I’m writing this the week after and the night of completing my long run. I was in a wedding in Arizona of one of my best friends, so that took precedence over training for several days. But it was AMAZING. And all of the food was on point. And we saw sunrise over the Grand Canyon.
10/16: Evening tempo run in Prospect Park. 1 mile warm-up, 2 miles @ trying to get to goal half pace of 8:48, 2 miles cool-down (1 uphill, 1 downhill).
10/17: Rest day
10/18: PP loop with the Brooklyn Beer Runners, then a pumpkin beer at The Sackett.
I’m in the back, chugging
10/19: Rest day due to 6:30am flight to AZ. Sonoran hot dogs for lunch and some of the best tacos in my life for dinner.
El Guero CaneloTacos El Suahero
10/20: 5 miles on the treadmill in the early AM, then wedding time. All I’ll say about this is we wore up the dance floor and ate tacos and pie.
9 kinds of pie!
10/21: I had hoped to get a few easy miles done but had clearly transitioned to AZ time. Then we drove to Sedona to get sucked into the vortex and catch the sunset. Then we got dinner and REI supplies in Flagstaff.
Iconic Sedona McDonald’sTook my shoes off to ‘ground’ myself
10/22: Sunrise! Grand Canyon! We walked between viewing spots as the sun rose then I got my National Parks passport stamped. Second national park this year!
In N Out for Dinner
Total: 15.2 Monday – Sunday miles due to postponed long run. (38.7 if we move the Wednesday LR to Saturday as per the NYRR Virtual Trainer.)
5 weeks left until the marathon! Alert! This was supposed to be another higher mileage week with the longest run to date at the end.
10/2: 3.7 miles at home while my Dad rode his new bike alongside. This was awesome! I’m already plotting future bike ride/long run routes for home.
10/3: Tempo park loop at night.
10/4: Rest Day
10/5: 3 on the treadmill, then off to Chicago. I wish I had woken up earlier to do a few more miles but had gone out the night before.
10/6: ~4.2 miles along the Chicago riverfront, which my Garmin then Strava turned into the following “6 mile” route. It felt great, though! And it was fun to see so many other runners. I was really glad I took the architectural river tour last year, as it really helped me get my bearings.
I ran across maybe 3 of these bridgesRainbow Cake from Goddess and the Baker & Nutella Brioche from Eataly
10/7: Longest long run of this training cycle so far: 19 miles along the Lake Front Trail to its northern terminus, then onward up to Loyola before turning around. I was trying to avoid the part of the Lakefront below the Chicago River because the big pre-marathon 5K was happening down that way. I still saw a ton of runners doing shakeout runs and others doing their long runs and felt that great sense of community that comes from getting up before dawn to do our thing.
Sunrise along Lake Michigan
Obviously my Garmin paces aren’t exact, but I felt really good almost the whole time and was throwing down a lot of miles at goal marathon pace of low 10:xx. I flagged a tiny bit at the end, then Beyonce’s “Freedom” came on. Then “Formation”. Then I put on the Sleigh Bells – “Demons (Diplo remix) and couldn’t wipe the smile off my face or tone down the speed in my legs. It was one of those I FREAKING LOVE RUNNING kind of runs and exactly what I needed after a sluggish Bronx 10 Mile and extra 7 miles.
Then I went to Pizzeria Due for some pepperoni deep dish and a Goose Island 312. I didn’t realize Pizzeria Due was related to Pizzeria Uno. Whoops. Gotta say, Lou Malnati’s was better.
10/8: Spectating the Chicago Marathon. I walked at least 8 miles and found PPTC folks at 3 different spots. I got Italian Beef from Portillo’s and quite a few beers after.
Total: 36 miles M-Sun miles out of a prescribed 41 Sunday-Saturday. I need to get my Sunday recovery runs back into rotation! I’m happy to have gotten this many, but only have 1 more week that will be higher than this.
