Not actually a run. Appalachian trail in Harriman State Park.

Week 17 (3/12/18-3/18/18): Endurance. 45.2 miles. My training plan has some speedwork over the next few weeks but I’m swapping it all for extra hill work because the elevation situation on Bear Mountain is so intense. Lots of rock climbing this week. I tried for a long run on the 50k course in Harriman State Park but the snow was so deep it ended up being a hike. Sigh.

Week 18 (3/19/18-3/25/18): Endurance: 51 miles. I think this was my first over-50-mile week ever. I didn’t manage to do Saturday’s long run (20 miles) on trails–with serious snow earlier in the week, I was pretty sure the trails would be too snowy to actually run–so I ran 7 miles through Brooklyn down to Bay Ridge and ran a half marathon there along the water. 20 miles on roads was tough (okay, 20 miles anywhere would be tough) but I kept my pacing really even. Midweek long run (7 miles) was mid-snowstorm and awesome, though very hard. I did my workout the next day at the gym, alternating between treadmill hills and the stair-climber machine for 2 hours total. Hard work.

Week 19 (3/26/18-4/1/18): Endurance: 52 miles. Wow. This is hard work, you all. Have I said that already? But . . . I did it? Peak week of training, and most weekly miles of my life, checked off the list. The weekend was long: 5 miles on trails Friday, 10 miles on a section of the course at Bear Mountain Saturday (with a lovely crew), and 22 miles solo Sunday on the Long Path at the Palisades. I had a pretty good wipeout (scraped shin, nothing too bad) around mile 7 on Sunday but picked myself back up and finished 15 more miles. Finishing the 22 and realizing I’d kept a steady pace the whole way was just . . . wow.

Week 20 (4/2/18-4/8/18): Recover. 12.2 miles run/14 miles bike. Ahh. Easy runs, some rock climbing and strength work at the gym, probably a few too many ciders but overall an excellent recovery week.

Total 160 miles + 14 biking.

Feeling: Cautiously optimistic. I’m not gonna be anywhere near the front of the pack at the race, but I think I have what I need to finish in one piece.