Total Mileage: 70mi
Elevation Gain: 7700'
Cross-Training: 6.5mi (3 walking, 3.5 hiking)
Goal: Run at least 60 miles before leaving for a backpacking trip.

This was my first 70-mile week since beginning marathon training last summer (I think I did a couple when training for Western States 100 in 2010) and it included lots of quality workouts, including speed intervals on the track, a tempo run on the road, hill repeats, and two long trail runs. Today's run on the northern section of the Northville-Placid trail got me very excited for Wakely Dam in July. I covered 19 miles of very muddy trail in 3hrs, about the same pace I hope to hold for 32 miles at Wakely (hopefully in much drier conditions).

In addition, the Great Adirondack Trail Run took place on Saturday and was a huge success. Nearly 100 people ran the fun run on Baxter Mountain for the largest field we've ever had by far, and the long run saw some amazing performances including three times that were faster than the men's course record despite the wet and muddy conditions. Huge congrats to Tim Reynolds for his remarkable time of 1:37:36, as well as to local athletes Sarah Keyes (female overall champ) and Matthew Harrison (3rd overall). Plus I have to give a shout out my friend Chris Fey, who ran under 2hrs to improve his time from last year by over 10 minutes and managed to place in the top 10 in our deepest field ever.

Looking Ahead: On Wednesday I turn into a hiker. I'll be in the woods until June 29th, and won't be posting to Adirondack Runner during that time. Thanks for reading, and I'll be back in two weeks!

Total Mileage: 50.5mi
Elevation Gain: 1400'
Cross-Training: 15mi (5 walking, 10 hiking)
Goal: Get as much running in as I can despite a very busy week.

I have to be happy with this week, even though the mileage is lower than I would have preferred. The field trip to Boston wasn't as conducive to running as staying home would have been, but getting two runs in over three days was more than I thought I'd be able to do, and walking around the city made for some easy cross training. It was a tough trip in terms of sleep, but otherwise I think it did me good to have a rest day and to stay loose with all the walking, plus it was a fun time overall.

The week wrapped up nicely, with a feel-good 17-miler on Saturday and 5 easy miles as well as a 10mi hike on Sunday. The hike was quite physical (clearing blowdown) and took over five hours, so between those two factors it was definitely quality cross-training.

Looking Ahead: The following week is my final full week of training before heading into the woods to lead a hiking camp, and I hope to make the most of it. I'll be very busy, but hope to put in at least 60 miles, including speed work on Tuesday, a moderate effort trail run on the GATR course on Thursday (with lots of stops to mark the course along the way), and a long run on Sunday.