Week 0. Huh?
I figure that since I put all of my training session into my calendar for a 16-week training plan.
I thought to myself, what's one more week? Why not get started now? Plus, I have a tendency to be quite random with my training plans so I'll probably end up missing or skipping a week or two.
General housekeeping:
-Since I have back issues (and I slouch way too much at work and home), I have decided to do my back stretches and foam rolling 1-2X every day.
-Also, I have joined a 30 burpee for 30 days challenge, and it's going well . . . for now.
-I'm a little concerned with a slight pain in (or behind) my shin. It does not hurt when I run or walk, but I do feel a tingle every now and then - especially walking up and down stairs. I'm a bit worried because I have had a couple of stress fractures in that leg in the past. I even had to cancel my registration to San Francisco's Marathon a few years ago because of one of these stress fractures in that leg.
So hot outside. The sweat is just dripping off of my head.
Monday: Planned 5mi easy; Actual 3mi
I'm such a doofus. I planned to incorporate this run with Harlem Run's Monday Night Fun Run. I was so excited to start the fun run that I left work at 5:30 pm and was at the meeting spot at 6 pm. So what's the problem? The running group meets at 7 pm. I thought of going home and coming back out at 7. But, I knew if I went home, I probably would not come back out to run so just ran three miles. I really wanted to run the full five miles but it was way too hot out.
Tuesday: 2.5 miles with 0.3mi hill repeats
I wanted to do a few more hill intervals during this workout, but I was cutting my time kind of close. I was invited to sit on a 'what you can be with a Ph.D.' type panel at UPenn, and I had to be at the train station to travel from NYC to Philly by 9 am. I got up bright an early and did this workout on the infamous hills in the north of Central Park.
Wednesday: Planned/Actual X-train, Zumba (45 min)
Thursday: Planned 5mi; Actual Rest
I was supposed to run 4 miles, but I was so exhausted to the point that I was falling asleep a work.
Friday: Planned/Actual Rest
Saturday: Planned 10mi; Actual 9.7mi
My first "long" run for this marathon training season. Since I registered for NYRR Retro 4mi, I decided to incorporate this race into my long run, or rather, incorporate my long run into the race. The plan was to run three miles before the race, run the 4-mile race, then run another three miles after the race. This plan worked out perfectly because my apt is about three miles from the start and the finish of the race. I'm not going to lie, but this run was kind of hard because of the heat. Although it was a struggle, I was happy that I finished even though I had to stop a couple of times.
Enjoying a post-run slushie on a hot day.
Sunday: Strength training and stretching
Random 1
After this week's long run, I took my first ice bath. Boy, was it COLD. I cannot say if I see/feel the benefits just yet, but I think that I will try it again after next week's long run.
Random 2
After my ice bath, I made healthy "ice cream" by blending frozen bananas with a bit of milk. I have to say it was not THAT bad . . . once I mixed some peanut butter and M&M's in it.
Note, I did not use the entire bag of M&Ms for this batch.