Training Update: Marathon Madrid Wk. 1

Alrighty, here we go. Time to train for another marathon and this one will be in Madrid.

download-1.png

Before I begin, I guess that I'm officially registered for NYC's Marathon, which will be held on Sunday, Nov. 1st. It looks like there will be no Halloween festivities for me this year. Man. Back in 2005, if you told me that I would pay over 200 bucks to run a marathon, I would have looked at you like you had ten heads. My how things have changed.

x3cifudsnybg6w7sfawq_thumb_4128.jpg

Although this was the first week of training for Madrid's marathon, I have not 100% decided on a marathon training plan. I'm pretty much going to take bits and pieces from multiple training plans. Some from Hanson's Method, Hal Higgons, and Front Runners of NY. Like most of my marathon training plans, we all know that this plan more than likely will go to sh*t by week 8 or 9. Why do I set myself up for failure? ;)

General Training Crap

-This is probably a stupid idea, but I completed my first week of 16:8 intermittent fasting (IF). It seems a bit weird to do IF while training for a marathon, but I really need to lose some weight. It's simple physics or mechanics; smaller things tend to move faster. My big a** needs to move faster. 

 
ywjd4rwtcw3et6fhtgaeg_thumb_415d.jpg
 

Tuesday was a bit of a fail because the office catered lunch from Dinosaur BBQ. I'll be damned if I will turn down free BBQ. Oh, Dino BBQ's creamed corn is SOOOOO amazing. 

 

Monday: Strength Training and 3.25mi

Tuesday: Strength Training

Wednesday: x-train

Thursday: Speedwork (Morning) + Zumba (Evening)

Since I obviously would to get faster at some point in my life, I definitely will need to incorporate more speed (and hill) work during this training regimen. Yeah, I'll probably never return to my 8:30min/mi half marathon pace status from seven or eight years ago, but I can always try.

For my speed workout, I wanted to run twelve 0.25mi hard intervals with 0.25mi easy recovery. I was kind of excited to do this workout because I found a portion of Central Park that has a 0.25mi circular dirt path.

 
speed work.jpg
 

However, I think that I was too excited because I did not notice how cold (25F) it was on Thursday morning until I started to run the intervals. After running about 4 of these intervals, my fingers were quite cold, and I had to run to the nearest New York Sports Club. After the run, I jogged to the gym to stretch, but my fingers were still feeling weird for 30 minutes after the run. So I learned an important lesson from this workout - WEAR GLOVES FOR ANY OUTDOOR WORKOUTS BELOW 30F. Actually, I don't even know where my running gloves are. 

Since I did not do as much as I wanted to on the "track", I decided to hit up a Zumba class, which I've been missing. Since joining New York Sports Club, I have not attended a Zumba class since January. I think that I attended my last Zumba a week before Christmas.

zumba.jpg

The Zumba class was just oooookay. I'm not sure if this was because I'm not used to this instructor's method of teaching . . . aka the spazztastic method. I probably will not make this class a weakly thing. One of my biggest pet peeves with Zumba is when the instructor does not have his/her playlist together. We should not have to stop after every song so you can find the next song. 

Friday: HIIT and Stretching

Saturday: Long run (10.5mi)

The plan was to run 12 miles, but my strugglin' a** was a bit tired. I think that I had one too many of gin tonics at one of my favorite Spanish restaurants (Tomiño Taberna Gallega) the night before. See, I'm already screwing up my marathon training. 

 
I guess old habits are hard to break

I guess old habits are hard to break

 

For this long run, I wanted to try a completely different route so I ran from Harlem to Fort Lee, NJ.

 
PYHh4FbaRSuAyg9gcYSiHQ_thumb_4158.jpg
 

My run was just ok, but I probably put in about 70% effort on this run. I really was not feeling this run. It was one of those runs where you look at your GPS tracker and you are like: Wait! I've only completed 2 miles. I thought that I was at mile 4 or 5. After mile 2, I knew that the run was going to be a bit of a struggle. Going forward, there will be no hanging out on Friday nights . . . Well, very minimal hanging out on Fridays.

 
long run.jpg
 

Oh one cool thing about the run: I found $10 bucks during the run. Dollar, dollar bills, y'all.

 
longrun money.jpg
 

Upcoming Race: Rockapulcorun V-Day Half Marathon (Feb. 15)

According to the email that the organizer sent, it looks like there will be a brunch after the race. I wonder if there will be unlimited mimosas? ;)

we will be at Rogers Pub from 8:30 am on. Number pick up and race day reg. Then a nice Brunch after the Half. Sign up and our full calendar at www.rockapulcorun.com

Find me on Strava

https://www.strava.com/athletes/26357948

NYC Marathon Training Update

Well, I’m back . . . not really.

A week later, and my hip feels a bit better. This hiccup in my marathon training plan made me a bit depressed. I think my hateration has converted into marathon training FOMO/depression. I am a member of a couple of NYC Marathon FB groups, and I was getting annoyed with folks’ weekend long run posts. What was I doing yesterday? Eating pizza and watching old episodes of “Married with Children”. Random: I love the episodes where the Bundys and the D’Arcys visited England. Over the past couple of weeks, I have not done much of any physical activity. Yes, I’m having a hip issue, but it really does not prevent me from doing other physical activities such as biking, stair climbing, or weight lifting. I think it's just a case of me being lazy and unable to adapt to not training for NYC Marathon. Also, I have been overeating (and drinking) quite a bit over the two weeks. I’m sure gaining more weight will not make life easier when my injury heals.

That’s gonna change TODAY.

I’m going to try my hardest to start 16:8 fasting again and hitting the gym at least 4 times a week. Although the NYC Marathon may be out of the question, I am going to Hawaii next month. I really do not want to be swimming or hot-tubbing with a shirt on (even with my tinea versicolor spots).

Keep hope alive

7C8AEF21-0685-4938-8FAB-E9EE468C1D92.jpg

I am still on the fence about NYC Marathon. According to today’s email, NYRR has informed me that I have the Grete’s Great Gallop 10K this Saturday. I guess that I can use this race/gallop to see where I am with this hip thing. Since we are about a month away from NYC’s marathon, I’m hoping that I can run at least half of it, and run/jog/walk/crawl/uber the rest of it. It feels a bit of a waste to “defer” until next year and pay the registration fees again. since I am cheap as hell. Ok, time will tell.

Trying not to cry over the spilled milk – Madrid 2020

If the hubby wants to visit his family in Spain during the spring; perhaps, I can tack on the Rock n Roll Madrid Marathon to the trip. It would be nice to run an international marathon; I’ve only run a half marathon in Montreal. Well, I was supposed to do the full marathon, but I was injured (of course). Eh, we’ll see. Madrid's marathon looks like it will take you all over the place.