I saw Sage Canaday on my long run this week. Let me repeat that… I actually SAW and RAN BY Sage Canaday while on a run in Boulder. I’m pretty sure that my running life is complete. He ran by at a crazy fast pace decked out in some Hoka gear and some sweet sunglasses. After we passed each other, it took me a moment to realize that it was really him. Then, I went on my Strava app and confirmed. Yes, in fact, it was a Sage Canaday sighting. Yes, I’m a complete running nerd.
Besides my epic sighting while on my long run, I’d have to say that my training this week was okay. I had a lot of trouble pacing myself and was putting a little too much effort in my easy miles. This culminated in a missed run on Thursday. Frank and I got to Colorado on Friday morning, so I did both my marathon paced tempo run and my long run on the multi-use trails in Boulder. We made it home Sunday night and Elly, as always, was pretty glad to see that we made it home.
Monday: Rest Day… Yeah! + some gentle yoga
Tuesday: 6.3 miles – Hill Repeats with 700 ft of elevation gain + yoga
I wrote about this run in a previous blog post. It went pretty well. Zeb, my new running partner, came with me for some of it. We took things slow, but overall it was a good workout.
Wednesday: 3 miles – easy run + yoga
Not much to say about this run. I was still a little sore from my hill repeats, so I did some yoga in the AM and went for a quick run in the afternoon. I kept it slow, although the easy pace felt strangely more difficult than it should have. The yoga class that I took kinda kicked my butt and made my legs kinda feel like jello while I was on my run. I’m sure that didn’t help keep things feeling easy.
Thursday: Unintentional Rest Day + yoga
I took a yoga class in the morning in hopes to make me feel a little less stiff. Unfortunately, it was a rather tough class and really only made the soreness worse. By the time I was out, my legs felt tired and I knew that I wasn’t going to go for a run. I decided to take it easy and just do my tempo run on Friday.
Friday: 6.1 miles – Marathon Pace
I warmed up for one mile and then bumped up to marathon pace. I’ve arbitrarily decided that 9:00/mi is marathon pace, since that would sneak me just under 4 hours. I tried to hold the pace without being glued to my watch, but unfortunately, my legs wanted to go faster. Instead, I held close to 8:45/mi, which felt good, but I didn’t want to put that much effort into the run. Luckily, I still have a few months to hone my pace down a bit.
Saturday: Snow shoeing with hurricane force winds
We met up with some friends in Boulder and drove out to Nederland to go snow shoeing. There was absolutely no snow for most of the way, but once we got up into the mountains, it seemed like a pretty substantial storm had come through. The car was being blown around a lot and we considered turning back for a lower elevation. However, once we made it up it was pretty fantastic, and the trees kept the winds at bay.
Sunday: 12 miles – Best long run ever!
The run itself was nothing particularly special. It was pretty cold out and I was a little underdressed, especially for the second half of the run when the sun was in the clouds. I felt good and strong for most of it, but at the end had some trouble getting to marathon pace. I, again, wanted to go a little too fast, which made my legs feel like they were working too hard. However, in the last mile, I saw a guy fly by me decked out in Hoka gear with a little hydration pack on. I had to do a double take, but it was definitely Sage Canaday (confirmed by flyby on Strava). I was pretty much the most excited groupie ever.
Total Mileage: 27.5
Overall, it was a good week, but not a great week. This was a cut back in mileage from last week, but for some reason, it never felt like that. My legs were often tired or feeling sore. In order to fix that, this week my goal is to run my easy mileage a little slower, even if the effort seems like too little. I am entering the 4th week of training and I want my legs to stay strong so I don’t have burn out in the weeks to come.
This week:
M: 4 miles easy
T: 6 miles MP
W: Rest
T: 6 miles Hill Repeats
F: 4 miles easy
S: Rest
S: 14 miles LSD
Total: 34 Miles
Have you ever seen an elite on a run? How has your training been going?
She Runs the Wasatch 
Good job Kerry! That’s so cool that you saw Sage on your run!! Kismet!!
