NYC Marathon Training Week 13: Longest of the Long Runs

This is a weekly recap chronicling the highs and lows of training for my first marathon:
NYC 2014!

To see previous weeks’ training recaps, click here.

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This week brought me into the last quarter of my 16 week marathon training plan!

It was a tough one, with lots and lots of hills and bridges, but I know those will all make me stronger for marathon day. And now that lovely fall weather and foliage has come to NYC, running outside is even more fun!

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Here’s how the week went:

Monday – 2.5 miles (30 minutes easy recovery run from last week’s hilly 20 miler)

Tuesday – Yoga

Wednesday – 5.75 miles (60 minutes easy, plus 5 x 20-second strides)

Marathon signs are starting to pop up on lampposts around the city, the sides of buses, subway stations…it’s getting real!

Thursday – 7 miles inc. hill repeats (2 miles warm up, 8x Cat Hill in Central Park, 2 miles cool down)

This was a really hard workout. EIGHT times up and down Cat Hill! It was great mental training though, and I was really proud of myself afterwards. Luckily we’ll be going down this hill and not up during the marathon!

Friday – November Project workout (including about .5 miles running)

Every week I say I’m going to make it to November Project and every week I sleep in instead. The Wednesday workouts are pretty far from where I live, and although I know that’s no excuse, it’s still hard to get myself out of bed!

Each Friday, they pick a different location around the city for a “destination workout.” This week happened to be in the Flatiron District, a few blocks from where I work. Perfect!

I met up with Colleen and Aditi, two Prospect Park Track Club teammates, and we started off Friday morning with a bang.

The workout included about a half mile of running, planks (and jumping over people planking), burpees, mountain climbers, tricep dips, and standing pushups.

And when it was over…we got free doughnuts! Dough, a doughnut shop in Brooklyn, was having a soft opening before they open on Wednesday, and were giving out free donuts every morning from 6am-10am. (You can still go tomorrow!) We split three different flavors: lemon poppy seed, chocolate glazed, and dulce de leche.

Saturday – REST!

Sunday – 22 miles

THE LONGEST OF THE LONG RUNS!

I won’t start the real taper until next week, but this was the longest of my long runs for this marathon training cycle. I was nervous to do 22 miles, even though I had done two 20-milers already. I roped my friend Justin into running with me, since he was running 13 miles to train for a half marathon.

Luckily we had great weather, and I took the opportunity to do a test run of my marathon outfit. (Colorful enough, do you think?) The arm sleeves, which are from the expo two years ago, say ING NYC Marathon. (After the 2012 marathon was cancelled, all the merchandise was 50% and went to Red Cross, so I bought some things even though I wasn’t registered for the marathon!)

If it’s really cold on race day, I might consider adding hot pink knee-high compression socks to the mix. I’ll have to test those out on my long run next weekend.

I ran 9 miles before I met up with Justin, and then we did 13 miles together. I ran over the Brooklyn Bridge and back before we met up, and then together we did the Williamsburg Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, the uphill on Union Street in Brooklyn towards Prospect Park (basically the uphill slope of Park Slope) and finished with a loop of Prospect Park.

I stupidly forgot to unpause my watch at a stoplight, so it was about three-quarters of a mile short. You can imagine how infuriating this was. It was around mile 11, so I was only halfway done, and I had no way of knowing what my total distance would be, except that I had meticulously mapped out the route (and even printed it out so I wouldn’t get it wrong) and I just tried to stick to it as much as possible. I think I got pretty close!

The last half of the run was really difficult, both physically and mentally. By the time we got to Prospect Park, I was so done. When I started out, my legs were still a little sore from hill repeats and November Project earlier in the week. By the time I got to the park, four bridges later, I just wanted to stop running. Pushing through that final park loop was a mental struggle more than anything else – my pace slowed only a little bit but I felt like I was barely moving!

Finally, FINALLY I finished running and rushed off to brunch. (Read: shuffled to brunch.) I met up with a big group of friends, two of whom are also marathon training and had run 20 miles that morning, for bottomless brunch in Park Slope. My meal of tagliatelle pasta with arugula, prosciutto, pecorino cheese, and truffle oil, not to mention lots of mimosas, was a worthy reward after running 22 miles!

Total – 38 Miles

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This morning I found out that I was selected to receive an Asics Mini Marathoner statue of myself that I can pick up at the NYC Marathon Expo (I submitted my application with pictures a few weeks ago). Can’t wait to see how it turns out…stay tuned!

ONLY THREE WEEKS TO GO!!!

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Tips for pushing yourself through the end of a long run…or race?

Do you like to run hills and bridges? Or avoid them?

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