9/11: Belated Long RunCommute. I mapped out the perfect 14 miles from work to home across the Queensboro Bridge, through the most southerly reaches of Central Park, down the Hudson River Greenway, and around the Battery to and across the Manhattan Bridge. I had many beautiful views of the 9/11 Tribute in Lights on the way.
9/12: Morning yoga but rest day from running. Holy crap, my hip flexors have been taking a pounding. I was off balance and weak, but glad I got in there.
9/13: I felt like crap after work and was going to skip running altogether but decided to meet the Beer Running group at the bar they ended up at, then figured I may as well get some more miles in so ran past home with some people then back home solo. 3.82 miles total. 0.62 miles to the bar, 3.1something after 2 beers.
9/14: I was planning to get 3 miles in as a warmup on the gym treadmill before lifting and doing strength work with my friend Allison, but due to a subway mishap (sick passenger), I got there super late and only fit in 1 mile. I then had a Restorative Yoga class later in the evening at Area Yoga, which was amazing for my stiff hips. The instructor gave some modifications and adjustments that were much needed.
9/15: 4 AM miles to the park and back.
Later on, rooftop drinks at Rooftop 93 in Chinatown. Then rooftop drinks and pizza at Porta in Jersey City.
Dusk, looking North
9/16: Rest day but I went to 7 different art galleries in Chelsea. So many great exhibits, including Kara Walker at Sikkema Jenkins and Maya Lin at Pace Gallery.
Lin Tianmiao at Galerie Lelong
Boneyard by Christian Marclay at Paula Cooper Gallery
Ruth Asawa at David Zwirner
9/17: 11 mile long run done in the late afternoon. I missed my chance in the morning but felt pretty good (maybe some of the humidity broke). I covered both Prospect Park loop and Brooklyn Bridge Park and hit a couple miles accidentally at goal marathon pace, which was a huge confidence booster.
Total: 34.8 miles out of a prescribed 28 (cutback week), so again, we’re counting Monday’s 14.1 for last week and it was actually only 24 miles. I had to lie to the Virtual Trainer to save face and not throw off my stats. I undershot this week in part due to my aborted gym warmup Thursday and missing the extra few I had hoped to get Wednesday, but that’s ok.
9/4: Labor Day. I woke up in the beautiful woods of Evergreen, CO to the sound of the leaves rustling and the roosters crowing. I’m kidding about the last part but there were chickens on the chalet property. I had enough time to get a run in before the post-wedding brunch, so I managed to make it to the lake and go around. Parts of the trail were closed and crossing the street with few crosswalks and some blind curves was pretty terrifying. But these views and fresh mountain air!
9/5: Early flight back to NYC, then after a nap, I managed a park loop for 5.5 miles.
9/6: The rain picked up a ton in the evening, so I headed to the gym for some treadmill miles. Despite watching the US Open (Madison Keys vs. Kaia Kanepi), I could only mentally get through 4 miles, but it was alternating easy run pace with my goal Bronx 10 Mile pace.
9/7: I attended the US Open and got to see Venus Williams vs. Sloane Stephens then Madison Keys vs. Coco Vanderweghe. I had 2 honeydeuces to drink but should have held out for Fuku, because my fried chicken grilled cheese from Melt was not worth the wait. I also ate way too much from Ben & Jerry’s but discovered how good their salted caramel blondie flavor is.
9/8: Mile High Run Club’s The Distance. I had a slightly late start and just got 5.5 miles in, but it felt like a great workout and I hit some fast paces.
9/9: Connecticut Day
Sculpture BuildingRobert Indiana sculpturePhillip Johnson’s Glass HouseTomato Pie and Clam Pie from Frank Pepe in New Haven
9/10: I woke up late and wasn’t feeling so hot, so had to move my long run to Monday. I did 4 miles in the late morning before finally getting groceries and seeing IT at Alamo Drafthouse. Clowns remain scary.
Total: 21.7. Would have been 31.7 if my long run had happened where it should have.
