Week Recap: 4 to go

This week included more recovery than I had hoped for. I could barely walk, let alone run on Monday and Tuesday following the hard effort in the half on Sunday. My only fear is that I put too much work into the half and burned myself out a little. I only had one key workout this week, pacing Meagan to 1:17 in the AllState 13.1 in Queens. Along with all the time spent running this week, I also took two ice baths, two epsom baths, spent some painful minutes on the foam roller and kept my legs covered in Arnica cream to expedite the healing process.

Runs: 8 (two doubles)

Mileage: 72.6

Workouts: 1

Long Run: 19.6 miles (marathon pace run)

Hours: 8.44

Monday: Off completely. Feeling very sore from yesterday, so the most exercise I got was walking to Whole Foods to get some Arnica.

Tuesday: AM Miles: 4 (7:24 pace) Course: West Side Highway. I forced myself out of bed at 4am to foam roll and slap Icy Hot all over my legs, then headed out the door for a little shake out on the West Side Highway. My legs hurt like hell, but got better with each step. I thought this was an encouraging sign until I tried to run in the evening. PM Miles: 6 (on elliptical). My plan was to run over to the Urban Athletics practice and run easy, but as I started to run toward the park, the pain was so bad I had to stop and walk. I tried running again after a couple of minutes, but it was a no go. I dejectedly walked back to the gym and hopped on the elliptical.

Wednesday: Miles: 3 (7:30 pace), 6 (on elliptical). Still sore, I rested through the morning, then hit the elliptical after work. After an hour on the dreaded machine, I hopped on the adjacent treadmill to test the legs again. I started at 7:45 pace and gradually worked my way down. At first it hurt but, the pain wasn't altering my gait. When I stopped after three miles, my legs felt dramatically better. It appeared that making the soreness go away would involve running through it.

Thursday: AM Miles: 5 (7:18 pace) Course: Treadmill. Despite perfect weather, I chose to run on the treadmill at 4:20am Thursday because I could control the pace better and the surface was more forgiving. Again, I started at 7:45 pace and worked my way down. I felt even better than last night. PM Miles: 11.5 (7:17 pace) Course: Central Park. I felt terrible when I started, but that was not a surprise. Ran over to the East Side of the park where I met up with Kevin and we ran to the store. I did the warmup with the team, then took off on my own on the Bridle Path so I would have a softer surface. Half way around reservoir, I heard someone calling my name. It was Jordan, in town for the half, and we finished out the run together. I only planned to get in 10, but due to the easy pace, I didn't mind going a little longer.

Friday: Miles: 10.25 (6:49 pace) Course: Riverside Park/Chelsea Mini Track. I figured I had to pick the pace up at this point, so I picked this run to get back to my normal training pace. I did feel sore, but not nearly as sore as in previous days. At the end of the run, I stopped at the Chelsea Mini Track to do barefoot strides, buttkickers and high knees on the soccer field.

Saturday: Miles: 19.6 (half marathon in 1:17:20) Course: Flushing-Corona City Park, Queens. Got to the race at Flushing Meadows a little late, so only got 2.5 miles in before heading to starting line with Josh. Met up with Meagan and Jordan at the line and plan was to get her to 1:17. We ran in a pack the entire race with Jordan, Josh and me blocking wind and pumping up the crowd. Pretty significant wind and lots of turns on this course which was entirely in the park. We narrowly missed 1:17, but Meagan did get to break the tape and get a significant PR. Besides that, it was a good marathon pace run for Josh and me. While the effort wasn't as easy as it should of been thanks to some residual soreness in the legs, I knew it would be much easier to maintain that pace when I am rested. Splits: 5:58, 5:56, 5:53, 5:53, 5:53, 5:54, 5:58, 5:50, 5:58, 5:57, 5:57, 5:58, 5:39, :29

Sunday: AM Miles: 15 (7:15 pace) Course: Brooklyn Bridge Run. I wanted to start this run a little early to beat the crowds on the Brooklyn Bridge. Billy and I set out down the West Side Highway at a fairly conservative pace and kept it that way for the duration of the run. It was a good chance to show Billy the sites as we ran through Brooklyn Bridge Park before heading back over the Manhattan Bridge. I felt Ok the first 9 miles, but the last 6 miles were a real challenge. Legs were just feeling dead. PM Miles: 4.4 (6:44 pace) Course: West Side Highway. After sitting around all afternoon in recovery tights and drinking water, I wanted to get a few more miles in. My legs felt surprisingly better on this shakeout, although I was really hungry the whole time.

While the last two weeks have the lowest mileage volume of this cycle, they have produced the hardest efforts thus far. The plan is to ramp up the mileage this week before a two week taper.