Week 6: When You Don't Have a Car, Run to Your Errands
Week 6: August 5 - August 11, 2019
Just looking at my calendar and realizing that I have 12 weeks (3 months) until the big day was enough to kick my ass in gear again. Thankfully my big event is for the marathon and not a wedding, because somehow planning that seems like it would stress me out more than running an extravagant distance. As we dive deeper and deeper into the program, the volume is increasing. Here’s the Week 6 plan at a glance:
Monday: 6 miles easy
Tuesday: 1.5 mile warmup, 5 x 1k @ 10k pace w/ 400m jog, 1.5 mile cooldown
Wednesday: Rest/Crosstrain
Thursday: 8 miles easy
Friday: 6 miles easy
Saturday: 6 miles easy
Sunday: 2 mile warmup, 6 miles @ marathon pace, 2 miles cooldown (TCS Marathon Training 12M Race)
I was aiming to stick to the plan for all the days except for Sunday, since I was signed up for the NYRR TCS Marathon Training 12 Mile Run. Don’t let the title fool you; it’s still a race that would be timed. No pressure. I’ve done half marathons before, but I want a faster split time so I definitely feel pressure to do well on this race. The obstacles I foresee are the extreme heat, the seemingly endless hills of Central Park, and starting out too fast. I can pace myself better on my own, but when there are other people around me I feel like I’m part of the stampede in the movies Jumanji or The Lion King. I’m still learning to slow down.
I had to pick up my bib from the NYRR Run Center at some point during the week, so I decided to make my errand a part of my training run. I would usually take the R train from work, but I figured if I ran north along the East River and crossed midtown by the park, I should be able to clock in the 6 miles. Once I reached the end of the river sidewalk, I went under the creepy bridge by the Midtown Tunnel and headed north for about 20 blocks and headed west whenever I made a green light in time. I eventually got to Central Park, looped on some random walkways until I got my bearings again, passed Columbus Circle, and managed to get a little over 8 miles logged by the time I got to the bib pickup. I could have run part of the way back to my gym, but I needed to save my energy for the next day. I felt so productive and not lazy for running to my errand rather than taking the subway. This is what an active lifestyle is all about.
By sheer luck, I didn’t have clients on Tuesday, so it was a day off for me! I set my alarm for around the time I would normally get up for work so that I could get the run done before the heat, but I had trouble getting up that morning. It was a little dark and gloomy outside, and I kept dozing off a bit. I let myself be lazy, took my time making coffee, and I actually had breakfast since I woke up really hungry (I prefer to fast before a workout). The forecast showed it was about to downpour, so I caught up on writing most of the day. After the storm, it was really sunny out and although there was threat of more storms, I took a chance and headed out in the mugginess to get my track workout in. The Weehawken track was about 2.5 miles away, so my “warmup” was longer, but I still did the 5 rounds of 2.5 laps around the track and 1 lap jog/speedwalk. At one point the wind got really strong and my earbuds stopped working in the middle of my workout. Great, I thought, No music during the workout where I literally have to run in circles and avoid the pervy soccer players’ comments in Spanish. I played the music loud from my phone in my pocket and decided not to care if it wasn’t to anyone’s liking. After all, most of the other runners on the track had headphones on that worked. The music situation and the humidity really slowed me down, along with my still-sore-from-squats thighs. I didn’t like my average pace at all, but it will have to do. I did the work as best as I could under those conditions.
I took Wednesday as my planned recovery day prescribed. My legs were sore and tight, so I had help with the Hypervolt for some myofascial release. They felt so much better afterward. I did some concentrated mobility and stretching work, and a few planks and Original Strength Resets for my vestibular system. In the evening, I treated myself to an Epsom Salt bath to soothe the muscles even more. Recovery days are so worth it when you earn them!
Thursday called for an easy 8-miler, but I didn’t have enough time between clients to go that distance. I settled for 4 miles, and managed a decent recovery run from that without earbuds.
On Friday I had my new earbuds on, and they worked great for the first 3 miles until a wind gust seemingly broke the connection between the bluetooth. I was so pissed since they were brand new and I just got them delivered. I only aimed for another slower short run to taper off before the race the next day.
I went to bed at a decent time Saturday night, but I knew I had to be up at 4 a.m. to get to the race in Central Park from Jersey, so I was a little hyped up from the excitement of it all. I was slightly nervous since it was practically a half marathon and I wanted to beat my mile splits. I’ll get to the details in another blog post, but it went well, and I was glad I listened to my body to ensure a successful day.
I deemed Week 6 a success because I stayed consistent, listened to my body, and despite technology messing up my plans, I still stuck with my workouts and didn’t let that be an excuse to not train. In fact, running in the silence allowed me to tune into more of my body mechanics than before and allowed me to assess my breathing and foot strikes on the pavement. I definitely prefer listening to music in the background, but it was good to know that if my earbuds failed on me in the middle of the marathon, I’d still be able to finish strong.
Sometimes I take photos of flowers as I run past…by “sometimes” I mean almost always.🌸