An Asbury Park 5K and a running training class
Week 6, Days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of NYC Marathon Training: A 20-min Peloton class on Monday, nothing on Tuesday and Wednesday, 2.81 miles on Thursday, nothing on Friday, and a 5K on Saturday
I hate to sound like a broken record, but I have been very busy both personally and professionally as of late. So I’m just getting around to writing about last week’s NYC Marathon training.
It wasn’t the best week of my training, although I did get a much-needed beach visit in this past weekend. (I haven’t had the best of summers, and I needed a fun break!)
Here’s how Days 1-6 of Week 6 of my NYC Marathon training went. (I am saving the Day 7 long run notes for a separate Substack entry!)
On Monday, I rode my Peloton for 20 minutes before going out and getting a haircut (I’m not that happy with my hair, though. I asked for an inch off, and the hairdresser decided to butcher it and chop up my long layers. Yikes!)
On Tuesday and Wednesday, I was busy with my day job and side hustles. But I was supposed to do a New York Road Runners training class after work on Tuesday, to make up for one of the ones I paid for and missed. However, due to excessive heat, the class was cancelled. Bummer!
On Thursday, I finally got to take my first NYRR training class of the summer for Tempo Thursdays. Week 1 had been cancelled, also due to summer heat. I had apartment issues that caused me to miss Week 2. And for Week 3, I showed up but couldn’t find the group. (They moved to a slightly different location in Central Park.)
For Week 4, I was determined to make sure I made the class, so I got there super-early and was able to locate the new meeting place spot.
The class was good but hard! I was super-slow, even for me, and couldn’t keep up with the tempo of this Tempo Thursday class. I was so out of it that one of the instructors asked if I was supposed to be doing the Running Fundamentals class instead that night. Ouch!
But in retrospect, it was good I pushed myself through it, as I feel it was a positive turning point in my training. (Spoiler alert: Week 7 of my NYC Marathon training ended up being much better than Week 6!)
On Friday morning, I headed to the Jersey Shore via an NJ Transit train. Squawker Jon and I love going to Asbury Park, and we especially like running there. We did the annual Asbury Park Sheehan Classic 5K together last year, and then did it again this year.
Both times, we stayed at the Ocean Park Inn in nearby Ocean Grove. We had a great visit there last year but sometimes when you go back to a place, it might not live up to your memories. Fortunately, our room was even better this time, and we had a wonderful communal living room and balcony to use as well. I would definitely return to this place for a third time!
As for the Asbury Park 5K, I have run various 5Ks in Asbury Park over the years, which basically have had the same course, ending on the boardwalk. Here are my previous results:
2021: 44:35
2020: 42:26
2016: 41:09
2014: 43:01 (April) and 48:03 (August)
2013: 50:36
Usually, the race is very hot, with no shade, and while I always have a lot of fun doing it, my results have been meh.
Last week, the weather was fantastic, and my performance was my best-ever one in Asbury Park! I ended up running the 5K in 40:20. Shocker!
They had over 1000 people doing the Asbury Park 5K, which is an excellent turnout. And it turns out that one of them was my uncle, Albert Swan, who is 82 years old! He has been running for 70+ years and is in the Clifton High School Sports Hall of Fame. I totally missed seeing him at the race, though, although I did meet some of his Clifton Road Runners teammates!
As for the rest of our Asbury Park visit, we got in two beach days with fabulous weather, and also had some great meals. It was a nice reset for my stressful summer.