Hanson’s/NYC Marathon Training: Week 17

Welp, the moment ~~we’ve all~~ I’ve been waiting for–RACE WEEK!!!

Marathon Goal– 3:50
Marathon Pace/Tempo Runs– 8:45
Strength Runs–8:35
Easy Runs–9:40-10:40
Long Runs–9:30

But first, last week’s numbers…

Monday, October 24th –5 Easy Miles @9:41 avg. pace

A little faster than “easy pace” miles with a friend. But like always, a good convo makes the run go by faster.

Tuesday, October 25th –8 miles: 1 mile WU, 5 miles @Strength Pace (w/400R), 1 mile CD

Strength pace is 8:35/mile and each mile of this workout was way faster than that. I have no idea how that happened. It was dark out when I started (at 4:45 in the morning) so I only saw my splits when the mile would beep. Each time, I would look in disbelief as I didn’t feel like I was pushing or working myself. I’d try to adjust, only to see the next mile be almost exactly the same.

I was running with a buddy who is usually meticulous with pacing but even he was off. We were just chatting along. It was cool to see this be a sort of conversation pace for me as I’d had had an awful training week the week before. Nevertheless, I knew that I should be more disciplined with my pacing so close to marathon day.

Wednesday, October 26th –Rest Day

Milked it. I knew I had a hard run the next day.

Thursday, October 27th –12 miles: 1 mile WU, 10 miles at Tempo/Race pace, 1 mile CD

I was a little worried about this run, not gonna lie. Last week’s tempo run was awful so I was going into this one not very optimistic.

But it went GREAT.

It was crazy o’clock in the morning again (4:30 start time) and I got in 3 miles on my own before meeting up with my run club. Then I ran with my Tuesday pacing buddy and it was deja vu. Each mile was faster than what it should’ve been and again, it didn’t feel hard. We chatted the entire way and then he left me on my last two miles.

This run was the confidence booster I needed. I was a little sad after last week’s struggles and this week’s two big runs (Strength & Tempo) had gone so well, it really helped ease some of the race anxiety I had already started to build up.

Friday, October 28th– Rest Day

This was an unexpected race day. I slept in with the intentions of running in the evening but then I remembered later that my book club had it’s monthly meet-up and that sounded so much better. I didn’t even feel guilty about missing a run.

Saturday, October 29th–8 Long Run Miles @9:22 avg. pace

I met up with my NYC training buddies for this run and it was just so much fun. Relaxed, social, and it flew by before I knew it.

Sunday, October 30th–6.2 Easy Miles @9:53

It was my Moms Run This Town’s Halloween run and by buddy and I made our own little 10k out of it 🙂

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six point two witchy miles

Which brought me to a grand total of 39.2 miles for the week. I seriously can’t believe that race week is NOW. I’ve already started packing and mentally preparing myself–trying my hardest to keep the nerves at bay. I keep thinking about the bridges and the hills and getting scared, but I know I’ve worked hard and what’s done is done. All I can do is show up confident with my training.

I’ve never worked so hard in my life and I definitely know I’m a different runner than I was 5 months ago. Geeze…..5 months. FIVE months of training.

Holy cow.

–How do you keep the racing nerves at bay?

–It’s been 90 degrees+ here. There’s no way I can prepare for NYC weather.
(I realize that ^ wasn’t a question, lol)

–I’ve been hydrating like a mad woman, carb loading smartly, resting as much as I can–what else should I be doing?

Hanson’s/NYC Marathon Training: Week 15

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon Training and tagged with Hanson's Marathon Method, Marathon Training, Taper, TCS NYC Marathon, Weekly Recap October 17, 2016

Taper taper bo baper, fee fie fo faper….taaaappeeer!!!!

Even though Hanson’s doesn’t have a real taper, I still have to celebrate finishing my last long run of the cycle!! 😀

Marathon Goal– 3:50
Marathon Pace/Tempo Runs– 8:45
Strength Runs–8:35
Easy Runs–9:40-10:40
Long Runs–9:30

Last week, I said I wanted to focus on making my easy runs easy since I knew Week 15 was a peak week. Happy to report that I did pretty good!

