Week 2 – Marathon Training and the Perfect NYC Weekend

Today’s Workout: 3 Miles, Easy

Health Check: I feel well-rested and my muscles feel strong.

I’ve been neglecting my apartment the last several weekends. From traveling to weddings, D.C, Boston, and CT, it was nice to spend some time in the big apple for a change.

I went out with some friends on Friday night, and after a few too many glasses of Rosé (gotta take advantage while it’s in season), I remembered I needed to run the next morning and switched to seltzer. I refused to have a repeat terrible long run, so I guzzled water before bed, and made sure to get plenty of sleep.

The heat waves in NYC have been relentless this summer, so I was pleasantly surprised when I finally rolled out of bed at 9:15 on Saturday to see a beautiful 67 degree day outside.

My plan had me doing 8 miles, and I was really nervous for it. My knee was still giving me some trouble, so I made a conscious decision to rest up on Friday didn’t make up the two miles I was supposed to do on Thursday. I had no idea how I was going to feel.

When I started my run, both my knees were really sore – uh oh. Instead of doing a bridge run, I headed to McCarren Park, and decided to do the entire run on the one trail with dirt and grass in my neighborhood. I wanted to protect my knees as best I could, and I knew they would respond better to a trail over concrete.

Did I mention this trail is about a one half mile loop?

I thought it would be a lesson in banality – running 12 loops of the same bottle-cap littered, bum and hipster-filled park was sure to be a bore. But surprisingly, it went by really fast, and I felt GREAT. I hit just about every mile at a nice and comfortable 10 minute-mile pace, slightly speeding up for the last two miles. My knees felt fine after a few miles, and I didn’t tire at all of all the babies and puppies that were out in full force.

Keith and I traveled to Fort Greene on Saturday night with some friends. I find that we often get stuck staying in cozy Greenpoint, and don’t explore the surrounding neighborhoods nearly as much as we should. We got dinner and drinks at this amazing place called Habana Outpost, where we stayed put for several hours. Give me a guacamole sandwich and some beer, and I am one HAPPY camper.

Pretty pleased.

On Sunday, Keith and I did some fun New York activities, and started out by going to the Terracotta Warrior exhibit in Times Square.

Qin Shi Huang - you had wayy to much
time on your hands.

We also hopped on the ferry to check out Brooklyn Bridge Park – which I HIGHLY recommend for anyone who hasn’t been. We stumbled upon a really cute bar that made brick oven pizza, and sat in the park as we watched the sunset. It was a really great New York weekend, and I enjoyed the fruits of my running labors by eating every carb in sight (cue bagel, baguette sandwich, pizza, strawberry ice cream, fried rice, and some crab rangoons).

This evening, I did an easy three miler (without the trusty Garmin… starting to prefer my technology-free runs). I’m focusing on form and running SLOW, and I’ve been stretching as much as I can. This is my first week with 5 days of running, so my end goal is to just complete them.

Now I’m going to sit and enjoy my beautiful bookcase (THERE IS A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING IN MY APARTMENT!), and eat a dinner that involves vegetables (turns out, bread and pizza are not in the veggie group on the food pyramid. Sads).