Paris Marathon- Week 1 of Sharpening Phase

Now that Base training is over i am adding some changes to the program to increase intensity and improve recovery.  My Long runs will be between 18 and 24 miles throughout.  I will incorporate an easy day of indoor cycling instead of running.  I'm continuing to swim one night a week which I will try to plan for my so-called "off day".  Weight training for strength, stability and some power will remain for 2-3 hours per week.  To improve on speed I will incorporate one of two workouts. Tempo runs of mid length (10-12 miles total) where 6-10 miles of the run are at or just below MP 7:56.

Intervals on a mid length run (8-11 miles total) where I warm up 1-2 miles and then complete repeats of 100 meters and 200 meters.  After the intervals I will finish the rest of the run at or just below MP 7:56.

Monday- I'm starting my week out well.  I'm organized and have been on the Isagenix cleanse program for a week now so my energy is good.  Feel pretty rested too.  Between clients in my basement I worked on shoulders, back and chest.  Fairly light weights, free weights and cables, working in tri sets.  Exhausted my shoulders, back was light and chest was moderate.  Had a shake as well and some stretching.  After clients i prepared for my 12 mile tempo run.  It's brisk but not very windy.  New program for this week which includes one day at moderate length with the middle miles at Marathon Pace.  I took the first three miles real easy over the brooklyn bridge to the west side.  Once I hit the flat hudson river park I picked up my pace and planned for a 7:55mm for 6 miles.  I didn't expect to hit that pace, simply wanted to get my HR into threshold and hold it for the 6 miles.  Holding my HR above 171bpm was not a problem, but my legs were a bit slow.  After 3 miles I needed a gel, so walked 2 minutes and turned around.  Was able to pick up my pace by about 10 sec per mile for the last 3 miles.  Once i hit Chambers I stopped the set, slowed down, took the hills back home easy for the last 3 miles.  The MP set of 6 miles was Av HR 174 and Av pace 8:16.  Not bad for my first tempo run in months, but expect to improve with distance and pace on my next one, probably in 2 weeks.

Tuesday.  I had a bit of time today between clients so will run and weight train a bit.  The run is an easy 6 mile recovery run.  I didn't need to carry water and wore less clothing today and that felt really good.  Enjoyed the freedom of movement.  Was a nice flat run from John street around battery park and up the hudson river park a bit. Felt easy, although I found myself running a bit fast at times, so slowed it down.  Average pace, not including .5 mile warm up was 9:05 and AV HR 164.  After the run I had my first meal of the day and did 30 minutes of leg training.  BB deadlift, BB squat, Leg extensions, and cable rotation with lateral lunge.  Reps 10-15.  sets 3-4.  l like doing weights right after a run.

Wednesday. I have been so good this week about stretching and fitting in yoga and i can feel the difference. After my morning clients I had a shake and then went out for a run in prospect park. Ran up side streets for some variety and warmed up for one mile. I just want to run an easy 9:20 pace average and have an average hr below 160. During my run I thought about a lot of work tasks and not so much about the run which was nice. Turned around at 4.5 mile mark and returned home again through park slope side streets. Average pace was 9:16 and AV Hr 158 for the 6 mile set. I jogged easy for the last mile and did some yoga after my shower. Didn't have any gels during the run, just a little want more energy in my water pack.

Thursday- I really wanted to weight train again today bu had absolutely no time and its my day off from running. Only plan is to go to the pool and swim with my tri team. I ate just before I left and felt really good and energized getting into the pool, which is rare for me for an evening training session. We had a thorough warm up followed by drills. Then we did work sets of 200 and 100 yards set at threshold pace. Don't really know my threshold pace, but will be testing that in two weeks. Today my best 200 was just under 4 min which is pretty good for me. Les wants me to work on the finish of my stroke. I tend to have good pull all the way past my hip, but need to work on exiting the water with my elbow, not my hand. We also worked on back stroke a bit. Nice 1 1/2 hour workout. Next morning noticed my left shoulder was sore. Don't know if it was the stress of swimming, not enough weight training this week or what, but i'm disappointed that it is bothering me.

Friday- today was a light day for clients and I had hoped to do some weight training but other things got in the way of that. Have not done weights since Tuesday and that's not good. I set up my indoor trainer and decided I was recovered enough since I didn't run yesterday to do and interval set. The set was only a little over 30 minutes but was done on the large ring at a slow cadence. I warmed up for 15 minutes and then did 4 sets of 5 min low cadencee (about 55-65rpm) with goal to be just below my race HR (sub-threshold), followed by 4 min at a higher cadence recovery of about 10-15 beats perm minute slower than the work set. So not full recovery. The sets were an average of 153-155bpm (low end of my range) and recovery was betw 141-144bpm. Felt good, not easy but could have done another set but don't want to push it considering my 20 mile run for tomorrow.

Saturday- Woke up feeling really good. Rested, but a little tight in my back. Had a shake about 1/2 hour before heading out to prospect park for 20 mile run. Warmed up the first mile and feeling really good. The sun is out and I'm over dressed. Ended up taking my fleece off and just wore a long sleeve shirt. Took the park loop counter clockwise for 10 miles and then turned around. My pace was really fast for along run, just felt really good and my HR was averaging 157 so I kept a faster pace than the planned 9:48. I'm using a new gel today (honey stinger) and had one at 5,10,15 miles. Walked only to take the gels and had a bathroom stop, otherwise kept a pretty consistent effort throughout. Took the hills harder than I normally would for a long run, got HR up to 170 or higher on numerous occasions. Even with this my legs did not feel fatigued and energy was really good. By the end of the run I felt like i had only run about 14-16 miles, not 20 which is a really good sign. Think i'm really recovered because Friday i rode my bike instead of running, and Thursday was off day from running but did swim, so I had 2 days of no running before this long 20 miler. Will keep this in mind as i move forward with my training schedule. Main set of 18 mile was 9:11 pace (about 45 sec faster per mile than planned) and HR 156, WOOHOO.

