Only three more weeks until the New York City Marathon, and I’m experiencing all the emotions right now: excited, nervous, terrified I won’t be able to navigate public transportation to get to my bus pick-up location on time, happy just to have the opportunity to run, and looking forward to seeing my hard work pay off. But most of all nervous!
This past week was my last big week before the taper but with how things fell, it wasn’t my highest total weekly mileage for this training cycle. I ran 71 miles this past week but the week before I ran 75 miles. This is about where I was at for my last marathon a year ago, so I was happy to build to this kind of mileage since I really didn’t start much training until the middle of July after dealing with so many injuries the first half of the summer.
Here’s a recap of my workouts and mileage for October 8-14, 2018:
Monday
7 miles | easy run | 8:45 average pace
I opted to sleep in and push Cullen in the stroller during the afternoon instead. It was a slow, cold, windy run, but we made it with only a few stops along the way. First we had to go to the train depot to check to see if there were trains there. (Sadly there were not.) Then we ran the opposite direction to the grocery store to get a few items for dinner that night. Cullen was pretty cold and bored by the end, which explains the not-so-excited face, but he was still a trooper to go with me.
Tuesday
Off – I have continued to take one day off each week during my build-up to this marathon. When I’ve been more consistent with my training, then I’ll take a break every 10-14 days.
Wednesday
AM run – 8 miles | easy run | 8:07
PM run – 6 miles | easy run | 8:09
My morning run wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great either. While my paces don’t show it too much, I do notice that I am not running as fast during these dark mornings. There is some ambient lighting–and sometimes I’ll wear a head lamp, but it definitely isn’t the same compared to when it is actually light out.
My evening run was done after I coached a training group, so I didn’t get started until 7:30 p.m.–finishing up around 8:15 p.m. Luckily that should be the last late-night run during this cycle.
Thursday
11 miles | easy run | 8:05 average pace
45 minutes of weights
I was back out running again less than 12 hours later for this morning’s run. Phew! A lot of miles in a short period of time, but that’s the best way to condition your legs for the marathon. When Cullen was at preschool, I went to the gym and did a lot of stretching followed by a nice weight lifting session.
Friday
60 minutes of hot yoga
5 miles | easy run | 8:00 average pace
I have been pretty consistent with my Friday morning hot flow yoga class followed by an easy run. I’m not sure if the yoga is helping my running in any way, but I figure it can’t hurt. My legs do feel more loosened up for my run!
Saturday
Zombie Half Marathon | 14.5 miles (with warm-up)
I ran the Zombie Half Marathon on Saturday finishing in 1:28:04. It was a cold, wet, rainy run, but I felt good the entire time–even up the last hill, which is nearly 200 feet of elevation gain in about 0.5 mile. I’m going to write a full recap of the race later this week, so stay tuned!
This race was the only hard workout I did this week. I wanted to do some hill work, but I think the hills make my hamstring/glute start to nag more. I also tried to do some intervals during one of my runs, but my legs weren’t responding very well, so I just kept it easy.
Sunday
20 miles | long run | 8:02 average pace
I was going to run more miles after the half marathon to get my long run in for the week, but I had to be to work within a pretty short period of time, so the logistics weren’t working out very well. Craig convinced me to do my long run the day after, which was probably better because as soon as I finished running the half marathon, I got extremely cold, and I would not have done well going back out in the wind and the rain. And as you can imagine, it was pretty tough doing a long run after a race, but what a better way to train your legs for the marathon. While it wasn’t great, I didn’t feel terrible either–I’ve definitely felt worse on long runs and runs the day after a race.
Weekly total: 71 miles
This week I will start to taper my mileage and intensity of workouts. I’m still aiming to run about 55 miles this week, so I’ll still have a fair amount of miles to run, but depending upon how I’m feeling, I may only have one hard workout for the week. The final two weeks of the taper is when I really notice the drop in intensity, and that’s when the magic starts to happen!
