Total Miles – 29.24
Runs 41-44
This is a shortened week. It’s Thursday morning as I start the process of writing about the week. Runs 41-43 were done in quick succession. I’m fitting my 7 day week into 5 days, since I am traveling.
Run 41 – Changed up the loop a bit for a change of pace. Also, looking to decrease the number of hills I have to hit. While on the screen it looked better, on the road IT DID NOT.
Hoka update! I’m setting them aside for the rest of the training and will pick them back up after this is all said and done. The dynamics of the Hoka is too much change for this late in the game. I’m getting random pains I have never gotten and don’t want to exacerbate anything.
Other than that, I struggle to find purchase to run. The snow is suppose to melt soon. I need my trails back, the hills are officially playing with my head.
Run 42 – Real easy 40 minute run. I went with a backward loop. We got more Snow mixed with rain Monday night so the sidewalks were super slippery. I had to stick to the roads the bulk of the time. On the run, Martha called me struggling with her run in Manhattan. So we ran, whilst speaking to each other. It almost felt like we were running together.
Other than running to the edge of New Rochelle and looping back, nothing interesting about this run.
Run 43 – Treadmill bound with a saucy 4X Half Marathon for 1 mile with a .25 mile break. I went to the gym, not because of any snow, but, because running one mile at an 8 minute pace with hills abound is nearly impossible for me.
When I started the run, it was like 15 minutes of easy pace before we got into the good stuff. As the good stuff started, my airpods decided to die. It’s a running occurrence with the AirPods Pro that I go run and they are either dead or close to it. Usually it’s just one of the pods that dies. Sometimes it does not make the click and I am stuck listening to music/podcast/audiobook from one ear. Today, the right ear went and I told myself well that sucks. Then my left ear went a few minutes later. Running at this pace for an extended period of time, in the gym with no distractions, was hell.
The AirPods died about 4 minutes into the first round, all the TV’s were also off, so I needed to rely on faintly listening to the gym’s music which was NOT my jam. I kept looking at the clock that was right in front of me and that seconds hand barely ever moved. The second round, I swore to myself I would wait for whatever terrible song was on to finish before I checked. I am terrible at that! At minute 3 I checked, then again at 3:31, 3:40, 3:52, 3:59. Swore again next song I would hear it completely. Nope never happened. The 4 rounds and their breaks totaled 5 miles, I could have sworn I ran way more and for way longer. Not sure how my wrists did not hurt, that’s how often I wound up looking at my watch.
Run 45 – Long Run – 120 Minutes. Woke up at 5:30AM since I am traveling this weekend, I needed to get my run in super early, then work, then wait for my son to start the festivities of celebrating his 21st Birthday with a trip. 120 minutes is somewhere in between 12 and 13 miles. Today, I decided to go into Mount Vernon and head towards the water on the southern side of New Rochelle, but without touching the Bronx. Touching the Bronx entails taking some trails that I do not know their state of cleanliness.
This was also the first run I did with the ASICS longer than 5-7 miles. They did great. The cushioning really is top notch. Like running on pillows. Unfortunately, after certain mileage, even pillows are uncomfortable. I need to change my long run a bit. I have been returning the same way over and over again, and I feel like it’s becoming too well known to me.
The next two long runs will be the worst of the training so it felt good having done this 12 miler and feeling like I could keep going and going. I can’t put the third “going”, cause the energizer bunny I am not! We are also getting rather close to the end here. I have two more hard weeks before I start tapering off for the Marathon. I can start seeing a faint glimmer at the end of the tunnel.