Zach's Training Journal

2025 Week 39: 10.06.25 - 10.12.25

Weekly Totals: Running - 17 hours 51 minutes, 153.82 miles | Biking: 0 hours 00 minute, 0 miles | Total Training Volume: 17 hours 51 minutes

Weekly Recap: This ended up being a great final week of this training block. Midweek, I was looking forward to the taper, but for whatever reason, I felt like I was gaining momentum Friday through Sunday. I ended up with one of my better three day stretches this training block. I did two sessions this week with some faster paces (Tuesday and Saturday), and four longer solo sessions (Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun), with Sunday being a pinch beyond 30 miles. I tried to replicate race day conditions as much as possible on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. This meant setting up my fuel and hydration in a way that I could follow a short loop and grab and go. My hope was to avoid stopping as much as possible with these three sessions. This went about as good as I could expect with two total stops between the three sessions for a very quick bathroom break. I also managed to get my highest fueling total per hour on the Sunday long run, where I hit just a pinch under 100 grams of carbs per hour.

Monday:

Run 1:

• Duration: 01:06:23

• Distance: 8.00 Miles

• Average Pace: 8:17/mi

• Average HR: 110 bpm

• Elevation: 161 ft

Run 2:

• Duration: 00:50:21

• Distance: 6.66 Miles

• Average Pace: 7:33/mi

• Average HR: 138 bpm

• Elevation: 144 ft

Strength | Mobility | Accessory Exercises:

• Strength: n/a

• Mobility: hip flexor, 90/90s, frog stretch

• Accessory: calf, hamstring, and quad massage

I felt quite a bit better today than last week Monday, which is funny to think about considering it was after 140 miles last week. My morning run and afternoon run were both very relaxed, and by the afternoon my legs were feeling better than in the AM. This hasn’t been too uncommon in the past when I have had some of my best builds leading into 100 mile races. The first week of a three week build ends up feeling harder than week three, despite the cumulative fatigue, which I attribute to getting the mind wrapped around the workload. By the third week, it is the routine. I focused on mobility and some light accessory work before my afternoon run.

Tuesday:

Run 1:

• Duration: 01:30:56

• Distance: 13.43 Miles

• Average Pace: 6:46/mi

• Average HR: 147 bpm

• Elevation: 787 ft

Run 2:

• Duration: 00:56:41

• Distance: 7.61 Miles

• Average Pace: 7:27/mi

• Average HR: 140 bpm

• Elevation: 164 ft

Strength | Mobility | Accessory Exercises:

• Strength: banded deadlifts, banded hamstring curls, single leg dumbbell RDLs

• Mobility: hip flexor, 90/90s, frog stretch

• Accessory: banded four direction walks, high plank resisted hip flexion, adduction hip pulls, calf and quad massage

I went to Rogue Running in the morning for some faster running. The target was to get some intervals in the mid 5 minute per mile range. I did 5 x 1 mile on a hilly loop with 2 minute recovery between after a warm up and drills. We got hit with really bad humidity, but at this point, I have basically normalized running in those conditions, so it wasn’t too big of a mental deterrent. The loop we used has a Training Peaks grade adjusted pace of between 7-9 seconds per mile slower than optimal. My splits were: 5:44, 5:36, 5:42, 5:40, 5:32 per mile. The first one felt the worst, which I attribute to needing a bit more time to get my legs moving after last week’s volume and 30 mile long run, but things felt really controlled from there onward. I also paced a few reps at 6:45/mi for some extra miles after my workout and ended with four 200 meter pick ups. My afternoon was a relaxed run for just under an hour, which I did before some lower body strength work.

Wednesday:

Run:

• Duration: 02:30:22

• Distance: 22.27 Miles

• Average Pace: 6:45/mi

• Average HR: 144 bpm

• Elevation: 348 ft

Strength | Mobility | Accessory Exercises:

• Strength: hex bar deadlift, hanging leg raises, cable twists, resisted back extensions

• Mobility: n/a

• Accessory: n/a

I went to my short loop course for a midweek long run. My goal was to replicate race day conditions as much as possible. I managed to do the whole run without stopping at all, and got some good fuel hydration practice. I ended up hitting 72 oz of fluid, 1240 mg of LMNT electrolytes, 200 g of carbs, 50 mg of caffeine. Pre run was 1 liter of fluid, 150 mg caffeine, 30 g of carbs, 2 caps of Curranz, and half a pack of LMNT (620 mg). I went to the gym in the afternoon to work on core strength and do a set of hex bar deadlifts that I missed yesterday.

