If It Looks Like Marathon Training...

3/3-3/9:
98 miles
4 doubles
3 workouts
20.5 mile-long run

2/24-3/2
82 miles
4 doubles
2 workouts
19-mile long run

If last week represented my first tentative steps onto the big-girl diving board, then this week was the headfirst plunge into the mileage abyss. Not only did I complete three workouts (well, one of those was a mini-workout--more on that in a minute) and a 20+ mile long run, but I actually felt strong and healthy and pretty darn good the entire week.

The week started out strong (and chilly) bright and early on Tuesday morning with another near-single digit road workout with Larissa. I was a bit apprehensive about this, both due to the temperature and the fact that I'd completed my longest run in months less than 48 hours prior, but we somehow managed to stay warm and positive enough to take care of business. (At least until my body temperature plummeted on the aptly named cooldown, rendering my extremities totally numb and my fingers incapable of even grasping and inserting my housekey into the door without Larissa's assistance.)

Workout #1: 2x1.5 mile progression w/2 min. jog, each 800m @3:10, 3:00, 2:50; 4x600m @5:20 pace (2:00) w/2 min. jog = 9 miles total

My next (mini-)workout took place during Thursday's lunch hour with my boss and two coworkers. They're all training for a late spring marathon and had 6x800m on tap at 5k pace. The problem is, they're fairly new runners and rarely race 5k's, so the pace was approximated to be 6:30 although I suspected they could go faster. Sure enough:

Workout #2: 6x800m w/3 mins. jog in 3:10, 3:10, 3:07, 3:07, 3:00, 2:59 = 7 miles total

From my perspective, it felt great to open up the legs a little bit without being too taxing, and I loved helping my comrades achieve the feeling of triumph that comes with exceeding your expectations and physical limitations. (Seriously, when's the last time you thought, "Well golly, I just couldn't seem to run slow enough during that workout!" Yeah, me neither. But I'm happy that such a euphoria apparently exists for others.)

But without a doubt, and like a true American weekend warrior, my two biggest days of the week took place on Saturday and Sunday. I'd planned well in advance for a long run on Sunday with Sarah Cummings, who was making a quick trip to Boston, and then I somehow found myself getting roped into (read: eagerly volunteering for) Sarah Bard's lengthy Saturday workout as well. On an unseasonably warm morning (or perhaps only unseasonable relative to the rest of the week/month/year), Sarah and I joined Kevin and another BAA male escort whose name escapes me for some 4-3-2-1 mile action on the Charles.

Workout #3: 4 mile (6:03, 6:02, 6:05, 6:08), 3:30 jog, 3 mile (6:00, 6:07, 5:57), 2:30 jog, 2 mile (5:50, 5:45), 1:30 jog, 1 mile (5:43) = 16 miles total

Takeaways from this workout were:

1. Sarah is really fit.
2. There may be hope for me yet.
3. I love seeing happy, active people enjoying the river on a Saturday morning--except when they're in my way.
4. 50 degrees is, indeed, warm enough to comfortably slam a post-run Frappuccino.

Though I questioned my weary body's ability to move, I somehow managed to remain bipedal and reasonably functional for an "easy" 20-miler (2:30 and 20.66 miles to be exact, not that I am enslaved to my new Garmin or anything) with the Sarahs and a few different male BAA escorts on Sunday. During that time we saw over half the Boston course and a 60-year-old man running shirtless wearing khaki pants and oven mitts, so I can't help but consider it a win.

Will I be able to walk tomorrow? Debatable. Am I officially training for some sort of spring marathon? It sure looks that way... 

