I ran 14.44 miles on Sunday with 7:42 splits. By the end my legs were trashed, but had I stopped at 14 miles like I was supposed to I would have been just fine. It hasn’t ceased to amaze me how I keep pulling off these progressively longer weekend runs with only 1 other running day during the week.

Sunday’s run was my furthest since training for the 2008 NYC Marathon so that’s an accomplishment in itself. Not only that, but my perroneal tendonitis has been keeping a really low profile. In a blog post a few weeks ago, I vowed not to speak of said injury and consequently it’s outta mind and outta sight. I’m sure it doesn’t hurt that I’ve been icing it religiously and taking NSAIDs at the onset of any aches.

The last few times I’ve gone out for a long run, I’ve gotten kind of bored early on into the run. And I think my mind starts wandering, wondering if I really have a strong enough base to complete the distance I set out for. But the obvious solution is to just keep running… and eventually the problem goes away because I keep completing the distances.

Next up… a 5k Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day and a 15 miler next weekend.

J

I’m actually on a pretty good track right now. I was a little nervous about how marathon training was going after my slow and torturous 12 miler in Brooklyn 2 weekends ago. But I’ve been putting in some solid training that’s included some 2-a-days that have allowed me to make up for lost time.

I ran an awesome 13 miler this weekend at a slightly sub-7:30 pace that was a real confidence booster. Especially given the nor’easterly conditions that I ran it in. Part of my success with this weekend’s long run was putting together a new course to keep things interesting. I took the ‘A’ train up to Dyckman and headed west to the Hudson River Greenway, then headed straight down to Battery Park. It’s nice to do a straight point to point course every once in a while, rather than deal with the monotony of an out-and-back long run.

Then I put in 90 minutes or so of biking on Sunday which I think helped me recover more quickly. I took off from training on Monday because I’m crazy busy at work, but I found time to fit in an awesome tempo run in central park today.

I would consider today’s weather to be absolutely ideal for running. It was warm enough to go out in short sleeves, and cool enough for me to avoid really breaking a sweat even at a brisk 6:55 pace. The sun was out and Central Park was sparsely populated with runners and bikers. Every time I saw another runner off in the distance I was able to catch up and pass them. I conquered the hills with confidence, running hard on the uphills and maintained a steady effort on the downhills. It was easy to forget I was in the middle of a busy work day and I worked off enough stress that going back to the office wasn’t that bad.

My concern now is how to address my 14 miler this weekend since we’ll be ‘out of town’ in PA. There’s a chance we’ll spend Saturday tailgating and I don’t want to risk feeling crappy for a Sunday long run. So I may need to wake up early on Friday and just get it out of the way. But that’s a big commitment so fortunately there’s still time to mull it over.

Other than that, I’m just really excited that my marathon training plan is actually working. I’m getting my long runs done with relative ease, considering what a low mileage plan I’m on. At this point I’m considering just ‘adding a mile’ each weekend without alternating between longer long runs and shorter long runs every other weekend. I’m curious how that will hold up, but am pretty confident it could work considering how much ‘rest’ (aka cross training days) I have built in.

This post is in two parts. Part 1 I wrote this morning, before I ran. I finished up Part 2 tonight, post-run…

Part 1

My speedwork has been virtually nonexistent these days, but breaking the 5 minute mile is still on my mind. I decided to check in on my progress and test myself out tonight. If time permits, this evening I’d like to hit up the East River Track for one more crack at it outdoors before winter really sets in. If not I might settle for some indoor speed. Either way I’m going to try one of the workouts they reccomended in runners world this month. A mile, a 1200, an 800, 600, 400, 300 and 200.

Part 2

I ran about 2 miles up to the East River Track at an easy pace. When I reached the track, I embarked on my first lap. Seemed pretty easy, but when I saw the first 400M was approaching almost 1:30 I knew the 5 minute mile was still a distant dream. It was too dark out to make out any of my other 400M split times, but I finished with a respectable 5:37. Not exactly what I was hoping for, but still decent. After going back and checking, the last time I ran a mile on the track, I posted a 5:35 so I’m actually regressing. On the plus side, I have my long runs up to 12 miles. And as Lauren pointed out to me tonight, it’s probably best to only tackle one running goal at a time. So at this point, I’m giving up on my 5 minute mile… for now. Oh, and I didn’t do the Runners World workout. Oh well!

2 other random thoughts…

Love the new pair of nike zoom vomeros I recently purchasee. I tried doing my weekend long run this week in new balances and felt like I might as well have been wearing cinder blocks.

I breezed through last weeks cold. After coming down with an upper respiratory infection, on thursday morning, I heavied up on vitamin C and averaged 9-10hrs of sleep for days and there’s almost no residual effects.

J

Well, that’s because I disappeared for a few days to live it up in Key West. Afterwards, took me a few days to live it down… so not much new to report on the training front. I’m glad I got my long run out of the way last Thurday night, but am still disapointed to have missed about 4 training days in a row. And of course now I’m sick.

That didn’t stop me from going out for a solid tempo run last night. I started off at about a 7:30 pace, jogging through the streets of the financial district until I finally reached battery park and hit my stride. By the time I hit the hudson river, I was flying. I must have put in a few miles at 6:40 and then slowed down for about the last half mile. Averaged about 7 minutes overall, for about 4.5 miles.

Then I decided I was cold and opted to pack it in. But not before I decided to walk/run up the stairs to my apartment as punishment for skipping too many days. 23 flights later and I felt that I paid my penance.

Now this morning I woke up with a dry achey throat, the kind you get from breathing cold air all night. I drank some hot coffee and took a hot shower and it mostly went away. For lunch I had one of those juices that they make at “Health King” that consisted of cucumber, carrots and beets, which they claim helps cure the common cold. Chased it down with some split pea soup (and a slice of pizza). And of course I’ll be hitting the gym tonight, to sweat it out.

J