Well, it turns out I totally forgot to post a November recap, AND ALSO, an October Recap… so I am going to keep it short and good. But it was a quite eventful 3 months. If I told you everything that happened since October, you would not believe me. You wouldn’t. The good, the bad, the just really unbelievable, so it was all and crazy and crammed and shockimg. All of it. 2017 needs to be a bit more relaxed. Please. It’s NOT looking that way though… stay with me, here we go!
December
I started the month in Italy!!! My husband, my parents and I spent two weeks travelling from north to south. It was glorious. I didn’t run one mile, had ALL THE FOOD and still came back in amazing shape. Italian food is magical. I have no idea how they do it; well, clean unprocessed food will do it, but it’s just ridiculous. Two weeks on vacation is INSANE these days, but so totally worth it. And needed. We got back to NYC mid December and, after three weeks of no running, on December 13, I looked at my log and I realized I was at 1406… so close to 1500!! My highest year ever I had done 1240 (and 1237 last year), so I already had my highest mileage ever, but why not go for 1500? I did 28 miles that first week back, and after 3 weeks off, 28 is a good way to ramp up! 44 miles the 19-25 week, and 30 this past last week…. It was hard to get the miles in the last week as everyone was out of town and I hate running alone, but when you have a goal, you get it done! I am also participating in a streak, December 21st to January 21st, which requires a mile every day, for Coach Stuart Calderwood’s 30th anniversary streak. The logistics are crazy but so far, so good! Oh, and did the Midnight Run on December 31st!!
- Total Miles: 97 miles (between December 13th and 31st)
- Races: one, though I wasn’t really racing…
- Ups: Some runs alone were quite interesting. I’d also find myself running easy miles in sub 8 pace, which was completely weird but welcome. Most of the miles were super slow but I can see my endurance building with the higher mileage.
- Downs: Running alone sucks but I did manage to get it done. The cold is here. ugh. The piles of laundry is scary.
- Balance: AMAZING, 1502 MILES FOR THE YEAR!!!!!!!!!!! HELL YEAH!
And some pictures from Italy, I promise I will do a post about it soon! (HAHAHA, “promise” and “soon”!!)
November
November was a busy month, between the 2016 TCS New York City Marathon and the Philly Marathon… I participated in and attended many events before the big day, I spent LOTS of hours at the marathon expo, I run my last miles for the Philly Marathon, I tapered, and then I went to Philly, got super sick and didn’t run a yard! I definitely was in way better shape than before ANY other marathon, I trained a lot harder and did many more miles, and came out the other side with no race… SUCH a STRANGE FEELING!!! But there was not time to dwell on it, the day after the marathon I managed to close a HUGE project (even if I was still sick and super weak), then a Thanksgiving trip and by Saturday I was off to Italy for two weeks, all in 6 days! And it took until Friday for my stomach to feel normal again; so happy it was as good as new in Italy!
- Total Miles: 72. Hilarious.
- Races: nope
- Ups: the NYC Marathon week fun. Nothing beats that week, all year. And Thanksgiving!!
- Downs: OMG, the Philly marathon that didn’t happen. There went all the training I did, nowhere!!!!
- Balance: okay…
October
October was wild. How did I manage such mileage? Well, I got some decent long runs, two halfs and apparently some ridiculous extra workouts. Both halfs were good but not what I expected. The Great Gallop turned out to be a hot/humid training run of sorts, and the Verrazano Half was a wind tunnel I was glad to survive. I was a bit disappointed to not have good weather in the Verrazano Half to PR, but oh well, can’t win them all. Then, the marathon madness swiped over us and took over my life. It was easy to forget all the racing!
- Total Miles: 187, WHAT!??!?! MOST EVER BY A LOT
- Races: 2 halves, no PR but good overall
- Ups: Crazy fun runs and highest mileage ever
- Downs: No great races so far this Fall. Oh well.
- Balance: well, still have a marathon next month!
September
is it really almost October ALREADY??? WHAT!
actually, this is more like it:
I am already dreading it ALREADY, though of course the running gets easier… On the other hand, I was finally adjusted to the heat. You know how it is…
September shocked me a bit. I ended up with 160 miles. Oooops.
I actually had the same reaction many Fridays or Saturdays when I had a race that weekend and realized and already had run way too many miles that week to be rested for the race. No idea how that happens!
This was probably my month with the highest mileage EVER. I say probably because I am too lazy to go check. Then I reply to myself, “what is the point of keeping track of EVERYTHING, if you are not going to use it to check on stuff?” And I just pretend I have to go to the bathroom and walk away offended. So, I am assuming there’s a 95% change this is my highest monthly mileage ever.