Thursday:

Run 1:

• Duration: 01:58:43

• Distance: 15.49 Miles

• Average Pace: 7:40/mi

• Average HR: 131 bpm

• Elevation: 951 ft

Run 2:

• Duration: 00:56:04

• Distance: 7.46 Miles

• Average Pace: 7:31/mi

• Average HR: 137 bpm

• Elevation: 171 ft

Strength | Mobility | Accessory Exercises:

• Strength: n/a

• Mobility: hip flexor, 90/90s, frog stretch

• Accessory: banded four direction walks, high plank resisted hip flexion, adduction hip pulls, calf and quad massage

I had a couple of easy runs today, with the first being with Rogue Running in the morning and shorter run in the afternoon. I felt a bit more fatigued than normal on the second run. I did a pretty extensive amount of mobility and accessory work prior to the afternoon run.

Friday:

Run:

• Duration: 02:25:07

• Distance: 22.37 Miles

• Average Pace: 6:29/mi

• Average HR: 142 bpm

• Elevation: 348 ft

Strength | Mobility | Accessory Exercises:

• Strength: bench press, shoulder press, dips, lat pull downs, cable pulls

• Mobility: hip flexor, 90/90s, frog stretch

• Accessory: calf and quad massage

I was not really excited about this run last night, but it ended up feeling great. I went to my spot for 2-2.5 mile loops. I felt smooth from the first step. The pace and heart rate for the weather was in a really good spot and I never really felt like I was forcing anything. I ended up taking in 72 oz of fluid, 1200 mg of LMNT electrolytes, 200 g of carbs during the run. Pre run was 1 liter of fluid, 150 mg caffeine, 30 g of carbs, 2 caps of Curranz, and half a pack of LMNT (620 mg). Similar to Wednesday, my goal for these long runs has been to minimize stopping as much as possible. I only stopped once to use the bathroom just after 10 miles, but continuous otherwise. Austin has a weather trend this time of year where before the sun comes up, it is warm and humid, but once the sun comes up, the temperature will drop and it begins to dry. You can see this on the weather line (blue) on the graph above from Training Peaks. When I start right at that point, I find I probably need a bit less pre-run hydration when compared to earlier muggy starts.

Saturday:

Run:

• Duration: 02:21:46

• Distance: 20.22 Miles

• Average Pace: 7:01/mi

• Average HR: 132 bpm

• Elevation: 902 ft

Strength | Mobility | Accessory Exercises:

• Strength: hanging leg raises, cable twists

• Mobility: n/a

• Accessory: n/a

I went to Rogue Running in the morning for a long run with some faster paces included. The faster paces were 3 x 2 mi (6/mi, 5:50/mi, 5:40/mi) & 2 x 1 mile (5:40/mi, 5:25/mi). The route was pretty hilly. I put the route through Training Peaks for an adjustment and it suggested flat equivalents of 6/mi, 5:40/mi, 5:41/mi, 5:29/mi, 5:38/mi for the sets. From an effort standpoint, that seems about right as it was pretty noticeable the second round of 2 miles and first round of 2 miles felt a bit higher effort. Overall, this run felt great. I went to the gym in the afternoon for some core strength.

Sunday:

Run:

• Duration: 03:15:26

• Distance: 30.27 Miles

• Average Pace: 6:27/mi

• Average HR: 144 bpm

• Elevation: 512 ft

Strength | Mobility | Accessory Exercises:

• Strength: n/a

• Mobility: hip flexor, 90/90s, frog stretch

• Accessory: banded four direction walks, high plank resisted hip flexion, adduction hip pulls, calf and quad massage

I went to my short loop route for this one for one final ultra long run to work on race day specifics. I had a good set up, so was able to run continuously for the exception of one quick bathroom stop at 10.75 miles for about a minute. The weather started out great and got a bit warm near the end, but relative to the Summer, great for running. I am really happy with how the effort felt for these paces. I ended up with 80 oz of fluid, 1240 mg of LMNT Electrolytes, 300 g of carbs, 30 mg of caffeine. Pre run was 1 liter of fluid, 150 mg caffeine, 30 g of carbs, 2 caps of Curranz, and half a pack of LMNT (620 mg).

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