Hiking – 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!

New Year, New Running Goals

January 15, 2020January 14, 2020Posted in ClassPass, Running, TrainingTagged Hiking, Running, Training1 Comment

2019 was not my best year for running (though many other good things happened in my career and personal life). I hit just over half of my yearly mileage goals (~640 miles out of a desired 1200), only eked out one PR (Richmond 5K), and DNS multiple races (most due to my injury and then sadly Ted Corbitt 15K in December due to illness). My mindset suffered even once I was cleared to run and I was definitely scared to put the pressure on my body and risk injury again. Then just before the holidays in December, I took a little week-long break from running due to mental fatigue and due in part to a murder in one of my local parks which shook me up.

After wrapping up work and flying across the country on December 18th, I did a PureBarre class in Las Vegas, then hiked a few miles in Zion National Park, then finally felt the urge to run again in San Diego. And it’s been decent ever since, whether on treadmill or trail or road. My mental game is getting stronger; I guess doing various workouts and even some heart rate zone training on the treadmill helps. I’ve bundled up and gone outside to run during cold gale warnings and I’ve been pushing myself to run in the rain more often, though it can be a bit annoying since I wear glasses. My new mental mantra as I try to push toward some speed or grind up some hills is the simple yet effective “You can do hard things”. I’ve got the same PR goals as last year in mind (sub-24 5K, sub 52-10K, sub 1:55 Half) and am signed up for a 4 miler, two 10 milers, and a hilly half in Atlanta between now and early April. Other races and possibly a fall full marathon TBD. I’m not sure where the spring season and 2020 will take me, but I’m excited to enjoy the process.

Some fun eats were had both before and during my travels, notably fish tacos in San Diego and getting all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ twice. I started drinking more nitro cold brew on the west coast, but have eased back into my normal coffee routine back in NYC. Plus that stuff’s usually $5+.

Hometown BBQ in Industry City NYC: pastrami sandwich, jalapeno cheddar hot link, mac & cheese, and a Topo Chico

Mid-November through Mid-January by the numbers:

Longest long run: 11 miles with Gabby, including 3 before the Joe Kleinerman 10K and 2 after. I’d only planned to do 8 but it was so great having a warmup and cooldown partner and getting to catch up. So now my long runs are set until my half 3/1 and second 10-miler 4/5.

States run in: California, Virginia, and Massachusetts (and New York), plus some hiking in Utah and some PureBarre in Nevada (thanks to ClassPass).

Fastest speed: 7:19 minute mile in the wild/outside a couple times and 6:00 minute mile on the treadmill at Barry’s Bootcamp.

Hot yoga classes taken: 4, 3 of which were at Y7 on ClassPass. I’m surprised at how much I love this!

Highest mileage week: 26. Now to build for a bit.

Slowly Running Again & UK Trip Recap

June 26, 2018June 25, 2018Posted in ClassPass, Food, New York City Marathon 2018, Running, Training, United KingdomTagged ClassPass, Edinburgh, Hiking, Running, Training1 Comment

After surviving my Memorial Day weekend test run, I slowly ramped up mileage. 2 miles here, 4 miles there, a few times a week. The goal is to get back to 5 days a week with medium midweek mileage for marathon training. I’m looking at a scaled down version of my original 18 week marathon training plan of choice. Maybe soon I’ll actually run enough to run off some of the baking I’ve been doing.

May 28 – June 3: 9.3 miles over 4 runs

June 4 – June 10: 11.6 miles over 3 runs. Double digits, woohoo! I also baked the Momofuku Milk Bar birthday cake thanks to the unique baking supply birthday gifts of my friends. It took some time but was worth it!

June 11 – June 17: 7 miles and some canceled ClassPass spin. I volunteered at a race to get credit for future races and had a great time at the bib pickup table. I also managed a full loop of Prospect Park for a total of 5 miles, which is my longest since the Monument Avenue 10K on 4/14. I had to break for water a few times but it felt good overall.

June 18 – 24: UK trip! I flew out Saturday the 16th and back the 23rd for my cousin’s wedding in Scotland with my parents and boyfriend. I didn’t get in as many runs as I had wanted in London due to food poisoning/stomach flu. I did manage a spin class, a hike up Arthur’s Seat, and a trail run near the castle that ended up with me getting lost in the woods and having to climb over cow pen gates. On Sunday, I did not use my jet lag to my advantage but finally staged myself onto the treadmill for another 3 miles. Total running mileage of ~8 miles but I turned my GPS watch off while I was lost and walking/running so we’ll never know.