This week marked 3/4 of my 16 week training plan. Less than one month until the marathon…I can hardly believe it!
It was a great week of training, including lots of bridges and pretty city views. It ended with my first fall while running (I guess it was too much to hope that I could make it through marathon training without taking a spill?) but as far as falls go it was pretty lucky in that it was nothing that couldn’t be fixed with a lot of ice.
Monday – 5.2 miles (including 8x hill repeats)
Monday night’s sunset – the water looked neon pink for five minutes, it was incredible
Tuesday – 4 miles easy
Wednesday – Rest day
Thursday – Sculpt class at the gym
Friday – 4.3 miles easy (ending with 4 x 20-second strides), evening run in Brooklyn Bridge Park
Saturday – Rest day
Sunday – 20.3 miles!
While my first 20 miler was a delightfully flat route along the West Side Highway, Coach Jess told me to pick a hilly route this time and throw in a few bridges. Sunday was much cooler and a little windy, but the perfect temperature for a long run.
I coordinated with some Prospect Park Track Club teammates who were also running at my pace, and we met up to do 14 miles together, with those of us who had longer runs doing a few more miles before we met.
I started out by running over the Brooklyn Bridge and back, which was still free of tourists at 8am on a Sunday, and then ran to Prospect Park where I met my teammates.
We then ran one loop of Prospect Park and headed through Gowanus towards Brooklyn Bridge Park, over the Brooklyn Bridge (much more crowded around 10am), along the East River to the Williamsburg Bridge…
And then all of a sudden, I was on the ground. Right across from the entrance to the Williamsburg Bridge, I tripped and fell into a chain link fence (I was probably running too far to the side of the sidewalk since we were running two and three across throughout the run) and fell into my right shoulder and right knee. I took a few minutes to catch my breath and felt banged up but could tell that nothing was seriously hurt. My watch read 16.78. I didn’t want to stop then, being so close to 20! Rationally, I knew that extra 3 miles wouldn’t make or break my marathon, but I was determined to finish.
Once we stopped, I realized that I had two little holes in my new pants and a little hole in my new sneakers. I was doing a marathon dress rehearsal to test out my outfit, and was so upset! But if my clothing got the worst of the fall rather than my knee or shoulder, I know I should consider myself lucky. And I’ll still find a way to fix the pants and wear them on Marathon Sunday for sure!
A view from the Williamsburg Bridge, from Kristin’s Instagram
We somehow miscalculated our route and hit 20 miles about a mile away from Shake Shack in Brooklyn Bridge Park, which we had designated as our final destination because of their special Shacktoberfest menu. I didn’t think I could bring myself to do 21 miles, and everyone was exhausted. So we hopped in a cab for a mile…best decision ever.
Finally, we made it to Shake Shack and refueled. If you can’t have a burger topped with a bratwurst after running for 20 miles…when can you? (Don’t worry, I had some help with the 25-oz beer!)
Total – 34 miles
Mentally, I felt a lot stronger this week than last week. I just have to make it through one more long long run, and then the marathon will be right around the corner!
~~~~~
What’s your favorite post-run meal?
Help me decide my marathon outfit –
Should I wear a PPTC singlet or PPTC short-sleeved shirt?
~~~~~
Follow Marathons and Macarons:
Filed under: Goals, Injuries, NYC, NYC Marathon, Running, Scenic Runs, Training Tagged: Autumn, Marathon Training, NYC, Prospect Park, Prospect Park Track Club, Running, Shake Shack, Training