Monday, October 10th–5 Easy Miles, 10:30 average pace

See that? ^^ 10:30 average pace! It wasn’t too hard running slower as I was beat. I ran in the evening and it was 95 degrees out.

Tuesday, October 11–9 miles: 1 mile WU, 3x2miles @8:35 target pace (w/800R), 1 mile CD

My goal was to not run the 2 miles sets any faster than I needed to. I’ve been doing these strength runs a lot faster than needed and I really want to..I guess not work harder than I need, lol! I programmed the workout on my watch and it would yell at me when I was going too fast. Even though I’ve gotten better about consistency with my paces, I wanted them to not be consistently fast jaja!

1st set–8:34 average
2nd set–8:27 average
3rd set–8:34 average

Yay!

Wednesday, October 12th–GLORIOUS REST DAY

This was also “Skip Starbucks” day and I’m happy to report that my overall total for The Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research fundraiser is $3,200!!! 😀 To those who donated to this important cause (and I had many blogger buddies contribute)–THANK YOU!!! ❤

Thursday, October 13th–1 mile WU, 10 miles Tempo @8:45 target pace, 1 mile CD

I was very nervous about this run. It was the first (of three) of my long tempo runs and also the longest mid-week run I’ve ever done. You can tell something was up because it was a tale of two halves. The first half was too fast (like usual) and the second half was just right (where I told myself to get it together). I wish they were reverse so I could have had negative split halves but all is well. I was very happy with getting through it and still feeling good at the end.

First 5… (at mile 6 I said, “Whoa Helly!!”

…last 5

Friday, October 14th–5.5 Easy Miles @9:33 avg. pace

I know, I know…9:33 isn’t an easy pace. I headed over to the hills to meet up with some friends and honestly, I just kinda got caught up with chatting. It made me feel pretty good though, that I was talking while running up and down hills.

It was a super early run (4:00 a.m. wake up, 30 minute drive, 5:oo a.m. start) and it being the second of back-to-back early runs, I was beat when I got home. I started to feel a little tickle in my throat and just not well. I tried not to think about it too much and took some Nyquil before bed that night.

Saturday, October 15th–6.5 Easy Miles @10:32 avg pace

It was easier to run slower as I was still not feeling good. Luckily, I didn’t have to do this at crazy o’clock so I was able to get some rest. My kids had a race that morning, thankfully not too early, and I got to just wake up at our normal time.

My daughter smiled and laughed her way to 2nd place

❤

and my son finished in style jumping to the finish line

Sunday, October 16th–16 Miles at Long Run Pace, 9:30 (actual, 9:14 avg pace)

Having felt sick all weekend, I was not looking forward to this run. I slept horribly, waking up with chills (but sweating), and coughing throughout the night. I planned on starting at 5 a.m. to get 6 miles in and then meeting up to finish off 10 with a friend and my MRTT group. But, I couldn’t wake up. I just felt so tired that when my alarm went off at 4:30, I just couldn’t. I ended up starting at 5:40, getting 2 miles in, and then doing 12 with my buddy at 6 a.m.

Despite feeling horrible (I was sweating but cold), when I started running it seemed like my body/legs just knew what to do. I was hitting my paces and some (a lot) even faster but still consistent. My friend and I talked the entire way so the entire run was conversation pace; I didn’t feel like I worked for any of these miles.

I was SO happy with this run. It was the confidence booster I needed finishing of my highest mileage week ever and beginning the end of this training cycle. 🙂

Splits:

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And that’s a wrap on peak week! Total Mileage: 54 miles It was a tough back end but all the training leading up to allowed me to finish strong even though I wasn’t feeling 100%. I’m very happy with how this week went and even though I’m starting to really get nervous about the big day, I’m also really excited 😀

Oh, and super congrats to Katrina on smashing her marathon this weekend with a massive PR!!! You go girl!!! So freaking inspiring!!! ❤

–How do you mentally prepare yourself for race day? (As they say, the hay is in the barn and now I just have to run smart these last few weeks and believe in my training–tips on how to do that?)

