Monday, February 25, 2013

My First 100 Mile Week

Last week was the first time I have ever run 100 miles in a seven day stretch (not counting races), going from the past Thursday to Wednesday.

I would have never, ever believed that this was possible. I feel so thankful for the body my Heavenly Father has given me. The breakdown from the past week was:

Monday, February 18th 2013: 15 miles
Tuesday, February 19th 2013: 3 miles
Wednesday, February 20th 2013: 33 miles in morning, 5 miles in evening
Thursday, February 21st 2013: Nothing
Friday, February 22nd 2013: Nothing
Saturday, February 23rd: 22 miles

The 15 miler on Monday was spent running the Guacamole Trail, a new section of the Zion 100. This is a highly beautiful but very challenging area to run in. There are very few short spots that are smooth and runnable.

Very few short spots that are smooth and runnable and jumpable.

Most of the trail is very technical with lots of rolling slick rock. It's easy to lose the trail and hard to get into a groove.

The scenery up here is awesome. You just have to let your pride down a little on this section because pace will undoubtedly be slower. (Especially if you set the camera down a few times with the self timer.)

The 33 miler later in the week was, in a word, miserable. Not because of the distance, but because of that miserable Winter Storm Warning. I ran around Gould's Rim, starting the run at 5:00am which gave me a few hours running in the dark. It was so cold and windy. These white dots aren't stars....they are snow flakes.

I was soaked and frozen solid. On a scale of 1 to 10, the amount of fun I was having was -48. I would have rather eaten a hair sandwich. As it started to get lighter outside, the snow started falling even harder.

I am praying to the running gods that it doesn't snow like this during the 100 miler next month, which is certainly a possibility. I was even desperate enough during this run to break out the bank robber mask. I've only had to do this one other time. Ugh.

I ran up there for around four hours before driving back home to a lower elevation and finishing the run on the road.

When I got home I added up how many miles I had run over the last week and realized I was at 95 so I did five more miles on the dreadmill that night. I feel so thankful that I was able to get this high before the Buffalo Run in March. I feel like the people in this awesome video about Thanksgiving.
Saturday's 22 miler was an group training run for the Zion 100. I'll give you that run down in the next day or two. Run on my friends!

11 comments:

  1. Awesome week, well done! I'm only hitting 100km at the moment. I know the run in the snow must have been awful at times, but I must admit I would love to do that even just once.

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  2. haha I just hit 100 miles for 2013 this week! (I have been slacking pretty badly though!)

    100 miles in a week is awesome and crazy - especially since your 33 miler was so miserable. Way to go!

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  3. Great job Cory!! The hair sandwich is a good comparison, but the real question is - would you rather have listened to Celine Dion?? :) I kid, I kid.

    Your training is going super well and I think you are going to have a great race next month. :)

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  4. 100 mile week! Super impressive!

    I would rather run in snow than eat a hair sandwich. Hair in food = major gagging. Sick.

    Those photos are gorgeous, though I must admit that I am glad I'm just looking at pictures of all that snow!

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  5. Praying for lots of Sunshine the Weekend of March 22-23 for you!!! (well me too)
    I love the pictures with the snow. The snowflakes almost look fake.
    I love my bank robber's mask. Only for the warmth, not the looks! Pretty scary!

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  6. um, yeah- I would take snow over a hair sandwich any day :). Amazing job on your 100 mile week! I do not foresee any hundred mile weeks in my running future... ever. I'm pretty happy when I get to 50.

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  7. I saw the title of your blog post on another run (Christy's Dirt Road Anthem) & had to read, because . . . well, 100 miles in one week?!! HOLY SMOKES. I'm so proud of my 28. :-) I seriously can't imagine, but I also can't imagine 33 miles in one run either, so I'll just read & be inspired.

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  8. Snow flakes may feel miserable, but to someone who NEVER gets to see them, they're just beautiful. Snowflakes in the dark - magical!

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  9. The 100 mile rocks and umm, I dare say the mask rocks almost as much! Can you imagine if someone bumped into you out on that trail and you had the mask on?? HAHAHA! It's a Hostess stick up!

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  10. Well, done Cory! I just had to look over here and see how you balanced your week. I love that you had the two rest days :))
    Great photos of snow. And those lovely, technical, trails!!

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  11. Congrats on 100 miles! I've seen you do that in one day, so it's not quite that big of a deal. :) Keep up the good work!

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