August Milestones

So the month of August is just about over and the first 4 weeks (aka one quarter) of my marathon training is done.This week was also supposed to be a rest week, but somehow (that's a lie, I know exactly 'how'!), I ended up running 27 miles, which is the highest mileage week I've ever had. That also means that I pulled in 91 miles for the month. That's pretty crazy for me, the only time I've come anywhere near that is when I was training for the Brooklyn Half. And what's even more encouraging is that I don't feel burned out.

The legs are definitely feeling tired, but other then that I can't complain. I'm still waiting for them to realize what's going on. Still not quite used to running 10+ miles every weekend, mentally or physically. Also, after my post run nap, I wake up feeling terrible...almost hungover. I'm taking that to mean dehydration, which is hard to believe when I've been drinking 30oz on a 10 mile run. Taking the foam roller out of the closet for a little QT. May invest in those silly compression socks, we shall see. I'm also getting low on Gels...time to make another order at Hammer Nutrition and get some Recoverite as well since I'm running low on protein powder too!

Not really sure what next week/month has in store for me! 16 mile long run should be amazing, meeting up with various friends during the course of the run, so I should have lots of motivation/support.

And on the fourth week, she rested.

So my 14 miler came and went. Funny, it was really uneventful. It was the longest I had ever run and I thought at the end I would feel something special, but the only thing I could feel was the throbbing in my feet. I chose a slightly different route then the one I posted last week. I ended up meeting up with Robin for the first 7 miles and the miles really did fly by. Then we split at the Brooklyn Bridge and I battled out the last 7 on my own. At one point I really did think about stopping and going home, but somehow I managed to keep moving. My feet, calves, and outer thighs were so sore by the time I was done--but oddly enough, after the 30 minute train ride home, I feel about 90% better. And the next day? Pretty much at 100%.

Regardless, I am more than thrilled that Week 4 is a cut back week and I will only be running 18-20 miles. More importantly, my long run will only be 6 miles! I definitely don't think my legs realize 100% yet what's going on. A little concerned that the 14 miler seemed so hard starting mile 9...although last weeks run I was starting to get tired by mile 7...Still messing around with pre/during run nutrition and fluids, which is hard because the race is in November and it wont be nearly as hot as it's been (we hope!) and I think my nutrition needs will be different in 40 degree weather.

I have to give to props out to Joe and his awesome blog: http://regularjoerunning.com/ Not only did he recently post the most thorough write up of his experiences at the Philadelphia Marathon (which gave me the chills reading it), but he also posted something really interesting about nutrition that I decided to try out this weekend. I decided to eat real food on a run. About 5-6 miles in, I stopped to refill my water bottle, and ate a min-Luna Bar--they're tiny and only 100 calories. Amazingly it never felt like it was sloshing around in my stomach, nor did it cause me any sort of digestive distress. It was really a nice change to EAT something, instead of fighting with a Gel packet. Then mile 9.5 or so (when my legs were starting to fatigue badly) I took a Gel. I like this idea of alternating food and Gel, and I think I'll definitely play around with it a little more. This was the first time where I ended a long run not felt "empty" and it was great. Now if only my legs cooperated!

Breaking the 13.1 Barrier

Ack! It's here already! We're only into week 3 of marathon training and this weekend has come already. I have 14 miles to run this weekend. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. I have my route all planned out, and looking at the route itself is kind of scary.

Mapping Courtesy of Daily Mile

I mean look at it! I'm practically running through the entire borough of Brooklyn! I plan on taking advantage of the last weekend of Summer Streets, and starting up around East 57th St, following Park Ave all the way downtown, over the Brooklyn Bridge, down Flatbush Ave, through Prospect Park, and down Ocean Parkway, until I end around Ave X, which is not only near my home, but it leaves me very close to one of my favorite bagel stores in Brooklyn. I'm already planning my post run coffee and bagel. 

God, I'm tired just writing about it. I estimate it'll take me 2:20:00 give or take. They're predicting partly cloudy and a high of 84 degrees, which isn't too bad considering how much worse it could be. I'm hoping I wont have to stop and walk too much. I'm hoping my legs don't cramp up and I collapse on the bike lane of the Brooklyn Bridge. I'm hoping I actually have fun. Next week is a cutback week, only 6 miles for my long run. Phaw! That's easy. 

How did you guys prepare yourself mentally for your long runs? Any comments on my route? 

I'm just telling myself to break it down into sections and I'll get through it. 5 miles to the bridge. 5 miles to Ocean Parkway, 4 miles till BAGEL BOY.

Finishing our Jamba Juice Mini 5k last weekend

The little surprises

In running, and in life we experience surprises, both good and bad. Sometimes runs we are really excited about turn out terrible, and it's usually those times that we don't want to drag ourselves out of the house that we have the best runs. Today was one of those days where I was delightfully surprised by what my run had in store for me.

