#nyrrvirtualtrainer

[geeksofdoom]

Post-race selfie, NYC Half Marathon Edition: What an amazing race! The cold & winds only made me run faster lol. Sorry I nearly decapitated you, Jackson!! Best Half finish time yet. Virtual Training program did right by me. I kicked this race's butt!!

[naturessports]

What a great place to run, even in a city there are loads of great running routes🏃🏃 You just got to get out and find them 🏃🏃🏃 . repost via @runningbrina . Never get comfortable! Always look for the challenge🔥 Hello @centralparknyc 🙋🏼 What a beautiful morning for my 10 miles run 😍 @nyrr #nyrr #nyrrvirtualtrainer #centralparkreservoir #longrunsunday

[yeshiitsrachel]

"On Not Ever Winning Marathons" --- I have been thinking very seriously this week about why I keep signing up for marathons. Ever since I entered and got into Chicago without a terrible amount of thought. I don't run them to win, I don't even run them to be competitive. I have felt embarrassed to tell people I'm "just trying to break 4:30" like it's somehow embarrassing to say that you trained for 3 months to get your feet to keep moving continuously for 4 hours and 29 minutes. In a way, I guess I'm "racing" myself. I'm racing to prove to myself that I can stay strong, both mentally and physically. I've never truly enjoyed anything that has ever come easy and marathons sure as freaking don't. But when I came in dead last at tempo on Thursday, I fought the embarrassment and took the high five instead because that Prospect Park hill is no joke amiright?? Then I turned around, took this picture, and somehow still hauled it to work. Ok, I'm coming for you Little Rock and Chicago. --- #littlerockmarathon #runchi #nyrrgrouptraining #nyrrvirtualtrainer (at Prospect Park)

[nycrunning]

Forgot to post this awesome fun moment, the team cheer, from Sunday's shake out run and course strategy session out of the #tcsnycmarathon #marathonpavilion with all the #nyrrgrouptraining and #nyrrvirtualtrainer runners getting ready for next Sunday, and officially opening the pavilion for the week! 👏🏃🏼🏃‍♀️💪👏 FIVE DAYS TO GO !! (at Tavern on the Green)

[nycrunning]

Fun shake out run and course strategy session out of the #tcsnycmarathon #marathonpavilion with all the #nyrrgrouptraining and #nyrrvirtualtrainer runners getting ready for next Sunday, and officially opening the pavilion for the week! 👏🏃🏼🏃‍♀️💪👏 📸 @commandersnake And then it POURED! Who. is. READY?!?? (at Tavern on the Green)

[lolomc-nyc]

training: week 11

total miles: 32.2

i felt really on track with my training this week. still pretty tired on the regular and still feel like im eating everything in the world, but im proud of my progress and think im in a good spot!

sept 7: Labor Day... live a little. I didn’t do much of anything besides sit by the pool and drink wine. 

sept 8: Back at Mile High for 6 miles of hills and speed drills. I’ve definitely noticed an improvement in my recovery pace. I used to have to walk after sprints but now I’m able to keep a 10 minute/mile pace and recover while jogging. progress!

sept 9: Rest day.

sept 10: 7 miles in the rain! wasn’t fun getting out there, but I didn’t have a choice. started out feeling kinda yucky, but after mile 4 (I swear that’s always a turning point for me), I was able to crank out the last three miles with negative splits. woo!

sept 11: 4 morning miles in the hood.

sept 12: got up super duper early (again) for 5 miles on my own on the West Side Highway then 10 miles with Girls on the Run. I ran with fellow SoleMate Jess for most of the Central Park route and the time flew by. Before I knew it I was exiting the park and on my way to the Penrose for brunch with GOTR. This avocado toast tasted amazing after 15 sweaty miles! 

sept 13: rest day, also known as “the day i ate fries for two meals.” 

the end!

[lolomc-nyc]

training: week 10

total miles: 25

aug 31: rest day

sept 1: 6 miles of speedwork and hills at Mile High Run Club. i know I’ve said it before, but this class seriously delivers. I leave a hot sweaty mess and can actually feel my legs getting stronger from it. I was so spent after this class, i missed my subway stop! that hasn’t happened in like years. because i was starving and grumpy by the time i made it back to my neighborhood, i treated myself to the ChickenShack at Shake Shack. SO GOOD! (food makes my world go round)

sept 2: I skipped out of work a bit early to attend the Lole White Tour in Central Park. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but holy amazing. 10,000 people practicing yoga in while in the middle of the Great Lawn on a beautiful night? sign me up. Music by Ingrid Michaelson and instruction by three of NYC’s most famous yogis didn’t hurt either. 

