Time flies quickly. Welcome to the week number 6. If you missed, please check week #5 here.

As always, let us start the first day of the week with the “Sunday”.

Day 1 – Sunday, February 09, 2020
This was a 6-mile run day for me. I was pretty excited to start the week. This week, I do not have any major runs longer than 6-mile, so it was motivating enough for me to give my 100% for these 6 miles.

Fortunately, the run was quite uneventful and I did not face any difficulties finishing this “long” distance.

For the last few days, I have not gotten chance to trim my body hair, so I had to run with a T-shirt on, giving me an epic post workout picture.

Take a look. My cap, t-shirt, and the towel were completely drenched in sweat after the run.

I finished the 6-mile run in 1 hour 12 minutes 36 seconds. I maintained an average speed of 12.05 minutes per mile.

I have been consistent enough with my pace. Here is my Apple Watch.

Day 2 – Monday February 10, 2020
Rest day for running, time for some CrossFit.

This day was quite special for me as a couple of my friends became U.S. Citizens this day and we celebrated that with some Mexican food. I ordered Carne Enchilada, a dish also known as Chilli Marinated Pork. I was cautious enough not to overeat as I had my 6 P.M. CrossFit session at the back of my head.

Here is my dish.

And here is the CrossFit workout that we did.

Our trainer, Jeff, warned us that it will be a tiring workout, but, frankly, we (myself, Monika, and Anupam) did not feel that much exhausted and could have gone for some more exercises. May be, our body is more immune to the pain now and can handle more severe workout regime. Just a theory!

Day 3 – Tuesday February 11, 2020
New day, new running regime!

Tuesdays have been my morning run-day. I was in the gym at 6 A.M., so technically right before 12 hours when I did my workout on Monday. I spend an average of couple hours at my CrossFit gym, and I love every single second of it!

The run was very good. I did not feel tired at all, and I had a company of 6 people who were doing their 6 AM-7 AM bootcamp class. It was fun to meet them after almost a week and chat with them. I loved it.

I finished this 4-mile run in 48 minutes 15 seconds with an average pace of 12.03 minutes per mile.

Here’s my Apple Watch after this 4-mile run.

Day 4 – Wednesday February 12, 2020
Remember when I told that we did not feel much pain during Monday’s workout, Jeff really took that seriously and made sure we do not repeat the same words again!

Wednesday’s workout was not only body aching, but soul crushing also. The one word that could explain the workout completely was “HEAVY” and when Jeff wrote that word on the whiteboard, we knew, we were in trouble.

To give you an idea, this is how the workout looked like.

To explain the workout in short, it was EMOM (Every Minute On the Minute) for seven rounds each for five different movements. The once condition that Jeff had was to go for heavy weights for each movement.

I started off with Thrusters with two 45 Lb dumbbells. I could do only 6 thrusters each round, but was happy with it, given that I took the heaviest dumbbell for that exercise.

The second one was Manmakers. I went with 45 and breezed through it for the first five rounds. I won’t lie, the last two rounds almost killed me and I could feel my pumped biceps.

I don’t know from where he got the 80 Lb Medicine Ball, but he made me do 8 over-the-shoulder slams with that medicine ball. Everyone in the gym could hear me scream in pain, but I was happy that I could complete it.

Sled push was the one where I stood out. I stockpiled all possible weights I could on my sled and it was filled to its brim. Here’s the picture of that sled.

It was so satisfying to push that sled and finish it, outstanding feeling.

The last one was single leg deadlifts. Pretty uneventful before calling it a night.

I will remember this workout for a long time!

Day 5 – Thursday February 13, 2020
Run day. This time, it was 4 miles. I was staying at my friend’s place who stays near the gym, so I could save some time for the run.

I woke up at 5 AM for this run and was not that excited about it. I could feel the lack of sleep and tiredness as I was running just 12 hours after finishing the crushing workout. I had to pull myself out of bed and force myself to get ready for the run. Plus, the weather did not help. It was snowing, it was dark, my car was covered in snow. First world problems, right?

