November 2009
7 posts
T - 4 days
Went out for my second-to-last 3-miler yesterday. Today, I went to yoga. It’s been so long. I think it helped, though I still felt the tenderness in my left leg, which has traveled to reach up behind my knee and hamstring.
After that, I went out to buy my shirt for the big day. Well, two. One long sleeved, one short. Will probably go with the latter because I bought some handy arm warmer...
Last "long" run of training!
8 miles! Done! Only very moderate pain and discomfort. Less than a week left!
11 days until the marathon...
Today I did the appointed 3 miles, after resting yesterday. As happens with a lot of these “shorter” distances, I had to curb complacency. A wise choice given the frostier temperature and severe wind I encountered near the East River.
I tried out the new Champion zip-up I acquired at the Brooklyn Target yesterday, probably the only time during this training that I wore a jacket for a...
Last week was the first of my tapering (aka lowering mileage in the few weeks before the marathon) but I didn’t really get to enjoy it until today.
My injury, more nagging since my 18 miles last week were themselves tapered to 13, prevented any of my runs. Instead, I cross-trained on the elliptical to keep my fitness level up. But today, after copious amounts of Icy Hot, an ice pack and...
Last long run
Was meant to be another 18. Was meant to follow the traditional weekly schedule I’ve fallen into of 5, 8 and then another 5 miles. But last week my leg was being tricky. Those 5 became 2.5 on the treadmill then 30 minutes on the elliptical.
In my next session, I geared up and left the house running for 8, but found myself completely off-balance and dragging my injury with me, so I went to...
October 2009
8 posts
18 miles today
Was difficult. I’ve had a two-week injury hiatus from the long distances and this was a bit of a shock to the system. Near the end I just felt exhausted. And slightly sick. But I made it through.
It took me 3 hours and 20 minutes, which is no amazing pace and funny considering I believe the qualification for Boston for women my age is only slightly above that. And that’s 8 miles more....
My marathon is less than a month away
Booked the hotel room last night.
More importantly, got back into my training this week, after a week and a half off for my leg to recover. I ran 5 miles Monday and 8 miles Tuesday, outside. I felt fine after the 8, which made me so happy. I can still do this! I probably won’t need to drop down to the half marathon on race day!
Yesterday I went to the gym to do the allotted 5, and give my...
Injury update
My calf/ankle/Achilles issue kept me stationary for Thursday’s prescribed 5 miles. But Friday night I prepared for the next day’s 16. I stayed in, ate a pasta dinner and hydrated myself. The next day I ate appropriately, waited for digestion and then suited up into my water belt and iPhone and headed toward the river.
I made it about a mile down before I had to admit defeat. It was...
I think I have achilles tendinitis →
This is so frustrating.
Also, from this page: “Wearing high heels constantly shortens the tendon and calf muscles. When exercising in flat running shoes, the tendon is stretched beyond its normal range which places an ‘abnormal’ strain on the tendon.”
That didn’t help matters.
Ankle trouble
Or is it my calf? Or both? This vaguely located pain at the bottom of my left leg has been bothering me since my 16 miles last Friday, though Sunday is when it became especially bad. Maybe it was my stupid high-heel shoe choice Saturday night that aggravated it. But I sat out a Monday run to give it a rest.
Tuesday, I ran 3 miles on the treadmill, then switched to cross-training on the elliptical...
Sweet 16
Yesterday I completed 16. I ran the same route as I did for 14, but just a little longer up the Hudson. My new insoles felt better. Not perfect, but improved. The energy gel was like a vanilla Yankee candle splooged in my mouth. Disgusting. But it helped my endurance, I think, in that last leg. By which I mean last 7 miles.
My phone died with about 2 miles to go. Luckily, I knew once I returned...
September 2009
9 posts
I survived
Today was my biggest test thus far in my training, and not just because it was my longest distance, at 14 miles (more than half a marathon). All week I’ve had stomach issues that sent me to my gym treadmill (and then sprinting off of it—after 4 miles Monday and for a break in the middle of the 6 miles I struggled through Wednesday—to the bathroom). Thursday I braved the outdoors...
Three days after 12 miles...
And my legs still aren’t working properly. Tonight on the treadmill I—without exaggeration—looked like a tangled up marionette doll. For 4 miles. Really graceful. Everyone in there wanted my number.
And if RIGHT NOW is any indication I’m totally getting sick. How does that factor into ye olde training schedule?
Just finished my 12 miles
Well… about an hour ago, but just got back and out of the shower. Ran the dozen in the sunny shade of Central Park with about half of that in short power walk pauses, then limped my way over to the Columbus Circle subway. Then into an A train. Then out and up and down into an L train. The out and up and the slow two avenues and 7 blocks home.
I was convinced that the toenail on my second...
Turns out that day off is kinda important
A little. I kind of hope. Because yesterday was brutal. There was the on-and-off rain, during which I had to cradle my GPS-averse iPhone in my shallow windbreaker pocket and accept the drops clinging to my hair, clothes, etc. There was the return of the searing pain at the bottom of my feet, owing, I think, to my ill-advised decision to, instead of doubling up on sporty socks like I usually do on...
Again, I'm terrified
For my long run tomorrow. Not only am I practically flouting the advice of my book to rest a day before and after this long one, I’m tacking it on after three straight days of 4, 5 and 4 mile runs. It’s not my fault. My best friend was visiting. Wah wah. And so I crammed this whole pesky schedule into the back of my week.
Which is now. Kind of. I could’ve saved the 11 miles for...
Never had this much pain in my knees before! It’s like they’re dislocated? Like the kneecaps have recessed behind my calves. This, coupled with the pain at the bottom of my feet, should provide some majorly entertaining strutting action tonight. Possibly bandages.
Ten miles!
