NYC Marathon - Running towards THE race together

This week’s total mileage was close to 48, the highest during this training! Long runs during the week, including a 10 miler on Friday morning, under heavy run, before starting my meetings at 7.30am 😱  but ultra long run on Saturday: 20 miles… We had initially planned to run along the canal, ie flat, starting from Princeton and going South through Trenton, arriving in Yardley, where Gael would pick us up, but with the very heavy rain the tow path was a mud field… so we ran loops around Princeton! We had water/Gatorade planted at mile 5, in the cars at mile 10 and in our pockets for mile 15. And I did try to SIS gels: worked perfectly! The consistency is good: liquid, as if drinking water. No issues on my stomach. And energy till the end of the run, even though the pace was quite fast. This week did not have only great news (but no bike stolen!), which I think push me to run more: when something bad happens that I cannot control, at home or at work, I go running to have something I...

 Les semaines s'enchainent et ne se ressemblent pas. Le froid est revenu, je ressors les manches longues. La nuit aussi, la lampe frontale est de sortie. Pas les meilleurs conditions mais Aurélia est revenue et mon corps ne se plaint plus trop 😁 Première semaine, où je fais mes 4 séances toute seule toute seule....dur quand on est habitué à être accompagné.  Mais je suis plutôt fière de moi, j'arrive à toutes les faire. Petite semaine en plus, juste 34 km....ça va. Bon la dernière séance se finit avec une voiture fracturée et un vélo volé...dur pour le moral. Mais il faut continuer...la semaine prochaine risque d'être plus intense 😅

 La course au travail, la course à la maison, et le course en séances....je commence à fatiguer ça y est, le corps montre des signes de faiblesse, le doute s'installe, le stress. Il faut réussir à passer outre tout ça et enfiler les baskets. 49 km cette semaine, dur, pas Aurélia sur strava pour me rebooster, séances seules la semaine. Heureusement la séance longue du dimanche, mon coach est là pour me motiver, je tiens le 2 heure grâce à lui  avec un parcours très chaotique...il m'a entendu pester 😅  Chemin super galère !!! La peur de la blessure est là, je fais vraiment attention, mon pied commence à aller mieux, pas le moment de se faire mal ! Allez la semaine prochaine, ma binôme est de retour...courage !

Started week 12 still in Cusco, Peru, with the required 5 miles run… mapped based on street art we had seen through the van on the way back from our last expedition! Felt better than during my first run, especially thanks to the downhill start. Had a couple of break to capture the amazing murals, and then on the way back up as we were reaching rush hour and it was safer to wait for the cars to stop… The second run, on Tuesday, was once back in Princeton, after an overnight flight, so I went in the evening. It’s the first time I was doing my intervals run at this park in the evening: usually I meet only a couple of people, mostly neighborhood inhabitants walking their dogs. On this day, at 5pm, the park was full with soccer training ongoing for little ones, with parents walking along the park, or sitting on the grass with other kids, with laptops on or not. Different view for me! The run was tough as I was slightly tired and had stomach cramps, but I had to complete the workout, and so ...

 Les semaines se suivent et ne se ressemblent pas. La cadence s'accélère, les km s'enchainent.  Je ne sais pas si je suis fatiguée ou pas, je ne réfléchis pas, je me transforme en robot et je fais les séances.  Ma montre ne m'a toujours pas mis d'entraînements improductifs mais que du maintien...quand tu viens de faire des séances d'accélération ou une longue sortie c'est un peu frustrant 🙃  Mais je crois que je commence à voler, Aurélia on va pouvoir suivre les pros 😂  La preuve en image  PS : je viens de regarder les vestes, je ne savais pas que NB faisaient des vestes spéciales NYT, elle sont superbes, on s'en commande une ? Tu crois que tu peux avoir avant le jour J et je te les rembourse ? Taille M pour moi si tu peux 🙂

 This week 11 was light in running for me, with juste one 4-mile run… so you could call it recovery week, but it was still a very active week! The only run was in Cusco, Peru, at 3,500m high. I was curious to see how I could manage to breathe at this altitude, and I wanted to check on a few murals I had found the addresses for. Well, it was tough: after the first few steps I thought I was crazy, that I could never manage to run, as it was already difficult to breathe. But I really wanted to run, and really wanted to see those murals… so I reminded myself to go slow, step by step, as we had done in the hike the previous days: Haku Haku! (I can do it! in local dialect). I ran at 12 minute miles, very slow for me, but I ran 😅.  The additional challenge is that Cusco is built on a hill, so even just a 4 miles run gives you a 345 feet elevation gain. My heart rate was high, up to 128 bpm: it must have been on those hills up. I had to walk the toughest one! I did see the murals I w...

