⭐ CHASING COCODONA 250 @ 60

Cocodona 250 Training Journey

Week 3 Recap: Wins, Lows, Recovery & What’s Next

Chasing Cocodona Week 3

WEEK 3 RECAP

📝 Weekly Overview

Total Miles:40

Longest Run:12 MILES

Key Workouts:

3 Strength Workouts

2 Power Workouts

Quick round of mobility exercises before each strength/power workout

Running Workouts: 1 Tempo, 1 Interval, 1 Long Run12 miles, Recovery runs

Walks

Recovery Time: Sauna/Red Light, PEMF mat, Contrast, Compression

How I Felt This Week:

This week I felt tired. After falling at Pilot Mountain last Saturday, my back has been aggravated once again. This takes a toll emotionally, but I kept my diet clean, and was able to continue to get enough rest, and the Heart Rate Variability (HRV) kept a positive trend which is usually what tells me when I am headed for a breakdown. So, I kept pushing through the week, and when Friday came, I was ready for a true recovery - sleep in - relax kind of day.

🏃‍♀️ Running Breakdown

Mileage Progression:

• Monday –8 Miles

• Tuesday –2 Miles

• Wednesday –8 Miles

• Thursday –6 Miles

• Friday –2 Mile Recovery Walk

• Saturday –12 Miles* I am guessing this was my fastest long run- EVER.

• Sunday –2 Miles

Terrain / Locations:Local Trails x 4 and Neighborhood Walks with the Dog

Notable Moments:

• Had 2 really great trail runs,

• There was a day when I just did not want to run. I could easily have sat in the car until I decided to push the run to another day... I was worried about running into copperheads on the trail because it was so warm and the leave coverage on the trail is so heavy, also a huge trip hazard. I did the run anyway and it was a great one. (no snakes! or falls! for the win!)

🔥 Strength, Power & Cross-Training

Workouts Completed:

• Strength sessions:3 -(Deadlifts, Deadhangs, Lying Prone Leg Curls, Planks, Step Ups)

• Power:(Medicine Ball Throws, Box Jumps, Back Squats, Overhead presses, Hamstring sliders, Skater hops, Pop Squats, Push Ups, Bicycle crunches with medicine ball)

• Speed work:2 Tempo Runs

• Mobility sessions:Added in a few exercises to help with back mobility before strength and power workouts. Using World's Greatest Stretch, Supine Draw In, Cat-Cow, Core Bracing, and Bird Dog, Fire Hydrant

What Felt Strong: Legs are feeling stronger than they have in a long time. As I am running, I notice my pace is faster than it has been. Hydrating and fueling during even the short runs helps my body practice at tolerating the fueling vs. workload demands. I am currently using about 30 g carbs per hour for runs 6 miles and over and that seems to work well.

What Needs Work: Mental toughness when I feel tired. I am getting better but there is a ways to go. Cocodona will be tough and I cannot simply let up just because I don't feel like doing something. I need to go less on feelings and more on drive, and the Do IT anyway mantra! Hydrating seems to have fallen off, this needs to be tracked more closely.

🧊 Recovery & Wellness

Recovery Methods Used This Week:

• Contrast therapy

• Infrared sauna

• Compression boots

• Mobility sessions

• Sleep scores - 82, 93, 69, 91, 76, 96, 56

• Supplements - L-Carnitine, Creatine, D, C, Zn, B's, Chlorella, Mg+, Lytes, Plant-based protein/collagen, Cortisol manger, Melatonin,

• Rest days - Friday (no run days Tuesday and Sunday)

• PEMF - I don't offer this at the studio.

Injuries / Hotspots:My back still is not the same since falling at Triple Lakes on the bridge. My knee has healed on the surface but is still bruised (over 30 days out) when I press on the areas I fell on. It is not painful unless I press on an area so it does not keep me from running. I follow a PT from Australia, so I am not just winging it. I have a pain measurement system that I use to gauge whether a workout needs to be upped or lowered in intensity. It is VERY SUCCESSFUL for me.

Recovery Wins:PEMF! I really feel that the PEMF mat helped decrease my muscle spasm pain over the weekend from pretty significant pain to pretty insignificant. I'm taking it easy on easy days. I give myself total permission to veg out and relax on days that do not have running!

🥗 Nutrition & Tracking

Protein Goal:Actual Daily Average:100 ish (I want this to be higher, but right now it is working keeping my weight stable to a slight defecit without increasing fatigue or lack of improvement.)

Hydration Habits: Not drinking enough. I tried to reduce what I carry to work so I was using my tea mug to fill with water, but I am not filling it enough, so I am going back to taking my water bottle. That works well, and my goal is to fill it so I have 4 bottles a day, equalling about 128 oz.

Weight Check-In: Up 2 pounds at the end of week 3 (of course though I didn't eat much more at Thanksgiving, I had more salt and sugar most likely, and I was back down to the minus 3 lbs by Day 2 of this Week 4.

Nutrition Focus:Finishing out the Precision Fuel Mix and using for any run over 60 minutes to get used to it. It seems to work pretty well. I also changed up my morning from my protein shake first thing to a peanut butter/banana on toast and this seems to give me plenty of nutrition for the first few hours of the day, and easier on my stomach.

🧠 Mindset & Motivation

What challenged me mentally this week: Being tired. This makes me more prone to arguing with my husband and more edgy about the things I really don't have time to do right now.

What I’m proud of: Improving my pace on the long run.

Realizing that being tired will need to be an excuse for right now, because it is very real and fatigue decreases my ability to handle stress and opposition that comes up in everyday situations that now are seeming a little more difficult.

Not fast, just relentless.

💛 Life Balance & Support

I think balancing the new studio with training is always an adjustment waiting to happen. This week was more difficult because my husband had a death in the family and so that has brought some challenges to scheduling and assistance.

📅 What’s Coming Next Week

Mileage Goal:40 (same)

Long Run Plan:14 (up 2)

Particular Focus:

• Back strengthening - look up any extra exercises to help

• Speed work - intervals in each short run (1 mile worth)

• Higher elevation gain? Long run

• Nutrition experiment? MCT oil? Try this.

A Performance Intention for Next Week:Anaerobic intervals (missed those last week) (Add in a mile of these in each short run)

By looking for more good, our barin learns to continue to seek out more good.

🏁 Closing Thought

Another week stronger. Cocodona, I’m coming. Desert legs loading!