Total Miles – 27.7
Runs 29 – 32: The start of weekly writing vs after every run. I just recently finished my long run of what was suppose to be an easy week turned difficult by Mother Nature. We got a massive snow storm that dumped 21 inches of snow on my small town. If that sounds like a lot it’s because it is.
Run 29 – This was an easy 50 minute run that was suppose to happen on Monday but was shifted to Tuesday since, we got dumped on Monday with those 21” I just mentioned. I wound up having to wait until late in the day to run. The gym did not open until noon on Tuesday due to the snow and I could not go right at noon because to add complication to the week, Tuesday was also the start of an internal conference at my company. I wound up finally going out around 6pm. 50 minutes on the treadmill is no easy feat. It’s suppose to be, but no, it’s not. To top it all off, I wore the New Balance which are not fitting as well as I had hoped. I experience quite a bit of discomfort on my ailing arch, but nothing overly concerning. I figured the new book I started listening to would distract, yet it did not. I spent the 50 minutes, changing speeds and elevation to entertain myself.
Run 30 – Hills, but on the treadmill again. Last week I almost died with 6 rounds at an elevation of 8 and a pace of 7:47. This week I had 8 rounds at the same pace. The rest of the workout being identical. The same 25 minute warmup, followed by sprints, then hills, then 10 minutes at an 8:00 minute pace and finally a cool down.
One thing I can honestly say is that, it has become a standard that I start doubtful of being able to complete the training, then, being able to do it. It’s true that running is a complete mind game, it’s getting past the barriers we ourselves create. Last week I barely finished the 6th one, today, I got all the way to the 8th with no ill effects. This week the hardest part was the 10 minutes at 8 minute pace. The treadmill making it all interminable.
Run 31 – Taking to the roads! 21 inches of snow do not disappear in days. We have more snow incoming tomorrow Sunday. So today, I laced up the New Balance and hit the road. A brand new loop avoiding trails that are not usually cleaned, preferring just streets. Even the streets, I needed to avoid sidewalks since those are also not all necessarily cleaned. So edge of the road. I created the path using the most desolate roads I could find and while the hills were murderous, it made for a very interesting loop. The New Balance started off weird, but by the end, they were fine. I tightened them up similar to the brooks and that made some of the difference I think.
Run 32 – Short Long Run ending on a speedier end. 60 minutes at easy pace, 25 minutes at Marathon pace, or I think that is Marathon pace ending with 10 minutes at Half Marathon pace. To top it all off, since I don’t feel safe pushing on the road, we woke up with a lot of black ice on the roads, I headed to old reliable, Central Park.
I started the run with my girlfriend who needed to do 5 miles. She’s training to do a half, while I am training for the Marathon. We stuck to the bottom loop avoiding the massive hill at 110th. The first loop was uneventful, Martha took off and even though I continued to tell her to slow down, I spent the whole 5 miles looking at her booty from afar. After she exited the path at 100th on the West Side. I continued, 10 more minutes at an easy pace, followed by those 25 at sub 9. That sub 9, was fine, until I reached Cats hill on 72 in the East Side. That could be the worst hill, it definitely was today. I was coasting at about an 8:40 pace, and keeping that up that hill was nye impossible. I think I did, but only because I was able to speed up after.
The hardest part, was speeding up to 8:00 pace for the last 10 minutes. My body was not into it, yet somehow all of a sudden I‘m struggling to slow down to that pace. I took off too quick and started in the mid 7’s. By the time I controlled myself to an 8 pace. My body was done and I started to slow down with 3/4 minutes remaining, not because I could not keep the pace, but because I exited the park.
With snow tomorrow, I have more treadmills in my future next week. Training for a Spring marathon in NY, sucks!… ENOUGH said for this week. See ya’ll next week!
