Sunday morning I defied all the odds and woke up really early and set out for my long run for the week. I had mapped out a 15 mile long route to do and then I would do a 5 mile race in Central Park. I figured getting cups of water at the end of the route was probably a good plan. I also knew that it would be best for me to finish the day with the race since I didn't think I'd really want to run too much after that.
The race started at 8:30, which meant that because I'm not the speediest runner, I wanted to get out the door around 5:30 in order to make sure I wouldn't feel too pressured to get to the race on time. I actually ended up starting a bit late, which of course made me nervous, but it worked out perfectly in the end.
The first part of my run was from our apartment to the Westside Path and then South to the bottom of the island. It was totally dark and pretty lonely out there while I was running. I saw about as many people as you could count on one hand that were exercising. There were some people who hadn't quite made it home from their Halloween celebrations, though! Really, the only company I had were the 4 rats I saw out and about. I learned that if you stomp your feet, they run away. That seems like a really important thing to know.
I have to say that normally when I run south I run to Chambers Street and then head back. Today I went further south and ran along the esplanade in Battery Park City. I'm not sure that was the right call since it was dark and I wasn't 100% sure where I was going or where to turn around, but it ended up being okay. I was a little bit nervous there since there were some Parks Department people patrolling the area, which made me wonder if it's a high crime area? I wouldn't have thought so, but the patrolling didn't do anything to make me feel more confident.
I knew that this run was pretty much the make it or break it day when it came down to nutrition for the marathon. I decided that I would do what I'm planning on doing for the marathon, which is to have water only and then take a Gu a miles 5, 10, 15 and 20. I skipped the last one, but had the 5, 10 and 15 mile Gus and I have to say that it worked perfectly. I pretty much stopped at every drinking fountain I saw and it worked out great.
The truth is that the whole run was great. The first 15 miles were awesome. I was sort-of wondering if part of that was due to the fact that it was dark and a little bit chilly and I knew I had to be done by a certain time for the race? Whatever it was, it was great. I ended up timing it almost perfectly because I snuck into my corral for the race at 8:28, for a race that was supposed to start at 8:30. I will say that NYRR is pretty darn good about starting on time, but they were running just a couple minutes late on Sunday. Which meant that I didn't cross the start line until 8:40. When I started running again, I wasn't overly enthused, but I pretty much just told myself to run to the next cup of water.
I got water at all the aid stations and walked for a few steps to drink my water instead of have it splash down the front of my shirt. That's pretty much my marathon plan as well. I knew that I was doing a pretty good job pacing myself in the race. I started out a bit slow and really, really picked it up towards the end. It was great to know that I could still have a tiny bit of a kick left after 20 miles!
All in all, I just kept thinking that I was wishing the marathon had been on Sunday instead of in three weeks. Although I think I'm ready to scale back on the running, I'm also now paranoid that maybe I peaked too early and wasted all my efforts in getting ready for the marathon.
Running #1
Time: 2:38:39
Distance: 15.00 miles
Pace: 10:34/mile
Running #2 (Poland Spring Marathon Kick-Off Race)
Time: 52:22
Distance: 5.00 miles
Pace: 10:28/mile
Showing posts with label NYRR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NYRR. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Friday, October 29, 2010
Two Out Of Three
This week has been a bit up and down. I've gotten two of the three 5-mile runs in that I had planned and that's how it's going to stay now, until the big 20 miler on Sunday. I ended up running on Wednesday and Thursday this week. I had planned a longer run for Wednesday, but ended up keeping it shorter and trying to follow the plan.
I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed recently, partly with the marathon, and I think I'm more ready than ever to get out there and do the race. I've already promised myself that once it's over, I'm going to take some time off from all of this endurance sports business. I think I just need to re-group and figure out what's next. I actually decided not to sign up for the NYC Triathlon for 2011. I figure there are a lot of other races out there that I'd like to do and I'll give those a shot first.
Wednesday my run was pretty simple. Run north in Central Park to the Harlem Hill and then run home. I was thinking originally that I'd do some hill repeats, but then I realized that the plan only had me running 5 miles instead of 8 for a reason and I should stick with that. Of course, now that it's Friday and I didn't run today, I'm a little upset I didn't just do the 8, but I'll take it and be happy with it.
Both Wednesday and Thursday were nice and warm here in New York (in the 70s). And it's really weird to be wearing shorts and a tank top while running at the end of October, but I'm not going to complain. Wednesday was especially humid, which I sort-of forgot how it feels to run in such humidity. I am, however, a bit grateful that the weather will cool off for my long run over the weekend. I'm now terribly nervous that the day of the Philly marathon will be the coldest one we've had yet, but that will probably only help with running!
Thursday I ended up running in the evening because I needed to run to NYRR to pick up my race number and D-Tag for Sunday's 5-mile race in the Park. It's really a marathon kick-off race for the NYC marathon, but I figure I can use it as my marathon kick-off race too! I always thought that it would be a good idea to do one more race before the marathon, so this works out well.
I knew that I didn't have the best run ever on Wednesday, so yesterday I decided not to time myself. All I know is that it took 59 minutes to run from our apartment to NYRR, pick up my race number, and run home. I don't really know how much time was spent at NYRR or at stop lights, so I'm just guessing on the time below. It was actually sort-of nice to not be checking my watch all the time and feel slow!
I'm really nervous about this weekend's last long run. I've got the first 15 miles all mapped out and then I'll do the race as the last 5 miles. Of course, that means I have to get up ridiculously early in order to run 15 miles before the race starts at 8:30, but it also means that I'll be done running 20 miles and home by 10 am! Not too shabby for a morning's work!
Running - Wednesday
Time: 1:03:15
Distance: 5.60 miles
Pace: 11:15/mile
Running - Thursday
Time: ~52:00
Distance: 5.00 miles
Pace: 10:24/mile
I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed recently, partly with the marathon, and I think I'm more ready than ever to get out there and do the race. I've already promised myself that once it's over, I'm going to take some time off from all of this endurance sports business. I think I just need to re-group and figure out what's next. I actually decided not to sign up for the NYC Triathlon for 2011. I figure there are a lot of other races out there that I'd like to do and I'll give those a shot first.
Wednesday my run was pretty simple. Run north in Central Park to the Harlem Hill and then run home. I was thinking originally that I'd do some hill repeats, but then I realized that the plan only had me running 5 miles instead of 8 for a reason and I should stick with that. Of course, now that it's Friday and I didn't run today, I'm a little upset I didn't just do the 8, but I'll take it and be happy with it.
Both Wednesday and Thursday were nice and warm here in New York (in the 70s). And it's really weird to be wearing shorts and a tank top while running at the end of October, but I'm not going to complain. Wednesday was especially humid, which I sort-of forgot how it feels to run in such humidity. I am, however, a bit grateful that the weather will cool off for my long run over the weekend. I'm now terribly nervous that the day of the Philly marathon will be the coldest one we've had yet, but that will probably only help with running!
Thursday I ended up running in the evening because I needed to run to NYRR to pick up my race number and D-Tag for Sunday's 5-mile race in the Park. It's really a marathon kick-off race for the NYC marathon, but I figure I can use it as my marathon kick-off race too! I always thought that it would be a good idea to do one more race before the marathon, so this works out well.
I knew that I didn't have the best run ever on Wednesday, so yesterday I decided not to time myself. All I know is that it took 59 minutes to run from our apartment to NYRR, pick up my race number, and run home. I don't really know how much time was spent at NYRR or at stop lights, so I'm just guessing on the time below. It was actually sort-of nice to not be checking my watch all the time and feel slow!
I'm really nervous about this weekend's last long run. I've got the first 15 miles all mapped out and then I'll do the race as the last 5 miles. Of course, that means I have to get up ridiculously early in order to run 15 miles before the race starts at 8:30, but it also means that I'll be done running 20 miles and home by 10 am! Not too shabby for a morning's work!
Running - Wednesday
Time: 1:03:15
Distance: 5.60 miles
Pace: 11:15/mile
Running - Thursday
Time: ~52:00
Distance: 5.00 miles
Pace: 10:24/mile
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Summer Streets Run
Yesterday, thanks to Lisa's post yesterday, I was able to find out about the Summer Streets "Fun Run" with NYRR. Looking at the website, it was a little unclear as to whether it was a 4.5 or 5.0 mile run (since both distances were listed), but I knew that I wanted to try to get about 9-10 miles today, so I figured I'd run to the Fun Run and then do the Fun Run.
I asked Drew if he'd want to do part of the Fun Run with me and he said that he didn't think his knee would be up to doing the whole thing, he'd meet me for part of it. We agreed to meet at 23rd Street and he'd run with me from there to the finish.
But, first, I should say that I started out really slowly. I was less concerned about time and more concerned about my heart rate staying low. I left the apartment around 5:40 and I pretty much had the Westside Path all to myself. I ran south, from our apartment to Canal Street. The blocks just kept ticking by.
I would sing a little bit to myself to make sure I was keeping everything conversational. Once I got to Canal Street, I could hardly believe I was there already. That was the weirdest part of my run. Normally, Canal Street is jammed with tourists and hordes of people. Not at 6:30 in the morning! Every shop has the metal gate rolled down. The only people out are police officers (which I actually found interesting as I wonder if they're there to deter illegal activities). It was so bizarre that I couldn't really place myself on the street as I used to seeing certain shops when I go down there.