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3x3 Miles on the WSH, or "Sarah is Fit and I am Not"

~4 mile w/u
Target: 3x3 miles; first set @6:05, second @5:50-55; third TBD
Actual: first set @5:53 pace; 5:45 mile + 2 mile jog; 11:50 two-mile + 1 mile jog
3 mile c/d
Total: ~17 miles

I'm in NYC this weekend for a few days of fun, relaxation and US Open spectating with my mom. Of course, having a chance to run with friends someplace other than my standard Salem loops is a huge plus. I enjoyed an easy mid-morning run with Jay and Josh yesterday and was looking forward to (while simultaneously dreading) a beast of a workout with Sarah this morning. Simply put, as this post's title suggests, she is in phenomenal shape right now and I am just beginning to attempt some legitimate marathon-specific training. Plus--and with Sarah being one of my favorite people and a close friend, I think she will respect my honesty here--she can be a bit difficult to workout with. It's not her fault; she's so speedy that it's hard to force herself to slow to the pedestrian-by-comparison pace I'm often striving to hit. So, despite what Terry had written as the suggested paces for the workout, I was expecting her to go much faster and doubting I'd be able to hang on beyond one or two sets. Jordan's take? "Yeah, that's probably a bit much for you right now," he said with an uncharacteristic amount of tact, "but if you feel good, go for it." Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but he wasn't completely counting me out, either.

Stunning morning view of the Queensboro Bridge from our hotel on the East Side.

At 8am sharp, the air crisp and pleasantly mild, I met Sarah and Katie at Columbus Circle for an easy warmup down to Chelsea Piers. We'd chosen the bike path as opposed to Central Park for obvious reasons; it's much flatter and hopefully wouldn't be as crowded (although this part would prove to be wishful thinking a few miles later). After a few easy miles with Katie and a quick bathroom/water stop, we parted ways. Not a small part of me was wishing I could continue on a normal run with her, but at the same time I was excited to see what my legs could do for a longer, marathon-paced effort. "We'll definitely start at 6:05," Sarah assured me as we toed the imaginary starting line.

A few seconds later we were off to the races, or so it seemed. Between dodging cyclists and pedestrians and at one point nearly hurdling a veritable conga line of Asian tourists disembarking one of the cruise ships (thank goodness their suitcases weren't very tall), I found myself out of my comfort zone almost immediately. If this is 6:05 pace, I remember thinking histrionically, I'm never running another step for the rest of my life. So, it was with a mixture of relief and frustration that I received the news of our 5:53 average pace at the end of the first interval; relief because I wasn't trying that hard and still running slower than marathon pace, but frustration because I knew I was more tired than I should be, and much more fatigued than Sarah, and light years away from where I'd been when I crushed a similar 3x5k workout on tired legs before Philly last year. I know it's silly to make comparisons at this stage in the game--to Sarah, or even to my former self--but it's hard not to.

"Just being honest," I told Sarah when I caught my breath as we jogged between intervals, "at that pace I can only do one more set." At the moment, that was a course of action I was fine with. "Well, let's slow this one down," she replied. "I need to practice running marathon pace anyway, so let's just flip the paces and run this one slower since we ran the other one too fast?" Perfect, I thought, but there's no way that will actually happen. Sure enough, from the first few minutes of the second interval I felt like I was sprinting. If this is 6:05 pace, I thought as an eery feeling of deja vu swept over me, I'm never running another step for the rest of my life. Already a few steps behind Sarah, I split 5:45 for the first mile and was spent. I stopped to catch my breath while she trotted briskly into the distance, free to pick up the pace even more now that her dead weight had been jettisoned.

The rest of the "workout" merits no elaboration, at least from my perspective. I jogged along dejectedly until I ran into Sarah, who had simply crushed the remainder of the second set, and then nodded vigorously while not believing a single word as she swore she was going to pump the brakes on the final set. She proceeded to demolish the remaining miles while I flailed around for a bit before stopping to walk for a few minutes (the Ethiopians we'd passed during the first interval looked vaguely less impressed as they blew past me now) and then jogging until I met up with Sarah again.

