Training Weeks 9 & 10

My week 9 plan looked like it would be pretty tough when I glanced at it out of the corner of my eye a few weeks ago. The 20M Sunday run looked so much further than 19M for some reason! It must be because so many times you read how hitting 20M in training is the benchmark for marathon training.

I've pretty much managed to stick to the plan throughout the weeks so I'm now going into these runs actually looking forward to them! As long as you have the time to do them AND the time to spend the rest of the day recovering then I've really been enjoying the challenge of running further than I've ever ran before, visiting areas I've never been and I guess also trying out the different nutrition aspects.

The harder runs to do have been either the midweek longer run such as the 10M run before work on the Tuesday and the longer faster (supposed) marathon pace runs.

I managed an easy 10M on the Saturday in cloudy humid weather. Then thankfully after the late Saturday rain Sunday was a really nice 24 degrees and had relatively cool air for a change, so I felt really good!

I had varied my route ever so slightly from the other long runs I've done in order to do the shadeless part first and also to avoid the century event bike riders that were out and about on the shore pathway.

Of course I went slightly the wrong way a couple of times so I knew I would be hitting the 20M mark before I got all the way home.
It was the first time I have tried mixing the energy gels with water in the little flask. It seemed to work good except I only did one so I think I need both flasks for that kind of distance.  I averaged about 8.30 pace although I stopped frequently for water top-ups and toilet stops. I had planned to speed up for the last 5M depending on how I felt and I averaged 7.40 for them, finishing with a 7.22 mile which was pleasing.

What wasn't so good was reaching 20.M and being at the bottom of the park with a 1.5M uphill walk to home. I was mentally finished by then as I'd obviously set out with 20M in mind so I bought a drink and strolled home.

During this week I heard something hit the window and fall onto the air conditioning unit. I looked out and there was this massive cicada just sitting there. Never really seen them before, you just hear them in the trees on a hot summer night.

Week 10 was a recovery week and next week I am doing a half marathon trail race, the same one I did last year (and didn't enjoy that much). So although the time won't mean much at least I can compare times and how I'm feeling. I just have to work out how to adjust my plan as that was supposed to be my next 20M weekend.

On 9/11 we stuck our heads out our window to see the light display they had again. Like the bat symbol!

This week also seemed to really signal the change from Summer to Autumn. You know it's cooler when I started the run in the sun instead of the shade and I've put on socks in the house for the first time since April I think. It should help the running though, it might be easier to do some of the after work running.

Week 9: 56M
Week 10: 38M

Training Weeks 7 & 8

Week 7 started off fine enough with an early morning 9M run to work but the next day I had the beginnings of a sore throat! Oh no, I thought, the usual 2-3 week mildly annoying cold/flu starting again.
I quickly bought some throat medicine (didn't really read it... helps you sleep... sore throat, yup) but I think it had something that made you tired as I took the next three days of running and left work 3 hours early on Friday as I literally had no energy.
A two hour sleep when I got home and I felt better for Sat and managed just over 10M, I worked Sunday so no running.

Week 8 was a step up. Including 9M on Monday then on Wednesday it was the last of the PPTC 5K's. These have been the only "speedwork" sessions I've been doing the last few weeks and I've been steady around the 18.50 mark. This time I decided to go off hard from the start and see if my training strength could help me hold on. I managed splits of 6.03, 6.03, 5.40 and .33 for a new 3 second PB of 18.19!

Friday Heather and I went to see a Jeff Koons flower "sculpture" at Rockefeller Plaza then went out for dinner on the way home. Chicken Ramen and birthday cake flavoured soft serve ice cream.

Then the hardest weekend of training so far. 9M at around 7.21 pace and then on Sunday I did around 18M in 2 hours 52mins which due to the fact there was a thunderstorm due later meant as well as it being really sunny, it was also more humid than it's been lately.
The decision to run last weeks long run route in reverse proved a wrong one as there was no shade for pretty much the last 10 miles.
I stopped at a water fountain with around 4 miles to go and the water was so cold I just wanted to stay and drink forever!