I got to the Starting Line (which should be considered a very loose term) about 15 minutes early. I got my T-Shirt, which I decided to wear over the tri top that I was wearing, and I stretched and sat down for a few minutes. Just a couple of minutes before 7:00, everyone moved to the Starting Line. A woman with a (poorly functioning) megaphone said that we should watch out for cross traffic on major intersections and then blew a whistle and we were off.
I still just kept concentrating on keeping it slow and steady. I knew Drew would wait for me even if I was a minute or two late and finishing this run happy was the most important thing to me. While I was sitting down before the start of the Fun Run, I realized that I was starving. I figured I'd just try to make it with the water they were offering on the course, but I was kicking myself for not bringing any thing to eat with me.
Luckily, this whole Summer Streets thing came and saved me. Well, so did Drew. Right after we met, he noticed that there was a Clif booth giving away Clif bars. He asked if we should go look and I decided that yes, we should! I ate a mini Clif bar right away while we were running and kept the other one in my pocket in case of emergencies. I have to say, that Clif bar tasted amazing. Yum!
Running up Park Avenue and around the Met Life Building was really weird, but also fun. They had Dumpster Pools set-up near Pershing Square that I'd really like to test out next weekend if at all possible! Drew and I ran all the way up to the "Finish Line" (which was really a piece of cardboard propped on an orange cone declaring it as such). I grabbed another cup of water and got really mad at the lady at the beginning of the Fun Run who had promised "bagels and fruit". Much to my disappointment, pretzels and bananas were what was on offer. I can't eat bananas and I didn't feel like pretzels.
Since we were now at 72nd and Park, Drew asked what we should do about getting home. I said that we should walk into Central Park and then we could start running again. I was getting a bit tired by this point, but my legs still felt pretty good. Once we got into the Park, we ran home the shortest way possible and then stopped at Starbucks on the way home for a refreshing coffee treat!
I'm happy to have done 9.95 miles today, pain free, and still happy at the end. I have definitely moved one step closer to being in the "yes" column. I really just want to see how my legs feel in the morning, but I think it's almost a guarantee that I'll be signing up for the Philadelphia Marathon based on today's run!
Run #1 (Home to Fun Run Start)
Time: 50:14
Distance: 4.60 miles
Pace: 10:55/mile
Calories: 456
Maximum HR: 181 (85%)
Average HR: 167 (79%)
Run #2 (Fun Run)
Time: 48:23
Distance: 4.45 miles
Pace: 10:52/mile
Calories: 482
Maximum HR: 189 (89%)
Average HR: 177 (83%)
Run #3 (Run Home)
Time: 9:39
Distance: 0.90 miles
Pace: 10:42/mile
Calories: 93
Maximum HR: 186 (88%)
Average HR: 176 (83%)
Monday, July 12, 2010
Volunteering, Biking and Swimming
Saturday morning found me up early to complete my final task in order to qualify for entrance into the New York 2011 Marathon (gulp!). I've already run the 9 NYRR races, but I needed to do my part and volunteer for a race. My friend, Lisa, suggested that being a bike marshal was the best way to go. I signed up for Saturday's Dash & Splash 10K race (with the splash being in Lasker Pool after the race was over).
Of course, in typical fashion, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to bike quickly enough and the lead runner would pass me by, so I did some research on the fastest 10K times and quickly realized that I should have no trouble at all finishing ahead of the runners. Which is good, because I know that some people are really fast runners, but I'd be a little embarrassed if they could run faster than I could bike.
It ended up that there were 5 of us bike riders on Saturday morning. We went out in teams of two ahead of the lead truck (which stayed in front of the lead male runner). I was in the second wave of bikers. We were given whistles and told to clear all runners/walkers/etc. from the course in advance of the race. I have to tell you, it's not that easy to whistle and yell at people while riding your bike and trying to pay attention to everything else.
However, I had a ton of fun! Something about blowing a whistle and waving frantically at someone and telling (okay, I was yelling!) them to move out of the way was really fun. It was crazy to me how oblivious people are while wearing their headphones. Of course, some people were a little bit nasty when I was asking them to move out of the way, but I guess that's to be expected.
After finishing up with the volunteering, I did some more biking in the Park. I hadn't started my watch for the race and since I had such a nice time, I decided to just do the same thing for the rest of my ride and not be worried about anything other than spending some time on the bike. I ended up doing about 20 miles total, which I think seems like an okay number for the day.
Sunday I finally made it to the Terrier swim practice. I haven't been "real" swimming in a really long time. I figured maybe I should get one good swim in before the triathlon this coming weekend. I actually dropped my bike off at Toga to have them give it a tune up and also put a second bottle cage on (since mine fell off in San Francisco) and picked it up after practice, so it was really a two-for one kind of afternoon.
I got to practice a little bit early and was worried that I was going to end up with no coach. I knew that I'd get in and swim either way, but I was glad when Julia showed up a couple of minutes late and gave us a pretty good workout! Here's what we did:
300 Swim Warm-Up
2 x 150 Kick / Drill / Swim (50 of each)
2 x 50 Build
450 (Done as 9 x 50 with bilateral breathing on the 3-5-7, no rest in between 50s)
8 x 25 Breath control 2 x 4-3-2-1
4 x 200 race pace (:20 rest)
100 Swim Cool-Down
The 450 set wasn't easy. I sort-of hate bilateral breathing as a general rule, so I wasn't overly excited to do it today. I know that it's good race practice, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. On the last 50 where were were supposed to be breathing every 7 strokes, I definitely had to cut it short twice and only go 5 strokes. Oh well. Not the end of the world. I still took my breath on the left!
On the last 25, Julia told us that if someone could make it with taking no breaths, we could skip the 4 x 50s fast that she had written into the workout. I have to tell you that I was fine with sacrificing that 200 yards for the one 25. There actually only ended up being 4 of us at practice (it was during the World Cup game) and three of the four of us made it without taking a breath. Thank goodness!
I actually did the same thing that I did yesterday at the bike ride and didn't turn on my watch. Since we started a little late and ended about 2 minutes early, I'd guess that we were probably only swimming about 50 minutes today. Still, it felt great to get back into the pool and I'm glad that I got one good swim workout in before the race.
Biking
Distance: ~ 20.00 miles
Swimming
Time: 50:00
Distance: 2350 yards = 1.33 miles
Pace: 37:35/mile
Of course, in typical fashion, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to bike quickly enough and the lead runner would pass me by, so I did some research on the fastest 10K times and quickly realized that I should have no trouble at all finishing ahead of the runners. Which is good, because I know that some people are really fast runners, but I'd be a little embarrassed if they could run faster than I could bike.
It ended up that there were 5 of us bike riders on Saturday morning. We went out in teams of two ahead of the lead truck (which stayed in front of the lead male runner). I was in the second wave of bikers. We were given whistles and told to clear all runners/walkers/etc. from the course in advance of the race. I have to tell you, it's not that easy to whistle and yell at people while riding your bike and trying to pay attention to everything else.
However, I had a ton of fun! Something about blowing a whistle and waving frantically at someone and telling (okay, I was yelling!) them to move out of the way was really fun. It was crazy to me how oblivious people are while wearing their headphones. Of course, some people were a little bit nasty when I was asking them to move out of the way, but I guess that's to be expected.
After finishing up with the volunteering, I did some more biking in the Park. I hadn't started my watch for the race and since I had such a nice time, I decided to just do the same thing for the rest of my ride and not be worried about anything other than spending some time on the bike. I ended up doing about 20 miles total, which I think seems like an okay number for the day.
Sunday I finally made it to the Terrier swim practice. I haven't been "real" swimming in a really long time. I figured maybe I should get one good swim in before the triathlon this coming weekend. I actually dropped my bike off at Toga to have them give it a tune up and also put a second bottle cage on (since mine fell off in San Francisco) and picked it up after practice, so it was really a two-for one kind of afternoon.
I got to practice a little bit early and was worried that I was going to end up with no coach. I knew that I'd get in and swim either way, but I was glad when Julia showed up a couple of minutes late and gave us a pretty good workout! Here's what we did:
300 Swim Warm-Up
2 x 150 Kick / Drill / Swim (50 of each)
2 x 50 Build
450 (Done as 9 x 50 with bilateral breathing on the 3-5-7, no rest in between 50s)
8 x 25 Breath control 2 x 4-3-2-1
4 x 200 race pace (:20 rest)
100 Swim Cool-Down
The 450 set wasn't easy. I sort-of hate bilateral breathing as a general rule, so I wasn't overly excited to do it today. I know that it's good race practice, but it doesn't mean I have to like it. On the last 50 where were were supposed to be breathing every 7 strokes, I definitely had to cut it short twice and only go 5 strokes. Oh well. Not the end of the world. I still took my breath on the left!
On the last 25, Julia told us that if someone could make it with taking no breaths, we could skip the 4 x 50s fast that she had written into the workout. I have to tell you that I was fine with sacrificing that 200 yards for the one 25. There actually only ended up being 4 of us at practice (it was during the World Cup game) and three of the four of us made it without taking a breath. Thank goodness!
I actually did the same thing that I did yesterday at the bike ride and didn't turn on my watch. Since we started a little late and ended about 2 minutes early, I'd guess that we were probably only swimming about 50 minutes today. Still, it felt great to get back into the pool and I'm glad that I got one good swim workout in before the race.
Biking
Distance: ~ 20.00 miles
Swimming
Time: 50:00
Distance: 2350 yards = 1.33 miles
Pace: 37:35/mile
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Front Runners Pride Run
This morning was a big morning in our house (or apartment, if you want to be all technical). It was Drew's first NYRR race and my last NYRR race in order to qualify for the NYC Marathon in 2011! Again, to be technical, I still need to volunteer for a race, but I'm all signed up to volunteer and I'll be ready to qualify for the marathon by the middle of next month!
