This was a big running weekend for me, so I decided to hold off on my training update until Sunday, after finishing my longest run of 2021:
The whole thing went off without a hitch: I got plenty of sleep, the weather was great and the time passed relatively quickly. I stopped a couple of times to eat pieces of a peanut butter sandwich and use the bathroom, which I’ll have to get used to for the run in July. It can be tough to restart on tired legs after taking a nice break, so the more I can get used to it ahead of time the better prepared I’ll be.
The only “complaint” I have is that I probably should be training in the heat, since that’s most likely what I’ll face in July. The 30 miles on Saturday would have been much more difficult if it had been 80 degrees, instead of 70. Add sun to that and it’s a whole other ballgame.
Anyway, since I’ve never laid it out on this site, below is my training plan for the hundred miles. To keep it simple, I’ve just included the two long runs I’ll do each week, as well as the total mileage. Usually the other days are a bit of a hodgepodge based on my schedule and when I feel like I need a rest. So those aren’t really set in stone.
Looking back at what I’ve done so far, I definitely could have pushed the long runs a bit between the first week of training and the seventh. Instead of just repeating the same mileage a couple of times, I could have progressed incrementally from 50 to 60 miles, instead of just jumping from one to the other. But hindsight is 20/20, and my plan this whole time has been fluid – I had a rough idea of what I wanted to run and I worked it in around other priorities. I don’t know if I’ll regret that a month from now, but it seemed like the most feasible plan for how I like to train. Religiously sticking to a schedule is a great way to get burned out or anxious about progress.
One other thing from this week: My friend Matt turned me on to an awesome new snack, the banana pancake. You mix one banana and one egg together, and then cook it in a pan with butter. It looks exactly like a pancake, it smells exactly like a pancake, and it tastes almost exactly like a pancake. Super filling and I’m assuming it’s much healthier than the traditional alternative. Give it a shot!
There’s no way that one banana and one egg could ever taste as good as a real pancake, but it’s pretty damn close. I was really surprised at how pancake-like it turned out to be. Would highly recommend!