Anyway, I reached my gym and was glad to look at 8 CrossFitters working out. We greeted and I started with my run. It was a fun run. I could maintain my speed, even though I did not feel up for it. I think having people working out, helps me run and that’s why I do not listen to music while running.

I finished this 4-mile run in 48 minutes 35 seconds with an average pace of 12.08 minutes per mile.

After finishing my run, when I was heading to my friend’s place, it was still dark and many parents were taking their kids to school, so had to fight a light traffic. It was snowing, with few water puddles on the way.

Take a look at the video to see what I am talking about.

Here’s my Apple Watch.

Since I talked about the snow, here’s a short video of the snow when I was heading to work.

Day 6 – Friday February 14, 2020
A much needed break and a very happy Valentines day to you all! Cheers!

Day 7 – Saturday February 15, 2020
It was not a regular Saturday for us. If you have been following my schedule, you know I finish my run before starting my CrossFit workout, followed by the Saturday brunch.
Well, this Saturday, my CrossFit gym had an event going on and there were more than 100 CrossFit athletes flocking our gym and competing for the coveted title. That led us to not having any sessions on Saturday and no run too for me, as it was so cold outside.

Therefore, you can safely say that this was my second rest day in a row. But, having missed both the run and the workout on Saturday, I promised myself that I will finish my Saturday’s miles during Sunday’s run, extending it by 3 miles. I was excited about Sunday’s run.

Now, for those of you who are interested in checking out the atmosphere at the gym, here is how it looked like.

Now, this does not mean that we missed our Saturday brunch. No, not at all.

Here’s the delicious food at I had at my regular Saturday restaurant Leo’s Coney Island. This time, I ordered an additional side order of bacon. I was craving for those for a long time.

And with this, week number 6 came to an end. Damn, Sunday’s 9-mile run is going to take some efforts.

Off I go…

Time for the week number 5. You can check out my Marathon preparation here.

Without further ado, let us get started!

Day 1 – Sunday, February 02, 2020
Well, many thoughts went into this run. The first and foremost was the importance of this date. It is one of the rarest dates that you could find (02022020), so it was such a sweet coincidence that I ran the longest distance on this day without even taking a break.

Talking about the run, it was very important to keep the pace throughout the 9-mile distance. I think it is very crucial since I am aiming for 100 miles in the year 2021.

So, the run started off quite well. I did not even feel the first three miles. I was accompanied by many CrossFit athletes at the gym, so it was easy to pass the time by and not care for anything else.

Things started to change a little bit as soon as I hit mile 4. It was the first time I was running this long distance and even though I use the bathroom before starting the run, I felt an urgent need to go and pee. I needed a distraction and needed it fast. That’s when the new CrossFit batch arrived and they were some 7-8 year olds.

I cannot tell you how funny they were while working out. The trainer had to keep them on tight leash because as 7-8 years olds do, they were cheating when their trainer was not looking at them. It was funny to watch them skipping squats and burpees and telling the trainer that they just finished all the reps.

This was very important to distract myself from the urgent need to pee. I was just counting the number of miles before I reach the goal of 9 miles. I still remember I was telling myself like just 5 miles to go, 4 miles to go, 3 miles to go, and so on.

I finished the 9-mile run in 1 hour 49 minutes 54 seconds. I maintained an average speed of 12.12 minutes per mile.

I was so relieved after finishing this run and finally got to go and pee. I finished my stretching after that and was finally done for the day.

One thing that I would like to tell you here is that though it did not hurt while run or within an hour after finishing the run, but the pain slowly settled in. Even though I did stretch after the run, I could not contain the pain. I should come up with more effective recovery mechanism and soon before I injured myself.

Day 2 – Monday February 03, 2020
This was the rest day for the running, however I did enjoy my CrossFit workout.

It was one of the toughest workouts that I did in a long-long time. I still remember my shoulders making a click sound as soon as I lifted a 45 LB dumbbell. I was scared that I would get injured, but, thank god it was nothing like that and could continue with the rest of the workout.

Check it out.

