As the date for the big “Long Run” is drawing near, my body feels that it is at a state of total exhaustion. The funny part is, my legs don’t ache any longer, but instead I have an entire body soreness. There is this feeling that I am on the verge of getting sick, and just one mistake could hinder me sick in bed. I almost feel like I should be sitting at home every night and watching a movie with hot tea as I nurse a cold, and really I am sure this probably wouldn’t be a bad idea. Yet, I have to remind myself that I have felt this way in the past at the end of long marathon training periods. This is all a part of the process. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and know that after this coming week, I can taper, and regain my strength.
This past week’s long run was a complete disaster in my sight. As stated previously, this week has definitely proven to be a difficult one for me. While trying to recover from the Staten Island Half Marathon, I have also dealt with shoe issues (my current racing shoes are now discontinued) and reoccuring stomach cramps. I decided to run my long run with a girl from the Harriers, and as I crashed and burned at mile 15 of what was suppose to be my final 22 mile long run, Vicki stood by and talked me through my walking breaks as I held my stomach in pain along the west side highway. Completely humiliated, I left her at Central Park at mile 18, where she finished the last 4 miles solo, while I hung my head and hopped on a train to recuperate at home. As I fell asleep in an epson salt bath later at home, I had to admit to myself that I had pushed myself a little too hard this past week.
When running the half marathon just a week ago, I looked over (or failed to realize) that I would be entering such a state of exhaustion immediately after. Although I got an immediate high and confidence booster from completing the race fast, this week has humbled me, forced me to take a step back and rest a little. As I start a new week in my training (and my last hard week before taper) I can only hope to start on better grounds and regain my strength as I enter the final stage of marathon training.
I did it! In an effort to prove to myself that I am in fact ready for this Marathon, I raced the Staten Island Half this past weekend. This race felt really good. I made sure to really take it easy during the week, and the night before reviewed the course, and mapped out hopeful split times. Although the course was relatively flat, I had never actually ran the route, and was told that there was at least one major hill. So not only did this help to get me familiar with the course, I was also able to make sure I had some breathing room to pace myself on the hills. Once the race started I ended up running slightly faster then my predetermined split times, and at times thought that I might pay the cost at the end of the race, but luckily that didn’t happen, and I was able to finish strong and make the qualifying time for the competitive start time in the Marathon. (only 400 people actually get in from the several hundred who qualify, so it is still up for grabs)
This race was definitely a confidence booster. Half marathons are somewhat deceptive because I never really feel completely wiped out, but I always have to remind myself that they still require some rest afterwards. This week has already proven to be a tough one for me. After taking a day off on Monday, Tuesday’s “easy run” ended with a torturous stomach cramp, resulting in a taxi ride to the closest subway stop, and me bent over in pain for about 1.5 hours post run. During last nights speed workout, I saw one of our top girls, running easy for the second half of the run, and it reminded me that we all need to slow it down at times and just let our body rest. For the rest of my week, I have decided to focus more on just getting miles in, rather then running to fast and exhausting my body.
With only 3 1/2 weeks left in training, Coach Kevin started last night’s workout with three important tips in making sure we dont “fuck up” our training in this last final stretch . . .
The temperature has begun to drop, and it has been raining off and on for several days. I have now brought out my cold-weather running clothes. My body and mind seem to be reacting to the fall weather — it’s as if they they know that the marathon is around the corner, and they better be ready. For the past few days, I’ve noticed that my legs feel stronger — I am gaining back my confidence.
This past Saturday was Grete’s Great Gallop Half Marathon in Central Park. This was a points race for NYC running teams, and with the Marathon right around the corner many people used this as a tune-up. I on the other hand, obviously did not get this notice. I decided to join up with a male member of my team to run this “race” as part of an easy long run. We had talked beforehand about running at about 7:45min./mile pace, right from the beginning we ended up running about 15 seconds slower. Although I knew I could run faster, I also felt some loyalty to the runner since I had previously agreed to run with him. We did end up running a fast last mile, but in the end I was frustrated with the entire situation. Just as I was starting to feel strong again, I was running an easy half marathon (my slowest one to date). In the end I took it as a lesson learned. Although it is good to treat some races as training runs, and also to start slow and finish strong, it is most important to run one’s own race. On that same note: Adam had a great run! He ran fast and said that he felt good and relaxed the whole way.
