Well, week 9 means we are officially more than halfway through marathon training – yikes!
To be reflective for a moment, I think I am doing a really good job with my runs. So far, I have only missed 1 planned run in the last 9 weeks, which I feel is something to be proud of, On the other hand, while I was doing well with consistently strength training and cross training in the first month or so, I have not been doing a great job with it the last 2-3 weeks. So, my goal moving forward is to make sure that I am cross training at least twice a week, but hopefully a little more than that!
Monday was a travel day, as Den, Tommy and I made our way home from Atlanta. I really planned to run after work on Tuesday, but was so wiped out that I wound up going to bed before 8:30. After a full weekend of activities, my body was feeling the fatigue. I doubled down on Wednesday morning, telling myself that I was going to get up and run – and then it rained.
So, I texted Mike to see if he was around and free to run Wednesday night – lucky for me, he was planning to do his long run that night, as the weekend marked his husband’s birthday, and they had lots of celebrations planned that would keep him from having time to get it in then. So Mike ran 9 miles on his treadmill, and then met me at my house and we headed out for 7 miles together. It was getting darker by the minute by the minute, and I loaded up with lights, pulling on my flashing vest and my gloves with lights on them. I also pulled on a hat, since it was a little drizzly still.
I felt so stiff as we got moving and was reminded of alexi pappas’ quote about how when you are training you should feel great 1/3 of the time, ok 1/3 of the time, and crappy 1/3 of the time – this was definitely the crappy third. But at least I was with Mike, and we were able to chat to pass the time. It took 3 miles, but I eventually settled into the run and started to feel a bit better – not good per se, but not like I wanted to lay down on the floor and call the run done.
I reminded myself to just keep putting one foot in front of the other, and to be thankful that I was capable of being out for a run. We talked about the tragic murder of Eliza Fletcher, and how she was killed while she was just out for a run, doing what she loved. Her death weighed heavy on both of our hearts, thinking about how she had young children, and how heartbroken her family must be.
By the time we finished our 7 miles, we were both dripping with sweat, and needed to chug some water. I got in from the run, ate some dinner, and went right to bed. It was a simple end to the night.
Even though I ran Wednesday night, I felt like I still wanted to get out Thursday morning and run a few miles. So I messaged Dad, and he agreed to accompany me on his bike. I got to his house and we went through our regular 3 mile loop, as the sun climbed higher into the sky. Soon, these runs are gonna be more dark than light. I felt good Thursday morning, and the weather was actually on the pleasant side. Dad even broke out his bike gloves so his hands wouldn’t get chilly.
That night I headed to the track with the merrick bicycle Tri Team – UCan was kind enough to send me a few boxes of their new pineapple gels to sample with the tri team, so Sami helped me organize a track night to hand them out. It was more on the informal side, and Mike and I opted to just run laps of the track rather than following a workout, pushing on the straights and recovering on the curves.
My next run was set for Saturday, and I had 16 miles on tap. All of my usual running crew was unavailable – Mike had done his run during the week, Katie and Michal had other plans, and my parents had headed to Hawaii for a two-week vacation, so I was on my own. I made the mistake of not setting an alarm, since I was going to be running solo anyway, and was shocked when I woke up around 10:30 am – my body had apparently decided I needed 12 hours of sleep! If it was colder, this would not have been an issue – but it was a hot day, with temps in the 80s and the sun high in the sky by the time I got outside. I really did not want to run 16 miles on the treadmill, so I decided to split my run in two – with 6.2 miles outside and 9.8 miles on the tread. I headed outside without water, figuring I would loop by my house at some point – but a little after mile 2 I ran by the local Starbucks and bought a water bottle, because I was so thirsty. Having the water bottle helped a lot though, and I was able to get through the rest of the outdoor miles without any issues – I even spotted my uncle along the way, out walking his dogs.
When I got back to the house, I set up a movie on the T.V. over my treadmill and got to work. The 10 miles on the tread were full struggle, to be honest. After waking up late and not eating much before starting my run, I was starting to get hungry as the day ticked into the afternoon, and after really having to push through every moment, I had to take a break at mile 13 and eat some real food – gels just weren’t cutting it at that point. I grabbed a bag of goldfish and wolfed them down, and immediately felt better after getting some food in my system. After that the last few miles weren’t necessarily “good,” but they were more manageable. I was very happy when I finally hit the 16-mile mark and got to abandon the treadmill.
I felt a bit disheartened when I finished the 16 mile run, but reminded myself that not every run can feel great – especially not every long run, and in this case I was dealing with less than ideal conditions, which were admittedly my own fault, since I decided to sleep in that morning and had to deal with the mid-day heat. But at the end of the day, I showed up, and got 16 miles underfoot – and that counts for something!
Sunday Mike and I headed into NYC for one of his favorite events – the 5th avenue mile. As the name implies, it is a one-mile race down 5th avenue in NYC. Since it starts later than most NYRR races, we opted to take the long island rail road into the city, instead of driving in, like we do for most races. We hopped on the train and then took a subway from Penn station to the MET, where Bib pickup was happening.
When we picked up our race numbers, they also gave us the race giveaway – a pair of shorts. We debated what to do with the shorts, and ultimately mike offered to run to the bag check at the finish like while I waited to use the porter potties, so that we would not have to come back to the bag check at the start after the race was over.
Mike and I were in the same corral, which was a deviation from the last time we ran this event – in the past even though we are the same age, we were split into the men and womens waves – but this time runners were split only by age, with no regards to gender, which meant we could start together.
After feeling like I had blown up during my long run the day before, I told Mike to leave me behind and run his own race, because I was nervous about going all out for a mile. The last time I ran this race I had pulled off a 6:53 – but this morning I was hoping to be able to go sub-8. Based off my current fitness, I felt like that was a realistic goal.
The race announcer counted down, and our corral was off. Mike jetted away, and I focused on putting one foot in front of the other, trying not to get swept up in the excitement and take off too fast. I set a pace alert on my watch to let me know if I ran faster than a 7 min/mi or slower than an 8 min/mi, and was resolved to not look at it as long as it was not yelling at me, and to run by feel.
There are course markers every quarter mile, and then every few hundred yards in the last quarter mile. 5th avenue is a sneaky uphill climb, where your legs start to feel tired even though you don’t necessarily see a hill. But I could feel when we shifted from uphill to downhill, and geared up my pace as much as I could. I was relieved when the finish line was finally in sight, and glided through with the last bit of effort I could muster – pulling off a 7:44 mile. My fastest mile in quite some time. At some point in the race I passed Mike, which I realized while looking around after crossing the finish line and spotting him behind me.
We headed right home after, since we had plans to go out to brunch for Mike’s husbands birthday. It was only a mile race, but getting to go to brunch after felt like a reward for a job well done.