Walked the dog this morning and passed the house with the cute cat in the window. Usually I don’t have my phone when the cat is there or the cat isn’t there when i have my phone so today I finally nailed it!
cute cat in the window
Walked past Diana Nyad swimming again on my way to the office. She was 25 hours in to her 48 hour swim…
Worked a few hours, then had an apple and a granola bar…
Always emphasizing my snacks…I just made a snack exclamation.
Went to the gym at lunch and did a solid 30 minutes on the elliptical…
Now I better get back to work….
Question: Anyone have any exciting news to share? I’m all ears!
How are all 5 of my loyal readers doing today? I slept 10 hours last night! The extra shuteye is FINALLY kicking in. I feel human today and no longer zombielike. As I mentioned yesterday I replaced my 5 mile run today with a 30 minute cardio session at the gym. I spent 20 minutes on the rower and 10 minutes on the elliptical. Just enough to break a sweat and feel like my arms and legs worked. My heart rate was in the 115-130 range which is on the lower end but just what I set out to do. Unfortunately I have to say I don’t think I’ll ever have a “rower’s high”. Its running that I love and my highs will most likely come in the form of a “runner’s high”.
That brings me to the wild afternoon break I had at work. I went outside to get some air when I realized something was happening in front of Macy’s (Herald Square on the corner of 34th and Broadway….for the non NYC people the spot that all the marching bands and floats appear during the TV footage of the Thanksgiving Day Parade) In honor of the impending 1 year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, Diana Nyad, of “I swam from Cuba to Florida” fame is swimming for 48 hours straight and raising money for AmeriCares. You can view a live stream of her swimming and donate if you want here.
They had a big banner in which you could write a message to Diana and since I love Sharpies I left her a message…
do what you love and make a difference
Well who knew I would AMAZE myself at my own words. That just makes so much sense. And this is why running has so many meanings in my life. I’ve made a difference in myself through my love of running as far as self esteem goes. I’ve also made a difference by fundraising for organizations that are close to my heart like the Melanoma Research Foundation and Stupid Cancer. And I’m trying to make a difference here somehow on this blog. I know some of my friends have been inspired by my running just as I was inspired by Lisa. Oh and if you don’t know that story you can always just watch this video.
So there you have it….my WOW (words of wisdom) is the title of this post: Do what you love and make a difference.
As I was winding down last night and preparing myself for the work week, I made a big decision. I was feeling really tired and have been for quite some time. I’m sure it’s a combination of post Center of the Nation and just jumping right back into my NYC Marathon training when I returned home.
65.5 miles plus a whole lotta jumping = FATIGUE
After reviewing my training log, it looks like I have been overtraining. Shocker! It’s not that I have been running that many more miles per week than I’m scheduled to. But I have had many extra long runs, and I’ve been bailing on plenty of short, recovery runs. Not to mention my cross training has been non-existent (unless you consider walking the dog cross training). In other words, don’t ever take my advice on this blog =) There was a 16 miler back in June when I didn’t even officially kick off my training until July. And then of course five 13.1s in a row doesn’t make for smart training. But I knew that going into it. So this week I’ve decided to replace my 2 weekday runs with easier 30 min cross training sessions at the gym. That will allow me to catch up a a few extra winks of sleep (I can squeeze the gym in at lunch) and give my running leg muscles a little mini-taper. I have the Rock ‘n’ Roll Brooklyn 10k on Saturday and the Staten Island half marathon (with 7 extra miles before) on Sunday, totaling 26 miles for the weekend!
This decision comes with the comfort knowing I’m not a newbie anymore.
I’ve got 3 marathons under my belt and I know that I won’t sacrifice my entire training by replacing 2 workouts. Also, I’ve thought long and hard about my expectations and goals for the NYC Marathon. While I wish I could say I’m shooting for a PR, that is just totally unrealistic. The course isn’t an easy one. There are 5 bridges and lots of elevation.
My first NYC Marathon was 5:28. It was my first marathon and I walked A LOT of the second half. I was SOOO happy just to finish.
Thumbs up! I didn’t die!