Sunday. Started my day with a hot blend of ionix and cleanse for life and then went for my easy 6 mile run. Warmed up 1 mile to the brooklyn bridge and feeling pretty good. Did my Brookly bridge to city hall route at 8:52 pace (goal was 9:00) and ave HR of 158. That was a good HR average considering I took the hills pretty hard getting up to HR 174bpm. I'm happy with all of that. Good way to finish off the weeks training. About 2 hours following my run I went to my basement gym and did legs and shoulders strength workout. I did supersets for legs and shoulder for 35 minutes. progressed with either weight or reps for each set. Shoulder feels about 85%. It was a good program so made note to use with clients. Finished with 10 min abs on the bosu and stretching.

Totals for the Week:  12 hrs 18 minutes.  Bike: 1hr, Swim 1:30, Weight train 1:40, Run 8:08 for 53 miles.  Aside from my Race Pace run on monday I was really happy with my training for the week.

Week 13 Paris Marathon- Last Week of Base training

The week started out pretty lousy training wise.  After the holidays, being away for 12 days, arriving home and running a rough 18 miler in the wind, I felt a bit wasted starting out the week.  As I got my nutrition plan organized and started a new 30 day cleanse, I felt a lot better by Wednesday.  I was able to get to the pool one day, got on my trainer instead of running on Friday, and finally had a renewed energy for weight training and put in 4 days of weight training. Monday was another really cold day but not terribly windy.  I had difficulty getting out for this run, feeling pretty tired from yesterday's 18 miler but felt confident the run would go well if I stuck to a consistent 9:20 pace for the 12 miles.  Was running in prospect park and took all hills easy.  It wasn't a bad run, but definitely need a recovery day tomorrow.  I ran the main set of 10 miles at 9:23 pace and HR 157bpm.  This was a bit slower than the same run last week in Chicago, but I just ran 30 miles in just over 24 hours, so it's all good.

Monday afternoon I felt like a light weight training session in the basement. Circuit of trx, light shoulder work and tri and bicep. Total body but very light. Finished with TRX abs.

Tuesday was no running but I did some weight training.  35 min of weights and 15 min of abs and low back. Heavy 8-10 reps legs, back, shoulders. No pool tonight, not feeling up to it.

Wednesday I did another 12 miles, but with some intervals.  I ran over the brooklyn bridge and up the west side.  Warmed up for 3 miles then did 1 mi hard and 4 in easy fartlek intervals.  Was running a bit slower than the same workout last week.  My legs feel heavy, maybe from the weights yesterday, but I feel it's more due to the fact tha I ate like crap last week and I've cut down on calories a bit this week.  Maybe mentally I'm also saving some energy for the 22 miler run this weekend.  For the 7 miles of fartlek, 5 miles was flat and 2 miles were up hill, I averaged HR at 159 and pace 9:25.  Most of the 1 minute tempo portions were between 7:30 and 8mm, again slower than last week in Chicago.  I finished with 2 miles of cool down.  Will not do any other work today except abs and yoga.

Thursday morning I had two ounces of cleanse and then had a client. When finished I went for an easy 6 mile run (around 8:30) across chambers street and up the west side. It's warmer today and less windy, but i was running into the wind about 2.5 miles of the run. My Garmin did not pick up satellite right away, and had problems with it not pausing when I had stopped so data isn't terribly accurate. Was supposed to be 9:00 pace and HR about 161. Feel recovered today and my energy is better than it has been for the last two days. Seems to help if i don't eat before a short run. I think I ran a bit further than 6 miles and av pace was pretty much on target at 9:00 HR ave 159bpm.

After the run and a quick shower I had my shake pudding for breakfast with a banana then got in a quick 30 min weight training session. Did stabilization work, cables for back and a leg back combo. Single leg press. Rocker board squats + DB OHP. Back extensions with bd shoulder flexion. Would say put in moderate effort. Leg work seemed the hardest although none of it was with much load. Rep range 10-15.  Did abs and yoga later at home and went to the Roosevelt pool in the evening with my tri team.

I have not swam in about 4 weeks and am glad I had the time to finally go to the pool.  Big group today. 6x50yard warm up and then ladders 50-100-150-100-50 with 20 sec rest. Then 100-200-300-200-100 with 20-30sec rest. Felt pretty good. Worked on keeping my hand higher in the water during the hold as per Claudia's recommendation. Need to do lat stretches before swimming from now on. Shoulder felt fine during and after workout. Note once home took about 1.5 hours to relax and go to bed. Was lucky to not have a 5:30 am client tomorrow.

Friday I thought about today's planned 6 mile run last night coming home from the pool and decided my body is feeling like it needs more cross traiing. So I opted out on the run and got on the indoor trainer for 40 minutes. Also did weights today right before so didn't need a warm up. Took it pretty easy and adjusted cadence to my music. Average cadence was 75 and ave HR was 144. Also did yoga earlier today for 20 minutes.

Saturday's forecast was for low temps and brutal wind but it really wasn't that bad.  It's about 20 degrees out and the wind was reasonable so i went over the Brooklyn bridge and ran up the Hudson river park for my 22 miler. Longest run so far and it felt really good, surprisingly good. Think i made the right choice getting on my bike yesterday. Stopped for bathroom and a gel around 6 mile, continued at an easy HR of 155bpm and pace 9:24 along the river. Once I hit the upper west side I diverted to the sidewalk along Riverside drive for a change of scenery. There the terrain changed with cobble stone sidewalks and some rolling hills. Stopoped at 11 mile mark, almost all the way to Riverbank park, and had another gel. On the return the wind was at my back for the most part, so although my pace should have been around 9:40 for this long run, i decided as long as my HR was well below 160 I would modify my pace and see how it felt to run a little faster. On the return I ran 9:13 pace (about 10sec faster than on the way out) and kept my HR the same av at 155. There is a bit more climbing on the way back, so was really happy to see that my energy was good (not great) and could pick up the pace and hold an easy HR. Will try to do some AB work and Yoga a bit later today. Did stretch out for about 15 minutes. body does not feel as tight as it did after last weeks long run.

