Bib Numbers and Start Times came out this week- making the marathon seem more like a reality. I am #19259, which puts me in Wave 1, Corral 19, Green. What this means is that J and I will start at different times, and I am on the bottom of the Varrazanos Bridge.
The separate start times gave me much pause, as although J and I were going for slightly different times (5 minutes), I had envisioned us starting together. After some thought and advice, I decided to take my earlier start time. It is a bit selfish of me, as I will have a shorter wait time on Staten Island, and 9,000 fewer runners in front of me, but I think it gives both of us the best chance to truly run our own races without worrying about the other person. I don't want to hold her back, and I also know that running the first 8 or so miles even 5-10 seconds faster than MP can hurt in the last miles.
Other than that, being in Green means a lower level start, and less-scenic route the first 4 or so miles, but oh well. That is the trade-off.
Training went much better this week. I forgot to add last week that I started back to swimming, only 1 day a week, and not pushing my paces. I made a promise to myself to keep it between 2500-3000 yards, and am going to try and stay around 2700-2800 for a workout.
Here are the runs for the week:
M: 11M @ 9:29 pace on the trail. Nice day, nice run.
T: swam 2700 yards. Recovery with TK. 5M @ 9:58 pace
W: was a cluster. Had to sit through PTA meeting, so workout was broke up. 2M @ 9:30, 5M tempo at 7:57 on TM, then at 8 pm that night, 2M @ 9:45. got it done!
F: MUCH BETTER LONG RUN-- kept pace 9:35 or so, then let J go the last 3 miles. My mile 17 was 8:20. 18M, 9:33 ave. pace. got the confidence back a bit
S: 5M recovery on trail 10:10 pace
48 miles for the week on 5 days. Next week is cut-back in terms of LR, but not mileage.
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
Stupid Is as Stupid Does
Ok- so I learned a good lesson this week, and possibly avoided a critical training error. I have been so afraid for so many years to push my paces and training, and then this time around things have been going so well that I made a few bad decisions this week. I call it the 'superman dilemma'. Everything was coasting along so well- I was adding on a few miles each week, hitting all my paces easily and feeling great. Then, this week I added in swimming on Tuesday (why not? I apparently am awesome), and a 75 minute Hot Yoga class (why not? I apparently am invincible). WRONG.
I hit the wall at mile 14 of our 17-mile LR on Friday in a way that I have not done in YEARS. Repeat. YEARS. Not even in my craptastic marathons: (NYC, 2006 and Boston, 2009) did this happen-- those were knee-related issues. J and I were cruising along at a 9:20 or so pace for the first 14 miles, then I just could not keep the pace. The last 3 miles were between 9:45 and 10:30 pace or so. Felt like crap in so many ways. I let J go on ahead and she finished the last 3 miles almost 2 minutes before me. UGH.
Immediately I needed to place the blame on something specific I did that week; and the hot yoga was my first choice. Having not been in months, and the combination of sweat, stretching beyond the normal and not re-hydrating was the culprit (crossing fingers). I asked on RWOL and was given many good reasons why that happened. STUPID.
I also had to give myself a little come-to-pacing speech. What are MY goals for this race? I can't let myself get caught up in J's BQ attempt. It is not easy to swallow one's pride to realize that while I have been running for over 20 years, that she is able to train at faster paces, and most likely would smoke me in head-to-head competition. Helping her reach her goals has been great for me on a personal level, and our friendship has grown over the past year or so that we've been running together. It has all in all been a great experience.
That being said, what are MY goals for this training cycle and race? Training has been going great (last week's LR aside), so I think I started to get ahead of myself and was thinking 3:45 (8:35 pace). After last week, I am going to go for a more conservative 3:50 goal. 8:45 pace, and that is a big 10 seconds for me. While I realize this is a full minute slower than my 1/2 marathon time from last spring, I also am only peaking at 50 mpw, and average will probably be closer to 42-45 mpw. I do NOT want to feel like crap at the end of the race, and am so happy to be running strong again. Gotta keep building on that.
