Trail and Trial

By Two Little Runners ~ Kristen

I too ventured outdoors this week and did my first (and, so far, only) outdoor run of 2013. With temperatures downright balmy in the 40s, I ran a 10 miler along the Hudson River path over the weekend. 

My hotel is in TriBeCa, so I ran the south part of the path. The Hudson River path runs way up north to upper upper upper west side heights, as Penny calls her neighborhood, and beyond. (Penny and I ran the northern portion of this path when I was last in NYC for work during the fall, so I’ve run almost the entire Hudson River path in two runs!)

I ran from the World Trade Center up to 54th St. and back. The most scenic part of the route was through Chelsea. The path is nicely landscaped and built with tourists in mind - so they can wonder around after checking out Chelsea piers.

The most impressive sites along these parts are architectural. Not pictured is the Statue of Liberty. You can see it from the Canal St. pier, if you squint. 

WTC 1 - AKA Freedom Tower
Built near the site where the Twin Towers once stood, this tower
dominates the skyline of lower Manhattan.

The US Intrepid, now a museum.

The off beat Frank Geary building in Chelsea.

This week, I continued my marathon training with 30 easy, aerobic base-building miles. All easy paces (for all the treadmillers out there, 7.1/8:27) with a sprinkling of strides, fartleks, and short progressions. 

I'm struggling with consistency and volume at the moment. I've been sick almost constantly (along with most of the trial team), and again this week, prompting a renaming of our trial conference room from "The War Room" to "The Infirmary." Three doctor's visits since arriving on 12/27. I never see the doctor three times in a year - let alone in one month!

So in January, I took 12 days completely off of exercise due to illness. While I am doing the best I can to stay fit, I don't know how effective my training has been this month.

My current thinking is that I need to extend my base building period by a few weeks after I get back to San Diego (someday?) to allow time to build on my aerobic base while healthy and when I'm back to regular hours like a normal person. And to give myself time to gain back some strength (because haven't lifted weights since December) before engaging in more intense training. I can't even handle the thought of a tempo run at the moment!

~ Kristen