NYC Marathon Training Wk 10

Planned Miles: 25

Completed Miles: 13

Getting back into the saddle

We’re in a new month so that means there are new goals to screw up. 😉 At this point, it looks like I will not conquer my 2022km in 2022 resolution.

While I hardly did anything this past week for marathon training, I managed to squeeze in a 10mi long run. Unfortunately, I was supposed to do a 17mi long run. However, I thought it would be best to reduce my long run distance since I have skipped the last three long runs.

Oh wait, I did attempt a run with another running group. In an earlier post, I mentioned that the November Project VB was doing a RUNGO challenge until Labor Day.

On Wednesday, November Project VB did a combined run with the Big Ugly Running Posse (BURP). I wanted to check it out because I would know (or recognize) people from November Project VB participating in this group’s weekly run. On a few occasions, I’ve discussed my frustrations with visiting and engaging with a new running group for the first time. So yeah, that plan did not work out so well. November Project VB’s IG said the running group was going to start at the Big Ugly Brewery at 6:30 pm. I arrived at the brewery about 9 minutes late and did not see anyone. I was like Dang, this group really starts their runs on time. I was thinking there would be at least a few minutes of announcements before the run. After seeing a couple of folks at the bar, I asked if the run had started. They responded that there was some confusion because the run was going to start at some park nearby and end at the brewery. All was not lost because I had the opportunity to have a nice chat with the other confused November Project VB folks while waiting for the other folks to finish the run. Also, there was beer. 🙂

While RUNGO officially has ended, I think that I’m going to keep visiting other running groups in the area. I need to make more friends. 😉

LOL: I joked with one of my friends by saying the suburbs are weird because I drove about 13 miles to the meetup to run only 5 miles, which did not even happen.

Long Run Chronicles:

On Sunday, I had to drop the hubby off at work in downtown Norfolk so I decided to do my long run in that part of town. Fortunately, Strava hooked me up with a nice 10mi loop. While it was pretty warm outside, I thought it was a nice run that took me through my birth city. I saw it all – the chic Waterside District, sections of historical Norfolk, a taste of bougie Ghent, and a few less desirable sections of the area.

Random fact, it is 3,755 miles from the Waterside District (Norfolk, VA) to Norfolk County, England.

I think this is the first long run where I had a bit of a mental and emotional breakdown. I’m not sure what happened. Perhaps, it was a combination of the heat, taking a longer recovery walk than I wanted to, constantly checking Strava to ensure that I was following the correct route, the 20,000 things that have been on my mind since moving to VA, and the somewhat sad song that was playing on my playlist.

The Danish entry for Eurovision 2018

Very soon, I think it will be very beneficial to start speaking to a mental health specialist. Sometimes, I feel like I put a lot on my shoulders while having to deal with other folks’ issues. In the past, I could compartmentalize these sorts of things better, but it has become harder over the last couple of years (especially over the past few months). Actually, it probably was easier to compartmentalize (or straight up ignore) things because I was drinking more frequently. Also, I have noticed that the smallest things have been setting me off. Over the last couple of weeks, I think this was due my the intense exhaustion (one of the reasons why I took a 3-week break from my long runs). A couple of situations:

• This week, I was about so close to leaving a basket full of groceries because I could not find ricotta cheese. I will be honest and say that I did consider flipping over the damn basket.
• I get extremely frustrated with Apple Maps screws up driving directions (e.g. telling me that I need to make a turn 2 seconds before I’m supposed to or telling me to move into another lane that will end in less than 0.25 miles). However, I think this is less about Apple and more about me. I guess that I become upset because I have to rely on GPS navigation even though I grew up in the area.

Well …. that kind of went off track.

At least the views of the Lafayette River were lovely.

Speaking of self-medicating, this chiropractor ad kind of cracked me up.

Another LOL moment:

Since I had an issue with the City of Norfolk’s parking app, I decided to park in a parking garage. I was very annoyed when I found out it would cost $10 to park. I guess I was paying $10 to run 10 miles. After my run, I was glad that I parked in the garage because the water in the Nalgene bottle that I left in the car was not 3,000 degrees like it normally is when I park outside in direct sunlight. Oh, there was another slight meltdown getting out of the parking garage. For whatever reason, the parking garage’s machine was not accepting any of my credit or debit cards. Of course, this upset the folks in the cars that were lining up behind me, which was frustrating me. I had to call the assistance hotline at least 5 TIMES to get some assistance. After the 6th time, the person finally open the gate and let me pass without paying.

NYC Marathon 2022 Training Plan:

NYC Marathon 2022 Training Plan:

Image from Hal Higdon Training (Link ***)

Goals for the week:

-Try to go for a daily 2-3 mile walk. Since moving to VA and having to drive everywhere, I have been walking way less here than in NYC.

-Learning how not to sweat the small things . . . I already have enough grey hair. 😉

-I think that I want to start a plank and crunch challenge this month.

Long Run Playlist:

Questions of the Day:

-Do you freak out over small things? If not, please teach me your ways.

-What are you up to for Labor Day?

-What are you looking forward to in fall?

Social Media Plug:

Instagram

@smokinscientist (Twitter)

Kwame s (Strava)