Week 6 Marathon Training – and Where the Heck I Have Been

I'm here!

I’ve spent the last few weeks enjoying the beautiful August weather we’ve been having. The sun has been out and I haven't been to work on a Friday in weeks. Work has also been crazy busy, so play time + work time = no blog time. I’m back! I hope.

The last few weeks have been REALLY great. I feel like I spent part of the spring and the hot days in July focusing on the negative. But with beautiful 70/80 degree weather and lots of little trips planned, I think I'm back to focusing on the positive.

Do you want a recap in photos? Those are my favorite.

Summer Streets! One of my favorite running weekends of the year. I had a great 9 Mile run down Park Avenue.

Another long run spent over the Williamsburg Bridge. It was hot and sweaty, but I was finally able to run up the Williamsburg Bridge without feeling like I was going to collapse. Gettin’ that hill stamina.

After Keith took the bar (!!!) we spent plenty of time celebrating him being able to bar hop again.

With busy weekends, busy work days, and training, I've been been seriously neglecting my kitchen. But Keith did manage to teach me how to make an awesome kale dish. Just oil, salt, pepper and lemon juice in a pan. So good.

I went to Cape Cod to visit my good friend from college, Jaime. I managed to get plenty of time in at the beach, plus drink PLENTY with my amazing gal pal.

I also had my 25^th birthday (EEEEP) at a german beer hall in Williamsburg. General debauchery ensued.

There was sister time (!!!)  plus a creeper.

(Keith's bro)

Arm wrestling time.

Bossy time.

All in all, a pretty good August. I also got a fair amount of running in. Which brings me to…

Week 6 Marathon Training!

Monday: 5 Miles (Easy)

Nothing to write home about – 5 easy miles after work.

Tuesday: 5 Miles – w/ 3 @ Marathon Pace

This is typically my “speedwork” day. It's definitely not true speedwork, but I try to pick up the pace after a warm-up mile. Sometimes I go faster than marathon pace, sometimes slower. It depends. I’m not really worried about it.

Wednesday: Rest (I got my hair did)

Thursday: 4 Miles (Easy)

I was SO TIRED this day. It took literally everything in my being to get out of bed. But I knew I had to because it was my birthday weekend, and I knew I wouldn’t want to exercise at all. So I cut it a mile short.

Friday: 12 Miles – Long Run

This was an interesting run. I was at home, which thankfully always makes for better runs since I’m looking at something other than concrete and trash. Keith did the first 4 miles with me, my dad biked a few miles with me, and then I was on my own. When Keith and I started out, we realized how freaking humid it was. By the time my dad was biking with me, my legs felt like lead and I was really hot. Then by the time I was on my own, I actually felt great. My pace REALLY slowed when I was with my dad, but I was able to pick it up and finish strong.

I ran by my elementary school I went to in Kindergarten/1^st grade. It is so TINY. It smelled the same too – like PB&Js and band-aids. I remembered when my kindergarten teacher completely disheveled our classroom on St. Patty's Day and blamed it on leprechauns. I remember sitting under a tree during recess drinking capri sun and eating doritos. Running past it put me in a really good mood.

I did lots of little loops around my neighborhood, passing no fewer than 4 cornfields. By the end of the run, my body was tired, but I felt like I could have kept on going.

This is in Jersey, I swear.

Overall, I feel really good about marathon training. My long runs have been going well, which is key. I haven’t been pushing the pace at all, but I do try to pick up speed in the last few miles to get my legs used to going fast when they’re tired. My runs during the week have been okay, but I’m finding it more and more challenging to fit them in the morning before work. I thought I could hold off becoming hermit Kate for awhile, but once weekday runs become 7-8 miles long, I may have to crawl into my shell during the week.

Short n sweet recap, but I felt like I needed to check-in. I’m heading up to Portland, ME this weekend with Keith for a beer fest, seafood, and the beach. More updates soon…

Until then, happy running!

Dialing it Back

I was riding the subway home the other night, after a delightful dinner with friends, feeling elated and full. I decided to browse this month’s Runner’s World, which usually brings me so much joy, yet so much agony once I’ve read it from cover-to-cover knowing I have to wait another 4 weeks for a new issue.

An article that interviewed some of this summer’s Olympic athletes piqued my interest, especially the part on “injury prevention.” Shalane Flanagan, one of the women who competed in the Olympic Marathon, said how every runner will feel an ache here and there – but once it goes past 3-4 days, it’s considered an injury.

I got really hot, and cursed the non-pregnant young people who were taking up all the precious seats. After a minor hot flash/freakout, I came to terms with the fact that I am “injured.”

I thought I kicked my knee injury after my PT Session two weeks ago, but after running 4 miles Monday night and 6 miles Tuesday morning, it was definitely in a bit of pain. I noticed stiffness in my knee Tuesday at work, and tried icing and stretching, and didn’t think about it too much.