Day 3 – Tuesday February 04, 2020
One more run day. Today, I had a target of 3-mile run. No problem, right? That’s what I thought, but I was wrong.

I could still feel the soreness from the CrossFit workout I did the last evening. As I mentioned in the Day 1 above, I finally realized the importance of recovery after the run and decided that I must do some research after the run.

But, before that, I found out one more way to motivate myself. This time, I kept looking at the EXIT SIGN which is right across the treadmill that I use to run.

Here, you take a look.

Whenever I feel like I am tired, I just look at the SIGN and tell myself that once this run is done, I get to go home. It works, even if you are giggling right now! 😂

I finished this 3-mile run in 36 minutes 32 seconds with an average pace of 12.09 minutes per mile. This run felt great!

Here’s my Apple Watch after this 3-mile run.

Day 4 – Wednesday February 05, 2020
This was the rest day for running, so I was supposed to go to CrossFit. But, I had a work Happy Hour to attend to, so, I had to miss my CrossFit session this day.

I did not feel good about it, but, realized it was an important day-off that I needed quite desperately.

Day 5 – Thursday February 06, 2020
Run day. This time, it was 4 miles. I remember waking up at 4 for this. As mentioned, I was out with my colleagues last night, so I slept as soon as I came back to my place. Took a nice 8-hour sleep and was ready as ever for the 4-mile run.

I remember not even breathing heavily to finish this run. I had 6-7 CrossFitters working out, so I did not realize how long I was running, but I kept a close tab at my pace and was able to stick to my target pace. At the end of the 4-mile run, I felt like I could go for more, but I didn’t to avoid the risk of injury and fatigue.

I finished this 4-mile run in 48 minutes 11 seconds with an average pace of 12.02 minutes per mile.

Here’s my Apple Watch.

Day 6 – Friday February 07, 2020
Feels so good to have a second rest in a week for both running and CrossFit. Saturday, the last day of the week, is going to be a big day!

Day 7 – Saturday February 08, 2020
Where do I begin this day? Many things to tell you guys.

First of all, imagine getting to the car in a thick blanket of snow as we had a *small* winter blizzard early in the morning. That is what my Saturday felt like. Unfortunately, I could capture the video, but it looked something that I have shared last week here.

So, when I reached my CrossFit gym, I forgot to take my running shoes inside, so I had to go back to my car to fetch them and you can see the snow in the video below.

Once I was inside, I had a target of running only 3 miles, as it was a CrossFit Saturday too. So, I finished it within 36 minutes (the first), and I was happy with my performance.

Here’s my Apple Watch.

After the run, I took a considerable break of 20 minutes or so, before starting the workout.

Before that, I had to fetch my pair of workout shoes from the car. This time, I was in my workout shorts. Take a look.

The workout was quite simple, so our trainer, Jen, did not write it down. I did, however, took the screenshot of the workout and it looked as follows.

Though it says it was a 40 minutes AMRAP, we could finish it in only 28 minutes, giving 10 more minutes for pull-ups, push-ups, and air squats (which was previously not part of the workout).

After finishing the workout, it was time for our weekly brunch time, and boy, we had fun! Here’s my usual Western Omelette, coupled with wheat bread, hash browns, and black coffee.

It was time to call it a day and this week, as far as the Marathon prep is concerned, after the brunch!

I must say, this week flew quickly and I was feeling more confident each passing day.

I think, the biggest highlight was to run 9 miles without being too tired and having stamina at the end for going a few miles. Also, learning the effects of the long distance run a few hours after the run and coming up with innovative ways to trick yourselves in running long distances.

Week number 6, here I come!

Welcome to the fourth week, everyone! If you haven’t, please check out the third week experience here.

With four weeks in, my body feels like a machine now. Running was never easy!

If you are following my preparation plan, you will know that every fourth week is a kind of easy week for me, where I do not stretch my body with long runs and make sure there is a balance between run, CrossFit, and the rest.

Day 1 – Sunday, January 26, 2020
First of all, happy republic day to all my readers from India. Having lived in the US for the last three years, made me miss India more on days like this.

