2017 New York City Marathon – Week 18

The 2017 New York City Marathon is tomorrow!  I ran three short but somewhat speedy workouts early in the week and then switched to easy paces starting on Thursday.  I didn’t sleep well and had some weird muscle aches all week that I attributed to tapering.

Training Schedule
October 29th – November 4th

Sunday: Medium-long Run. 13 miles.
Monday: Recovery Run. 6 miles.
Tuesday: General Aerobic Run. 7 miles.
Wednesday: Dress Rehearsal. 8 miles w/2 miles @ marathon race pace.
Thursday: Recovery Run. 6 miles.
Friday: Recovery + Speed. 5 miles w/6x100m strides
Saturday: Recovery Run. 4 miles.

Mileage Total: ~49 Miles

Notes. I did the 13 miler the week before, so my mileage was a little lower than scheduled.

Goal. Run my medium run at 8:20 pace.  Outcome:  Success! I ran the run the week before, though.

Workout Details

General Aerobic Run + Speed. 8 miles w/8x100m strides [Log Details].

I spent the morning thinking about a goal for the 2017 New York City Marathon.  I thought if I could do this run in the low 8:00 pace range, that might be a good sign for that effort being something close to marathon pace.

It was supposed to rain but when I headed out, there was a lot of moisture in the air and some drizzle, but it never quite raining.  I felt good at the start.  I ran on Army-Navy Drive next to I-395 and the trees provided some cover from the rain.  I was running the pace I wanted but it didn’t feel comfortable at all.  It was “hard”.  I starting fading a little when I reached the W&OD Trail, but I tried to maintain the pace.  Since I’d fallen during two of my recent training cycles, I was paying close attention to the ground.  It was time for my strides but when I saw broken glass on the trail, I decided to do them elsewhere.

I finished excited at the idea that this time next week, I’ll be finishing the 2017 New York City Marathon!

Overall pace=8:02.

General Aerobic Run. 7 miles [Log Details].

It was a crisp 45 degree morning and the sunrise over the Pentagon was beautiful.  My brain was turned off but I found myself running pretty hard.  I was thinking about the marathon, wrapping up things at work, packing…  A few miles into the run, running along I-395 on Army-Navy Drive, I started paying more attention to my pace.  I knew it was fast but I thought maybe the cooler temperatures were showing my true fitness!  This is how fast I would have been running all summer if it wasn’t for the heat and humidity.  I slowed down a touch when I reached the W&OD Trail.  I knew I was running way too “hard” so close to race day.

Later in the day, a man drove a truck down a bike path that runs beside the Hudson River, killing 8 people.  I stayed up late watching the news coverage.  It was horrible thinking how quickly and randomly something like that could happen.  I also wondered if it would impact the race on Sunday.

Overall pace=7:47.

Dress Rehearsal. 8 miles w/2 miles @ marathon race pace [Log Details].

The morning of the run, I had serious concerns about how it was going to go.  I ran hard Sunday and Tuesday and thought maybe it was time to shut things down.  But, I like following my schedule and these two miles have been a great indicator for goal marathon pace during past training cycles.

I ran the warm-up running north on George Mason Drive to the Custis Trail.  I ran super slowly due to my misgivings about running hard again.  I started the 2 miles at marathon race pace on the Custis Trail.  I didn’t look at my Garmin until I knew I was close to the 1 mile mark.  I wanted to see what marathon pace felt like.  When I finally checked, it read 8:20 pace.  “Oh no.”  I was so disappointed.  I pushed a little harder during the next mile but not so much that I thought it would be an unrealistic marathon pace.  That mile, which was mostly downhill, came in at 8:10 pace.

I ran a very easy cool-down home preparing myself for disappointment on Sunday.

Marathon pace segment=8:15 pace.  Overall pace=9:07.

Health

Sleep.  My sleep was terrible this week.  I woke up at 4am on Thursday morning.  I was still tired after having coffee, so I took a nap before going on my run!  I had similar problems waking up too early on Thursday and Friday night.  I hope I sleep better tonight!

Injuries.  I had general muscle fatigue all week.  But it was weird – each morning I felt like I needed to stretch out my legs!  I thought it must be the taper.  I also had my normal piriformis pain.

Weight.  Since I wasn’t running as much during my taper, I tried eating a little less to avoid weight gain.  I didn’t have much success, though.  My last weigh-in was 128 pounds before I headed to New York City.

Weather

It was a nice weather week.  Sunday’s temperature was mid-60 degrees with a light mist in Washington, D.C.  Then, the temperature was around 45 degrees for the next few days.  It was 60 degrees on Friday and 40 today running in Central Park.

Racing Schedule

Next race: 2017 New York City Marathon tomorrow! I’m excited about the race despite increased security and a chance for rain.  I still think sub-3:30 (8:01 pace) is possible but I’ll be happy with a sub-3:38 (8:20 pace) which would guarantee me a spot in next year’s race.  (My Complete Racing Schedule.)