Week 2 - NYC Marathon Training

Living in NYC, you see a lot of crazy. I’m hyper-sensitive to other people in the summertime, because the subways and streets seem even more crowded than usual. I’ve observed a few things recently that annoy me and I would like to get them off my chest.

Several times recently, I’ve seen people get on an elevator, walk to the back of it, and then just as the door is about to close say, “Can you press 4?” Even if you’re distracted, what is the first thing you do when you walk into an elevator? Do you not to immediately press the button of what floor you’re going to? Are these people just lazy? You should be in control of your own schedule. I am not going to be at your disposal in every other transportation mode you take throughout the day. Riding an elevator should be the easiest part of your day.

Also, I find it really annoying when people ask me the address for a place. JUST. GOOGLE. IT. I don’t understand. Not only will you have a better sense of where the address is if you look it up, but it will also avoid all follow-up questions that are likely to ensue (What is it on the corner of? How do I get there?). Maybe people just really trust my judgment, or they are old school and don’t automatically go to Google for their everyday questions. Either way, trust me when I say that asking for the address of a place is a waste of both of our times. (Please note that this anger brews almost entirely at work. Mom and Dad, still feel free to ask me for an address anytime you like. You are both the exception to this rule because you are very sweet and nice).

LOOK AT ALL THIS INFO GOOGLE GIVES YOU.

Sorry to unload all that on you first thing. It’s just that the NYC summer heat can cause irrational behavior that I am very sensitive to. And I am perhaps a victim of.

On a high note, Week 2 was a good week!

Monday: 3 Miles

I did a slow, easy run after work. My joints have been a little achey, I think from going to running 4 days a week. My body is still adjusting to marathon training, so I’m taking it nice and easy.

Tuesday: 2 Miles

I was supposed to do 4, but cut it short because my muscles were still achey. I took the less is more approach because it is so early in training, and figured I would make up the miles later in the week.

Wednesday: Rest

I watched a lot of Orange is the new Black and knitted.

Thursday: 3 Miles

I did these miles in the gym – I started off with 10 minutes of the stair stepper to warm up, and then switched to the treadmill. It was great to get a true warm-up in, because my muscles were ready to go by the time I got on the treadmill.

Friday: Rest

I went home for the weekend, and got some shopping and TLC in on Friday. Can I just express my immense love for malls in the suburbs? I do a lot of my shopping online now, because I just can’t stand the lines and crowds at stores in the city. But I went to the mall by my house and I had so much room to peruse! No lines for the waiting room, no one bumping into me in the sales section. It was just me and my credit card.

Needed approval from my sister that this was cute.

My mall got fancy with an Apple store while I've been in NYC.
And I only see two people. So nice.

Which is real?

Saturday: 7 Miles

I was out the door early for 7 miles on my favorite path at home. It was so peaceful, and I smiled the entire way. My dad joined me with his bike for the last half, which always makes the run go by in a flash.

My happy place.

This is my absolute favorite place to run. I used to play soccer here as a kid, and I usually climb and jump over the fence, and run diagonally across the field. It almost takes me back to soccer and Capri Suns.

I went to the beach after the run, which I had been looking forward to all summer. I got some freckles, read my book, and got a healthy dosage of jersey shore trash crazies.

Sunday: 2 Miles

I made up those miles! I told you I would. Slow and steady.

I got back to Brooklyn mid-day, went for my quick run, got some groceries, and then went gang-busters in my apartment. I have a few storage bins that I keep random “essentials” in (Christmas decorations, my Spanglish DVD). I’ve been meaning to go through them, as well as re-arrange my bookshelf. There were far too many books on my shelf, but I think “cool” bookshelves are supposed to have a mix of books you haven’t read and cool trinkets.

It was a success! I went through all my books and made some tough decisions. I put aside a bunch to donate, kept the ones I want to read on my bookshelf, and placed the rest back in a bin (I just can’t part with all of the books I read in college. They make me feel scholarly). I cleaned and re-arranged my bookshelf, my crowning jewel in my apartment.

Do you see all my trinkets?

