nourishing foods and lots of downtime between little tasks here and there. Blueberry crisp for dessert rounded off a most wonderfully relaxing day.
Sunday, 5/17: 16.99 miles, 15.6 mph cycling (65 minutes) + 45 minute core and full body
Itched to move the legs after work so I settled onto Pittor for a 45 minute tempo ride, which got pretty tough by the end but wasn’t unmanageable. Immediately following I performed 4 rounds of the following circuit with a little bit of this and that, and I had a decent time overall!
- 20 dumbbell swings
- 15 windmills per side
- 18 shoulder shrugs
- 12 plank dumbbell slides
- 15 weighted bent-knee jackknives
- 30 X toe taps
- 2 x 30 clamshells per side (until my resistance band broke!) then 2 x 20 standing lateral raises per side
BONUS – 3 x 8 per side squat with single-arm press + 3 x 15 side plank arm lift thing (?)
Total Running Mileage: 43.44
Total Cycling Mileage: 98.16
