NYC Marathon Training Wk 5

Planned Miles: 26

Completed Miles: 15

Before getting into the recap, I'm going to give myself a hand for making it through July. As always, with a new month, I'll quickly check in to see how I'm progressing with my run 2022 km in 2022.

While I made some progress, I'm a little bummed that I did not run as many miles as I wanted to in July. However, I will not beat myself up too much over this because it was a bit difficult fitting in miles while moving and setting ourselves up in our new state of Virginia. However, I think that I have developed some sort of groove going forward.

Overall, I think this week went fine for the most part. Yes, it has been tough dealing with the heat and humidity of southern Virginia, but I'm getting it together, which is great because we have less than 100 days until NYC Marathon Sunday.

Since I have been complaining about the heat and humidity, I decided to do something about it and joined my local rec center that's a few miles from my house.

Man oh man does this place bring back so many memories from my pre-teen years. While the rec center does not have all the amenities that a fancy (or near-fancy) gym might have, it has all of the basics needed. All I need is a treadmill so I can escape the heat and do some of my runs indoors. Oh, also, the rec center has an indoor track. However, I'm not sure if I will use it because 8 laps equal 1 mile, and I know that I will lose count if I have to do anything more than 3 miles. ;)

Running aside, I have incorporated swimming laps into my groove, and I will say that it was nice doing something different physically. Perhaps, in the near future, I might take some swimming lessons so I can relearn how to PROPERLY swim the four strokes and do flip turns. Also, I'm very much intrigued with checking out some of the Zumba classes at the rec center. For those that have been following this thing, I became a fan of Zumba as a means of recovery after a lower back injury. Random thought: I hope that I'm not the only one under 50 (or only male) in the class. ;)

Long Run Chronicles:

This week's long run was 12 miles, but it was such as struggle. Unfortunately, I started the run a bit late at 8 am (instead of 6 am), which threw me off a little bit.

For my pacing, I have been following the times above that I obtained from Runner's World calculator. We'll just ignore the 1st Quarter Running Goals title. According to my chart, my long-run pace should be 11:31 - 12:55 min/mi, which is manageable. For my recent long runs, I walk about 1/10th of a mile after completing each mile. Even with walking it out, my pace falls around 11:55. So a couple of things:

• Am I running too fast?

• Am I taking it too easy on myself with the 1/10th of a mile recovery? I'm doing the recovery because I still do not think that I've fully acclimated to the heat and humidity here. Then again, does anyone really acclimate to the heat and humidity?

For the most part, the long run went well until the halfway mark. Here's an example of my mental state.

For future long runs, I need to do a little research in the area and find a park with more shade. I'm usually fine running through neighborhoods, but things go a little left once I reach Mt. Trashmore. While it is a beautiful park, there is not a lot of shade . . . at least for me.

Tech annoyance:

While I'm not gonna let technology break me, I would be lying if I did not admit Apple Watch and/or Strava have been annoying.

Going forward, I think that I'm doing to take a quick trip to the beach after my long runs. BUUUUT, I will not get tacos during these post-run beach excursions because I really need to drop a few pounds.

For whatever reason, Apple Watch is not recording the complete routes that I have been running. For instance, I did start and end at the points indicated on this map. Also, I think something is going on with how my Apple Watch has been syncing with Strava. For instance, my Apple Watch recorded ~12 miles while Strava recorded ~8 miles. I know my Apple Watch's distance is correct (or near correct) because I mapped out a similar route on the Strava app.

Etcetera:

I've added daily yoga and Core de Force (an MMA cardio workout) to this week's activities. Maybe, I'm doing do d*mn much.

From a recent yoga workout.

Um Faith, letting go of the stress and chaos is a lot easier than it sounds. ;)

NYC Marathon 2022 Training Plan:

Image from Hal Higdon Training (Link ***)

Goals for the week:

-Keep on keeping on.

NYC Marathon Training Wk 4

Planned Miles: 26

Completed Miles: 15

I did not quite meet my goals for this training week, BUT I did move from NY to VA last weekend so I can cut myself some slack. While I ran only 15 of my 26 miles for the week, I did my 11-mile long run at least. Aren’t long runs the most important part of marathon training? ;)

I gotta say this is going to be my toughest NYC Marathon training season. My training plan is not super difficult, but it is going to take some time to acclimate to this VA heat and humidity.