All in all, a pretty perfect weekend. My legs were definitely sore Sunday afternoon, but I’ve rarely done 5 days of running in one week during training. I’m continuing to take my own advice of taking my increasing my mileage and pace slowly, and I'm really looking forward to each run. 

I swam... and it wasn’t scary

I had a great, productive, fun weekend. The nice weather didn’t hurt either.

Friday night, I saw this guy riding the subway.

As my dad pointed out, no one could be bothered that a guy
with a panda head was riding the NYC subway. 

I got dinner and beers with Keith and the gang, but headed home early to chug water in preparation for an early Saturday morning. I went to the gym early Friday morning, so once 10:30PM rolled around, I was ready to drift off to sleep. I love how training excuses my toddler-like sleep habits.

At 7AM my alarm went off, and I got ready to go to the gym. There was a TNT running session in Central Park, followed by an event called “Connection 2 the Cause” on the Upper West Side. Since I haven’t been cleared by my PT to run just yet, I did the gazelle-like elliptical and the stairmaster at the gym instead.

On that note, I really like my new PT. Dr. Levine, who has a lot of patients who are marathoners and triathletes, came highly recommended on my insurance website. Beyond that, I found out that he has an office literally across the street from my office. I wanted to get a second opinion on my IT band, and he says that about 80% of his athlete-patients have the same injury. I am not alone in my frustration.

Please get rid of the knots in my leg.

I left the gym (where scary-skinny older women intimidated me with their six-pack abs), and was excited for the C2C event. The goal of the event is to inspire and remember the reason why we are training with TNT. A few people talked about their experience with LLS, and then they opened the floor up for anyone who wanted to share their story about why they’re training. I was blown away not only by everyone’s bravery to stand in front of a group of 200 strangers and speak, but by all of the experiences that my fellow teammates have been through. We cheered on the participants who are now cancer-free, and applauded those who are participating in a friend’s memory. I left with a lump in my throat, and feeling even more excited about training for the triathlon.

After a morning of TNT, I went home to tackle my closet. My shelves and bureau have been a hot mess the last few weeks.

I have a lot of socks.

I sorted through all my clothes, and anything I haven't worn in the last six months went in a donation pile. I ended up getting rid of two big bags of clothes (including mostly Forever 21 clothes I bought in college. Their clothes look so much better at time of purchase). I refolded everything into neat little piles back in my closet, that will likely stay that way for less than a week. 

After all my clothes sorting, I was inspired by my friend Meggie’s recent success at a thrift shop called Beacon’s Closet in Brooklyn. She said that they bought $320 worth of her clothes. While Meggie’s clothes have a lot more whimsy and artsy-ness to them, I figured I could bring the highlights of my garbage bags and give it a go (I took the DVF pants, but left the Hanes t-shirts at home).

While I waited for "buyers" to get to my bag o’ fun, I shopped around a bit. I looked around for some funky stuff that I might be able to wear to work… but I found absolutely nothing. It was a little disappointing, and I think I gave myself a headache from searching through all the racks of clothes. My shopping stamina just isn’t what it used to be.

As much as I would like to, I can't wear these to work.

I checked back at the sell station, and they went through my clothes in front of me. It was humbling to watch someone judge my clothes. While they passed on most of my items, they did buy two pieces from me; a green dress with pink buttons from Urban Outfitters, and a pair of DVF pants I got at a sample sale.

I wore the green dress to a sorority formal with Keith.
Goodbye dress. Go make new memories with hipsters.

I tried to tell myself that the reason Beacon's Closet only took two items was because they were really looking for spring items, and most of my clothes were wintry. But I guess I’m also okay with the fact my clothes aren’t thrift shop-worthy. I’ll leave that up to Macklemore.

Last night, we had our second TNT swim practice. I was really, really anxious before getting in the water. Last Monday’s practice went well, but I felt really tired afterwards and swallowed about a half gallon of water. Mostly I was nervous I would feel completely uncoordinated like I did last week.

But as soon as I jumped in the water and started swimming, I felt GREAT. I was shocked at how much easier it felt to swim compared to last week. 

