NYC Marathon Training Wk 4

Planned Miles: 26

Completed Miles: 15

I did not quite meet my goals for this training week, BUT I did move from NY to VA last weekend so I can cut myself some slack. While I ran only 15 of my 26 miles for the week, I did my 11-mile long run at least. Aren’t long runs the most important part of marathon training? 😉

I gotta say this is going to be my toughest NYC Marathon training season. My training plan is not super difficult, but it is going to take some time to acclimate to this VA heat and humidity.

Some weather stats for the beginning of my long run, which I started at 5:10 am on Sunday.

I guess there will be a lot of early morning runs in my immediate future. Also, I guess that Mt. Trashmore Park will be my new ‘Central Park’ for my training runs. Oh, this reminds me that I should check out the local rec center because I also have a feeling that there will be a lot of treadmill runs in my future. Oh (part II), I hear this rec center has an aqua track too.

Some info about Mt. Trashmore

Mount Trashmore Park, also known simply as Mount Trashmore, is a city park located in Virginia Beach, Virginia which opened in 1974, Mount Trashmore is an example of landfill reuse, as its creation consisted of the conversion of an abandoned landfill into a park. The park spans 165 acres (67 ha) with hills larger than 60 feet (18 m) high and 800 feet (240 m) long. Mount Trashmore Park also has multiple walking trails — a Perimeter Trail that measures 1.95 miles (3.14 km), a Lake Trail that measures 1.45 miles (2.33 km), and a Mountain Trail that measures 1.30 miles (2.09 km). The Lake Trail and the Hill Trail may be combined for a trail measuring 2.75 miles (4.43 km). The park also features two lakes where fishing is permitted. Since its opening in the 1970s, it ranks as the most popular park in Virginia Beach, with attendance of over one million visitors a year

Wikipedia

This park always has had a special place in my heart because our high school cross country meets and practices in this park were held in Mt. Trashmore.

A LOL moment regarding this intersection. Back in my high school days, there used to be a diner that ‘specialized’ in doughnuts. During my senior of high school, our track & field team had only one coach, who did not give two sh*ts about the long-distance runners. Normally, the team would have two coaches – one for short-distance runners and the other for long-distance. While actively coaching the short-distance runners at the track, he would be like run around the neighborhood surrounding the school for an hour or so. One day, someone in the group was like let’s just go to the doughnut diner and chill there and run back to practice. I co-signed because I did not have sh*t else to do. 😉 Since I had received all of my college acceptances and selected my college, I had developed a severe case of senioritis so I was not terribly concerned with not being the best track athlete that I could be. Let’s just say the CHS Crusaders did not do so well in our first 3-4 meets in the men’s 1600 and 3200. Eventually, someone told the coach about our shenanigans, and he started driving along our route to make sure we were doing our workout.

How do you reward yourself after struggling through an 11-mile run?

A couple of hours at the beach

Tacos

Going forward, I think that I’m doing to take a quick trip to the beach after my long runs. BUUUUT, I will not get tacos during these post-run beach excursions because I really need to drop a few pounds.

Speaking of the beach (Va Beach Oceanfront)

My picture from the RnR Va Beach Half Marathon (Sept 2021) is still the featured shot for the beach’s Yelp page. LOL

NYC Marathon 2022 Training Plan:

Image from Hal Higdon Training (Link ***)

Goals for the week:

-Return to my Beachbody on Demand program and intermittent fasting.

-Daily stretches

-Try to be in bed by 10 pm and asleep by 11 pm.

-Return to my Core de Force MMA workouts.

Questions of the Day:

-How are you dealing with the heat?

-Do you or know someone who participates in the November Project?

During my Wednesday run at Mt. Trashmore, I saw some folks during these HIIT workouts and was intrigued (but not enough to inquire). Later in the day, I was goofing around in the clubs section of Strava, and the Va Beach chapter of the November Project popped up. I think that I’m going to check it out on Wednesday morning.

Social Media Plug:

Instagram

@smokinscientist (Twitter)

Kwame s (Strava)