Ultra Training: Week Eleven

Week eleven of my ultra training began with the start of new year, which meant a time for new goals and new beginnings.  I’m not a big fan of making resolutions so I went into week eleven with the goal of getting through week eleven.  I’ve decided that by taking it a week at a time, the idea of running a 50K won’t seem as overwhelming.  My weekly mileage increased this week and this is how it went:

Sunday
Sunday’s miles were a combination of running and urban hiking.  I met up with a group from San Diego’s Moms Run This Town to do the Seven bridges hike in San Diego.  It was a fun adventure and I ended up with seven miles this day—seems pretty fitting since there are seven bridges.  If you’ve never done the seven bridges hike, you should.  It’s a fun way to explore San Diego.

Monday
Another meeting of the #5amRunClub started off my day.  It’s a great way to start the week—this week we added a little bit of hill training.  As much as I dislike hills, it was definitely great to have the support and encouragement of my friends as I ran up the hill.  

Tuesday
I woke up with a serious case of the Mondays on a Tuesday and I knew the best rememdy for this was some vitamin sea.  Although the weather was gloomy, I headed down to the boardwalk to get my miles in.  I went later than I normally run at the boardwalk and wasn’t used to weaving in and out of all the people.  But it was still a peaceful run and the scenery did not disappoint.

Wednesday
Usually my scheduled rest day, but this week I switched it up.  I was meeting up with Jennifer, who I met through Instagram.  She was going to be in San Diego visiting and reached out, asking about places to run in San Diego.  We decided to meet-up and went for a run around the harbor.  I had promised her that San Diego was a beautiful place to run and the sunrise over San Diego definitely let me keep that promise.  It was a great run and it’s always fun to meet other runners from social media.

Thursday
Rain, rain go away!  It seems like it’s raining a lot more in San Diego this winter than it has in years past.  Since I ran more than I normally do on Wednesday, I decided Thursday would be my “rest day.” I headed out for another run in the rain for a few easy miles around the lake, with some puddle jumping mixed in.  

Friday
Like most Fridays, I started my day with the #RUN619.  This week we did a route we refer to as “Town and Country,” which gives us some road running and trail running.  This group is the best—always encouraging me to do more and push harder.  Even though we all run at our own pace, we run together.  

Saturday
My run scheduled for Saturday was the longest so far in my training and if I’m being honest, the longest run I’ve done since my marathon training at the beginning of the year.  It would also be my longest run on trails since I’ve started trail running. I was nervous about completing sixteen miles, but the idea seemed less daunting when I found out a group of my friends were hitting the trails for fourteen miles.  Two miles by myself at the end would definitely be easier than sixteen miles by myself.  I also go into my long runs with the notion that “I can’t let my coach down.” She’s expecting me to do the work and she wants me to reach my goals.  That won’t happen if I don’t do the work. 
I met the group  at a place that I had never run before and it was beautiful!  We had rain recently and though there was some mud, everything felt so clean and green.  I got my sixteen miles done and as I write this the next day, I am surprisingly feeling pretty good.  That tells me that the training is working.  I definitely expected to feel a lot more sore than I do.  I did discover during the run, I will need to play around my run fuel a little bit.  I brought what I normally do for a half marathon and a little extra, but it definitely wasn’t enough.  I also learned that I should keep post race fuel in my car—I was so hungry! (I stopped for a protein bistro box at Starbucks before my forty minute drive home.). I’m glad that I am learning these lessons early enough in my training so that I can find what works best for me.    

Total Weekly Mileage: 46

I mentioned that I switched my scheduled mileage around a bit during the week and though that’s okay, I completely forgot this was the week I was supposed to be adding speed work to my plan.  I talked to my coach and because it was the first week it was scheduled, it isn’t anything I should stress about.  Whew!  I will definitely be making sure it happens this week.  I am also determined to get back to the gym this week for strength training and have a few people checking in on me for accountability.  


Have you ever followed a training plan?  What do you do for accountability? 

Until next time, happy running!
Jenn13.1