5+6=6

I had a 6 mile easy run (9:58 pace) with 6 strides scheduled for today. My legs were still sore, although I have seen incremental improvement since Saturday. I am disappointed that it is taking me this long to recover from my long run. I started out my run feeling like my legs had acquired some strange, heightened reaction to gravity and that the earth was trying to suck my body through the pavement. I finally started to loosen up around mile 2, but really the entire run was uncomfortable. 

When I had made a full loop (which is about 5 miles), my legs were aching and I decided to bag the last mile in order to get the 6 strides in. I found a somewhat deserted portion of the bridle path and tried to eyeball about a 200 yard distance. I ran the 6 strides in succession with about a 30 second rest in between at about 85% effort. Whatever distance I had eyeballed, the strides ended up like this: 49s, 50s, 50s, 51s, 49s, 50s.

The 5 mile run plus the strides gave me 6 for the day. (actually I mapped it out and it gave me 6.3, but who's counting...oh yea, I am.)

Rest Day Scheduled

And I took it. My legs are still quite sore today. Better get ready for another high mileage week...

Recovery

I was incredibly sore when I woke up this morning, I could hardly drag myself out of bed. I knew that yesterdays run was taxing on me, but I had hoped that I was fit enough that I would just experience a bit of stiffness today. No such luck. Part of me was thinking that I am grateful that I have 10 more weeks to train for the marathon, and the other part of me was thinking I have 10 more weeks of training, ugh. I was most disappointed because my lack of energy and near immobility kept me from playing with my son today. I literally spent the first half of the day going back and forth between the sofa and the chair in our living room. Lame.

Around 4pm, I did muster enough energy to put on some running clothes and go out to the park with my husband and son. We went to one of our favorite grassy areas to let my son run around and play, and ended up meeting a couple who both run and the husband is also training for NYC; their son was 7 months old but he and our son played pretty well anyway. It was kind of exciting to talk to others about our training, even on a day when I was beginning to doubt my decision to run. 

We left the grassy area and ran a 2 mile recovery run to hopefully help loosen up my legs, and ended at a playground for my son. The run was painful, but also felt kind of good to get the blood flowing...I still winced when I had to carry the running stroller down the stairs to our apartment, but at least I got back out there, ran an bit and salvaged the day. Total mileage for the week = 34.

Leg Lesson

I had every intention of getting off to my long run this morning at 6:30am. I had a 15 miler to hammer out and preferred not to take up my entire day by prolonging the start...buuuuuut I kind of did anyway. My husband got back from his run at 6am and woke me, but next thing I knew my son was up and it was 8am. Crap. Well, might as well roll with it at this point. 

While my son ate breakfast I made some cinnamon toast...on white bread. I hate white bread but those simple, refined carbs absorb quickly so it works for quick fuel. I downed some coffee, hydrated and got ready to head out. I knew that I could complete the run, I just didn't want to ya know? I just wasn't feeling it. Too bad, marathon's awaitin' right?

I was going to use my same strategy of going out at a conservative pace and then pick it up for the second half, or at least the last quarter. I was feeling good about that plan until mile 7 rolled around and my legs began to ache; with each passing mile the pain in my legs became more acute. Great. Now to finish my long run I had to turn to survival mode. The longer I ran, though, the more I thought about it and decided it was not such a bad thing that I was feeling so poor. Lucky for me I have 2 marathons under my belt, so I am all too familiar with the invariable pain they cause. Time to use the rest of this run to show my legs what they have to look forward to in 10 weeks. 

I did just that, even when every fiber of my being was screaming for me to take a short cut and run home, I didn't. I dug deep for some energy and endurance to keep each leg pumping to complete all 15 miles. I was scheduled to perform the run at a 9:58 pace and it took me 2:33.41 to complete, so my pace was actually a 10:14. I am okay with that, particularly in light of the 2 hard runs I had on Wednesday and Thursday. Plus this run put over 30 miles for the week and I have not done that in 6 years. Bonus.

Run/Walk

The last two days of intense workouts have taken their toll and while I always strive to hit my mileage each week, I am also not stupid. I was scheduled to run 5 miles easy with 5 strides...nothing insurmountable, but I have to remember I also have a 15 mile long run tomorrow that I would rather not suffer through. My compromise? A 4.6 mile run/walk as it turns out. 

My husband had a work event over at the Boat Basin, so we walked down there, then ran up the Henry Hudson Greenway for about a mile and a half, stopped by a playground for my son, then walked up to Whole Foods and back home again. Good enough for me.

MP

Today's run was the first where I actually incorporated my marathon pace (MP) for part of the run, which is a 9:09/mile. The run in its entirety was only 4 miles, so I decided to run the first 2 at 9:58 on an out and back course and run the last 2 at MP. My husband offered to come along pushing our son, which I always love, so we headed over to Riverside Park to run up the Henry Hudson Greenway. 

This is virtually uncharted territory for me as, admittedly, I am a bit of a Central Park snob. I would venture to guess that 1 out of every 30 runs take place at Riverside...maybe less. What can I say, I love my park! All this to say, I am not as nearly familiar with mile markers at Riverside, so I had to guess when I had run about 2 miles, then turn around and try to run the negative split. Starting off my legs felt like lead, courtesy of yesterdays killer hill workout. I thought I may be in trouble when I got to the 2 mile mark...

I decided to turn around when we hit 125th st because it was a point I could identify on a map when I went back to track what I ran...the watch said 18:46. I turned around and retraced my steps, hoofing past the starting point in 15:52. I had to dig deep for that one, my legs were screaming, but it felt like a good solid effort at the same time.

Upon returning home, I mapped out the course and it was 1.9 miles, which means I went out at a 9:53 pace and returned a a 8:21 pace...I'd say I over shot MP, wouldn't you? 

HILLS

I had a 6 mile hill workout tonight scheduled at a 9:58 pace. I wasn't able to do my usual North Hill loop because the East side was open to traffic, so I modified the loop to be more of a "C" back and forth on the West side. I had never run the hills this way and let me tell you, it was more than an upward adversity. The West side of the North Hills is the steepest and longest and I was basically running hill repeats, so it was a good workout. I ended up running 6.2 miles by the time I got back to 90th street, in 59:00 which is a 9:32 pace. I will that that!

Running Errands

In the midst of trying to get settled back in from vacation with a mounting list of other things going on (my husband started back to school today, it has been raining all day, I found a much needed computer monitor on craigslist) I decided to run my errands today (2 miles total). I was supposed to do 4 miles, so I will have to make up the rest later this week. C'est la vie.

Rest

We rolled into town around 2pm this afternoon, completely exhausted from 2 days of traveling. By the time we got unpacked, got my son settled, made it to the grocery store, and through dinner and bedtime, I was too pooped for words. I decided to take my rest day as scheduled, even though I did not get a lot of running in last week. It's a new week. I am going to bed and it's just before 10pm.

Travel Day

We got all packed up and headed back for the 12-hr trip to NYC this morning. My son is not at a good age for traveling, so by the time we reached Harrisburg, PA (thankfully where my sister lives) it was past 8pm, so we pulled over and crasjed for the night with her. No run, of course.

At least I got three quality runs in this week. Total mileage for the week is 21.