100-Miler Training : Update #1

I'm sure you've been sitting on pins and needles waiting for an update on how everything is going for my first 100-miler ;)

It's technically been a month since I officially started my 100-miler training (although, I have a rescheduled 50K in March so I started training for that in November, which transitioned into the current plan). I'm happy to report - so far, so good. 

Two thumbs up!

The majority of my miles have been on the road and done in the wee hours of the morning before I have to get ready for work, but I've been adding in more trails whenever I can. For example, a friend of ours is planning to tackle the JMT (John Muir Trail) this summer so has been doing a lot more hiking. One Sunday, when I had 10 miles on the calendar, the hubby and I joined him for a 14 mile hike. I figured more time on feet (and time on trails) was better than a faster road "run". 

A heatwave and Super Bowl Sunday seemed to keep everyone off the trails but us ;)
I think we saw 8 people total in the 14+ miles we got it.

I've also been adding what I've deemed "vert and dirt" a couple times a week on my lunch break walks. Normally I walk around the neighborhoods near the running store, but twice a week I have been doing stairs and trails instead of the neighborhood sidewalks. I'm still just walking it (I don't want to get too nasty before I have to go back to work for the rest of the afternoon), but getting in some extra climbing and uneven surfaces can't hurt. Although my overall pace does seem to be slowing down a bit (as compared to what I've been clocking recently), I am stoked to report that when I do tackle more hills or trails I have felt stronger than in the past. Here's to hoping the hard work continues to pay off!

These stairs are NO JOKE! About 150 in total and I normally do them 5 times before hiking the trails.

As I'm sure you can imagine, the training plan for a 100-mile race includes A LOT of miles. Instead of running them all on my own and on the same route week after week, I decided to look around to see if there were any somewhat local-ish races that I could add into my schedule. My thought was that I'd be able to get in more trails, I would have aid stations and spectators to give me a little extra morale booster if I needed it, not to mention I don't have to worry about getting lost on trails [I'm TERRIBLE with directions] or having to rope the hubby into a longer run than he might be interested in doing ;)

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Thus far I have added the Run with the Burros Trail Marathon, the Leona Divide 50K and the Bishop High Sierra 55K. I am currently also eyeing two timed events (they would be 6-hour events, where you would run loops on a course for as many miles as you can [or as you would like] within that time frame), but haven't pulled the trigger on them yet.

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Note: I don't plan on "racing" any of those events... they will simply be training runs to get in mileage. (I'm saying that as a reminder to myself and so that you can help hold me accountable - I NEED TO DIAL IT BACK, NOT PUSH THE PACE OR LET MY COMPETITIVE SIDE TAKE OVER ;)) I'm excited because the hubby and I are planning to make a couple of them camping trips, so I'm sure that'll help to remind me it's about the ENJOYMENT and not the time on my watch. 

As you can tell by looking at an official picture from my most recent trail race, I LOVE running!

PS If there are any specifics you're interested in when it comes to these updates, let me know and I'll try my hardest to address them. Obviously I'll post race recaps once I run the events (even if I'm "just" running them as training runs), but if there are other deets you're curious about, leave them in the comments and I'll include my thoughts in the next post.

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What are you curious to know when it comes to my training?