So this was supposed to be a build-up week of 36 Sunday-Saturday miles, but I hit over that last week. Due to this and my vacation at altitude, I decided to make it a cutback week. I know, 6 weeks into the program and I’m being a real renegade here.
8/28: Unplanned rest day. I was feeling beat up physically from such a tough but awesome Saturday, especially with shorter miles Friday (my usual rest day) and Sunday.
8/29: 5 easy miles @ 10:52 pace on the treadmill at the gym. It was raining all afternoon and evening and I was just not feeling a soggy run after traipsing around Flushing and my neighborhood in the rain. My feet were already wet and cold.
8/30: 2 miles with the beer running group. We were taking photos to be part of the leader’s Airbnb Experiences, so after the staging of the photos and then drinking a beer, I was out of time to get a loop of the park in before my fantasy football draft. This is my 6th season playing and I’m trying to score some winnings here. So I ran home.
8/31: Flight to Denver and lots of walking around. Got some cool new hiking tights at REI, ate some delicious food, and tried a ton of local brews.
9/1: Rocky Mountain National Park tour
Sprague Lake
9/2: 13+ mile long run with Kate who was in town and planned out a beautiful route through 3 of the city’s parks: City Park, Cheesman Park, and Washington Park. We started before 6:30am so it was nice to be done by 9am and escape some of the heat. Apparently NYC was cool and rainy over much of Labor Day weekend, but Denver was 90+.
I had lunch at Biker Jim’s Gourmet Hot Dogs, where I got to try both reindeer and bison hot dogs. And some fried macaroni and cheese bites. And some prickly pear soda. After 13.25 miles, I was hungry.
9/3: Broncos 7K with/thanks to Laura. She had put a code on her site for this race and I realized that the race totally worked for my schedule, so we got in touch to meet up after. I ended up in the B Corral based on my proposed 10K time (I had no hopes of replacing my 8:00 5K time from last week but was shooting for high 8’s). I ran 2.5 miles from my hotel to the start, then we were off…uphill.
As you can see, I took it slow then hoped to pick up the pace in the later miles. This was day 4 at altitude, so I was more confident that my lungs wouldn’t explode but still a bit worried. The finish along the tunnel was really cool, too! We bopped around the expo after to grab some swag. The line to meet Denver Broncos players was very long, so that was skippable since I don’t currently have any of their players on my fantasy team.
Check out those huge medals
Then off to Evergreen for a wedding with the best food ever. 6 different mini desserts, a make your own Smores bar, and a 20 pound peach and huckleberry pie.
Total: 27.5 Mon-Sun miles plus some light hiking. No altitude sickness, though!
Freudian slip on my original post last week when I called it “Week 4 of NYC Marathon Training”. Whoops! Obviously I ran NYC last year and did the NYRR 9+1 this year for entry to the 2018 NYC Marathon, but this year the plan is to run Richmond.
8/21: RunCommutes are back! 6.4 miles home from work with my usual Lululemon ‘Run From Work’ backpack, very lightly filled. I missed my usual turn and cut through Commodore Barry Park and Fort Greene Parks.
8/22: Rest day
8/23: Loop around the park, walk to the bar, then run home from the bar. 6ish miles total.
8/24: Rest day
8/25: 4 easy treadmill miles in the AM. This is the first Friday I’ve run since May? June?
8/26: The most productive running day of my life. 1 mile warm up, then setting a new 5K PR at the Percy Sutton Harlem 5K, then running almost 10 miles through Central Park, down the West Side, and almost to the Governor’s Island ferry (but had to stop at the ATM first).
Ran into Sam on the trainLarry caught me during my warm upProud of my splits
I grabbed my stuff, decided to forego the free tshirt, and strapped on my new backpack (Gregory Maya 16) then headed out with a friend from my beer drinking running group.