Sunday I stuck around the house and did all my training in the basement.  Feel remarkable considering I ran 22 miles yesterday. Went to basement and did two sets of 3 miles on the treadmill with weights and core work in between the running sets. HR stayed really low at 154 average and pace was pretty fast at 8:38mm. Did not include the warm ups and cool downs in the data.  Weight training was light.  Abs, low back, shoulder ext rotation and easy lower body workout focusing on stability and abductors. Bosu lunges with rotation and Sa KB OH Squat.

I've put together my next 10 weeks of training.  Base is over and now will focus on tempo training, speed workouts at the track, and maintaining my long runs o 18-24 miles on weekends.  At this point, I feel my 3:30 goal is well within reach.

I OVER TRAINED

Week 10 was my highest volume week to date and I learned some things I should have noticed about my schedule and modified it for this week.  Monday following this week I was feeling a bit off.  My running is slowing and i'm not happy about the pain in my low back.  It went away by Tuesday, but these are some of the things that I added that week and I'll suggest what I should have done differently. I ran 62 miles this week, my highest volume for the training period so far.  Two weeks prior I ran 60.  I added speed work with the fartleks and I added a race at a pace I have not been training for.  The race should have been viewed as a priority run and I shold have adjusted the schedule to allow full recover for race day.  The purpose of the rece was to gague whether I am on target for a 8:00 marathon.  But that being said I should have done one of the following: Eliminate the speed training on Monday; give myself a full day of rest on Friday and therefore cut my total miles for the week by 6miles; Skip running in the snow on Sunday (the day after a race) and run on a treadmill instead at 6 miles instead of 10: and should have skipped the indoor bike training for the week.

I mention all of this because there were too many new variables to that week.  I know I could have raced better and would not have felt any back pain ( note I've never experiend low back pain from running) the day following the race if i had modified the training to have only 2 hard training days, 3 really easy days, and only one moderate day.  Instead I had 3 hard, two moderate, and 1 easy.  The good news is that as i'm writing this on Tuesday following another fartlek run and my back pain is gone, but i'm still running about 10-20% slower than I would like.

Ted Corbit 15K Race

Its the Ted Corbit 15k race today in Central Park.  I have not done a road race since probably spring, and have not run in central park since July, so today will be interesting.  It's the last race of the year, and this is a new distance for me.  My goal is to run a 7:25 mm average pace. I slept well last night about 6.5 hours. Dinner night before was low in carbs and high in protein, red meat and fish. Had dessert before bed. Woke up feeling good. Had coffee and my typical oatmeal, yogurt, protein blend in the car on the way to pick up race number (about 1 1/2 hrs before race start). Thankfully david drove me to NYRR building to pick up my stuff. Jogged a bit (about 2 miles) and added some short pick ups. It's a cld morning in Central Park, 27 degrees ant 6mph winds. Supposed to get a big snow storm today. First mile or so was slow, wasn't placed in a good corral, but by mile 2 was feeling my pace and thought I would be able to maintain it. Ran counter clockwise, skipping Harlem hill and did a full circle of park. At mile 5 I had a gel and think I should have done this about 10 min earlier based upon how my body felt immediately after the gel. Second loop cut across 72nd street and after that there was really only one more big hill. I picked up the pace for the last 2 miles but looking at my average pace I was disappointed that I never caught up to the 7:25 pace I wanted to achieve. Based on my marathon goal of 8:00 i should be able to run a 15k at 7:25. Now Paris is flat and CP is a very challening course, so maybe i'm being to hard on myself, but disappointed that my av pace was 7:34. My HR was really high, and think that is part of the reason I had a hard time holding a faster pace. MY HR average was 180 and I maxed out on some of the hills at 189bpm. If i cut out the first mile of the race where my pace was averaging 8:14 because I had to work through the crowd, my av pace for the race would have been 7:32, not such a big deal as I thought. It was really the big hills that slowed me down. Wonder how I would have fared on a flatter course or a course I'm used to running. The official road runner results were time 1:12:06, pace 7:45, distance 9.3 miles. My Garmin said I ran 9.52 miles so I used that data as my analysis. I ran most of the race along the right side because it's less banked there and is easier to pass, but clearly this makes for a longer race than the official distance. For women 40-44 I placed 18 out of 156 which is the top 11.5%. For all women I placed 140 out of 1750 which put me at the top 8%, and overall I placed 662 out of 3467 which is top 19%. So overall I was really happy with the results. Only thing I would have done differently is run miles 2-4 a bit slower, have a gel between 3 and 4 (about 45 min in) and another at 6 to 7.  Also I used the hammer gels and i do better at high intensity races with the power bar gels.

WEEK 10 PARIS MARATHON TRAINING

Monday- Before my run I had time for 45 minutes of weight training.  Started with some band therapy for my shoulder and then moved onto weights for chest, back and shoulders. Worked easy to moderate with reps between 12 and 20. Want to work back again tomorrow and keep up on the therapy for the next month and see how my shoulder responds. Finished with 5 miin or so of abs with the bosu. This week I'm starting on some interval training, beginning with simple Fartlek intervals during my middle distance run.  This week it's a 12 mile run and I'm startting from John street, going down to battery park and up the west side. The first 2.5 miles are a warm up for the 7 miles of intervals to follow. The intervals were fartlek intervals, no specific speed set, just 1 min hard followed by 4 minutes easy. Think I did 13 sets of this. At the 6 mile mark i stopped briefly to have a gel and turned around. The first half was a bit faster then the second. Found myself slowing quite a bit during the recovery for the last 3 intervals. My average HR for the whole run was 159 which was lower than I expected. The inverval speeds were for the most part between 7mm and 7:30mm. A bit slower than I had hoped. I have not done intervals in so long, I should not be surprised I was that slow. Just hope I will perform well for the 15k race this weekend where I need to run better than a 7:30 for the whole race. Overall was a very fast run for a 12mile training run. Average pace was 8:49 for the whole 12 miles, including warm up and cool down.