Thankfully there are always more races, including the Staten Island Half Marathon this weekend, AND it is on a relatively flat course. I sit here on my first night off in about a week and a half. As I look upon the remainder of the week, my main goal is to maintain my strength, and hopefully run a strong, fast half this weekend. Although I have run several half marathons, my best official time for the half is just 20 seconds shy of qualifying for a competitive start in the marathon (1:35). With this weekend as my last chance to qualify, I can only hope my training will pay off and that i can finish with a PR, without exhausting myself in the process.
NYRR 5th Avenue Mile Start - 70+ Age Range
Every year The Harriers get a group of 30+ to help out at two separate races. This past Sunday Adam and I joined the group and helped out by volunteering at NYRR’s 5th Avenue mile road race. Adam and I were assigned the task of crowd control for the last 100m of the race, which was probably one of best jobs to get. Being at the finish line for the second half of the heats I was able to enjoy watching the winners of some of the older categories come in. Surprising how at 70+ there were still some men running sub 6 minute miles! Even watching some of the slower runners come in was pretty amazing. I can only hope to be able to run like that when I get in my70’s! It was also pretty fun to watch Adam in his element controlling crowds while waiting for the elites to pass by. . . . do I see a change in day jobs coming??? Funnier yet . . . at the end of the event Adam came by to show me the hand that had given Bernard Lagat (2nd place finisher for the men) a high five! I wonder if he has washed that hand yet.
Home Town Pride!
From past entries it is pretty obvious that I have been going through a rough patch in my training. I know it sounds corney, but volunteering was a great boost in helping me to re-evaluate and to shift gears. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to my planned 23 mile long run for the week. Procrastinating as always, I put it off until later in the day on Sunday. I wont say that my run was exactly easy. At one point I realized my watch was off, and after completing 15 miles and leaving Central Park I lost track how far I had ran. Instead I decided to not think about time or pace, but instead about form and just ran until my legs were sore, at which point I put in an additional 20 minutes, running from the East River to the closest train stop, and called it a day. In the end, I finished with 21 miles under my belt.
Heading into week 8 of training, and looking at 7 weeks to go, Marathon Training is officially more then halfway over.
I start this week a little irritated and angry, but mostly just frustrated. I’m really not happy with how the 18 mile tune up went this past Sunday. I should be glad that I finished it at a pace slightly faster then my predicted marathon pace. Instead I can’t help but think how hard that run was for me, and how I definitely did not finish strong. As a result, I have spent the last couple of days questioning whether I can really run this race at the pace I want to run it at, and over thinking every detail. Would I do better if I ran on my own or did it help to have a strong runner by my side? Everyone has bad runs . . . was I just out of my element? I hate running loops, and the course was definitely harder then the marathon course with the repeated north hills and cat hills on the east. But I also think about the fact that even after just two loops I was already exhausted, which I easily finished last january in a much faster half marathon time.
Last night was the weekly speed workout, and i am glad to report that we have officially bid adu to the east track, and for the remainder of the fall and winter will be meeting in the park. In the past I have always labeled the workouts as a non-option. Through out the day I may dread the workout, or tell myself that it isn’t a big deal if I dont go, but once the night is over, I am glad that I went. Yesterday was no exception, and I am definitely glad that I went. Standing around before and after the 400m repeats members of the team converse, and several of us talk about the weekend’s long run. Not everyone had a good run, as I look around i know that a majority of the people have struggled with one thing or another during this training season. I wonder, is it possible to have a flawless, smooth marathon training? Or are the rocky turbulations and learning to work through them all a part of the training?
To be completely frank, I am kind of over the whole thing. I am a little tired of thinking non-stop of running, and the adjusting of my entire schedule or night out because of a long run in the morning. Every day I am exhausted, and ALWAYS hungry, which, yes I know, is completely typical of marathon training. I enjoy running, but its times like this weekend and the beginning of this week that I question why I am doing this, and wonder if I really want to do this again next year, or even 6 months from now for a Spring marathon.
