Week 2 of NYC Marathon Training was a good one for the runs I actually got in. Unfortunately, over the weekend, I was under the weather with a bad chest cold that killed my planned 9 mile run. That’s the bad news. So, let’s get to the good news.

I had to postpone my first run of the week to Wednesday because I did not sleep well on Monday night. That’s the bummer of running so early in the morning. If you don’t sleep well, it’s almost impossible to get out the door to run. However, I made sure that didn’t happen Tuesday night so I could run on Wednesday. So, out the door I went on Wednesday with a plan. Buoyed by success with the run 30 seconds, walk 60 seconds intervals of the Saturday before, I ventured out with the plan of run 30, walk 90 for mile 1. Then switch to the 60 second walk breaks the rest of the way. The result???

My best splits in a while! I was almost 3 minutes faster than I was one week before this run! Yes, there is nothing like getting faster. I was still over the 48 minute mark. But, that was okay. The new intervals felt really good! I felt comfortable with them enough to know I don’t want to go back to the 90 second walk breaks for any of my 4 mile runs again until after the NYC Marathon. I can totally do this! At the end of this run, I even started imagining myself using these intervals for the race itself. If I keep these intervals going, there is no reason to think I can’t do this for the entire 26.2 miles. Time will tell.

Thursday was much harder to get out of bed for than Wednesday. As I was getting ready, I realized that my normal pre-run breakfast wasn’t available to me. So, I briefly thought…that means I should go back to bed. Then, after a minute or two, I looked around and found I had some UCan mix left and decided that’s what I’d use. It worked pretty well. I totally expected this run to go slower. I felt more tired when I started.

Sure enough, mile 1 was slower than the day before. I didn’t panic, though. I told myself that it was important to get two mid-week runs in during a week. So, even if it meant a slower time, I needed to keep going. As I switched to the 60 second walk breaks, my time started coming down. I was only 5 seconds over the 12 minute per mile average I wanted. Even though I didn’t realize it at the time, I was actually 5 seconds faster through 2 miles than the day before. Once I got to 2.5 miles, I realized that I was going quicker. If I kept it up, I could be under 36 minutes at the 3 mile mark! That’s all the motivation I needed to keep working. Sure enough, I was 30 seconds under a 12 minute per mile average at the end of 3. That last mile is the tricky one. I knew I wouldn’t be as fast. So, the goal was to keep going as hard as I could and see how it turned out. By the time I got to 3.75 miles, I knew I would be under 48 minutes! Guess what? I did it! And, I was almost an entire minute faster than the day before!

What a great 2 days of running I had!  I took off nearly 3 minutes from my previous 4 mile run. Then, followed that by taking almost another minute off the time from Wednesday. It all made me excited to see how Saturday’s 9 miler would pan out!

On Friday, my boy had his first graduation! It’s kind of a weird graduation because he’s still in the same classroom. But, it marked the end of the school year for his daycare. Even though it’s a 12 month daycare, they had a graduation for everyone. Colton was the star of his class’s show. Each classroom performed 2 songs. I’m a proud papa! Colton was grooving and moving with the music. He loves music!

Saturday was supposed to be 9 mile run. However, I woke up with a massive chest cold. After much deliberation, I decided to take the run off. I didn’t want the chest cold turning into something worse that keeps me out for weeks. It wasn’t an easy decision to make because I need these long runs. But, it felt like the right call for that day.

Sunday was my second Father’s Day to celebrate as a dad! We went to church with my parents and had lunch at Sizzler. Then, we had some chill family time. It was a good day! I probably should have gone off to the gym at some point in the afternoon. But, there were a few errands that needed to be taken care of. So, my time was taken with family stuff.

Okay, this pic is a bit blurry. But, Colton had fun Sunday evening keeping me from going out to do laundry. He’d tip over my laundry basket and would run towards his mommy. Then, once, I got the basket up, he’d come back and do it again. He thought it was hilarious. It worked in delaying me getting out the door. But, the laundry did get done and Colton had a fun time playing. It was a good end to the day. Honestly, any time this kid laughs, I can’t help but laugh along!

So, this week the challenge is keep those mid-week runs going with the same intervals. On top of that, I need to get the weekend run and gym workout this week. Bring on week 3!