Never Summer training week fifteen recap

I just finished week 15. Here are the numbers.

• 13 hours, 21 minutes

• 65.8 miles

• 11,220 feet D+

I did a lot of hard running this week, all of it uphill. Tuesday I set some new PRs on the Maxwell climb. Thursday I did hard intervals on the Towers road, 4 x 6 minute, 3 x 2 minute, and 3 x 30 second, going as hard as I could sustain for the intervals. Some of these intervals overlapped with classic short and steep Strava segments and I enjoyed moving up within sight, if within reach, of the all-time leaderboard. Being more of a puncheur, I can't hang with elite climbers on long climbs, but I'm close on super steep terrain.

I'd planned to do a 25 mile run following the Quad Rock course on Friday but pushed it to Saturday for better weather. What do I bring for food on a 6 hour run? My current staple is nut butter (almond or peanut) and honey sandwiches. I make them up to be approximately 600 calories each, cut them in quarters, and stuff four quarters into a small plastic ziplock container. Less mess than a baggie, and in time the pieces absorb any honey that leaks out. I took one sandwich and two handfuls of gummy bears in my running vest, with an equal amount of each in a drop bag I left at the 18 mile point. I eat a quarter of a sandwich, or 150 calories, every 40 minutes. I would have to eat more on an all-day run, but I can tolerate a deficit for a few hours.

25 miles and 5000 feet of climbing on tired legs was hard. I fed as soon as I got home, ate a huge helping of spaghetti with pesto sauce for dinner a few hours later, and was asleep in bed by 9 p.m.

This morning I went back to Lory for a shorter run on some of the same trails, but in the other direction, shuffled. I went light on gear, broke in my new version 4 Speedgoats, and my legs felt fine. We're entering peak wildflower season and I stopped to take photos of penstemon, geranium, and delphinium. The latter, also known as larkspur, grows in large patches near the bottom of Well Gulch.