But after reading that article, I realized, I really do need to do something about it. My training plan has been somewhat conservative until now, and starting next week, it really begins to ramp up. I know that my knee is not going to fare well if I increase mileage, and I know that because I’ve been base training for about two months now, I will be fine if I take off or decrease the mileage on a few runs.

To give me some hope, I thought back to last year’s marathon training plan, when I followed the bare-bones beginner program. It got me through a full marathon, with only one minor injury along the way.

Non-Runner's Marathon Trainer - you have
a special place in my heart.

I opened up my copy, and I was shocked at how low the mileage was for the first half of the plan. A wave of RELIEF washed over me. I’ve been doing much higher mileages for weeks now, and if I need to lower mileage for a week or two to get back on track, it won’t wreck all the training I’ve already done.

So I got up on yesterday morning, listened to my body, and left my gym bag at home. I felt a bit antsy, but I knew it was what I needed. On the upside, I made oatmeal raisin cookies.

Not my cookies. I didn't take a picture of them.
I was too busy eating.

I went to the gym this morning, and though the treadmill was screaming my name, I gave my joints a break and did my cardio on just about every other machine (including that weird gazelle machine that simulates running. It was the next best thing and I still hated it).

I can already feel my body thanking me - I woke up with a ton of energy this morning, and basically leapfrogged out of bed. So while it’s hard for me to dial back my training plan, at the end of the day, I want to finish the Philly Marathon. I would rather run it and miss my goal time, than sit on the sidelines on race day.

How to: Bake a Pie and War Stories from the NYC Subway

Today’s Workout: 6 Mile Pace Run

Health Check: I felt pretty wiped at the end of my run today – my quads and knees were definitely tired. Going to make sure to do an easy cross-train workout tomorrow to recover.

I wanted to take it easy this week, since I feel like I’ve been eating and drinking out a lot recently. I picked a good time to do it, since there are so many great Olympic sports stored on my DVR.

I saw a recipe on Shape.com that caught my eye for (relatively) healthy pies. I had nothing to do on Tuesday night, so why not bake a pie?

I edited the recipe a bit, because there was no way I was going to use an “almond” dough for my pie crusts. So if you want the original (and healthier) version, click here. Otherwise, here’s what I did:

INGREDIENTS

• 2 Pillsbury crusts (found in the refrigerated section)
• 4 cups (4 large/6 medium) sliced peaches, thawed if frozen, peeled if desired
• 2 cups (2 large/3 medium) unpeeled, sliced plums
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons sugar (for top crust)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons unsalted butter

PREPARATION

Heat oven to 350°. In a bowl, toss peaches and plums with granulated sugar, juice, cinnamon and salt; add to pie pan with first crust; dot with butter. Cut second crust into 3/4-inch-wide strips. Carefully weave strips over filling, forming a lattice. Trim overhanging dough to 1 inch; roll overhang back on itself, pinching at 1/2-inch intervals, to form a crimped edge. Sprinkle extra sugar over pie. Bake until fruit bubbles and crust is golden, 65 minutes. Eat up.

My masterpiece!
It remained whole for about 5 minutes.

The Shape.com version says that it’s only 359 calories per slice – so if you add on my Pillsbury crusts, my heavy hand with the sugar added to the top crust, and my affinity for cutting large pieces of pie, it is probably nothing close to that number.

Either way, it was a fun thing to do on a Tuesday night, and I had something to eat while I watched the skinny and buff Olympians do their thing.

mmm.

It has been a strange week of commuting. The L train has been delayed almost every single day, and I’ve seen major rage fests happening all around me. There are two sets of stairs on my transfer from the G to the L train, and when both G trains arrive at the same time, there is always congestion to get to the stairs. Depending on my mood, I will either wait in line, or cut a little bit in front of people (if you've never done that, you're a saint. And you probably don't get to places very fast). But on Tuesday morning, there was a particularly crowded line, so I waited my turn. A girl cut in front of the guy right before me, and he gave her the super aggressive double-middle-finger to the back of her head.

It wasn’t even 8:30AM yet, and this guy was already raging. Actually, my first thought was, how many people have given me the double-middle-finger because of my sometimes aggressive commuting tactics? Probably more than one.

I get where that guy is coming from - while I have never done that myself, I've mentally done it many, many times. Commuting during rush hour on the NYC subways is war - and when somebody accidentally bumps into you or cuts you off, it has grounds to make you irate.

For some reason this week, I didn't feel angry. All the delayed trains and crowded cars didn't bug me for once, and I just tuned into my iPod or magazine and tuned everyone else out.  Perhaps in the world of karma I was rewarded for not cutting anyone off, since I somehow got a free drink at Starbucks today. How awesome is that?

