Dates: 10/3/22 – 10/9/22
Training Week: 6
Miles: 46.8

Commentary: Sunday night I didn’t sleep the greatest, but I blamed in on the wee bit of beer I had while walking the golf course with my husband. Monday night I was exhausted, but it took me forever to fall asleep. Tuesday morning, it was hard to get out of bed, but I managed and got my run in.

That night, it not only took me forever to fall asleep, but I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t fall back asleep for two hours. Instead of getting up early to get my hours in work on Wednesday morning, I slept in a bit. Pretty sure my intervals that day wouldn’t have been as good if I hadn’t slept in.

Sleeping problems aren’t super uncommon for me, but I was sleeping so well after the high route for my first few weeks of training that I got spoiled. I’m not sure my poor body (and mind) can handle this volume of training without good sleep. So, I reimplemented my good-sleep routine.

• Wear blue-light glasses when watching TV before bed
• No more TV after 7:15pm-ish
• Only light and easy to digest snacks after 6pm
• Meditation and reading before bed
• Journal at some point during the day
• No caffeine after noon
• No alcohol
• Go to bed and wake up around the same time the entire week, even weekends

Wednesday night I watched TV until 7:45pm, and I didn’t meditate, but I did fall asleep right away. Even though I woke up multiple times, I was able to fall right back asleep. Thursday morning I slept in a bit because I didn’t run. Gasp! Hear me out.

My Thursday and Friday runs are kind of lame. I’m scheduled for 3-4 miles on Thursday and 5-6 miles on Friday. I’ve considered combining the mileage for both days and doing it all on Friday on a trail with some elevation gain. This seemed like it would better prepare me for race day. At the same time, I wasn’t sure if it was wise to do that many trail miles before my long run. Then I had an idea!

So, every other week my mileage dips down a bit, kind of like a recovery week. But my long run is the only day with less mileage. I decided that taking Thursdays off and doing more mileage on Friday would be good on recovery weeks. The extra day of rest would do me good, and doing 8-10 miles on Friday, 15-ish miles on Saturday, and 8 miles on Sunday would help get my legs used to working while tired.

Friday I waited to long to head out for my run. By the time I started it was already hot. When it’s hot my heart rate is always a lot higher, so I pretty much ignored it during the run. Despite the heat, it still felt good.

I love exploring new trails, even they take me to familiar places. On Saturday, I took Devil’s Staircase up to Alaska Basin, and took the South Teton Trail down. For the two miles through Alaska Basin I was on the Teton Crest Trail, but the rest of it new to me. All of it was gorgeous, and the weather was perfect. By mile 15 of 17 my legs were tired. My lower back hurt. I regretted not bringing ibuprofen.

Sunday morning, I woke up feeling sore and tired. Not going to lie, I contemplated skipping my run. Then I reminded myself that pushing through the soreness and tiredness is exactly what I’ll have to do for my 50-miler. I was kind to myself though and chose to run Trail Hollow Road instead of Sidewinder because it has about half the elevation gain. This also meant I could run more of it.

Overall, I think my plan worked. I got tired earlier than usual on my long run, and after my Sunday run I was beat. It also got me thinking that I should probably run further the day after my long runs to get a better feel for running on exhausted legs.

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