I’m finally caught up – with blog posts, not with my training miles. But my long runs are finally where they should be, albeit a few weeks behind. It wasn’t smart to train like this (and have no real cutback weeks) but I did it out of mental and physical necessity. I’m honestly dreaming about a 5K, 10K, or in between PR attempt next year (this November/December is getting tight with race availability coinciding with any potential fitness gains). But for NYCM? Let’s just finish. Ideally before the sun goes down.

9/13-9/19:

9/13: 3 easy miles on the treadmill and lifting at the gym.

9/14: 4 miles running

9/15: 5.4 miles running including some speed pushes.

9/16: Weight lifting and 3 miles

9/17: Rest day. Sichuanese for dinner.

9/18: 14 mile long run with a neighbor/friend who is also training for NYCM. Turns out I need an accountability buddy all along. It was pretty humid so we tackled the hills first, then kept to a flat final 6 miles down by the water with walk breaks sprinkled into the last 3 miles. I used my Salomon Advanced Skin 8 hydration vest and loved it – drank ALL the water and Skratch by the end.

9/19: No running. Went to see the Yayoi Kusama exhibit again at the New York Botanical Garden and did a lot of walking. I felt shockingly good after the long run (since my longest in the 6 weeks prior was 7 or maybe 9 miles. Do not recommend). Going slow really helped as did all my recovery efforts after.

Total: 29.4 miles (of a recommended 36 – my midweek runs and long runs are still a bit behind).

9/20-9/26:

Great weather for lots of walks to the park, both with and without Herbie. Could have done with a few more runs.

9/20: 2.3 easy recovery treadmill miles after some lifting at the gym.

9/21: Longer walk with Herbie. 5.5 mile run with intervals. These felt good! I could mostly do them at my new estimated 10K pace of 9:15-9:20 (my old pace of 8:30, not so much). Recoveries around 10:15 minute miles.

9/22: Rest day – long walk

9/23: 3.3 mile run

9/24: Rest day – longer walk with Herbie.

9/25: 16 miles. The temperature and humidity dropped a lot from the prior week, so we definitely took this one a bit faster. I struggled on the bigger hills going up to the turnaround point (where we had bananas and Gatorade waiting for us). but the back half had a net downhill that was awesome (for morale and for my legs/lungs).

9/26: Rest day. Tried on more wedding dresses in the city. Got great Korean at The Jin in Hell’s Kitchen, had coffee at Rex, then got so many mochi donuts in Nordstrom at Oh Mochi. It was a perfect fall day, weather-wise.

Total: 27ish out of a prescribed 31 miles