What To Look For

OK, so I'm done running now!  Well, until Sunday, that is.  Then I've got the longest run of my life ahead of me!  This morning it was 41 degrees and I wore shorts and a thicker long-sleeved shirt.  I was a little bit cool at first, but I warmed up really quickly.  That makes me think that my outfit for the race will be just perfect.  I just ran to the Park, did a quick run around the Lower Loop, and headed home.  I didn't even bother wearing a watch.  Just running to shake out the legs and any nervous energy I might have. 

A couple people have asked what I'll be wearing so that they can try and look for me, so I thought I'd post some pictures.  Before the race, in the corral, I'll look something like this: 

Yes, that is a Hello Kitty hat.  The clothes that are collected at the start are donated to the Bethesda Project and I'm hoping that it'll make it's way to a little girl and make her day!  I also thought that it could be a conversation starter in the corral (OK, really, Drew said that, but I'm hoping he's right).  Either way, it's actually pretty nice with fleece-lined ear flaps! 

As far as the actual race goes, I'm hoping to be looking something like this (smile and all!):

Except I'll have a lot of Gu stuffed in my side pockets, which does nothing for the hips!  And I'll have a bib on too.  I've heard that they have your names on them, but I figured wearing a shirt with my name on it would be more clear and hopefully more people will cheer for me.  I'm thinking that I might need the encouragement (especially towards the end). 

I'm also including the information for runner tracking.  You can click here to sign-up if you feel like stalking me while I run.  My bib number and information is listed below (which I think you need to get the updates!). 

We leave for Philadelphia early tomorrow morning.  I'm excited to get there and pick up my number and just have everything all set!  Hopefully I'll see some of you there!

Running
Distance: 2.90 miles

It Could Be Raining

This week is looking like rain, rain, and more rain here in the Big Apple.  I have to say, rain is my least favorite weather.  I think I didn't have this bad attitude until I moved to New York and had to walk to work.  But there's just something about being wet all day long as a result of it that makes me a bit surly.  It's also why I tend to wear skirts when it's raining (so my pants don't get all wet).  I might complain about the cold, but it just doesn't seem like as big of a deal to me as rain. 

Which is why it was crazy that I excitedly woke up at 5:18 this morning to get dressed and go running in the pouring rain.  I will say, however, that I did drag my feet a tiny bit while getting ready to head outside.  Not because I didn't want to go, but I didn't want to be standing around waiting for the workout to start.  I pretty much wanted to get there and just go to the back of the line and if I missed a stride or two, it wouldn't be the end of the world! 

That's exactly what happened.  I arrived just a minute or two late, but I think I only missed one (at the most two) strides, so I still got a decent warm-up and didn't have to stand around in the rain.  There was a very small group of Terriers this morning (not surprising), but the majority of the people who were there are part of the specific marathon program, so even though I'm not part of that group, I guess it shows that marathoners are probably the only people crazy enough to get up and out there! 

Because we were such a small group today, Spencer had us all do the marathon plan workout instead of having just a few of us do the regular Terrier workout.  The "beginner" marathon workout today was 4 x 1000 meters.  I have to say I wasn't overly enthused about this, but I know the speed work stuff is good for me and it's a nice change from "regular" running, so the only thing to do was start running.

I ended up doing the intervals with another girl on the team and it was actually really nice to have someone there at my same pace.  We chatted a little bit, but mostly it was nice because it gave me a reason not to drop my pace.  I felt like I had to keep going and I definitely pushed myself a bit harder than I would have if I'd been doing it on my own. 

The rain definitely let up as time went on and of course by the time I was heading home, it had stopped completely.  I don't mind.  I figure there could be rain the day of the marathon, so I might as well get out there and practice a little bit.  After getting home I promptly took my orthotics out of my shoes and stuffed newspaper in my shoes so that they'd dry out quickly.  I'm hopeful they'll be all ready for tomorrow morning! 

Running (Run There / Strides / Run to the S)
Time: 24:11
Distance: 2.50 miles
Pace: 9:40/mile

Running (4 x 1000 meters)
Time: 21:00
Distance: 2.50 miles
Pace: 8:24/mile

Total Distance: 5.00 miles

So, since the threat of rain is still out there, although it wasn't actually raining on my way to work today, I wore the grey skirt and purple shirt.  With purple heels.  Yup.  That's right.  I actually think it works okay, too.  Which might mean that after only 9 days of this challenge, I'm off my rocker a bit?  

They really don't look all that purple though, so it's probably not quite as bad as you were imagining in your head! 

I'm also wearing my elephant hair earrings.  Drew got them for me in Namibia. The left one is what they look like from the front, but I took a picture of the back so that you could see it better.  I have a matching necklace, but that just didn't work with the neckline of the shirt today. 

I Think There Are Hills In Philly

This morning I really didn't feel like getting out of bed and going for a run, but Drew thought that it was a bad idea for me to stay in bed and kept pestering me, so finally I got up and at 'em.  I'm actually really glad he did, though, because I seem to have gotten past my bad run and back onto the good run track.

I figured I should probably do some of those hill repeats that I skipped out on Wednesday.  I mean, it looks like there are hills in Philadelphia, see:

I have to say that I'm pretty glad that the second half of the race looks relatively flat.  I'm not sure why they want to kill our legs right from the get-go, though!  

So, today, I ran from our apartment to Cat Hill and then did 6 Cat Hill repeats (each up and down is 0.50 miles), so it was 3 miles in total of hills.  Oddly enough, I didn't even hate it.  Although, it's funny because for the first 4, I was feeling great.  By the 5th one, I could tell I was tired and I was so glad that time wasn't permitting me to do any more than 6 today! 

My favorite part of doing these hill repeats is to see how many times I can pass walkers going up or down the hill while I'm running.  Silly, I know, but I'll take whatever motivates me at this point.  I know I need to throw in some more hill workouts in the upcoming weeks, but I'm glad I got this one under my belt.  After the hill repeats, I ran home and after begging Drew to make a smoothie immediately, I hopped in the shower.

Normally the smoothie wouldn't be such a big deal, but in an effort to get in the longest run possible today, I skipped eating anything before going running.  I know a lot of people out there don't eat before these shorter runs, but I tend to wake up hungry and while I felt okay during my run today, I think I would have felt better with a bite or two of something in my tummy.  To each his own, right?  I just know that being slightly more fueled makes me feel better. 

Running
Time: 1:02:20
Distance: 6.00 miles
Pace: 10:23/mile

Today's Wardrobe Challenge is a repeat of the shirt I wore on Wednesday.  But I only wore it for about 2 hours to go to the dentist, so I don't really think it was dirty.  Although I plan on doing laundry this weekend, so don't worry too much about my cleanliness.  Drew's in the pictures again.  He made us take some funny ones and I couldn't figure out how to not cut his head off ...