It takes a lot of practice and many many weeks to start nailing down your MP, especially when you are coming back from some down time and aren’t used to it. I have the same problem in my MP runs, they are often too fast, but it seems to work out in the end since that makes my actual MP feel easier by comparison. Just keep working at it, eventually it will become more consistent. I have the same problem so I know how frustrating it is, but it’s just something we have to be patient with. MP runs are a deceptively tough workout, I always underestimate how difficult it can be to stick to a moderate pace like that. You’re doing great, keep up the good work!
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Yeah. I agree. I guess going a little too quick will make things easier come May. I am a little worried about burn out, but I think that’s coming from my easy mileage more than my tougher runs.
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I don’t know who Sage is! BUT I AM GLAD YOU SAW HIM! You had some great workouts this week. I went to Boulder once. LOVE IT. The elevation seriously kicked my ass.
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Sage is an ultra and mountain runner. He has a really good youtube channel called VO2Max Productions where he goes over tons of awesome tips. You should check him out.
I’m really strange when it comes to elevation. I seem to do better at higher altitudes until about 9,000 ft. That was one of the reasons that I signed up for Colfax.
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YOU SAW SAGE CANADAY ON YOUR RUN! YOU SHARED THE SAME TRAIL AS SAGE ON THE SAME DAY! YOU BREATHED THE SAME AIR AS SAGE! I’m so envious I could cry! But I’m also really happy for you! That’s so freaking cool! 🙂
What a great week of training too. You are having a lot of confidence building runs! Can’t wait to see you soon!
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I know! I was the most excited human to ever exist when I saw him! He was really tall… and basically perfect. Even Frank noticed how much better he looked at running than anyone else we passed. AND I have the proof of this run (and our flyby) on my Strava app!
Thanks! I am gaining confidence, but I’m still nervous. I got so close last time, and I don’t want to get hurt again. I can’t wait to see you in Florida! I’m looking forward to the warm weather, too.
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OMG your elite sighting – freaking AWESOME!! I know Shalane was in town a few years ago and she was running on the trail that I run on, but I didn’t see her. I live where Runner’s World is published so she was here for the RW Half Marathon. So freaking cool about your sighting. GREAT job this week, you KILLED those tempo miles!! Awesome!
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Yeah, seeing Sage was pretty great. He’s one of my favorite elites, so if it could be anyone, I was pretty glad to see him. He looked so fantastic as he ran. I wish I could look half that well put together on a run. Haha.
I think I killed those tempo miles a little too hard. I have another tempo run today, so we’ll see if I can slow things down a little bit.
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I have absolutely no clue who Sage Canaday is . . .
My legs rarely want to go faster than the pace I want to hit (which is usually about 3 minutes per mile slower than yours) — I have to watch my watch because my legs always say you’re working too hard! Well, mostly.
Hill repeats with 700 ft elevation gain? Yikes! That would kill my knees for sure.
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Sage is an ultra and mountain runner. He posts a lot of training videos on youtube and gives general advice that has helped me a lot in the past. He’s pretty cool!
My legs have a tendency to want to run a positive split, so I’ll start my tempo run feeling good at too quick of a pace, but by the end I’m struggling to hold it together. I’m just nervous about that happening in the race. I guess practice helps, right? Haha!
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Oh, I can understand the positive splits thing. I’ve actually gotten a lot better with negative splits, but some days I’m just all over the place!
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I love that when it comes to marathons and marathon pace, a run at MP is actually SLOWER than we usually feel comfortable. I love that your MP run was 8:45 instead of 9…training for marathons is so wacky. Nice job this week and congrats on see Sage Canaday! 🙂
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Yeah. I just worry about practicing such fast paces. I don’t want to burn out during the marathon.
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I can’t believe you saw sage, I’m so jealous. I read through your whole post but all i remember is sage lol
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I just laughed so hard reading this. Yeah… I was in shock when I saw him. I wish I had been fast enough to run after him and have a conversation. He was pretty far down the trail before I realized what had just happened. lol
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