Tuesday- This is supposed to be an off day wut have time for weights and will swim in the evening.  It was a good training session at John street. Stayed focused and got a lot accomplished. Moved between legs, chest and back. Did some combo exercises as well. Ended with front squat to OHP with 45# BB which i have not done in a real long time. Felt good. The chest work was light, Back moderate and legs moderate. Have worked up to 115# for the squats.

Today is my first swim at Roosevelt pool with the Tritons. I have not been in the pool for at least 5 weeks, not good, so was glad to hear that the schedule for this time of year is to focus on drills.  Les did a lot of drills with us, some of which were new to me.  We followed drills with a few 100yard swims. I focused on following through with my stroke and not flexing my wrist so much. Useful training, but not a workout. The pool was freezing but love the lockers and showers.

Wednesday- Today's plan is an easy run over the brooklyn bridge and back. Nice crisp day. About 32 degrees out. Need to remember that i don't need long underwear under my leggings unless it's well below freezing. Glutes and hamstrings are sore from yesterday's squats, lunges, dead lifts and leg extensions. Big surprise there. Otherwise the run was good. Average HR was 156 and pace including the warm up was 9:00. Hit the hill coming back fairly hard and worked HR up to 182.

About 6 hours after my run I did an indoor trainer workout. Was planning on doing this intensive interval session but changed my mind as I thought about doing weights tomorrow followed by a 18 mile run.  Warmed up 10 min then did 15 minutes of short intervals at high cadence. 15s hard, 30s rest, 30s hard, 60s rest for 15 minutes. Heart rate for intervals got up to 177bpm which is well into zonce 5c. Then did free form. Went with my music and changed cadence and gears acccordingly holding a range a bit higher than race pace for most of the ride (158-169bpm). I did this for 20 minutes then cooled down for 5min. Was nice to do a bike set that was not so structured. 45 minutes total.

Thursday- I had planned on doing a good set of weight training in the morning before my run but my legs are not feeling recovered from the workout two days ago. I had an Isalean shake about half hour before the run, did about 10 minutes of abdominal work and then set out for my multi boro run. Warmed up 1 mile to the brooklyn bridge, crossed town on Chambers and ran up the hudson river park until I hit about the 4 mile mark. Felt good, and warmed up by 3 miles but it feels a lot colder out than it is. The wind throughout this run felt like it was against me the whole time. Temp was about 30 but wind was at 17mph. Headed back over the bridge and ran through downtown brooklyn and weaved my way to prospect park. Had a gel around 6 miles. Took the park loop clockwise, still feeling good, but HR seems a bit higher than it should be. At this point my average pace is about 9:20mm. Continuing clockwise, had another gel around 12 miles, stopped for a bathroom break and to refill water around 13 miles. I turned around at that point and as soon as I did my HR monitor want nuts. Said my HR was 197 and up to 202 when in reality it was probably about 155. That was crazy and it continued for the rest of the run, just random readings from time to time that were totally off. Around mile 15 my legs started to get a bit sore, felt like I was going faster than I was. Took the last hill out of the park hard, to finish off well and then it was pretty much down hill the rest of the way home. I cooled down for 1 mile, walked a bit before heading in and stretched for about 15 inutes. The main set of 16 miles was at 9:26 pace (goal was 9:36) and my Average HR was 160 (was probably actually 158 or 159 due to error in readings).

Friday- I had a break after clients to make some calls, I had an apple and then went down to the basement for a short run and weight training session. I'm supposed to do 6 miles today, but because the 15k race is tomorrow I want to do less. Have not been on a treadmill in months so thought that would be an easy way to get in both weights and run. Ran 3 miles at 2% incline. Again my HR monitor was indicating a higher HR at some points, but not out of control like yesterday. Average pace as 8:52 and AV HR 159. Did some foam rolling and good leg stretches.

After the run I ws not feeling like doing weights but got into it after about 10 minutes. Just focused on Back and shoulders. Over 30 minutes I did Lat PD wg, SA DB rows, Arnold shoulder press, DB lateral raises, Cable reverse fly kneeling, and DB should flexion, in that order. I threw in some incline pushups along the way as well being mindful of ROM. Went fairly heavy today compared to other workouts this week. Reps were 10-15 but really pushed to finish the last couple of reps on most exercises.

