So last week, I decided to make a more concerted effort to get my weekday runs in. They’ve all but completely fallen off the radar in the month of September. It almost happened this week. Almost.
It’s annoying because I want to run. And I don’t intended for this to be a waaa waaa I’m so busy there’s never any time sorta thing. But, I’m literally standing at work from 7:30am until after 4. And a few days from 4-6:30 when I go right to coach. So really, after standing that long my feet are killing me. I learned this week that as early as it needs to be, I have to go back to running first thing in the morning (hello, 5am). Otherwise, I won’t get it done at the end of the day… or like my sad attempt at evening speedwork on the track after coaching XC, it will be seriously lacking.
Lesson learned. I’ll be up and out bright and early this week. The good news is that this totally legitimizes my ridiculously early bedtime.
So week 11? Broken record. Not enough during the week. Seriously long run on the weekend. To be more specific, I logged a measly 4 miles during the week in a pathetic track session after work and coaching. My long run? Felt worse than it was.
Highlights of the week? The ridiculously fun afternoon beer-fest dance party that M and I had in the living room after my 20. Also, the massage I had today = awesome. Already booked another in two weeks after my last 20-miler. And I’ll probably book a third for the day after the marathon. My little recovery run this evening was pretty nice too.
Looking back over the last 11 weeks, my training has been much more awesome than sucky. It’s less than stellar that the last, say, 3 or so weeks have sucked — I’d really like to finish up my training as strong as I started. Let’s hope going back to morning runs does the trick…
Location: Central Park – start at 70th and East Drive, two clockwise loops ending on the West Drive (like the marathon finish – !!!)
Conditions:
Pre-Race:
Felt pretty good in the morning. Ate 1/2 bagel with a shmear of pb, honey and sea salt. Didn’t have any digestion issues (which had been plaguing me, lately).
Had a tough time wrapping my head around running 7 miles before a half-marathon… The run before was fine – comfortable, easy. No problem. Got to the start about 30 minutes early (since when does the subway run efficiently on the weekend?)
Race Time:
Aaaaaand about getting to the race 30 minutes early… I was warmed up and ready to go… then stood around for quite a while. Not so hot. Race started and I felt okay. I planned on taking it easy the first loop, then picking it up on the second. Uhh, not so much. Last week’s 18 in the park was a cake-walk compared to this. By mile 4 my hamstrings were on fire. The rest of the race was a struggle. I managed to finish in just under a 10:00 min/mile pace which is a far cry from what I had hoped for and was capable of. Boo. At the very least, though, I ran 20 miles. Done and done.
Official Time:
(+7 miles beforehand, just sayin…)
Overall:
Meh. I mean, I’m glad I did my 20 and all things considered, my half time wasn’t terrible… but still. I’ve had a few great long runs lately and this one just didn’t measure up. I think I also went into it expected to race my half… not happening, obvi. My mental game wasn’t on and I kept thinking about how much better I could have done had I only been running the half. Maybe next time… Looking forward to next weekend’s long run, and pretty much all of October!
September, the busiest month of my year is now over. (Yesssss). And now October, possibly the most exciting of 2011, is starting. And I’m in official countdown mode for the NYC Marathon.
September, as expected, proved to be a difficult balance (errr imbalance) of work and training. Such is life. I totally dropped off with only 80 – EIGHTY! – miles this month (huge drop-off from August). Certainly a long shot from what I’d planned. Now that school is a bit more in check, I’ll finish my last month of marathon training strong. Starting with a 20-mile kick-off tomorrow morning.
Really, all I want to do in October is follow my plan and remain healthy. I’ve recently kicked up the yoga a notch and starting really cleaning up my eats. I plan to continue this through October.
Since September seemed to be a month of less (less mileage, less free time), October will be a month of more. Here’s what I’m looking for more of:
more beautiful fall weather runs (September was still too muggy)
more fall produce – I just may turn into a squash. I’m okay with this.
more awesome long runs (only a few left!). I had my two favorite long runs in September – I’m hoping that October long runs are even better
more excitement for NYCM (as if that’s possible…)
more pampering – I’ve FINALLY made a massage appointment – for Sunday!
Since I was talking about elevation earlier this week, and with the marathon about, oh, 52 days away (!), here’s a course video. The entire course with elevations and distance markers. You know, so you don’t get lost on race day.
After a dismal last twoweeks of training, things are starting to turn around. Starting to being the key phrase here, not completely…
This was a huge week for me.. it could have gone much worse, running-wise, admittedly. I mean, it wasn’t like my 11 mile week. And I started school (draining), and had a out-of-town emergency that was also draining.
So the bad news? I missed my Thursday tempo run. Whoops. I came back into town very late on Wednesday night and started my first day of school bright and early on Thursday morning. After school, my body needed sleep and that’s what I did. It happens.
The good news? I did my long run this week! And it was 18 miles! And it was hilly, but I survived! (I say as I sit a day later with compression socks on reeking of Tiger balm). At any rate, it was a huge boost of confidence, and I’m over the training hump that had me down the last two weeks. Here’s how it went:
After two awful training weeks, I could use some inspiration. This week has started off pretty well with a strong speedwork session, and hopefully at this very moment I’m enjoying a 6-7 mile tempo run (looks like this one will be on the treadie).
This is one of my favorites. The MTA shot time lapse video over the Verrazano Bridge at the start of the marathon. Very cool. Enjoy.
So I feel a liiiittle short of my intended weekly mileage. By ten miles. Yep, I was supposed to hit 30 miles this week, but I came in with a whopping 20. And I wish I could blame it all on the Bronx Half being cancelled and hurricane Irene, but that’s not really the case.