Some weather stats for the beginning of my long run, which I started at 5:10 am on Sunday.

I guess there will be a lot of early morning runs in my immediate future. Also, I guess that Mt. Trashmore Park will be my new 'Central Park' for my training runs. Oh, this reminds me that I should check out the local rec center because I also have a feeling that there will be a lot of treadmill runs in my future. Oh (part II), I hear this rec center has an aqua track too. :)

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Some info about Mt. Trashmore

“Mount Trashmore Park, also known simply as Mount Trashmore, is a city park located in Virginia Beach, Virginia which opened in 1974, Mount Trashmore is an example of landfill reuse, as its creation consisted of the conversion of an abandoned landfill into a park. The park spans 165 acres (67 ha) with hills larger than 60 feet (18 m) high and 800 feet (240 m) long. Mount Trashmore Park also has multiple walking trails — a Perimeter Trail that measures 1.95 miles (3.14 km), a Lake Trail that measures 1.45 miles (2.33 km), and a Mountain Trail that measures 1.30 miles (2.09 km). The Lake Trail and the Hill Trail may be combined for a trail measuring 2.75 miles (4.43 km). The park also features two lakes where fishing is permitted. Since its opening in the 1970s, it ranks as the most popular park in Virginia Beach, with attendance of over one million visitors a year”

— Wikipedia

This park always has had a special place in my heart because our high school cross country meets and practices in this park were held in Mt. Trashmore.

A LOL moment regarding this intersection. Back in my high school days, there used to be a diner that 'specialized' in doughnuts. During my senior of high school, our track & field team had only one coach, who did not give two sh*ts about the long-distance runners. Normally, the team would have two coaches - one for short-distance runners and the other for long-distance. While actively coaching the short-distance runners at the track, he would be like run around the neighborhood surrounding the school for an hour or so. One day, someone in the group was like let's just go to the doughnut diner and chill there and run back to practice. I co-signed because I did not have sh*t else to do. ;) Since I had received all of my college acceptances and selected my college, I had developed a severe case of senioritis so I was not terribly concerned with not being the best track athlete that I could be. Let's just say the CHS Crusaders did not do so well in our first 3-4 meets in the men's 1600 and 3200. Eventually, someone told the coach about our shenanigans, and he started driving along our route to make sure we were doing our workout.

How do you reward yourself after struggling through an 11-mile run?

A couple of hours at the beach

Tacos - Mahi Tacos to be exact

Going forward, I think that I'm doing to take a quick trip to the beach after my long runs. BUUUUT, I will not get tacos during these post-run beach excursions because I really need to drop a few pounds.

Speaking of the beach (Va Beach Oceanfront)

My picture from the RnR Va Beach Half Marathon (Sept 2021) is still the featured shot for the beach's Yelp page. LOL

NYC Marathon 2022 Training Plan:

Image from Hal Higdon Training (Link ***)

Goals for the week:

-Return to my Beachbody on Demand program and intermittent fasting.

-Daily stretches

-Try to be in bed by 10 pm and asleep by 11 pm.

-Return to my Core de Force MMA workouts.

NYC Marathon Training Wk 1

Planned Miles: 22

Completed Miles: 21

Someone in one of my FB running groups posted this meme. Just as an FYI, I'm the Black dude in the back of the meme. ;) Here's the original picture from which the meme is based.

It's on like Donkey Kong

I think that my first week of NYC Marathon 2022 training went very well. Of course, it went well because the first week is the easiest week. I'll admit that I do not feel so confident coming into this training season, but that's 100% my fault. My fault because I did not put in a lot of groundwork during my pre-marathon training season, so I feel like I'm really starting from scratch. Actually, what are two levels below starting from scratch? For example, my 8.5 mi long was a struggle because I did a 1/10th of a mile recovery walk after each mile. I guess it was not too horrible of an attempt because according to my training goal, I still stayed within my long run time range of 11:31-12:55 min/mi.

