The Almost 23 Mile Weekend Recap

Saturday I knew I had to get a long run.  A really good long run.  And my longest long run yet.  I had mapped out what I thought would be the perfect 19 mile run.  It would take me across the George Washington Bridge, just into New Jersey, and then back home.  I've been biking across the bridge several times, but never running and I figured that it couldn't be that hard to figure out how to get there.

So, I did my usual run up the Westside Path and when I got to the base of the bridge, instead of turning around and heading home, I kept going up the hills to the pedestrian bridge at 181st Street.  The first hill wasn't so bad.  The second hill, I made it up and practically doubled over trying to catch my breath.  Holy cow.  That's a steep climb.  The only thing that made me feel good about this is the biker I was chasing up the hill, I caught on the second hill and the second hill the biker walked and I ran up!  So, at least I've got that going for me. 

After I got across the pedestrian bridge and was at the corner of 181st Street and Riverside Drive and I made a fatal error.  I headed south right away towards the bridge, which was a really big mistake.  I basically ended up getting lost and running along the side of the entrance to the freeway not on any sort of sidewalk, but under the bridge and under the road (sort-of) and all I can say is that I was scared. 

I eventually saw a staircase that should have taken me where I wanted to go, so I started up the stairs and took a spill up the stairs.  I wasn't too worried about this until I realized that I fell into a bunch of drug paraphernalia, which wasn't ideal.  I made my way up the rest of the stairs only to discover that there was a wall at the top, which I couldn't get over.  So, I made my way back down the stairs.  I decided to turn off my watch because obviously I wasn't going anywhere and I wasn't running and in fact I was blinking back tears.

Finally, I made my way back to the sidewalks and regular roads, started my watch and started running again, and couldn't decide if I should just go home and be okay with a shorter run or if I should make my way back to the bridge and do the original run plus a little extra.  I was bound and determined to figure out this whole bridge thing, so I made my way across the bridge and back.

Holy cow, it's windy on the bridge.  But the views are pretty awesome.  It was almost worth getting lost to see it.  It reminded me of the first time I rode my bike up the bridge and got lost getting there.  I would have thought that on foot (since I theoretically knew where I was going) it would have been a lot harder to get lost.  Not so much.  So, here's a word to the wise:  if you're running on the Westside Path and get to the 181st Street pedestrian bridge, head East for a couple blocks before you head South.  Your run will be much more enjoyable! 

After getting back to New York from my very brief visit to New Jersey, I made my way back to the Westside Path, now that I had a much better idea of where I was going.  And then I ran home.  I had a pretty good nutrition plan for this run and it worked really well up to a point.  Starting at around 35 minutes, I had a sip of Gatorade every 10 minutes.  At one hour and two hours I ate 4 jelly beans each time followed by some water.  I had my third set of jelly beans at 2:45:00 because it just seemed like a good time. 

After that, I was pretty much parched.  So, I'm still not doing something quite right because at some point on all these long runs, I basically feel like I cannot drink enough.  The only problem?  I have no idea what to do about it. 

After about 3:15:00, I had pretty much had it.  I was tired of running and tired of having my Fuel Belt around my hips and just wanted to be done.  It was at this point where I think I hit my mental wall and I'm not really convinced that I came out ahead on this one.  I just kept thinking that if I was tired now, how would I ever finish a marathon?  I would still have so many miles left to go.  So, I just did the best I could getting home.  I definitely took several (quick) walking breaks.  I would mostly count to 5 or 10 in my head while walking and then start running again.  I also took my Fuel Belt off and wore it around my neck/shoulder.  I got a lot of funny looks, but I didn't care.

When I got home, I just laid down on the ground for a while, before figuring out that my 19 mile run was a 19.75 mile run (plus a little extra not counted for getting lost).  I've never felt so discouraged after a long run.  The funny thing is that I actually did pretty well on the pacing.  I think the problem really was getting lost.  If I had just made it to the bridge and done the run as planned, I think (I hope) I would have felt a lot better in the end.  The good news is that I've still got a couple more long runs to go before the race!

Today I needed to put that discouragement behind me.  I was on-call at work from 12 to 4, but ended up not having to go in, so at 4:00 I changed into running clothes and headed out for a really short 3-mile run.  I went to the Park, where I knew I couldn't get lost and where I've done this 3 mile run on several occasions.  It seemed almost fool-proof.  Plus, there were so many people to look at, it couldn't be boring!  On my walk to the Park, one of the bike rental guys looked at me and said, "Running is overrated, you know."  On some days, I couldn't agree more!

I also decided not to wear my watch or any other gadget.  Of course, I had to look at the big CNN clock at Columbus Circle on the way into the Park and the way out of the Park and it turns out that I ran the 3 miles in 31 minutes.  I'll take it.  The most important thing was that I enjoyed the run and my legs felt good, so I must have still had something in them yesterday, too.  Makes me feel a lot better overall. 

Saturday Running
Time: 3:34:20
Distance: 19.75 miles
Pace: 10:51/mile

Sunday Running

Time: 31:00
Distance: 3.00 miles
Pace: 10:20/mile

Wardrobe Challenge is still ongoing! 

