Weekend: 15 Mile Long Run + South Mountains State Park Hike

Happy new week! I am in recovery mode after an active (and amazing!) weekend that included a 15 mile long run on Saturday and a 14 mile hike on Sunday. I spent a lot of QT with the foam roller this morning and also did a bit of yoga after I taught today. Overall, my body is feeling really good. All of my training is coming together and that’s a great feeling.

Here’s a little weekend recap for ya. It’s been a minute since I shared one.

FRIDAY

Friday evening looked like a long walk with the puppies while chatting with my grandmother followed by a pasta dinner. This was a delicious combo and you should definitely recreate it.

• Rigatoni pasta
• Sautéed Trader Joe’s sweet Italian chicken sausage
• Trader Joe’s Autumnal Harvest pasta sauce (seasonal – grab a few jars while you can!)
• Fresh mozzarella mixed into the pasta/sausage/sauce mix
• Fresh basil
• Parmesan cheese
• Roasted broccoli

I ate this again Saturday night.

SATURDAY

I set my alarm for 5:45a on Saturday to get up and get my long run done. My hope was to finish early enough to still be able to make it to the farmers market but I procrastinated and didn’t get on the road until 7:15 so that didn’t happen.

This was one of those runs that wasn’t good or bad – it was just fine. Checked the box and got the time on my feet. I felt okay but had a hard time finding my groove. I listened to a podcast, switched to another, switched to music, back to podcast, back to music. If there are any podcasts or audiobooks that you’ve been enjoying lately – I’m all ears! Would love to switch it up!

I didn’t map out a course for this long run so I kind of wandered my way through lots of various neighborhoods and parts of town. That was enjoyable/entertaining. I’ve been running long enough and have lived in Charlotte long enough that I am pretty darn good at estimating distances and creating routes on the fly.

Here’s what I’m wearing in photo above:

• Brooks Hyperion Max Shoes (I just ordered a new pair while I was creating this link because the older model that I have is on sale for $89 at Nordstrom Rack and the new ones are going for $180!) I am obsessed with these shoes.
• Feetures Compression Socks (soooooo comfy just like everything Feetures makes – highly recommend)
• Adidas DailyRun 5″ Shorts – these go in and out of stock all the time so if they don’t have your size right now, check back soon!

Here’s my paces for the 15. I typically try to take my long runs slow – about a minute to 90 seconds slower than my goal race pace. I did pick my pace up for the last two miles of this run to get some work holding a harder pace on tired legs (and a tired brain, haha – long runs are also mentally fatiguing but I also love them for the mental release all at the same time if that makes sense).

And here’s how I fueled:

• Toast with butter and jam 15 minutes before
• 1 cup of black coffee
• Gel at mile 5
• Gel at mile 10
• Protein smoothie with fruit, milk and almond butter within 30 minutes of arriving home
• Lunch 90 minutes later

As I keep getting into these higher mileage long runs, I will up the frequency of the gels and probably shoot for one every four miles on my next run. So much trial and error with this and now is the time to practice before race day!

These are the gels that I am really loving right now. It’s called UCAN Edge Energy Gel and it’s a cleaner, easier to digest alternative to your traditional gel. They are sugar-free, caffeine-free and easy on the stomach. They are SO much easier for me to get down compared to something like a Gu. They aren’t as thick, are not anywhere near as sweet (the sweet tastes more like natural fruit flavor versus straight sugar) and I don’t have to chase them with water.

Definitely recommend trying.

I got myself showered, smoothied and dressed and headed to Pizza Baby to meet Dorie for lunch. We had a long overdue in-person catch up. I had a mortadella sandwich with burrata and arugula and Dorie had a delicious looking pizza. If I find myself at Pizza Baby again, I’ll definitely go with a pizza next time!

I spent the rest of my afternoon on the couch watching the Georgia game and working on a puzzle. I took the dogs out for a mile long stroll to shake out my legs and enjoy the evening air.

And then I took myself out for an ice cream cone. I had been dreaming about this since lunch with Dorie. I was majorly craving a big scoop of ice cream in a waffle cone and Golden Cow Creamery delivered! I had a double scoop (looks more like a quadruple scoop!) of Reese’s and Salted Oreo.

Back at home, I got super-focused to get all of my gear ready for a Sunday hiking outing. I wanted to be in bed by 9:30p since my alarm was set for 4:45a.

SUNDAY 

It wasn’t hard to get up so early on Sunday knowing that I had such a great day ahead. I met my hiking friends at 6a and we were on the road by 6:15a to head to South Mountains State Park.

I haven’t written about my new hiking group on my blog yet but you can get a preview from the first hike I joined them for back in August on Instagram. I plan to write a detailed post about it on my blog very soon! There is so much news to share on that front.

South Mountains State Park is an easy 90 minute drive from Charlotte and of course there was no traffic early on a Sunday morning. We were parked and on the trail by 7:45a and it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. It was such a gorgeous morning – in the 50s and stunning clouds. We could see the Charlotte skyline from this viewpoint.

We did 14 miles, 3,000 feet of climb and averaged around a 20ish minute mile pace. Overall, my legs felt surprisingly good after the prior day’s long run but let me tell you…there was one final long stretch of climb where I was hardcore bringing up the rear. Thank god I had my friend’s poles because I’m pretty sure my arms were doing half the work. I just kept telling myself one foot in front of the other and every time I thought we’d reached the end of the climb, we made a turn and it kept going up.

We did take a break at this swimming hole about a mile from the finish for lunch/snacks. There are few things better than a sandwich on a rock in the sunshine while looking at a waterfall.

Here’s a link to the All Trails guide to hikes in South Mountains State Park. I am not sure exactly what combination of trails we did for our 14 mile hike but there are tons of great trail options at the park and you can make it as short or as long as you’d like!

The awesome thing about our early start is that we were DONE by 1:30p. While we had the park to ourselves early in the morning, the parking lot and waterfall areas were packed by the time we left. It was great to be back in Charlotte by 3p and have time to relax and get set for the week.

If you’re in the Charlotte area, be sure to also check out my post on Stone Mountain State Park. It’s also a 90-minute drive and great for a day of hiking!

And that’s a wrap on the weekend!

QUESTIONS 

What podcasts and/or audiobooks have you been enjoying lately? What are your favorite gels/fuel for long runs? How often do you take them? 

Favorite state park?