MCM Week 14: The Limit Does Not Exist

I had a lot in store for this week, between my own long run training, in-laws’ family holidays, continuing education requirements, a full client schedule, and a half marathon. I was especially excited for the half marathon benefiting a local luncheonette that employs adults with intellectual disabilities. The No Limits Café provides opportunities for people with Down Syndrome, Autism, etc that might not have been able to work in other traditional workplaces. I believe that if people work in caring environments, they can thrive with neurotypical society. When I saw that they were hosting a race at our local park that aligned with marathon training, I happily signed up.

Here's the plan breakout for Week 14:

·       Sunday – 16 miles Long

·       Monday – 6 miles Easy

·       Tuesday – 10.5 miles Strength: 1.5 miles WU, 3 x 2 miles @ MP-10 w/ 0.5 mile jog, 1.5 miles CD

·       Wednesday – Crosstrain

·       Thursday – 12 miles Long

·       Friday – 6 miles Easy

·       Saturday – 8 miles Easy

What actually happened:

·       Sunday – 17 miles Long

·       Monday – Rest

·       Tuesday – 5.5 miles Easy

·       Wednesday – 6.21 miles Easy

·       Thursday – Rest

·       Friday – 8 miles Easy

·       Saturday – 13.49 miles Tempo (No Limits Café Half)

Sixteen miles were on the menu for this week’s long run, and since I was feeling pretty good, I went the extra mile to clock in 17 to Red Bank and back again. It was a nice 64 degree day, so I felt energetic. My only issue was that my right knee wasn’t happy with the steep downhill at the end of my run, so I would have to be careful about its recovery. I meant to read a book while watching football in the background, but I found myself scrolling on my phone for way too long. Sometimes I get way too entertained by social media comments in running groups; everyone thinks they’re an expert on marathoning when it’s a unique experience to every individual. What fueling strategy works for me might not work for someone else and vice versa. When I go down these reading rabbit holes and come up for air, hours can pass by. I prefer reading books, so I was frustrated with myself for getting caught up in nonsense instead of an imaginary world.

I could have run on Monday, but as I’ve been trending in the later weeks, I made it a full rest day. The physical rest allowed me to get through some boring CEU videos for my personal training recertification and other items on the to-do list for the week.

There was an excessive amount of traffic on my Tuesday morning commute, so I didn’t get the chance to run a few miles before I had to run with my marathon-training client. I was supposed to have more than 10 speedy miles, but only got half. Tuesdays always have the worst traffic and require the most energy out of me, and these training days never felt successful. I’m lucky if I get any of my own training done. Pair my “failure” of a workout with an oncoming rain migraine, and I get even more frustrated. I can’t win on Tuesdays.

Wednesday should have been a crosstraining day, but I needed to catch up on my weekly mileage so I ran an easy 10k at work. This run felt tough after the previous night’s Rosh Hashanah feast at the in-laws and late bedtime, but I burned it off.

I was beyond exhausted on Thursday and made that my rest day for the week. I didn’t want to feel crappy for my upcoming half marathon on Saturday, so this was the day I let my body rest and focus more mental energy on completing my CEUs ahead of the deadline. I needed to recertify by the end of October, so I technically still had plenty of time, but knowing how much I was going to be focusing on marathon taper at that time, I wanted it off my plate.

The rest day was just what I needed because my 8-miler on Friday to Sandy Hook felt great. If I didn’t have a race the next morning, I easily could have made up the 12 miles I was supposed to do the day before. Instead I reined it in during the run and carb-loaded with grocery store sushi that night. Sushi before a half marathon has become somewhat of a ritual this year, and my performance speaks for itself.

On Saturday morning I headed to Thompson Park for a small local half marathon that the No Limits Café was hosting both to raise money for their organization and for their NYC marathon charity bib runners. Only 19 of the runners were doing the half marathon, and the other 50 or so participants did the 5k. We had to run 4 loops in Thompson Park, but what was strange about this race was that I had to cross the finish line, pivot, and go back out onto the same loop for each lap. This added a few extra seconds each lap to decelerate, change direction, and accelerate again but it was doable for the very small playing field. It was so humid that morning, so my goal was to practice my race pace and fueling strategy to get a gauge on what I need to work on the next few weeks.

Here’s where I had to pivot past the time chip start/finish line to start my next lap. Photo originally from the No Limits Cafe Facebook page.

I was in the middle of the (very spread out) pack for the first two laps and slowly started passing those that went out too fast at the start. Some of the disabled café workers were volunteers at the aid stations and were so happy when I chose their cup of water to drink out of. I don’t think the course was officially 13.1 miles because my Garmin had me complete that distance about a half mile before the actual finish line, so I’m not sure what my actual pace was for this race. Garmin said 8:34/mile (and it felt like it) vs. 8:48/mile chip pace. If the finish line was sooner, it might have been a PR, but the official time I got was my average 1:55:28. I got first place female and 8/19 overall. I still felt lively post-race, enjoyed reading a few chapters of my book to rest, and had some delicious pho for dinner to celebrate my victory and replenish sodium to my bloodstream.

I ran about 8 miles less than what was on the plan this week, but I was glad I overachieved on my long run, listened to my body enough to take the rest day, and had a great race day at the end of the week. This week boosted my confidence in my training, and I just had to remain hopeful that I would have a strong marathon day.