–Did you race (or track anyone) this weekend?

–Do other people’s successes motivate you? It sure does for me!! I had so much fun following Katrina and seeing her Instagram celebration post!

Hanson’s/NYC Marathon Training: Week 14

Posted by hellyontherun in Marathon Training and tagged with Hanson's Marathon Method, Marathon Training, NYC Marathon, Running, Weekly Recap October 10, 2016

We are less than a month away, folks!!! And the nerves are settling in…

Marathon Goal– 3:50
Marathon Pace/Tempo Runs– 8:45
Strength Runs–8:35
Easy Runs–9:40-10:40
Long Runs–9:30

Monday, October 3– 5 Easy Miles, 10:01 avg. pace

Easy miles around my neighborhood. I feel like I’ve been trying to make these be slower but they’re not coming out as slow as I’d like. This struggle was pretty much the theme of the week. And I know I have to work harder as I want my easy runs to really be easy, especially as I get closer to Hanson’s “taper”.

Tuesday, October 4 –8 miles: 1 mile WU, 6 @Strength Pace, 1 CD

I was a little late meeting up with my run club and rushed going into this run, unnecessarily, as I’d spent the afternoon Halloween decorating (priorities, right?). So my warm up was faster than I would’ve liked, there should’ve been an 800 recovery between the 6 strength miles, and my cool down should’ve slower. I was pressed for time going in and then pressed for time finishing as I had a dinner date with friends. My six miles were faster than strength pace–this whole run was just not exactly what it should’ve been, lol.

Wednesday, October 5 –4 Easy Miles, 9:22 avg. pace (<–ugh, another too fast easy run)

What??!!! Isn’t Wednesday rest day??!!!

It is…BUT, my best running friend Jennifer had a run today and I wanted to squeeze in a good luck run with her before she left to tackle the Chicago Marathon (more on that a little later!).

Thursday, October 6– 11 miles: 1 mile WU, 9 Tempo miles, 1 mile CD

It’s getting harder to wake up now that it’s getting cooler. I actually like summer running (I know, crazy!) because when it’s cold outside, all I want to do is snuggle under the covers. Much easier to wake up at 4 when it’s hot than when it’s cold.

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Again, a little faster than tempo pace. I finally got it together a little after the first half…

I absolutely love this ^ quote. I feel like that’s something I’ve been working on a lot this year as far as goals and challenging myself–not compromising or settling and just going for it.

Friday, October 7th –0 miles, REST DAY

I moved my rest day to Friday since I didn’t get it mid-week. It worked nicely as we were driving out of town early morning.

Saturday, October 8th– 8.15 Easy Miles, 9:53 avg. pace (<—yep, too fast)

We were visiting my hometown on the border and I got in some easy (too fast) miles along the fences.

I did my run on this side…

…and then had post-run tacos on this side.

Sunday, October 9th —10 Long Run miles, 9:30 avg. pace

This was the only run this week that was right on target pace, lol! My splits were kinda all over the place but it averaged out to be exactly what it needed to be 🙂

What I liked about our route, and this was done intentionally, is that we made sure to have long inclines throughout (to help prep for those darn NYC bridges).

It doesn’t look like much of an incline, but I could certainly feel it.

My motivator for this run was getting back so that I could track my BRF Jennifer at the Chicago Marathon. The rest of the morning was spent seeing her little runner figure move across the course (the Chicago Marathon tracking app was amazing!) and screaming out loud to myself. She was doing so well and then finished strong snagging a MASSIVE PR!!

I saw her hard work first hand leading up to her big day and saw what hard work brings. Yes, I cried. I was/am so freaking proud of her. This is a picture she shared–she’s done 3 marathons, all of them Chicago and all of them for #TeamFox. ❤

My badass amiga Jennifer

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Total weekly mileage : 46.37 An overall great week. I need to get my easy runs back to being easy. I had been doing well in previous weeks, just need to get back there. I can’t believe the big day is less than a month away….

–Did you know anyone doing the Chicago Marathon??

–Do you find yourself compromising with goals you’ve set?

–Am I the only one that decorates for Halloween?