Good saturday Race Morning! Its the Ted Corbit 15k race today in Central Park.  Slept well last night about 6.5 hours. Dinner night before was low in carbs and high in protein, red meat and fish. Had dessert before bed. Woke up feeling good. Had coffee and my typical oatmeal, yogurt, protein blend in the car on the way to pick up race number (about 1 1/2 hrs before race start). Thankfully david drove me to NYRR building to pick up my stuff. Jogged a bit (about 2 miles) and added some short pick ups. It's a cld morning in Central Park, 27 degrees ant 6mph winds. Supposed to get a big snow storm today. First mile or so was slow, wasn't placed in a good corral, but by mile 2 was feeling my pace and thought I would be able to maintain it. Ran counter clockwise, skipping Harlem hill and full circle of park. At mile 5 I had a gel and think I should have done this about 10 min earlier based upon how my body felt immediately after the gel. Second loop cut across 72nd street and after that there was really only one more big hill. I picked up the pace for the last 2 miles but looking at my average pace I was disappointed that I never caught up to the 7:25 pace I wanted to achieve. Based on my marathon goal of 8:00 i should be able to run a 15k at 7:25. Now Paris is flat and CP is a very challening course, so maybe i'm being to hard on myself, but disappointed that my av pace was 7:34. My HR was really high, and think that is part of the reason I had a hard time holding a faster pace. MY HR average was 180 and I maxed out on some of the hills at 189bpm. If i cut out the first mile of the race where my pace was averaging 8:14 because I had to work through the crowd, my av pace for the race would have been 7:32, not such a big deal as I thought. It was really the big hills that slowed me down. Wonder how I would have fared on a flatter course or a course I'm used to running. The official road runner results were time 1:12:06, pace 7:45, distance 9.3 miles. My Garmin said I ran 9.52 miles so I used that data as my analysis. I ran most of the race along the right side because it's less banked there and is easier to pass, but clearly this makes for a longer race than the official distance. For women 40-44 I placed 18 out of 156 which is the top 11.5%. For all women I placed 140 out of 1750 which put me at the top 8%, and overall I placed 662 out of 3467 which is top 19%. So overall I was really happy with the results. Only thing I would have done differently is run miles 2-4 a bit slower, have a gel between 3 and 4 (about 45 min in) and another at 6 to 7.

Sunday- First real snow of the year (about a foot) and I tried two new things, compression socks and yacktrax. Really slow going up to prospect park but the main drive had been plowed but not salted. The yacktrax were great and my legs feel fine even after the race yesterday. Noticed throughout later in the day that I have some isolated pain in my lower back on the right side. Turned around after 5 miles, was enjoying having warm water in my pack to sip on. Not terribly cold but the wind was pretty bad. Lots of people out sledding but only about 12 runners in the whole park and no cyclists (a first for the season). Felt sluggish by around the 6 mile mark and took it real slow for the rest of the way. Even in the park, which was 5.65 miles of my run I only ran at 9:25 mm and HR was a little high at 160. Totals were 10 miles, AV hr 160 ave pace 9:50mm.  This was supposed to be a 6 mile run, but because I ran only 3 or my planned 6 on friday I felt OK with tagging on 3 miles.  See my afterthought notes.

Week 9 of Paris Marathon Training

It's time to put in a race to assess my training pace goals.  On December 19th there's a 15k race in central park.  I have not done a straight forward road race in ages and am looking forward to that.  In the meantime, I'm recovered from traveling, adjusting to the colder weather and got a much needed new pair of shoes this week which is good because it's my highest volume week to date at 60 miles planned. Monday- it's a cold overcast morning but there is no wind. Finished with clients, had an Isalean shake and headed out for my 1st moderate distance run for the week. This week the distance goes up from 11 to 12 miles. Yesterday was a real easy day and I'm feeling great this morning. Going over the bridge and up the west side, so mostly flat. Started out a bit fast because I had to go to the bathroom and had to make it another 3 miles before one was available. Felt my pace at 8:30 was real comfortable but my goal was to run 9:20 so I slowed it down after the bathroom stop, but never got much below 9mm except on the bridge hills. Had a gel at 6 mile mark where I turned around. Still feeling fresh, all the way home. Ended up running the main set of 10.5 miles at 8:54 with an average HR of 159. Felt throughout the run that as long as my average HR stayed below 160 I would go with that pace. On Wednesday I have another 12 miler and will take that to the park and maybe a little easier. Tomorrow (Tuesday) is no running, just swimming.

Tuesday- weight training starting with legs.  squat, DL and leg extensions. Shoulder light. Added 10 pounds to squats and doing 12 reps with great ROM. Can increase weight again next week.  I took the train to the Roosevelt island pool for the first time in the evening.  Wanted to try training with my Tritons triathlon group.  Unfortunately the pool was closed due to mechanical problems.  Yes, a waste of 2 hours, but at least I now know how long it takes to get there.

Wednesday- Started out as a real lousy day. Rained really hard but cleared up in the afternoon in time for my run. Headed out to prospect park for my 2nd 12 mile run for the week This time i want to focus on a slower planned pace of 9:20 and work a little harder on the hills. Did one loop counter-clockwise and then turned around. Had a gel at that point. Legs feel heavy, probably from the leg weights I did yesterday. The second loop was a little faster than the first, but not much. Warmed up for 1 mile and cooled down for 1 mile. Main set was 10 miles at 9:12 and av HR was 161. So my HR was higher, but pace lower than the run I did on Monday. Think my body is adapting to the flat runs and I may want to spend more time on hilly terrain even though my Paris race is flat. At least even out the moderate and long training days with both flat and hilly courses.

Thursday- Weight training started with a warm up back and leg combo, then legs x2 exercises, back x4, shoulder x2. Rep range varied depending on exercise. Lighter on cables, heavier with free weights.

A bit windy, but not too bad for my run downtown. It's getting colder. Ran from John street, across Chambers and up the west side. So about 1/3 of the run is hilly and the rest flat. Feel good, have not eaten a meal today. Had some cleanse for life this morning and snaked on one isadelights and tea but feel fine. Not even hungry. Didn't pick up a satellite right away so think the run was a little over 6 miles. I did not include a warm up or cool down in the data, but I ran an AV HR 160 at 9:04. Lots of stopping for traffic today.

Friday- Got in a morning run today and knew it was going to be horribly cold. It's about 27 degrees out but wind is at 27 MPH so wind chill is 14 degrees. I pulled out warmer clothes for the first time and see that I've lost one of my winter gloves, so the liners I've been wearing will have to do. Wanted to get a warm pair that stays dry with snow and rain anyway. I'm also running in new shoes today and they feel fantastic! Same model as before just fresh and nice cush. Ran over the bridge, which was extremely windy, but i forgot that i had come up with a good brooklyn route about a month ago. The temps don't feel to bad, but the wind was quite hard to run against on the bridge so my HR was a bit high and my pace a bit slow. Including warm up and cool down I ran 9mm with an AV hr of 154. Must say I'm really happy to have new shoes. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer and my long run is going to feel great as long as i get enough sleep.

