Monthly Archives: January 2018

Bear Mountain 50k training: cycle 3/6

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Bear Mountain was beautiful. But I’m glad there’s not gonna be any snow or ice there in May.

I just hit the halfway point! Overall I’m feeling VERY good. The hard stuff is hard, but it’s not knocking me out. I’m eating well and being much more deliberate about getting enough sleep (I actually write down how many hours I slept in my training notebook, which helps keep me honest). I’m trying very hard to be good about time management and healthy eating. Also, it’s super fun running in the woods every weekend.

Week 9 (1/15/18-1/21/18): Speed. 28.6 miles + 17 biking. Speedwork on trails is intense but kinda fun. This was also my first time throwing in some just-for-kicks hill repeats (like steep, power-hiking-style hill repeats) during my long run.

Week 10 (1/22/18-1/28/18): Speed. 36 miles + 15 biking. I got out to trails in New Jersey both Saturday (South Mountain) and Sunday (Palisades).

Week 11 (1/29/18-2/4/18): Speed. 35.7 miles, no biking. Midweek runs were lighter but weekend runs were longer at 12 speedy miles (Palisades) and 8 icy miles (Bear Mountain).

Week 12 (2/5/18-2/11/18): Recovery. 20.4 miles, no biking. This didn’t feel quite as “resty” as the recovery weeks in the first two cycles. I guess it was about 5 miles more than them, plus I threw some bouldering in, plus I had one very late night working at the Empire State Building Run-Up.

Total:  120.7 miles + 32 biking.

Feeling: Some awkward combination of hopeful (I can do this?) and realistic (there’s still a lot of hard work ahead of me).

It’s 2018!

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It’s time for a quick review of 2017 plus some goals for 2018.

2017: I ran 1,106 miles total. That’s almost exactly what I ran last year and NOT very close to my goal of 1,500 miles. Oh well (*shrugs*). Mileage peaked in August as I was preparing for the Portland marathon and again in December as I got seriously into Bear Mountain training.

I ran 21 races in 2017, and I hope to never run that many races in a single year again! It was just too much, but a lot of it was chasing the NYRR 9+1 qualifier to get into the New York City marathon for 2018. My favorite race was the Breakneck Point trail half marathon. I raced my first duathlon and got a big kick out of that. I trained for and ran the Portland marathon, and even though I wasn’t thrilled with how I did I loved having so much of my family involved either as spectators or as first-time marathoners.

2018: I want to run trails, hike, and go rock climbing. I have my eye on five races this year (I’m actually registered for three of them already) and I really want to keep it limited to these: two trail ultras, two road half marathons, and the NYC marathon. I’m really enjoying the current training approach (4-5 runs weekly, 3 weeks on, 1 week off) that I’m following for Bear Mountain so I’d like to keep something similar going as I prepare for all of this year’s races.

I have a handful of wonderful running buddies, including my husband, and I want to keep spending time (and miles) with them. I need to stay focused on nutrition as I’m getting close to completely vegetarian. Sleep and recovery time continue to be hugely important.

I think that’s about it. Happy (belated) 2018, everyone!

Bear Mountain 50k training: cycle 2/6

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Mission Trails Regional Park, right around the time I realized it was going to be a HARD run and not as many miles as I’d hoped.

Another four weeks done!

Week 5 (12/18/17-12/24/17): Hills and strength. 30.5 miles. Weeks 5, 6, and 7 all have a tough hill workout. I found myself wishing for longer and slightly steeper hills in Prospect Park.

Week 6 (12/25/17-12/31/17): Hills and strength. 34.5 miles + 8 biking. I bought a bike trainer from a friend and joined Zwift so I can do some indoor cardio since experience has shown I do NOT get outside on my bike in the winter.

Week 7 (1/1/18-1/7/18): Hills and strength. 27.5 miles + 6.5 biking. This week was a bit weird as I had a sick day (dizzy?! what?!) and we were traveling over the weekend so I ended up doing my hill workout and an easy run on a hotel treadmill. Which was rough. But Saturday’s long run was on some serious trails (Mission Trails near San Diego) and was both daunting and fun.

Week 8 (1/8/18-1/14/18): Recovery. 14 miles + 8 biking. I ate better this week than my last recovery week (vegetables! hooray!) and got mostly decent sleep.

Total: 107 miles + 22 biking.

Feeling: excited