I’m tapering. Also, the weather finally feels like fall.
Since I retired a pair of shoes last Saturday, that means I broke in a new pair this week. It’s my 2nd pair of Brooks Adrenaline 18s, but these are black with gold and red trim, and they look pretty badass. I’ll probably end up running NYC in my other pair, gray with blue and black trim, which still look nice.
Oh yeah, the New York City Marathon is a week from today. It hasn’t hit me yet.
Weight Check: 165.3 pounds, up 0.5 from last week. Well, that’s mildly disappointing. I’m not putting in enough miles to make up for what I eat. My next weigh-in will be Friday morning, since that’s when I’m flying up to New York. Hopefully I can bring that down just a little bit before I leave.
| Day | Scheduled | Total Miles |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 4 miles easy | 4.01 |
| Tuesday | 4 miles easy | 4.01 |
| Wednesday | 4 miles easy | 4.01 |
| Friday | 3 miles easy | 3.11 |
| Saturday | 9 miles easy | 9.01 |
Total: 24.15 miles
Monday was my first run in my 2nd pair of Adrenaline 18s. It was pretty cold compared to my recent runs, 37 degrees, but not too terrible. My legs felt fine. I kept my effort easy until the last mile, but I did manage to speed up a bit on each mile without really trying. Overall, a pretty good run.
Tuesday is for the treadmill these days. My legs felt fine, but as usual, my mind didn’t. I started at 12:00/mile (5 mph), and sped up to 11:46 (5.1 mph) for the last half mile, and still felt fine physically.
On Wednesday, it great weather for me, 46 and clear. My legs felt fine. I was able to gradually increase my pace on each mile while keeping the effort easy, and late in mile 4, I pushed it and finished strong. It was a good, solid run.
Friday was one of the rare instances where I really should have gotten up early and gone to the Y, but I ended up only having enough time for an outdoor run before work, and it was pretty miserable. It was 46 degrees and rained the entire time. I probably ran a little faster than normal because I just wanted to get home and start drying out. (I think I’ll be completely dried out by next Wednesday.) My legs probably felt fine, although I wasn’t really paying much attention. I’m not sure why mile 3 was a little slower (although it was relatively fast compared to my most recent runs), but I did recover right at the end. I got through it, and I guess I need to be ready for anything on November 4.
On Saturday, I had my last long run before the race in almost perfect weather conditions for me. My legs felt fine. I kept the effort easy, stopped for water roughly once per mile, had Gu at around the 5 mile mark, and felt good enough to push the pace on the last mile. Just a nice, solid final long run before my race.
So, I fly up to New York on Friday, go to the expo on Saturday, and the New York City Marathon is Sunday. I might pop in with some final thoughts before I go, but I can’t promise anything. The October Wrap Up and my next weekly wrap up will be late.
If I don’t get to say anything else before the race, all I’ll say it that it was the toughest and the worst training cycle I’ve experienced, and I have pretty much no expectations for the marathon except to finish.