October 7th (Monday): Slept in. Protein shake for breakfast. Some heavy rain during the day. Steak, mushroom, onion, and spinach wrap for lunch. Normal Monday at work. Home to relax and chill. Waited for the rain to stop. Out for 10 miles total (9+ plus strides) around 6:15pm. 66:47 total. Felt smooth on the strides. Left the bath of water outside to cool off for a ice bath. Added a bunch of ice before taking a 30 minute soak. Lots of foam rolling and sticking before submerging the legs.
Chicken wrap for dinner. Bed early.
Snack right after work.
Chicken marinated with hot pepper juice and rings. Spinach and chopped up red pepper.
October 8th (Tuesday): 3 miles (21:20) on my own in the morning. Protein shake. Carpooled with Goup to work. Steak, mushroom, onion with ranch wrap. Didn't have any wraps so I bought one in the cafeteria for 83 cents.
Bowl of cereal for a snack after work. Crashed for a couple hours on the couch. Woke up when Goup walked through the door back from his track workout. Upstairs to change up for an easy 5 miles (33:30) at 7:15pm. Back to do the dishes while making dinner. Chicken and veggies (avocado) over mixed up with yellow rice for dinner. Bed by 10pm.
Chicken and steak at the same damn time.
Looks gross. Tastes bomb.
October 9th (Wednesday): Slept in. Protein shake for breakfast since I had some time to kill before departing for work. Busy day at work. Watched a co-worker teach the New Contractor Orientation for the 1st time. Steak with mushrooms and onions mixed with Spanish yellow rice for lunch.
Back to the house to run 7 miles (48:21) with Goup around 6pm. Lots of foam rolling and sticking. Icing. All the extra precautionary things never hurt for race day. Another round of chicken with veggies for dinner.
October 10th (Thursday): Bowl of cereal for breakfast. Work 7:30am-4pm. Leftovers from last night. Finished off the 2 pound StonyField yogurt container. Dipped my fruit stripe, Clif Bar, chocolate chip graham cracker snacks, and finally some granola. All separately. Utilized my mini spatula spoon at work. Boom!
Stopped to pick up the mail. Grab a few things for dinner and more raw fuel for the weekend (yogurt, chicken breasts, vanilla almond milk). Home to relax and eventually get out for a run at 6:45pm. 5 miles total (4+ plus strides). Felt smooth and ready to roll.
Back to the house to foam roll, FaceTime with my sister Kate, and prepare a big dinner. Pasta, chicken and broccoli. FaceTimed with my dad for a bit. Watched Breaking Away on Netflix.
October 4th (Friday): 6am wakeup. 4+ miles (29:03) at 6:25am. Protein shake for breakfast. Finished making my burrito mix from last night. Busy day at work running around closing things out before the weekend. Productive day overall. Home by 4:30ish. Chilled.
FaceTimed with my sister Erin for just over 1 hour. Grabbed a quick snack (a spoonful of honey, a handful of graham cracker snacks, and a swig of cran-raspberry juice). Out for around 7pm. 8+ miles (55:09) on my own. Back for a protein shake and a bowl of cereal. Started watching Extract on Netflix and fell asleep hard on the couch.
It doesn't matter if I tuck my sheets in. After just one night of sleeping, ruined.
October 5th (Saturday): Slept in until about 8am. Broken up night of sleep, but well rested. Some oat bran for breakfast and heated up the legs to get them extra loose. Out for 6 miles (43:21) through the back neighborhoods. I wish I had a pair of glasses that allowed me to record parts of my run. I run by a barn all the time. It has a open fence door that animals stick their head out of sometimes. There were a couple chickens outside of the door. Sticking it's head was a goat. As I passed by, it began to "scream" at me (like in the YouTube videos). All I could do was smile and laugh to myself. I ended up looping back past the barn about 20-25 minutes later. This time the goat was inside the barn, but up on the window sill. "Screaming" again. Slightly muffled because it was behind the glass. Truly entertaining.
Similar to this.
Back to the house to foam roll and eat some food. Chilled on the couch and watched some movies on TV. Stopped off at Walmart, Target, and Marshalls/Homegoods in the late afternoon. Random things purchased. Some necessities for next weekend (Gatorade, Clif Bars,and cereal for the week). I also bought a new cellphone case because it looked pretty sweet and inexpensive.
