NYCM 2013 Training: Week 2 Recap

Apparently when you are off from work for multiple weeks at a time it does something to your brain. 5Ks start to look appealing. And next thing you know, you're lining up to the start of one, asking yourself "What was I thinking?"

Total Weekly Mileage: 36 Miles

Monday: 5 miles at 7:49 pace and arm workout
This was to be an easy run but it was still a little quick. The morning was a tad bit more comfortable than the weekend, making it easier to be out there and run. The mornings have been in the 70s but are always very humid.

Tuesday: 7.43 miles - Track workout with warm-up and cool-down 
I was in for a surprise this morning when I opened my training schedule and saw a track workout on deck. I was just about out the door, thinking I had 6 easy miles, when I decided to double check. That made for some quick thinking and I went to a nearby high school to use their track. Somehow I missed Tom, who had also gone to that high school to do a workout earlier. He was smarter than me and checked out his schedule before going to bed the night before - therefore he got out the door quick and got it over with.

I was supposed to do 12 x 400s. When I saw this workout a few months ago I was excited. I like 400s. But when I saw the workout after forgetting about it, I decided I didn't want to push my body. I feel like I am in a constant balance between pushing it and recovering, especially because of the hamstring injury from this spring. My leg is still not 100% perfect, but it feels better, and it felt decent on the track workout. I am just afraid to push it too far and have to start the recovery all over again. So to be safe, I did 8 400s instead.

Unfortunately, I am not positive where the finish line is on this track and am not sure if my splits are spot on. My goal was to get faster as I went, but clearly my first two were too slow. Like, way too slow.
Splits: 93, 96 (yikes!), 91, 90 91, 89, 90, 88

Would I love to be running faster 400s? Of course. Can I? Yes. I need to get used to pushing my body. But I also don't need to go that fast if the idea is to train for my marathon pace. I have to keep reminding myself that I am not training for a 5K.

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: 6 miles at 7:46 pace
This seems to be my comfortable pace. I am happy with that. My legs were abnormally stiff this morning but I think it had something to do with the escalator workout I did the night before. See - I hate standing still on the metro escalators, especially if you're at one of the long ones. I try to book it up them as fast as I can. Part for the challenge, and part to beat everyone that's just standing there. I think I made a new PR Wednesday night going up one set up escalators down here, and my legs were feeling it.

Today's run took me through some hills around DC and eventually my legs were loose enough. It's been cloudy every morning down here, which is getting old. Sunshine would be nice for once!

Friday: 5 miles at 7:40 pace and core workout
After all that complaining about cloudy mornings, Mother Nature decided to do something about it.

Rain.

I was drenched from the start but the good news was that it was in the 60s, and was much cooler than I've run in for over a month. I was OK with the break. Once I got home I did a core workout. I am still not consistent enough with my core and arm work.

Saturday: 6 miles at 8:08 pace
Easy day before the 5K. On Thursday I was the crazy one who signed Tom and I up for one - for absolutely no reason. My marathon training schedule said 6 easy miles for today. In the past, I usually ran 4 miles before a 5K, but I went with the training schedule this time. Again, I'm not training for a 5K. I'm training for a marathon. That is 16 weeks away. I know I'm going to be OK with a longer run before a short race.

Sunday: PR Running Birthday Bash 5K - 7 miles with warm-up and cool-down 
Look for a full recap of the race tomorrow. The good news is that it was the fastest I've run since college. I ran a 20:14 and was 3rd overall and 1st in my age group.

Looking Forward
One word: Arms. 
I must make mine stronger. They were hurting in yesterday's 5K. 

This coming week brings another track workout and my first double-digit day of the program. I have a 10 miler lined up for next Sunday. As I look over my mileage from the past two weeks I think of how sad they look - 5 and 6 miles runs. The hard part about starting a program is holding back, knowing that you're going to be building for 16 more weeks, and the weeks will only get tougher and tougher. 

In other news....

I have set a new personal record: I have gone over a month without buying any chocolate or candy. I wanted to eat healthier this summer and somehow I am. You don't even know how bad it was during this school year. People should not be eating chocolate at 5:30 in the morning. Yesterday's race was the first one in a long time that was fueled without chocolate. That's huge news in Dani's world :)