Hope you had a great weekend! I was working almost all day Saturday, so it was a pretty low key weekend because I wanted to spend Sunday relaxing (i.e. sitting on the couch). I was really busy at work all week, hence the lack of posts, so a lazy Sunday was awesome.
This was basically me on Sunday after my run, minus the bitchy expression. I also finally saw 12 Years a Slave, which was incredible. I am 100% rooting for it for Best Picture and Chiwetel Ejiofor for Best Actor come the Academy Awards. I just thought it was far and away the best of the Oscar movies I've seen, and it's a film that I think will really stand up to time.
Anyway, since there's not much to talk about life-wise, let's talk training. It's only been three weeks but I feel like it's been months! I blame the deep freeze settled upon the eastern part of the U.S. for that.
This week, and going forward, I'm adding more notable fueling. I generally don't eat before my weekday runs, unless it's an evening run and I need to eat something between lunch and dinner to get me through my workout. On the weekends, though, I often go out a bit later, so I have to eat. I figure keeping a record of how I'm fueling can't possibly hurt!
NYC Half 2014 Training - Week 3 Recap
Monday: Recovery day.
I'm calling it a recovery day because I didn't 100% rest, as in I moved a bit. My legs felt pretty tight, so I spent 20 minutes cycling at an extremely low resistance. Just wanted to get them moving, and they felt looser and warmed-up after. Spent another 15 minutes foam rolling and stretching, focusing on my super tight calves.
Tuesday: 4 mile tempo run (35:16) on treadmill at 0% incline + 5 minute abs.
 |
| I wish pictures could capture how pretty sunrises are from the rooftop gym! |
Finished with five minutes of abs -- one minute each: forearm plank, left side plank, right side plank, foream plank again, then 25 push-ups.
Wednesday: 60 minutes strength training with Amanda.
Started with two rounds of 30 seconds jumping rope, 30 seconds mountain climbers, and 10 push-ups with one foot in the TRX strap and one lifted off the ground. Then one round of heavy deadlifts, negative hamstring curls, side-walking squats with resistance band and squat jumps, boat pose with chest press and magic circle squeezes, and reverse crunches on TRX. Two more rounds of the first set, replacing jumping rope with weighted punches with high knees and weighted jumping jacks, then another round of the main exercises. Finished with some deep stretching.
Felt "off" when I woke up -- super sleepy and lethargic despite getting 7 hours of sleep. Went a bit slower than normal, and probably didn't give 100% effort, but still felt like Amanda kicked my
Thursday: (1) 60 minutes strength training. (2) 5 mile easy run (47:51) on treadmill at 0-.5% incline.
 |
| More rooftop sunrises... better than a treadmill picture, right? |
Was going to run on the treadmill with friends who I invited over to my in-building gym, but one treadmill was broken down. Since I have constant access to the gym, I told them to run and I used the time to complete a strength workout. Completed two rounds of the Lesko Dozen core exercises + 15 minutes stretching and foam rolling. I'd run 1/2 a mile on the treadmill before they arrived, so only had 4.5 miles left for the evening.
Quick note of gym courtesy -- since my friends aren't residents, I made sure that they were okay with getting off the treadmills if a resident came up and wanted to use the treadmills. Only one resident did, and Julianne courteously hopped off for 20 minutes or so. Swear I wasn't taking treadmills away from rent-paying residents :)
Fueled with some Greek yogurt and a KIND bar around 4pm. Totally didn't want to run when I got home from work at 7:30pm, but Sourabh wisely told me I had to and accompanied me to Equinox. Ran 2.5 miles at .5% incline with average pace of 9:41/mile, before pausing for 5 minutes to answer a few work emails. Then ran 2 miles at 0% incline with average pace of 9:36/mile. Listened to a podcast with Ana Gasteyer, who seems like a really awesome person (you probably know her from the Schweddy Balls SNL sketch or as Lindsay Lohan's mom in Mean Girls).
Friday: Rest day.
Saturday: 9 mile long run (1:25:17), 6 miles outside and 3 miles on treadmill.
Warmest day in a while and it was still below freezing. Awesome. Had to work all morning so was running in the snow around 1pm. Since it was windy, by mile five I was over the snow-in-face and took it indoors. Had oatmeal for breakfast then fueled with a Picky Bar before and "refueled" with a bagel after. Something about cold runs makes me crave bagels. Listened to a podcast interview with Key & Peele, whose sketch show is hilarious (their sketches are on Comedy Central's website and they kept me entertained while I worked the rest of the day).
Had to do two rounds of Harlem Hills -- ran over the 102nd St Transverse then two counter-clockwise loops of the uppermost loop before heading down the east side, turning west at the Great Lawn and heading home from there.
Outside: (.2) untimed (1) 9:20, (2) 10:02, (3) 10:01, (4) 9:53, (5) 9:46, (.8) 9:31
Treadmill at 0% incline: (7) 9:23, (8) 9:13, (9) 7:58
I thought I was supposed to do the last mile fast but after looking at my training plan I wasn't. Oops.
Sunday: 5.1 mile easy run + 4x20 second strides (50:45).
5.1 miles easy paced with Allie while she ran the Manhattan Half, including Harlem Hill, then 4x20 second strides.
Stride splits: (1) 6:49, (2) 7:33, (3) 5:52, (4) 7:03.
Ate oatmeal for breakfast, otherwise didn't fuel. Felt a bit full the whole time. Legs didn't feel amazing, but I felt pretty good otherwise, despite the frigid temps.
On Deck for the Week of 1/27:
[Totally forgot to add this and am doing so Monday morning! Oops!]
- 1 easy run with strides
- 2 strength training sessions (1 long, 1 short)
- 1 spin session
- 1 set of Harlem Hill repeats (I'M SO SCARED)
- 1 yoga class
- 1 long run (10 miles! Back to double digits!)
Do you fuel for early morning runs? How?
This weather sure makes it tough to run outside--those folks who did the half yesterday are superstars! I always eat something before my morning workouts; it's usually a granola bar, or sometimes I'll do a banana. Since I leave the apartment about 30 minutes before practice starts, I have plenty of time to digest. ;)
ReplyDeleteI honestly have a hard time eating anything before morning workouts. And I have had some really great runs despite running on empty. Probably not the best but its worked for me!
ReplyDeleteUmm and how many weeks until the NYC Half? My longest run last week was 5. Oops.
Sometimes when I'm just doing short runs I'll skip and just refuel after. I have some digestive trouble and am USUALLY pressed for time. If I have time to digest, toast an PB is my go-to, along with some green tea.
ReplyDelete