Saturday- Fortunately it's not nearly as windy or cold as I expected today for my long run.  But about 2 miles in I realize I'm a bit overdressed. I slept terribly last night, had cramps, and woke up feeling trashed. Took the first 2 miles real easy and felt a bit better by time I hit Hudson River park around the 3 mile mark. Ran a fairly consistent pace throughout the entire run averaging 9:17 (goal was 9:36) and Av hr was just a tiny bit high at 158. Stopped for the bathroom, had a gel at 7 mile, turned around way up in riverside park (have not been there except on my bike in forever), adjusted the lace set up in my new shoes at the turn around, had another gel and a water stop at 13 miles. Felt good the last three miles, which is always the test. Stayed consistent with my pace and HR even at the end of the ru

Sunday- Raining pretty hard. Going fairly flat today for the short 6 mile run through bklyn hts, dumbo and cadman park. Legs feel great today. Got really good sleep last night. HR stayed below 169 even on some of the hills. Average HR 152 and pace 8:52 which is fairly fast for such a low HR. Guess my higher HR from the long run yesterday had a bit to do with not being rested.

Got on my trainer about 20 minutes after my run. Was soaking wet and even with window cracked I was still a bit hot on the bike. I warmed up 8 minutes then started the internal set a follows. 8min at 60-65rpm (hr goal was 153-162), 2min reco at 90rpm, continue this pattern 6min interval, 4min interval, 2 min interval. Was not able to get my HR to the goal. Averages for the intervals were closer to 150bpm. I didn't want to really push it, have a pretty hard workout planned tomorrow. But I feel that 4 weeks off the bike has hurt my leg strength. These intervals should not have burned as much as they did.

Week 8 of Paris Marathon Training

Monday- Did not eat prior to my morning run. 1 mile warm up to the brooklyn bridge. Took the up-hill portions moderately hard and downhill fairly easy. Goal pace was 9:00 and actual was 9:04 with a average HR of 148 (really low).  So even though I'm still feeling sleep deprived my running is fine. Tuesday- From john street to battery park up the west side. Return on chambers for a little hill interval work. A bit breezy and cold. Goal pace was 9:20 but after 1 mile warm up was feeling quite comfortable just under 9:00 (the wind was at my back) so I went with it, particularly because my HR was so low (hovered around 154 most of the run). Ran a little over on distance, so the main set was 10 miles, 9:00 mm and HR was 153 average. Felt good energetically as well. Had eaten a shake in pudding form with a banana about 1:45 before the run. Had an apple after the run and a hardy lunch, leftover thanksgiving meal. Also did 15  min of leg work between clients before the run 4x12 squats with 95# and 4x10 leg extensions.

Wed- Today I did some weights in my building gym and did 30 min of shoulder (4 exercises) all single joint and about 12 reps and 3 exercises for back, again fairly light. Will hit legs, back, shoulder and chest tomorrow heavier.

Short easy run over the brooklyn bridge. My quads are pretty sore from yesterday's weight training. As well I slept poorly and I'm cleansing/fasting this morning. Want a good  12 hours without food and i did eat a snack late last night. Today's run is over the brooklyn bridge and back.  Felt like i was running faster than i was. Going up hills was slower than usual (although HR was low) so i had to pick up the pace on the flats and downhill to make up my pace. The main set was 5 miles at 9:03 and HR really low at 153bpm. Not sure that is accurate, seems really low.

Thurs-between clients did legs and back. Quads still sore from two days ago. Did deadlifts and lunges as a super set 3x12 each. Did lat PD wg and mach cg row 3x10-12 and 3 sets of cable rev fly fairly light 3x15.

This run was pretty identical to the run on Tuesday. The route was a little different, but was flat. Main difference was there was more wind today and it's warmer today, in the lower 60s. Results were similar as well. Ran faster than the planned 9:20 pace. My breathing has been so good lately that i'm focusing more on my HR than the planned pace. As long as my HR remains below 160bpm i'll go for a faster pace. Only difficulty with this run was that I started to run low on energy around 8 miles and forgot to bring gels with me. My legs did feel fairly heavy but had no problem running at an average 9:02 mm pace for 10 of the 11 miles with an AV hr of 156.

Friday- shoulders only (between clients) followed by abs. light to moderate weight 3-4 ses.

After morning clients I had my long run for the week. I'm not feeling recovered at all so will take this really slow. My last long run was sunday (17 miles) and that was only 5 days ago. Have also put in two good 11 mile runs. Because my parents are flying in later today I need to get my long run in today but honestly wish I could have a day off. Goal is 9:36 pace. Have not done a hilly course in a while so am going to prospect park. Started with a 1 mile warm up. My legs feel tight. In the park I ran counter-clockwise until the 9 mile mark then turned around. Made two stops, one for bathroom, other for more water. Had a gel around 6 and 12 miles. Brought half a isalean bar with me and nibbled on that for the last 4 miles. Want to experiment with having some solids during training. For the most part I ran around 9mm going down hills, 9:20 on flats and as slow at 10:30 going up the hills. I did a total of 4 loops of the park. For the last one i picked up the pace and it didn't feel as laborious as the other laps. I was happy to drop down to an easy jog for the last mile though. Thought it interesting that throughout this run my HR average was 149, probably the lowest average for any of my long runs. My pace was 9:29 so just a little faster than target pace. Tomorrow is an off day. No exercise at all. Sunday is a light 6 mile run and hope to be recovered by then, otherwise will need to adjust my plans for next week.

Saturday- Off.  My parents are in town and staying with us.

