NYCM: 27 Days to Go!

I can’t believe how close the marathon is getting. Cue this broken record statement for the next few weeks.

After being sick last week, I managed to still squeeze out a pretty good training week. I got some good mileage in, though I didn’t try to push speed at all.

Monday: Gave myself one more day to rest

Tuesday: Tried for an “easy” four miles. I felt fine until about 3.25, on my way back from the West Side Highway. I stopped for a light, and when I started up again, I felt really lightheaded. It was hot as hell on Tuesday, and it felt like too much on my body that was still trying to fight off something. I don’t wear a heart rate monitor while running usually, so I don’t usually notice my heart rate either way, but it also felt like an easy run was making my heart beat much faster than usual.

Wednesday: I reported all of that back to Jess (who deserves a medal for coaching my craziness) and she suggested spinning instead of Wednesday, so I happily took that as a cue to go to SoulCycle. I don’t go very often, so it still feels like a huge treat when I do. Although the class was lots of fun, and I left a lot of stress on the bike, I didn’t enjoy the workout physically. My legs felt like lead, and everything tired me out far more quickly than it normally does.

Thursday: So clearly, after two crappy days of workouts, I was really excited to run Thursday. (/sarcasm font) Jess told me to run for time and without my Garmin, and I happily obeyed, knowing my pace was definitely going to be slower than I wanted it to be. I had drinks with Leanne from Uplift last week, and we were talking about how boring it can get running the same route day after day. She said that she’ll sometimes just run in and out of the streets through the city. When you hit lights, this can get really annoying, but it still beats the boredom sometimes, so I ran south and cut across the West Village to get to the West Side Highway, before coming back up my normal West Side Highway route.

Friday: At SoulCycle, I realized I really missed that feeling of strength in muscle groups above the waist, so I took an Uplift class on Friday and tried to balance working hard enough that it felt like I was getting my time and money’s worth with not killing my legs for this weekend’s running. I’ve had a lot on my mind, and I concentrated on tuning that out to get a good workout in. That worked really well, until my mind wandered and I almost dropped a weight on my foot…

I stepped away from my laptop for a few hours to go to our annual Junior League Homecoming party. It was masquerade-themed. I’m not a fan of masks or hats because I hate things on my face (which is obviously why I got bangs?), but I’m a sucker for a good themed party, so I got this one-eyed mask…and took it off within half an hour of getting to the party.

Saturday: I stayed in all day working on a big project, until getting a Facebook message around 3:30 from little Miss Michelle. “Are you doing Grete’s tomorrow?” Grete’s Gallop, for those who don’t know, is two loops of Central Park. If you are not a New Yorker, I bet that sounds so pretty to you! If you are a New Yorker, the idea of conquering all of those hills twice does not sound like much fun. But I had 20 on my schedule and knew that throwing 13.1 in there would help most of those miles go by quickly. And I am addicted to halfs, so I hightailed it up to NYRR, getting there about 10 minutes before registration closed and signing up in person. I wanted to get some miles in just for volume’s sake, so I ran home 5 miles from NYRR, taking it easy and enjoying being in the park for an easy run, not killing myself for a race or a speed workout. Knowing I’d have two hours of hill fun, I deliberately stayed away from Harlem and Cat Hills.

And Miss Emily killed her second half!

Sunday: I’m going to write a separate race recap, but the short version: ran 3 up to the park, ran a half in 90% humidity, chafed like I’ve never chafed before and ran 4 more home to total 2 for the day.

Got back up to 34.5 miles for the week and got some lifting things up and putting things down in. The closer the race gets, the more nervous I get, obviously, but I am happy that being sick last week didn’t cost me much time.

This week’s highlights: Jess gave me a killer tempo for tomorrow: 15-minute warmup, 30 minutes at 10K pace effort, 10 minutes easy, 30 minutes at 10K pace effort AGAIN, 10 minute cooldown. I’m also planning on lifting things up and putting them down again, and running 22 miles on Saturday. I’m doing other things in between, but those are the workouts I’m most excited for this week.

How was your week of training? What workouts are you excited about for the upcoming week?