sept 3: I reallllly should have gotten up early this morning to run, but for whatever reason I didn’t. By the time 5 pm rolled around, it was already 90 degrees and like a billion percent humidity. I knew it was going to be rough but I needed to log.those.miles. So I ventured out and across the Manhattan bridge for an 8 miler. I was OK the first half but once I got into Manhattan, I hit a wall and did not think I had it in me to run the 4 miles back home. I texted my guru (Maggie) for some support and she assured me I could def get it done and that I could eat or drink whatever I wanted in the AC once I got home. That did the trick. I literally run to my wine store in Park Slope (not my first rodeo) and picked up an ice cold bottle of Rose as my treat. Yeah, I know I should stop with this “rewarding myself” thing but when its hot AF and you’re running instead of happy hour, you do what you want. 

sept 4: I booked a last minute Pure Barre class and was glad I did. All that LTBing felt great. After class, I ran by JackRabbit and bought new running shoes! Hot pink and orange GT2000s in a 1/2 size bigger than I have been wearing. So far I love em.

sept 5: File this run under “struggle city.” Friday night’s “Happy Hour” ended up becoming a West Village bar crawl without dinner, so needless to say, I wasn’t living my best life on Saturday morning. I still got  up early and was out the door by 10 for my 11 miles. I did the Williamsburg bridge and stupidly forgot my gels at home, so I had to go to the cracked out 711 in LES for Gatorade (never.again). It was a beautiful morning and I was happy to be out there, but I felt pretty draggy and dehydrated. I got it done though and I guess that’s all that matters. 

sept 6: beach day! 

[lolomc-nyc]

training: week 9

you guysssss tumblr ate my post for this week and now I can barely remember what happened, so here’s my lame attempt.

total miles: 32.6

aug 24: this was a serious recovery day. more due to that polo match/unlimited rose action on sunday than because of my long run. i did manage to drag my seriously bloated self to yoga at Athleta that evening. besides the instructor saying things like “rise up like a souffle,” it felt great to get a deep stretch.

aug 25: an easy 5 miles in the morning.

aug 26: I went to a Magic Mike theme ride at Monster Cycle. That’s right - a spin class with Magic Mike music and music videos playing in the background. Yes, it was as amazing as it sounds.

I normally wouldn’t do a 2-a-day but pushing my long run to Sunday goofed my schedule up a bit. So, I had 7 miles on my calendar and attempted to knock this out after work. Until I received an urgent text from my boss at Mile 5. Luckily I was close to home and able to run to my desk and (literally) sweat over a new work project.

aug 27: work was crazy so I didn’t make it out the door for a run. I did find time to meet my bestie for Happy Hour margaritas. #priorities

aug 28: 6 morning miles to make up for my shortened Wednesday run.

aug 29: 45 minute FlyWheel class with my new favorite instructor Darryl Gaines!

aug 30: 3 Bridges Run with the New York Flyers. My GOTR friend Annie recommended this training run which covers 20 miles and 3 bridges (Brooklyn, Pulaski and Queensboro). They provide water & fuel stops and bag check. So awesome! You had the option to drop off depending on what mileage you wanted to do. I only had 14 on my schedule, but that would have left me in a part of Queens I wasn’t familiar with, so I decided to try to do 16 to get back into Manhattan

Although staying in on summer Saturday made me feel semi-lame, I was so glad I did. My alarm went off at the fresh hour of 5 am Sunday. I, per usual, ate my pre-made english muffin and peanut butter and slammed some iced coffee. I made it up to Super Runners on the UES by 7 to join the 9:30 pace group.

There were about 20 runners in my group - a mix of men and women and a variety of ages. Everyone was super duper nice and it was awesome to dedicated pacers.

We ran across the park to the West Side, down to Chelsea piers for a bathroom break, then across the Brooklyn Bridge. At our first water & gel stop on Flushing, I was feeling great. My only regret was that I forgot to put on sunscreen and the sun was super bright. (Luckily I didn’t burn)

We ran along the BK waterfront into Greenpoint and over the weirdly short and on-ramp like Pulaski bridge. Around that point, I broke away with a few people who were doing more like a 9′15 pace. My legs were feeling really strong and I was happy with my fueling (gel at mile 7, gatorade from then on), but I was also pretty relieved to see the last fuel station at mile 15. Running through LIC wasn’t my favorite--kind of industrial and icky--but I really wanted experience running over the Queensboro bridge.

I got a little nervous hearing people talk about it: “This bridge sucks. There’s no other way to put it.” With that in mind, I dug deep and kept thinking that it’s only a mile and “what goes up what must come down.” As long as I could power through the first .5 of the bridge, I’d be set. Although my pace slowed to closer to 9′40, I crossed over the bridge feeling good.

I broke apart from the group (some people were running the full 20 miles) and headed to Juice Press for a well-deserved smoothie. I can’t tell you how amazing this tasted after 16.6 miles (my longest run, um, EVER).

I actually felt pretty normal the rest of the day. I think my hydration and rest efforts on Saturday paid off.

all in all, a great week of training in the books.