The final weeks before the marathon are here and these days are just as important in the training program as the weeks prior. The choices I have made recently were not ideal and hopefully the damage I caused to my body will not affect my race.
This week was filled with all sorts of events. Unfortunately it falls at a bad time in my training. Rest, proper nutrition, and staying well hydrated is key in the weeks leading up to the marathon. I managed to achieve 1 out of the 3 for some of my busy days. I am big on eating healthy especially since I have 5 other mouths to feed.
However, when one of your closest friends gets nominated as Best Actress in a Short and Best Concept in a Short it is kind of hard not supporting her at an event that is sponsored by your family in the town you grew up in. There I was at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Golden Door International Film Festival held at the beautiful Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theater in Jersey City.
Once again Bill and Michele Sorvino put together a lovely, star-studded festival filled with some amazing films. They are a wonderful family that support the arts and the Jersey City community and I make it a point to attend this well run event.
The next two mistakes I could have lived without. After last week’s Newport Liberty Half Marathon my confidence was boosted and I felt I could conquer any race. That certainly was not the case for the Haworth 5k.
The town puts on a great race and I love supporting my fellow teammates who are residents. I woke up that morning confident and ready to run a sub-20 minute 5k like I did last year at this race. All was going well and there was not much pain in my heel.
3 out of my 4 kids were also competing. My husband decided to run with my 5 year old. I think he was the youngest participant😉. My fellow runner Delphine, who also is part of a running family, was competing as well. I always look forward to seeing her at the races. As the gun went off I let the excitement get the best of me and I did not follow my plan. Later I discovered this was not the best idea and I should have followed Roger’s advice to run a 6:20 pace. But when the adrenaline started pumping, I lost a couple of brain cells during the process😜. First of all, I went out too fast for the first mile so when I hit the second mile my legs felt like bricks. Instead of using a positive mantra, I just complained to myself like a whining little brat. I sped up a bit for the final mile but I just did not have the strength to finish strong enough. I lost first place by whopping 3 SECONDS! The place I came in did not bother me. It was my time of 20:12 that got me down. I have to remember that I am not training for speed and next time follow my coach’s advice.
I was happy for Delphine and she looked strong during her run. After the wave of disappointment passed, I realized I had pulled my hamstring😫. So lesson learned… do not run a 5k when you are tapering down from marathon training! My husband made the right choice by running with my 5 year old. Maybe I should have run with the 3 year old😜.
That evening we had tickets to see Morrissey, one of my favorite bands, at Kings Theater in Brooklyn. We were meeting up with a very close friend from high school as well. After today’s race, I needed to unwind and just enjoy life.
I am not a big drinker and maybe I had 3 glasses of wine instead of 2 glasses. It really hit me hard! I will spare you the gross details… let’s just say we had to give the Uber driver a couple of extra bucks to get his car cleaned. I swear, I think someone slipped me a Mickey! I don’t even want to tell you what I ate because it goes against everything I believe in. I think you can guess… 2 words that begin with B and K. Please don’t tell my kids!
After a lovely dehydrating evening, I woke up bright and early and attempted to run 14 miles with my teammates. I somehow managed to complete 12 miles at my required pace. Legally, I probably should not have been running or driving, but I just had to get the miles in.
I certainly have some major do-overs for this week. Hopefully I will be able to bounce back and any injuries will be minor.
WEEK 11 MARATHON TRAINING SCHEDULE
SEPTEMBER 19TH: DAY OFF
My body is not as beat up as I thought it would feel after running a decent pace half marathon. This is a good sign! I feel physically and mentally ready for the big day.
DO-OVER PLAN: none
CROSS-TRAINING: no
SEPTEMBER 20TH: RECOVERY RUN ~ 5 MILES
A very slow and easy pace run.
SNEAKER: Asics DS Trainers V21
START TIME: 8:30 am
I am feeling good today. I love running home to my little guy😃. I had my 2nd EPAT treatment… please work!!!
DO-OVER PLAN: none
CROSS-TRAINING: 1 hour fitness class
SEPTEMBER 21ST: TEMPO PACE RUN ~ 4 MILES
Warm up for 1 mile and then increase pace to just a little slower than your 10k pace (around 7:10 – 7:20 minute mile). Run at this pace for 4 miles. Cool down 1 mile.
SNEAKER: Asics DS Trainers V21
START TIME: 8:30 am
I am feeling a little sluggish today. My heel was ok during the run but ended up hurting a lot afterwards. I was actually limping.
DO-OVER PLAN: none
CROSS-TRAINING: 1 hour fitness class
SEPTEMBER 22ND: RECOVERY RUN WITH PICK-UPS ~ 5 MILES
Warm up 2 miles then include a 6 x 30 second pick-ups 6:20 – 6:30 pace. 4 – 5 minute easy recovery between. Easy cool down, stretch and foam roll.
SNEAKER: Asics DS Trainers V21
START TIME: 8:30 am
My heel is feeling better and I also have more energy. It felt good to do pick-ups today since I have not been doing much speed workouts for a while.
DO-OVER PLAN: none
CROSS-TRAINING: 1 hour fitness class
SEPTEMBER 23RD: RECOVERY RUN WITH PICK-UPS ~ 3 MILES
Warm up 2 miles then include a 3 x 30 second pick-ups 6:30 – 6:40 pace. 4 – 5 minute easy recovery between. Easy cool down, stretch and foam roll.
SNEAKER: Asics DS Trainers V21
START TIME: 9:00 am
There was much less heel pain when I got out of bed today. The run also went well. During the hip hop class I was experiencing some sharp pain in my knee. I took it easy as not to injure myself.
DO-OVER PLAN: no
CROSS-TRAINING: 1 hour hip hop class
SEPTEMBER 24TH: HAWORTH 5K ~ 3.1 MILES
This definitely was not my best race. There was no pain in my heel or knee while running but my legs felt weak. I mentally could not push myself either. I have not run this slow for a 5k in a while. To top it all off, I hurt my left hamstring. I have to remind myself I am not training for a 5k. The marathon is my goal.
DO-OVER PLAN: I should have run with my son.
CROSS-TRAINING: no
SEPTEMBER 25TH: ENDURANCE RUN ~ 12 MILES
8:25 – 8:45 pace, relaxed and easy pace.
SNEAKER: Asics DS Trainers V21
START TIME: 7:30 am
I had a rough night last night. I went to a Morrissey concert and the few glasses of wine got to my head. Luckily today was an easy pace, long run. Since the marathon is in 2 weeks, I do not want to miss any of my planned runs.
DO-OVER PLAN: No more going out and drinking!
CROSS-TRAINING: no
OVERVIEW: It is time to start tapering down and trust that my training will allow me to accomplish my goal on marathon day. This has definitely been a week of do-overs though. First of all, running a 5k two weeks before my marathon was not ideal. I went out too fast and pulled my hamstring. Second of all, having an extra glass of wine and staying out late was not the best way to recover after all the training I am doing. Proper rest, nutrition, and staying well hydrated will be my focus moving forward.
What do you do a few weeks before a race?
What is your favorite band?
Did you ever do anything out of the ordinary at a concert?
I love Guns n Roses but Morrissey will be next!
I heard Guns and Roses put on a great concert!
Love the pics of you and your kids!
Thank you so much!