Drew and I woke up around 7, ate something and then walked to the Park to get ready for the race. It was definitely nice and warm by the time the race started at 9. The NYRR website says that it was 73 degrees, but with 71% humidity, it felt warmer than that. Drew and I both wore our really awesome new technical t-shirts that we got from doing the race. I was a little bit bummed when I got to the race and realized that even though I really liked my new shirt, they must have run out of women's shirts because I was definitely wearing a men's and it was a little wider than I would have liked.
After waiting for a bit through some talking and National Anthem singing, we were on our way on our 5 mile run around the Park. Because of the heat, it seemed like there were more water stations than usual and Drew and I stopped at the first two water stations and had a couple of sips of water. I'm not sure whether or not that helped or hurt me, because after that second cup of water, I felt really sick.
My stomach just started churning and it was not good. Shortly after that I just looked at Drew and said, "I feel like I need to throw up." Mainly, that meant that I had already been swallowing some back (sorry, gross, I know, but this is a workout blog and gross stuff happens). He kept telling me I should just throw up, but I couldn't make myself do it.
After my stomach started revolting, I decided not to drink any more water (although who knows if that made it better or worse?). I was so perplexed by what was going on since I didn't do anything differently this morning than I had any other morning before a race. Also, with my stomach in knots, I knew that I couldn't make it the whole way running. I ended up having to do a run/walk mixture instead.
I was really bummed out by that because I wanted to finish up these NYRR races on a good note and not with a bad taste in my mouth (literally!). Even though we ended up walking a fair amount, we still finished with a decent time, I think. I felt bad for Drew because he now has a slow pace for NYRR races, but I know if he does some more, he'll go back to something speedy!
My favorite part of the race was that despite me feeling sick and having to walk and telling Drew to go ahead and run his own race, he stuck with me the whole time, which was really nice. I was so glad to have such a strong support system with me, especially while feeling under the weather!
After the race, we grabbed some Gatorade and popsicles from the volunteers and headed to Whole Foods to get some breakfast supplies. Once I stopped running, I felt a whole lot better and was back to normal by the time we left the store. I'm guessing that it was just a fluke, as I haven't felt like that the other times I've been out in the heat and humidity recently.
Here are the official results. As we were reaching the finish line, we ended up sprinting to the finish. I'm hoping that there are some good pictures of us reaching the finish line! (Poor Drew, he ended up finishing a second after me!).
Running
Time: 52:30
Distance: 5.00 miles
Pace: 10:30/mile
Calories: 547
Maximum HR: 198 (93%)
Average HR: 179 (84%)
Drew and I woke up around 7, ate something and then walked to the Park to get ready for the race. It was definitely nice and warm by the time the race started at 9. The NYRR website says that it was 73 degrees, but with 71% humidity, it felt warmer than that. Drew and I both wore our really awesome new technical t-shirts that we got from doing the race. I was a little bit bummed when I got to the race and realized that even though I really liked my new shirt, they must have run out of women's shirts because I was definitely wearing a men's and it was a little wider than I would have liked.
After waiting for a bit through some talking and National Anthem singing, we were on our way on our 5 mile run around the Park. Because of the heat, it seemed like there were more water stations than usual and Drew and I stopped at the first two water stations and had a couple of sips of water. I'm not sure whether or not that helped or hurt me, because after that second cup of water, I felt really sick.
My stomach just started churning and it was not good. Shortly after that I just looked at Drew and said, "I feel like I need to throw up." Mainly, that meant that I had already been swallowing some back (sorry, gross, I know, but this is a workout blog and gross stuff happens). He kept telling me I should just throw up, but I couldn't make myself do it.
After my stomach started revolting, I decided not to drink any more water (although who knows if that made it better or worse?). I was so perplexed by what was going on since I didn't do anything differently this morning than I had any other morning before a race. Also, with my stomach in knots, I knew that I couldn't make it the whole way running. I ended up having to do a run/walk mixture instead.
I was really bummed out by that because I wanted to finish up these NYRR races on a good note and not with a bad taste in my mouth (literally!). Even though we ended up walking a fair amount, we still finished with a decent time, I think. I felt bad for Drew because he now has a slow pace for NYRR races, but I know if he does some more, he'll go back to something speedy!
My favorite part of the race was that despite me feeling sick and having to walk and telling Drew to go ahead and run his own race, he stuck with me the whole time, which was really nice. I was so glad to have such a strong support system with me, especially while feeling under the weather!
After the race, we grabbed some Gatorade and popsicles from the volunteers and headed to Whole Foods to get some breakfast supplies. Once I stopped running, I felt a whole lot better and was back to normal by the time we left the store. I'm guessing that it was just a fluke, as I haven't felt like that the other times I've been out in the heat and humidity recently.
Here are the official results. As we were reaching the finish line, we ended up sprinting to the finish. I'm hoping that there are some good pictures of us reaching the finish line! (Poor Drew, he ended up finishing a second after me!).
Running
Time: 52:30
Distance: 5.00 miles
Pace: 10:30/mile
Calories: 547
Maximum HR: 198 (93%)
Average HR: 179 (84%)
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Not Just A Prime Number
So, here it is ... my race number for the 3 mile Wall Street Run tonight. And it's a prime number, but apparently it's not just any prime number. It's a primeval number. Not that I knew what that was before Wikipedia told me. But, if you click on that link, Wikipedia can explain it to you too!
.jpg)
That special race number wasn't the only exciting thing about tonight's race. I got to wear my new Terrier technical t-shirt for the race! Here's a picture of the actual shirt. That dog there is Buc, our mascot. And, yes, Buc does exist in real life. He's a Jack Russell Terrier.
.jpg)
After changing clothes at work, I headed downtown for the race. I didn't have any expectations for this race time-wise, I just wanted to run the entire race. When I got off the subway, I was glad to feel the breeze coming off the water. However, that was short lived. As soon as I lined up and waited for the race to start, the breeze was gone and I was standing in direct sunlight. After a while, I was sure that I was going to pass out if we didn't start running soon.
Luckily, a guy came up to me and distracted me! I was wearing my red running hat and he came up to me and said, "You're wearing a red hat. But it's not the right red hat." I explained that I hadn't realized I needed a special one. His had something to do with hearts (it was an American Heart Association fundraiser, this race) and so we got to chatting. He told me that he was 75 and had two stents put in his heart in January and 1/3 of his heart didn't pump. I asked him if he was really supposed to be running today, but he assured me that since January, he'd gotten first place in his age group 4 times!
We then started talking about triathlons. He told me that he had done a sprint triathlon and found it more tiring that doing a marathon. Which I thought was really interesting. But, he definitely looked like a runner, so maybe running just comes more naturally to him. Eventually, he headed towards the back of the pack to look for more of his people in red heart hats. I wished him a good race. It looks like he might have come in first in his age group (if I'm remembering his race number correctly)! I hope I'm doing the same when I'm 75. Although, he told me that it's more about picking the right races. It helps when you're the only person in your age group.
Anyway, on to the race. The start was really crowded and people were walking all the way up to the start line before they started running. The race course takes a quick right turn almost immediately, so after running for maybe 10 seconds after crossing the start line, I had to stop because there was such a large crowd of people trying to make the turn. It was sort-of like getting to the top (or bottom) of an escalator and having there be a lot of people just standing there and you know that more people are coming behind you. Not the best feeling in the world, but luckily after that turn, things thinned out a bit.
Because lower Manhattan is so small, you really have to double back on yourself a few times to make it three miles. Here's the race course:
What I think is really funny is the fact that this is called the Wall Street run and you never actually run on Wall Street. You cross over it three times, but no real running on Wall Street. Right after I had passed Mile 1, I could look over and see what I think was the lead pack. Don't think that I didn't consider just crossing over and skipping most of Mile 2!
The conditions were pretty hot. I just kept telling myself that all I had to do was keep running. It didn't matter how slowly I was going, I just had to keep picking up my feet. I saw the sign for Mile 1, which I passed at 9:53 according to my watch. I was pretty happy with that and knew that if I could just keep that up, I'd be a very happy camper. I never saw the sign for Mile 2, so I don't know what my other mile splits were.
I actually think the course was a little long. Or perhaps I just made it long for myself because I think I was in the vast minority of people who stayed in the street the entire time. It seemed like everyone else was cutting corners and running on the sidewalks when possible, so I think all that corner cutting probably helped those people. Obviously, I'm never going to win anything, so I didn't see any need to break the rules and cut corners.
Despite the heat, it was a pretty fun race. Granted, I was sort-of miserable the entire time. Mental note: probably not best to brick in the morning before a race. My legs were exhausted and there were definitely a couple of times where I had to fight with myself to just keep running. But, I did. It was really this dumb blog that kept me honest. Because I didn't want to have to admit that I took a walking break. I actually even skipped the water station on the run because I didn't want the temptation of stopping to drink something.
All in all, quite pleased with the results. Even though I didn't have any time goals, of course I had a secret goal in mind and I really wanted to finish in less than 30 minutes. I think that given the heat and the congestion on the course (those streets downtown are pretty narrow!), it was a really good time for me.
After the race, I grabbed a bottle of water, a plum and some pretzels and headed home. I ended up picking up dinner before I actually got home, but when I walked in the door, Drew was there! He didn't have to work late! So, I put my take-out dinner in the fridge and we got to go out on a weeknight date! Not the worst way to end the day! I am thinking, however, that tomorrow might be a good day for a rest day. We're both doing a five mile race on Saturday and I think that my legs could use a day of rest. And I'm not even going to feel bad about taking a day off!
