Week 12: Family support through every mile

Week 12: September 25

Total Mileage planned: 35

Mileage complete: 38.3

I had a lazy morning, but in the spirit of "never missing a Monday," I agreed to meet up with Jennie who wanted a running partner for the two miles she had on her schedule. I pulled on my orange reflective vest as we headed out for something that is somewhat of a rarity for me these days, a night time run. We kept the pace easy and chatted through out, but the humidity kind of made me feel nauseous - perhaps it was a bit too soon after the NB Bronx 10-miler and I was just having flashbacks. 

Tuesday mornings run felt much better than Monday's, and the pace returned to normal. It was a little overcast, and for the first time this season we were really running with the sunrise. Dad joined Kasey and me for this mornings run, and I briefly attempted mounting my go pro to his bike but had very limited success.

The theme of swim Tuesday night was "Tuck your chin!"

.....I'm working on it, really I am. I know that it theoretically will help me breathe better, but right now it just makes me feel like I'm constricting my throat and have another thing to remember to do while attempting to propel myself forward. Really I am just happy to not be gasping for air as much anymore. 

I got my track workout in on Wednesday morning, it was on the easier side as far as track workouts go. I had a 2 mile warm-up then 10x400 at 1:56 pace and a 1 mile cool-down. Was glad when I was done, it was a long humid workout. Averaged right around a 9 minute pace. 

One of my co-workers put together a group outing to go rock climbing after work on Wednesday after work, so I decided to join in. Honestly, I know nothing about rock climbing but I have had fun in the past making attempts at bouldering so I was happy to be invited. We wound up spending 2 and a half hours at the rock gym and I climbed until my fingers could no longer grip things. I headed home with 5 new callouses, looking forward to going again. 

I was feeling a little sluggish on Thursday morning, as tends to happen towards the end of the week. In case you were wondering it is still humid here in New York. It was just me and Kasey out for the run this morning and we took a minute to stretch it out when Kasey finished out her miles. 

I guess I should have learned from that swim tryout that new workouts tend to leave me sore, and sure enough on Thursday my grip strength was non-existent, and a muscle all down my side that I was previously unaware existed was very angry with me. While I got through my run that morning, I decided that I needed to skip swim class for the first time. Moving my shoulders on dry land was painful so I ignored the stubborn part of me that was screaming "Swim anyway!" and took the night off.

Friday I gave myself a much needed rest day, as I had already gotten my track workout done earlier in the week and Had a very busy weekend ahead of me. The weekend started with The Bubble Run 5k with Jennie, Hallie, and Rachel. Even though we are four people at very varying runner levels we all had so much fun at this event. The start line was staggered perfectly, and while we were one of the few groups running there was still plenty of room for us to run between the bubble stations. Basically we would run about a half mile, walk through the bubble stop, then run to the next one! The only time that we really couldn't run was at the finish line, where Hallie and I tried to sprint through and there was a back log of people waiting to go through because of people stopping for photos. After the race we played in the dance floor of bubbles for a few minutes and then headed into our next adventure of the day. 

Sunday's long run made my list of favorite runs ever. Throughout the week I was trying to figure out when I could do my 18 miler. Maybe Friday night? Couldn't find anyone to run it with me, and solo nighttime miles were not happening. Saturday morning? I was already planning on an early morning with the bubble run I did, and it was supposed to rain before the race anyway. Also, I had a jam packed Saturday as I had tickets to a cider festival in the afternoon, and then to a concert in the evening and with that much going on the potential post run exhaustion was not a appealing idea. So, it would have to be Sunday. The main reason that I was hesitant about Sunday was because I was not sure how late the concert would go, but we were back from the city by around midnight which wasn't too bad. 

On Friday I had texted Kasey to see if she would be interested in running 6 of the 18 miles I had planned with me. On weekday mornings we usually get in about three miles together mainly because of time constraints, so I was hoping she would be interest to try a longer distance run with me. To my surprise, Kasey offered to not only run 6 with me, but to bike along for the rest of the miles so I would have some company.  So, when I had a partner for my long run secured it was officially set for Sunday.

That morning I headed over to Kasey's around 8:45 and the temperatures were just right for a long run - which for me means I can wear a t-shirt and my compression capris without sweating to death. We started in the direction of our regular run loop, and started adding in extra blocks so that we could up the distance from 3 miles to 6.2 - Kasey was running her first 10k. First an added loop around her block, then down a wishbone shaped block we usually skip. Suddenly we were 5 miles into the run, and it was time for a pit stop at my house for fuel. A Gu for me and some sport beans for Kasey and we were on the road again. A little over a mile later a squirrel tried to murder Kasey when we were only a block off of her house, by just watching and hanging on to his nut as I ran by, but then darting directly into Kasey's path seconds later... I guess she was a bigger threat? Thankfully she survived this assassination attempt and finished her first 10k in just over an hour, which is pretty awesome if you ask me!

The she switched over to her bike and we headed out for the next 10 miles. The plan was for her to bike until I hit 16 miles and then join me in running the last two. It was awesome having her on bike because we were able to chat as we looped around the neighborhood, and it made the miles just fly by. I was even able to drop down to about a pace of 9 for a few miles, and then hang out between 9-10 min/miles after that. We did two more fuel stops, one at mile 10 and another at 15, then dumped Kasey's bike around mile 16. Only two miles to go, and she ran those miles faster than she had done the previous 6. When we hit 18, I almost wanted to keep going because it had just been such a high quality run for me, in terms of feeling good with the miles and entertaining company throughout. I was a little bummed that Dad didn't join us on bike, but I bet once Kasey works up to higher running distances with me (personally, I'm campaigning for the Walt Disney World Marathon 2019) Dad will be onboard to play race crew for both of us. 

I had one more activity for Sunday after my long run - Kitten yoga. As a fan of both cats and yoga, this was something I was really looking forward to, and it did not disappoint. The yoga studio, Caya, partnered with a animal shelter to bring in adoptable cats and kittens, and did an hour long easy yoga flow as they roamed through the class. After class we got a few minutes of playtime with the kittens. I will certainly be signing up again the next time they offer a class!

So now week 12 is done, and I am less than a month out from the NYC marathon. The weather is starting to be a little closer to feeling like fall, and I am really enjoying all of my miles lately.  

Check back Wednesday for a race recap, and next Sunday to read more about marathon training. Until next time!