NYC Half 2014 Training - Week 1 Recap

Hi all!

Hope you all had a great weekend. It warmed up in Manhattan a bit, thankfully,

My weekend was packed -- Sourabh and I had dinner and saw Her with a friend from undergrad on Friday night. Then on Saturday I ran a 10K (details below), went to Steph's birthday brunch (I love my runner friends SO MUCH), attended a self defense workshop at Uplift Studios (awesome -- and they're doing another one!), watched the Seahawks game (nearly passed out at the anxiety), and said goodbye to Laura at her farewell party (she's moving to Denver! I'm sad to say good bye but so excited for her new adventures -- also, Laura, come back soon!!!).

Finally, yesterday I did a recovery run with friends and took a yoga class. I really needed a bit of downtime after a busy week at work and a crazy Saturday. Sourabh and I also had to give the Golden Globes our full attention. To say I love awards shows is an understatement. It's our winter pastime -- watching the Globes, the BAFTAs, all the different Guilds shows, and of course... the Oscars!



NYC Half 2014 Training - Week 1 Recap

Monday: 55 min. Refine Method class.

I'm pretty sure I only woke up in the last 15 minutes of class after a shitty night of sleep, but once I woke up things seemed to be going well. Haven't taken Becca's class in a long time (I think my last class was on my law school graduation day!), and while I liked her then, I think she's an even better instructor now. Lots of hands-on modifications and corrections, and she moved around the room really well. Go Becca!

Class consisted of rows while bending over boxes, box step-ups, squat-to-overhead presses, tricep extensions, jumping squats, moving planks, regular planks, single leg deadlifts, sit-to-stands from the boxes with kettlebells racked, and box push-ups (I think that was it). Typical cardio interludes: high knee sprints, jumping jacks, etc. Hopped out of class 5 minutes early to grab a shower, hence the 55 minute class time.


Tuesday: 4 mile easy run on TM at 0% incline with Abby.

Unfortunately the treadmill screen was broken so I could only see my pace and mileage, not my final time. I started around 9:30 and ran the list mile in the high 8:00s because I had to get back to my apartment to change for work. It was SO cold out that treadmill was the only option for me. Chatted with Abby, who joined me on the treadmills, and it went really quickly!


Wednesday: 5 mile (45:00) treadmill run on TM at .5% incline.

Scheduled to do hill repeats but the continued deep freeze meant my lungs would have given up on life if I'd tried to run hard. Coach Jess switched me to a treadmill tempo run.

This was a total victory. Well, sort of. Alarm went off at 6:20 and I decided to reset it for 8:15, thinking I needed sleep after multiple nights of 6.5 hrs or less. But after 5 minutes, I realized I wasn't falling back asleep, so I got up and pounded it out. Surprisingly felt really good!

w/u - 9:30ish, mile 1 - 8:34, mile 2 - 8:20, mile 3 - 7:53, c/d - 9:50ish.

I think I could have run the first two a bit faster since I wasn't really breathing that hard. Huge shock since I struggled to maintain a sub-8:00 pace for 1/4 mile a year ago. Progress = AWESOME.


Thursday: 60 min. strength training with Amanda.

Warmed up with some dynamic movement and foam rolling then moved into TRX work coupled with boxing rounds of 2 minutes each. TRX moves included pull-ups, mountain climbers, pike-ups, reverse crunches, and one legged squats with a one arm fly holding a 5 lb weight. Boxing intervals included push-ups and star jumps. Also did one legged lunges with one foot on the wall, wall walk-ups for the hamstrings, and back rows. I think that was it? Felt tired and out of breath after only getting 5 hours of sleep.


Friday: Rest day.

Should have foam rolled and stretched. Didn't. Big mistake...


Saturday: .7 mile w/u + 6.2 mile (57:28) long run in Central Park - Joe Kleinerman 10K Race

Jogged to the start line at the east side of the 102nd St Transverse because I was running late (pun intended). It was a really dreary day, and on the lower loop you could barely see anything in the fog.

Ran this race as long run with a plan of 9:10-9:15 for most of the race then to drop the pace the final mile to "comfortably hard." Unfortunately I was stupid and didn't foam roll Friday and my legs felt really tight, unlike during my runs earlier this week. Bah. Lesson learned (I hope).

Not sure of my exact splits because my Garmin randomly died for 1/2 a mile, but here's what I have:
(1) 9:17, (2) 9:18, (3) 9:14, (4) 9:27, (.5) 9:38 (.5) ???, (6) 8:04, (.2) 8:03

I really fell off in miles 4-5 on the lower loop. Not sure why -- maybe the thick fog or some personal issues -- but since this was supposed to be an easy paced long run, I didn't want to push myself really hard and so I let my pace slow a bit. I was still able to kick it into high gear for the final mile, which made me happy.


Sunday: (1) 3.06 mile (29:11) recovery run in Central Park with Julianne and Ruthie. (2) 75 min. yoga class at Strala Yoga with Theodora.

Easy miles in Central Park. I didn't realize how windy it was and was underdressed -- took me an hour to warm up post-run! Legs felt pretty tired after my highest mileage week in a while, but fun to chat with friends.

Always love Strala's classes. Hadn't been there in ages because SoHo seems sooo far away, but glad I made it down there today. Fantastic class taught by Mike left me feeling so much looser. Yay yoga!


On Deck for the Week of 1/13

Phew, week 1 down and 9 weeks to go. Since the cold weather was insane last week, the hill repeats were pushed to this week.

Soo here we go!
• 1 yoga class
• 2 easy runs
• 1 session of hill repeats
• 2 strength workouts
• 1 long run


How was your weekend? Did you watch the Golden Globes?