The recovery run on Saturday actually made my legs feel much better. Here is the week:
M: 10M @ 9:24 on TM (rained all day)
T: 4M @ 10:09, swam 2850 yards
w: 11M w/5 tempo (7:52) other miles easy
T: Hot yoga-- bad choice
F: 17M @ 9:25
S: 5M @ 10:21 (with Danny on the trail and really recovering from Friday)
47 miles for the week- most of them good.
I hit the wall at mile 14 of our 17-mile LR on Friday in a way that I have not done in YEARS. Repeat. YEARS. Not even in my craptastic marathons: (NYC, 2006 and Boston, 2009) did this happen-- those were knee-related issues. J and I were cruising along at a 9:20 or so pace for the first 14 miles, then I just could not keep the pace. The last 3 miles were between 9:45 and 10:30 pace or so. Felt like crap in so many ways. I let J go on ahead and she finished the last 3 miles almost 2 minutes before me. UGH.
Immediately I needed to place the blame on something specific I did that week; and the hot yoga was my first choice. Having not been in months, and the combination of sweat, stretching beyond the normal and not re-hydrating was the culprit (crossing fingers). I asked on RWOL and was given many good reasons why that happened. STUPID.
I also had to give myself a little come-to-pacing speech. What are MY goals for this race? I can't let myself get caught up in J's BQ attempt. It is not easy to swallow one's pride to realize that while I have been running for over 20 years, that she is able to train at faster paces, and most likely would smoke me in head-to-head competition. Helping her reach her goals has been great for me on a personal level, and our friendship has grown over the past year or so that we've been running together. It has all in all been a great experience.
That being said, what are MY goals for this training cycle and race? Training has been going great (last week's LR aside), so I think I started to get ahead of myself and was thinking 3:45 (8:35 pace). After last week, I am going to go for a more conservative 3:50 goal. 8:45 pace, and that is a big 10 seconds for me. While I realize this is a full minute slower than my 1/2 marathon time from last spring, I also am only peaking at 50 mpw, and average will probably be closer to 42-45 mpw. I do NOT want to feel like crap at the end of the race, and am so happy to be running strong again. Gotta keep building on that.
The recovery run on Saturday actually made my legs feel much better. Here is the week:
M: 10M @ 9:24 on TM (rained all day)
T: 4M @ 10:09, swam 2850 yards
w: 11M w/5 tempo (7:52) other miles easy
T: Hot yoga-- bad choice
F: 17M @ 9:25
S: 5M @ 10:21 (with Danny on the trail and really recovering from Friday)
47 miles for the week- most of them good.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
NYC training: week 3
So, not only was this week 3 for NYC marathon training- it was also the first week of school for the boys. Here they are at the bus stop about to set off for 4th and 5th grade. Both seem really happy with their teachers and classmates. DS#1 is at new school; Middle School, and seems very happy with the new opportunities he is going to have this year.
Training went well this week, even with a little physical hiccup. Last Sunday when I was at the rink watching DS#2 practice, one of the siblings of a skater was playing with these huge buckets they use to help kids learn how to skate. They were piled on top of each other- about 3 feet high, and they came toppling down, and cut my ankle. I did not see them falling, so was not able to prepare or get out of the way. I have a big cut on my ankle, but (thankfully) that is all. It has been a bit of discomfort this week, but no pain.
Runs this week:
Monday- a great day to run- it was cooler. On the schedule was 10M, but I ended up with
1M recovery, 7M @ 9:10 and then 3M somewhere between MP and tempo: 8:06.
Tuesday: 4M recovery w/K on the trail: 9:52 pace
Wednesday: 7M hilly in my 'hood. 1stM @ 9:50, then 6M @ 9:09
Friday: 16M on Peters Trail w/J @ 9:23. Last few miles were definitely too fast, but an ok average pace. It was really hot/humid and we were both shot by the end.
Saturday: 5M recovery on TM @ 10:02
43 miles for the week.
All is good.
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