When Coach Kevin says that a workout is going to be tough he isn’t kidding . . .
Wednesday speed with a precautionary message a few days before. I didn’t even do this workout on the track, and it still kicked my butt. Just when I was starting to think these canova workouts weren’t that bad! It seems that I misread the training program though, so I ended up doing this weeks speed workout as 2×2 miles @ 7min/mile each with a 2 mile recovery @ 8min/mile. Maybe that is why it was a little harder?? Although the pace doesn’t look that bad compared to other runs that i have been doing I imagine what makes it hard has something to do with the fast long recovery, the continuity of the run, and the distance covered.
I have been bad. Which is ironic, seeing the topic of my last entry. It was almost like I was in marathon training denial this week. I drank and ate way too much, and was a little too lazy during the weekend. With that said, I attach this week’s program with the key notation that my actual running week looked very different then what follows:
The week started out great with the weekly speed workout located back in central park. OH HOW I HAVE MISSED SPEED IN THE PARK! It was a great change in scene, and in the end the 800m marathon repeats turned into speed repeats, which i greatly enjoyed.
I followed up the week with a few longer easy runs, and was planning on using the 4mile race on saturday as my tempo run for the week. That is, until Fashion’s Night Out happened on Friday, and it was all downhill from there. I ended up staying out way too late, and drinking way too much on Friday night. Come Saturday morning, getting up early for a race was the last thing I wanted to do. Although I could have done a tempo on my own, in reality, an easy run was all I could muster up.
Come Sunday, and I was left with a long (ish) run in the rain. Even though it was only 15 miles, with the constant rain it wasn’t the best run, but luckily there were two things that kept me going. The girl I ended up running behind for half my run, who MUST have been from Central Park Track Club with how fast she was running, and a change in route up to my old stomping grounds in the northern portion of Riverside Park. In the end, my fast long run (hopefully) made up for my lack in tempo run.
I stand facing the Brooklyn bridge and I have a moment of Deja vù as I approach the last hurtle of my 20 plus mile long run. Just one year ago I stood at the same spot during a long training run for the Philadelphia marathon. Writing to my sister the next day I had recalled it as the moment of truth. . . . .
“The end of my run proves that only crazy people train for marathons . . . . .with 3 miles left of my 23 mile run, I looked at the bridge and though, there is no way in hell. Just then Journey’s “dont stop believing” came on my ipod. I turned it up EXTREMEMLY loud, and decided that it was perfectly sain to run across the bridge, half dancing, half singing, and FULLY enjoying myself.”
A year ago, when I was training for Philadelphia I didn’t know exactly what to expect come marathon day, and as a result refused to back down during my training. When the day came, I knew I could finish, and did so strongly. I became confident in my running. Looking back, I think of Seattle as a slap in the face and a wakeup call. Knowing that i had finished one already, I thought I was golden, I slacked off on mid-week workouts, and pushed myself too hard too fast during weekend long runs. Its not a coincidence that I got injured. Going into Seattle I seriously questioned whether I could finish, and barely did once race day came. I think about all of this a lot as I train, knowing better this time then to slack off when the going gets tough.
One week ago I was sick, and struggling to finish my 18 mile long run. As the week pasted, I was exhausted, and as a result felt myself slipping back a bit in the weekly speed and tempo run. Not looking forward to my run frustrated me. I had taken something that I use to anticipate and get excited about, and turned it into a chore. Each Sunday I had gotten up early and “gotten it out of the way.” Isn’t the whole point to enjoy the journey? I shifted my focus Saturday night, and decided to set up this run up so there was no room for failure. I downloaded new music, and mapped out a long run that incorporating the hard hills in the beginning, and finished in the evening along the waterfront where I could appreciate the great views. I approached the run as two workouts. The beginning was the prescribed Harrier long run with incorporated tempo runs within. The end would be an easy relaxed finish along the Riverside Park on the westside, down to the tip of the Island, and then back up the east side, where I would finish by going over the Brooklyn Bridge. Have I said how much I LOVE running bridges?!? This really was going to be a good run!