This has been a good week for running – I’ve been getting every run in, and added a mile to two of them to make up for skipping some runs the last few weeks. I’ve been cautiously wondering whether I lost some of my speed that I had during half-marathon training, since most of my runs have been in the 9:00-10:00 mile range. But this morning’s run changed all that.

I set out to do a run at Marathon Goal Pace, which for me is about 9:00. I ran over to the Wburg Bridge, and I was amazed I could run that behemoth and actually split under 9:00. I did a mini fist pump when I saw those paces.

I am crazy excited abou this weekend's long run. Do you know why? IT’S SUMMER STREETS!!!!!

If you’re not familiar, it’s one of the best events that NYC puts on to encourage healthy lifestyles. They close down Park Avenue for a 7-mile stretch, so you can run, bike, or roller blade your way through the streets that are normally buzzing with cabs. The word on the street is they also have workout classes and rock climbing walls.

I will have an awesome running buddy to enjoy it with.

Keith and me! Sweaty in VT.

On that note, Happy Thursday to everyone!

Defining Moments

Today I’m going to talk about defining moments (I believe this is a title of a Sex and the City episode. I rely on SATC for late night TV and life lessons).

Over the weekend, my family and I reminisced about a humorous but painful memory of mine. There was a strange phenomenon that I experienced in high school – all of the teachers who loved my sister, Kelly, loathed me. I’m not talking about one or two teachers… we counted about five. I was a pretty enthusiastic student, so I got along with just about every other teacher - but these select five and I must have had some serious rows in another life.

One teacher, Mrs. Greenlees, was my cooking instructor freshman year. I was paired with a group of kids that either didn’t show up to class, or could care less whether our sugar cookies came out edible or not. I found myself stressed and doing most of the work, and decided to take a different elective the following year (stressed about my cooking elective? Even 14-year-old Kate was an over-achiever…). But towards the end of the school year when we were selecting classes, Mrs. Greenlees cuttingly told me that she thought it would be better if I didn’t take “Advanced Cooking.” I replied with a generous amount of sass, “Don’t worry, I’m NOT.” (Yes, I’ve always been told I’m mature for my age – it must have been my grown-up demeanor and not my attitude that intimidated her).

That's me on the left at Disney World senior year.
So much sass.

This happened nine years ago – and I still remember it clearly. Growing up, I was used to being told I was great at most things (thanks mom and dad for your words of encouragement - I still believe you can do anything you put your mind to…), and this was one of the first times I can remember being told that I was just not good at something. I had a bit of an aversion to cooking for years after this – and anyone who took psych 101 could tell me why. But once I got an off-campus apartment at school, and had someone else to cook for, I started to find out that Mrs. Greenlees was wrong about me.

I began to build up positive experiences with cooking, such as getting loads of compliments from Keith, and learning how to bake things from scratch with my parents. Now, I love trying new recipes, and I’m beginning to gain some confidence in my kitchen. I didn’t let my disagreeable interaction with my stupid (sorry Kelly, I know you liked her) teacher ruin cooking for me, and now it’s one of my favorite little hobbies.

Okay, yes I admit this seems a bit overdramatic and perhaps something I should have put in my private journal and not share with the online world. Everyone has interactions like this that stay with them – but my question to you is; do you let these moments change who you are?

One time while I was waiting to meet someone at Penn Station, one of those not-for-profit employees who want you to give them money to support wind energy development or some other important cause, said something to me that I thought was really interesting. While living in Boston, I naively gave a similar person my email and phone number since I didn’t have my credit card on me. She called and called trying to get me to donate an unrealistic amount of money for a college student, and it left a really bad taste in my mouth. So when I told this poor guy that I had a bad experience once with a similar organization, he said “If you always let one bad experience influence you, you may be shutting yourself to out good experiences.” Well said. I still don’t want to donate $50 a month to your cause.

I had a defining moment last year with running (you knew this was coming). I’ve said before how miserable the Brooklyn Half-Marathon was for me – I was undertrained, had no iPod to distract me, and was severely dehydrated by the end. I had already signed up for the Cape Cod Marathon at that point, and I distinctly remember saying to myself around mile 11, “Kate, there is no way you can run a marathon, this is too awful.” I stopped running for about a month or two after the race, and on the rare occasion I did, I didn’t do anything over four miles.

I'm only smiling on the outside.

I was almost positive that I didn’t want to run a marathon – my list of excuses was much longer than my list of reasons why I should do it. But then I did a seven mile run with my favorite running cousins and Keith – and I was hooked again. We went at a conversational pace, the weather was beautiful, and it felt so great to get my legs out on the road without wanting to stop. After this run, I decided I wanted to run the marathon, and run it I did.

Smiling ear to ear!

And in five weeks, I’m going to run the Brooklyn Half again. Not just because there are hot dogs and beers awaiting me at the finish line, but I want to prove it to myself that I have matured as a runner, and add  it to my list of positive experiences.