I'm wearing the gray short-sleeved skirt and gray skirt.  Today's jewelry was picked by Drew:

Those earrings are actually the first jewelry that Drew gave me and the bracelet is an Elephant Hair bracelet from his parents.  (Although, it's not real hair, but I do have some earrings that are, I'll try to wear them soon).  Today's shoes are really two pairs.  Flats that I actually wore to work and then the heels are the shoes I'm wearing at work.  Complicated business when you walk a mile to and from work each day! 

Well, I Ran Further Than Them

This morning I wasn't feeling 100%, so I decided to take the day off work.  I did end up going for a run, but it wasn't anything close to the 8 miles I was supposed to be doing.  I have to say that part of the issue was that it's warmer in NYC today than it has been in the past few days and since I'm stuck wearing these long-sleeved shirts, that didn't help matters any.  Nor did the fact that I went later than I normally would.

When I was running around the Lower Loop, I heard a lot of loud cheering.  I noticed that there were tents set-up on Dead Road along the Mall, but I wasn't sure what was going on.  I decided that I would do one loop and then cut across and maybe do some hill repeats.  As I was cutting across on 72nd Street, I decided that I would check out these tents.

It turned out that it was Regis and Kelly doing their show in the Park.  They were having a High-Heel-A-Thon, so I decided to stay and check it out.  While I was waiting, I saw Tim Gunn doing some interviews for the show.  I have to say, I was more excited to see him than to see Regis, Kelly or Kristin Chenowith.  The High-Heel-A-Thon was a 150 yard dash.  The winner was really really fast and actually dove to the finish.  Here's a video if you want to watch.  It was pretty fun, but it was all over in seconds! 

After the race, I headed home and skipped the hill repeats.  Even though my run wasn't as planned (and apparently, I am a sissy since I didn't even run 4 miles), it was still a better than nothing effort.  I've actually been wondering if I would be happier running 3 days a week instead of 4, but I'm not making any decisions yet. 

Running
Time: 30:23
Distance: 3.00 miles
Pace: 10:07/mile

As far as the Wardrobe Challenge goes, I spent the better part of the day in my workout clothes, while resting on the couch, so I figured I should take a photo:

I did end up showering and getting dressed since I had a dentist appointment this afternoon.  I wore jeans, gray t-shirt and gray Converse to the dentist (shoes not pictured):

I'm a little worried about the Challenge because the next few days are supposed to be pretty warm, but I think I'll end up being okay.  I'm really glad that I chose two short-sleeved shirts! 

Even Sissies Can Do 4

This morning I managed to set my alarm for 5:05 PM instead of 5:05 AM.  Even though Drew had a conference call that he took from bed at 5:00, he didn't talk a whole lot, so I manged to sleep until he hung up around 5:30.  We both got up and Drew headed off to the gym and I went out for a run.  I was a little late to meet the Terriers, but I was fine skipping the fartlek workout they had planned!  

As we were walking out the door, Drew asked how far I had to go today.  I told it was just 4 miles.  His response?  "Even sissies can do 4".  With that in mind, I started my watch and set off on my run!  (However, I'd like to note that he did not go running with me).  I had to wear a long-sleeved shirt today because I keep having some arm chafing issues wearing short-sleeved shirts.  This chafing isn't an issue on these shorter runs, but Saturday's 15 miles sort-of did my arms in and I'm trying to let them heal.  The only thing I like about this arm chafing is that it must mean that I'm actually moving my arms like I'm supposed to be doing!

It is a little bit funny to be outside for such a short amount of time.  I definitely saw a bunch of my teammates out there running and I have to say that it looked like they were working a lot harder than I was.  I didn't really see them until I got down to the Lower Loop of the Park and once I saw them, I just kept telling myself over and over, "run like Spencer is watching" because I know I concentrate on my form more when he's around. 

I happened to be reading Caitlin's blog about her marathon training and she mentioned that she didn't hit 30 mile weeks when she was training in January until very close the the marathon.  I am so intrigued by this because I've already had two 30+ mile weeks, with six more to come (including this week).  I think it's good to know that she finished her marathon with her plan, so I'm hopeful I'll have the same result with even more miles under my belt! 

Running
Time: 44:18
Distance: 4.15 miles
Pace: 10:40/mile

And, here's today's outfit (Day 2):

I asked Drew if he wanted to be in the photo too, and he said yes.  He said if he'd known, he would have dressed up a bit more.  I'm wearing the black mini skirt, green turtleneck, black tights, black high-heeled Mary Janes and a belt.  I'll admit, once I had been thinking about doing this challenge, I went out and bought the belt.  But it was only $10.  And I'll definitely wear it after the challenge.  Technically, I didn't break any challenge rules of buying things, but I probably went against the spirit.  Today's jewelry: same diamond earrings as yesterday.  I'll work on that later this week, I promise!

That's Not What The Website Said

This morning was the usual Terrier run.  I often check the website on Monday nights or Tuesday mornings before leaving the apartment to see what is in store for the day.  Last night, the website said that the workout was 8 x 200 with 1:30 rest intervals.  So, I run to the meeting spot today, we do our normal strides warm-up and run around to the S in order to start the speedwork. 

And then Spencer tells us that our workout is actually 10 x 200 with a 200 recovery jog.  Which is more than double the website version of the workout!  We're supposed to do the first five slower than the last five.  I have to say that I'm never really the biggest fan of speedwork.  But I'm less of a fan when these recovery jogs are involved.  Mainly because I'd like to know how fast I'm actually going without factoring in the recovery jogs into the time and I don't want to have 25 numbers to add up if I time them all separately.  Plus, I don't even know if my Polar will let me save that many workouts at a time? 

So, I sort-of did what I was supposed to.  I just got tired of doing the recovery jogs and I figured I'd try to push myself more on the sprints if I knew I could have 1:30 rest instead.  I ended up doing 6 x 200 with recovery jogs and then legs 7 - 10 were done as sprints with 1:30 rest instead of 200 recovery jog.  I have to say, it's really probably not all that different time wise jogging or standing still, but it feels so much better to be standing still and trying to catch your breath. 

I definitely pushed myself today, even though the times below don't really reflect that for the speedwork portion (because of the jogging).  I could just tell it was a much harder effort than usual, especially towards the end of the workout.  I came home and was a sweaty disaster, which Drew can vouch for.  Even though it was a nice and cool 62 this morning, it was also somehow really hot for running.  I'm not even really sure how that is possible!  When I got in the shower, even though the water was really warm, it felt cool on my (very red) face, which was funny! 

Run There
Time: 13:23
Distance: 1.30 miles
Pace: 10:17/mile

Run To S
Time: 10:59
Distance: 1.20 miles
Pace: 9:09/mile

Speedwork
Time: 19:51
Distance: 2.00 miles
Pace: 9:55/mile

Run Home
Time: 5:08
Distance: 0.50 miles
Pace: 10:08/mile

Total Mileage, Including Strides: 5.50 miles

Right Foot Forward

I took the day off yesterday.  I know it might not have been the best thing for my marathon training to skip a day of running in what is already going to be a shorter distance week, but I think it was the best thing for me to do.  Sometimes you just need a mental health day, you know?  Not to mention the fact that this marathon is still 10 weeks away and I refuse to believe that this is going to screw things up so fantastically that I don't finish.

