Well, from a running and recovery standpoint, the week went well. I got to see my aunt, cousins, and my cousins’ kids on Monday, I had a safe trip home on Tuesday. I got to see my nephews (and my parents too, but I spent last weekend with them) this weekend. And I got to watch a little bit of the Charlotte Marathon on Saturday. Let’s just not talk about Tuesday evening.
With my runs this week, my first pair of Brooks Adrenaline 16s are now at 401.0 miles, and so they’ll be retired. I don’t want to do a separate post for them, so I’ll just say that they lasted me from May 15 to November 12, and while I never did any races in them, I did bring them to Portland in August, so there’s that. They helped me get through my training for New York City, including what ended up being my longest training run of 18.76 miles. And they were the shoes that I was wearing when I fell down. They had an eventful life, but they’re in remarkably good condition, so they’ll live on as my walking around shoes.
Weight Check: 160.9. That’s up exactly one pound from my last official weigh-in on Friday, November 4, before my last training run. I spent time with my extended family (both while I was in New York and this weekend when I was back home), so there was plenty of beer and food. And when I went back to work on Wednesday, I was in catch-up mode (I had been gone since the previous Thursday) and didn’t get a whole lot of sleep Tuesday evening (Like I said earlier, let’s not talk about it), so I drank a lot of Mountain Dew. Still, 160.9 isn’t bad.
| Day | Total Miles |
|---|---|
| Thursday | 4.01 |
| Saturday | 6.01 |
Total: 10.02 miles
I don’t have a training plan, and I’m not sure I’ll have one again until the next time I train for New York City. So for now, I’ll just put my total miles each day in the table.
I should probably talk a little bit about my recovery. As you can imagine, Monday was the toughest day. I love my cousin, and appreciate her inviting us to visit and then stay Monday night, but I really wish her house didn’t have so many stairs. I had general soreness in my legs, primarily my quads. Climbing stairs was about as difficult as walking. Going down stairs, however, was really painful. I took some ibuprofen, and that seemed to help.
Tuesday was better. I felt soreness, but it was much less than Monday, and it didn’t seem to slow me down. Going down stairs still hurt, but it was more manageable.
Wednesday my legs were still a little tired, but I went back to work, so I was able to walk around a bit. Other than my legs getting a little stiff after sitting for a while, I was OK.
Thursday, I had my first post-race run. It went better than I expected. My legs were still a little sore, but they didn’t feel like they were beat up. Also, it had cooled off, and this was the first time I ran in long sleeves since April or maybe even March.
Friday was a rest day, and my legs felt pretty normal.
Saturday morning, I got up and drove to Freedom Park. I ran around the park a bit, then up the greenway to 4th Street so I could watch the Charlotte Marathon go by. I got there about 5 minutes before the leaders got there.
The bicyclists almost got in the way, but you can see the leader in the red shirt and black shorts. I can’t read his number with the glare, so I don’t know how he ended up doing. This was just before Mile 2.
After the crowd support in New York City, I wanted to stick around to pay it forward to the Charlotte Marathon (and Half Marathon) runners, but I had to get home and get cleaned up so I could spend the day with my nephews. (They’re the best.) So I ran back to my car and ended up with 6 miles, just enough to give me double digit miles for the week. I was really happy with my pace.
This week, I should finish my Race Report for the New York City Marathon. As far as running goes, we’ll see how I feel, but I’d really like to get back up to 5 days of running.