Friday, Day 19: Black pants and black short-sleeved sweater with glasses and a necklace from a sidewalk guy in Barcelona.  Oh, and Drew says hello!

Saturday, Day 20: Jeans, gray short-sleeved t-shirt paired with silver headband and silver bangles.  Wore gray Converse with this outfit.

Sunday, Day 21: I have to confess, I've been cheating a little bit.  Drew is a huge San Francisco Giants fan (as a result of being a huge Will Clark fan as a kid) and the Giants are currently in the playoffs.  I've been wearing various Giants gear, but up until today, it was all pretty much in the "pajama" category since until now, the games pretty much started at 10 pm.  But, today's game started at 4:30 and so I'm wearing a Will Clark t-shirt with jeans.  However, I did not wear this out of the house, so it's borderline debatable that it's a real outfit and if the Giants weren't playing, I probably wouldn't have really gotten dressed at all today, but I felt I needed to come clean on my cheating: 

A Recovery Run

After the big trial run yesterday, Drew and I went home, showered and then headed to New Jersey. My dad got a new job and will be moving from New Jersey to Georgia, so we went out there to hang out with him (probably for the last time in a while) before he moves! After a leisurely lunch out, we all headed back to their house and spent a good part of the afternoon and evening disassembling and packing up Legos.

Now might be a good time to explain that my dad is a Legomaniac. I'm not really sure that does it justice, but the jist of it is that his basement was filled with Lego Land and it all had to be taken down before the movers came. So, we spent our time filling up Ziploc bags with all the Legos! This was test #1 for my legs -- standing on a concrete floor for several hours.

These pictures don't really do it justice as I realized I should take some photos after we had already been working for over an hour and lots of stuff was already bagged up!



Last night Drew as we were about to head off to bed, Drew reminded me that I hadn't yet done the Ab Challenge for the day. Instead of just giving up and ignoring it, I actually did 5 continuous minutes of ab exercises while laying on the bed. Maybe that doesn't count 100%, but it was still hard. I did crunches, crunches on both sides, leg raises and some Pilates 100s. Then it was time for bed!

This morning, Drew and I slept in, which is really rare for us. I'm a really good sleeper, but he normally gets up and going a lot earlier than I'd like to, so it was a nice treat to sleep in until 9:30. We got up and ate a little something and then donned our running gear.

Drew had been wanting me to show him for some time now the strides and drills we do at Terrier on Tuesday mornings. So, today seemed like just as good of a day as any other, so we did all sorts of funny drills back and forth in front of my dad's house. I'm pretty sure that my dad and step-mom got a good chuckle out of watching us doing some of them!

After doing the typical Terrier warm-up, we headed off on a slow recovery run for me (test #2 for my legs). I felt like I was running a bit faster than I would have wanted, but looking at the times, I guess it was about right on. I actually think that part of the issue was the fact that we didn't start running until after 10 AM and that's not always the best idea in the summer around these parts. I was definitely getting a headache at the end and did some walking as well.

My legs actually felt pretty great. I was pleasantly surprised. I did wear my compression sleeves overnight and then while we were running just as a precaution, but I honestly felt great. Which means ... I'm pretty sure I'm solidly a YES for the Philadelphia Marathon! Of course, I still have to sign up. Crazy, I know. Even crazier, I'm getting all nervous about picking the right training plan. I don't want to give up entirely on biking and swimming, but I also want to make sure I am doing enough running miles.

Anyone have any suggestions on what plan to use?

Running
Time: 30:00
Distance: 2.75 miles
Pace: 10:54/mile

Drew's New Shoes

This morning Drew and I got up and putzed around for a little bit this morning and then I pumped up our bike tires so that we could hit the road. This was Drew's first bike ride of the year and I was starting him out with a ride to New Jersey. I should mention that it's less than 9 miles from our apartment over the George Washington Bridge and into New Jersey. I mentioned to Drew's sister that we were going on this bike ride and she said that it sounded really far away. It's not.

We rode up the Westside Bike Path to 95th Street and from there rode up Riverside Drive until the turn off for the bridge. Today was a big day for me because the first time I went to New Jersey, someone had warned me that the hill going up 165th Street might be a little steep for my first time. So, today was the first time that I ever rode up that hill. I know it's not that bad (and I realize it now having done it), but it seemed like a big accomplishment just to know that I can do it.

We got onto the bridge and rode into New Jersey. Our plan was not to go too far, but instead to just go to the Palisades Park. You ride down a hill into the Park and then it's pretty much downhill from there to the Marina. Which was great for me because it meant that we'd have to climb back up if we wanted to get home! When we got to the Marina, Drew made a quick pit stop and had one of his bars that he'd brought along as a snack (I snuck a bite or two). Then we headed back up the hills!