So there I stand, at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge, with a little more then 18 miles completed. As anticipated, the run had gone well, with all time markers hit, but I was still exhausted. Today I go through the same motions I did one year ago, with maybe a little more sanity. As my new power song for this run comes on. A remix of Whitney Houston’s “I Didn’t Know My Own Strength“. As tabu as it is, I admit that I run with music, which give me that needed boost when exhaustion has set in. This week has been a tough one for me, but I am lucky to have someone close to me that is literally going through all of it at the same time. As I run uphill over the first half of the bridge I shift my focus to look up towards the top of the bridge and power through the last hill of my run with strong shortened strides. Yes I must admit, I am singing to myself as I pass the first and then the second pilar. What the hell, its only tourist that I am navigating through on this bridge anyways! When the downhill begins I can’t help but feel excited and proud of my run today. I take it as a confidence booster, and a sign that my hard work is paying off.
What is this . . . oh yes . . . WEEK 5!
So Mr. Adam (a.k.a. my boyfriend) voiced to me this morning that he was exhausted, and I had to agree. He is also training for the NYC marathon, and since we both ran in Seattle and as a result started back in again at the same time, we are at about the same point in the training process. Adam is no veteran to Marathon training. Like me, the Philadelphia Marathon was his first. He ran New York two years ago, where he qualified for Boston, which he ran last year. With his sights on breaking the 3 hour time barrier, this is his first time following such a rigorous plan.
I was actually glad to hear that i was not the only one that was pretty exhausted. It always seems to be a fine line between pushing myself and overdoing it. With being sick last week and my long run on Sunday I have to say I am exhausted as well. A familiar feeling while in training. There is always one point when I wonder why I am putting myself through sure strenuous work. But now I know that this its just a fleeting moment that is hopefully followed by feeling much stronger in my runs.
This weeks Workouts:
Speed: Since i ran my repeats a little faster last week, this week’s speed workout ended up being almost identical in time. We did canova mile repeats with a faster and longer recovery time then normal, which for me ended up being 7 min/ mile repeats (x 4) with an 8 min recovery mile. We did the workout at the track, and as a testiment to me having a short attention span. I ended up only running half of the workout on the track before getting a little bored and derailing to the east waterfront to battery park and back to finish the remainder of the workout.
Tempo: Our tempo workout this week was 3 x 15min. at tempo pace. As much as I would like to stick to the plan, I have also been missing the long tempo runs i used to do. It also seems like a lot of our speed workouts have turned into tempo pace intervals anyways, so I thought that one long tempo run might be a little better for me and my exhausted state. With the “Hurricane” on the forecast I was pretty sure I was getting myself into a pretty wet and windy run in the park, but luckely it turned out to be a great clear night for a run. I finished by Lincoln center and met Mr. Adam for the Metropolitan Opera’s Summer HD showing for the evening. HELLO LABOR DAY WEEKEND!
My boyfriend has been sick all week, and as of Friday morning so have I. As a result, I have been reduced to laying around all weekend. First sleeping in until an unspeakable hour in the afternoon on Saturday. Followed by trying to pass the time with horrible movies on the sofa. And once i grew tired of the confines of my studio apartment, I moved my laziness to the Brooklyn Bridge Park down the street and enjoyed what I could of the end of the summer. My body aches, my head is congested, and my ears have been plugged for the last three days.
So how has this affected my running? For the first time in god knows how long I have taken two days off of training, and missed the NYRR’s long run yesterday. When I woke this morning feeling slightly better, I decided to try and attempt the 19 mile long run in my training schedule. I can now officially say i know how it feels to hit the wall during training. Today’s run was probably one of my hardest long runs. I left at 9:30, and by 11 it was already 85 degrees out and HUMID! Dehydrated and exhausted when I finally made it to the park at 10.5 Miles, I ended up taking 4 water breaks once inside. The important part is that I powered through, and finished fairly close to my goal mileage (18 miles completed) at a somewhat decent pace. Once home, my body felt as if I had just finished a marathon. I took a much needed Epsom salt bath, and went right back to bed!