Running
Time: 29:55
Distance: 3.00 miles
Pace: 9:59/mile
Calories: 318
Maximum HR: 196 (92%)
Average HR: 181 (85%)
.jpg)
That special race number wasn't the only exciting thing about tonight's race. I got to wear my new Terrier technical t-shirt for the race! Here's a picture of the actual shirt. That dog there is Buc, our mascot. And, yes, Buc does exist in real life. He's a Jack Russell Terrier.
.jpg)
After changing clothes at work, I headed downtown for the race. I didn't have any expectations for this race time-wise, I just wanted to run the entire race. When I got off the subway, I was glad to feel the breeze coming off the water. However, that was short lived. As soon as I lined up and waited for the race to start, the breeze was gone and I was standing in direct sunlight. After a while, I was sure that I was going to pass out if we didn't start running soon.Luckily, a guy came up to me and distracted me! I was wearing my red running hat and he came up to me and said, "You're wearing a red hat. But it's not the right red hat." I explained that I hadn't realized I needed a special one. His had something to do with hearts (it was an American Heart Association fundraiser, this race) and so we got to chatting. He told me that he was 75 and had two stents put in his heart in January and 1/3 of his heart didn't pump. I asked him if he was really supposed to be running today, but he assured me that since January, he'd gotten first place in his age group 4 times!
We then started talking about triathlons. He told me that he had done a sprint triathlon and found it more tiring that doing a marathon. Which I thought was really interesting. But, he definitely looked like a runner, so maybe running just comes more naturally to him. Eventually, he headed towards the back of the pack to look for more of his people in red heart hats. I wished him a good race. It looks like he might have come in first in his age group (if I'm remembering his race number correctly)! I hope I'm doing the same when I'm 75. Although, he told me that it's more about picking the right races. It helps when you're the only person in your age group.
Anyway, on to the race. The start was really crowded and people were walking all the way up to the start line before they started running. The race course takes a quick right turn almost immediately, so after running for maybe 10 seconds after crossing the start line, I had to stop because there was such a large crowd of people trying to make the turn. It was sort-of like getting to the top (or bottom) of an escalator and having there be a lot of people just standing there and you know that more people are coming behind you. Not the best feeling in the world, but luckily after that turn, things thinned out a bit.
Because lower Manhattan is so small, you really have to double back on yourself a few times to make it three miles. Here's the race course:
What I think is really funny is the fact that this is called the Wall Street run and you never actually run on Wall Street. You cross over it three times, but no real running on Wall Street. Right after I had passed Mile 1, I could look over and see what I think was the lead pack. Don't think that I didn't consider just crossing over and skipping most of Mile 2!
The conditions were pretty hot. I just kept telling myself that all I had to do was keep running. It didn't matter how slowly I was going, I just had to keep picking up my feet. I saw the sign for Mile 1, which I passed at 9:53 according to my watch. I was pretty happy with that and knew that if I could just keep that up, I'd be a very happy camper. I never saw the sign for Mile 2, so I don't know what my other mile splits were.
I actually think the course was a little long. Or perhaps I just made it long for myself because I think I was in the vast minority of people who stayed in the street the entire time. It seemed like everyone else was cutting corners and running on the sidewalks when possible, so I think all that corner cutting probably helped those people. Obviously, I'm never going to win anything, so I didn't see any need to break the rules and cut corners.
Despite the heat, it was a pretty fun race. Granted, I was sort-of miserable the entire time. Mental note: probably not best to brick in the morning before a race. My legs were exhausted and there were definitely a couple of times where I had to fight with myself to just keep running. But, I did. It was really this dumb blog that kept me honest. Because I didn't want to have to admit that I took a walking break. I actually even skipped the water station on the run because I didn't want the temptation of stopping to drink something.
All in all, quite pleased with the results. Even though I didn't have any time goals, of course I had a secret goal in mind and I really wanted to finish in less than 30 minutes. I think that given the heat and the congestion on the course (those streets downtown are pretty narrow!), it was a really good time for me.
After the race, I grabbed a bottle of water, a plum and some pretzels and headed home. I ended up picking up dinner before I actually got home, but when I walked in the door, Drew was there! He didn't have to work late! So, I put my take-out dinner in the fridge and we got to go out on a weeknight date! Not the worst way to end the day! I am thinking, however, that tomorrow might be a good day for a rest day. We're both doing a five mile race on Saturday and I think that my legs could use a day of rest. And I'm not even going to feel bad about taking a day off!
Running
Time: 29:55
Distance: 3.00 miles
Pace: 9:59/mile
Calories: 318
Maximum HR: 196 (92%)
Average HR: 181 (85%)
Sunday, May 9, 2010
R Baby Mother's Day 4M
This morning I had a 4M run that I needed to do in order to keep going on my marathon qualification for 2011. This was race number 7 (out of 9) so I'm definitely in the home stretch. The only catch? Until I hear from the doctor, I'm not supposed to be doing anything. Which meant that I went with a big goal of walking the 4 mile race.
I was really curious to see if I could do the race in under an hour (15:00/mile pace). I was fairly confident that all my New York City walking could pay off and that an hour or less was a pretty realistic goal. I walked to the Park, used the port-a-potties (I forgot to go before leaving home - what was I thinking?), and then lined up for the race.
Now, I'd just like to mention that since I knew I was walking, I lined up at the back of the corrals. Not in my assigned corral. Could everyone else who is a walker in these races please take note? I don't understand why if you know you're walking, you find it necessary to be more towards the front and getting in the way of those who are running?
As soon as I crossed the finish line, I started walking as quickly as I could. My only goal was to get to the first mile marker by 15:00. It was quite windy here in NYC today, so the mile markers were on the ground today instead of up in the air because they didn't want them to blow over. I know approximately where they should be, but I felt like today more than ever it was really critical to see them to know how I was doing time-wise.
You can imagine my shock when I got to the first mile marker at 13:13! Holy cow, I was doing really well. At that point, I figured that I could have a couple bad miles and still come in under an hour, but since I had done the first mile so quickly, I was curious to know if I could hold that pace for the rest of the race.
I got to mile number 2 at a total time of 26:05 (mile time of 12:52) and I was sure I could hold on to the end. My arm was actually feeling okay at this point too. I basically just had my elbow at a 90 degree angle and swung it slightly back and forth while I really swung my right arm back and forth. Amazing how much easier that was to get some momentum than having my arm solidly against my body like at Alcatraz.
I got to mile 3 at 39:10 (mile time of 13:05) and I knew I was still on pace to finish this thing in about 52 minutes, which I couldn't believe. I wasn't surprised that this mile took a little bit longer, there are a couple rolling hills here that always make this a slower mile (even when running).
At this point, I really had to fight with myself to keep from running. Part of me really wanted to know how fast I could do it just walking, but the other part of me is going completely stir crazy from not exercising and I just wanted to run! Finally, as I was rounding the corner on 72nd Street to the finish line, I gave in. I only ran about 0.10 miles, but it felt great. Of course, I didn't pay any attention to how my arm was feeling, I just wanted to stretch out my legs for the last little bit. I ended up doing the last mile in 12:30, so the running didn't really affect my total time, I don't think. I probably could have come in just over 52 minutes if I hadn't run, which would have still been amazing, I think.
The funny thing is that even though this was my slowest running race ever, I felt awesome when I left because I had shattered my goal of finishing in an hour! My arm actually felt okay at the end, just really tired. That definitely continued as the day went on as well. The good news is that it doesn't feel any worse, but still no real improvement.
Walking
Time: 51:40
Distance: 4.00 miles
Pace: 12:55/mile
I was really curious to see if I could do the race in under an hour (15:00/mile pace). I was fairly confident that all my New York City walking could pay off and that an hour or less was a pretty realistic goal. I walked to the Park, used the port-a-potties (I forgot to go before leaving home - what was I thinking?), and then lined up for the race.
Now, I'd just like to mention that since I knew I was walking, I lined up at the back of the corrals. Not in my assigned corral. Could everyone else who is a walker in these races please take note? I don't understand why if you know you're walking, you find it necessary to be more towards the front and getting in the way of those who are running?
As soon as I crossed the finish line, I started walking as quickly as I could. My only goal was to get to the first mile marker by 15:00. It was quite windy here in NYC today, so the mile markers were on the ground today instead of up in the air because they didn't want them to blow over. I know approximately where they should be, but I felt like today more than ever it was really critical to see them to know how I was doing time-wise.
You can imagine my shock when I got to the first mile marker at 13:13! Holy cow, I was doing really well. At that point, I figured that I could have a couple bad miles and still come in under an hour, but since I had done the first mile so quickly, I was curious to know if I could hold that pace for the rest of the race.
I got to mile number 2 at a total time of 26:05 (mile time of 12:52) and I was sure I could hold on to the end. My arm was actually feeling okay at this point too. I basically just had my elbow at a 90 degree angle and swung it slightly back and forth while I really swung my right arm back and forth. Amazing how much easier that was to get some momentum than having my arm solidly against my body like at Alcatraz.
I got to mile 3 at 39:10 (mile time of 13:05) and I knew I was still on pace to finish this thing in about 52 minutes, which I couldn't believe. I wasn't surprised that this mile took a little bit longer, there are a couple rolling hills here that always make this a slower mile (even when running).
