Megan Jenkins is a rising sophomore at The Citadel. Jenkins is from Cheyenne, Wyo. and is training around the James Island area this summer. This week Jenkins talks about training at high altitude in Cheyenne.
Weekly Total Mileage: 50 miles
July Total Mileage: 90 miles
Summer Total Mileage: 343.5 miles
July 10 - 8 mile run
I\'m starting to get used to the altitude quite a bite more. The last two miles I ran pretty hard.
July 11 - Break
I haven\'t taken time off in a long time so I decided to take a day off. I went down to my high school in Colorado Springs, Colorado and went up to the track. Just jogging around a little bit made me breath really hard...and it\'s only another 1000 ft. higher than Cheyenne.
July 12 - 7 mile run, 30 minute stationary bike
Went to the gym and did 30-minutes on the bike and then some weights and pushups/situps. Later in the evening I went for a decent pace for seven miles, the last 1.5 miles were hard. I ran the last mile in about 5:45-5:47. Running distance at altitude is nothing compared to trying to run hard at altitude. Needless to say I wasn\'t feeling too awesome after my run.
July 13 - 4 mile run a.m./7 mile run p.m.
Went to some trails in the morning about 30 minutes from Cheyenne about 8,600 ft. about sea level, the trail I was on is in the mountains so it was up and down but it really was nothing compared to the trails I used to run...nonetheless I couldn\'t run for more than 4 miles...I stopped and walked the rest of the way with my mom and my dog. Later in the evening I went for an easy 7 miles in Cheyenne.
July 14 - 7 mile run
Another 7 miles, I\'m almost completely used to the altitude but it\'s still really hard to run under 7:40 per mile.
July 15 - 7 mile run
Easy 7 miles, the second half was a little more up-tempo. Plenty of situps and pushups after my run. The temperature got up to about 105 but since it\'s so dry up here it was bearable.
July 16 - 10 miles
A 10-mile long run in the evening, my legs are pretty sore from this past week. I\'ve never run 50 miles in a week before.