So, I did get a good night's sleep last night.  I'll admit that my heart still wasn't 100% in the game this morning when I rolled out of bed to start running, but by the time I actually started running, I was feeling much better.  Even though I didn't really want to, I went back to Central Park this morning.  I knew I just needed to tackle it and even make myself do a lap course.

I didn't do anything too crazy.  Not two full loops of the Park or anything.  Instead, what I did was one loop of the Lower Loop of the Park and then one full loop. I saw the Terrier marathon group doing hill repeats on Cat Hill and it made me really glad that I wasn't doing all that fancy stuff for marathon training.  It's enough to just get out there and run, I think. 

I did notice as soon as I put my right foot in my shoe this morning that my big toe was still sore.  I'd take a picture and show it to you if there was anything to show.  Except it looks exactly like my left toe, which is the frustrating thing.  I decided to put a band-aid on before I left for the run to see if that would help cushion my toe a little bit.  Um, maybe a little bit.  Not really all that much.  I could definitely still feel it the whole time I was running.  But, even after running, it still looks the same.  Just like a toe with a callus on the bottom.  Same as my other foot. 

Running today was okay.  Not stellar.  Not bad.  I'm glad that I took yesterday off.  I know that I wouldn't have been feeling as motivated as I was today and it was definitely the right decision.  I did end up taking two 1:00 walking breaks somewhere in the middle of all that running today.  Not because I really needed to, but because I happened to be by drinking fountains and thought that I should stop and take a sip of water. 

The worst part of today happened somewhere around the 7-mile marker.  I looked at my watch and realized that 70-something minutes had elapsed and I was still pretty far from home and I wanted to just sit down and cry.  Because I had forgotten that I was running more than 7 miles today.  I totally forgot that I had already done the Lower Loop of the Park and that was going to make my total around 9 miles.  When I realized that, getting home was a breeze.  I think I actually sped up for the last 2 miles as a result.  It was just so frustrating when I thought I was running 7 miles and at 70 minutes, I still had at least 20 more minutes of running to do.  Oops. 

The really funny thing I noticed today is that somehow when it's 62 degrees outside, people dress for winter running in this city!  I was wearing shorts and a short-sleeved shirt and was really comfortable, but there were people in pants and jackets and long-sleeved shirts.  Frankly, I'm surprised I didn't see people in hats and gloves.  It seemed crazy to me that you'd need all that for 62 degrees when you're running!  I noticed that some of the people I saw in the beginning wearing jackets ended up with them tied around their waists later on.  Good to know that they didn't really need that stuff in this weather. 

So, I'm currently at 16.15 miles this week and my target is supposed to be 30.  Obviously, that's not going to happen.  I actually can't guarantee that I'll get any more running in this weekend right now.  I'm going to hope for the best, but if I don't add any more miles, I think I'm going to live with it.  Maybe by next week my toe will be feeling better anyway! 

Running
Time: 1:34:26
Distance: 8.95 miles
Pace: 10:33/mile

I Hate It, But It Works

This morning was the Terrier run, which I hadn't been to in a few weeks because of vacation. I ran there and we did our usual strides warm-up. We typically do two stretching strides, but today we did two new ones. The first one was to keep both legs straight, bending down and lifting one leg up, while touching your toe with your opposite arm. The second was to do straight leg kicks out in front of you. It seems like the strides are taking longer than they used to, but maybe there are just more people there now since the marathon group is there as well?

After the strides, we all ran around to the S. I ended up chatting with a girl who was there for the very first time. I hope she had a good workout. I know that my first time at Terrier I couldn't keep up and do the entire workout and I think that this girl was in the same position. I hope that she wasn't too intimidated and she comes back!

For the first time in a while, I actually did the entire workout, although it was pretty short overall. Today's workout was 3x's the following:

600 meters / Rest 1:30
400 meters / Rest 1:30
200 meters / Rest 1:00

I noticed on the very first one that most people weren't giving themselves the full rest period, which is fine, but it also makes me look even slower than I really am because I did rest the whole time, mainly to make sure I could remember my times at the end. I've accepted that I'm the slowest person there, but I hate to be misrepresented!

After the first 600 and 400, I asked another woman who was doing the walking/resting if we were done yet. She said that she thought that the first 600 felt like 6 miles. I said that I hate this speedwork stuff, but it actually seems to work. I hate when stuff like that happens.

Even though I might have been complaining in my head, it was actually nice to be back with the team and have someone tell me what to do instead of just following along with Hal Higdon. Plus, the speedwork was a nice change from just long, slow running. Not that I'm speedy, by any stretch of the imagination!

Run To Park
Time: 13:37
Distance: 1.30 miles
Pace: 10:28/mile
Calories: 111
Maximum HR: 173 (82%)
Average HR: 158 (75%)

Run To S
Time: 10:43
Distance: 1.20 miles
Pace: 8:55/mile
Calories: 111
Maximum HR: 192 (91%)
Average HR: 181 (85%)

Speedwork
Time: 20:25
Distance: 2.25 miles
Pace: 9:04/mile
Calories: 307
Maximum HR: 187 (88%)
Average HR: 172 (81%)

Run Home
Time: 5:06
Distance: 0.50 miles
Pace: 10:11/mile
Calories: 46
Maximum HR: 176 (83%)
Average HR: 170 (80%)

Total Distance (including strides): 5.75 miles

Running For Free

Last night I dragged my feet on the Ab Challenge, but I'm happy to report that I stuck with it and did the full 15 minutes that were part of the Challenge. I'm not sure I'm in love with this Challenge, but that's probably why it's called a Challenge!

This morning was the usual Terrier run. They sent us an e-mail last night saying that we should all wear our Terrier gear as they had arranged for us to get some free Shot Bloks and Clif Bars and they wanted send a photo of all us in our gear as a Thank You! I wore my Terrier short-sleeved shirt in order to support the team.

I ran from the bottom of the Park to the meeting spot since I thought I might be running a little bit late (I didn't wear a watch today). Turns out that I had plenty of time, but it was a nice little run anyway. I thought that we'd take a photo at the beginning of the run, but it turned out that they wanted to take the photo at the end. We did our normal drills and strides and then ran around to the S.

Today's workout was a speed/interval workout. It was 2 x 800 / 2 x 600 / 2 x 400 / 2 x 200 meters. The rest intervals were descending as the running intervals got shorter. I knew that I wasn't going to stay the whole time today because I wanted to get home in time to do the Ab Challenge this morning before I had to get ready for work.

Before I switched into my new shoes, I had noticed some shin pain in my left leg. I thought that over the weekend it had gone away, but today it was back. I figured that was another good reason to cut the workout short. I ended up doing 2 x 600 and 2 x 200, so not a whole lot, but an extra mile to the day.

I got home and was able to do 20 minutes of Ab Challenge before hopping in the shower. I'm surprised that it's 6 days in already! I had to re-inflate the Swiss Ball a little bit more this morning as it was starting to lose some of the air, but that was easy enough. I'm getting a little bit bored with some of the normal exercises, so I threw in some others today. I also did a Pilates 100 while holding the ball in between my legs (up in the air). Boy, that was hard!