At this point, I really had to fight with myself to keep from running. Part of me really wanted to know how fast I could do it just walking, but the other part of me is going completely stir crazy from not exercising and I just wanted to run! Finally, as I was rounding the corner on 72nd Street to the finish line, I gave in. I only ran about 0.10 miles, but it felt great. Of course, I didn't pay any attention to how my arm was feeling, I just wanted to stretch out my legs for the last little bit. I ended up doing the last mile in 12:30, so the running didn't really affect my total time, I don't think. I probably could have come in just over 52 minutes if I hadn't run, which would have still been amazing, I think.
The funny thing is that even though this was my slowest running race ever, I felt awesome when I left because I had shattered my goal of finishing in an hour! My arm actually felt okay at the end, just really tired. That definitely continued as the day went on as well. The good news is that it doesn't feel any worse, but still no real improvement.
Walking
Time: 51:40
Distance: 4.00 miles
Pace: 12:55/mile
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Running For The Parks
First - I just need to say that I did figure out the elevation map on iMapMyRide, so I'm feeling a little bit better about the app as a whole. Although it wasn't the easiest thing to figure out, I don't think. But it's probably more user error than anything else. Here's the elevation map from my Saturday ride:
Of course I'm still panicked when I compare the above map to the Alcatraz map, but in order to keep my panic at bay, I'm not going to re-post the Alcatraz map.
Second - Here's this week's workout plan:
Third - on to today! This morning was the NYRR Run for the Parks, a 4-mile run in Central Park. The last couple of NYRR races have started at 10 AM, but today's started at 8 AM, which was pretty early for me. I was pretty tired at the start of the race and just felt very tired all throughout the run as well. I'm guessing that yesterday's triathlon took a little bit more out of me than I thought that it did initially.
The weather was also pretty cool - about 43 degrees. I ended up wearing capris and a long-sleeved shirt. I also wore my race t-shirt over my other shirt, just because it seemed like I should wear it to the race. Plus, I don't really care about pinning my number to that t-shirt, but I sort-of do care about pinning it to my other shirts for some reason.
I was fine temperature wise during the race, but was freezing on my way home. The other issue I had was that yesterday while I was swimming in my wetsuit, I realized that the velcro from the pull-tab on my wetsuit was chafing my neck. I did fix it so that it wouldn't do that anymore, but the damage was done. For the first mile of the running race today I was convinced that I was going to have to take off my long-sleeved shirt (since it comes up further on my neck) in order to continue running - it was not comfortable.
I knew as soon as I started running today that I wouldn't be setting any PR's. I was fine with that. I was just hoping to run a fairly steady pace and get my run in for the day. I really was quite tired while running, so I was glad with the pace that I ended up with was still under 10 minutes per mile. Right as I was nearing the finish line, a guy came sprinting up behind me and a spectator was yelling at me to not let him beat me. At that point, I didn't really care too much and didn't feel like sprinting. All I really wanted to do was go home and eat breakfast. I just wanted to take my post-race bagel home and toast it and eat it with peanut butter. Priorities, right? Maybe I should have sprinted in order to get my bagel faster? I will say that they also passed out Terra Chips and an under-ripe plum as well as bagels. The plum was a bit of a bust. I'd like to suggest that they go back to apples!
All in all, certainly not my best effort, but I am still proud of the fact that I got up and went to the race. This is my sixth NYRR race this year and I guess that now is as good of a time as any to announce the fact that the reason I'm doing all of these races is in order to qualify for the New York City Marathon in 2011. I still have three more races to run and I need to volunteer at one race, but I am really excited at the prospect of running the NYC Marathon next year!
Run To Race
Time: 10:01
Distance: 1.05 miles
Pace: 9:32/mile
Calories: 108
Maximum HR: 175
Average HR: 166
Running Race
Time: 39:30
Distance: 4.00 miles
Pace: 9:52/mile
Calories: 485
Maximum HR: 189
Average HR: 177
Of course I'm still panicked when I compare the above map to the Alcatraz map, but in order to keep my panic at bay, I'm not going to re-post the Alcatraz map.
Second - Here's this week's workout plan:
Third - on to today! This morning was the NYRR Run for the Parks, a 4-mile run in Central Park. The last couple of NYRR races have started at 10 AM, but today's started at 8 AM, which was pretty early for me. I was pretty tired at the start of the race and just felt very tired all throughout the run as well. I'm guessing that yesterday's triathlon took a little bit more out of me than I thought that it did initially.
The weather was also pretty cool - about 43 degrees. I ended up wearing capris and a long-sleeved shirt. I also wore my race t-shirt over my other shirt, just because it seemed like I should wear it to the race. Plus, I don't really care about pinning my number to that t-shirt, but I sort-of do care about pinning it to my other shirts for some reason.
I was fine temperature wise during the race, but was freezing on my way home. The other issue I had was that yesterday while I was swimming in my wetsuit, I realized that the velcro from the pull-tab on my wetsuit was chafing my neck. I did fix it so that it wouldn't do that anymore, but the damage was done. For the first mile of the running race today I was convinced that I was going to have to take off my long-sleeved shirt (since it comes up further on my neck) in order to continue running - it was not comfortable.
I knew as soon as I started running today that I wouldn't be setting any PR's. I was fine with that. I was just hoping to run a fairly steady pace and get my run in for the day. I really was quite tired while running, so I was glad with the pace that I ended up with was still under 10 minutes per mile. Right as I was nearing the finish line, a guy came sprinting up behind me and a spectator was yelling at me to not let him beat me. At that point, I didn't really care too much and didn't feel like sprinting. All I really wanted to do was go home and eat breakfast. I just wanted to take my post-race bagel home and toast it and eat it with peanut butter. Priorities, right? Maybe I should have sprinted in order to get my bagel faster? I will say that they also passed out Terra Chips and an under-ripe plum as well as bagels. The plum was a bit of a bust. I'd like to suggest that they go back to apples!
All in all, certainly not my best effort, but I am still proud of the fact that I got up and went to the race. This is my sixth NYRR race this year and I guess that now is as good of a time as any to announce the fact that the reason I'm doing all of these races is in order to qualify for the New York City Marathon in 2011. I still have three more races to run and I need to volunteer at one race, but I am really excited at the prospect of running the NYC Marathon next year!
Run To Race
Time: 10:01
Distance: 1.05 miles
Pace: 9:32/mile
Calories: 108
Maximum HR: 175
Average HR: 166
Running Race
Time: 39:30
Distance: 4.00 miles
Pace: 9:52/mile
Calories: 485
Maximum HR: 189
Average HR: 177
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Scotland Run
Before we get to today's run, yesterday was a big day for me at work. Nothing work related. Triathlon related, of course! It started out with a delivery from Amazon where I got these:
I should mention that I was in need of some new goggles. I could only swim 300-400 yards before getting an eye full of water. I think the old ones were just getting old and tired. My old goggles are Speedos, but I read so many good reviews on these Aqua Sphere ones that I figured I just had to give them a shot. I decided to get the "lady" version because I have a freakishly small head and thought that these might be better for me.
So, as soon as I got them, I did what anyone would do. I opened them up and stuck them to my face. And then I IMed Laura and said, "I'm wearing goggles right now. They fit great. I bought them from the internet. They're just suctioned on my face and not popping off!!!" I should mention that I don't have an office at work, I sit where people could walk by, so after realizing that the goggles weren't popping off on their own, I decided I should take them off.
The afternoon got better in the form of another delivery - this one from Xterra:
My wetsuit with sleeves (and a fancy blue inside)! As soon as I saw that this had been delivered to the mail room, I had to go down and get it. I couldn't wait for the mail guy to deliver to my desk. All I really wanted to do was take it to the bathroom and try it on, but I decided that I should wait until I got home. I mean, I was all ready with my new goggles and all! It definitely looked like it should fit, but it's hard to tell. It smelled like new rubber and it was very exciting.
After work, I packed up all my goodies and headed uptown to pick up my number for today's 10K run. This is what I ended up getting:
Normally, we just get numbers and t-shirts for NYRR races. All this extra stuff (the bag, the hat, the flag - there were also temporary tattoos and a pen) was a bonus. Plus, I thought the t-shirt ended up being pretty cool that it looked like a map of NYC and a Scottish tartan. After getting my goodies, I finally headed home.
As soon as I walked in the door, I tried on my wetsuit. No sense in waiting around, right? Seems to fit perfectly. I need to test it in the pool, of course, but I'm really hopeful. I also was really impressed that as soon as I put it on I was hot immediately. Seems like exactly what I'll be needing for San Francisco's chilly bay!
Now, for this morning. It was 56 when I was getting ready to leave for the race. I was wearing shorts and a thin long-sleeved shirt. I actually wondered before leaving if I should wear a tank-top underneath my shirt in case I got hot, but I figured I would be okay. (Turns out you should always listen to that little voice in your head).
I was really excited about today's 10K course. We started at the bottom of the Park on the Westside, near 62nd Street and ran north up the Westside, which meant that we'd be running clockwise in the Park. Most runners and races go counter-clockwise. However, the NYC Triathlon takes basically this same route and the NYC Marathon does as well for the portion in the Park. I was excited to do this route in a race as practice for the Triathlon in July.
While I was waiting for the race to start and was standing in my corral, I was starting to feel a little bit warm. That did not seem like a very good sign. I also can't remember if I've ever felt warm at the start of a race. Most of them seem to be pretty cool and then I warm up while running. I decided at that point to push my sleeves up and just do the best I could.
