Grindstone Training, Week #5, July 14-20

Thank goodness for naps! With these high mileage weeks, my body has been demanding them and I have been taking them. Especially given this 90 degree heat we are having, it's also easy to do, and I am really getting into the groove of my summer vacation. Basically, for the month of July, I have been sleeping late (except when meeting Bill for tempo runs), running, eating, driving the kids around to their activities, eating, napping, and driving. When my daughter goes to swim practice in the mornings, I either run or lift. Ditto in the afternoons. Now I can see why the professionals can train as hard as they do---they have nothing to do except train, eat, and sleep!

In addition to sleeping well, I am trying hard to stay hydrated, and to eat a lot of small, healthy meals throughout the day. I am loving the fresh fruit and vegetables available during this time of year and am taking advantage by cooking a lot of veggie-only meals along with salmon (for the Omega fatty acid boost) and shrimp. I find that I am constantly hungry and I have no problem eating as much as I can handle, including Ben and Jerry's Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz ice cream. This is a great fringe benny of 100-miler training!I am also drinking a 20 ounce Ultragen Cappuccino after my hard days, and it really helps my recovery.

This week's training plan called for about 75 miles, and I added a longer, harder back-to-back weekend. Next week will be a cut-back week so I can recover from these hard efforts. So far, so good!

Monday, July 14: 6 miles on rolling dirt roads with 20 seconds hard (all out) and 40 seconds recovery x 15. Not quite what Neal Jamison has been doing, but I am intrigued by that approach.

Tuesday, July 15: Easy 5-mile run on hilly pavement, lifted afterwards upper body and core.

Wednesday, July 16: Tempo Run with Bill. Easy 3 mile warm-up on rolling gravel roads, then 2 miles at 7:20 pace x 3, with 2:30 rest in between interval sets. This was tough, 'cuz we ran it on very hilly roads. We finished the last mile of the last set climbing up O-Hill again...brutal. Total mileage after cool-down was 11 miles with many feet of climb. Afterwards, I swam and ran easy in the pool. I took a huge nap later in the afternoon!

Thursday, July 17: Easy recovery run with Michelle, 8 miles on rolling dirt roads. It was great to catch up with Miss M., who was visiting from TN. pm: lifted lower body and core.

Friday, July 18: I blew off running with Bill this a.m. in favor of sleeping late (until 8:45!). Our dog had been keeping us up all week, having just gotten neutered, so I was feeling the effects of lack of sleep. Total rest day...no lifting, no running, no swimming, nada. Just a few beers while listening to Rusty's band play at a local outdoor concert!!



Saturday, July 19: 20-mile Trayfoot Mountain lollipop with the VHTRC gang, above: Marc, John, Sophie,Tom,Jill,Dave,Debbie, and Quatro (Gary took the pic). This loop is a fave of many local trail runners and it was fun to be able to share it with my buddies from NoVa. It has over 8900 feet of climb in 20 miles and has numerous water crossings, including an awesome swimming hole (below) at the finish, where we stashed our recovery drinks. With temps in the 90s, this was a great heat run on a very runnable and scenic course, and it took us all about 5 hours. More pics from our run are here.




Sunday, July 20: 26 miles on the Wild Oak Trail (one loop). This is more Grindstone training, as miles 23-43 of Gstone are included on this loop, which has over 10,000 feet of climb (according to a recent Garmin 205 reading). It was really hot and humid, so I took 100 ounces with me (two hand helds, one with water, one with Sustained Energy and my 60 oz. Nathan Intensity with a huge ice cube and two tablets of Nuun (particularly tasty in cold, cold water). I ran conservatively, knowing I had a few 1 hour+ climbs to handle in the heat, and finished my loop in 7:15. I particularly enjoyed getting to know some new VHTRC friends, Jim, Vince, and Dave, who came for their first TWOT experience. Thanks to Quatro, we had two excellent aid stations which were (literally) lifesavers. Overall, I was very pleased with how I handled the heat and my pace on the very tough climbs. Just how tough is this loop? When I invited David Horton to join us, his reply was, "Too tough!"

Yes, it was tough. I am looking forward for an easy week ahead!