Tag Archives: nyc marathon

Expo Excitement and My Marathon Goals!

You know how they say you’re supposed to take it easy the week of your marathon? I’ve been busier this week than I’ve been in a while–freelance work, meetings and conference calls, marathon-related events, physical therapy, Junior League meetings–and so has everyone else I know that’s running the marathon. While I’d sort of prefer to be busier, oh, any other week, it is good to keep me as distracted as possible.

I had my last physical therapy appointment before the marathon this morning, and I told my physical therapist that my knees are still crunchy when I walk up stairs. It turns out that I’m walking too upright, and I need to stick my butt out more when I walk up stairs. We did these really awkward drills where I walked up the stairs and stuck out my butt for her, and I felt really embarrassed when a cute guy walked past us as I was practicing sticking my butt out in my mismatched socks. I’m pretty sure every time I walk up the stairs now, I’ll think “you can do it, put your back into it.”

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I walked back home and saw a few people with their expo bags. I’m not going until tomorrow, so I wanted to run over and say, “HI! HOW WAS IT? WAS THERE LOTS OF GOOD STUFF? DID YOU SEE KARA GOUCHER? ARE YOU EXCITED? WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?” but instead, I just squee-d inside.

Do you see that shorter building between the tall buildings? That’s the Javits Center, where the expo is. For 362 days of the year, it’s just this big annoying building that I have to run or bike around to get to the West Side Highway and which can send hordes of people walking east looking for restaurants on 9th Ave. For three days of the year, it is RUNNER HEAVEN, or officially, the ING New York City Marathon Health and Fitness Expo, and I can’t wait to go tomorrow. [Fellow runners: when are you going??]

I remember when I moved into this apartment last year being very excited for how close it was to the expo, and then immediately realizing what a dork I was for being really excited to be close to something I’d be going to for a few hours on one day of the year.

GOALS:

I’ve been going back and forth with whether I was going to post my goals for this marathon, but I’ve decided to just put it out there. I like how Samantha did this, so I’m going to steal that format. Tomorrow, I’ll put up how you can track me!

D goal: PR from last year’s 4:59. I’m a lot faster than I was last year, and it’s not going to be really hot like it was in Chicago, so I’m pretty sure this one is a given.

C goal: 4:30. This is a 10:18 pace, and most of my long runs have been around 9:5x pace. At the beginning of the training season, this was my A goal, but I’m pretty sure I got this one.

B goal: anywhere between 4:15-4:30. A 4:15 marathon is a 9:43 pace which is slightly faster than I’ve been training at, but with the huge pushes of adrenaline I’ll get with millions of spectators, I think this could be possible.

A+ goal: anything under 4:15. McMillan says I can do 4:04 based on my Grete’s PR and 4:09 based on my Freeport PR. My crazy running coach thinks I can do 3:56; I think he’s smoking crack.

Also, check out this story on DNA Info that quotes me and Shannon talking about marathons and social media.

If you are running NYC, what’s your goal? If you’re training for another race, what’s your goal?

Taper Madness: (Phantom) Pain

If you are a regular reader, you know I’m tapering for the NYC Marathon. You’re either incredibly sick of marathon posts, or you’re dying to see how I do. (Okay, fine. You’re probably just sick of marathon posts. Too bad. I’ll be writing about the NYC Marathon for at least the next week and a half.)

So, the other day, I wrote about how one of my taper madness symptoms was taking it easy. I was starting to get bored with cross-training, and did a spin and yoga class last weekend–and then I was really sore afterwards when my muscles needed to be rebuilding.

Well, I’ve been awesome at resting this week. My workout schedule this week looked like this:

Monday: rest (was going to run but brought two left shoes out to my parents’)

Tuesday: run 4 miles on the Alter-G + physical therapy + long walk home

Wednesday: unplanned rest day

Thursday: 3 mile treadmill run

Friday: physical therapy in AM, long walk home at night

Most of the time, I do push myself relatively hard to work out, so I am totally going with this “I need to rest to recover” thing. Especially because I am one achy lady right now. There’s the knee injury that I’ve been dealing with, and I’m having some lower back pain, which isn’t terribly unusual for me with running, unfortunately.

I have two hot dates tonight:

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This guy.

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And this guy.

But not at the same time. Who do you think I am??

I’m also starting to get some “phantom pains.” What the hell is a phantom pain, do you ask? Doesn’t it either hurt or…not? According to Runner’s World (which has never led me astray):

Twinges and passing aches are all part of the body’s rejuvenation process. “During a taper, tissue repair on the microscopic level causes muscle twitches and sometimes muscle cramps as the body adapts,” says Dr. Smurawa. Also, when we run less, and worry more about our marathon, everyday aches and pains-which would normally be ignored–get exaggerated to the point of lunacy.

This Dr. Smurawa character also suggests long baths, whirlpools and massages, and suggests thinking of each pain as a sign that your body is healing itself and preparing you for the marathon. And appears to know me very well. The slight ankle pain on the treadmill last night? The soreness in my quads? (Hopefully) all signs that my body is healing itself.

Marathoners (and half-marathoners): what part of the taper drives you the maddest?

Non-marathoners: what’s driving you mad right now???