All in all, a pretty good morning. I think I only ended up doing 3 miles of running today plus strides. I think that tomorrow I'm going to head to the gymnasium with Drew so that I can do some foam rolling at the end of the workout on my shin. Hopefully that will help with whatever this pain is!

Running
Distance: ~3.50 miles

No Watches, Just Smiles

This morning I got up and went to the Terrier run practice. I knew that it would be a really short and quick speed workout, which I thought would be exactly what my legs needed after last night's run with Drew. We did our normal strides, which I thought took longer than usual. I think we definitely did more of them than normal!

After that, we took the short-cut through Sheep's Meadow and ran to the S. The taper workout for NYC was 8 x 200 meters. Easy-peasy. Before we started, Spencer said that he didn't want to see any watches today. No one was to look at their times. We should all just go out and take it easy today. And, most importantly, we should be smiling at all times!

I was fine with this no watch plan, since that was pretty much my plan anyway. I just wanted to get my legs moving. The 8 x 200 went by pretty quickly (we did 200 meter recovery jogs in between), so it was a quick two miles in total.

After everyone was done with the workout, Robert and Spencer called everyone over for a meeting about the race. Mainly the running portion. Spencer told us that he thinks that we're the best trained tri group in the city, and that's not just his ego talking. He knows how hard we all work, even when we're not at the group workouts. Then he gave us a great pep-talk about the run for the triathlon. He said that we're all more than capable of running the entire 10K. We all know the Park like the back of hands. This is our backyard and we can stay strong. We just need to remember to keep swinging our arms. As long as we do that, our legs will follow.

The other thing that Spencer really stressed is that we need to have a plan. He said that he hates when people are just "trying to survive" the run. He said that we should really think about what we're doing and then go execute the plan. Our legs will be tired, but we can do it and finish strong (while smiling, of course!).

Now I just have to figure out exactly what the plan is...

Running
Time: ?
Distance: ~ 4.00 miles

With My People

This morning I started my week of real workouts. To top it off, it started on a very good note! When I was walking to the Terrier meeting spot, I found a dollar on the ground. I was more than happy to pick it up and stick it in my pocket! It just seemed like a good luck sign.

I got to the meeting spot about 5 minutes early. After doing a little bit of chatting, everyone headed over to do our normal strides warm-up. I didn't really pay attention or count how many we did today, although when I think back on it, I think we did just over a half-mile in strides this morning.

After the strides and drills, we took the short-cut run to the S by cutting across Sheep's Meadow instead of running all the way around on the road. Which, frankly, was fine with me. I was a little bit worried that I'd end up doing too many miles today and I wanted to make sure to keep it reasonable for the time being.

Luckily, today's workout was pretty short. I also decided to do the Olympic workout instead of the half-Ironman workout. I thought that seemed pretty reasonable for my first day back with the team! The Olympic workout was a sprint ladder workout that looked something like this:

200 meters
200 meters recovery
400 meters
200 meters recovery
600 meters / 1:00 recovery
800 meters / 2:00 recovery
800 meters / 2:00 recovery
600 meters
200 meters recovery
400 meters / 1:00 recovery
200 meters
200 meters recovery

Total distance was 4800 meters = 3.00 miles. I didn't time that part separately from the half-mile run to the S this morning, so the total distance (not including strides) was 3.50 miles. With the strides it was more like 4.00 miles. Not the worst day ever, although, ironically, I probably would have been glad to do a couple more.

Of course, I only think that in hindsight. During the second 800, my legs were burning and I wanted them to fall off my body instead of having to keep running. But, I did. The recovery time was supposed to be jogging in place, but whenever Coach Spencer tells us to do that, it consists of most people just standing around. I actually walk around, so I think it's a step above just standing there and a step below jogging in place. All in all, happy to be back to the regularly scheduled workouts. Although I think I might have to start going to bed earlier!

Running
Time: 31:52
Distance: 3.50 miles
Pace: 9:05/mile
Calories: 414
Maximum HR: 198 (93%)
Average HR: 184 (87%)

Making It Up On My Own

When my alarm went off yesterday morning, I checked the weather and saw that it was a little bit cooler than I think I like it to be when biking and I decided to sleep in. I think it was the right call. My legs were exhausted just walking around yesterday, I can't imagine what they would have been like if I had gone biking too. I thought about it while I was at work and I thought that a swim might be just the thing that my legs needed. However, for the first time all year (I think) I had to stay late at work. I figured that the universe was just telling me that it should be a rest day! I don't feel bad about this at all since I skipped my normal rest day on Monday.

This morning I had a minor alarm clock malfunction (read: I pressed snooze one too many times) and was running about 10 minutes late to the Terrier brick. I have to say that I feel like it's a miracle that I got up and went this morning. I think that I normally would have told myself that since I was running late that it wasn't worth it, which definitely isn't the case. Granted, I didn't bike or run for quite as long as I did last week, but it was still a solid workout and I'm glad that I went.

Since I was late, I missed the part where Robert explained the workout. Although he had said last week that we would be doing the same thing for a while until it started to get lighter a bit earlier in the mornings. I assumed that meant ride for 50-60 minutes and run for about 20. I didn't really have a clear plan of attack on the bike this morning, so instead of heading south on the bike (from 72nd Street), I headed north. I did one full loop and then wasn't sure if I'd have quite enough time to do a second, so I (conveniently) cut off the Harlem Hill on the second loop.

I think now (of course hindsight is 20/20) that I would have had time, but I was a little nervous because I didn't want to be the last one back to pick up my gear when I was done with the run! Of course, it turned out that I was actually one of the first people to transition from bike to run, but I didn't mind. I just went out to do my quick run of the Lower Loop in the Park.

And it really was quick. Seriously - where did these legs come from? It seems like recently I've been a lot faster (unless there is some sort of traffic issue like running to/from the Park). I'm not complaining, but I'm just wondering where all this speed is coming from. I hardly remember the last time I was over 10 minutes/mile and that used to be fairly common.

When I was coming back from my running loop, it definitely appeared that I had missed the memo on running today as everyone else appeared to be doing something a little different (maybe sprints on the Mall?). But I don't think that really matters. I'm just glad that I actually got up and went, even though I was running late. And even if my workout was 10 minutes shorter than it should have been, I don't think those 10 minutes will be the make it or break it moment at any point during a triathlon.

Biking
Time: 48:48
Distance: 11.50 miles
Pace: 14.14 MPH
Calories: 464
Maximum HR: 169
Average HR: 153
Total Biking Distance: 14.50 miles

Running
Time: 16:44
Distance: 1.80 miles
Pace: 9:17/mile
Calories: 187
Maximum HR: 178
Average HR: 169

First Brick of 2010!

And I was excited about it? Crazy as it sounds, yes, I was. I got everything all laid out last night so that all I'd have to do this morning was eat and put on my clothes. I wore the same thing that I wore yesterday evening bike riding - tights, tri shorts, two long-sleeved shirts. I brought along my gloves, just in case, but ended up not needing them. We have to be there at 5:30 in the morning, so I tried to get to bed early last night!

