So in a moment of panic today, I realized that the New York City Marathon is only 3 months away – 3 months from tomorrow to be exact. I am very serious in my attempt (again) this year to crack 4:30.
I hate running in the summer. I really do. I find the heat and humidity oppresive and all of a sudden can’t run more than 4 or 5 miles without gallons of water and gatorade. Other times of the year I can run 8-10 miles and consume 1 single bottle of water. Typically my training really suffers in June, July and August. I did better this year in July than I have in the last few years, and I was miserable. 2 weeks ago I did 2 lower-5 loops in Central Park at (gasp) well under 10 min per mile pace, and I took a 5 minute break between loops to water down.
I had been pushing myself in July because I was registered for the New York City Half Marathon, which was last Sunday. In the early part of the year, I finished each of Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn Half Marathons in under 2 hours, with the last one, Brooklyn, at a PR of under 1:57. My time in the New York City Half Marathon, 2:10:30. Respectable, but almost 15 minutes behind my race time from less than 3 months ago.
Anyway, like I said, 3 months away from the marathon, got to really dig in now. Tonight I went to East River Park and did a speed workout on the track, all out. 2 x 1 mile (7:35 and 7:51) and 2 x .5 mile (3:42). After that, I was done. My apartment in Stuyvesant Town is 1.1 miles from the track, which allows for a nice warm up and cool down, so my total was 4.7 miles. I’m gonna sign up for Bob Glover’s NYRR running class so that I can keep up with the speed workouts. More on that another time.
Comments on this entry are closed.