taper!

Tapering! The best part of training. Now that I've completed my last long run, it's time to cut back on the mileage and reap the benefits of recovery. It is so hard to imagine tacking on an extra 6 miles to my long run, but in reality, we have all the strength we need to run a full marathon (well, after training. Our coaches are smart). Here's a nice quote from Runner's World: "Your legs get you through the first 10 miles. Your mind gets you through the next 10 miles. Your heart gets you to the finish line." - So true. Training for a marathon is not only a huge accomplishment, but also a huge time commitment. Anyone can run a marathon without training (and feel the pain during and afterwards)- but a training program will really make you confident about your run. Plus, Team in Training is such an amazing, close group; I would recommend it to everyone.

Our email from Coach Ramon about our workout tonight:

The workout: Warm up from Bethesda down the east side to 59th st and 7th avenue entrance of the park. From there
start you 1st of 3 pick ups:

1st : 59th & 7th to West 90th street. RECOVER to 102nd street
2nd West 102nd to110th (bottom of Harlem hill) TURN AROUND and back to West 102nd Street RECOVER to West 90th street.
3rd : West 90th to Bethesda.

How to run the workout: 3 pick ups 3 paces.

1st : This is a long pick up. Run this at your marathon goal time(if you have one) or about 75% effort if you don't
2nd: Push this part of it. You have 2 uphills (specially designed for SF participants). Run Hard up and down both sets.
You want to be pretty tired by the time you get back to 102nd street. This should be done at 80+% effort.
3rd: Run for your life. This is about 1.2 miles to Bethesda. But this is a fast part of the park as it is mostly downhill. Do not be shy,
push. This is the part where you work on your turnover once your legs are tired. This should be done at aroudn 85+% .

Goal of the workout: Once more we are working on our discipline, on our pacing and our fitness.
You need to have the discipline to hold back on the first and longest part of the workout, eventually put some effort and work thru some controlable discomfort during the 2nd pickup and then be brave to deal with real discomfort on the last one...
If you find yourself not being able to pick up the pace or effort on the 3rd pickup, it tells me you went too hard on the first 2.
If you did learn from it, if you didn't do the same on race day !

The exciting part, is that this is our last hard workout until race day! Until then, I am rewarding myself with intense core fusion classes and long city walks :-)



Last night, I tried a great new vegan place on the Upper West Side called "Peacefood." I ran downtown (literally) from my class at school(my class was from 6-9pm!) and stopped in for some dessert. I got a blueberry cream biscuit and chocolate chip cookie. All vegan. I am excited to try some of the more savory dishes, because I was very impressed with the desserts! I especially love its proximity to areas I frequent often :-)