14 miles even for the morning (I think) though my watch died at 9.3 and my running buddy forgot to restart his after we paused and we lost 0.3 then we stopped it before I had to SPRINT to the ferry, blue Gatorade in hand. I found my friends and we rented a 5-person surrey to ride around the island. Even after a big lunch and afternoon coffee, I was exhausted but somehow rallied to make it outside again later for frosé and beer with friends.
8/27: 3 recovery miles in Brooklyn Bridge Park after walking 2 miles to donate my bicycle in DUMBO.
Total: 33 miles! My Sunday-Saturday total was 36.6 out of a recommended 34 miles.
This was supposed to be a cutback week to 28 miles from last week’s buildup, but as I mentioned, I got sick last week and missed a day. So I decided to shoot for 5 days of running this week regardless and call it a building week. But then I only got 4 in.
8/14: 5.6 treadmill miles at Mile High Run Club’s The Distance class. I had a really great class even though it was a different instructor than usual. I tried to play around with the paces and not worry about overall miles covered. I struggled to get it under 7:00 minute mile on the final sprint but mainly was cruising along at faster than usual speeds.
8/15: After 3 days of running in a row, I was glad to have a rest day. I went to a Yelp Elite Event at the new Brooklyn location of Jane and it was amazing. Great cocktails, oysters, and the best fried cauliflower I’ve ever had (so, er, that makes it the best cauliflower I’ve ever had). Go figure, it’s listed on the menu as Amazing Cauliflower.
House Cocktail for the eveningAmazing CauliflowerDefinitely talking about Game of Thrones
8/16: 2 miles warm up, 3.1 miles attempting but failing to hit goal half marathon pace/current 10K pace during the final Al Goldstein Summer Speed Series 5K in Prospect Park.
8/17: AM climbing at Brooklyn Boulders. I’m not belay certified there yet, so this was just bouldering. I managed a V1 but have a lot of work to go to get back to where I was at my rock climbing peak last year.
8/18: I was hoping to get in a few AM miles but there were relentless thunderstorms all morning and again at night. On the plus side, I had an amazing food day all over Brooklyn.
Avocado toast and a chai latte at Cocoa Grinder in Bay Ridge for breakfast
Lamb and more lamb at Yemen Cafe in Bay Ridge for lunch
House-made pasta (gnudi for me) and burrata/prosciutto at Aurora for dinner
8/19: 11.23 miles long run with the group to Summer Streets.
8/20: 6.4 miles including 2 track miles @ 5K pace, plus 2.3 miles warm up and 2 miles cool down back home. It was sunny but a lot cooler than Saturday, so I’m glad this worked out.
Total: 28.4 miles out of a prescribed 27. Actually for real getting into the 30’s next week, eek.
7/31: Cross-training with tennis. More drills (I think my backhand is getting pretty good), more time to work on my atrocious serve. I’m nowhere near being ready to play against anyone, but am hoping that with more time, lessons, drills, and practice, that I could actually play next year.
8/1: I was heading to NYRR Open Run but decided to see if the new Park Slope Blink Fitness location was open and lo and behold, it was. And there were treadmills available. I did 4 easy miles while watching Teen Jeoaprdy! and quietly shouting out the answers.
8/2: Unexpected rest day because the Al Goldstein Summer Speed Series 5K #6 was canceled due to thunderstorms. My friends and I got delivery from Emily (their Emily pizza is in my top 5), stuffed croissants from Union Fare, and some fruit pies from Petee’s Pie Company.
8/3: Surprise mid-week 9 mile long run. I got out of a work training at NYU Langone Hospital early, so I put all my stuff into a locker at a Blink location (going to the gym twice in a week?!) then headed out along the East River. I was feeling good and the weather was perfect, so I knew I wanted to run more than 6 miles. I figured that since it would be likely raining on Saturday before/during/after Team Champs, I may as well get the miles in so I wouldn’t have to worry about adding extra on.
