New York State – East Coast Appetite

Week 5 of NYC Marathon 2021 Training

August 10, 2021August 9, 2021Posted in New York City Marathon 2021, New York State, nycm, Running, TrainingTagged distance running, Hiking, marathon, Marathon Training, NYC Marathon, nycm, Running, strength training, TrainingLeave a comment

We’re in the thick of it.

Monday 8/2: 3 recovery treadmill miles at a 14 minute mile pace. Upper body weight lifting at the gym.

Tuesday 8/3: Trying to take my easy days easy and my hard days hard. AM 4.6 mile tempo run, then PM lower body lifting at the gym. So hard. I was exhausted and crawled into bed by 9pm and missed the women’s 400m hurdle final.

Wednesday 8/4: Active recovery – 30 minute Peloton ride at the gym (Spice Girls class!). I took it super easy, adjusting both cadence and resistance down as needed.

Thursday 8/5: Normal run at what I hope is a normal speed. 5.6 miles (yay) around a park. Went to Target and got a lot of snacks and ate too many of them before this. Needed a late (4pm nap) and some tea to finally get my rear in gear at 6pm.

Friday 8/6: 3.4 Easy treadmill miles in apartment gym.

Saturday 8/7: Long run cut short. I had hoped for double digits and was going to take my COVID work call on the run (well, on a park bench since I have to write down some of the numbers) but I couldn’t log into Zoom on my personal phone and didn’t have the login details. So I ended up sprinting for home after 7 miles. I thought about adding another 3-5 miles after the call but decided to just take the rest.

I got out of the house at 7:30am which was a win (watched the women’s 10M Olympic final first). But the run was definitely a struggle fest. The heat was normal but humidity was on its way back and my heart rate was shooting up the first few miles, so I took a few walk breaks as needed. I got Summer Streets FOMO and wished I was in the city for this and to hit double digits. Onward and upward to the next one.

Sunday 8/8: I did a 4.4 mile Hike to Mount Beacon and the fire tower with a friend and my pup. My legs were pretty tired after the initial steep ascent. I put Herbie in the backpack for some of the ascent but she held her own on the rest.

Total: 23.7 running miles, not counting the hike. I wanted to hit 27 but I think I will get it next week. Only did two strength workouts but they were good ones!

Richmond 2019 Training

November 14, 2019November 14, 2019Posted in Chicago, Food, New York State, NYC, Puerto Rico, Richmond Half Marathon 2019, Running, TrainingTagged 8k, Chicago, distance running, Richmond, Running, TrainingLeave a comment

This post originally titled Richmond Half 2019 Training and was supposed to cover everything in September, but then I never published it in September. Or October. My running has been pretty good (some weeks higher in mileage than others) but I’ve kept my weekend long runs right around 10 miles for the most part. Essentially, I feel like I could run a half at any time, but I couldn’t hit a PR. I got medical clearance from my doctor and PT to run a half this fall/winter (but not a full marathon, which is fine). But the consistency of training never really happened. So I’m just going to do the 8K in Richmond on 11/16/19.

I moved out of Brooklyn in September and have been exploring Central Park a lot more. There are so many paths and trails and things to see (namely waterfalls) off the main 6-mile path. My goal is to run them all, plus run the entire perimeter of the park on 5th Avenue and Central Park South/West/North. It’s a lot easier to get to the many NYRR and other races in Central Park now, so I’ve popped by to cheer on friends or pace long runs.

In late September, I did a Tracksmith-sponsored long run in Rockefeller Park State Preserve and loved hitting the trails. The hills were killer, but I stayed steady and on the slower side. Obviously I wore Tracksmith.

I went to Chicago in mid-October to spectate the marathon (for the third time in four years) and see friends from across the country and eat deep dish pizza. I ran a Nike-sponsored 4×800 race at Soldier Field and was pleased enough with my time. If anything, it made me want to get back to the track a bit more. In my injury-prone state, I haven’t been doing much speed work. Also, our team met Colleen Quigley!

Fall by the numbers:

Longest long run: 11 miles

Fastest speed: I hit 10 mph (a 6:00 minute mile) for maybe a minute during a Barry’s Bootcamp treadmill session and didn’t die or fly off the treadmill

I ran my first race since February, a 5K on Randall’s Island in 26:26, about 90 seconds off my PR.

I ran in Saratoga Springs NY, Chicago IL, and San Juan Puerto Rico.

Plus, I went to a driving range for the first time in over a decade, got into sourdough bread baking, am a happy owner of a Theragun, and kept up eating delicious stuff all over town (and other places).

Piña colada and red snapper in Old San Juan

Deep dish pizza and the best salad at Lou Malnati’s in Chicago

Slowly Running Again

June 3, 2019June 2, 2019Posted in ClassPass, Food, New York State, RunningLeave a comment

The good news is that my plantar fibroma is gone and the plantar fasciitis has decreased in pain with treatment. I’m going to physical therapy weekly to fix some of my running asymmetries after a thorough gait analysis with a sports medicine doctor. It’s amazing how you never realize how off balance things are until you seem them on video, complete with visual cues of angles and sloping shoulders. I’m mostly working on strengthening my hips and activating my gluteus medius.

In the meantime since mid-May, I’ve been doing strength training at least weekly, spin class, and some other workouts. I went hiking upstate at Harriman State Park, which was fun and made me feel like all my aerobic fitness is not totally gone. As of Memorial Day Weekend, I’m running again a bit. I’m planning on a slow buildup in daily and weekly miles and to acclimate to the incoming heat before worrying about speed again.

The “waterfall” on our hike in Harriman State Park

I’ve managed to strike a balance between eating everything I’m craving and foods that have actual nutritional sustenance. Below are some of the more delicious dishes.

Central Park from The Met Museum’s Dining Room

More to come once my running increases!