Weekly Workouts + Gridiron 4M Race Recap

It’s Monday, and somehow it feels like the weekend never happened. Maybe because mine was packed full of activity, from hosting my second dinner party to running a Sunday morning race in Central Park and of course, watching the Super Bowl last night. I’ll share more about that dinner party later in the week, with today’s post focusing on just my weekly workouts and a Gridiron 4M race recap!

 

Monday: 4 miles

Tuesday: Rest day

Wednesday: 4.1 miles

Thursday: 4.2 miles

Friday: Rest day

Saturday: 9 miles @ 10:07 pace

Sunday: 5.7 miles (warmup jog and Gridiron 4M)

 

My weekday morning runs were all roughly 4 miles, but felt very varied due to the crazy weather this week in New York City. Early in the week it was in the high 50s and a little humid, making it seem like the groundhog was really right on Tuesday in predicting an early spring after a mild winter thus far (except for Jonas!) Then Friday morning came, and with it about three inches of snowfall creating another winter wonderland in Central Park. Which mostly melted by sunset. The weather just really doesn’t know what to do with itself this year…

 

 

 

 

 

I really enjoyed my lovely, sunny Saturday morning long run, just as I did last week, though it wasn’t quite as long since I was pretty tired and knew I had a race the next day. I felt like I could go a couple more miles. I’m still working on building the weekly mileage little by little. My goal is to be closer to 30 miles per week by the time the New York City Half Marathon rolls around on March 20, which gives me time to play around with a potential training schedule before May is upon us and I begin marathon training.

 

 

 

 

Before I get to the race recap, let’s talk about my favorite Instagram snapshot this week. My blogger Secret Santa buddy Les, of The Balanced Berry, shared this, and it just spoke to me. Maybe it makes me seem a little basic, when in reality I usually feel like I’m anything but that, but it is exactly how I feel most of the time. If someone wants to pay me to run and do yoga in a cute pink ensemble with a polka dot water bottle and large iced coffee waiting for me afterwards alongside a large jar of crunchy peanut butter, I will say, sing, dance, mime, or otherwise express my yes. A thousand times yes. I’ll also accept sunflower butter. Or extra dark chocolate with sea salt. Or maybe some of this gluten and nut free granola that my boyfriend bought me for when my elimination ended. 

 

 

 

 

 

And that’s enough about the food for this weekend (just kidding, there can never be too much talk of food on this blog, but we’re saving the dinner party shenanigans for a post later this week). On to the race that all the food fueled me for, the Gridiron 4M in Central Park.

 

 

 

 

This race takes place the morning of Super Bowl Sunday. I guess the idea is to get in a little activity before you park yourself at whatever Super Bowl watch party you plan to attend later in the day. There’s also some sort of football throwing contest, but I didn’t have anything to do with that. Instead, I went with my usual routine for any NYRR race that begins at 102nd Street instead of closer to my apartment in the 60s or 70s, jogging up about a half hour before the start. It was a good warmup on a morning that felt warmer than usual thanks to the sun, and although I wasn’t really planning to “race” the race, it’s nice to shake out your legs beforehand.

 

 

 

 

 

Since I picked up my bib on Friday rather than waiting until the weekend, I had a triple digit bib number for the first time (well, except the Pamby Half in my Connecticut hometown, where everyone does because only three hundred people run the race). As I noticed during the Ted Corbitt 15K, the front corrals are smaller (G is pretty much the middle), and they get larger the further back you go. I only wove for a little bit. The entire course was uneventful, except for one part where you split to one side of the path or the other according to which team you were rooting for. I went with the Broncos solely because I was already on the left. Otherwise the 4-mile Central Park race loop is always the same save for the start location, so it was the same scenery as the Retro 4-Miler and the Race to Deliver. Except with snow melting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took it easy, just enjoyed being out there, and finished in 38:06 for a pace of 9:32/mile. And then it was brunch time at Green Kitchen (I guess I couldn’t keep the food photos at bay.) An “Energy Breakfast” omelet with eggs, grilled chicken, and veggies, a side of berries, and some of my boyfriend’s potatoes because that’s why you need someone to brunch with.  

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday night, we watched the Super Bowl at Draught 55, a nicer bar with excellent food. My only request was that we go somewhere with good food, because food > football in my book. And it was indeed – I enjoyed crispy duck breast with fig jam, string beans, and garlicky french fries. And some of his fries. Because I watched the football, so I deserved extra fries (although admittedly, until the excellent halftime show, I spent a good part of the game surreptitiously scrolling through food photos on Instagram). A pretty good end to a food and fun filled weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How did you spend Super Bowl Sunday?

 

Have you ever hosted a dinner party?

 

Weather weirdness in your neck of the woods?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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