My favorite water fountain and seal fountain sculptures in the LES
I turned around at 4.5 miles exactly in between the Manhattan Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge. Strava was being weird and generous and gave me an extra 0.2, but the wild loops around the piers to get extra miles in are all me. The 8:42’s are not quite right. I also had to do a lot of weird mini loops at the end of the East River path near 40th St. I’m hoping to do the East side from 59th St. up soon, but am happy to skip the 40’s and 50’s because there is no path.
8/4: Rest day. I thought about doing a few miles at the gym after work but picked up my bib then made it out to the grocery store and that was it. Had Burger Garage for lunch and was full for a long time. Burgers, sweet potato fries, and cookies & cream milkshakes aren’t really conducive to working out.
8/5: Team Champs 5 Miler in Central Park.
Due to severe thunderstorms in the morning (I woke up early to the sound of thunderclaps and rain on my air conditioner), the men’s race was pushed to 8am and the women’s to 8:45am. I did a solo 1 mile warmup after cheering for the guys near the start. It was pretty humid, as is normal in August, so 1 mile felt sufficient, though I had hoped for two.
I had a miserable 4th mile and stopped for water at each stop, then caught up to my teammate LP. She had her earbuds in so we didn’t really speak, but we sped up for the final mile and the part past our teammates together. I got a wave of nausea at the 4.85 mark, but managed to hold off.
8/6: 7 easy miles including a park loop in my PureFlows. This is the longest run I’ve worn them for because I’m hoping to make them my speed shoes for 5K/10K at most, but things felt pretty good in them.
Total: 26.7 miles. It’s only 0.6 miles less than last week, but I know it was supposed to be a few miles more (and that last week was supposed to be a few miles fewer). Next week (week 3) is supposed to be the first above 30.
Yeah, y’all read that right. I’m now 80% sure that I’m going to try to run a marathon this fall. This % has ranged from 10% back in January all the way up to where it is now. It’s been a wild ride mentally. I was still 50-50 on the issue back in early July but then I repurchased the NYRR Virtual Trainer on a whim on the 12th after playing around with the inputs on the 11th. I was on a Conservative plan last year for the New York City Marathon but wanted something with higher mileage this time around since I’m not coming off of injury and had a pretty solid spring racing season with a decent base of summer miles (and hit some time goals). I’m now on the Moderate 16-week plan which will have me running more consistently into the 30’s and up to the low 40 mpw. This would be a 10-20% increase from last year’s training for the NYC Marathon.
The Virtual Trainer begins its weeks on Sundays but I’ve been mentally starting mine on Mondays, so I’m going to keep up that convention here on the blog. That should also help couch weeks like this past one where I did my previous week’s long run on Saturday but the current week’s had been on a Sunday.
On with the mileage!
7/24: Tennis clinic then on to a Filipino kamayan feast seen below from Ugly Kitchen for J’s birthday. Then we went to Snowdays and I split the Made in Taiwan for dessert. They were out of grass jelly so I got Captain Crunch cereal on it instead (along with mochi and a condensed milk drizzle all on a base of green tea snow cream). It was perfect! No pictures because I ate it all too fast.
7/25: 2 mile to Open Run, then 3.1 at increasing tempo pace. I got to run with NYRR President Peter Ciaccia for a good chunk of it and we talked about some NYRR races. I was a little starstruck but he was very friendly and chill.
This is what happens when I wear the Ghosts and try for speed
7/26: 4 easy miles in Prospect Park later at night after trying out sushiritos and sushi nachos from Sushirito on 23rd Street with E early on (pictured below). Sylvan Esso was playing at the Bandshell and there was also a showing of The Sandlot so it was cool to have some ambiant noise and more people around.
7/27: NYRR R-U-N 5K in Central Park and a 2 mile warmup. The humidity crept back up after a lovely Tuesday and Wednesday, so I was alsresdt getting very warm and sweaty during my warm-up. I tried to take the first mile easy but not too easy which ended up being an 8:05 pace. This is faster than my PR pace, so whoops. The second mile felt rough and I had to slow down. I regret not getting water after the first mile marker but managed to grab some after the second. By that point, Cat Hill had already happened and my breathing wasn’t great. My final half mile was at a great pace but the rest was a struggle.