Sunday- After having a full day off feel like taking this easy run a bit harder. Warmed up 1 mile and then hit the hills pretty hard both ways on the bridge. Av HR for 4.5mile set was 163 and pace 8:44. Goal pace for easy run is 9mm and HR about 158. Felt good though.

Overall this week was a bit intense because I had to change my hard/mod/easy schedule to accommodate the arrival of my parents and because I was jet lagged for most of the week.  By thursday my sleeping patterns were on track, but before that I was wanting to sleep in the middle of the day.  With all that considered I feel the week went really well.

Training In Fiji, Wananavu Resort

Its the week before Thanksgiving and we are on our way to Fiji to Scuba Dive.  I had no idea what to expect in terms of terrain for running but know I will want to run probably every day.  It's not my top priority, but there's only so much relaxing I can handle.  I figure I won't be doing any long or intermediate distance runs, but will be fun to adapt to a new environment and not be so regimented with my running. On our way to Fiji we have a long layover in LA and have booked a hotel room to chill out in for about 5 hours.  I take advantage of this and go for a run.  I got confused and ended up doing a lap of the airport before I found the road I wanted.  My goal was to get to the ocean but I only wanted to do about 6 miles and had to turn back.  Interesting how many serious cyclists I saw on that route.  Ended up running 6.5 miles at a 8:55 pace.  Strange to feel so good after getting off an airplane.

We lost a day over a date line traveling our 10 hours to Fiji.  I slept on the plane about 8 of those hours and then we had a 2.5 hour bus ride to our resort called Wananavu.  After settling in and having lunch I checked out the property.  The beachfront area is only about .3 miles but there are a few jetties that I can run out on as well.  The sand is fairly packed and nice to run on but this is going to get boring over a whole week.  Already thinking about ways to spice up the training.  I feel a bit off from the time change, my stomach is full and i'm already feeling like I've gained weight.  Oh well.  Ran 5 miles at 9:19 pace.

Now its Sunday and we go for a two tank dive which brought us back to the resort around 2pm.  Fine diving, but not great and the boat ride out to the best reef was choppy and long.  After lunch we chilled out.  Temps are not very hot.  probably about 82.  Seems best time to run will be either before we dive if i'm up early at 6am or so or around 4 or 5 in the afternoon.  Today I decided to try running off the property.  The main road is probably about 3 miles from the resort and the road leading to the resort was bumpy coming in but decided to try it.  The footing was terrible and had to walk some portions, especially up and down some hills.  Couldn't even enjoy the scenery because I had to constantly monitor the footing.  This is not a good plan.  If i have an injury I have no idea where the nearest hospital is.  I cut the run short and finish the 4.1 miles  at a 10.15 pace.

Monday I hit the beach again in the late afternoon.  Going to combine beach running with some strength exercises.  After each mile I set myself up with some therapy bands and combine leg stabilization exercises with pulling exercises.  Broke up the run a bit and made it more interesting.  Fan 6 miles at 8:38 pace.  Having the rest for light weight training allowed my heart rate to go down and felt strong going into each 1 mile run interval

Tuesday I would like to be doing about 11 miles but no way I can run that on the beach at once.  Way too boring.  Will do an AM run and a PM run.  The Am run was an easy 6 miles at 8:49 pace.  The evening run was 5 miles at 9:10 pace.  Every 1/3 mile i stopped and did some lower body plyometrics which kept my HR elevated.  Did squat jumps, lateral skaters, split lunge jumps.  I've not been doing plyometrics in the gym and found it challenging to do in the sand and didn't feel the impact of it the next day.

Wednesday I an in the later afternoon for 5 miles at 8:55.  There were two points within my one mile circuit where I had a nice straight away with sound footing, so at those spots I did speed strides for 25 steps or so bringing my pace up to 5:13 to 6mm.  Another nice variation.

Thursday I felt lazy and it was our last day of diving.  I was hoping to feel like swimming more while  I was here, but the property doesn't really have a good swimming cove because of all the jetties.  I spent about 30 minutes doing drills between two of the jetties.  Forgot to mention that one day I spent time in the pool learning how to do flip turns.

Friday is our last day at the resort.  We have a day excursion planned to a little island across the bay but other than that nothing to do.  So I planned another 2 runs.  In the Am i ran before eating breakfast.  I feel totally recovered having a day off.  I ran 5 miles at 8:51 pace and my HR was really low throughout at an AV of 156.  At each mile i took a break and did leg work.  I integrated S/L suspended squats and squats with Hip abduction using a band.  For the afternoon run I ran 5 miles at an easy 9:04 pace.

We left the resort at 10am on Saturday but didn't fly out until 11pm.  Spent time at a hotel with a day room near the airport and took a trip into town.  Slept most of the way to LA.  Gained a day on the return and landed at JFK at 11pm.  When I got home i wasn't tired so we unpacked.  I need to get in my long run Sunday morning but have to do it early so we can drive up to Connecticut and pick up Kramer who is staying with family.  So I got 4 hours of sleep and then went out for a 17 mile run at 7am.  Kinda crazy but it worked.

Sunday morning I got up at 6:30, had a shake and was out the door by 7am for the run. Feeling really tired but glad to be back in NYC and want to enjoy this run. I Ran over the bridge and up the west side until I hit the 8.5 mile mark and then turned around. Really the whole run felt easy. I think running the last week in sand made the hard surface run feel super easy. Had a gel at 6 mile and 11 mile and had to stop twice for the bathroom. No wind today. Around the 12 mile mark or 2/3 of the way in I started to feel sluggish, but not bad considering all the travel and inconsistent nutrition from the last 36 hours. The goal was to run 17 miles at 9:36 pace and I ran the main 15 mile set (had a 1 mile warm up real slow to the bridge and 1 mile cool down) at 9:08 and HR 155 average My pace was about 25 seconds per mile faster than planned but my HR was right on target.  I'm sure I'm going to be napping in the car on the way home tonight.