After last Sunday’s great 18-miler, I took Monday as a rest day. Tuesday, I was back on the track for some speed work. It was a really nice change of pace to run in some cooler, drier fall-like weather (excited for more in the next few weeks). Wednesday I did a double-header at Core Fusion w/ a cardio class followed by slow flow yoga. I loved this combo and both classes were great. Then the wheels fell off… Thursday morning I was sore from yesterday’s cardio class and skipped my morning run, figuring I’d do it later that night. It was also around this time that information about the hurricane started to materialize. I started to think that maybe I wouldn’t/shouldn’t run the Bx Half on Sunday, and started to come up with a back-up plan… long story short, the race was cancelled and I didn’t have a great back-up plan. Or at least I didn’t follow the plan.
Here’s how it actually went:
Monday: 1 mile easy shake-out w/ husband
Tuesday: Speedwork on the track – 2×1200, 4×800 w/ 1 mile warm-up, 1 mile cool down (times posted on Daily Mile).
Wednesday: Core Fusion Cardio, Slow Flow Yoga
Thursday: NOTHING
Friday: NOTHING
Saturday: 13.1 miles
Sunday: NOTHING
So there’s my 20 mile week. When I actually should have had a 20-mile run this weekend. Yikes. I’m fine with cutting back a couple miles, but this was a bit much and I could have planned a little better.
I’m well aware that this week’s crappy mileage will not greatly impact my training overall. I do worry, however, about time management with workouts as school starts up. If I’m not getting all my workouts in now, I’ll need to step it up a bit when school begins and my schedule gets a little crazy.
Did the hurricane through off your plans this weekend?
There are a mere 72 days until the NYC Marathon! To think I’ve already been training for about 39 days… The days between now and the marathon will quickly get crossed off the calendar. I’ll put more miles and more training runs behind me as the days go on. In these next 10 weeks, I want to stay focused, get excited and keep my eye on the prize.
And what better day to do that than on my tempo run Thursday, ha. I could use a little extra inspiration and motivation heading into the weekend. So for the next 10 weeks, I’ll share videos to inspire. Oh, get excited.
Or… how to still hit mileage in a week that played host to not one, but two late nights out. Or… how to skip cross-training workouts in favor of sleeping in and eating falafel for breakfast (sad, but true. And delicious).
So week 4 began with some very high hopes. I’ll have to say that sometimes the road to best intentions is paved in free drinks.
Monday: Reformer Pilates class. It was a tough one – and awesome.
Tuesday: Tempo run on the treadmill (5). Was completely lacking motivation to get out the door. I thought it was too warm to run outside by the time I did get moving, so I was relegated to the treadie. Not fun, but it works. This workout actually should have happened on Monday.
Wednesday: Speedwork on the track (5.5 total). This was tough — my legs felt like lead after yesterday’s tempo run, and I was instantly reminded why I don’t do these workouts on consecutive days. It was 5x1000s, and I beat my time requirements, but it wasn’t pretty.
Thursday: After celebrating my efforts handsomely last night, I skipped not one, but TWO Core Fusion classes today. I did, however, decide that Nuun is an excellent source of hydration not limited to athletic endeavors.
Friday: Long run on the West Side Hwy w/ Emily (13.25). Despite my unusual fueling on Thursday, this run felt great. Was happy to get it in.
Saturday/Sunday: At a wedding.
Total miles: 24 (note: toenail count is almost to 9.5… oddly enough the 1/2 is much more freakish looking than just 9)
So week 5 should be a normal week for me. Back to weekend long runs, and no wedding on the weekend. I have not felt the need to follow my training plan to a T, and this “type B” way of training is what keeps it interesting and even fun for me, but with the marathon getting closer and closer, I know that I will need to tighten up in some areas so that I can be well-prepared come November 6. Like, I don’t know, maybe not going out big on a random Wednesday night would be a good place to start. Just sayin.
Week 3 of training was a good one, complete with a long run with new faces and some very interesting cross-training. I didn’t get all my workouts in… I didn’t hit my mileage (that happens when you completely skip your tempo run)… I took the whole weekend off as a giant rest day. Ah well, I’ll call on the “80% rule” for this one. Not a stellar week for workout consistency, but it worked.
Here’s how it went:
Monday: Speedwork on the track — definitely my most challenging track workout thus far. Hit the gym to do some lifting: biceps and back; kettlebells and push ups were also involved
Tuesday: Yoga at home (this was a goal!); Gym for shoulders and legs
Wednesday: SURFING! Was supposed to squeeze in a tempo run, but it didn’t happen. Surfing was awesome and totally worth it!
Thursday: Quick 2-miler
Friday: Long run (16.5)
Saturday and Sunday: NOTHING!
Total Mileage: 24 (possibly related number: 1 toenail missing. I’m sure this doesn’t bode well for the next 14 weeks… already lost a toenail in week 3? Yikes.)
I’ve been shifting my long runs to Fridays because I’ve had weddings or travel plans on the weekends. It’s pretty nice to get it out of the way. I’m now totally sold on completing my long runs w/ others and feel like I’ve been spoiled the past two weeks. This Friday, my 16.5 was made much more pleasant w/ company. I met up w/ Dori and we caught up w/ Ashley, Bo, and Jess for a bit too. The miles definitely went by more quickly than they might have if I’d been solo.
I’ve always trained on my own. And raced on my own, too. I remember how incredible it felt at the start of 2008′s NYC Marathon when I realized that after logging so many miles alone, I was suddenly a part of something much bigger.
After deferring the NYCM for two years because I just couldn’t get myself together, I decided to make some changes for my training this year. A big one was running with others. Mostly for motivational purposes, but logging long runs with buddies, and the tempo runs I’ve run with groups have also increased my confidence and made me a bit faster. A welcome bonus, for sure.