This month my routine was thrown off a LOT. I had a set-in-stone routine: Speedwork on Tuesdays (THE main workout); Easy or nothing on Mondays (Stairs workout for the last 4 months); November Project on Wednesdays; Easy or Tempo on Thursdays. Nothing Friday. Long or Race on the Weekend.
Then, I started coaching the NYRR Long Training Runs a few weeks ago, AT NIGHT. First of all, I hadn’t run after 7 am in AGES… 3, 4, 5 years maybe? I don’t even remember! Which is SO STRANGE. Adjusting to running at night is still a struggle. It feels weird waking up and not heading out. Do I shower? Do I just watch the news???? WHAT DO PEOPLE DO?!!?!?! Then, what’s the latest I can eat? One time, I forgot, had a snack at 3 pm and I was so uncomfortable during the workout (there’s always speed-work or some sort of speed component), I felt like I was going to throw up. Then, I get home past 8, which is usually my bed time… it’s weird to go to sleep so late, with food still in my throat, I’ve woken up early a few mornings after still full and gagging in my first few steps. There’s some major logistics mishaps that need straightening. On the other hand, SO much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!
What do other women do about long sweaty hair when they run at night?????
I still need to figure out how to reinstate my own speedwork instead of just doing it with the group, but running twice on Tuesdays, speedwork twice in one day, seems crazy. Still fine-tuning this. Stay tuned!
Oh and I had a few races and did many fun this, but I am SURE you’ve read my previous posts anyway!
- Total Miles: 160. Most ever. For Sure. Almost Sure. Not 100% sure but almost really sure.
- Races:Two. The New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile and the Newport Liberty Half. I run both quite poorly to tell you the truth, now that I have the perspective.
- Ups: Apparently something good was happening if I was clocking this many miles. 😉
- Downs: Races and their tapering… ugh. Oh, and no PRs since MARCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Balance: The more I race the more I get deflated about the no PRs since March’s United NYC Half thing. But we’ll get there when we get there, right?
Some pictures from the road:
See you next Month for the next recap!
August
I can’t get over how now 70 degree weather feel like Autumn… it’s amazing how fast we get used to 90s or 10s around here…. I am already missing the high temperatures and dreading the winter, but ohboyohboyohboyhowfastwearegoingtoberunningsoon!!!
August was insane. I don’t know if I ever run 149 miles in one month and I am too lazy to look it up. I know that’s weekly mileage for some of you, but whatever, we all have our limits! I love sharing my training month once in a while because no one believes me I run this little/much or at this pace or whatever. And we’re all nosy, aren’t we? You’re welcome. So here’s the naked August truth:
I did 3 long runs, all in Summer Streets, one better than the last one. I felt great, fast and powerful, even with awful heat and humidity, go figure. I am still cross-training a lot more than usual, and I totally felt the difference in the long runs. The 4th week I was supposed to be off so I raced a 5K. I didn’t PR but I was 9 seconds away! It was hard, but I was just so happy with the race, the fun, and my negative splits! This past month was interesting as my gastroenterologist put me on a no-dairy, no-gluten, no-artificial sweeteners diet. Quite messy at first, because, is there anything left? But once the 16Handles cravings subsided, I got used to it. This past month was one of the funnest ever, and I am so happy I decided to sign up for a marathon: I found out I could rally the troops to have great long runs with great company and have been having the best time! September, and all is racing is just so close I can smell it!
- Total Miles: 149. Most ever? Let’s assume so!
- Races: one!!!! Not a PR but a great effort! Still, that’s race 7 this year, I am waaay behind!
- Ups: The miles flew by and have been getting in quality workouts with QUALITY PEOPLE!
- Downs: Tapering for races annoys me. And the easy weeks. UGH. But I know they’re needed.
- Balance: best month ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
July
So, last month I finally STOPPED. I had been running crazy for years and never ocurred to me to rest. There. One week. Ugh. It was tough. I finally decided to maybe do another marathon this year, and scheduled a few halfs. I got on a groove with the stairs workouts and the cross training at November Project, so all seems to be going in the right direction. I’ll share my training for all July as I know you’re all curious, but there was nothing groundbreaking. Not even a lot of miles!
- Total Miles: 109. Shit
- Races: zero. ooops. forgot
- Ups: LOTS of stairs and running and cross training. AND SWEATING.
- Downs: the easy week!!!! I am scared about the marathon training plan I put together.
- Balance: It’s great. Though I am a bit anxious about how this marathon season is going to play out.