I woke up at 5:45 am to get to Central Park by 7:30am. I was meeting up with Jamba Juice and the other Jamba sponsored athletes. We were supposed to run a 5k race that was organized by Movrun. Through speaking with some of the people in charge of organizing the Jamba Juice event, we all (the Jamaba athletes, and the 20 or so people that showed up to run the race) learned that the race was canceled. I joked around that it was no big deal and we could run it anyway! Heck, I had a Garmin!

And so that's what we did. We said hello to everyone, took some photos, had some Jamba Juice, and tried to figure out the route we would run. Funny enough, I was pretty much the ONLY person there who was familiar with Central Park. Most of the people were either from the Bronx, or NJ, or Boston, and they had never even been in Central Park before! I mapped out a really simple run that was pretty much an extended lower loop. I had wanted to get the mileage closer to 3 miles, but it was more really like 2.3. Regardless, I stood in front of the group and explained where we were going, and where we would be turning to come back. I had a brief moment where I said to myself, "Gosh, I feel like Kenley!" (She is the leader/pacer of the NYC Niketown weekly runs)

After talking to some of the people before we started the "race" I could tell this was a slower group, and having met several of the Jamba athletes at previous races, I knew they were really fast. Melody, from Jamba had amazing enthusiasm, and gave us a little count down, and we were off!

Like I suspected, there were some FAST Jamba Juice athletes, good for them ;) I hung back with the rest of the crowd and really enjoyed feeling like I was leading them through a run in a beautiful park on such a beautiful morning. About a mile in I started chatting with a few of the runners, one was around my age and here for the summer. He had been looking for races/group runs and I told him about NYRR and the free Niketown meet ups.

At one point, the woman I was running with said, "You know, you guys really didn't have to do this. You guys went above and beyond today." And that made me feel so good. I smiled, and told her, "Of course we had to, we came here to run."

Week 1 - Done & Done!

Week 1 of training has come and gone...19 miles, not too shabby. Though I did miss one workout, I still ran 3x and put in a great effort on my Sunday long run (10 miles) It was an interesting run because usually 10 miles (or any double digit run) throws me for a mental loop. I have no idea why, but this week it really didn't. Even when I was struggling, I would take a walk break, take a sip of water, and keep going. There was never a second in my mind when I thought about quitting--it simply isn't an option. Even if I had to walk every 3 minutes and it took me 4 hours, I would have made myself finish the run. (Thankfully, it took me only an hour and 38 minutes.) I'm not sure where this toughness has come from the past few weeks, but I know I will certainly need it more than ever in the next 15 weeks.

As I type this, Week 2 is already half over! Time is really flying by!



"There is only one big thing—desire. And before it, when it is big, all is little."

Bring It On!

Is July really over already? Wow. Is today seriously August 1st? Wow.

I had a running first this week, for the first time since I started running almost 2 years ago I tripped while running up on the boardwalk, scraping and bruising up my knees. I was worried that it would affect my long run Saturday, and it sort of did and sort of didn't. When I fell on Thursday I noticed a little strain/pull in my right calf muscle, but I didn't really pay much attention to it because it went away shortly after I finished my run. (Even though it was a little uncomfortable, I did finish my run, though I cut it short) Saturday I met up with the Niketown group to do an 8 mile run. The run was loops around the Bridle Path. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a dirt/sandy/rocky path in Central Park that's off the "main road."

I immediately was a little concerned because it had been about a week since I had even run in Central Park, and the last time I ran on the Bridle path my calves were cramping up because even though it may be less stress on your joints, it's a lot harder to run (especially uphill!) when you're running on sand or uneven surfaces.

It's a little over a mile from where we start in the park to the part where we broke off onto the Bridle Path. That whole time I was feeling great, more importantly my knees were feeling great. I was really excited to kick this run in the butt!

Then about 3 miles in I stopped to walk. Running on sandy rocks was getting really tiring. When I picked back up to run again I noticed this dull pinching pain in my achillies/soleus. Long story short, I kept pushing myself to run, even though it hurt, I didn't think my form was being compromised, so I just walked up the hills (caused too much pain to run them) and ran as much as I could. Finished my route with 7.84 miles and knew it wouldn't make sense to try and push myself even farther to the full 8.

Despite limping around the rest of the day, I feel really good about the run. Why? Because I felt as if this pain wouldn't have shown up, I probably could have coaxed myself to do an extra mile or two. I felt great--not one part of my body felt sore. I feel like my body is prepared and everything just seems to click. I'm sure it seems silly to run 8 "long" miles and think you can tackle the marathon, but I feel prepared, I still feel excited.

Next weekend is 10 miles, and the week after that is 12, then 14, then...well...let's just take it one week at a time.

August, bring it on!