We did a lot of the same drills we did last week, and I took my time with each to practice form as best I could. I felt really good about it, and while I still swallowed copious amounts of water, I can already feel myself improving.

You're up! What are your thoughts on thrift shopping? Was selling two items worth the $12.22 I got back?

Running and Drinking in Brooklyn

I had my very first training session with Team in Training (TNT) this past Saturday!!!

(No accompanying pictures for this section since I completely forgot. You will have to do your best to imagine this crazy Saturday morning).

My good friend Melyssa came up for the weekend from DC. She was a doll and couldn’t care less that I wanted to go to the first practice while she was here. So we had a couple of Modelos when she got in on Friday night, and went to bed at midnight.

In my exhaustion, I set my alarm for 6:40AM on the weekdays setting. But my internal alarm clock is so awesome that I woke up at 6:51AM on my own. *Pats back.

I picked up Meggie, and we headed to Prospect Park chatting like little girls despite the early hour. We met our fellow Brooklyn TNT-ers, and they all seem incredibly nice and funny.

We did two short Out-and-Backs, and some strength-training that reminded me of gym class (think grapevine and skipping). My knee was feeling O.K., so I was hopeful that I finally kicked my stupid injury.

Most of the group gathered at Park Café after the training session for a hot, greasy breakfast. Meggie and I sat at a table with three “mentors” who are AMAZING!!! Team Brooklyn has about 8 mentors that have been through TNT before, and help answer questions and offer general awesomeness. I sat next to my mentor, Andy, as well as mentors named Brooke and Rose. The three of them did it together last year for the first time, and they had fun pearls of wisdom for us (“Don’t get a wetsuit with sleeves”; “We always gorge on pancakes and other yummy brunch things after Saturday morning practices”).

They also mentioned a sprint triathlon that is in Staten Island about 5 weeks before the NYC Tri. It’s called “Flat as a Pancake” because the course is flat and they serve pancakes at the end of the race. I’m eyeing it as a possible practice race.

High-tech website.

I was on a high after a fun practice, and an even better breakfast. But once I parked Keith’s car, and was walking back to my apartment, MY STUPID IT BAND BEGAN TO ACHE. I’m honestly so fed up. I took a full four weeks off from running, we did a measly 20 minute jog at practice, and yet my IT band continues to hurt.

I emailed TNT’s Brooklyn Coach, to see if he had any advice. He said that IT band injuries can be persistent, and recommended getting a second opinion. While I LOVE my PT Dr. Ngo, I booked an appointment for tomorrow with another PT, Dr. Levine. I’m hoping he will have some nuggets of wisdom that will cure me so I can start training.

I was SUPER annoyed after hobbling home, but changed my mood because my friend Melyssa was awaiting a fun weekend in Brooklyn.

Doing what we do best.

We made our way to Brooklyn Brewery, but like the dodo I am, I forgot my ID in my running pants back at the apartment (#firstworldproblems). Brooklyn Brewery is perhaps the ONLY bar in Brooklyn that cards, so we were turned away. We hopped in a cab back to my apartment so I could get my ID, and came back 10 minutes later, only to find a newly form line of 50 people. It was just not meant to be.

So we ditched the Brewery, and headed to Spritzenhaus, where we had us some delicious German beer and bratwurst.

Keith and some of our friends came to meet us for some good, old-fashioned day drinking. Let’s just say that Melyssa and I do not have the stamina that we did in college. We were in bed at about 11:30.

After a delightful Sunday of resting and watching You’ve Got Mail, I am ready to take on Week 1 of TNT Training!!

Already loving our witty coaching staff.

FAQ: Where do you swim in the NYC Tri?

Me: The Hudson River...

Every person’s response: uuuhhh ewwww (judging judging)

Yes it will be gross, but that’s part of the experience. I promise to share my river germs with you.

In preparation for our date with the Hudson River in 19 weeks, tonight is the first swim group practice. I am so excited! I will finally re-learn how to swim, after years of neglecting what I learned in summer camp and the swim lessons my parents sent me to. Learning how to swim “efficiently” (I know how to swim, people) is something I’ve always wanted to do. It’s been on my bucket list, along with jumping out of a plane and meeting Sarah Jessica Parker.

