New York City Marathon Training: Week 4

Hello from the other side of my fourth week of New York City Marathon training! We are officially 12 weeks out from Race Day, which seems…soon. Holy cow.

Week 4 marked another really solid week of training for me. My mom was in town visiting from New Hampshire (Mom, come back! I miss you! Ellie misses you!), and it was a scorcher of a week here in the northeast, but I still managed to get all my miles in, plus two doses of yoga and one quick trip to the gym.

Monday, August 8: Yoga (75 minutes)

I was up at 5 AM to get work done before heading to Lyons Den for a 75-minute class with Bethany. It was hard and sweaty, but I felt pretty strong and grounded. I love starting my week with yoga.

At night, I cooked zoodles for dinner. I am amazing. I know.

Tuesday, August 9: Track Tuesday: 8 x 400 + 1 mile at marathon pace (7 miles total)

Another 5 AM wakeup, then off to the track. And my track buddies were back! Sam and Emily were both at the track, and what a difference that made!

We did eight 400m repeats, and then I was supposed to run a mile at marathon pace (8:30–8:45ish, TBD) without looking at my watch. The goal for this workout is to get your body used to locking into goal pace on tired legs. If you’re going by the numbers, you could say the marathon mile was a fail, but I’m obviously not mad it was much faster than intended (7:54 pace).

I loved this workout and loved having company for it. Those 400m splits are getting faster than they were a few weeks ago! (Check out the last one: 1:34!)

Wednesday, August 10: November Project (9 miles)

That 4:20 AM alarm, ouch. This week’s November Project workout was Olympics-themed, naturally.

We got really dirty doing lots of on-the-ground stuff. Mix humidity and sweat with dirt, and I was filthy by the end. During the 5:28 AM workout, I was paired with Ryan Starbuck, who is one of our fastest guys, so I had to bust my butt to keep up with him [and he slowed way down for me — nice guy]. Between the workouts and the run back to the ferry, I got 9 miles in for the day.

Thursday, August 11: Easy Run (6.2 miles) + Strength Training

Up at 5 AM — or so I tried. I apparently reset my alarm and woke up at 6, at which point it had already gotten hot enough outside for my run to feel steam room-ish. I ran 6.2 easy, steamy, unremarkable miles under the very hot sun.

And at night, I actually went to my building’s gym to lift! It felt so good, and spending some time with dumbbells reminded me that I need to make this a priority. I was excited to wake up a little sore in the arms the next day. I also want to start building my core strength and doing more plank stuff. I used to be able to hold a 5-minute plank (dude, how??) and now I struggle to maintain proper plank form for two minutes. I managed a 2:17 plank this week, so I’ll try to build off that, while working in side planks and other fun planking activities.

And then, I cooked dinner, after which Brian wanted to go to Ben & Jerry’s to get ice cream. So we went, and guess what? I didn’t get anything. I wanted to save my weekly ice cream for the weekend, so I resisted. I’m so brave.

Friday, August 12: Long Run (14 miles)

I always like to think I am unaffected by the heat. But I am wrong. I hate to complain about the weather, but it’s been pretty brutal around these parts lately. It’s so hot, the sun is so strong, and the humidity hovers at something like 90 percent. It makes for rough running — and functioning in general.

I woke up at 5 AM to get my long run done, and it was suffocatingly humid the moment I stepped out the door. I took the ferry into Manhattan so I could run up the west side, over the George Washington Bridge, and then south to arrive back home in West New York. Operation “Mix Up Long Run Routes” in effect. Hooray!

The first seven miles went great and I was loving running up toward the Little Red Lighthouse (a classic long run for marathoners-in-training!). Then I got a little lost trying to get to the ramp leading up to the bridge (I’ve done it by bike plenty of times, but I attempted a slightly different route by foot, and it didn’t go well) which was frustrating.

Once I got over the bridge (so fun and pretty!) and ran the nice downhill into New Jersey, I was dead. I struggled to put one foot in front of the other, the sun had come out, and I was miserably hot. I took a bunch of walk breaks and somehow made it home, but it wasn’t anything special. I just keep telling myself that all these hot summer runs will lead to a faster fall — right?

And then I failed to function for the rest of the day. I was beat.

Saturday, August 13: Yoga (90 minutes)

Hot yoga on a hot day. Such a good idea. I took Bethany’s 90-minute class at Lyons Den, which felt like a bold choice considering the weather. But I like doing yoga the day before a race, so there I was, melting in the only place in the city that was hotter than the weather outside. What a bunch of masochists we all were in the studio that day.

But class was fun and I overcame my fear of snapping my neck to do my first-ever classical headstand! I’ve been able to do tripod headstands for a little while now, but was always terrified to do a “real” headstand. Now I can do it, though! And I just want to keep doing it all day long. And making Brian watch.

Sunday, August 14: Brooklyn Mile Race Day (2 mile warm-up + 1 mile race)

The inaugural Brooklyn Mile was so much fun! It was my first mile race, I was super nervous about it, and I wanted to hopefully break 7 minutes. I ended up running a 6:23, which I am totally pumped about, especially since the race started at 9:30 AM, when it was already super steamy outside. I had a great day with my November Project teammates, and am proud of my time. Recap forthcoming.

Until then, here are the week’s totals…

RUN DAYS: 5

CROSS-TRAINING DAYS: 2

TOTAL MILEAGE: 39.2 miles

TOTAL ICE CREAM: 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream. But only because it came with my chocolate lava cake dessert on Sunday…

TOTAL ALCOHOL: 4 glasses of bubbly stuff. One glass of champagne at dinner with my mom and Brian on Tuesday, another at dinner on Saturday, and two glasses of sparkling rosé at dinner on Sunday.

What went great: Tuesday’s track workout was a confidence booster, I actually went to the gym to lift (only once, but that’s more than in the previous four weeks!), I did a headstand, and I beat my sub-7:00 time goal at the Brooklyn Mile. I’m seeing improvements, and that excites me tremendously.

Where I need to improve: I did not get on my foam roller even once this week. Fail.

Motivational quote that best summarizes Week 4 of training: “I am the best goddamn dancer in the American Ballet Academy, who the hell are you? Nobody.” —Maureen Cummings, Center Stage

New around here? Here’s how training has gone so far:

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR TRAINING THIS WEEK! What went awesome, what went less awesome, and how many glasses of champagne did you have?