The last few miles were a slog, my legs were actually not bad it was just the fact I was a little dehydrated and wanted a cold glass of water as well as a short lie down followed by a cold shower.
I tried taking some energy drink with me along with one of those Honey Stinger waffles and the usual gel and water but I don't think I got the timings right as my stomach was a little sore/tight for the last half of the run.

18M couldn't feel so different to the 17M run I did two weeks previous. Plenty still to try and fine tune before I try for my first 20M next Sunday.

Week 7: 24M
Week 8: 51M

Training Weeks 5 & 6

Another busy week of planning runs around work, either leaving kit and food at work so I can run early or running after work, taking the train back into Brooklyn then getting off on the other side of the park to run home.

I worked Saturday. It was also one of the Summer Streets Saturdays. Where they close one long road in Manhattan form the Brooklyn Bridge up to Central Park from 7am-1pm.
I left the house at 7.30am and ran down and over the Brooklyn Bridge. Wow, lots of groups of inconsiderate runners. The pedestrian path is really narrow and all these runners were coming the other way and filling the entire path 2 or 3 abreast. I literally shoulder barged two runners at one point. Never again will I run that bridge at the weekend.
I ran part of the Summer Streets, I thought that would be the worst part in terms of crowds but apart from a few tourists strolling along the road while the pavement was empty at 8.30am it was fine. I only went a little way past work before turning back.

Sunday I ran my longest run ever (again), 16M, 2 hours 20mins around Brooklyn.

The penultimate PPTC 5K was this week. A good 18:47 feeling very strong towards the end.

Then I planned out this Sunday's 17M run over a mostly entirely new run route complete with a little sellotape laminated piece of paper with my directions on it!
It was good, running longer but in a new place so I had things to take my mind off it plus a lot was the Shore Pathway so although a little boring it was pan flat with no traffic lights and little pedestrian traffic.

My loop around Coney Island and the Sheepshead Bay area was fun.

13M selfie

15M selfie

Week 3: 47 Miles
Week 4: 45 Miles

Training Week 3 & 4

Just about managing to keep up with my training schedule. Work ocasionally gets in the way, ha ha.
I had to work a footwear shift on Sunday last week and I stupidly ran 14M miles on the way to work then worked 8 hours on my feet. I'd gotten there early enough to stretch and eat and the first couple of hours were fine but after that I was in a daze, the last couple of hours my feet and quads were aching.

The weather almost forces you out earlier as it's generally been 10 degrees hotter later in the day. Back home, I was lucky if I was out of bed by 8.30am now I'm managing short runs on the way to work and even ran 7M one day finishing just after 7am, oh how times have changed!

Ran an 18.50 in last weeks PPTC 5K and felt strong all the way if not fast. I am also enjoying the long runs at the weekend, the pace is a lot slower than I'm used to and I've been running in new areas too.

Week 3: 43 Miles - included my 14M run in 2 hours which is probably the longest run I've ever done.
Hopefully I'll be saying that every couple of weeks from now on though!
Week 4: 31 Miles

It all starts here

I took a couple of weeks off running after the Queen's 10K. I cycled a lot, over 130miles and ate a lot of cake.
On a Sunday with no World Cup games we tried to head up to Williamsburg to see this giant sugar sculture.

The old Dominos sugar factory is being torn down and an artist had created this large sugar woman/sphinx sculpture out of sugar along with some (melting) resin sculptures.

NYTimes

animalnewyork.com

Unfortunately we didn't get there until about 30 minutes after it opened for the day and when we rounded the corner to see the queue was over a mile long, in the baking sun, we decided after a couple of minutes that we weren't going to wait. So we went for brunch instead!

a giant mural side of a cinema in Williamsburg

I'm just finishing week two of my marathon training. First couple of runs it certainly felt like I hadn't ran for two weeks, my legs felt disconnected from the rest of my body!
I made up a training plan myself based off two main plans I found online along with some responses I got to questions I posted on the Runner's World marathon forum. The marathon has a lot more variation in possible training compared to races of up to half marathon distance. I think I just have to be ready to react and adapt the plan as it's rare to follow a 16 week plan to the letter.