Back to the house to relax for a bit and head down to the bike path for an evening run. 6 miles (40:30) along the soft terrain of the bike path at 6:15pm. Stopped at Hannaford's for some more shopping. Bananas, chicken, almond milk, and orange juice. Home to foam roll, make a protein shake, and ice bath. 20 minutes. Extra cold. Worth it. Finished the movie Extract and watched Daydream Nation on Netflix. Bed by 11:30pm.
A true ice bath since I purchased a 5 pound bag of ice.
October 6th (Sunday): 7:30am wakeup. Tried to go back to sleep. Didn't work. Downstairs to watch some televsion and relax. I loaded the dishwasher and ran it. I made myself a bowl of Kashi Cinnamon Harvest. I poured the milk and realized I was washing all the spoons in the dishwasher. I rushed and found a solution.
Measuring spoon!
I had intentions of a morning long run at some point, but it just didn't happen. More food consumed (a Clif bar, a fruit stripe, graham cracker snacks). Television movie. Made a "game" out of it while watching the movie Colombiana. Every commercial break I had to complete a part of chore (emptying the dishwasher, loading the dishwasher, washing dishes, tidying up areas, organizing paperwork/things). Worked out well. Goup home around 2pm. We headed out for a long run together. 15+ miles (1:41:47). Goup and I ran the first 11 together. Solid run. Last long run before Hartford.
Back to the house to make a protein shake and ice any slight soreness/tightness. Epic fail while making my protein shake. I was using the spatula to scrap the container clean.
What a waste of yogurt.
Over to the Dollar General to attempt to find water bottles. Picked up some steel wool for dishes, Armoral for the interior of my car, and ended up finding the perfect water bottles. Only 30 cents too. Clearance! Stopped at Hannaford's for a couple things for the week. Steak, yogurt, and sweet potatoes.
I will make them very distinct looking.
Back to the house to prepare some food for the week to ease the nervousness. The two crucial things are preparation and marination. Chopped up all the chicken and steak. Sorted it into individual Pyrex containers. Glass makes it easier to clean after it's done marinating. Pick your weapons of choice. The more, the merrier.
The major ingredients (the hot pepper rings - I used the juice and rings).
While prepping the meat, I cooked up some chicken in ranch dressing, sriracha sauce, and chili powder. Simple, spicy and delicious. Watched some television and relaxed before bed. Body is itching for Saturday and sleeping is gonna be rough this week.
October 3rd (Thursday): 4 miles (28:35) on my own at 6:20am. Out and back through the neighborhoods. 15+ out, 13+ back. Foam roll, protein shake for breakfast, and made a chicken wrap for lunch. Home to have some graham cracker snacks to fuel up for the workout. Chilled on the couch for a bit before heading upstairs to use the bathroom and change up.
Over to the track with Goup at 5:45pm. Individual warmups. 3+ mile (20:17) on the normal loop. The workout was quick, but with sufficient rest. 3xmile (half rest, 800), 4x400 (half rest, 200). Football practice was in session on the field under the lights. Worked out well. Coach moved the golf cart off the track and the area was illuminated very well. Squeezed a Powerbar Gel on the walk over to the track from the parking lot. Changed into flats. Some strides and started up.
4:43, 4:46, 4:43, 65, 65, 64, 65. Boom. Cruised right through and felt strong. Total time for the 6 miles was 32:54. Rest was kept honest, but nothing crazy. Focused on the intervals. Goup had a good workout too. Cooldown 2.5 miles (18:10) through the neighborhoods. 16 miles on the day and ready to roll in 1+ week at Hartford.
Stopped at Hannaford's for some quick dinner. Kashi frozen pizza and some yellow Spanish rice for burrito mix. Stopped at the mailbox place to drop off the rent checks. Home to heat up the pizza and cook up the rice for lunch the following day. Used my new silicon lily pad top that suction cups to pots/pans/bowls. Some yogurt with granola. Utilized my new mini spatula spoon. Bed at a decent hour.
September 30th (Monday): Slept in like a champ. Out of bed at 7am. Some breakfast. Bought lunch at work. Buffalo chicken sandwich special. Home to run with Derrick and Goup at 5pm. 7 miles (48:30). Back to stretch, foam roll, and throw some warm clothes on. Picked up Derrick to bring him to the Toyota dealership up in Saratoga.
It was very interesting to see the differences between my sales transaction compared to Derrick's one. Two very different people looking for two different cars. Stopped at Subway with Derrick for dinner and dropped him off. Over to the grocery store at 9:15pm to do big shopping.
Home to relax and get to bed at a decent hour. Bowl of cereal before bed.
