NYCM Training: Week 16 Recap

Only two more weeks until the big day. How did this training pass by so quickly!?!?

Total Weekly Mileage: 40 miles - slightly below goal mileage

Monday: 5 miles - 2.5 miles at practice, 2.5 at home.
The team had a workout that ended up giving me a workout. I got about 2.5 miles in with the warmup, cooldown, and back-and-forth running to give the kids their time. As for the rest of the run, you can hear about my lovely spill here.

Tuesday: 7.4 miles at 7:14 pace.
The training plan called for a strength workout - which consisted of at least two mile intervals at 10k pace. My legs felt awesome and I was able to get in some really speedy miles. I passed a guy with only 3/4 of a mile left. He caught up to me after I finished and walked for a bit, and exclaimed "You are too fast!"  I am totally Ok with that!! It was dark by the time I finished, which is too bad. I don't know how I feel about running in the dark around here.

Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Off - Field trip!

Friday: 2.5 miles in the morning, 2 miles in the evening.
I was on an overnight field trip with our team last week, and another teacher and I decided to offer a 6:30 am run for anyone that was interested. Six girls joined us, which was exciting to see, and we set out for the run.

By the time I got home from the field trip I was ex-hau-sted. Totally pooped. I knew that I needed to get in 6 miles, but it was pouring. I just could not make myself go out there. Once Tom and I realized that we were out of spaghetti sauce (to make dinner) we headed out for a two mile run before stopping back at our local supermarket. I had never had such a weird run - my breathing was way off, my chest felt heavy, and I was dizzy. I was over-tired from only getting 5 hours of sleep and for being in "teacher mode" for two full days.

Saturday: 10 miles at 7:39 pace
A full night's sleep made a HUGE difference in how I felt this day. My 10 miles flew by and I loved being out there. The fall weather (60 degrees) feels so much better than the 98 degrees I was running in during July. I'm loving it!

Workout #2: 3 miles
I forgot that I would be getting in more mileage Saturday at the team's cross country meet. Another three miles were added on to the day's total between warm-up runs with kids and running back and forth to the 2 mile marker to give them their splits. It was fun! But I ended up doing way more than was required for the day.

The highlight of this meet (besides some great performances by our kiddos) was that Julie Culley was speaking at the event. For those who didn't watch the Olympics this summer, she ran the 5K event and finished with a time of 15:05. Ca-Razy Fast!!!! One of our girls got a photo with her but I was too shy to ask for one myself! That's how I am when it comes to meeting someone famous.

Sunday: 10 miles at 8:13 pace
The amazing feeling I had yesterday was gone by Sunday afternoon. My legs felt SO heavy and my entire body felt discombobulated. My running form was way off and every muscle in my body seemed to be tense. I tried to slow it down, but the slower I went, the worse it felt. I can't tell you how relieved I was to make it back home.

The two week countdown has commenced, and the plan calls for over 45 miles this week. I may have to adjust the plan since last week was cut short (thanks to the field trip). It would not make sense to add mileage from one week to the next during the taper-period.

Hope you all are having a Happy Monday! (My kids hate it when I say that - Happy Monday? Is there such a thing?)