Anyway, it was a Sunday and the longest day of the week when it comes to my running schedule. Having ran longer distances such as 5 miles and 8 miles, the distance of 4 miles did not feel challenging at all. I think as far as the distance goes, my body is well tuned to the distance. The only thing I think I should work on is my pace, but that will improve eventually, I am in no hurry.

I finished the 4-mile run in 49 minutes 40 seconds with an average speed of 12.24 minutes per mile.

Here we go with my Apple Watch.

Day 2 – Monday, January 27, 2020
The run day is followed by the rest day. When I went to CrossFit gym and found Jeff there, I knew the workout is going to be hard. Jeff is one of the most caring CrossFit coaches I have come across and he makes sure that you put in efforts to get amazing results.

As you can see below, the workout looks simple, but he throws in a curve ball here and there which makes us work even harder. At the end of the class, it gives you immense satisfaction, though.

Day 3 – Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Being the kind-of-easy week, I had to run one more 4-mile run on Tuesday. By this time, I do have my schedule in place, where I run mostly in the mornings on Tuesdays. It gives me some more time in the Tuesday evening to take care of my apartment, plants, and laundry.
It was a pretty uneventful run, with not much stress on my body.

It took me 48 minutes 18 seconds with an average pace of 12.04 minutes per mile to finish the 4 mile run.

I couldn’t take a picture of my Apple Watch after the run, so putting up the Activity Tracker screenshot here.

Day 4 – Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Here comes the Wednesday! Rest for Run and its CrossFit time.

Look at the workout below. Doesn’t it look daunting? Well, not for me! 🙂 We had the time cap on this workout which was 35 minutes, but that was more than enough for us, as we could finish this workout in merely 25 minutes. We were so happy with our performance.

We used the remaining 10 minutes to finish the 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, and stretching our body.

Day 5 – Thursday, January 30, 2020
Taking things easily this, again! I shortened my distance by a mile, which I did not feel at all. Once you are on this schedule, you will not even realize how quickly you can run 5K, 10K distances without even breaking a sweat. I think, that is what is happening with me. Good for me!

I finished this 3-mile run in 36 minutes 06 seconds with an average speed of 12.01 mins/miles.

Here’s my Apple Watch after the run. The speed increased a little bit, which is a sign of a good run!

Day 6 – Friday, January 31, 2020
The official rest day of the week. Gosh, I so look forward to this day, every week. Yet, somehow, I also miss working out and running. I guess, people just can’t appreciate good things, do they?

Day 7 – Saturday, February 01, 2020
Here we are at the end of the week. Saturday is my special day of the week. I get to all the things that I love. I do my 100 push-ups, then my run, followed by CrossFit workout and the final brunch with my close friends. I so look forward to Saturday.

This Saturday was no different. I had a small distance on my horizon, so thought it will be easily done, and I was correct. The only downside was that I hardly got a time to take a breath before starting off with my CrossFit workout.

I finished the 3 mile run in 36 minutes 54 seconds with an average pace of 12.17 minutes per mile.

I could see my friends warming up for the CrossFit session when I was still at 2.84 miles, so I had speed things a little bit, but ended up joining the session a minute or two late.

Shown below is the workout that we did that day. The 16 minutes EMOM (Every Minute On the Minute) was a fun one and quite easy.

The highlight of the day for us was when our trainer – Jen’s jaw dropped to the floor when we told her that we were done with our 1 mile run in just 6 minutes 20 seconds. Oh man, I cannot tell you how happy we felt. She literally went to our AirRunner and cross-checked and congratulated us on being so fast with the run. This made my day!

We followed this with a lovely brunch at a nearby local restaurant called Joseph’s Coney Island. Here’s my order of Western Omelette, coupled with hash browns, Wheat Bread and three cups of Black Coffee! Gosh, I am hungry now!

Hope you guys had fun and keeping up with the progress.

See you next week!

Welcome to the third week, everyone! If you haven’t, please check out the second week experience here.

After ending the second week on a low, I was looking forward to this week to crush some serious ass. So, brace yourself!