It's funny because right after you start the race, you see the sign for Mile 6 and then you run through the finish only to have to run all the way around the Loop before getting back to the real finish. I felt great when the race started. I was just running a nice and easy 9:30/mile pace for the first two miles. I don't know where this new ease and love of running is coming from. Maybe part of it is bike riding avoidance? Heading to the Harlem Hill, I felt really confident that I was going to have a good race. I ran up the first part of the hill and then the downhill and felt okay.
At the bottom of the hill, there was a fire hose that was spraying people - I opted not to get soaked and just got a mist from the side. Then came the second part of the Harlem Hill. I felt really great while I was running up the hill. I was proud of myself because I was passing so many walkers and I was thinking how much my running fitness has really increased as a result of all the running I've been doing recently. And then I got to the top of the hill and realized that I was in a bit of trouble. I started feeling really light-headed and felt a headache coming on.
I decided that I would just keep on running and from then on I would stop and walk through all the remaining aid stations and drink water in order to try to stay hydrated enough. I have to say that after wishing and hoping for warmer weather, I sort-of forgot how to deal with it. I just wasn't ready for the warmer temperatures today. However, my plan of running until I got to an aid station and then walking through and sipping water seemed to work pretty well for me for the remainder of the race. I even stopped at the aid station in the last mile, which seemed ridiculous, but was definitely the right thing to do.
When I could see the sign for Mile 6, I started picking up my pace a little bit. The last bit of the race is uphill and I really pushed through and passed as many people as I could. I also managed to get a sub 10-minute-per-mile finish! I'm really happy with that. I think that if I had been more prepared for the heat, I could have probably finished with a 60 minute 10K time, but as it is, I knocked 1:01 off my last 10K time, so I'm still proud of the improvement. And the truth is that I think I actually walked more during this race than I did in the last one!
After the race, I grabbed another cup of water and the typical bagel and apple that they hand out after NYRR races. They were also handing out these Stoats bars (please note my short fingernails are for the wetsuit wearing):
I have to say that I didn't think it looked that great. I was pretty dense looking, but I looked at the ingredients and thought that they looked pretty good without any scary chemicals, so I decided to give it a try. YUM!
And then I looked at that ingredient list again and saw that the third ingredient was butter. No wonder it was so tasty! I ate about 1/3 of the bar on my way home from the race along with the apple. I carried my bagel home with me. At some corner when I was stopped for the light, a woman came up to me and said, "You've just run all that way and now you're going to eat a bagel?" I told her that my plan was to take my bagel home with me and put some fried eggs on top. She told me that she was glad I was going to be getting some protein with "all those carbs". I'm not sure why it made any difference to her, but then she made a comment something along the lines of, "well, I guess you did just run all that way so you can eat whatever you want, huh?"
Um, no. That is not how these things work. Maybe if I didn't care about my weight or general fitness then I would think that it was okay to eat whatever I wanted after working out, but my response to her question was, "No, I can't. That's how Americans get fat with that sort of mentality." Sorry, but it's true. And, actually, I'm going to steal an excerpt from Julia's Huffington Post article to show what I mean:
Let this be a lesson to you: working out daily does not cancel out eating crap. It's simple math, really. A typical workout will burn 300-500 calories. Calories in a piece of Cheesecake Factory cheesecake? 700-1,100. In a restaurant hamburger (let's say Chili's)? 800-1,100. These numbers mean little until you combine them with the, "I worked out so I can eat what I want" mentality. Basically, saying you worked out so you can allow yourself a piece of cheesecake, or splurge on a burger instead of a turkey sandwich (which has about 300 calories), is fallacious. One piece of cheesecake equals two hard workouts, and who's gonna work out twice in a day just because they want a slice of cheesecake? Certainly not me.
Normally I don't get so high-and-mighty on the blog, but sometimes people just say something that gets me so frustrated. I'm doing triathlons because I really like this sport. I'm also doing them to keep myself motivated to workout on a daily basis. Unlike a lot of people out there, I've never really struggled with my weight, but I know that I would probably like to turn some of my body fat into muscle if at all possible. But, I work out and I watch what I eat 90% of the time. And sometimes, yeah, because I ran all that way, I do splurge a little bit. But mostly I just want to eat good foods after working out. Funny how our bodies take care of those cravings for us.
And just to be accountable, I ate my bagel with two eggs, which were fried in a little bit of butter for a total of about 500 calories. And I ate a small Macintosh apple plus a small amount of that bar. I'd guess that brought my total up to about 650? Considering I burned over 750 while running, I think I did okay. And now I'll stop talking about food on my fitness blog (although I do think they're related).
Running
Time: 1:01:11 (first time my watch matched exactly with the official results!)
Distance: 6.20 miles (10K)
Pace: 9:52/mile
Calories: 759
Maximum HR: 194
Average HR: 178
I should mention that I was in need of some new goggles. I could only swim 300-400 yards before getting an eye full of water. I think the old ones were just getting old and tired. My old goggles are Speedos, but I read so many good reviews on these Aqua Sphere ones that I figured I just had to give them a shot. I decided to get the "lady" version because I have a freakishly small head and thought that these might be better for me.
So, as soon as I got them, I did what anyone would do. I opened them up and stuck them to my face. And then I IMed Laura and said, "I'm wearing goggles right now. They fit great. I bought them from the internet. They're just suctioned on my face and not popping off!!!" I should mention that I don't have an office at work, I sit where people could walk by, so after realizing that the goggles weren't popping off on their own, I decided I should take them off.
The afternoon got better in the form of another delivery - this one from Xterra:
My wetsuit with sleeves (and a fancy blue inside)! As soon as I saw that this had been delivered to the mail room, I had to go down and get it. I couldn't wait for the mail guy to deliver to my desk. All I really wanted to do was take it to the bathroom and try it on, but I decided that I should wait until I got home. I mean, I was all ready with my new goggles and all! It definitely looked like it should fit, but it's hard to tell. It smelled like new rubber and it was very exciting.
After work, I packed up all my goodies and headed uptown to pick up my number for today's 10K run. This is what I ended up getting:
Normally, we just get numbers and t-shirts for NYRR races. All this extra stuff (the bag, the hat, the flag - there were also temporary tattoos and a pen) was a bonus. Plus, I thought the t-shirt ended up being pretty cool that it looked like a map of NYC and a Scottish tartan. After getting my goodies, I finally headed home.
As soon as I walked in the door, I tried on my wetsuit. No sense in waiting around, right? Seems to fit perfectly. I need to test it in the pool, of course, but I'm really hopeful. I also was really impressed that as soon as I put it on I was hot immediately. Seems like exactly what I'll be needing for San Francisco's chilly bay!
Now, for this morning. It was 56 when I was getting ready to leave for the race. I was wearing shorts and a thin long-sleeved shirt. I actually wondered before leaving if I should wear a tank-top underneath my shirt in case I got hot, but I figured I would be okay. (Turns out you should always listen to that little voice in your head).
I was really excited about today's 10K course. We started at the bottom of the Park on the Westside, near 62nd Street and ran north up the Westside, which meant that we'd be running clockwise in the Park. Most runners and races go counter-clockwise. However, the NYC Triathlon takes basically this same route and the NYC Marathon does as well for the portion in the Park. I was excited to do this route in a race as practice for the Triathlon in July.
While I was waiting for the race to start and was standing in my corral, I was starting to feel a little bit warm. That did not seem like a very good sign. I also can't remember if I've ever felt warm at the start of a race. Most of them seem to be pretty cool and then I warm up while running. I decided at that point to push my sleeves up and just do the best I could.
It's funny because right after you start the race, you see the sign for Mile 6 and then you run through the finish only to have to run all the way around the Loop before getting back to the real finish. I felt great when the race started. I was just running a nice and easy 9:30/mile pace for the first two miles. I don't know where this new ease and love of running is coming from. Maybe part of it is bike riding avoidance? Heading to the Harlem Hill, I felt really confident that I was going to have a good race. I ran up the first part of the hill and then the downhill and felt okay.
At the bottom of the hill, there was a fire hose that was spraying people - I opted not to get soaked and just got a mist from the side. Then came the second part of the Harlem Hill. I felt really great while I was running up the hill. I was proud of myself because I was passing so many walkers and I was thinking how much my running fitness has really increased as a result of all the running I've been doing recently. And then I got to the top of the hill and realized that I was in a bit of trouble. I started feeling really light-headed and felt a headache coming on.
I decided that I would just keep on running and from then on I would stop and walk through all the remaining aid stations and drink water in order to try to stay hydrated enough. I have to say that after wishing and hoping for warmer weather, I sort-of forgot how to deal with it. I just wasn't ready for the warmer temperatures today. However, my plan of running until I got to an aid station and then walking through and sipping water seemed to work pretty well for me for the remainder of the race. I even stopped at the aid station in the last mile, which seemed ridiculous, but was definitely the right thing to do.
When I could see the sign for Mile 6, I started picking up my pace a little bit. The last bit of the race is uphill and I really pushed through and passed as many people as I could. I also managed to get a sub 10-minute-per-mile finish! I'm really happy with that. I think that if I had been more prepared for the heat, I could have probably finished with a 60 minute 10K time, but as it is, I knocked 1:01 off my last 10K time, so I'm still proud of the improvement. And the truth is that I think I actually walked more during this race than I did in the last one!
After the race, I grabbed another cup of water and the typical bagel and apple that they hand out after NYRR races. They were also handing out these Stoats bars (please note my short fingernails are for the wetsuit wearing):
I have to say that I didn't think it looked that great. I was pretty dense looking, but I looked at the ingredients and thought that they looked pretty good without any scary chemicals, so I decided to give it a try. YUM!
