Hydrating at home. Drinking the Nuun Energy Water Tabs, Wild Berry Flavor - tasted good and highly recommended!
Wow! This week’s full training was intense (for me at least) but fun and rewarding. I decided to write out all my updates in one entry because I wanted to make sure I completed all the sequence of workouts first. And I’m happy to share that completed, I did! :)
Monday was really rewarding because I finally ran in the rain, which is something I’d avoided for the longest time (except for the downpour during miles 2-3 of the BK Half but at that point, I didn’t really have much of a choice but to continue running). To my surprise, I completed my fastest 10K to-date at just over one hour. Ultimately, the cool temperature benefited me since my body is notorious for overheating and sweating. It was a refreshing run and one when I felt like I could continue on and on.
Tuesday marked the first day of my running class with NYRR. It was a neat experience where I ran in the rain again at Central Park. The experience was interesting. We gathered first at some middle school in UES. Upon checking in, we had to wait at the school’s auditorium to start warming up at the gym, two floors up. We did stretches and after that, we jogged in batches to our starting point at Central Park.
Before we ran, the instructors divided us into groups - I ended up choosing 10:30-11:00 (4mi pace) instead of 10-10:29. For that session, we ran a downhill and uphill, 1-1.5 minutes faster than our usual pace. After that, which took about 20 minutes with break, we jogged back to the middle school to pick up our stuff. And that’s it. I was hoping they would really get into form, observing our run, giving personalized coaching in smaller groups. But the class was rather large and we just ran behind our “coach.” I was disappointed that I didn’t get any more insight and true-to-form coaching that I thought I’d get from the class. Not for nothing though, I guess I can say that I can run uphill faster than my downhill if I really push myself. I paid $105 to learn that and run with a bunch of strangers. Hoping for a more engaging, dynamic, and useful session next time.
On Wednesday, I focused on core/cardio training by going to my gym’s HIIT (high intensity something something class) which kicked my bootayyy. Good exercises to learn that I can do at home. When I do it again, I’ll push myself with slightly heavier weights because I didn’t feel much of what we call “good pain” the next day. Anywho, definitely good chance to vary up the training.
Last week, several spots opened up for my firm’s JPMorgan Corporate Challenge. I quickly signed up to run using someone else’s bib since Thursdays are my fast/short/interval run. Overall, the race was more fun that I’d anticipated and moments of it were very Mindy Project (Triathlon episode) and The Office-like (Rabies awareness episode). I ran about a 1-2 mins pace faster than my longer distances but missed the sub 30 minute marked by 15 seconds. I was really disappointed at myself and compared my times to colleagues who completed who don’t even run, but completed the race faster! I got over it really quickly upon realizing that comparing myself to others meant that I was going against the mantra of running against me - the very core foundation of this marathon endeavor. Once I got that out my system, I was happy to keep in mind the faster pace in which I completed this 3.2 mile run.
Friday was the much needed rest day for Saturday’s dreaded 12 mile long/easy run. The day was supposed to start at 630am to get to downtown / FIDI to meet a work friend by 730am. Since he’s starting out his running adventures, I thought it’d be neat to run miles 5-8 with him. But alas, it was both raining and gloomy. Intuitively, I felt that it wasn’t a safe condition for a long run. I contacted my friend and cancelled our run with possibilities of running in early evening of the rain lets up.
Canceling the morning run meant that I spent all Saturday timing my meals for my run later that day and agonizing about the 12 miles ahead of me. I know it’s weird to be worried about running 12 miles after having done 3 half marathons. I supposed the mild freaking out was due to the fact that I’d never really ran 12 miles leading up to those half marathons. Running a long distance like Saturday is also different than running halves - it’s a training, mostly on my own, creating my own route, finding my own drinks and bathrooms without the festiveness that running races provide.
So step by step from Park Slope, BK to crossing the tourist crowded Brooklyn Bridge to West Side’s running path up to Canal Street (I swear there’s a name to this) AND back, I ran over 13.1 miles. Three miles into the run, I bid adieu to MapMyRun that had yet again ruined my mileage tracking. Couldn’t afford not to record my distance, pace, route for such an epic run so I officially switched to Nike’s running app. Around 730p, I met with my coworker and we ran 3.5 miles together (miles 4.5 to 8 for me). This was actually only my second time running with a buddy - ever. I have to say he really helped me as far as pacing myself and relaxing in prep for the remaining 5 miles I still needed to do.
The Lower Manhattan waterfront area beamed with tourists and city dwellers, spending Saturday night with their friends or special someone. I tried to commit to memory all the new spots I discovered on foot and vowed to come back to them less sweaty and stinky.
Miles 10 and closing out to 12 had this nagging knee ache, side/top. Likely IT band that I have to really look into. I’m fairly sure my mind is ready for the marathon but not sure that I can say the same about my body. I really did wonder during the run how does one pull through if your lower body is just giving out. I hope that really never happens and it reminded me to take some extra precaution so that I don’t hurt myself and endanger my ability to accomplish this marathon goal.
Sunday was spent resting and with an hour long, $30, reflexology massage in Chinatown. Best spend ever.
Anyway, what a lovely way to see the city on Saturday night. I couldn’t blame tourists for being on my way as they selfied and snatched their photos and mementos of NYC away. I was guilty of this myself. I didn’t take photos during my run though I found myself running loopy at times, in awe of this great city which I am fortunate to say as my training grounds for The San Francisco Marathon 2015.