It's likely I was a better swimmer at age 3 than I am now.
Now I want an ice pop.

I’m going to try something new that most official “bloggers” do and see how it goes. I’ll leave each post with a question, because I am usually at a loss at how to finish these things up.

What’s the one bucket list-skill you wish you could learn? Would it involve swimming in the Hudson River?

A Positive Outlook

Today’s Workout: 8 Miles

Recently, I’ve been really anxious. Work has been crazy – which is usually great, but when I'm feeling stressed, it's mostly terrible. I’ve been dreaming about work almost every single night for the past two weeks. I dream I forgot to prepare for a meeting or think I put in a phone call to work in the middle of the night when I really didn’t… so my sleep to worry ratio has been causing havoc.

While work is generally great and I'm really happy there, yesterday I had one of those unavoidable “bad days.”

I woke up cranky, and couldn’t seem to shake it all day. By the time I finally left work, I was really angry at the world. I wanted to just collapse on my couch and catch up on my DVR, but I had to run 5 miles first. Ugh. Sometimes life is so hard.

But as I was riding the subway home, I realized I shouldn’t be angry with the world at all. I should be celebrating all of the great things in my life. And that’s exactly what I spent my run last night doing.

I left my iPod at home in an effort to clear my mind of work stress, and focus on the positive. Here is what my head came up with:

----------

Things I’m Thankful For

-My family (They give me so much support and love)

-Keith (He knows how to make me giggle when I’m really cranky and mad)

-Bad days and good days (you can’t have one without the other)

-The Williamsburg Bridge (nothing tests the shape I’m in like that behemoth)

-Autumn (I decided that October is my favorite month. Bring on Halloween and watching Hocus Pocus as much as ABC family allows me to)

-Wine (enough said)



At a winery with Keith!
Wine makes everything O.K. in my book



-Living in New York (this is a cynical one… living anywhere else will seem easy after surviving this city)

-Cold weather running gear (I wore one of my running jackets for the first time since spring last night!!)

-Nail polish (I’m sporting my fave black polish right now. That’s probably all I can share on this point)

-Running

----------

When I was thinking about why I’m thankful for running, I mentally patted myself on the back for last weekend’s long run.

I ran 15 miles on Saturday – my longest run of 2012!

I decided to run into Manhattan and do a loop of Central Park, since I’ll be running a half-marathon there this weekend. I ran a 10k there in May, and it kicked my butt. So mentally, I wanted to run the course so I would feel confident for the half.

I do 95% of my runs alone, and while my routes in Brooklyn encounter the occasional runner or biker, it’s pretty solitary. Running the outer loop of Central Park sent a shock to my system – so many runners! So many children! So many weirdos! I passed a guy who was running while juggling three baseballs. Awesome.



Proof I ran to Central Park and back.



As I mentioned a few weeks back, I’ve been trying to run the first half of my long runs without music so I’ll get that extra boost when my legs get tired. I had so much visual stimulation in Central Park that I didn’t need my music at all. I still felt really good while running back over the Queensboro Bridge, and realized that I could probably do the whole thing without music. And I did!

15 Beautiful Miles.

I also realized that I only have three long runs left before my taper. It’s exciting but also terrifying, because I fit in more long runs during last year's training. I keep reminding myself that I had a great base going into training, but I’m worried that I’m lacking the long run experience I should have at this point. I guess I will just have to make the most of these last few weeks of peak training, and hope for the best.

The next post will likely be a race report for the half I’m running this weekend - I’m definitely not looking to PR, but I’m hoping use it as sort of a “test run” for the marathon. I’m pumped to get out there and race!!!

Good Food, Good (and bad) TV

Today’s Workout: 5 miles, easy

Health Check: I feel awesome! But I need to add more veggies, and subtract greasy food from this week’s diet.

I headed home to the lovely state of New Jersey on Thursday evening. I had been looking forward to going home - the summertime, while kind to my social calendar, is unkind to my wallet. A few home cooked meals and some uninterrupted sleep was just what I needed.

