Virtual New York City Marathon – Training Week 10

Training has been moving along. I am getting more excited to run the New York City Virtual Marathon. In the next week or two, I am going to plan out the race course, and choose a few potential dates to run the marathon.

Week 10 of the Training Plan

Strength Training

As the mileage increases, it is harder to fit everything in. I like to do strength training twice a week. The last two weeks, I have been doing my strength training once a week. Between the increased mileage and increased hours at work, it hasn’t been happening as much as I would like. This is definitely a key area that I will need to refocus on.

Cross Training

For cross training, I enjoy biking, walking and yoga. The last few weeks I have been doing a little of each. I love yoga. It keeps me grounded. It is especially helpful for flexibility and balance. With fall creeping in and summer coming to a close, I will most likely be riding my stationary bike more.

Runs

The runs are getting longer. This is one of my favorite parts of the training plan. Each week is a test of how much you can handle. I used to get up early starting my runs at 5:00 am and run outside. It is now darker in the morning, with sunrise not until almost 6:30 am. I have had to settle for some treadmill running.

The treadmill is always a struggle for me. The road to now where or Satan’s highway, whatever you want to call it without it I wouldn’t be running as much. I try to run only one to two times per week on the treadmill. I find a good program on Netflix or Amazon Prime. This seems to make the miles go by quicker.

The midweek runs have increased to two 5 mile runs and one 8 mile run. This is about the max midweek mileage. So far so good! I have had some weeks, where I will split the mid distance mileage and run three miles in the morning and 5 miles in the afternoon to get the miles in.

Once a week, I meet some friends and run trails after work. We have been meeting all summer long and I definitely look forward to it. Running with friends is better! It relieves stress and is tons of fun! We run three to five miles, so on this day I may run in the morning and the afternoon to get my miles in.

The Long Run

Week 10 of training was definitely a week, that I had to readjust my training plan. It has been raining on the days I have planned my runs. I did not meet my friends to run this week, because of the rain. I love running in the rain, but it was cold and windy. As with all training plans, you can adjust if you need to.

My long run was no different. Week 10 I was scheduled to run 17 miles. I had planned to run Saturday morning. It started raining Saturday and didn’t stop until Sunday morning. It was raining pretty heavy at times, so I opted to run on Sunday instead. We had been at our place in northern Wisconsin, and the roads I run on are mostly gravel. With the rain the roads were muddy and soft. So, I decided to wait to run until I got home to run.

I did not get home until later morning. I finally got out to run about 11:30 am. It is not my best time of day to run. I prefer to eat breakfast and then wait about an hour or two, prior to running. Mid-day is tricky also, since you could miss a meal. I had not eaten since breakfast, so I had a Honey Stinger protein bar prior to heading out. It was just enough and they are pretty easy on my stomach too.

I headed out with my dog Lucille. Lucille loves to run, but she has gained some weight. Her harness is too small now, so we are back to the training collar. Running has been harder for her, so she ran with me for the first three and the last four. It gave her a rest break in between and was just what she needed. Wanting to run with your dog? Check out my post A Step By Step Guide to Running with Your Dog for some tips.

I am not sure why I decided to do this but, I did my strength training on Saturday. I typically do not do strength training the day before a long run. The long day of rain on Saturday, I felt like I needed to do something. So since I had only done one day of strength training during the week, I decided to add some in on Saturday since I wasn’t running. I was a bit sore on Sunday, not the way you want to start out a long run.

The weather was warm in the 70’s. I have to say I am looking forward to cool weather running. It was beautiful out though and there was plenty to see. Still plenty of wildflowers and the butterfly’s are still here. To make the miles go by, I try to immerse myself in what is going on around me. I try to look for different birds and butterflies. It makes it so much more enjoyable. Despite having to adjust the long run days, the time of day and being a little sore, I was proud of my finish!

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Training to be Continued

Training plans have many challenges and it’s not just increasing mileage. Weather, time of day and changing seasons, everything will be thrown at you but you can still succeed. When roadblocks come up, work on problem solving them. Some of the things that come up during training can make things harder, but not unachievable.

Running on tired and sore legs can make things harder, but not impossible. The true success of a training plan is learning to modify or adjust and keep pushing forward. Adapting to changes will allow you to successfully run and finish a race. Follow along with me, while I run and train for the New York City Virtual Marathon. Curious how training week 4 went check out my post. What virtual races are you running?