NJ Marathon Training: Week 11

Week 11 was a down week to be forever etched in my mind as the Very Down Week. My foot hurt and I took three extra days off from running. I suppose this was inevitable. It actually wasn’t all that bad: I was forced to rest a bit, I focused on strength training, and (spoiler) as of this writing I am fully recovered.

I can’t imagine that running 22 miles on March 16 (the Saturday of week 10) was all it took to hurt my foot, but I think being on my feet for several hours the following morning while volunteering at the United Half plus the fact that weeks 8 and 9 long runs had been cut down to 13 and 12 miles – which led to a big bump in long run mileage in week 10 – probably had something to do with the soreness I felt in my right foot on Monday.

NJ Marathon Training: Week 10

We’re in the double digits now. Ten weeks down, six to go before I run the New Jersey Marathon on April 28. This was an oddball week. I signed up to volunteer at a NYRR race on Sunday, which meant that everything was shifted: instead of track workouts on Wednesday and Friday and a long run Sunday, I did my workouts Tuesday and Thursday and the long run Saturday. I am trying to be good about not doing hard days back to back.

Only five days of running this week, but my highest mileage week since last fall. It was a good week and I got in a couple of solid workouts at the track and a super long run around the isle of Manhattan. Unfortunately, I wound up making my first major blunder of this training cycle. I’ll get to that.

NYRR Volunteer Day: 2019 United NYC Half

I like to get things done early. So when I submitted my name to the 2019 United Airlines NYC Half lottery and wasn’t accepted (and my best recent half marathon is 9:34 short of guaranteeing me entry as a time qualifier), I decided the next best thing would be to volunteer at the race! This would get my 9+1 volunteer credit done for 2019, inching me that much closer to guaranteed entry for the 2020 NYC Marathon.

So that’s what I did.

NJ Marathon Training: Week 9

Woo-hoo, I am officially more than halfway through this 16-week training plan for the New Jersey Marathon! All I ask is that the warmer weather we’re finally experiencing in week 10 stick around. Please don’t leave. For the love of all that is holy. Bring spring.

Week 9 was not supposed to be a down week in terms of mileage (or anything else) but it turned out to be. I had intended to run about 56 miles. But this was the second week in a row I had a disappointing long run I cut short. The good news is that I am nailing my speed and tempo workouts on the track. Those are going GREAT. But my easy runs and long runs have tended toward the sluggish. And this week’s long run – oof. It was, in the words of Ned Ryerson, a doozy. More on that below.

NJ Marathon Training: Week 8

Wow, week 8! I am writing this in week 9, which means I am now more than halfway through my 16-week training block for April’s New Jersey Marathon. I almost can’t believe it – until I look at my running log and see all that I’ve done so far. This is mostly why I write everything down. Otherwise I would seriously forget.

Week 8 was a down week, which meant less mileage, more rest, and not feeling guilty about either. I’ve been following the training plan courtesy of my running club, the New York Harriers, but I’ve tweaked it a bit to fit me. I’m making sure I drop the mileage down every few weeks. I probably should have dropped it the week before, but I wanted the down week to culminate in Sunday’s Washington Heights 5K to give me some recovery going into it. (Their marathon training plan doesn’t consider additional races.)

I Am the Warrior: 2019 Washington Heights Salsa, Blues, and Shamrocks 5K Race Recap

It snowed like crazy on Saturday morning. At least, crazy for NYC. Several inches coated the ground. It was the good kind of snow: soft, light, and dry. As it turned to city slush, running on the sidewalks was impossible. I ran a comically slow two miles in Riverside Park on unplowed pathways, lifting up my feet up on every step, essentially doing high knees for 26 minutes. Yes, my pace was 13:05 minutes a mile, the slowest it has ever been.

The next morning was a complete reversal of the day before. The snow had mostly melted, the sun was shining, and I ran the fastest 5K of my life. Would you like more details about this? Great, here are too many of them.

Weekend Reads 3.3.19

Time for another late-on-Sunday installment of health/sports/running news items that I find interesting. I’m going to keep this one short, as I’m in the middle of working on a race recap for a 5K I ran earlier today! I’m trying to get those out a little sooner these days.

While I’m here, how crazy is the weather lately? It barely snowed here in NYC all winter, and then we got a bunch on Saturday morning, and it’s snowing again now and will into the morning. Like, we had all winter for this, guys. It’s too late! We’re want spring now. Come on.

Here are some things to read. Enjoy!