When I got to the Park, I was tiny bit surprised to see how many people were there today. I guess lots of people were looking for the practice. Before he gave us the workout, Robert asked how many people were on their first ride of the year and a couple people raised their hands. I felt like I didn't have to since I went last night, even though that's technically probably cheating.

Of course, my rear end definitely noticed the fact that I went riding last night and this morning! Oof. I noticed it the second I sat down on my bike this morning. So, um, yeah. It wasn't my most comfortable ride ever. But, I managed to get through it. I definitely got up out of the saddle a couple times, just to coast, which didn't help my times any.

The workout for today was to ride for about an hour and then run for about 20 minutes. I ended up doing two loops of the Park, plus a little bit before heading back to put on my running shoes. The biking today was fine - other than my rear - but I will say that I did notice my legs were a tiny bit tired from yesterday. I knew I wasn't going as fast today as I did yesterday, but I'm okay with that.

After putting on my running shoes, I decided to just run the Lower Loop of the Park. I didn't think it would take me 20 minutes, but I knew it'd be pretty close. I didn't have that jelly-leg feeling, instead my legs felt like lead. I really felt like I was running with a ball and chain. Even though it doesn't sound that great, it actually wasn't too bad. I even passed some people while I was running, which doesn't happen very often. Probably because even though my legs were leaden, I was running faster than usual!

When I got back to my bike, I noticed that everyone else was grabbing their bikes and doing a half-mile loop running with the bike. I was hoping I could sneak out of that part, but as soon as I got back, Robert spotted me and said "Grab your bike!". Hard to argue with that. So, I didn't start my watch, but it was about 5 minutes more running.

I actually really liked today's workout. I always liked the bricks last year and I'm hoping that this year isn't any different. Robert said that once it starts getting lighter earlier in the day we'll do more transition practice during the bricks, but for now we'll do longer rides and runs. After reading some of the detailed information on Alcatraz, I'm now realizing that there are lots of transitions, so the extra practice could be helpful!

Biking
Time: 57:33
Distance: 12.99 miles
Pace: 13.54 MPH
Calories: 616
Maximum HR: 175
Average HR: 158
Total Bike Mileage: 16.54 miles

Running #1
Time: 16:18
Distance: 1.82 miles
Pace: 8:57/mile
Calories: 202
Maximum HR: 184
Average HR: 173

Running #2
Time: 5:00
Distance: 0.49 miles
Pace: 10:12/mile

Gimme Back My Park!

Last night I could not fall asleep. I think I was up past 1:00, which is way too late for me. This morning when the alarm went off, I was about to get up and Drew said, "I think that you need your rest." I listened to the voice of reason and went back to sleep. That meant that I would need to get in my quick run this evening instead. I actually don't really like working out in the evening. I normally eat pretty well during the day, but I find when I work out in the evening, I feel a lot more pressure to watch what I eat to make sure I'm properly fueled for my evening work out.

I also tend to be starving when I get home from work, so it takes a bit more planning than usual to work out at night. Since Krista just did a post about food and was wondering what other people ate, I thought I'd run down my eats from yesterday:

Breakfast: Homemade smoothie (pineapple, pineapple juice, jackfruit, frozen blueberries, ice, protein powder) - 225 calories
Morning Snack: Grapes - 60 calories
Lunch: Homemade salad (romaine, grilled chicken breast, cucumbers, peppers, carrots, Brianna's Santa Fe dressing) - 300 calories
Orange - 107 calories
Light String Cheese - 50 calories
Afternoon Snack: Progresso Light Vegetable & Noodle Soup - 120 calories
2 of Drew's mom's cookies - 245 calories
Pre-Running Snack: 2 bites of stale Clif bar - 35 calories

So, pre-running, I had about 1,150 calories (in case you're wondering, I input this into Daily Burn and that's where I got my totals). I was originally supposed to have the soup and salad as lunch, but I ended up eating outside since the weather is so nice here (more on this later) but it's very hard to heat up soup when outside, so I ate the orange and cheese instead. I actually think it worked out pretty well, since I ate the soup around 4:00 and then wasn't starving when I got home from work.

The weather here for the past couple days has just been amazing. I wish it would just stay like this from now on and never rain again - or get cold - but that's probably all a dream. I actually got to wear shorts when running today! I wore shorts, a short-sleeved shirt and a thin long-sleeved shirt. I probably could have done without the long-sleeved shirt, but I was a bit too chicken to go without it. Plus, my run was so short, it didn't really matter. Even if I got hot, it wouldn't be for an extended period of time.

Walking home from work and then running to the park, there were tons of people out and about. It was like they all thought, "oh, it's nice outside, I should go out." Which meant that there were lots of people to dodge while I was running to the park. And I couldn't believe how many people there were when I actually got to the park. Two weeks ago when I was running on a Thursday after work, I didn't see anyone on the Reservoir Path! And now people were out in droves. I guess the good old days are over. This is probably all just reason to make sure I get to bed on time and can wake up in the morning for workouts.

Today's workout was so short and easy, I'm not really sure I even broke a sweat. I ran to the park, then ran North along the Lower Loop to the 72nd Street Transverse. Then I ran South along the Mall and got back onto the Loop and headed home. Let me tell you, there were people everywhere. I guess all it takes is the weather to warm up and then New Yorkers and tourists head to the Park!

I had a really nice time running tonight, even if I was a bit annoyed at all the people in the Park. It was nice to just get out there and not have to worry about running for a long time or hitting a certain distance. All I had to do was get out there and stretch my legs.

And in case you're curious, I picked up Chipotle for dinner. I'm lazy and it's right across the street from our apartment. My burrito bowl and chips was 1125 calories (Yes, I get the chips. I really like them and I had almost no fat earlier in the day. It's always worth it because it just tastes that much better.). That gave me a daily total of 2,275, which according to Daily Burn, is actually under my goal calories for the day (goal of 2,371 to 2,621). As a complete aside, I stopped counting calories on a daily basis a while ago. I do periodically put them in Daily Burn just to see how I'm doing. And I'm almost always right on track. Which means that I probably don't need to count them at all. Except sometimes I get curious about calories in versus calories out (from exercise), which is why I bother at all.

So, I think I might be done exercising now before the half-marathon on Sunday. I'm not entirely sure about my plans for tomorrow, but I'm thinking that the next time I run, it'll be in Atlanta. The chance of rain just keeps going up and now we're at 70%, but I'm just hoping it won't be too bad. I'm packing every available option for clothing, so at least I'll be prepared!

Running
Time: 26:48
Distance: 2.60 miles
Pace: 10:18/mile
Calories: 299
Maximum HR: 178
Average HR: 162

Who Turned Out The Lights?