My mom made an amazing meal Thursday night – pork chops and Spanish rice. It must have caused a food coma, since I began watching a movie with my family and fell asleep… at 9:45. Perfection (we were also watching Dante’s Peak, which I loved as a kid. But 13-year-old Kate did not, as it turns out, have Oscar-winning film taste).

Whatever. I still love this movie.

I skipped my run on Friday per Dr. Ngo’s orders, and was happy to take the day off. My knee was feeling loads better, and I’m not one to turn down time on the couch with my fam.

On Saturday morning, my dad and I hit the pavement to find unwavering humidity in the air. Papa Wyman was my amazing pit crew, as he biked next to me and handed me my water bottle at every mile. I took several walk breaks to minimize some of the impact on my knee, but overall felt great. I was scheduled to do 9 miles, and ran the first 7 with my dad, so the first hour or so flew by. I was solo on the last two miles, which seemed to drag on with intense heat. Anyone else ready for fall?

I started out intentionally slow, and picked up the pace in the middle. It started to get really hot by the end, so I slowed down a bit. I tried to speed up during mile 9, and even though I felt like I was going at an 8:00 pace, the heat fooled me once again.

I got the royal treatment after my hot run – I was allowed to stretch in my parents’ living room in the cool AC in my sweaty, sweaty clothes, almost immediately washed and dried aforementioned sweaty, sweaty clothes, and found an English muffin breakfast sandwich waiting for me right after my amazing shower. This is why I love doing my long runs at home.

They are too cute!

How is it possible I made it this far without once mentioning the Olympics? I’m not quite sure, but I'm about to change that.

I'm placing all my bets on you, Gabs.

MVP of the Opening Ceremony in pink

I watched the majority of the Opening Ceremony, and realized that I really need to work on my world geography (not quite sure about that pastoral/bedtime bit, but I do love that Kenneth Branagh was an MC of sorts). I also caught a fair amount of swimming, gymnastics, archery, table tennis, volleyball, and fencing. Gymanstics still remains the fave, and fencing is really boring. I don’t know how it works, and I can never tell who stabbed who first.

After Keith and I spent much of the afternoon watching the Olympics on Sunday, we headed over to a new cute diner in Williamsburg called Blue Collar. People have been drawing comparisons to In-N-Out Burger, which Keith and I tried in California, and I can understand why. It’s a no-frills counter-service restaurant, that has about 10 menu items, but everything is delicious and cheap. The cheeseburger was so good that I didn’t even need to eat it with ketchup (perhaps the second time that has ever happened in my life).

Mmmm...

To walk off our burgers, we decided to head over to the ferry dock in Greenpoint where you can catch a good look at the East River and Manhattan. We were lucky to see a storm that was brewing over the city, and obviously did some instagraming.

It was a good little weekend, and now I have my third week of marathon training to look forward to. It’s a “step-back” week, so nothing crazy to write home about – but I will be doing my first official “hill” training this week (and considering I’ve been running the flatlands of Greenpoint recently, it should make things interesting).

Here’s to a week of Olympic watching, and making dents in my couch. You're more than welcome to join me.

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).

How to: Build a Bookcase

Today’s Workout: 3 Miles on Treadmill at 1.0 incline, 10 minutes elliptical

Health Check: My quads are still a bit sore, and I noticed earlier in the week that my right knee bugged me if I was sitting for too long. My calves feel much better than they did on Monday, and I feel healthy overall!

Week 1! Marathon training! Yay! Not supposed to be the week of a new pain (feel free to skip the next few paragraphs if you want to avoid me talking about my knee, and want to get the incredibly interesting subject of this blog post).

As I just mentioned, my knee was bugging me a tiny bit earlier in the week. If I kept my legs in the same position at my desk for too long, it would hurt once I moved it (the pitfalls of an office job). I’ve never had a knee injury before this, so I found it disconcerting. I think it’s due to a combination of running three days in a row (which I hardly ever do), trying to change my running form, and building a bookcase (more on my carpentry skills in a minute).

