As I mentioned last week, I decided to try for a 5K PR at a race that’s a few weeks away (August 4). So last week was my first week of officially training. Here’s how it went:
Monday
Planned: race pace intervals
Actual: race pace intervals, more or less. 6x 2 minutes at RP, 3 minutes rest. My pacing was a bit all over the place, but also I don’t have a very good idea of what my 5K pace actually is right now.
Tuesday
Planned: strength training
Actual: strength training. I started a lab experiment and was at the lab at 7:30 am and 10 pm. (But not all the hours in between. Working out would not have happened.)
Wednesday
Planned: 3 mile easy run
Actual: 3 mile easy run. I planned to get up early for this, but after working late it didn’t happen. So I got an assay started in the lab and let it do its thing while I headed out to run. It was hot Wednesday, but fortunately the paths I ran are still mostly in the shade mid-morning.
Thursday
Planned: 3 miles steep trail, strength training
Actual: strength training, 2.2 miles with 668 feet elevation gain. I missed my early wake up time again and didn’t have time to hit the trails before heading in to the lab. So I didn’t get to the trail until late afternoon, after I had gone to the gym. I was debating with myself the whole drive whether I really felt like running the M (my usual trail for a run like this) in the hot sun. Fortunately there’s an equally steep but shorter trail right across the road; it also has a bit more shade, though that’s not saying much. So I made a compromise with myself and pulled into that parking lot instead.
Friday
Planned: rest
Actual: rest
Saturday
Planned: ~7 mile trail run
Actual: rest/yin yoga. Honestly….I decided I’d rather hit up the REI garage sale this morning. I scored a merino-blend tee and a headlamp with a soft knit band for a grand total of $12.
Sunday
Planned: rest
Actual: 7.3 mile run, 1,719 feet elevation gain. I’ve been meaning to check out the Beehive Basin trail in Big Sky for years – literally – and finally got around to it. About a quarter mile into my run, I met another runner coming back who said she had seen a bear near the trailhead about an hour earlier. While bear had likely ambled off elsewhere by then, I decided to play some music on my phone just in case. (It might not scare a bear off, but making some sort of noise helps you avoid startling them.)
While the elevation gain looks like a lot, the way up is mostly runnable apart from an extremely rocky section during the 3rd mile. I kept an easy pace, taking walk breaks on the steeper sections, and made it to the lake at ~3 miles in just under an hour.
The trail continues on past the lake and up the cliffs. I hiked up about another half mile – no running as the trail was hard to follow and I lost it a few times.
The trail goes on to Beehive Peak, and I think possibly to another lake. But there was still a snowfield on the trail and I decided to turn back there as it was steep and difficult to climb without spikes.
Oh, and no sign of bears.
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Do you make comprises to get yourself to do things you’re kind of dreading?
What would you do if someone had seen a bear on your trail recently?
Linking up with Meghan for week in review and Holly and Wendy for Weekly Wrap
Your trails are spectacular. I don’t know what I’d do if there was the threat of a bear. We don’t have those kinds of threats here. Ours are more of the human type.
How fun to be racing a 5k!
I would prefer bear threats over the human type any day!
If someone said they had seen a bear I would have hopped in my car on gone home! LOL! You were so brave to continue! And I agree with Wendy – what spectacular trails you run on. Wow! Wow!
Most of the time bears aren’t aggressive towards humans – I just didn’t want to literally run into one!
Wow! The Beehive Basin trail is beautiful. We do have bears in our state, but not near me. So, I’d probably been a little freaked out to hear one had been spotted on the very trail I planned to run. I’m going to file away the tip about playing music…just in case. Good luck with the 5k training. Thanks for linking.
Bears have been spotted even on the trails that are basically in town here (and, once, inside the high school…fortunately not while students were there). So I feel like I’ve gotten used to the idea that I might see one, even though so far I haven’t!
Well I would certainly not want to run into a bear on my run! I am not fast enough to out run him LOL
LOL! Fortunately bears are almost never interested in chasing humans.
Those trails look so amazing! I was going to try to train for a 5k PR this year, then I got sick & didn’t. I tend to do better in the fall, when it’s cooler & I’ve already got months of training under my belt.
Thankfully bears aren’t as plentiful where I live — a few years back there was a sighting where we were going to run (not trails, on the road), but obviously it’s memorable because it’s also rare.
Fall would definitely be easier! That’s my backup plan.
So awesome that you are going for a 5K PR ! It looks like your training is off to a great start.
I love the trails that you get to run on – the views are spectacular!
I love them too!
You have the coolest trails ever! I encountered a bear from afar when I was hiking once, but we kept pretty far away and turned back, so yay for no harmed parties!
I’ve only ever seen bears from a car!
Your photos are always so beautiful! I wish I lived close to the mountains. I don’t see how you would ever get tired of exploring!
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I actually have a spreadsheet of nearby trails that I want to check out!
So many miles! And those views, holy wow!!
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The views were amazing!
Your running area makes me smile 🙂 There isn’t a more beautiful challenging place! You are working hard out there 🙂 and becoming stronger for it.
Yes, I love our trails here!
[…] that inevitably show up during said session (also, I don’t study medical biofilms). Like last week, my interval paces were all over the place. I suspect this means my goal 5K pace is a bit too […]