It was almost surprising to realize we were already at Monday again when I got up this morning - where did the weekend go!? I didn’t have a run in the morning, but I did make plans to go to the gym with Sophie after work.
This time instead of taking a class we opted to head to the weight room, focusing on our legs. Since my knee has been a little achey, I’m trying to prioritize strengthening it up as I get more into training. We spent about 45 minutes taking turns on different machines, and when I got home I finished up the workout with a 10 minute core class before dinner.
After Sunday’s easy long run and my day off from running on Monday, I was feeling good Tuesday morning, even if I hadn’t gotten to bed as early as I would have liked. I remembered to opt for a pair of stability shoes, in hopes that it would benefit my knee, and got out with Mom and Dad along on their bikes. I settled into a comfortable stride, and as we turned the first corner Dad commented that we were going faster than my usual paces as of late – I looked down at my watch and was surprised to see that we were in the 10 min/mi range. I made a quick decision to see how long I could hang out at this pace, since I had been thinking about trying to add some pushes into my running routine anyway.
I tried not to look at my watch every three seconds to see if I was still pulling off the pace and was happy when the first mile clocked in at 10:15. I could feel my body working, and it was in no way a conversational pace. When I called back to Dad and said that breathing sucked, he pointed out that even if I was going slower it would still suck, because of the humid air. He was right, and I kept pushing through mile two, when my watch dinged out a 10:14 completion time. With one mile to go, I focused on just keeping that pace. I was struggling more, and when I had a ¼ mile left I saw my mile time was a bit slower than I wanted, and I pushed the pace until I saw the average drop down to a 10:12, just before my watch let me know that I had finished mile 3. I slowed down and eventually transitioned into a walk, happy that I made the choice to push myself. As we got back to the house Mom commented that she “had to pedal the whole time to keep up!”
Apparently at that pace there is no coasting along on her bike, haha.
Now, I get that a 10:15 average pace run may not seem fast to you – but to me, as I come back to running after some medical issues and a few months off, I was elated that I managed a few miles at what used to be an easy pace for me.
Sophie agreed to meet me to swim after work, so my first stop of the night was the pool. We got stuck in the short lanes, as it was crowded. The short lanes are tiny – I would say 10-15 yds at most. It is annoying, because by the time I glide up after a launch off the wall I am already halfway through the lane. Sophie didn’t have a lot of experience swimming laps, so I did my best to give her some tips. I felt underqualified to do this, because I am probably one of the slowest swimmers that I know. Granted, I train with an awesome tri team full of athletes, but I typically use swimming as active recovery, so I am never too concerned about having a perfect stroke or going fast. We spent a little under a half hour in the pool, and then called it quits.
After our trip to the pool I tried something new – Emerge, a local yoga studio, was holding a “Acutone” class, which combined acupuncture and live Tibetan bowl music in their light therapy room. I have been enjoying the solo acupuncture sessions that I have been going to at emerge, so I decided to sign up for the special class. When I got there, they had reclining chairs set up for each of us and walked us through the process before starting the class. When the class started the music began, and the acupuncturists came around to set each of us up. Once I was all set up, I did my best to relax and try to meditate and was surprised to realize I fell asleep when the class was coming to a close. All in all, it was a relaxing experience, and a good opportunity to learn.
Since Wednesday was the first weekday morning that called for 5 miles, it was the first time I needed to be up before the sunrise in order to get my distance in before work. On Tuesday night Mike had sent snaps of his run on Tuesday night, which had taken place in sunny 90 degree weather, and after letting him know he was crazy, I got him to agree to come out for another morning run instead of braving the heat in the afternoon again.
I picked Mike up on the way to my parents’ house, and they were waiting outside with their bikes when we got there a minute or two later than we were supposed to arrive. My legs were officially sore from Monday night’s workout, and my brain was still asleep, tucked under a cover of fog and not quite ready to jump into the day. Mike was excited that the construction on his house was finishing up and filled me in on all that was going on, and eventually my brain caught up to my body, and I was able to join into the conversation.