And then, after all that, there was still the matter of getting home. First we trudged uphill from the WSH back to Columbus Circle, at which point I jokingly-but-seriously threatened to invade Sarah's apartment and force her to give me a few bones so I could catch a taxi back to my hotel. It was less than two miles away, but I was beyond ready to be done. (For the record, I remained bipedal.) If nothing else, this delightful little session showed me I'm still light years away from where I need to be...but I'm determined to put in the work to get there. Watching Sarah hammer this from beginning to end was definitely inspiring (and also slightly soul-crushing), as hackneyed as that sounds. Without a doubt, her effort was just as solid, if not more so, than anything I did before running 2:39 at Philly. I can't wait to see her big PR at Twin Cities next month!

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Central Park Workout With Sarah

Fri AM: 4 miles
PM: 10 miles w/Jay in Central Park

Sat AM: 3.5 mile w/u
Target: 3 miles @6-6:10; 1 mile @7ish; 2 miles @5:50-6; 1 mile @7ish; 1 mile @5:40-50
Actual: 3 miles @17:35; 2 miles @11:37; 1 mile @5:40ish
2 mile c/d
Total: 13.5-14 miles

For a rare treat, I'm spending an entire weekend in New York doing absolutely nothing work-related. I'm sure Betsy invited me to her baby shower hoping I would just send an elaborate and expensive gift without actually showing up, but (un)lucky for her all it took was the promise of a few good group runs, quality time with my favorite news producer and a $48 fare on Jet Blue (helloooo, Popcorners) to seal the deal: NYC, here I come!

Friday was an absolute blast. I arrived at Jay's just in time to make us late to meet Jerry's Kids (an Oklahoma-to-NYC transplant) for a run in Central Park. Fortunately we bumped into him midway through and shortly thereafter stumbled upon a solid and previously undiscovered bathroom location, making the run a win on all counts. Upon returning to Jay's, we were so cold--yet so thirsty--that we were forced to double-fist wine and coffee (with Bailey's) while waiting for Jordan to arrive and discussing Facebook etiquette nuances, the details of which are unprintable here at Jay's behest. After taking turns reveling in what is "probably the best shower in New York City," the three of us headed out to eat, drink and be merry with friends for the remainder of the evening.

Saturday morning, at the leisurely hour of 9:30, a group assembled at Columbus Circle with varying agendas in mind. The entourage I'd envisioned for Sarah's workout somehow dwindled down to myself, her and Jordan (always the queenmaker, never the...queen?), and despite some mid-week bravado our enthusiasm was greatly diminished due to, well, apathy. And also the ridiculous wind. We'd previously discussed starting the first, relatively slow interval in the park and then meandering down to the West Side Highway for a completely flat second half, but the promise of a 25-mph headwind quickly dissuaded us. Instead we would take on the undulating terrain of the park, hopefully avoiding the brunt of the wind. To give us a nice boost out of the gate, we set out down a generous downhill with the wind at our backs. Hitting six-minute pace should be no problem, we reasoned.

We split 5:40. Whoops.

As Sarah said shortly after her watch beeped, "That was the easiest 5:40 I've run in a while." Sure, but 5:40 wasn't the problem. Everything thereafter was--at least for me. Sarah seemed to have an easy time sticking close to Jordan's heels, but I struggled mightily from there on out. Maybe the previous day's mileage was a little aggressive at this stage in my training, maybe I'm a big baby, or maybe I'm simply just not very fit yet--whatever the reason, I spent the remainder of the workout straining toward the singular objective of not getting dropped, a goal that was met with varying degrees of success. Even omitting the Harlem hills, Central Park is no joke, nor was the wind that still seemed to find us deep within the protection of the Manhattan skyline. By the end of this effort I was frustrated and thoroughly exhausted, but at the same time pleased with my resolve to keep pushing despite getting my doors utterly blown off. I trust the process and am well-acquainted with the work it takes to get back in shape after an extended down period, but that doesn't make it any more pleasant in the moment. Still, it was fun to work out with Sarah and will provide a good excuse to gorge myself on finger sandwiches and chocolate-covered deliciousness at this afternoon's baby festivities.
  

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