I took Wednesday off from any exercise to make sure I gave my body a rest, and I was supposed to do a 5 mile run at MGP today. Instead, I did a 3 mile treadmill run at a very comfortable pace, and 10 minutes on the elliptical to make sure I didn’t hurt my knee any further. I’m planning on making up the other two miles hopefully tomorrow, and get some more cross-training in to strengthen my muscles.

I’m feeling unsettled about modifying my plan so early on in my training schedule, but instead of pushing myself today, I wanted to prevent injury. My incredible logic seems to be working since my knee feels loads better.

But I’m not going to focus on it anymore! I’m going to channel positive energy and get back on track to my training plan. End rant.

After going to Brimfield last weekend, I was inspired to spruce up my apartment a bit. My mom sent me this AWESOME link to “Flea Market Chic” inspirations, and I was thinking up all the ways to decorate my massive 400 sq ft apartment.

So I went back here:

CONTAINER STORE I LOVE YOU

Originally, I was planning on picking up two shelves so I could begin adding a bit more flair to one of my walls, and then I saw a really cool bookcase out of the corner of my eye. My book situation has been pretty dismal since I moved in (last OCTOBER, I might add) – they were all stuffed into old Steve Madden shoe boxes, wasting away. So as it usually happens in the Container Store, I decided that I just had to have it.

Do you see how they make you think you need this?

When I picked it up from the checkout, the cashier was a bit wary to send me on my way with it.

“How are you getting home?” Asked the friendly sales person.

“The subway.” I said matter-of-factly.

“Oh yeah?” She said, without concealing her doubt.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I probably should have just waited to pick this up with a car or taken a cab home:

It still remains a mystery how I carried this all the way from 16^th and 6^th to Greenpoint. It was about 40 pounds and in the most awkward box to carry.

But I was determined when I finally made it home, and got to work on building this behemoth.

As a gal living in her first studio apartment, I’ve never really had to assemble furniture before. Basically everything except my couch I inherited stole from my parents, and the only heavy lifting I did for my couch involved me picking up a pen to sign a receipt.

So if you also fall in the novice category for carpentry and heavy lifting, here are some helpful “how-to” reminders for building your first bookcase:

1.      Be in a calm mood

2.      Build it in a cool room (or at least not during a heat wave as I did)

3.      Have a good toolbox

4.      Keep cold beer in your fridge

I began building, and slowly started to realize what a big project it was going to be.

After several f* bombs and water breaks, I managed to almost put the whole thing together. Let me just say that those Lowe’s commercials of happy couples doing projects in their first homes are BIG FAT LIES. 

Show me a couple that can put together a bookcase and not yell at each other, and I will show you a couple on Xanax. It was not fun and I luckily did have cold beer in the fridge to decompress afterwards.

Yuengling can fix anything.

I came home last night determined to put the finishing touches on it, which included drilling a hole into my brick wall. I utilized eHow.com, which explained that all you needed was a drill and safety goggles. I did not have safety goggles, but I did have patience. I surprisingly  did have fun drilling into my first wall, and had a LOT more fun finally putting my dusty books and trinkets on my bookcase.

Look at all my pretty books!
I need more trinkets.

I feel quite accomplished for building this whole thing without my brawny boyfriend (though he offered to help! I think I saved us from a massive fight by doing it alone). I finished with one blister and a sense of independence.

Week 1 – Philadelphia Marathon Training

Today is the day! I started my 18-week training plan for the Philadelphia Marathon today.

Health Check: I feel well-rested and excited. My calves are a little sore since I’ve been trying to change my form and land on my midfoot. My quads are also a bit sore from yesterday’s somewhat hilly run.

Today’s Workout: 4 Miles - Easy

I’ve been building my base for several weeks now, keeping my mileage relatively high so that training wouldn’t come as a shock. Running too much too fast can cause injury – so I’ve been sticking to the 10% rule (increase your mileage by 10% each week. i.e. if you ran 20 miles last week, you can safely run 22 miles this week).

I enjoyed my last few pre-training runs, and have been trying to focus on my form. I had a summer Friday last week (lksjdfl I LOVE SUMMER FRIDAYS!), so I changed it up and did my long run that day so I could enjoy more weekend carousing.

