NYC Marathon Training Week #12: Tuesday & Wednesday

Tuesday was a recovery run with a friend. I left my watch charging at the office so I had to go without it this morning. I also ran unplugged. That gave us a chance to talk. Well, my friend talked while I listened. It's hard for me to talk and run at the same time. I don't know how others do it.

From time to time, it's nice not to have anything stuck in your ears or glued to your wrist. I must say it was kind of liberating. But old habits die hard, I still had to ask what time we started and ended...I needed some kind of idea what our pace was. Hey I am a sucker for data, what can I say?

Yasso repeats are my favorite workout for speed. I was a little dissapointed when I asked the Coach what was more important to do tonight. She told me to hold off on the Yassos and do the following workout instead: 1000, 2x800, 4x400 each with lap recovery. She said that I would benefit more from this workout for my planned 10k this Sunday. I trusted her knowledge. I asked and I got my answer.

At the end of the night, I was so happy to see the numbers that I produced. I went out like a bat for the 1000m. I was trying to hold on to the leaders. I knew I should have backed off a little to save some gas for the 800s. The excitement got to me. I was not quite recovered yet when the first 800s started. Then after a lap recovery, I was back on track. At the start of the 400s, I kept telling myself, it's short, push it! The uncomfortable pain is only temporary. I wanted to stay close to the pack. I knew I was going fast, but I just stayed with them as best I could. The 3rd 400, I felt like calling it quits. My mind wandered off to saying, let this be your last one. After the lap recovery, I felt better and my legs were cooperative. I pushed it and it was nice to have another girl to push me when I needed it. She came up to my side with 200 meters to go. I was afraid she was going to pass me like she did in the 3rd 400, but I managed to turn the legs over faster. I felt like I was flying and barely touching the ground. Mind you, I can only run like this for less than 200 meters. I can't imagine those who can fly like this for 26.2 freakin' miles! Boy was I glad it was over. I had a huge side stitch at the end. Below are my results:

1000 4:27 (7:03 pace) 169 bpm
800 4:15 (8:27 pace) 163
800 3:55 (7:46 pace) 168
400 1:38 (6:23 pace) 165
400 1:40 (6:31 pace) 166
400 1:51 (7:32 pace) 159
400 1:43 (6:39 pace) 162

Feeling awesome! I thought the pace for my 400s were a fluke. Did my Garmin malfunction? Are those 6's for real? Shut up! Somebody pinch me!

Looking forward to my 10k race on Sunday! I'm looking to PR. It's been a while that I've done a personal best for a 10k. but my training has been going so well, I would very much like to see how much this plan has helped me thus far in the training with 8 weeks left to go. Stay tuned...
Happy Running