Sunday, September 30, 2012

NYCM Training: Week 13 Recap

This week was smokin! It's amazing what sleep can do for you! It was also a new PR Mileage week - the most mileage that I have ever done in one week.

Total Weekly Mileage: 58 miles
Total September Mileage: 201 miles




Monday: 3.4 miles at 10:06 pace (with XC kiddos) and 5.4 miles at 7:29 pace. 
The kids had some easy miles for the day which turned out to be a great warm up to my own run. I know I am supposed to be doing two speed workouts a week (tempo runs) but I never really plan on when they will happen. On this day I felt super good (I didn't run over the weekend), and my body was ready for some speed! It felt wonderful to be zooming through the streets as the sun was going down.

Tuesday: 7 miles at 8:09 pace and 20 minutes of core/fitness training
We had the kids do some core/fitness work at practice and of course we joined along with them! But my legs were like Jello afterward. It was quite hilarious to try to run on them.

Wednesday: 1 mile, day off.
Started running at practice and realized that the run today was going to be a killer. Each leg felt like it weighed 50lbs heavier and I could not move faster than "snail pace." After a half mile I realized what day it was. WEDNESDAY! My day OFF! I was so relieved to find out that I could go home and relax, rather than struggle through a run.

Thursday: 8.7 miles at 7:49 pace
It was a warm day and my hamstrings were not liking me from the beginning. It is very possible that the core/fitness workout we did on Tuesday had finally caught up to me. I went a little slower than I wanted to so that I wouldn't hurt myself.

Friday: 7.3 Miles at 7:54 pace
Today was parent-teacher conference day at school which mean I had many hours of sitting rather than standing! I could get used to sitting on Fridays. The hamstrings were a little tight when I began my run but were OK by the time I was half done.

Saturday: 8.8 miles at 7:49 pace.
Talk about gorgeous fall weather. I could have sworn I was in Vermont again! I had a very exciting morning as I watched every runner on our cross country team get a PR, and one of our ladies even won the JV race! In fact, it was so exciting, that I think I expended far too much energy cheering for them. I forced myself to go on my run, and even though it started out slow, I felt wonderful by the end. Just as expected!

Once I finished I realized that I had no fuel for Sunday's long run. Fortunately, there is a running store that is 3 running-minutes away from our place and I was able to easily solve my problem before they closed. They also told me that they had just gotten in their new Asics GT-2000 series and I was SO VERY close to buying them. I told them I would be back this week. It is so hard to stay away from new running gear!

Sunday: 16 miles at 8:07 pace. 
The first 11 miles were awesome. I hadn't felt so amazing at the start of a long run in months. Seriously! I was a brand new person, all thanks to a few extra hours of sleep this week.


I also tried some new running fuel, Honey Stingers Waffles, and LOVED them. They were delicious, they did not get all over my face like GU does, and I could pretend that I was eating dessert for a portion of my run. I only had one during the run and opted not to open my GU for a second refueling, which meant that my legs started to feel fatigued during the last 3 miles of the run. That was OK, because I knew that I would be able to make it home and eat lunch.

Has anyone else tried the "Stinger Waffle"? They're made with organic ingredients, and ingredients that I can actually pronounce. I sometimes worry about what actually goes into GU and question my reason for choosing to fuel with it. The waffle is more natural, and much tastier. In fact, I would love to figure out how to make them myself someday.

It's time to shower, time to lesson plan, time to get the Patriots into gear so they stop losing, and time to figure out what my dessert treat will be for today. Do I make the box of brownies in my cupboard and then have brownies for lunch this week? Or do I go next door to the Fro-Yo place that I have only been to 3 times since I moved here so I can get some frozen gummy bears and marshmallows? Oh our first world problems!

I hope you are all having a relaxing weekend!

11 comments:

  1. Yay!!! I'm so glad you got some sleep!!!! I look forward to your blog posts ever week.

    I can't say I know anything about that stuff you're eating during your runs! I'm up to 3 miles now but that certainly doesn't require a mid-run snack. I will say that it's good to know what's in those things, though. I can't eat gummy bears because they have gelatin in them and that would break my veg! :-( Gelatin is in soo many things. Marshmallows, candies, even some soaps!! We have to read labels of everything we buy, but it is enlightening to know what's in everything I eat.

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    1. Aww thanks Mongie! It's always good to hear that someone reads what I write :) Good work on building up the mileage!

      I think it is so awesome that you are vegan. You are going to be so much healthier than me because you care and think about what you put in your body! It is frightening to see what goes into our food, and even more frightening to see what goes in food that is specifically designed for kids. Ahhh but that could be a whole post on itself!

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    2. Ohh I won't be THAT healthy, I'm not vegan just a strict vegetarian!! I have to have my yogurt every morning and some cheese here and there! :-) Maybe my next blog post will be about unknown usage of animal products.

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  2. Congrats Dani! What an awesome week and an awesome month! Breaking 200 too, that's great. :) I say make brownies, lol. I always put a little dollup of vanilla ice cream on top too. ;) Congrats to your runners as well...PRs and a WIN...that's a lot to celebrate..they must be so happy! So glad you had a better week and I am sure that was a great confidence booster too. Hope you're having a great weekend...they always go by so quickly!

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    1. I did exactly as you said and just finished my brownie sundae!! It feels so nice to have a good week of running down, especially since the race is getting so close!

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  3. I love the waffles! I've tried GU a couple of times but it seems too heavy on my stomach!

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    1. I had never heard of the waffles until last night when I stopped at the running store! Have you tried any of the other flavors? The chocolate and vanilla ones sound interesting.

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  4. Danielle, you are a MACHINE!!! You go girl!!!

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  5. Love the waffles! I don't use them anymore because it's just too much sweet for me, but I wouldn't mind eating them for a regular breakfast. Ha. Thanks for your sweet comment! Tried to shoot you an email back, but wouldn't let me. Love connecting to the rest of the running world through blogging! And, you were out there cheering, that's so awesome. Um, yea, it was a bit cold! do you live in this area? hope you stayed safe and dry and didn't lose power!

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    1. for some reason it used the wrong gmail account and cut me off! anyway, i've been using the jelly sport beans mostly or chia bars. have you done the chia thing? It's great. I'll have to check our your cakes!!

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    2. I just moved to the DC area a few months ago! It's quite a change from Vermont life.

      I have not tried chia bars or even seen them. I did try chia seeds in water last spring but probably put in too many seeds because the water wouldn't come out of the bottle! Oh well, you live and learn. We eventually find something that works for us.

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