Sunday night I really did myself in. I generally hate the time change and since it didn't feel as late as it was, I stayed up past my regular bedtime. Monday morning meant that I just didn't feel like getting out of bed. I had thought about going to the gym after work, but when I got home from work yesterday I was starving and after making and eating dinner, I just didn't feel like going to the gym too. So, instead, I fell asleep on the couch around 7:30. Which was great until Drew called at 10. Then I went upstairs to sleep and he got home from work sometime after 11, which woke me up again.

But, since I had started this sleeping at 7:30 last night, it really wasn't a problem to get myself up at 5:20 this morning to go to the Terrier run. I was hoping to get in my last long run - hopefully around 8 miles or so - this morning. It was 42 this morning and I wore tights, shorts, long sleeved shirt and my jacket along with a (running) baseball hat. I'm hoping that the days of gloves and winter running hats are over!

I ran to the normal meeting spot in the dark, which is normal. We did our normal drills and strides (0.50 miles) and then Coach Spencer told us that we would be doing a tempo run today. Which meant that I wouldn't be getting my 8 miles in. We did our tempo run around the Lower Loop of the Park, which was fine by me. I have to say that I cheated a little bit. Instead of doing what the workout was, instead I just ran faster when I was running by Spencer. But he's tricky and kept moving, so I had to keep a lookout for him! I think I saw him 4 times in my two loops, so I guess I did 4 intervals instead of the 7 that we were supposed to have done.

The really weird thing about the run is that it was dark almost the entire time I was running! This time change thing is really no fun at all! I liked it a lot more when it was light at 6/6:15 instead of waiting until 7. There are so many people out in the Park that it never feels scary or anything, it just was a lot nicer mentally to be running in daylight instead of the dark. Our weekly brick practices start next week (and they start at 5:30) which is a long time to be riding in the dark.

I ended up doing two loops plus a little bit during my 40 minute tempo run. In total, with the strides today, I ended up running just under 6.5 miles (6.45 to be exact). I just have to be okay with that total at this point. My plan now is to definitely get in one quick run Thursday morning and perhaps one on Friday and then just try to rest up for the race on Sunday!

Run To Meeting Point
Time: 12:50
Distance: 1.30 miles
Pace: 9:52/mile
Calories: 149
Maximum HR: 177
Average HR: 166

Running
Time: 41:09
Distance: 4.20 miles
Pace: 9:47/mile
Calories: 552
Maximum HR: 189
Average HR: 179

Run Home
Time: 5:05
Distance: 0.45 miles
Pace: 11:17/mile
Calories: 57
Maximum HR: 175
Average HR: 164

5 Of Each, Please

Last night I forced myself to go upstairs to bed around 9:30. I stayed up reading for about 45 minutes, but I didn't stay up late, so that was a good start. When I woke up at 3:46 this morning, I knew that there was no way that I'd be skipping the Terrier run today. I fell back asleep and got out of bed around 5:20 in order to eat and get dressed and be on my way.

I looked at my phone and it said that it was 47 degrees outside. I decided to wear capris, long sleeved shirt and windbreaker along with my baseball running hat. I also stuck my gloves in my pockets just in case. Turns out that when I got outside, it was really more like 37 and I think it warmed up to about 42 by the time I left the park. I'm pretty sure the problem was that I didn't let my phone's weather update from the last time I looked (last night), although I did think that 47 was pretty warm for before 6 AM. It all worked out fine as I was dressed just perfectly.

The plan for today was supposed to be 3 miles / 2 x [2:00, 3:00, 4:00] AI, 2 miles, which I have to say worked out about perfectly to what I actually ended up doing. A lot of my teammates and almost all the coaches are down in Florida right now for the Spring Training Camp, so when I got there this morning we had no coach. Luckily some people had looked at the website and knew the workout, so we got started on our normal strides. We did 6 strides, 2 high knee, 2 butt kick and 2 crossover drills (0.40 miles).

While we were doing our strides, a guy that I had never seen before showed up and was standing there watching us. After we were done, he said that he was there to give us our workout and we should run over to the "S" (start) and then he'd give us the rest of the instructions. Turns out that this guy's name is Gerard and when we all arrived over at the S, he told us that we were supposed to be doing sets of 200s and 400s. The Sprint/Olympic group should do 5 of each and the Half-Ironman group should do 8. We were supposed to run hard there and then do a recovery jog back to the start.

I debated about whether or not to do 5 or 8 of each. I decided on 5. That might have been the wimpy way out, but my legs were still pretty tired from this past weekend and I reasoned that I'm not officially training for my half-Ironman yet, so doing the shorter workout should be okay. The workout itself was fine and really tied into my actual workout pretty well of doing intervals, since essentially that's what I was doing. I don't really have anything exciting to report other than I ran back and forth 10 times!

All the mileage ended up being 7.20 miles with the strides (which I didn't time), so I think in all, it was a good idea to do the shorter workout. Even without the strides, it was still 6.80 miles, which would have still been okay according to the plan, I think. I'm currently trying to figure out what to do about the rest of this week. I'm thinking that I'll stick to the plan on Thursday, but maybe cut the long run a bit shorter this weekend. 9-10 miles the week before the race sounds like an awful lot, so maybe 7-8 is more realistic. It's also supposed to be raining this weekend, so if I'm going to have to run indoors, I'm not sure if I can take anything too long after having been outside so much recently!

Run To Meeting Point
Time: 12:59
Distance: 1.30 miles
Pace: 9:59/mile
Calories: 151
Maximum HR: 180
Average HR: 168

Run To S
Time: 10:45
Distance: 1.25 miles
Pace: 8:35/mile
Calories: 146
Maximum HR: 189
Average HR: 181

5 x 220
Time: 12:54
Distance: 1.25 miles
Pace: 10:19/mile
Calories: 171
Maximum HR: 187
Average HR: 178

5 x 440
Time: 24:57
Distance: 2.50 miles
Pace: 9:58/mile
Calories: 328
Maximum HR: 186
Average HR: 178

Run Home
Time: 5:30
Distance: 0.50 miles
Pace: 11:00/mile
Calories: 60
Maximum HR: 173
Average HR: 165

Turns Out That 28 Is Still Cold

Last night Drew asked me if I was planning on going to the gym today. I answered "no." Then, when my alarm went off around 5:00 this morning, he was really confused about what was going on because he thought I wasn't going to the gym. Which was true. I was planning on running with Terrier today instead of the gym. So, I got up out of bed at 5:23, ate and got dressed. The weather on my phone said it was 28. The very first time I went running with Terrier last year, it was 28 as well and I couldn't help but think back to how nervous I was and how worried I was about what to wear.

Today I wore running tights, shorts, tank top, long-sleeved shirt and my windbreaker along with gloves and a hat. This turned out to be not quite enough. I never ever really warmed up, even though I was sweating, which in turn was just making me colder. I think if I had worn a warmer long-sleeved top or a short sleeved shirt instead of a tank, I would have been better. My knees were also really, really cold.

I ran to the regular meeting spot and instead of doing our normal stride drills, we did a whole lot of other drills instead. The very first one we did was to squat down and then walk like that while still squatting. Which did not go over very well with my right knee. The first step I took didn't feel good and it never really felt better. I didn't time the drills today since it wasn't really like running. It was just more like moving your knee around into funny positions while walking funny.

