Before I get into this week’s agenda, let’s take a look at what became of last week’s plan:
Monday: Rest (Check.)
Tuesday: 4 miles @ 9:13 (Done, but at 9:06ish)
Wednesday: 7-mile tempo run (@ Red Hook track): Warm-up mile, 5 miles @ 7:52, Cool-down mile (Done, but more like 7:45s. No complaints here!)
Thursday: 7 miles at 9:13 Only 6 miles, but around 8:50s. Not bad for the day after speed!
Friday: 4 miles at 9:13 5 miles @9:00
Saturday: Rest (Done.)
Sunday: 16 miles at 9:13. Garmin stats say my average pace was 9:03, but I took a significant break to spectate the NYC Triathlon in Central Park. I think if I’d kept going it would have been more on target.
Total: 38 miles
I know most of those paces are a bit faster than what the plan is currently calling for, but I’m trying not to overanalyze it since it all felt comfortable. I never felt like I was pushing for them, and none of them came close to any of my race paces. I’m still not entirely sure what a realistic time goal beyond sub-4 is, but I’m hoping to have a better idea after another quality long run.
Moving on, my fourth week of or training was a cut-back week that totaled only 30 miles. Here’s how I split them up:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 5 miles @ 9:00
Wednesday: 5K race in 23:37 (7:37/mile)
Thursday: 7 miles @ 9:00
Friday: 5 miles (watchless, but they felt slow)
Saturday: 10 miles @ 9:00
Sunday: Rest
All of those days at 9:00 were supposed to be 9:12s, a pace I definitely saw at at certain points (AHEM, Grand Army Plaza hill), but I figured my average pace was close enough. I know anything faster on an “easy” day would be overkill, but I’m feeling optimistic about what my easy pace might be at the end of the summer if 9s are already a piece of cake.
As for this weekend’s long(ish) run, I definitely felt like I got more out of it than last week’s 16. I got an early start by getting out the door by 8:30, so I managed to get over the Brooklyn Bridge before it was overrun with tourists. I opted to run on Saturday instead of Sunday because of rain in Sunday’s forecast, and I initially regretted this choice when my first two miles clocked in around 9:25. I thought to myself that it might have been wiser to take a rest day before running long since it seemed like the rest of the week’s mileage had caught up to me, but then my legs seemed to wake up as I made my way across the bridge and up the west side to end at Riverside Park around 72nd Street:
My goal time for this was 1:32, but around mile 9.9 I got a little bit competitive with myself to finish in <1:30.
What does Week Five call for, you ask? This is what it looks like before the inevitable rearranging:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 4 miles @ 9:12
Wednesday: 7-mile tempo run @ 7:51
Thursday: 7 miles @ 9:12
Friday: 4 miles @ 9:12
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: 18 miles @ 9:12
Total: 40 miles
I know I’ll have to bring in a pre-work 8- or 9-miler before long, but I’ve managed to avoid it so far simply because I’m a big baby about getting out of bed any earlier than 6 AM. My job’s summer hours require an 8:45 arrival (versus 9:00), and those 15 minutes actually make a big difference when it comes to squeezing in a couple of extra miles! I guess extra sleep will be filed under ATM (after the marathon) soon enough, right, Jocelyn?
Regarding next week’s 18-miler, does anyone have any route suggestions? It’s probably obvious by now that my favorite long-run route involves running through Park Slope, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, and Brooklyn Heights, over the Brooklyn Bridge to the west side of Manhattan, and then running uptown along the Hudson until I hit my desired distance. That said, I’m ready for a change of scenery, so if you have a favorite route, please share!
Probably the obvious but I didn’t see you mention it…
I do most of my long runs exclusively in Central Park. It allows you to practice hills and running without stopping for lights and things.
Since I do all of my weekday runs exclusively in Prospect Park, I’m ready to mix it up on the weekends. I don’t think I could stay in Central Park for an entire long run (because of the repetitions, not the hills; really long out-and-backs are also mentally difficult for me), but I’m sure I’ll make my way over there to finish one out before long. And since it would be later in the day by the time I got there, maybe I’d see you there!
Posting my training progress like this would probably help keep me accountable … I may steal this idea.
You’re going so fast in this heat!