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!

Summer Streets!

Today’s Workout: 4 Miles, Easy

Health Check: I've been feeling pretty tired on on "rest" days, so I've been taking full advantage of my couch on those days. Must mean I am working hard during my runs!

After this weekend’s heat, I am READY for the fall. Bring on the sweaters and booties please.

But until then, I’m trying to make the best of the heat. I’m trying to use a glass-half-full-attitude to convince myself that runs will be much easier come the fall, not to mention how grateful I am that I do not live an inch closer to the equator.

I had a relatively short long-run on the schedule this past weekend, and had Keith to accompany me on the trek (YAY). The weather report for our run? 8:57AM Saturday morning: 82 degrees. Yikes.

We headed into queens, starting our run chatty and energized. There were lots of runners and bikers already out, perhaps also trying to beat the heat, and by the time we got to the Queensboro Bridge, I was feeling nice and warmed up.

Cue the low point of the run - the slowww incline up the Bridge, where there is no shade and apparently no wind. Conversation subsided, and we took our time getting into Manhattan.

Keith and I made it to Park Ave, where pedestrians were in full force, and our endorphins kicked in.  We made it to Summer Streets!!!

We jogged several blocks and started picking off people we wanted to run past. That seemed to be working for Keith but I could only keep it up for about two blocks. Damn my slow-twitch fibers.

My favorite part of Summer Streets by far is Grand Central. You get to run through the cool tunnels that are often only seen from the inside of a cab. It makes you feel like Will Smith in “I Am Legend.” (Not that I’ve seen that movie or anything…)

This reference is a little obsucre, I admit.

The last few miles went by fast. There was a shirtless dude that was about 50 ft in front of us, and Keith and I made it our goal to pass him. So we picked up the pace and it was mission accomplished. Thus explaining the fast split at the end of a hot, hot run.

I was very impressed with Keith’s performance, since he’s more of a gym-goer than a runner. I was even more impressed with the amount of sweat we both produced. It was not a pretty sight.

During the last mile, I was seriously looking forward to the breakfast spot we were going to check out after the run. It was a cute little diner on 1^st Ave called the Ritz (not to be confused with the hotel chain. Absolutely no relation).

This fun run made me realize a few things about training:

Change is good.

I always run the same routes in Brooklyn – for anything under 10 miles (mostly weekday runs), I find it hard to change it up. But I’m going to make it a priority to try new running paths during my long runs, because Saturday’s run was awesome, and this city is worth exploring!

Mind over matter.

Keith usually doesn’t run over 3 miles when he hits the pavement. Yet on Saturday, he was able to finish 7, on a hilly and hot route with a smile on his face. I want to keep this in mind for difficult runs in the future (ahem, two 20-milers on the training plan sjflskjdfldskj). It’s a good reminder that working on mental techniques is just as important as the physical component. No matter the weather or the mileage, I can do it!

This week I will be starting to get into higher mileages, and I want to make sure I do all my runs, and at the required paces. I've been changing my plan around a bit because of my knee, and I want to get back on track. Begin Week 4 of Marathon Training!!!

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!