4/10: Fly 45 at FlyWheel which I hadn’t been to since June 2016, before I put ClassPass on hold for marathon training. This was meant to be a recovery ride after Sunday’s 10K, but of course I tried to break my own old record. I ended up tying my past top power score but missing my distance record by over a mile. Guess I was too focused on the resistance and winning races.

4/11: NYRR Open Run in Brooklyn Bridge Park. I was ‘pacing’ my roommate for her third run ever. I got to see Elle and Bandit (!!), my favorite running pup. The course was altered due to police presence at Pier 1, so we did doubles of Pier 5, which ended up making it a little over 3.2. My roomie is getting faster (from 12 min/mile pace to 11in the last few weeks for 3 miles) and I’m so excited for her to race her next 5K. This ended up being the recovery run I needed and the weather was a glorious 69 degrees complete with a beautiful sunset.

4/12: PureBarre in the morning because clearly all the running and spin means it’s time for my abs to hurt. But seriously, this is a great workout because it activates my glutes and has built-in time for planks and push-ups. I frequently get the urge to do planks right around 2pm in the office when I’m wearing a pencil skirt, so it’s good to have an outlet outside of the gym.

4/13: Speed Training, Week 1. I did about 2 miles as a warm-up, then there was another 2 miles of warm-up built in. The workout was “just” 2 miles between threshold and tempo pace. That’s it, just 2. Well, I went out too fast downhill at my 5K pace then bonked on the second miles which had some very slight uphills. My allergies were not helping and I should have eaten something after work, but damn that second mile sucked. Good thing we did planks after the cool-down?

4/14: Rest Day. In a perfect world, Mondays and Fridays would be my rest days (but I would be running 4 of the other days and cross-training one of those other days). There would also be more grill your own Japanese BBQ and s’mores at Gyu-Kaku’s amazing happy hours.

4/15: I wanted to do a shakeout run before the half but didn’t. Hmm. At least the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is getting good!

4/16: Flushing Meadows Half: Oh god oh god why. Race report probably not on deck because I would not like to relive the heat and sun and the puking and the feeling of “wow this is already hard at mile 2”. This was supposed to be a redemption attempt for NYC Half to go sub-2 or a bit of a tune-up for Brooklyn Half. It was a mental and physical slog on an unseasonably warm day. Fortunately, I had the best one-man cheer squad/road crew and the occasional sighting of other teammates and friends. They took me from the DNF I was leaning toward to completion. And then I got a mango slush and dim sum afterward which really helped recovery.

I held my desired half pace for the first few miles but after 4, it all went downhill. I had to confer to see if I should keep going before the second loop (aka a couple miles around the lake then the final 5K which has more of the sights). The park was starting to get crowded with Easter celebrants and we were running alongside cars trying to park near the lake for a while which was a bit unnerving. Who expects to almost get doored during a race?

Let’s hope Brooklyn Half goes a lot better.

Total: 23.3 miles and some spin and barre. Not enough foam rolling.