October 1st (Tuesday): Day off from running. Work 7:30am-4pm. Caught up with a whole bunch of stuff once I arrived home. Threw a couple loads of laundry in the washer. Loaded the dishwasher. Wiped down the counters and stove top. Scrubbed the toilet because it had a layer of something in the bowl (built up over the past couple months). Relaxed. Washed my sheets after so many weeks/months.
Omelet for dinner. Bed by 10pm.
Spinach, onion, and mushroom. Ketchup. Hot sauce. Sriracha sauce.
Bed is slowly getting there. Purchased a few more pillows. I even tucked in my sheets.
October 2nd (Wednesday): 4 miles (29:03) at 6:15am. 3 miles with Goup and added on another mile. Protein shake for breakfast. Chicken wrap for lunch. Normal day at work. Taught NCO in the morning.
Stopped at the Post Office to ship back my at home try-on pairs of
glasses. No shipping label in the box so I had to rush back home to find it. Swung back before 5pm so I could ship it out on time without penalty. Phew!
Quickly changed up and headed out for an easy 7 miles (46:30) with Goup at 5:15pm. Chilled out for the night. Foam rolled. Iced. Snacked on a bunch of food. Bed by 10:30pm.
September 27th (Friday): 3 miles (22:27) on my own. Quick day at work. Closed out things before the weekend. Home to relax and coordinated with Ferenc to meet up with him at the dealership where there was a Toyota Tacoma he just might possibly purchase.
Met up with Ferenc at 5ish down the road in Ballston Lake. It ended up being a 2 door gold Tacoma rather than the 4 door silver Tacoma as the guy described. Bummer. Convinced Ferenc not to get it since it wasn't what he wanted. It was a great deal, but not the exact truck.
Back to the house to chill and change up for a run. Ferenc ended up driving back to Vermont around 7pm. I headed out for 8.5+ miles (59:58) plus a 6 x parking lot strides post run. 12.5 miles on the day.
September 28th (Saturday): Early wakeup around 6:15am. Packed up the bags for Leominster and on the road by 7:15am. Arrived at my sister's house just before 10am. Out for a quick 3.5 miles (22:27). Back to stretch, foam roll, and shower up.
Into Worcester for bridesmaid dress shopping. Yayy! Appointment around 11:30am. I thought they were gonna be at one store for a while so I headed to the bank with my mom's car. It ended up being a short visit so it was somewhat hectic to get back to them. Into Boston for some more bridesmaid dress shopping. Some window shopping as well. Stopped for food at Joe's American Bar and Grill. Chips, salsa, guacamole, and queso. Fresh bread with butter. Buffalo chicken mac and cheese (see below). Banana cream pie for dessert.
Bombdiggity.
Home by 7pm or so. Changed up and headed out for a 2nd run around 7:45pm. 5 miles (38:34). Lots of walking and standing throughout the day so my legs were sorta tired. The mac and cheese was sitting real heavy the whole run and I felt like I was gonna throw it up. Held it down.
Bed by 11pm. Tucker slept with me out in the living room on the air mattress the whole night.
September 29th (Sunday): 5:45am wakeup. Bathroom. Oat bran with milk and brown sugar. On the road by 6:15am. Arrived at the race venue by 8:10ish. Inside to register and back to the car to organize my shiznit. Warm up at 8:25am. 3 miles total (2.5 miles, then another 0.5+ mile to the starting line). Some strides and light stretching before a 9am start.
Vroom!
In the words of Beyonce: To the left, To the left!
I saw my competition was cut out for me from the showing of Kenyans/Africans. Off the line well and felt out the early race strategy. Lead the 1st half mile or so. Chilled out and let them swarm me. Downhill 1st mile. In the group through in 4:54. The Africans communicated to each other in another language and threw in a couple surges. I covered the first one and held on for the 2nd one. Once we hit the first uphill section, it strung out and turned into a hammerfest. I moved into 3rd place, but once we hit the next downhill section. Gone. All three of them. Left me in 4th place by myself. ARE Racing Team member Jamie caught me around 3 miles. Woke me back up. Back into a groove and followed right behind him. Passed him with confidence just before 5 miles on an uphill and said we needed to work together. Charged through the last mile up the hill and could see 3rd place. Ran out of real estate and finished up in 32:00 flat for 4th place.
Back to the car to change up and cool down by running the course all over again. 7 miles (48:59). I realized there was maybe 2 fast miles overall on the course. The first one and the 5th mile. Everything thing else had uphill or turns (or both). Happy with the effort and final race before Hartford. After the awards and texting Goup, the guy who won ran for AIC and ran 24:0x at Franklin Park. The guy who finished 2nd won the Hartford Marathon last year in 2:15:xx. I don't feel so slow (haha).