Let me start off by saying that nutrition is probably the most important part of my pre-long-run routine (I would guess this is true for most, but I don’t claim to be an expert on this stuff). I can run a race on little sleep (as I almost always do), I can use music or podcasts to readjust my mental game, and I can promise myself the fruitful rewards of a bagel sandwich and an iced coffee to get me through almost any distance. But there is no way to overcome poor pre-run nutrition.

Thursday night dinner: 4 draft beers + 1 hot dog = uncomfortable long run

I got a little overzealous about having the next day off, so I wasn’t thinking about how those draft beers would feel in 80 degree heat the next morning. I also ate too much right before my run, and didn’t leave enough time between eating and running. As I suffered through the miles, I came up with a Wise Tip of the Day - remove hot dogs from any pre-run meal and you should be good to go.

I ran the first half without music, trying to power through my rumbly tummy and dehydrated muscles. I ran over the Williamsburg Bridge, and I can tell I am getting into slightly better shape since I didn’t feel like collapsing at the end of each incline. I kept my pace easy, and didn’t really look at my watch except to count down the miles to my iced coffee.

*I did in fact run 8 full miles, but my Garmin mistakenly clocked my first mile too quickly. I know my routes well enough to know where the general mile markers are, and I DEFINITELY know that I did not run that first terrible mile at a 7:24 pace.

I spent my day off cleaning, reading, and treating myself to a new pretty dress from Dalaga. As much as I love Summer Fridays, I dislike seeing all of the other people sitting in coffee shops doing absolutely nothing. WHAT do you all do for a living? I DON’T understand this counter-culture in Brooklyn.

Typical.

I went home to Connecticut this past weekend with Keith, and we traveled up to the Brimfield Antique Show with his mom.

We went last year, and I picked up a few great pieces for my apartment (including a rustic red trunk that is supposedly from the 1890s – it now doubles as a coffee table and my nail salon). We each had our responsibilities for the day - Keith was the negotiator and overall strongman, Mrs. Langlais was our go-to decision-maker, and I fulfilled the important role of initiating snack time and pee time.

Probably thinking about my next snack.

We definitely left with fewer items this year, but each purchased a few cool things. I got a set of orange Fiestaware salt & pepper shakers that I’m obsessed with, Keith got a pennant from the 1969 Pasadena Bowl Boston University played in (a rare find considering BU no longer has a football team…), and Mrs. Langlais got a picnic basket. 

Our picnic! Initiated by me.

We picked up some goodies on the way home from antiquing, and had ourselves a perfect summer evening.

Perhaps my finest photography to date.

I did a quick run on Sunday morning to add to my weekly mileage for last week, and I ended it by running the last quarter mile without my shoes on. I wanted to check how my form was, and I ended up kind of liking it! I certainly don’t have that luxury in my neighborhood, which is often littered with erroneous trash from hipsters and bums alike, but I’m hoping to add it into my routine at the track.

Ok back to today’s momentous occasion – the marathon!!!

Truth be told, I am a bit nervous. Before today, I was remembering mostly the negative effects of training – spending countless hours running on Saturday mornings, cutting down on social outings to fit in workouts, FATIGUE, and the overall effect of how marathon training slowly takes over your life. I’m adding two weeks onto my training compared to last year, and I’m often worrying about whether it will be enough, or more likely, too much.

But this morning for some reason, I woke up with a big smile on my face, and remembered all of the AWESOME parts of training – eating in excess without guilt, laying low on Friday nights to carb-load, enjoying lots of time to yourself and with Harry Potter audiobooks, and the overall sense of accomplishment from completing a feat that most people never do. Also, I found out last night that my super-running cousins also signed up for Philly!!!! So many things to look forward to.

I kicked off my training with a 4-Mile run – without my Garmin. I brought my iPod for a little companionship, but also to remind myself to go at an EASY pace. I am following my self-imposed rule from last week to devote one easy run a week without pace-checking technology. I gave my sore legs an easy warm-up mile, and then did the rest at a comfortable pace.

So here’s to 18 weeks of long runs, sore muscles, and pasta. And good luck to everyone who’s also starting to train for fall marathons!!!