I LOVE Wednesdays

I really do.

Wednesday is the only day of the week when I have free time during the day AND during the evening. Of course, I'm not one to leave that as free time. But I try to fill my Wednesdays up with fun activities.

I started out the day with a Core Fusion class at the Gansevoort Hotel on 13th street. I had never been to this location, and I was very impressed! It was hidden in the basement of the hotel, and had a very intimate space. My class was small (considering it was at work-time on a Wednesday) so I got the dressing room/shower area all to myself afterward! One aspect of the core fusion class that I love is the amazing facilities. Everything is very clean, the towels are heated, and they have tons of free toiletries and calming music (well, it is a spa). Better yet, there is a student discount :-). Not to mention it's a kick-ass workout. I am excited to stop running these long distances, and just do strength training and city walking for a while. I need a break.

Then, I had a break between my class and my voice lesson a few blocks away, so I stopped at Integral Yoga for a juice, and perused the book section. I ended up buying "The Vegan Guide to New York City." (how lame is that? I'm a sucker for restaurant guides! Especially when its all health food!).



After a productive voice lesson, I headed over to meet my nutrition counselor at the Jivamukti Yoga Cafe in Union. I have learned so much from her about digestive health and feeling GOOD about what I put into my body. Food is and has been my vice of choice for a while, and it isn't healthy. That only leads to guilt. I am working with her to steer away from that guilt, and make healthier choices in the process. I feel like I have come a long way! Plus, she is a fantastic person and mentor to me.

That evening, I tried dinner at "Peacefood" (The new vegan restaurant on 82nd and Amsterdam). I got the Asian Greens Salad (with grilled tempeh) and the scallion pancake special. The greens were good...but I'm not a big fan of tempeh. Live and learn.

The pancakes were great! Maybe a little too heavy, with the curry soup-type dipping sauce. But very tasty. The service was okay; a little rushed and scattered. The cute waiter seemed like he had been working too long. He also was a little surprised when I ordered the salad and the scallion pancakes. The scallion pancakes was an appetizer! I can handle them both! I headed over to a concert afterwards, and saw my friend Hilary who went to Peacefood for lunch! (great minds think alike). She said she had the same waiter at 1PM that I had at 715PM. I will assume that he was just tired and not judging me for having too large of an appetite...


Then I finished the night off with beer at George Keeley's for a post trombone quartet recital celebration. I love New York.

10 DAYS UNTIL THE MARATHON!!!

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 :-)