Weight Training- Week 6 Paris Marathon

This is a short week for weight training.  I have access to a gym Monday through Wednesday and than am traveling for 11 days.  Focusing on strangth and stability for upper body and going to hit legs hard on Tuesday. Monday- at my gym in the basement a couple hours following a run I did a fairly light workout for 35 minutes followed by 10 minutes of abdominals using the TRX.  Ab work felt hard and should not have.  Slacking on that lately, not good since i'll be in a bathing suit for most of my vacation.  Come on Carla, priorities.  Worked back, chest snd shoulders in super sets of strength followed by stability.  Most all the shoulder work was light and more stability than strength.  Want to make sure my shoulder feels good for all the swimming i'll be doing in FIJI.

Stability ball prone Y- 3# 3x12 focusing rear delt and scapular region.  SS with SB prone W- 5# 3x12 transverse shoulder ext rotation.

Lat pd WG 70# 3x10 SS with Prone CG row 10# 3x20 easy

Puch ups- feet stacked 3x15 (left shoulder feels good today) SS with SB supine fly 15# 3x20 easy

Stability ball prone T- 3# 3x12 focusing mid and rear delt SS with SB prone L- 2# 3x10 horizontal internal and external rotation.  a little tough.

Tuesday-  I am only doing legs today and good thing because I only have about 25 minutes at John street between clients.  Want to go fairly heavy as my squats and deadlifts felt easy last week.  Added 10 pounds to the barbell to make it 105 total and want to increase volume from last week as well.  Did 4x10 squats and 4x10 deadlifts.  Range of motion was really good and felt strong.  My back is sore for some reason today.

Wednesday- I'm loging this in before my Flight to FIJi that leaves in a few hours.  Can't wait.  Feel great today.  I spent about a half hour working on abs and yoga and it was much needed.  My body feels great, but 17 hours in the air over the next 24 hours will change that.

I got in a quick workout in the basement gym focusing on back and shoulders.  Started with high reps and added weight each set.  Range was from 10-20 reps and short rest periods.  SA DB row, Military db OHP, Lat pd wg, db shoulder scaption, db rev fly, db shoulder flexion reciprocal and cable shoulder extension reciprocal.  Quick but good workout.

Training Log- Week 6 Paris Marathon

This week has some training challenges.  I'm not able to set my runs for my moderate, easy, hard schedule that i've been working off of because we are leaving mid week to go to Fiji and the travel aspect is going to be challenging.  My plan is to run moderate 10 miles on Monday, 9 miles Tuesday, 15 mile long run Wed, 6 miles Thursday during a layover in LA,  5 miles Saturday and 5 miles Sunday.  Total mileage 50, up from 46 last week.  We fly Thursday morning from NYC but don't arrive in FiJi until late Friday.  It's going to be about 18 hours of travel, so will have to see how my body feels when I get there, plus my priority on ths trip is to scubadive as much as possible, do some open water swimming and relax.  So i'm not going to stress over the running. Monday- My morning run will be a moderate distance but easy run to prospect park with a goal pace of 9:20 or a little faster.  Did an easy 1 mile warm up then climed the 1 mile hill to the park easy and picked up the pace for the 2nd mile to get my average pace to 9:20.  Everything feels good.  Settled into a 9:20 pace going counter clockwise and turned around at the 5 mile mark.  Have a gel with me but not going to use it.  I have want more energy in my water pack.  Legs started to feel a bit heavy just before the 8 mile mark, an indicator to take a gel, but passed on it.  Rest of the run  is pretty much down hill and want my body to use some carb reserves as i ate too many carbs yesterday.  Jogged easy for the last mile and stretched.  Will do a weights a little later this afternoon.  Average pace for the 8mile work set was 9:11 and HR av was 155bpm.  All good.  Need to make sure I keep these 3 relatively hard (due to distance) runs really easy to reduce the stress on my body.

Tuesday- Ran from John street across Chambers for a change of scenery.  My Garmin was not picking up a sattelite in the beginning, so my planned 9 mile run was actually 10 miles.  A nice flat course after the 1 mile warm up but there was a strong headwind.  Was surprised at how low my heart rate was and although my goal was 9:20 pace I felt as long as my HR stayed below 155 I would continue at a pace that felt good.  I drank pure water and no gels.  For the main set of 8 miles my HR average was 153 and pace 9:09.

Wednesday- This run was by far the most difficult of all my runs during the first 6 weeks of base training.  Today my mileage for the week totals 35 miles over a 48 hour (3 day) period.  I've been feeling really good about my pace and heart rate and knew my body was ready for the challenge this week of putting my hard training in early so I can relax during travel and enjoy my vacation. Headed out to prospect pack and warmed up easy for the first mile.  In the park I ran counter clockwise until my garmin indicated I had run 7.5 miles.  My HR was easy at 155bpm or lower, some hills my HR went up, but was OK with my pace throughout.  Was hoping I would get more energy by mile 5 which is usually where i feel warmed up but the whole run was difficult.  Maybe mentally I didn't want to be there, was thinking about packing and vacation.  Found it difficult to stay slow at my 9:36 pace goal, legs were even more sluggish when I slowed to that pace.  I turned around at 7.5 miles and had a gel.  Continued on the run feeling like i was plodding along, kind of like with a hard brick workout.  Cooled down the last mile and walked a bit before heading in to stretch for a good 10 minutes.  Pace goal was 9:36 and actually ran 9:19 with an averaage HR of 155 which is a good HR target for a long run.  This run really felt more like an 18 miler.  Joints felt fine, but muscles were sore during the entire run and energy overall was low.

Thursday- No more blogs for awhile.  I'm heading to Fiji today for a dive vacation but have a 7 hour layover in LA.  Thinking going for a short run to stretch out and use my body a bit will be a good plan but will see how I feel when I get there.  Feel really good this morning so time will tell.