This morning, in Central Park, after 3 hours sleep (my horrid nocturnal schedule… that didn’t even involve going out!) and great nerves and anxiety, I achieved double digits.
I did it! I think. Most likely. Because the GPS on my app crapped out again, I estimated my pace, which is usually pretty steady, to calculate my miles. And luckily my dying iPhone survived that 1 hour 42 minutes...
Yoga!
Today I finally reunited (fitting since last night at bar trivia I discovered the meaning of “yoga” is union—though one among many) with one of my passions. It has been tough going without it for more than a month, but even tougher to fit it in and not overexert myself with too many aerobic vinyasas.
But I have missed the stretch, elongation and bodily peace I receive from my...
The weather smiled on me today
Or so I thought, looking at that deceptively mellow sun icon on my phone next to a neat number 72. Until I reached the track along the river and was whipped around by the wind, my fragile, climate-controlled-gym sensibilities threatened. My throat was dry, breathing shortened and mind overwraught with counting the laps as my iPhone running app’s GPS fizzled my stats. Basically: TORTURE.
Not...
August 2009
13 posts
Not to sound like I'm standing next to a full-size...
But this training system really works! If you had told me before this all began that I’d be running for a straight hour and a half, I’d have asked who was playing me in the tragic Lifetime movie. But today I completed 8 miles! It was on the treadmill yet again, because the weather is terrible, raining off and on, so my grand plans of winding through Central Park were thwarted (next...
One eventful thing this week
Is that the difficulty of shorter runs still sometimes outweigh the longer ones. The extertion of Monday’s 3 miles felt greater than today’s 5, and while I think that’s mostly mental, and my being able to relax during those first few and not start amping myself up for a finish until later, maybe part of it is that those shorties mark an abrupt return from my runless weekends?
...
Week 4
Has been relatively uneventful. In the evenings of my two short days of jury duty I’ve logged both Monday’s 3-miler and today’s 5 miles at the gym… again. I shouldn’t feel guilty about that when I’m contending with the weather and evening plans, but sometimes I do, a bit. I’m not sure if outside vs. treadmill really significantly effects the training...
So, catch-up time!
Today begins week 4. At the end of every week I praise the miraculous force, energy, dumb luck that propells me past that “long” run, which this week increases from seven to eight miles.
Last week was difficult as I tracked that lucky number seven on a treadmill Friday, after a day of being quite sick and dehydrated (resulting from enough stupidity to merit its own blog, with runner...
I have some catching up to do...
But first: I ran 6 miles today! Outside! In the sun!
And I only partially feel like I want to die. Mostly the part of me right underneath my feet. Ouch, it burns.
But I can’t believe it. I’m choosing not to think about how this is only a fraction of my final distance, not even a quarter of it. I’m choosing to be proud of myself for 6 miles.
And for fitting it in today so I can...
Day 5
5 miles on the treadmill. Finished my first week and cleared the way to go out this weekend and not think about running again until Monday.
It’s silly, but 5 miles of continuous running, a little more than 50 minutes, feels pretty huge to me. I’ve definitely never been a runner, just a casual treadmiller during my gym rotations. I never would’ve guessed I’d ever run 5...
Day 4
Three miles on the treadmill. The end of Wayne’s World 2 and part of Brooke Knows Best against my will because TV reception on the machines was snowy. Nervous because I’d had a few drinks out the night before, thinking I’d rest today. Had no complete lunch before, only breakfast and almonds. So expectations were low, which made it all seem easier than usual. Maybe try this trick...
Day 3
I was going to attempt a yoga class. But did not feel up for it.
Last night I ran what I estimated to be my 3 miles, as all the fancy iPhone apps I downloaded for the express purpose of tracking my distance could not locate me on GPS. So, in lieu of walking to the track, and then circling 12 times, I ran there and circled 10 3/4 times, stopping at right around the time I ran 3 miles the day...
“It’s a test of ultimate will
The heartbreak climb uphill
Got to pick up...”
– “Marathon” by Rush
Day One
…is a bit of a misnomer considering I’ve been training for this training for more than a month. According to my nonrunner’s bible, the amount of weeks needed to rev up to the real training schedule depends on your current level of fitness. I tentatively started where I thought I should, with 10 minutes of running, 5 minutes fast walking, and then a repeat of both. As I escalated...
July 2009
5 posts
Today I kicked off week 3 of PT, which will be 30 min 4 x. The track is becoming my zen place. I want to give everyone out there some kind of congratulatory cheer for just being there, working to feel good. It’s so motivating.
It takes me until about the 20 min mark to truly hit that kind of autopilot groove where every lap is less of a strain, but that could also be the knowledge of an...
Today was the toughest day of running so far, and yesterday the most dramatic.
And both owe that to liquids.
Yesterday’s culprit was the rain, a light drizzle when I left my apartment, and huge, pounding drops by the time I got to the track, circled once, and beelined back to my apartment, yoga pants heavily soaked with water and sticking fiercely to my thighs. I thought my iPhone was safe...
Today was Day 6 of PT. I ran in light rain, which was preferably to the more humid days I’ve recently endured before I ducked out of them and settled into a duskier time frame. Yet my pace was slower than usual, owing to this being my third running day in a row.
My legs are eaten up with spider bites, gouged out in the spots above the back of my ankles by my tres fashionable shoe choice...
June 2009
3 posts
I’m nervous. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow. My legs are so dead I had to take a cab to a job interview today. But I must get in my 40 minutes!!
Pre-Training: Day Two
That’s right: pre, by which I don’t mean sprinting in the steps of the champion runner. I’m training to train right now, according to the book that shall become my Bible for the next 22 weeks.
Monday, zero hour in the PT process, I decided to run along the East River and discovered a track a straight three avenues away from my apartment on the water. After running to and from...