After the drills were over, we all ran over to the Start (the "S") in order to do some speed work in our workout for the day. The main workout was a 3-2-1 workout where we would run hard for 300 yards, run easy for 100, run hard for 200 yards, run easy for 100 and then run hard for the remaining 100 yards (total 0.50 miles). Then we would do a recovery jog back to the S. So one mile in total for each one. And we were supposed to do six of these. Which, I'm going to be honest, sounded like a lot to me.

It also didn't really sound that different than the plan that I was actually supposed to be doing today, which was: 3 miles / 3 x [2:00, 2:30] AI / 2 miles. I ended up doing only three miles of the main set instead of six because Nature called and I don't trust the park bathrooms enough to make it worth it, so instead I just headed home. I also didn't think that my knee was really hurting, but I also knew that it was really cold and I could barely feel my knees, so I knew that if it was hurt, I probably couldn't tell either way and I'd much rather play it safe than sorry.

These are my mile times:
Mile 1: 9:34
Mile 2: 10:11
Mile 3: 10:23

Obviously, I was getting slower as time went on. Mainly because I was really jogging slowly on the recovery jog back to the S. In total today, I ended up running total of 6.30 miles, so it's probably pretty equivalent to the actual workout I was supposed to do, so I'm going to call it a day and be fine with this.

I know that I should have gone home and maybe iced my knee, but that seemed really silly as it already felt frozen, so instead I chose to do nothing. And it took me a couple of hours for me to feel like a normal temperature again. Next time I'll definitely wear more clothes. I'm going to keep an eye on my knee and see how it feels. Tomorrow I'm taking the day off since I have an early eye doctor appointment and I won't have time to do anything before work. And just because I think I should rest up my knee, I won't do anything after work either.

Run to Park
Time: 13:00
Distance: 1.30 miles
Pace: 10:00/mile
Calories: 162
Maximum HR: 183
Average HR: 172

Run to Start ("S")
Time: 10:58
Distance: 1.20 miles
Pace: 9:08/mile
Calories: 151
Maximum HR: 191
Average HR: 182

Main Running
Time: 30:08
Distance: 3.00 miles
Pace: 10:02/mile
Calories: 420
Maximum HR: 189
Average HR: 183

Run Home
Time: 9:06
Distance: 0.80 miles
Pace: 11:22/mile
Calories: 107
Maximum HR: 179
Average HR: 169

Better, But Colder

This morning I had thought about getting up, braving the cold and running with Terrier. I woke up at 5:10 when my alarm went off, looked at the temperature of 29 and thought that it didn't sound too bad, but decided that it was too early, so I rolled over and snoozed for a while longer. I ended up getting out of bed around 6:00 right after Drew had left for the gym. He'd asked me if I'd see him there and I said yes.

When I woke up, I decided that I really would brave the cold and get outside for a run. I felt bad that I hadn't told him that I might run outside, but I figured he'd just think I was being lazy and sleeping and he wouldn't worry about me. I ended up wearing a tank top, long sleeved shirt, 2nd (warmer) long sleeved shirt, running tights, yoga pants, socks, gloves and running hat. Whew. That's a lot of stuff.

I decided to just start jogging from the corner of our block instead of walking to the park. I knew I'd warm up faster that way and it'd be a lot more enjoyable if I was warmer than if I was shivering and cold. My plan for today was supposed to be running 2 miles, intervals and then running 2 more miles. While I didn't do exactly that, I did come pretty close, so I'm really happy overall with the run.

I ran to the park and then ran once around the Lower Loop. I realized once I got to the 72nd Street Transverse that I could probably still have just met up with Terriers if I had run straight there, but by then it was just a little bit too late. Once I was finished with my lap of the Lower Loop, I did my intervals. I was certain that I was supposed to do 4 of them, so that's what I did. I guess that next time I should look at the training plan before I leave since I seem to have not remembered quite as well as I thought I had. I think I got today and Thursday mixed up. Oh well, at least I did some. Granted, I was supposed to do 5-7, but I think that doing 4 was close enough!

After I had done my 4 intervals, I took off for a second lap around the Lower Loop. When I first started, I was trying to tell myself that it would be okay to cut it short, but instead I managed to stick with it without stopping or even hating it at all. All in all, a pretty good success for a cold run. I think I was dressed just about perfectly for me. I never got hot but I wasn't cold either. Only certain parts (bottoms of my ears where my hat didn't cover and my rear end) really ever felt cold. I actually wore my cycling gloves instead of my running gloves and they were really nice and warm. I might have to do that again.

The intervals are SO much better outside than they are inside on a treadmill. I didn't love doing them, but I did really like to see if I could go the same distance faster than the one before outside. I'm really thinking that I'll have to remember this next time I'm supposed to be doing intervals (even if it is cold outside)!

In total I ended up running 4.51 miles today, which seems like progress from last Tuesday when I only did 3.50. I'm planning on mixing up this week's plan a little bit because Drew and I leave tomorrow night for Barcelona! We'll arrive there early on Thursday, the 14th and we return on the 19th. I know I won't feel like running on Thursday after flying through the night, so I'm planning on doing Thursday's run tomorrow. As for the weekend, I'm thinking that I'll most likely get runs in, but I'm not going to worry if I don't hit my mileage for this week. I know I'll be doing lots of other walking around during the day, so it should all even out in the end.

Run #1
Time: 24:11
Distance: 2.28 miles
Pace: 10:36/mile
Calories: 303
Maximum HR: 182
Average HR: 173

Intervals
Time: 3:44
Distance: 0.50 miles
Pace: 7:28/mile
Calories: 43
Maximum HR: 185
Average HR: 166

Run #2
Time: 17:43
Distance: 1.73 miles
Pace: 10:14/mile
Calories: 246
Maximum HR: 189
Average HR: 182

Thanks, Operation Beautiful!

This morning was the Terrier run and I actually managed to get up and out of bed on time in order to get to the meeting point by 6:00. I did snooze for as long as possible before committing to getting out of bed, however. I also tried the new Iced Gingerbread Clif bar for the first time. Yum! It definitely tastes like the real deal, except that it's got lots of protein included.

My telephone's weather said that it was 47 degrees, which didn't sound too cold. As a result, I wore shorts, a short-sleeved shirt and a long-sleeved shirt. I looked for my gloves, but couldn't find them and figured I could just tough it out. When I went outside, I was definitely chilly. I actually started running after two blocks (I normally walk all the way to the park and then start running) in order to warm up a little bit. Once I started running, I didn't really notice the cold. I did notice the wind gusts, though!

I got to the meeting point with a minute to spare, so I guess it's good that I started running sooner rather than later. Shortly after I got there, we started our normal stride drills. I finally remembered to time these today. Of course, I forgot to count exactly how many we did, but I think it was in the neighborhood of 0.85 miles worth, if I'm remembering all the drills we did correctly. Also, I'm a little surprised by that number as I thought it was more in the 0.50 mile range, but I have just been going off an old posting that I did and since then Gmap Pedometer seems to have updated their maps, so that is most likely why. The one thing about the timing that I did today is that I just let it run for the entire time. I didn't stop and start for each stride, so I think it's throwing my pacing off for the rest of the day, but only slightly and I'm not too concerned.

