Last week was a good week.
Because it was the week of the marathon, which I Pred. I’ll write an entire recap later, for the most part, I’m happy with the week of training and tapering itself.
For the last two weeks, I’ve dealt with a lot of calve tightness. Nothing injury-wise, but my legs have felt very stiff. It isn’t something taper “made better”, and they were still stiff before the race. I will say, they felt the best they’ve felt in the last two weeks.
| Monday: | Easy 30 minutes |
| Tuesday: | Easy 10 miles |
| Wednesday: | OFF |
| Thursday: | Easy 30 minutes |
| Friday: | Off |
| Sat: | Easy 20 minutes |
| Sunday: | NYCM 26.2 miles (3:07.15) |
Thoughts:
All of my runs were easy and without a watch. It might have been a little overboard to run 10, the Tuesday before New York but it was fun to chat with Skip, and it didn’t feel bad.
After Tuesday, I kept repeating to myself you can only do too much but to be honest, it wasn’t that hard to even cut mileage. Between work and life, I didn’t have a lot of extra time to squeeze running in. Sure I could wake up at 4 am to run more miles, but I would rather sleep and taper more.
My legs seem to loosen up more as the week went on. After the Atlantic City half two weeks ago, I felt great. The few days after, it didn’t feel as though I had even raced a half marathon. Then my calves just felt like they locked up. It was like no amount of stretching could loosen them up. I wasn’t “worried” because I knew I wasn’t injured, it was just frustrating because I didn’t want to feel stiff.
NYCM: 3:07.15
My last marathon Phoenix was a 3:14.59 and my first marathon, NYCM in 2013 was a 3:17. So it was a PR. I’ve always been more proud of my race at NY, but that is neither here nor there.
On race day, my calves felt better than they had the week before. I didn’t feel great, but I felt as great as I could be. I have a lot of thoughts about my fitness going into NY and I know I’m not in the same fitness as when I ran a 1:22 this winter.
The race itself was amazing. I will probably have my longest race recap yet about it. Essentially, the miles clicked by pretty effortlessly. I had to stop and tie my shoe (which I did double knot) around mile 9 but other than that I felt good the entire race.
Since I was in the sub-elite corral, I spent about the first half of the race being passed by hundreds of people. It’s kind of funny to just have people consistently whirling by you like you’re standing still but I ran my own race. Starting out too fast is usually not a problem I have in races anymore…my mentality is you do you…I do me…
The first 8 miles were just focused on getting to mile 8. That is where I knew the highest chance of me seeing someone I knew spectating was…but I didn’t see anyone. After that, I just kept trucking along.
Around mile 9, my shoe came untied, so I pulled over to the side and tied it. I’ve always found in those situations if you stress and panic it takes more time. I wasn’t really panicked but it took me nearly 30 seconds. I don’t think it was entirely lost time because I caught a lot of people I was running with.
I hit the halfway point in 1:32.15.
The next goal was to make it to the Queensboro bridge around mile 15-16. In 2013, the Queensboro bridge destroyed me, and I honestly wondered how I would ever run 10 more miles. This year, I was ready, and it became the turning point of the race of when I started passing people.
As we came down, I passed even more people. I still was slowing down, but not as much as many. As I started to pass more people, I became more confident. The next miles just counted down until the finish. I was smiling, waving, and sidefiving all of my friends. In fact, every photo people caught of me was after mile 20.
The last 10k was difficult, and the hill in Central Park was no joke. In fact, since I was hurting so bad last time, I don’t even remember it. I saw my dad around mile 25 and just powered through. I’ve never run a marathon where I’ve been able to raise my arms and wave at mile 25. In fact until yesterday, I don’t like I’ve run a marathon I could wave at mile 18.
I crossed in 3:07.15 and felt good. I never felt like I overexerted myself and I finished smiling, happy, and strong. That isn’t something I can say after any other marathon.
Here are all my splits via my Garmin so take it with a grain of salt.
Many people have asked me…now you’ll do lots of marathons and the answer is no. I still like 5ks and half marathons better, but I do like the marathon a little more now. I don’t foresee myself traveling to marathons over halves for a while if ever. I’ll do another marathon again, but I don’t know when. I also don’t have any plans to do Boston anytime soon, because like NY it’s hard to plan for a race a year out.
I’m proud I started and finished the training cycle and healthy. My PR was just icing on the cake. Now I’m taking 2 weeks off. I’ll still be around but my body needs time to recover, and my mind does too.
Posts from the Week:
Questions for you:
How was your week of training?
What body parts gets the most for you, running wise?
For me, it’s always my calves.
What an awesome race! And not just because of your time, but because it looks like you had a great experience.
I think the experience was the best part. Yes running the race and a PR is cool, but being among the elites is awesome.
Congratulations, sounds like a great race! It’s always good to finish knowing that you did your best, without massively over-doing it and risking hurting yourself! Do you have any tips for calf tightness, aside from the obvious stretching and foam rolling? I’m having a lot of issues recently…! x
congratulations on the HUGE PR and positive race experience, Hollie!! Hope you enjoy your rest and recover well.
Congrats on your PR!! I love all of the pictures of you. You look so happy and energized! Enjoy your time off and I’m excited to hear what’s next 🙂
Thank you Megan!
Congratulations!
Thank you!
Congrats on an awesome race! Would love to hear more about the vaporr fly…worth the money? do they help?
They aren’t my favorite shoe but I stayed healthy. I don’t think the vaporfly foam is my cup of tea. I don’t hate them but truthfully I didn’t really feel “faster” in them. That being said, I’m definitely in the minority and every persons feet are different.
Just WOW!!! Congratulations – you are amazing!!!! And I absolutely loved all of your posts with the elites on Sunday – hilarious and just so honest. I cannot wait to read the full recap but seriously, I hope you’re basking in all the glory of your serious PR!!!! YAY!!!!
That is just amazing!!! Well done on your time and enjoying the race. Yes for that PR!!!!
I was tracking you and so excited for you! And that is awesome to finally come away from a marathon feeling good. I felt that way around the 3rd or 4th marathon as well. It’s a big adjustment for the body!
This is so awesome. I was tracking you and I was getting so excited as you approached the finish. You ran a smart race and I think it’s admirable that you know what distances you like best, and don’t feel pressured to run lots of marathons.
Congrats on the PR!