It also takes a lot of planning especially as I've tried to do a few of the shorter runs before starting work at 8am. That has involved leaving kit and food at work the day before along with my glasses, iPhone charger lead, etc. I've found it takes longer than you think if you want to do a little bit of stretching before showering and eating, before starting work! I've ran over the Brooklyn Bridge at 7am a couple of times though, pretty cool, have never ran there before.

I just managed an 18.45 5K on Wednesday in Prospect Park and despite being slower for the first two miles I managed a 5.41 last mile down the hill and felt a lot better than when I finished last time.

Wk1 32 miles, Wk2 39 miles

Thunder & Lightning

I don't really see much news programming here especially during the World Cup but it is hurricane season and I found out Hurricane Arthur is moving through North Carolina and heading up towards New England and out over the Atlantic Ocean.

Well, New York got hit last night with some pretty amazing thunder and lightning.

I was home and on the couch by the time it started getting ominously dark just before 7pm and then the thunder and lightning started followed by some heavy rain then more thunder and lightning that seemed to last for ages.

TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images

TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images

twitter/theframelines

Bryan Pace for New York Daily News

This shows the flooding that occurred three avenues down the hill form us, luckily it's a fairly steep hill (Park Slope!) down to the canal.

Queens 10K

Next up in the NYRR 5-Borough Series was Sunday's Queens 10K.

 
After May's half marathon I tried concentrating on more distance endurance rather than the speed sessions I did last year and also took part in quite a few weekly 5K races instead.
I felt I had more stamina at this point in the year and had made the Queen's 10K my next target with the hope of getting under the 39 minute mark. Indeed, with my last couple of 5K times I actually thought I might be able to hold a mile pace of 6.10 especially on a near flat course.

I took the F train out to Queens, seeing a couple of runners join the train at each stop. Then by the time I switched to the 7 train to head further out to the 2nd last stop the train was completely full with runners and spectators. When we exited it was like going to a football game or something. There is a long wooden walkway from the station over to the tennis court and park entrance and it was just a sea of runners.

Flushing Meadows Corona Park. I've been out here and across the road a couple of times to where the Mets play baseball but never over to the park on the other side, in the shadow of where the US Open tennis is played. It was also my first close-up sighting of the Unisphere. Famous from the World's Fair Expos, whatever they were!

I didn't really see much of the sights during the run as I was too busy concentrating, ha ha. It helped this time that the paths were reasonably wide and there were enough runners, over 8400 finishers, that I could just do my own thing unlike the smaller races where you end up racing the same couple of people for almost the entire race.

©NYRR

©NYRR

My mile splits were 6.02, 6.00, 6.13, 6.22 (tiny uphill), 6.09, 6.08 (& 1.14). For a really pleasing 38.11 finishing time. 62nd overall and 7th in my age group. My 5K split was 18.57 which is like my 4th fastest 5K as well, ha ha.

It was also probably one of the last chances to get a decent race in before the temperatures take their toll on me. My mouth was so dry during the entire race, I took a cup of water at three of the stops, didn't drink any, just rubbed some over my lips.
The sun was out in full force before 9am and I noticed from this picture below that they must've turned on a hose not long after I passed by.

©NYRR

They took a couple of good pictures out on the course, I'm sure a few people will buy them with the globe in the background.

Dug out the short shorts

Like a few other people I wandered over afterwards and had a look and took a couple of pictures.

Got a pretty nice race tee for a change too.

On the way back I stopped off on 5th Avenue back in Brooklyn and hit up the farmers market for a couple of goodies, including a small cherry pie and then ate some gelato while I took the bus a few stops to home.
As usual, it felt like I'd been away for ages but I was still home at noon, just in time to drift in and out of sleep while watching the World Cup. A couple of hours in the sunshine gets me every time!