Our main workout today was a Fartlek run. We would run for 10 minutes as a warm-up and then do a 1-2-3-2-1 pattern Fartlek for a total of 44 minutes, including the warm-up. Even now at my desk with my super fancy adding machine (see below) I can't get that to add up quite right, so I guess that explains why I couldn't get it to add up while I was running either.

The first ten minutes I just let everyone run ahead of me. I was really trying to keep that portion as a warm-up and save myself for the pick-ups during the Fartlek. The pattern was supposed to be one minute on, one minute off, two minutes on, two minutes off, three minutes on, etc. After running for the first minute on, I realized that it was too hard to have my watch on my wrist and I took it off and held it in my hand so that I could make sure to keep going for each of the "on segments" and also to make sure that I didn't stay too long on an "off segment."

We were supposed to run around the Lower Loop of the Park. I noticed that someone had written the following in sidewalk chalk along the running path. It was actually really cool because each phrase was separated by 100 yards or so, so you had to keep looking for the next one. It said, "Wow! You're Hot! No, Really! Keep it up!". On my second loop around, I noticed that it was an OperationBeautiful.com note! I'd just like to say that it was really inspiring and definitely made me push a little bit harder on my "on segments" thinking about the fact that someone out there wrote that special little note. I wish I'd had my camera (or phone) with me to take a photo, but I try to go with the bare minimum when running, so I didn't have any way to take a photo.

After completing my second loop, I still had some time to kill, so I went and ran around the Cherry Hill Fountain and then also up Dead Road (a.k.a. Central Park Driveway, according to Gmaps). Most people were already done and waiting back at the starting point, but I wanted to get the most out of my run and it hadn't been 44 minutes yet. I actually finished in 42:26, which was as close as I could get to 44 and I was also the last person to finish. But, obviously, we all started our watches at the same time, so those people didn't run for quite as long as I did (although, let's face it, they all ran further!).

Once we all met back up at the starting point, we did some more drills and strength exercises. We would do one strength exercise and then run a stride drill. We did 2 sets of 15 squats, 15 lunges on each leg, 15 step ups (onto a park bench) on each leg, 3 sets of 15 push-ups (I managed to do 10, 5 & 5), and 2 sets of holding plank position (on our forearms) for 1:00. Seriously? Can I not get away from the ab workouts? I would really like just one day of rest! I think that I might have to declare one day soon a completely off day and do nothing with my stomach other than eat!

I didn't time the last set of strides, so the stats below are from the run to the park, the warm-up strides, the main set Fartlek and the run out of the park (but not all the way home). Not a bad day, especially in the calorie burning department. I also feel a lot more confident about this 10K that I have coming up. I now think that I can easily finish, especially since I'm sure that my total mileage for the day was over 7 considering the fact that I didn't add in the last set of strides. I'm sure I'll be a little tired at the end, but it's a race, right? Aren't you supposed to get tired?

Time: 1:11:10
Distance: 6.92 miles
Pace: 10:17/mile
Calories: 950
Maximum HR: 187
Average HR: 172

Ouch! My Arches?

Monday I decided to try out my heart rate monitor during the day. I wore it for 11 hours total. I walked to work, spent 8 hours at work, walked home and then spent some time lounging around and watching TV. Here are the stats:

Time: 11:00:00
Calories: 1410
Average Calories: 128.2/hour
Maximum HR: 142
Average HR: 85

So, obviously, not a huge amount. Especially when compared to Sunday's count. I know that on Sunday I was walking around a lot more, but it is a really big difference. I am glad to know what the total for a regular day was.

On Tuesday, I set my alarm in order to get up and go running in the morning. I had even laid out my clothes the night before, but Drew and I both had a serious alarm clock problem. We both just kept pressing snooze for quite a while. He finally did get up, but I couldn't do it. Today was more of the same. Except that I must have turned off my alarm without realizing it today because Drew got up and left for the gym and I said that I'd meet him there and I was still sleeping when he got home from the gym. Oops.

I really felt like I couldn't go two days in a row without working out. I had been thinking that I would have to go to the gymnasium today in order to get in my last weight lifting for the week, but I realized that I could do that tomorrow instead, which meant that I was then free to go running outside tonight!

I was really looking forward to the run. I have some new cooler weather running gear that I wanted to try out. Plus, I don't have any experience running in cooler weather, so I figured that I need to start keeping track of what I wear under certain weather conditions. Tonight it was 48 degrees and at times it was a little windy. I wore running tights, a tank top, a long sleeved shirt, my new running gloves and I also had my Westchester Triathlon running hat.

Walking to the Park, I was definitely a little cool, which I took as a good sign. Everything I've read said that you want to be a little bit cool when you first get outside and you'll quickly warm up while running. When I got to the Park, I started running right away. I was just really in a running mood today. I was so happy to realize that I didn't have to go to the gym today in order to keep up with the weight lifting routine.

Almost right away, I noticed that my feet weren't really that happy to be running. I was hoping that it would go away if I kept going, but that really wasn't the case. I also wasn't sure what exactly was going on. The pain was in the arches of my feet, both feet, but the right was a little bit more pronounced than the left. I really tried to concentrate on my running form and thought that if I did a better job with that hopefully it would help. Nope.

My plan for running today was to do two loops of the lower loop of Central Park. My thoughts behind that was that it is really well lit and it has the most pedestrian/bike traffic. With the days so short now, I'm going to have to get used to being out in the dark. The good news is that I just got a Road ID, so if anything bad should happen, at least I'll be identifiable.

Of course, my feet were not really wanting to go ahead with this plan. The pain wasn't exactly constant. I guess I would say that I always noticed it, but it definitely came and went in intensity. Once I was more than half-way around, I decided that I would keep running for the entire loop, but that would be it. I'd listen to my body and only have a short run. I was really disappointed in myself. The worst part was that I was really feeling good and I thought I was running at a good pace. But my feet didn't really seem to want to carry me any further.

The only thing I can think of is that I've been wearing high heels a lot more recently than I have in a really long time. In the summer, I'll generally wear flats on my walk to and from the office and switch shoes once I get to work. However, recently, I've been wearing them at work and walking to and from work as well. I'm going to hope that if I go back to wearing flats for the rest of the week that my feet will be happier with me next time I go running.

As far as the clothes for the weather, I felt really good. I did end up taking my hat off, but my ears were still cold even though I was overall more comfortable. I doubt that it's worth it to buy some sort of ear muffs because I imagine that it's not going to stay this temperature or warmer for very much longer. I also have to keep practicing running outside in the cool weather because I have a 10K in December in the Park that I have to be ready for.

Running
Time: 18:31
Distance: 1.9 miles
Pace: 9:44/mile
Calories: 229
Maximum HR: 179
Average HR: 169