TCS NYC Marathon Training – Week 9

The theme for this training week is – Ehh

I had such a great training week last week, and I was hoping to continue it this week. I did not really meet the goals that I set out to accomplish. I guess all training plans have weeks of of ups and downs.

Plus, I am a little upset with some of the events that are taking place in my home state of Virginia – not only for the state but for the U.S. on a whole, so I’m not super excited about blogging today.

Monday: Rest Day

I caught a little food poisoning Sunday night, and I spent most of the day on the toilet. 😦 Note to self: do not eat under-cooked chicken at 1AM . . . It’s just not a good look.

Tuesday: Planned – Zumba | Actual – Zumba

Previously, I reported that I would alternate between two different gyms for my weekly Zumba class: Tuesdays – Crunch Ft. Greene and Wednesdays – Crown Heights.  I went to my Tuesday Zumba class; unfortunately, there was a substitute. I have to be honest and say that the instructor was really nice and attentive, but the class was really lame. It was a Soca-inspired class, but there was way to much stop and go. I mean, it defeats the purpose of a continuous cardio class. Also, it was just a whole bunch of dutty wine moves, over and over.

My stats:

As you can see, I barely spent any time in my peak cardio zone in the substitute’s class.

Wednesday: Planned – 5 miles | Actual – Rest

I just was not feeling the idea of running, so I decided to do nothing. Looking back, I kind of wish that I had gone to the gym and did some strength training.

Thursday: Planned – 5 miles | Actual – 3 miles

Holy crap!!! Work was really intense, and I just did not have the mental fortitude to run five miles. However, I did try to do a little something with regards to my training program, and I decided to run home from work. The funny thing, with public transportation in NYC (Brooklyn, to be exact), is I ran home faster than taking two buses. This run was a little annoying, because my back was killing me throughout the run (I had to walk a couple of times). It was weird, because I did not have any back issues last week. The route was a little interesting, because I was able to explore Brooklyn a little more.

From work (Flatbush) to Saratoga Park (Bed Stuy).

I have lived in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn for about 2 years and worked in Flatbush, Brooklyn for almost a year. It is interesting how much Brooklyn is changing and not necessarily for the good (i.e. gentrification). Yes, it is good that new businesses and services are entering the area, but it is bad that many people (the heart and soul of Brooklyn) are being displaced due to increased (and shady) renting practices.

Friday: Planned – Rest| Actual – Rest

Saturday: Planned – 14 miles| Actual – 3 miles

I kind of screwed up my day, because I went out Friday night and overslept Saturday morning. Plus, I had to go to work to run a couple of experiments, which did not even work. Just to kind of warm up my legs for the next day, I did a quick 3-mile run at the local track near my job. I figured that I would do my long run on Sunday

Sunday: Planned – 14 miles| Actual – 8 miles

Once again, I screwed up a little bit. I woke up bright and early to take the bus to the gym, followed by running 14 miles in Prospect Park. Of course, I arrived to the gym and my BF texted that I left my wallet on the bus. It is a good thing that we took the bus together (he was going to work and I was going to the gym), because I would have been royally screwed. Getting my wallet back threw my schedule off by 1.5 hrs. I am not complaining, because it would take more that 1.5 hrs to replace all of my debit/credit/ID cards. Then, I received a call from a good friend and we chatted for a little over an hour. Pretty much my moving was over, because I arrived to the gym around noon. Theoretically, I was supposed to be done with my long run by noon.

Of course, the temperature had increased by the time I arrived to the gym.

Since the temperature (or rather humidity) was getting up there, I decided attempted to do the 14-mile run on a treadmill. What a bad idea. I only made it 8 miles, 6 miles “shy” of my goal. It was so boring to run on the treadmill for 8 miles. I think that 6-8 miles is the maximum that I would like to run on a treadmill.

I really think that all of the mishaps during the morning messed up my mental preparation for the long run. Although I was a little disappointed that I did not recover  to complete my long run, I was a pleasantly surprised when I logged into my marathon training program.

I was supposed to run only 8.5 miles. Sooooooo, I was only 0.5 miles shy of my distance goal, rather than 6 miles. Yay me. But, I was still a little upset that last week I ran 12 miles for my long run, but I could barely complete 8 miles for this week.

Even though I did not meet my goals, I did “reward” myself with a nice beer and a late breakfast at Stout NYC FiDi

A refreshing hefeweizen.

The bacon, scallion skillet.

The food was good, but I was still hungry after eating my skillet – $26 bucks well spent . . . I guess. But, I would revisit Stout NYC, because of the bar’s extensive bottle and draft beer selections.

Favorite tunes from the run: It seems like it was a Latin music day.

Goals for the upcoming week (the same ones from last week):

1. I do not know, I think that I may do a trail run next weekend. Any recommendations. 
2. Core work, because the folks at Runtastic sent me an email.