Out to lunch with a few buddies before driving back to NY. Home by 2:15pm or so. Crashed hard in bed for about 3 hours. 3pm-6pm. Woke up in a haze to head downstairs to sit on the couch for the remainder of the night. Snacked and decided to not shakeout a few miles in the evening. 89 miles for the week for the start of the taper. A couple weeks left until the marathon.
September 25th (Wednesday): Standard day. 4+ miles (30:48) on my own at 6:20am. Protein shake for breakfast. Pasta with chicken (marinated in sriracha sauce), spinach, and onion. Out of work by 4:15pm.
Down to Walmart for an eye exam at 4:50pm. Quick exam and one of the ladies was helping me pick out glasses. I couldn't make a decision and she was waiting on my try-on at home pairs to arrive from glasses.com. So I felt obligated to buy a pair, but I just couldn't. Grabbed my prescription from the doctor and was on my way. Purchased a plastic bin, ice cube trays, and kitchen garbage bags. Making my own ice bath for my feet/achilles as a precautionary action. Felt great to do it after the Palio Half. Recovered well with the help of that.
Home by 6:30pm. Chilled on the couch. Mustered up the motivation and energy to change up for a run. Out the door at 8pm. 7+ miles (51:34) with the high visibility vest and headlamp. Home to foam roll and snack on some food. Bed by 10:15pm.
September 26th (Thursday): 5:50am wakeup. Out for 3.5 miles (25:28) with Derrick. Back for a protein shake. Quick day at work. A delicious lunch made that morning. Lightly sauteed up some sliced apples and onions. Spinach, black/pinto beans. All in pasta.
Home by 4:30pm to relax. Snack and get ready for a run. Powerbar gel taken before the run and washed it down with some water. 6 mile loop mapped out for the workout portion of 5:05 pace (goal for the run). 3 mile warmup (morning run loop) in 19:02. Trotted off and started up the workout.
Mile splits: 5:14, 5:11, 5:06, 10:03 (the mile splits were off), 5:14. 30:48 for total time of 6 miles. 5:08 pace. Took a couple miles to get going, but happy with the solid effort. 3 mile cooldown (reverse morning loop) in 20:25. 12+ miles total for the afternoon.
Some snacks and bed a decent hour. 15.5 miles on the day.
Cheap. BPA Free. Attempt at an ice bath.
On the couch. Cold, but nothing crazy. Served a purpose though.
Delicious cider donuts as a reward. Last 2 of the batch.
September 23rd (Monday): 6:30am wakeup. Bowl of cereal for breakfast. Combined the Berryful and Autumn Harvest together for a great combination of flavors. Work 7:30am-4pm. Snacks for lunch. Pound of yogurt with granola for lunch, Clif Bar, cider donuts (heated up in the microwave).
Target and Marshalls/Homegoods after work. Looped it around in Target and found nothing of interest/necessity. Picked up a couple king sized pillows for the bed at Homegoods. Home by 6ish. Out for 10 miles (67:27) on my own at 7pm. High visibility vest and headlamp utilized. Home to foam roll and make a spinach & onion omelet. Cooked up the marinated chicken for lunch tomorrow (for a wrap).
Bed by 10pm.
September 24th (Tuesday): 6am wakeup. Out for 3 miles (NT) on my own. Protein shake for breakfast. Chicken wrap for lunch. Home to have a small snack (graham cracker snack bites and honey). Changed up and warmed up (foam roll and lunges) for the workout in the living room. Goup was home by 5:30pm. Drove together to the track. Planned workout was 4xmile (4:50) with 400 rest.
Over to Burnt Hills High School by 6pm. 3.25 mile (21:17) on the normal neighborhood loop. Quick pit stop in the woods at the high school. Walked over the track to change into the flats and do some strides. Started up. Focused on being relaxed and smooth. Cruised right through the intervals.
Injinji are my new favorite socks. No complaints.
4:49, 4:48, 4:49, 4:47. Kept the rest between 1:41-1:44. Pushed the last rest in 1:26 to finish up the 5 miles (total distance) in 25:51. Boom. Felt great. Short workout overall.
3.25 (24:00) with Goup. Back to the house by 8pm. Cider donuts as a reward, protein shake, yogurt with granola, and a Clif Bar. Not a crazy huge appetite. Bed at a decent hour.
