Week 13: Float Like a Butterfly
10/7/2019
Week 13: September 23 - September 29, 2019
Some of my clients happened to be away this week on vacation, so to provide myself with more recovery, more sleep, more home-cooked meals, more runs first thing in the morning (my ideal performance time) and less commutes to the city, I adjusted my client schedule and my training to fit the needs of the increase in mileage volume. The following program plan from Hansons First Marathon called for 61.5 miles total (the peak volume week)!
Monday: 6 miles easy
Tuesday: 1.5 mile warmup, 3 mile, 2 mile, 1 mile @ MP-10 seconds pace w/ 0.5 mile jog, 1.5 mile cooldown
Wednesday: Rest/Crosstrain
Thursday: 1.5 mile warmup, 2 x 4 mile @ goal MP w/ 1 mile jog, 1.5 mile cooldown
Friday: 6 miles easy
Saturday: 10 miles easy
Sunday: 16 miles long (Bronx 10M Race Day)
I did not run the 6 recovery miles on Monday. I was still pretty worn out from the hot half marathon on the Palisades, and I also filled up my client schedule for the day. My career involves being on my feet all day, so I walked at least that amount and foam rolled between clients as an active recovery.
Tuesday’s workout felt great; the rest day between the race and this running something-of-substance strength workout really made me feel light on my feet and speedy. The U.N. General Assembly was going on uptown and I heard there was gridlock traffic, so I ran to the West Side Highway and around the tip of Manhattan to my gym in the East Village. The running intervals were much faster than MP-10 sec (marathon pace minus 10 seconds), and my jogging intervals were still way under that pace as well, so it felt great to be so speedy without much effort. My running form was full of “chi” and very relaxed. The fact that the weather was in the 70s instead of 80s also made a big difference in my perceived effort. Although I sweat a lot on my runs in general, it felt great to know that I wasn’t losing so much fluid that it’s being taken from my bloodstream. My cooldown mile was cut a little short so that I could have time to shower and eat something before getting back to clients.
On Wednesday I did a few rounds of all my major lifts at what used to be my warmup weight just to make sure I still had the strength and correct mechanics with the barbell. I miss deadlifting 225 lbs, but I can’t afford to be too sore during my in-season race training and miss out on running days. It was important to maintain the hip hinge, bench press, pullup, and squats to keep all my major muscle groups strong. I also incorporated some of the Original Strength drills to keep the vestibular system in check.
I did not have any clients scheduled for Thursday, so I took advantage of the additional sleep and set off for a long run with a goal of 16 to 20 miles in mind. It’s different than the 13 in the program, but with only a little more than a month to go I was getting nervous about when I was going to get in more runs that are over the half marathon distance. I had my FuelBelt on filled with Nuun water, brought Honey Stinger goo packs for energy, and held onto a full water bottle as well. I started too late to see a great sunrise, but it was probably for the best because I smelled a dead skunk on the first hill of the morning. I’m sure if I started sooner I would have encountered it alive and been the victim of its spunky spray. I climbed those never-ending hills on the cliffs of Jersey City Heights and Union City, crossed the roadway by the Lincoln Tunnel helix, and climbed some more hills along more cliffs of West New York overlooking Manhattan and the Bronx. When I reached the point that I usually turn around, I took a right turn down a hill (and unfortunately past a sewer plant) toward the waterfront. I knew where I was, but I wanted to further explore a farther distance. I knew this road lead to where I raced just a few days ago, but I wanted to find it on foot and possibly get one or two hills in before I called it quits and rode a bus or Uber home. There were some areas that followed the waterfront, some that stuck to the road, and others didn’t have a sidewalk so I had to run next to a strip mall to find better areas to run. Along the route, I noticed a butterfly floating around every few miles, so my mental game of the day was to see how many butterflies I encountered on the way. It turns out there were about 11 of them until I reached a bush that had a bunch of them gathered together and I was finally able to take a picture of one. I continued on my way home and planned on refilling my giant empty water bottle at a playground, but the water fountain was conveniently broken. Between that and my achy joints, I called it quits at 15 miles and took an Uber home. My lunch and Epsom salt bath were very much appreciated.
Obviously after that effort, I did not run on Friday. Saturday should have been 10 miles, but I was saving my energy for my next race and clocked in 6 miles in the morning.
I was excited for Sunday’s Bronx 10M because I had no idea what to expect and also because I’d finish the race before my “wall” in a half marathon. I was proud of this effort, and you can check it out in more detail in the upcoming race recap.
Although I didn’t complete the full 61.5 miles for the week, I had two long races a week apart that I had to ensure I got the adequate rest for in order to race strong. The marathon was fast approaching, and I wanted to be faster than the remaining time.
One of the 11 monarch butterflies I counted on my 15-mile training run before I found a bush full of them.