June
did I forget to write about June??? I guess SO! Oooops, what a mess. Well, my parents were visiting for a month if that is a good excuse! It was BU-SY!
what happened in June..?? well, I we took my parents everywhere. a month is like, 4 weeks, so we had tons of time to do stuff, and they’d done all the touristy stuff all the other times, so this time we did local’s stuff stuff, you know? like they’d walk to Randall’s Island everyday, or go to the GW, or go to November Project, or volunteer at a water table (for the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge). fun part is this is the first year in like 15 years, that my parents and I spend my birthday and my dad’s bday and father’s day in the same place! So cool right? Little things you get used to not having… oh well. We did do a couple of touristy things, like the Freedom Tour Observatory (meh), the NY Philarmonic in Central Park, and the Intrepid. But it stops there! Juan had a half Ironman so we went to Maryland or somewhere for the weekend. He did amazing. But he has been training like a maniac, twice a day, hours and hours in the indoor trainer, so I was happy he could get some good results! Me? I’ve been running and workout as usual. I finally managed to make cross-training part of my routine, which I talked about here, and I am SO excited about it!
- Total Miles: 137. YES!!
- Races: Just one, the NYRR Achilles Hope and Possibility
- Ups: LOTS of running and cross training. And we starting doing stairs workouts. AND IT’S HOT OUT
- Downs: that this weather can’t last forever??? nothing!
- Balance: I feel amazing. As fit as I’ve ever been. I have no interest in racing because I don’t want to taper. I just want to train and train and train!!!! that’s crazy right?
May
Flowers Month started with the NJ Half, which now seems like aaaaages ago. Maybe because I did the Brooklyn Half and that also seems like aaaaaages ago!!! Well, it was only 10 days ago. Wow, I am aging fast! New Jersey was a meh race, I got bored, my heart rate was spiking and I wasn’t even sure why, missed a PR by 20 something seconds. I spent the whole month trying to lower it and find the culprit. Then I did the Newport 10K, which was fun but super hot so I missed a PR by a whole minute. A minute in a 10K is like a minute waiting for your Shake Shack buzzer to go off: e-t-e-r-n-i-t-yyyyy. A week later, and still tired, was the Brooklyn Half. I knew I didn’t have it so took it easy there and had a great fun (though slow) race. Best decision evah. Why try when you can just give up? 😉 Overall, I had a fun month, I did a million workouts and runs with lots of friends, I went out a lot, I looked for many races to do as soon as I recovered from Brooklyn then was happy that I didn’t sign up for anything, as it’s SO HOT out. Speedwork Tuesday was not just hot, it was HUMID and awful. Need to make sure I adjust to this crap ASAP. If you need a read on how to adjust to the heat and a lesson on how to over-hydrate, check this (skip to the bottom if you’re not into sciency/nerdy stuff). And you better be ready for the summer runs/racing. It’s happening whether you like it or not! What’s happening in June…? I’d like to say I have x race and x race but…. I do have a bunch of races in my calendar, but nothing I am 100% on. I think I need a liiiiiitle break from racing. Usually in May/June I have a race every weekend, sometimes 3 races in a week! I am just going to go with my heart this time, and see where the wind blows!
- Total Miles: 120. Ok with me!
- Races: Three. The NJ Half, the Newport 10K, and the Brooklyn Half.
- Ups: solid workouts, not just running, all sorts of stuff. I went up LOTs of stairs and bridges too.
- Downs: my races sorta sucked. BK was fun but nothing fast.
- Balance: Still in building mode for the Fall, I guess?. And having fun with it. May was fun but not the usual May where I score a bunch of awesome PRs! Oh well. Healthy and Fun wins over FAST. Actually, looking at the pictures in the slideshow, I have proof that I had all sorts of fun!
April
I am ready… feeling ready to say hello to May and a NEW HALF PR, whether that’s New Jersey (May 1, this Sunday!!!!!) or the Brooklyn Half, well, that… I still don’t know, but I’ll be trying at both. Or I’ll be trying at NJ this weekend and then we’ll see about the other one!
I did one fun race in April, the Run for the Parks 4Miler, that went a bit (12 seconds) too slow and two IronStrength workouts that zapped my legs. Like OUCH. Or more like this feels worse that my first marathon (walking backwards downstairs and all). I also did a lot of coaching, I went to cheer on my athletes, team, and friends at the Boston Marathon, and last week I participated the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay. A busy month at work, lots of coaching, and quality runs. Plus some cross-training, which you know I hate! I am getting over it though, I think, we’ll see.
- Total Miles: 90 (ooops)
- Races: One, Run for the Parks 4Miler, not a PR by a bit.
- Ups: I got back on the horse about the #!*$! cross-training with some November Project and some Ironstrength. Each time I was out for days. I am not built for burpees. at all.
- Downs: same as above, cross-training kills me. I’d do it and then not be able to walk normally or run for days!!!! And… where did my mileage go? Even last Saturday I tried to run (3 days past Ironstrength!!) and I couldn’t, UGH.