I will admit, I am not fast uphill. But I can make it just fine. And I did it all in my middle gear. I like to think that this gives me some leeway for San Francisco. I still have my granny gear as a back-up and I also can stand up if I need to. Drew thinks I should really practice standing up, and he's probably right, but I really like digging deep and pedaling myself uphill while sitting down. Something about standing up makes me feel all wobbly on my bike, which isn't a great feeling. I will practice this before the race, though.

As we were heading home and making our way off the George Washington Bridge, Drew took a little spill on his bike. For those of you who have never ridden here, the ramp up to the bridge is maybe 4 feet wide - just barely enough clearance for two bikes to pass each other. And half-way up the ramp (or down the ramp, as the case may be here), there is a hairpin turn. I was still coming off the actual bridge, so I looked down and thought, "oh, that's weird, did Drew drop something?" because I saw him leaning down on the ramp and pick something up.

Turns out that at the turn, he wasn't going fast enough and because he was basically stopped, he just pretty much fell over. And he did in fact drop something - his Balance Bar had fallen out of his Bento Box. Luckily, since he wasn't really going fast (or at all) he only came away with some scraped up knees:

Right knee

Left knee

On our way home, we made a stop at Toga. Drew had a big purchase to make and I needed them to check out my front brake. The brakes were working fine on my bike, but the whole mechanism was a little loose so from time to time one of the brake pads would rub on my wheel. Luckily, that was like a 2 minute fix!

Drew's purchase turned out to be a bit lengthier time-wise. He got cycling shoes!


They're pretty much my same shoes, except for boys and his shoes have a lot more red than mine do. Of course, the new shoes meant that he had to get new pedals as well, so it took the bike shop a while to switch out his pedals. While we were waiting for them to switch the pedals on his bike, he used the pedals on my bike to practice clipping in and out. By the time he got on his bike, he was an old pro at the clipping in and out and was ready to head home!

I think we had gone about two blocks before we were stopped at a stop light and Drew stuck his brand new left shoe into some road tar! Luckily he noticed it right away and it was totally fine, but it was definitely good for a laugh (or maybe two!).

After we got home, he spent the rest of the afternoon saying how much he likes his new shoes, so it seems like it was a good purchase for him! He's got a lofty mileage goal for this year on the bike, so we'll see if these new shoes inspire him to get out and ride a lot. I'm hoping it does. It's really nice to have company!

Biking
Time: 1:52:41
Distance: ~20.0 miles
Pace: 10.65 MPH
Calories: 854
Maximum HR: 169
Average HR: 135

Practice Run

After spending yesterday bulking up again on Vitamin C, Drew and I took the train out to New Jersey to spend the weekend at my dad's house. It was raining yesterday and when we woke up this morning, it looked wet outside, but we thought that it wasn't raining. We quickly had a protein bar, changed into running clothes and went downstairs to see what we thought about running outside. When we got downstairs it was easier to see that the rain was coming down sideways, but it didn't look like it was coming down all that hard - more like a heavy mist - so we decided to chance it.

I had used Gmap Pedometer to find a route the other day that was about 5.5 miles, but today we decided to cut that a little bit short since the weather was iffy. Instead we mapped out a run that was about 4 miles. We started out and the weather really wasn't all that bad once we got going. I figured that this was pretty good practice since it now seems quite likely that it'll be raining in Atlanta next Sunday for the half-marathon.

The thing about our run was that we weren't really 100% sure where we were going. We were supposed to run through a subdivision and it turns out that we ran through the wrong subdivision, so we didn't make it on our planned route exactly right. It didn't really matter since I was having a nice time running with Drew and looking at all the houses.

Except even though I was really glad that Drew was there, I always feel like such a slow-poke compared to him. Even though I know that he doesn't think this about me and I have no reason to think that it's rational, I sometimes think that when we run together he must wonder how I'll ever complete a half-marathon with my slow speed. It was kind-of depressing when I was thinking it while we were running, but it seems even more depressing when I actually write it down. Even if I am slow, I have no doubt that I will finish the half-marathon and Drew will be there cheering for me!

The running today went a bit better than it did on Friday morning. It was definitely still hard to breathe at times, but I ran through it. Because we realized that we ended up running through the wrong subdivision, we didn't do the route we had planned. I tried to figure out the route we did take, but I think it ended up being just about 4 miles even though we didn't do the planned route.

I think that we got our run in at just about the perfect time. On our way back to my dad's, it definitely started raining harder and the wind picked up (which made me feel like I was running in place, even though I kept moving my legs). On our way back to his house, Drew wanted to do some speed work, so I'd tell him when to go and when to stop (mainly from one mailbox or street sign to another). I decided to forgo the speed work and it ended up that we finished at just about the same time even though he did his sprints and I kept a steady pace.

I'm really glad that we got in this little practice run. I'm thinking that I'll try to do one more longer run before the half-marathon and then take it easy on the running for the rest of next week. Hopefully that'll be enough rest before the big day and my legs will be nice and happy! I'm currently trying to figure out what to wear. It's hard to remember what 60 degrees feels like!

Running
Time: 39:24
Distance: ~ 4.00 miles
Pace: 9:54
Calories: 504
Maximum HR: 189
Average HR: 175