Training Week 103
I am training for the NYC Marathon on November 6th.
Day 715 | October 3, 2011: 4 m run
It was so beautiful out on Monday, I had to go for a run. Seriously – highs in the 70s all week? Must be the week of the Chicago Marathon…
Can you believe I took this picture with my crappy phone camera?
I tried to pay attention to my running form, as I noticed I was majorly slouching in some of the Milwaukee Marathon photos. I am not sure how well I did during this run, but at least I thought about it. I’ll keep working on it.
During my run, I remembered a funny thing that happened in the last few miles of the marathon. I spit in the grass (I spit a lot) and this woman said to the man next to her, “She sure knows how to spit!” Ha ha.
Distance: 4.0 | Start Temp: 65° | End Temp: 67° | Time: 41:13 | Avg Pace: 10:18 – I think the Garmin was a bit off as it shows me running all over the city and didn’t give me even mileage for my out and back (I had to run further at the end)
Day 716 | October 4, 2011: 5 m run
I ran downtown again, but after work this time. It was just as gorgeous outside! I started off a bit slow but sped up by the end of my run and felt great.
Distance: 5.0 | Temp: 68° | Time: 48:48 | Avg Pace: 9:45
Day 717 | October 5, 2011: strength class
I am back to taking strength classes with Brian of Essential Fitness LLC and some of the Grayslake Running Club folks. Brian just built a gorgeous new studio in his backyard, so that is where we had class. I love the way the studio turned out!
We did moves with plyo boxes, and handweights. Lots of squats, pushups, planks and a bit of lunges. Oh, and stepping on and off that box 67803 times.
That’s me in the pink and Bobbi in the red behind me!
Day 718 | October 6, 2011: 4.3 m run
I ran with Erin and her work running club during lunch. It was hot out, and I felt like I was working hard, but apparently not too hard because I was blabbing away. Sorry, Erin!
During my three Chicago runs this week, I saw various stages of the Chicago Marathon set up! Monday it was the tents. Tuesday, the bleachers. Thursday – all the porta potties! That’s all I will see this year, as we have guests in town the day of the race and won’t go down to the city.
Distance: 4.3 | Temp: 79° | Time: 40:46 | Avg Pace: 9:29
Day 719 | October 7, 2011: 12 m run
Now that my training is solely focused on New York, I decided the long runs have to be all about the hills (as NYC is a hilly course). Okay, actually, I could have been doing hills all this time, I’ve just been lazy. Anyway. I went to the hilliest trail closest to my house – the Millennium Trail. It’s only a 5-minute (!!!) drive from my house, but I have never run the hilly portions of it, because I am a scaredy cat. In actuality, it’s hills don’t even compare to the NYC course.
I’m so screwed for NYC.
But, at least these “hills” did not feel hard. What felt hard was running in the heat – it was 79°, sunny, no clouds, barely any shade, you know the drill, blah blah blah. I took walk breaks every 2 minutes and stop breaks every time someone sent me a text. Which was often. Walking/stopping and the breeze are the only things that got me through this hot run. I missed my long distance running buddy (Erin) and felt worn out. But oh well. My body actually felt fine. My mind was just blah.
I did my normal GU thing (every 4 miles) and didn’t wear my fuel belt. I am humoring the idea of not wearing it at NYC, so I just took a bottle with me. And I drank some off brand Gatorade at mile 9.6 to see how that worked with my stomach. It felt fine, but man, that night, I felt hot and blah.
At least it was pretty!
Don’t be fooled – this course has hardly any shade – I think I captured all of it in these two pictures.
I love running on crunchy leaves (except I had to watch the ground for apples here – I didn’t want to step on one of those)!
Distance: 12.0 | Start Temp: 79° | End Temp: 73° | Time: 2:02:34 | Avg Pace: 10:12
Day 720 | October 8, 2011: cross
Our friends from NYC (Gina, Steve and Luca) are in town! Gina has decided to do the Dash to the Finish Line 5K the day before the NYC marathon, and I am helping her get ready for it in 4 weeks (our strategy will be a run/walk one).
Anyway, we made sure to fuel up (with junior size burritos). Ha ha.
Just kidding. We ate burritos for lunch and did our workout about 6 hours later! We walked 1 mile, then ran 2 minutes every half mile until we got to 3.5 miles, then walked .5 more miles. Gina did awesome! I even took her on the hilly course and she could run uphill! Go Gina Go! It will be fun to do a 5K together. A lot of people have asked me if Gina and I run together. I guess people think the only way I make friends is through running. Nah (the only way I make friends is through my blog and running).
Day 721 | October 9, 2011: 5 m run
I got up at 6:30 to run… and it took me forever to wake up. So, kind of a meh run (being awake-wise). I felt bad running when we had guests, but I feel like I need to keep my momentum going!
Distance: 5.0 | Temp: 53° | Time: 50:05 | Avg Pace: 10:00
Week Summary: 30.3 miles
I am surprised I was able to run the day after the marathon! That was neat. My body recovered quickly. That is good… since I have another marathon in four weeks.
Does anyone have advice on running downhill? I am not so good at it, since I tend to land on the outside balls of my feet. It puts all this weird pressure on my legs.
Themocracy
You did 30 miles the week after a marathon!? That’s awesome! (that’s more that I run in a normal training week most times!)
When I’m running downhill, I do best if I let my legs move at the pace that they want to. If it means speeding up quite a bit, I go with it. It’s not going to raise my heart rate too much to run fast-fast while going downhill, and it saves my overall energy/leg strength to not be ‘breaking’ as I’m going downhill. Just go with the flow, don’t stress about it, and let the legs fly!
I feel like I pound the downhills too.
Um, you ran 10 TIMES the miles I ran this week. WTG! (yeah, I meant to run lthis weekend, but there were SO MANY household project that had been holding during training. It felt good to get some of that accomplished).
See you Wednesday – I can finally walk normal again – I am AMAZED at how much my quads hurt after that 🙂
“Seriously – highs in the 70s all week? Must be the week of the Chicago Marathon…” — LOVED that! So true!
Holy mileage! Nice job this week especially after the marathon! I always run when I am visiting ppl or have guests – I just make sure to get up really early so that no one is awake yet so I slip out and back without anyone noticing.
I think the fact that you were able to run 30+ miles AND do a strength workout after running a marathon means you have a lot more in you 🙂
Although, the fact that you felt hot and blah on Saturday night might mean you did a little too much. Don’t get sick before NYC!
You are the mileage queen, per usual! 🙂
Beautiful shot of the lakefront! And you took it with your phone?! Get out of town! My phone camera is such crap!
You amaze me with all your running the week after a marathon!! And that plyo stuff looks tough!
And now I want to eat a burrito. 🙂
Thank for taking the time out of your training schedule to run with me! I like running and walking on the trails. Those hills, however, can go to hell. : )
Aww, come on. You kicked the hills’ butts!
Wow — I was just reading through this trying to decide if you in fact went running the day after your mary, and yup it says you did. I’m SO proud of you and even more excited for you that you recovered so quickly! I’m still hobbling in pain — stupid cold put me out the week before my race. But I’m still glad I did it! Even if it meant I will be hobbling around and not running for a few more days.
Take your rest!!! I totally would be if I didn’t have another marathon in less than 4 weeks 🙂