- Balance: Building, building, waiting for my chance to ATTACK. Stay tuned. May should be my chance!
- Good news: not to be braggy but I noticed how all my races lately have been over 70% Age Grading, which had always been my goal. So, happy (very happy) about that. Also noticed, that I have no need to do the 9+1 now as I qualify for the marathon (with my NYC Half time) , if I ever decided to do it. Whaaaaat? yeah, it’s a bit braggy but hey, it took YEARS! And lots and lots of sweat and early mornings!
March
Ah it was a roller coaster!!!!! It was cold, it was hot, it was cold, you get it. I did some amazing workouts, some confidence-boosters, and lots of junk miles. It took a bit to psych myself up that I could do a sub 1:37 half. I did it. And then, the same day, I left for Argentina for two weeks, so it’s like it almost didn’t happen (it was funny when I got back home last week and my apartment looked like I just had done the half: pace bracelet, Gatorade, extra layers, mylar blanket, and stuff everywhere!!!). Remind me not to do that again! I barely run when in Argentina; maybe about 30 miles in two weeks. But had such a relaxing time!
- Total Miles: 110
- Races: ONE. The NYC Half! with a PR!!! the PR I had been chasing for THREE YEARS
- Ups: I got a lot of fun easy runs, slow runs, fun runs
- Downs: where did my mileage go? I had no interest in running while I was on vacation. Or workout. Or anything, as usual.
- Balance: Overall good. I still need to figure out a thing or two about the half, and how to drink while running and why I sometimes, after a hard effort, have no interest in any of it, but overall good.
February
confirmed that this would be the most confusing and best winter ever. One day you have low temperature records and the next day you’re in shorts. A Blizzard, then 60 degrees. Still a lot better than just straight out freezing for the whole month (like last year). Somehow, I have still been able to train a lot this month, which is strange as I haven’t really taken a break since last March… So weird. I did quite good mileage, once short race, 6 interval workouts, three runs over 15 miles, ooops no tempo! Forgot about the tempo. Though I should probably count every time I run with Patricia as a tempo!!! 76% of my miles were on the briddle path, maybe that’s why I have been able to do all this mileage?
- Total Miles: 137.
- Races: one 4 Miler, not a PR (by 3 seconds) but placed 2nd in my Age Group
- Ups: the weather was awesome for February. Lots of miles. Lots of fast miles! I love that we’re back in the briddle path for the speedwork!! Got a lot of new Under Armour gear and shoes. Managed to survive a long run with Patricia.
- Downs: I am tired and we are 2.5 weeks from the NYC Half: I am starting to get nervous!
- Balance: Great, ready to pounce!!
January
was a solid month. I got 132 miles… how? Apparently I started doing longish runs again without noticing!!! I got five of them in the log: 12.5, 12.5, 15, 11, and 15.5, not sure what distance is “long” anymore but I guess if I am training for a half, anything over 8 miles is LONG. Right? Anyone knows?
I also did 5 speedwork sessions: Mile Repeats, 6x400s + 3x800s, 5x1K, 5 Cath Hill Sprints, and 6x800s. Plus a stoopid-hard workout at Orange Theory I had no idea how to include in my spreadsheet 😛
Weather has been ok so far, nothing like last year. We did have a rough day, when it was 17 (feels like 5) and we were doing intervals. It was BRUTAL. but you know, those are the days you go out because after that 20s and 30s feel like Summer. We had a little blizzard (22 inches of snow in 1 day) but I was able to run the day before and the day after so no biggie. And the briddle path was back in just 10 days!
I have now 6 weeks to the United NYC Half Marathon and I am super pumped. I need a Half PR this year guys, it’s been 3 years! I am desperate. I also signed up for the New Jersey Half. Oh, and Brooklyn Half too. It’s coming. I promise. I can see it. I can almost taste it! I am sure it tastes like unicorns, and victory and clouds, and sunny and yes, pizza from Rome.
- Total Miles: 132.
- Races: Zero (unless you count the times I need to race to be on time to meet running friends!)
- Ups: the weather is not 100% miserable. Lots of consistent training and cross training.
- Downs: I am sick of wearing layers. My legs and my bun want out!
- Balance: Good, on a patient waiting mode.
runningandthecity 
Wow, you’ve had a pretty crazy 2016! Good luck for 2017, and keep that mileage up 😀
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Thanks Pippa! Happy 2017!!!
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Italy in the winter is amazing! I Thanks for the honest recaps – your results are great! Good luck in 2017!
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Thanks Renee!!!! I love Italy in December, can’t go in the Summer, crowds overtake every city!
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