I Run Like A Girl

This week of training was very polar – the beginning of the week felt like my legs were made of lead, and then things picked up and I felt much stronger the latter half. My last week of training, I was feeling super fatigued. I cut my mileage down thinking that it would serve as a recovery week. So when I started off this week still feeling this way, I started to get worried…did I run too hard in the beginning? Am I getting injured? Will I EVER get back to where I was??

I pushed those negative thoughts aside and told myself I just needed to get in the miles this week. No cutting back. No excuses. Even if it meant running SUPER slow, just log the miles.

I worked from my parent’s house back in upstate New York Mon-Fri, which meant hills hills hills! I will definitely be seeking some more hill work (likely on the treadmill; NYC is as flat as can be), since the Newport Marathon in April is not exactly the flattest course. 😉

Monday: 4 miles on the treadmill (10:10 pace). Took it slow but steady – run felt like an eternity.

Tuesday: REST as it was snowing back home!

Wednesday: 4 miles on my usual/hilly route back home (10:36 pace). WORST. RUN. EVER. The second I set foot I got the worst stomach/lower ab cramps that would not go away. I wanted to quit the entire time, but literally had no way to since I was out on a loop and had no phone, so I had basically wobbled my way back.

Afterwards, I felt defeated. I talked with my little sister (who is also a runner! She’s on her high school’s cross country/track & field team, so is usually racing 5K’s), and she made me feel a lot better with some positive talk.

She also picked me up off my feet and got me to do a pilates/ab workout together! She and I are huge fans of Blogilates. Ever since she introduced me to these awesome videos, I’ve been hooked! I don’t usually do any strength training except core. I felt much better after this post-run strength workout 🙂

Thursday: 6 miles (10:02 pace) on the same hilly route first thing in the AM. SO much better than yesterday. It was cold and raining, but still felt great overall! Two takeaways from this run:

1) I feel so much better running first thing in the morning when I don’t have caffeine/food weighing me down

2) It takes me approximately 4 miles to warm up and feel strong…which I feel like is longer than most people.

Friday: REST

Saturday: 12 miles long run (9:23 pace). I FINALLY felt back on my groove. I ran from my apartment to Central Park + the reservoir loop and back home. One thing I noticed on this run, I definitely felt the results of my core work this past week! For several miles I felt like my legs were being carried by my core and they didn’t have to work as much, almost like I was floating (does that make sense?). I will definitely be incorporating more abs work coming up!!

Sunday: REST

26 miles total!