And then I looked at that ingredient list again and saw that the third ingredient was butter. No wonder it was so tasty! I ate about 1/3 of the bar on my way home from the race along with the apple. I carried my bagel home with me. At some corner when I was stopped for the light, a woman came up to me and said, "You've just run all that way and now you're going to eat a bagel?" I told her that my plan was to take my bagel home with me and put some fried eggs on top. She told me that she was glad I was going to be getting some protein with "all those carbs". I'm not sure why it made any difference to her, but then she made a comment something along the lines of, "well, I guess you did just run all that way so you can eat whatever you want, huh?"
Um, no. That is not how these things work. Maybe if I didn't care about my weight or general fitness then I would think that it was okay to eat whatever I wanted after working out, but my response to her question was, "No, I can't. That's how Americans get fat with that sort of mentality." Sorry, but it's true. And, actually, I'm going to steal an excerpt from Julia's Huffington Post article to show what I mean:
Let this be a lesson to you: working out daily does not cancel out eating crap. It's simple math, really. A typical workout will burn 300-500 calories. Calories in a piece of Cheesecake Factory cheesecake? 700-1,100. In a restaurant hamburger (let's say Chili's)? 800-1,100. These numbers mean little until you combine them with the, "I worked out so I can eat what I want" mentality. Basically, saying you worked out so you can allow yourself a piece of cheesecake, or splurge on a burger instead of a turkey sandwich (which has about 300 calories), is fallacious. One piece of cheesecake equals two hard workouts, and who's gonna work out twice in a day just because they want a slice of cheesecake? Certainly not me.
Normally I don't get so high-and-mighty on the blog, but sometimes people just say something that gets me so frustrated. I'm doing triathlons because I really like this sport. I'm also doing them to keep myself motivated to workout on a daily basis. Unlike a lot of people out there, I've never really struggled with my weight, but I know that I would probably like to turn some of my body fat into muscle if at all possible. But, I work out and I watch what I eat 90% of the time. And sometimes, yeah, because I ran all that way, I do splurge a little bit. But mostly I just want to eat good foods after working out. Funny how our bodies take care of those cravings for us.
And just to be accountable, I ate my bagel with two eggs, which were fried in a little bit of butter for a total of about 500 calories. And I ate a small Macintosh apple plus a small amount of that bar. I'd guess that brought my total up to about 650? Considering I burned over 750 while running, I think I did okay. And now I'll stop talking about food on my fitness blog (although I do think they're related).
Running
Time: 1:01:11 (first time my watch matched exactly with the official results!)
Distance: 6.20 miles (10K)
Pace: 9:52/mile
Calories: 759
Maximum HR: 194
Average HR: 178
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Running For Colon Cancer
This morning was the New York Road Runners Colon Cancer Challenge 4 mile run (there was also a 15K run as well as 1.7 mile walk, but I decided 4 miles sounded best). I didn't have a chance last week to pick up my race number, t-shirt and D-tag, so I had to do that this morning. The weather was about 40 degrees for the race and I wore tights, a long sleeved shirt and a wind breaker.
I decided just to walk to the packet pick-up so that I wouldn't get myself too hot and then be freezing while waiting for the race to start. I was definitely chilly walking to the race. I picked up my number and t-shirt without any problems. I pinned my number to my shirt and went over to wait in the corrals. While I was waiting, the girl next to me started chatting with me. Apparently, I seem to be a magnet recently for talking in the race corral!
We talked about the weather and our running experience. We were both in the 10:00/mile corral and she told me that she had really been working on speed recently and was more of a 9:00 miler. Then we talked about how we never seem to have good times at these New York Road Runner races. I haven't had good luck recently, but I did notice that this morning there seemed to be fewer people out than in the past races.
I definitely wasn't going into this race with any expectations. I know from past experience that's just a bad idea. I figured I would just run my race as best I could given the race conditions. I also knew that I couldn't do much worse than my last attempt at a 4 mile race in Central Park.
Since it was a Colon Cancer fund-raiser run, there were several groups there wearing t-shirts in honor or in memory of someone, but there was one group with funny "Don't be a chump. Check your rump" t-shirts. I thought those were much better than our plain and boring race t-shirts. But, a free t-shirt is a free t-shirt and I won't complain too much.
I started out the race pretty well. I ran the first mile in about 9:30, I think. That seemed like a pretty decent pace and I should just try to keep going. I was thinking while running that it's both good and bad to know the Park so well now. It's frustrating to know every single hill and to anticipate (and slightly dread) all the uphills, but it's good to know that you can just run to X spot (sign, lamp post, tree, etc.) and then it will be downhill from there.
I didn't stop at any of the water stations, I just ran the whole race (also different from last time). As a result of all of this, I ran 0:59 per mile faster than last time! I can't believe I shaved almost 4:00 off my time. It's funny because now that the half-marathon is done and over with, I've actually been liking running more. I think part of that has to do with the fact that the pressure is off a little bit now and I can focus on something other than only running and get back to triathlon training.
No matter what, I'm really proud of myself for today's effort at the run. I can't believe how much better today was than a month ago!
Running
Time: 37:11
Distance: 4.00 miles
Pace: 9:17/mile
Calories: 447
Maximum HR: 192
Average HR: 175
I decided just to walk to the packet pick-up so that I wouldn't get myself too hot and then be freezing while waiting for the race to start. I was definitely chilly walking to the race. I picked up my number and t-shirt without any problems. I pinned my number to my shirt and went over to wait in the corrals. While I was waiting, the girl next to me started chatting with me. Apparently, I seem to be a magnet recently for talking in the race corral!
We talked about the weather and our running experience. We were both in the 10:00/mile corral and she told me that she had really been working on speed recently and was more of a 9:00 miler. Then we talked about how we never seem to have good times at these New York Road Runner races. I haven't had good luck recently, but I did notice that this morning there seemed to be fewer people out than in the past races.
I definitely wasn't going into this race with any expectations. I know from past experience that's just a bad idea. I figured I would just run my race as best I could given the race conditions. I also knew that I couldn't do much worse than my last attempt at a 4 mile race in Central Park.
Since it was a Colon Cancer fund-raiser run, there were several groups there wearing t-shirts in honor or in memory of someone, but there was one group with funny "Don't be a chump. Check your rump" t-shirts. I thought those were much better than our plain and boring race t-shirts. But, a free t-shirt is a free t-shirt and I won't complain too much.
I started out the race pretty well. I ran the first mile in about 9:30, I think. That seemed like a pretty decent pace and I should just try to keep going. I was thinking while running that it's both good and bad to know the Park so well now. It's frustrating to know every single hill and to anticipate (and slightly dread) all the uphills, but it's good to know that you can just run to X spot (sign, lamp post, tree, etc.) and then it will be downhill from there.
I didn't stop at any of the water stations, I just ran the whole race (also different from last time). As a result of all of this, I ran 0:59 per mile faster than last time! I can't believe I shaved almost 4:00 off my time. It's funny because now that the half-marathon is done and over with, I've actually been liking running more. I think part of that has to do with the fact that the pressure is off a little bit now and I can focus on something other than only running and get back to triathlon training.
No matter what, I'm really proud of myself for today's effort at the run. I can't believe how much better today was than a month ago!
Running
Time: 37:11
Distance: 4.00 miles
Pace: 9:17/mile
Calories: 447
Maximum HR: 192
Average HR: 175
Sunday, March 7, 2010
This Is Not A Race
This morning I was signed up for the NYRR Coogan's Salsa, Blues & Shamrocks 5K race. I thought that it would be a really good recovery run after yesterday's 12-miler. Of course, I also know myself and I kept repeating over and over and over again that "This is not a race." The whole point of a recovery run is to, you know, recover and not run quickly.
Unlike most NYRR races, this race wasn't in Central Park. Instead it was in Washington Heights, which was just a really nice change of location. I really love that I have the Park to run in, but it was nice to get outside my usual locale and not know what the course would be like. I ended up getting there really early (just my luck that the subway would come right away and turn into an express train) so I had given myself an hour to get there, but it took more like 20 minutes.
Since I got there so early, I went to the registration to see if they had any smaller t-shirts (at packet pick-up on Thursday there were only L and XL) and that was all that was left this morning too. Bit of a bummer, but I'll survive. It's only a t-shirt. After that, I pretty much stood around inside my corral:
.jpg)
Immediately after taking this picture, I dropped my phone on the ground and it seems to have suffered some minor damage. I mean, there are only about 4 buttons on the iPhone and I manage to break one of them. Luckily, it's the least important one. Oh well.
After waiting around for quite some time (I did try to stand in the sun so I didn't freeze). It was 37 for the race and I wore tights, long sleeved shirt, wind breaker, baseball running hat and took along my gloves. I only wore my gloves while I was waiting around and then took them off for the race. But I was glad I had them.
It was an out and back course, so when we started running all the runners were taking up the entire road. All of a sudden (about 8 minutes into my run) a cop car came by saying that the leaders were on their way back. Depressing to think that they'd be done in about 15 minutes and I'd still be running along. Anyway, I figured I'd try to get some pictures of the leaders and this is what I got:
.jpg)
I actually think that little guy on the left is the leader. Then I thought I'd try to take a picture of the trailing pack and this is what happened:
.jpg)
I took a picture of some parked cars. Oops. And apparently the person next to me. I guess I'm not all that great at running photo taking. In truth, I was trying to take photos and just be relaxed while running in order to try to avoid racing. I have to tell you that it's really hard not to race when there are 5,000 other people out there who actually are racing!