 This week I ran 45 miles in training, but most importantly… I ran 2,417 feet of elevation, highest in the last few months. I blame: - Monday’s run on Coppermine for the Bank Holiday. Our running group likes to wake up extra early on bank holidays and run up mountains to celebrate. Why? I don’t know! Holiday challenge 😅 - Tuesday’s hills repeat, obviously! The fun fact is that I was running in the dark (waiting for the temperatures to cool down) so I could not technically see the hills. I was running completely based on feeling and inputs from my legs, complaining of course. - Saturday’s long run: Mountain View. The clue is in the title. But there was limited view due to humidity and fog levels, unfortunately (photo below from Yvette along the actual Mountain View street).  So we can conclude that I’m ready for our holidays in the mountains… There were lots of group runs this week, which provided social support, especially for the last one, the long run. We decided to start w...

 Les vacances sont finies, il va falloir reprendre un autre rythme pour arriver à gérer prépa/travail/école 😒 Compliqué, en plus le soleil a décidé de nous jouer des tours et de revenir bien augmenter les températures...malin.  Avec la fatigue du rythme de la semaine et des séances, mon pied a décidé de m'embêter. Blessure dans le haut du pied, j'ai réussi à faire mes 2 premières séances mais dans la douleur....mon coach a dû me forcer à ne pas faire la 3ème ! Repos forcé samedi, pour reprendre en meilleur forme dimanche : une belle sortie longue entre forêt et route, la douleur a diminué, je suis soulagée. Prête pour attaquer la semaine 10...déjà 😱

 I have heard from Delphine today and I need to conceive a cunning plan to enroll Gael to help me in the same way her boyfriend helps her, following me on the bike with fresh water, gels and dry shirt for my next long run… thanks for the idea Delphine! But back to this week. It was a decent week, increasing the mileage slightly, with no pains so far: - The recovery run on Monday went from 3 to 4 miles… small detail,  tu with my current running route for Monday (straight when i’m out of the neighborhood), it means I need to cross another big road to run 2 miles straight and back… the level of danger on this training increases 🙃 - I think this Tuesday is the earliest ever (and hopefully the last time) I started a run. It was dark at 4.20am when I kicked off the warm up, and still dark at the end of the cool down. But results! I was on time for my first call of the day at 5.30am - Nothing special about Thursday Tempo run, I was trying to be in downhills for the fastest intervals...

 Dernière semaine de vacances, motivée à fond pour faire les séances sans travail ni école à gérer, il faut en profiter ! Il fait beau, à noter que c'est beaucoup plus agréable une préparation marathon en été plutôt qu'en hiver !! Je souffre un peu de la chaleur mais rien à voir avec les séances de  prépa dans le froid hivernal.  Bon, on n'est pas dans le top des femmes pour ce marathon là Aurélia...mais avec un peu de chance on va pouvoir les voir au départ ! Ça doit être quelque chose ! Elles doivent voler ! Je vais voir pour le livre si je le trouve en français, ça m'aidera peut être à me préparer psychologiquement au jour J. Physiquement je suis en pleine forme. Ma montre reste contente, pas d'entraînements productifs, et toujours à 53 de vo2 max. Previsions de ma montre 3:37...elle est optimiste mais c'est rassurant. Semaine à 57 km avec une sortie longue de 25,74 km, ça commence à ne plus rigoler là ! J'ai testé mon gilet, il n'a pas aimé la sortie...

This week they (NYRR, who organizes the race) announced the top women athletes that will be participating in the marathon…and guess what? They forgot Delphine and me! “Defending  TCS New York City Marathon champion  Sharon Lokedi , reigning Boston Marathon and United Airlines NYC Half champion  Hellen Obiri , Olympic gold medalist and 2021 TCS New York City Marathon champion  Peres Jepchirchir , and marathon world-record holder  Brigid Kosgei  will headline the women’s professional athlete field at the 2023 TCS New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 5. When the four Kenyans line up in New York, it will be the first time in event history the reigning TCS New York City Marathon champion, Boston Marathon champion, Olympic champion, and world-record holder line up against each other in the TCS New York City Marathon.” Ok, we will not hold a grudge against them and continue to train… This week I ran 36 miles, 2 less than last week, but it was more tiring, es...