8 x 400

Applying to gyms as a personal trainer has it perks, like access to a gym I wouldn't otherwise be able to afford.

I started my workout with weights, and who but Alec Baldwin should show up right next to me doing preacher curls.

After finishing up on weights I jumped around to a few treadmills like Goldie_locks until I found the perfect match. A screen with a virtual track displayed. This was awesome to work with since I didn't have calculate with numbers how far I had to go but could quickly glance and know. I started off on the first four at a conservative 8.0 mph then 8.5 for the next two and finally at 9.0 for the last one.

I should have pushed myself and done 8.5 or 9.0 for the whole thing, but after dying last week (due to the closed track and having to put in the extra meters) I wasn't sure I wanted to push myself that hard yet. Defiantly gonna up the game for next Wednesday's run

Day of not so rest

Sunday's are my scheduled day of rest, but before I planned my marathon training plan, I signed up for the George Washington Bridge run. So after a night of work (at the bar) I woke up at 6am and headed over to Jersey.

The race was so poorly planned, the parking lots were miles from the registration area, which was overly congested, the start line wasn't marked, basically a total shit show.

As annoyed as I was about the poor planning, I ended up having a great time running. My mile was prob in the high 6s low 7s and it felt great to fly past EVERYONE!

First of the Long

Today was the first long run for the marathon training. It is the shortest of the long runs, but for some reason I was way out of it. It was only 7 miles, but those 7 miles felt like 14. It may have been my mindset or that I was running at a different hour. Or that I have coffee two hours before...

Whatever caused my foul mood during my run def has me in a weird mindset.

Round and round and round and round

It's fitting that Repeat by Jessie J was playing as I started Day Threes workout, 6 x 400. It wouldn't have been as bad had the track not been closed for "construction". I ended up doing laps around the outside perimeter of the track which probably extended my 400s to 450s or even 500s. I kept my time under the goal regardless, but really felt it after the first 3. The loops quickly became like I was watching the same video on repeat, but every time seemed to be going just a little slower.

Pace training or "speed training" is obviously super important for any competitive athlete in any sport, but I wish I could get the same results from a continuos run. This is where the principles of training are important to know and understand otherwise I'd be way more inclined to just give up.

I'm glad to be back into a routine and happy that I feel obligated to hit the gym as well as continue my runs.

Marathon Training Day Two: Cross Training

Today was the first day of cross training. It felt great to be back on my bike again! I technically was only suppose to ride for 30 minutes, but it felt so great to be riding again, I couldn't stop.
I ended up cycling for over an hour. I told myself that if I kept going after the 30 minutes I would just go super light and easy.... Of course that didn't happen; I kept being an over competitive asshole. I would a lot someone in the distance and push myself to catch up to and then pass each and every person on the path.

My competitive nature is of course good to a point, but sometimes I should probably learn to scale it back. At least for certain moments of training.

June 4th: Marathon Training Day One

Today's workout was scheduled as a 40 minute Jog.

I have been doing my pre-training along riverside drive west, which isn't the flattest part of Manhattan (nor is it the hilliest, but more rolling hills than flat stretches). So for the first day of training I changed my path and heading closer to the water and was running right alongside the Hudson. The area was much flatter!

My time was either really fast (tends to happen when I have a bad day) or my iPhone app. map-my-run was acting up. It said I had finished 7 miles over the 40 minute period. I'm fast, not that fast, so I'm not sure what to believe or think but I know the timing was right.

It was nice being next to the Hudson again, I always miss the water when I'm away from it. It got me thinking a lot about how I want to make sure I continue to row. After this Marathon I'm gonna make sure I find a way to be back on the water.

YOLO (You Only Live Once)

Sunday before my last week of freedom, and I've appropriately entitled this weekend as YOLO-Weekend. I haven't gone completely crazy or anything but I've defiantly not been as health conscious as I should be. A few to many fatty-foods and a little more drinking then my body has been used to.

I had forgotten how comfortable you can become with feeling gross. This weekend will probably end up inspiring me to clean up my act well before my first official week of training starts.

Tonight is my going away party with my upstate co-workers, which will surely not be a dry event. Fingers crossed my liver can survive this one!

With the crazy YOLO weekend schedule I was forced to do my run mid-day on Friday, and the heat really got the better of me. I struggled with completing 4 miles, which has me nervous about the upcoming real summer heat. My training is defaubtlu gonna have to take place early morning or later in the evening (or worse on a treadmill).

Ready...Set.... DRINK!

Nineteen and a Half weeks until my first marathon. Giving myself Four months to train, this means I am only one and a half weeks away from my first week of real training for this race. Most people would take this time to relax de-stress, unfortunately I am not. Having just graduated with my bachelors degree, and with my lease of my apartment ending in the same month as graduation, I have been racing around finding a new apartment back in New York City (which takes about as much time and effort as a full time job, for any of you who haven’t had to try to deal with NYC real estate before), looking for a job, and moving all my things from upstate New York back into the city, all by myself (that’s a lie, my girl Maggie helped with the move down THANK GOD for her).  

Week one back in the city, and I have set up an interview at a bar in Hell’s Kitchen (“Clinton”), which will hopefully take the stress away from my job hunt for what I like to refer to as my “Big Person Job”. Once I have money coming in I can focus on the marathon training as well as job hunt. Looking for a part time job, on top of marathon training will be significantly more stressful since hospitality jobs require a lot more physical leg work then degree requiring jobs do (typically).

As if I needed another stressor or distraction, I’m signing up for a college level Spanish course. I have always wanted to become fluent (or something the resembles the ability to speak and understand) in Spanish, and I’m forcing myself to start that now.

So as I approach the eighteen week mark, the idea of not being able to drink, and lots and lots and lots of running has allowed me to drop my normal workout habits and eating habits, in order to indulge a little before I start training. I know I should still be maintaining some level of healthy eating and drinking, and I kind of am, but this last week before training has presented me with lots of opportunities to misbehave, and I plan on going out with a BANG! The week has actually planned itself and looks to be pretty intense… Sunday, will be my going away party in Upstate New York, and working with bar tenders, I,m sure that the alcohol will be FLOWING! Wednesday night, I was invited to a fashion event/party which will be the death of my self esteem and of course lead to pretty heavy drinking. Thursday Braking the Cycle (  http://www.brakingthecycle.org/ ) is having an event at the Brooklyn Brewery, 2 dollar drafts (common seriously how can I not?!) Oh! And if I sign up for this years ride the beers are FREE! (already dreading the subway ride back to my apartment in Manhattan….), and last but not least Friday night, my friend would like to take me out for wine, lots of wine, and dinner as a celebration to be back in the city. With all the festivities ahead of me, im sure by the time training comes I will be more then ready to never drink again.

If my liver doesn’t give out over the upcoming week, Training will start June 4^th 2012, giving me exactly 18 weeks to build up my cardiovascular endurance enough to run 26.2 miles. The goal is to finish in under 4 hours. I’m sure that may sound high to a lot of people, but for my first marathon, I just want to finish it.

So glasses up boys as I enter this up-coming week of heavy pre-marathon training drinking (maybe not the best idea before training week, but Im already ahead of the curve running-wise so a minor set back shouldn’t be too bad).