Yes, I know these numbers are from the first quarter, which should have been accomplished in March. I'm just a few months behind my 2022 running goals. ;)

I guess y'all are right: waking up earlier is the best way to get the long run out of the way. ;)

You gotta fake it (with the smile) to make it at 6:34 am on a Sunday morning. Technically, I wanted to do my long run on Saturday, but I had a little too much fun hanging out with friends on Friday night (yes, there were shots were involved) and did not rise to the occasion on Saturday morning. While my running plan calls for Sunday long runs, I like planning my long runs for Saturdays. You know, just in case something happens on Saturday (well Friday night) then I have Sunday as a buffer. Come to think about it. Since we'll be moving to VA in a couple of weeks, I do not think that I will have too many issues with missing my Saturday long runs.

I'll say my worst run this week was my Friday easy 3-mile run. It was my worst run for the week because I could not get out to do the run until 12 pm when it was hot as hell.

Random:

Oh, I think this is the first time that I finished a Runchat scavenger hunt.

NYC Marathon 2022 Training Plan:

Image from Hal Higdon Training (Link ***)

Goals for the week:

-Return to daily stretching and foam rolling.

-Try to have at least one FULL day of clean eating.

-Return to my Core de Force MMA workouts.

Race Report: 2022 Achilles Hope & Possibility 4M

DATE: June 26, 2022; 8:15 am

DISTANCE: 4 MI

PLACE: Manhattan (Central Park), NY

WEATHER: 78 DEGREES, 64% HUMIDITY, CALM WIND

OFFICIAL TIME / PACE: Who cares? / who cares

FINISHERS: 6,715

SWAG: Tech t-shirt

Quick Stats:

Courtesy of NYRR

Summary:

A little deja vu, huh? Yup, in an effort to get as many 9+1 races out of the way before I leave NYC, I "ran" two races over the weekend.

A little information about this race:

“Celebrate disability inclusion at the 20th annual Achilles Hope & Possibility® 4M Presented by TD Bank on Sunday, June 26. By racing, you help support Achilles International’s mission to break down barriers to the start line for athletes with disabilities and empower athletes to cross the finish line. The race leads into July’s Disability Pride Month and the anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.”

— New York Road Runners (NYRR)

I'm gonna say that finishing this race was a bit bittersweet because this was my last NYRR (or NYC race) until NYC Marathon. That is if I can return to NYC to run the marathon in Nov.

The course for the race pretty much was the same as FRNY Pride Run's course that was held on the previous day, so I guess there were no surprises for Sunday. ;)

After Sunday's race, I think that my Apple Watch is on the fritz because once again it did not log my miles until I reached the E90s. Similar to the Pride Run, I decided to jog/walk from a local park in the W 120s to the start line in the E 60s before starting the race.

Don't you hate it when technology fails?

For Achilles Hope & Possibility Run, I did yet another type of interval run similar to the previous day's Pride Run. I did hard sprints for 200 m and jogged/walked as recovery for 400 m. This probably was not a great idea since the race tends to have many runners with disabilities and their assistants. Doing fast sprints near the back of the pack meant having to weave in and out of crowds of runners. Do not get me wrong, I'm not saying that I had a problem with disabled runners in this race especially because this race is supposed to celebrate them. I'm just saying that I probably should have done the hard interval runs during the previous day's race instead.

I gotta say that I was quite surprised that we received medals upon completing the race, which was a nice NYRR going-away gift. Also, it was cool to find out that this race has been around for 20 years.

Also, this race gave me an opportunity to check off another category for The Runchat's scavenger hunt. For this one, I checked off Animals (of any kind!). While I used the cougar sculpture on Cat Hill, the category did not say that the animal had to be a living creature ;)

Not sure if this is snow or snot.

It's nice when the virtual and real world collide.

While running the race, or maybe I was doing a recovery jog at that point, I felt some tap my back and shoulder. It turns out that it was one of my Twitter friends - meaning that we only communicated via Twitter (primarily through The Run Chat). After the race, he found me again, and we chatted for a few minutes.

A little post-race fun:

Since I was a bit in recovery mode from my birthday shenanigans, I decided to have a simple post-race breakfast at a local greasy spoon restaurant. Although I took it easy for my birthday this year, I did have quite a few cocktails, glasses of wine, and pints of beer throughout the day. After my post-race breakfast, I gave my feet some much-needed TLC with a nice soak and decrusting.

Playlist:

The same playlist that I used for the previous day's Pride Run.