They gave out popsicles after and I was all about that. My final time was 25:35, which is a 2-second PR. I’ll take it, considering the weather and that my 25:37 previous PR from June 7th was in conditions 20 degrees cooler and less humid. I’m probably not done with this distance yet for this year.
7/28: Rest day but I managed to have Chipotle for lunch and Shake Shack for dinner with a lot of rosé in between.
7/29: 4.7 miles around noon due to feeling the effects of the previous night’s drinks and 11pm Shackburger and Concrete. I was so glad that I went out at all and felt much better afterward, thanks in part to some extra blue Gatorade laying around the fridge. Then I hightailed it to Long Island City to meet up with out-of-town friends to try some beer at local breweries.
7/30: 8.3 miles over the Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge with Chaya. I didn’t get a smoothie after so I’m already off from my goal of doing that after each marathon training long run. My plan called for 8 but we just hit so many lights that I was growing annoyed trying to add another 0.2 to make it more even.
Total mileage: 27.4 miles and some tennis (plan called for 26 miles).
7/17: I ran the inaugural NYRR Brooklyn R-U-N 5K in Prospect Park. I got in 2 miles as warm up and it was pretty humid, so I was quite warm by the time I finally reached the start village at 6:35 (for a 6:45pm start, eek!). I dropped my phone and water bottle at bag check and hopped in the H corral when I spotted a teammate.
I had originally signed up for this race and originally hoped to PR but adjusted my expectations due to the weather and aimed to keep a steady 8:20 first mile then speed up accordingly. Unfortunately, the elevation profile had Zoo Hill/Battle Pass Hill during the 2nd mile, then a fairly flat 3rd mile. There were lots of teammates cheering along the way, which really helped my morale, but I just couldn’t hold the pace. Sweet kick at the end, though!
Thanks to my teammate Ned for the photo; I spotted him after this. Afterward, I hung around after with some teammates after I finally got my stuff back and we made the NYRR instagram! I had planned to shuffle home (since it was downhill after all) but got a ride instead. Total of 5.3 miles.
7/18: Rest day and another trip to Coney Island to see the Cyclones play as part of a Yelp Elite Event. We were treated to local beer, hot dogs, chicken tenders, and beautiful sunsets.
7/19: 4.7 miles, including 3.1 as part of a failed tempo at the PPTC Al Goldstein 5K #5. Gabby and I tried to take it easy but easy was not happening thanks to the heat advisory. We had a brilliant kick at the end, at least.
I had put my bib on my shorts just in case I was tempted to try some sports bra only running, but then realized I had nowhere good to put my shirt since I had already checked my bag.
4.7 miles total; 1 warm up, 3.1 race, and 0.6 cool down where I stupidly took us up a hill then just couldn’t handle it any more.
7/20: Rest day. Went back to Atlantic Social for trivia. Ate the General Tso’s chicken wings, pepperoni pizza, and manchego-chorizo potato skins. We got 2nd at trivia but were the real winners for getting so many of those delicious wings again. They have a huge game room and I hope to bring my foosball skills to it soon.
7/21: Unplanned rest day. I brought all my running stuff in the hopes of going to the gym right after work, but stayed at work later than usual and opted for earlier dinner (Thai red curry chicken) instead of a few miles.
7/22: 8 mile long run mainly along the water in Brooklyn Bridge Park. I ended it with a smoothie at AMLA Cafe, which is the new incarnation of Brooklyn Juice Company, where I got some smoothies last summer during marathon training.
7/23: 6.3 miles with the PPTC Group Run. I ended at Trader Joe’s and got a green juice and many other goodies. I ran with some faster people so it speedier than I had planned.
East Coast Appetite 