My PR is a 4:48 on a very flat course (with perfect weather). That’s a HUGE finish time range. I think I will just keep my expectations set to try and come in under the 5:28 time. While I’d love to break 5 hours again, I just don’t feel confident I have it in me. So my “A” goal would be 5:15 and “B” goal would be 5:25. But regardless of my finish time I am looking forward to enjoying the afternoon with close to 50,000 others.
I hadn’t planned on participating in any other races for the year but at the last minute I just signed up for one more half marathon just 6 days after the NYC Marathon. It’s probably not a smart idea, but i’ll chalk 2013 up to the year of running too many races and make a promise that next year I’ll scale back a bit. My wallet and my non-running friends will be happy. So, I’ll be running the Trenton Half Marathon on 11/9.
I love bridges and this course has 2! photo courtesy of trentonhalf.com
I learned about this race from a girl I met while training for the NJ Marathon at the very beginning of this year. Her name is Jane and she is an ambassador for this event. We had such great training runs together I just knew I needed to run with her one more time this year (although I’ll probably only see her the first half a mile as I’m sure she’ll be blazing ahead while my tired legs will probably just chug along). And the swag/bling looks pretty awesome too:
photo courtesy of trentonhalf.com
So there you have it! My plan to fight the training fatigue and complete 2 really strong runs next weekend, my goals verbalized for the NYC Marathon, and my “lapse-in-judgement-just-for-the-bling” registration in what will be my 11th half marathon of the year and 17th event overall!
WOW: Listen to your body! You’ll know when to scale back and when to go for the gusto! You are your own best training tool.
Question: Tell me all about your fall race calendar.
My plan had a couple of snags this morning but I still managed to complete 14 miles.
Snag 1: No sunshine = no glorious sunrise. I surprised myself and only sulked for the first mile. It actually drizzled the entire time I was running but that actually ended up being a beautiful thing! Cool and misty = better running weather.
Snag 2: The entrance (and parking lot) where I usually start my run was closed because of the government shutdown. It’s a National park area:(
But like a die-hard-happy-marathon-runner-in-training I managed to work around the snags. I decided I would just run the neighborhood streets that run parallel to the beach. But after a 2 mile detour I arrived to see that the boardwalk was open! It was just the small area by where I start that was closed. It appears that the boardwalk is state/city. So I hopped on and covered an additional 10 miles doing 2 complete out and backs of the boardwalk. Unfortunately my main goal for this run was to see a gorgeous sunrise and to see the Verrazano Bridge (a.k.a. start village for the NYC Marathon) and get jazzed since the NYC Marathon is just 4 weeks away. #Fail!
As you can tell from this side by side visibility was in the toilet
it really was a bummer not to see the bridge. I needed to reinforce that with another pout
beauty without the sun. I love the horizontal “stripes” made up of the gray sky, the bluish gray water, the reddish sand, the golden sand dunes and the rusty metal railing.
I ended up seeing a beautiful color palette of “neutrals”. I’m actually thinking that I should paint the interior of my home in these colors. They feel calm and soothing, no? I also gave warning to the wild turkeys that it’s October. I don’t know if they know that Thanksgiving is next month. Just wanted to remind them to hide so they don’t end up as part of some family’s feast.
FYI: Thanksgiving is just 6 weeks away!
Old-school sand art
Spent a few minutes playing in the sand. Then it was the same 2 mile detour back to my car and voila, I was done. I ate an apple in the car on the way home.
After a quick shower, it was time for some serious refueling. A bed of spinach, 2 scrambled eggs, 1/2 cup of whole wheat couscous, a sliced up tomato and 5 glorious slices of turkey bacon. And a tall cold beer glass of chocolate milk to wash it down. Total calories: 850. But most of all lots of protein.
chocolate milk and a jealous doodle • turkey bacon, eggs etc and a jealous doodle
I love that while the rest of the world slept in on a drizzly Sunday, I didn’t. OK well maybe I don’t love that. I actually miss the days of sleeping in. But that’s what the last 6 weeks of the year are for. I take a hiatus from running usually from 11/15 until 1/1.
Question: Do you like to sleep in or do you wake up early regardless?
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