My knee was cranky on this run, and I had to stop and adjust my support band about halfway through. I briefly considered cutting the run short before the adjustment, but when I got the band into its proper location things felt better. By the time we hit 5 miles, Mike and I were both dripping with sweat. While there had been enough of a breeze when we started that Mike “considered wearing a sweatshirt,” the breeze had died down as the sun came up, and the humidity rose with it. I was very glad that we got the miles done in the morning.
When I got home my legs were feeling the miles, and I knew that I needed to make time to stretch, or I would pay for it later. I popped on a 5 minute peloton stretch, and did that before moving on with my day. I didn’t have anything else planned, as my uncle was coming over to install some sheetrock and I wanted to help with that as much as possible, so that in the future I could attempt to do it myself.
I was so pooped on Wednesday night that I got into bed by 8:30, and was asleep soon after. Despite this, when it was time to get up Thursday I wanted to roll over and sleep for another hour. The last few days had been so nonstop that I felt like I hadn’t stopped moving since Monday, but I knew I needed to get this run done and that my parents would be waiting for me.
I stepped outside and felt like I had been hit in the face with a brick of humidity. I immediately went back in the house and grabbed my inhaler, knowing that I would need it before this run if I didn’t want to struggle with breathing the whole time.
Mom and Dad were waiting for me with their bikes, and we got out on the road together. Today was more of a struggle than other mornings, but I just kept putting one foot in front of the other, and made it through the three miles, with the support of my parents.
Thursday night I played catch up with the core challenge, and stacked three classes in a row. It was a challenge, but I felt really strong when I made it through all the classes, and ended the session with a good 10 minute stretch.
I had a long list of plans for the weekend, so I knew I had to prioritize time to run so that I could stick to my training plan. Mike and I made plans to run on Saturday morning, and I picked him up at 6 so that we could try to beat the heat. Of course, as soon as I got to Mike’s house the low gas light dinged on my car, and we had to take a slight detour to stop for gas before heading to the Bethpage trail. It was just the two of us that morning, and our plan was to run 10 miles together, with no bike support crew to make sure we were staying hydrated.
I planned accordingly, and had stuck my Nathan vest in the freezer the night before so that it would stay cool the whole time, and filled the rest with water that morning. In the pockets of the vest I had 2 Ucan gels and pouches of Gu, because I couldn’t decide if I wanted sweet flavors (I had birthday cake and a s’mores flavored gu) or fruit flavors (the Ucan was strawberry banana flavored). We parked on the street near the path, and stretched as we talked towards the bike path. The only goal was to make it through 10 miles, regardless of the pace. We got moving, chatting as we made our way to the first hill of the day, that would show its ugly face just before we hit a mile. As we climbed we complained to each other, but noted that we would be thankful we opted for hills when we are running across the many bridges of the NYC marathon.
We kept making our way down the trail, and I opted to take a gel around mile 3, since I hadn’t taken one before starting and I could feel the humidity getting to me already. As much as carrying the hydration vest is annoying, I was glad to have it and take sips of water as needed. As much as the hills mainly consists of rolling hills, the more uphill portion was done when we hit mile 5, and got to turn around to head back to the car. At mile 8 we made a pit stop at the bathroom in the park so Mike could re-fill his handheld water bottle. The last 2 miles were a bit of a slog, as we were feeling fatigued and it had gotten more humid as the sun rose higher into the sky.
When our watches buzzed at mile 10, we were both happy to be done with our long run. We hopped in the car and headed home, and after a quick change I picked up my mom and together we headed into the city - we had plans to get brunch and then tickets to see Hamilton! I had bought these tickets almost a year ago, but then delayed them twice, so it was nice to finally make it to the theater.
Sunday I prioritized recovery - I got up and headed to Emerge yoga, where I took a great Sunday morning class and then had an acupuncture lesson. I left the studio feeling super relaxed, and was glad that I took the time to go.