Day 1 – Sunday, January 19, 2020
This was a big day for me. This was the first day I was going beyond 5 miles. If you have checked out my announcement post, I have kept every fourth week as my rest week, but, the prior week, I have put longer distances to make sure I get more miles under my belt.

8 miles sounded a daunting task, and trust me, it really was. I remember being out of breath and simply not able to move as soon as finishing my run. I could not do anything else for the rest of the day.

But, before talking about finishing the run, let us see how I actually accomplished it.

I chose the only treadmill that we have in the gym for this run. It was a good decision, because, AirRunners are better for CrossFit but not for Marathon Training. It is easier to set the speed on the treadmill and just run.

I had a couple people working out on a Sunday for company, so did not realize the long time that I took to finish the 8 mile run. I chose to take my T-shirt off to let the air in, as the inside of the building was a little warmer.

When you run long distance, the most important thing is your mentality and how you attack those long miles. You constantly have to talk to yourself and motivate yourself in the long run. I remember it became more difficult after 4 miles, so I started counting 1 to 100 steps for the time to go faster. I even tried checking my time constantly but it didn’t help.

Finally, I started thinking about my hometown and how I could run from my hometown, Patansaongi, to Nagpur and how if I could run like this how much time it would take to reach Nagpur. I know it sounds pathetic, but it worked. From that moment on, I started doing these kinds of comparisons between different places. You get the idea.

I finished the 8-mile run in 1 hour 34 minutes 57 seconds with an average speed of 11.52 minutes per mile.

This is an impressive pace, as I exceeded my target of 12 mins/mile pace.

Here we go with my Apple Watch.

Day 2 – Monday, January 20, 2020
Being the rest day, I skipped the run on this day and went for my CrossFit workout, which looked like this.

Day 3 – Tuesday, January 21, 2020
This was the 4-mile run day. This week onwards, I do have my timings fixed for Tuesday run, which is the morning time. This makes it way easier for the day to go by.

I could focus better at work and able to do more stuff after the work and enjoy the time with friends and family.

The run was quite smooth. I had many people working out for the company. I enjoyed watching them working out, when I was grilling my 4-mile run. I don’t remember being out of breath and had enough energy even after the run.

It took me 48 minutes 34 seconds with an average pace of 12.07 minutes per mile to finish the 4 mile run.

Take a look at my Apple Watch after the run.

Day 4 – Wednesday, January 22, 2020
One more rest day. This day, I had to skip both the run and CrossFit, as I had to be at the happy hour after work. We had this first get-together of the year with our recruiters and other colleagues.

I had a couple beers and a some chicken wings, and had a good time catching up with everyone! Fun times.

Day 5 – Thursday, January 23, 2020
Another day for the run. This was, again, a 4-mile run. I did use the same strategy to finish the run and was able to successfully do that.

The only difference between this and Tuesday’s 4-mile run was that I did run in the morning on Tuesday and I chose to run in the evening on Thursday. I did not feel that much a difference, however, I ended up performing better on Thursday.

I improved my average speed by almost 20 seconds, which is really big when you extrapolate it to the distance of a marathon or ultra-marathon.

I finished this 4-mile run in 47 minutes 26 seconds with an average speed of 11.49 mins/miles.

Here’s my Apple Watch after the run.

Day 6 – Friday, January 24, 2020
The official rest day of the week is here. I skipped both run and CrossFit for the much needed break.

Day 7 – Saturday, January 25, 2020
The last day of the week. My Saturday runs are not that longer, as I do go to CrossFit as well on Saturday.

It was just a 3-mile run. At this point now, I am very much used to the idea of running 3 miles out of the blue, without even breaking a sweat.

The run was quite uneventful, with a few looking around here and there as people were popping up for their CrossFit classes.

I finished the 3 mile run in 36 minutes 27 seconds with an average pace of 12.02 minutes per mile.

Immediately followed by the run, I went for the CrossFit workout and demolished it. Just yourself looking at the workout below.

Hope you guys had fun and keeping up with the progress.

See you next week!