I did the first mile in about 10:02, which was both good and bad. Good because I think it's a decent time, but bad because this was supposed to be a recovery run, not a run where I was posting good times! In an effort to try to slow myself down, I took another picture of the "regular" runners coming back in towards the finish:
.jpg)
Except that the photo taking tactic was useless. By the time I got to the mile marker for Mile 2, I was running even faster (I think it was about 19:30). So, in an effort to try to slow myself down more, I stopped at the water station between miles 2 and 3 to get a drink of water and walk for a couple seconds. I didn't really need the water, but I could tell that my legs were exhausted and I was trying to do them a favor.
By the time I could see the mile marker for Mile 3, I was ready to sprint and be done with the race. Which isn't to say that I wasn't having a good time. That was the problem - it was a great race! There were bands/bagpipers/marching bands every couple of blocks playing tunes and it was a fairly hilly course, but it was all just so much fun. I think it really was hitting home how nice it is to get out and run somewhere new where you don't know every single little hill (like I do in the Park now).
I made myself wait until after I passed the 3 Mile mark and then a couple more stop lights before I started sprinting. I was really surprised at how much I wanted to sprint at the end - so, finally I did and it felt great to sprint to the finish. I know that this was the exact opposite of a recovery run and I'm guessing that my legs are going to be exhausted as a result, but it was nice to just have fun while running - as a stark contrast to yesterday.
The best part of the race? The weird green bagels they were handing out at the end:
.jpg)
I had a great time at this race and I'm really glad that I went all the way uptown for it. Even though I was trying not to race, I still ended up with a really good time (for me) since it's under 10 minutes a mile. I think that because I was having so much fun with the bands and the course and taking pictures that I just forgot that I was supposed to be doing a recovery run. I'm hoping that I don't pay the cost too dearly. I plan on doing lots of leg compressing today to try to speed along the recovery that I didn't really do today. Hopefully that will be the magic trick!
Running
Time: 30:23
Distance: 3.10 miles
Pace: 9:48/mile
Calories: 387
Maximum HR: 187
Average HR: 175
Unlike most NYRR races, this race wasn't in Central Park. Instead it was in Washington Heights, which was just a really nice change of location. I really love that I have the Park to run in, but it was nice to get outside my usual locale and not know what the course would be like. I ended up getting there really early (just my luck that the subway would come right away and turn into an express train) so I had given myself an hour to get there, but it took more like 20 minutes.
Since I got there so early, I went to the registration to see if they had any smaller t-shirts (at packet pick-up on Thursday there were only L and XL) and that was all that was left this morning too. Bit of a bummer, but I'll survive. It's only a t-shirt. After that, I pretty much stood around inside my corral:
.jpg)
Immediately after taking this picture, I dropped my phone on the ground and it seems to have suffered some minor damage. I mean, there are only about 4 buttons on the iPhone and I manage to break one of them. Luckily, it's the least important one. Oh well. After waiting around for quite some time (I did try to stand in the sun so I didn't freeze). It was 37 for the race and I wore tights, long sleeved shirt, wind breaker, baseball running hat and took along my gloves. I only wore my gloves while I was waiting around and then took them off for the race. But I was glad I had them.
It was an out and back course, so when we started running all the runners were taking up the entire road. All of a sudden (about 8 minutes into my run) a cop car came by saying that the leaders were on their way back. Depressing to think that they'd be done in about 15 minutes and I'd still be running along. Anyway, I figured I'd try to get some pictures of the leaders and this is what I got:
.jpg)
I actually think that little guy on the left is the leader. Then I thought I'd try to take a picture of the trailing pack and this is what happened: .jpg)
I took a picture of some parked cars. Oops. And apparently the person next to me. I guess I'm not all that great at running photo taking. In truth, I was trying to take photos and just be relaxed while running in order to try to avoid racing. I have to tell you that it's really hard not to race when there are 5,000 other people out there who actually are racing! I did the first mile in about 10:02, which was both good and bad. Good because I think it's a decent time, but bad because this was supposed to be a recovery run, not a run where I was posting good times! In an effort to try to slow myself down, I took another picture of the "regular" runners coming back in towards the finish:
.jpg)
Except that the photo taking tactic was useless. By the time I got to the mile marker for Mile 2, I was running even faster (I think it was about 19:30). So, in an effort to try to slow myself down more, I stopped at the water station between miles 2 and 3 to get a drink of water and walk for a couple seconds. I didn't really need the water, but I could tell that my legs were exhausted and I was trying to do them a favor.
By the time I could see the mile marker for Mile 3, I was ready to sprint and be done with the race. Which isn't to say that I wasn't having a good time. That was the problem - it was a great race! There were bands/bagpipers/marching bands every couple of blocks playing tunes and it was a fairly hilly course, but it was all just so much fun. I think it really was hitting home how nice it is to get out and run somewhere new where you don't know every single little hill (like I do in the Park now).
I made myself wait until after I passed the 3 Mile mark and then a couple more stop lights before I started sprinting. I was really surprised at how much I wanted to sprint at the end - so, finally I did and it felt great to sprint to the finish. I know that this was the exact opposite of a recovery run and I'm guessing that my legs are going to be exhausted as a result, but it was nice to just have fun while running - as a stark contrast to yesterday.
The best part of the race? The weird green bagels they were handing out at the end:
.jpg)
I had a great time at this race and I'm really glad that I went all the way uptown for it. Even though I was trying not to race, I still ended up with a really good time (for me) since it's under 10 minutes a mile. I think that because I was having so much fun with the bands and the course and taking pictures that I just forgot that I was supposed to be doing a recovery run. I'm hoping that I don't pay the cost too dearly. I plan on doing lots of leg compressing today to try to speed along the recovery that I didn't really do today. Hopefully that will be the magic trick!Running
Time: 30:23
Distance: 3.10 miles
Pace: 9:48/mile
Calories: 387
Maximum HR: 187
Average HR: 175
Thursday, March 4, 2010
The Hungry Caterpillar
Yesterday I got these delivered to me at work. I had ordered them about a week ago and was glad that they finally arrived. I really just wanted to try them out and give them a shot. I had been reading about the benefits of compression gear and figured that it wouldn't hurt just to try it. I also thought that they could be really good to wear on the airplane to Atlanta before the half-marathon to try to avoid some of that puffiness that comes along with flying.
.jpg)
So, naturally, once I got them, I pulled them on at work. Of course, I just happened to be wearing a skirt and tights yesterday, so I just wore them over my tights and kept my legs planted firmly under my desk so that I wouldn't appear too weird. I'm not sure I really noticed anything while at work, but I tried them again after work while I was just lounging around and being lazy watching TV and I will say that they improved my leg circulation by about 100%. I didn't wear them to bed (I took them off right before), but I think it was the first time that I didn't have cold feet when we went to bed. Normally I just plant them on Drew to warm them up, but that wasn't even necessary this time. I'm sure he'll be wanting me to wear these every evening!
My plan for today was pretty similar to another night not so long ago. I was going to run to the New York Road Runner (NYRR) office in order to pick up my race number and t-shirt for the 5K Race that I'm doing on Sunday. The actual plan for today was supposed to be 7 miles plus 5 GP. So, I left work, headed home and changed clothes. By this point, I was really hungry, but I knew I needed to get myself out the door as soon as possible in order to get to the NYRR office before they closed at 7:00, so I didn't take the time to eat anything. I figured that since I had a big afternoon snack (Kind bar crumbled up into Chobani yogurt) of around 350 calories, I'd be totally fine.
Tonight the weather was about 39 when I left the apartment and I wore the exact same thing that I wore on Tuesday when I went running: capris, thin long-sleeved shirt, windbreaker. Both times I ended up taking my hat and gloves along with me, just in case, and both times I ended up keeping them in my pockets. Better safe than sorry, I guess.
I had planned on taking the inserts for my shoes, but decided that I'd just tough it out with just the orthotics and my shoes and see what happens. I figured that if something went wrong, I could always walk and if I didn't have the inserts, I'd probably be less likely to want to stop and fidget with my shoes. Turns out that I was totally correct on this as my shoes were totally fine the whole time. I think I've figured out what to do with these new ones. Whew!
I ran to the NYRR office and picked up my race number and D-Tag for my shoe, but they only had L or XL t-shirts available. Since I don't know anyone who normally wears size L t-shirts, I decided to skip that part. The guy told me that I could come back tomorrow or before the race to see if they had some smalls in stock then. A bit of a bummer as it was actually a really pretty teal color. Oh well.
The bad thing was that when I was picking up my number, my tummy was really rumbling. I was starving already. I wasn't sure how in the heck I was going to make it through the route I had planned for tonight. I was thinking a lot about the book Born to Run while I was running tonight. Although I'm still not quite done, the end portion of the book is really interesting to me - about barefoot running as well as how humans were designed to run for survival and hunting. Somehow that just made me feel better about running longer distances in general. If I'm designed to do it, I must be able to do it, right?
After I left NYRR, I had planned on running around the top of the reservoir before heading back south. There was no one on the path, which was really really weird to me. Normally there are at least a handful of people. Of course, once I started running, I realized that it was probably because the path was filled with huge puddles that took up the entire path. I must have looked like a crazy person running from one side of the path to the other, jumping up on the ledge and so on in order to avoid a step in a puddle. Luckily, there was no one around to actually see me!
I decided that I could get myself to the bottom of the park, but that I just couldn't stomach the idea of going around the Lower Loop again as I had planned (in order to get my 7 miles in). When I got to the bottom of the park, I talked myself into doing the pick-ups because that would only be a small amount of running that I would have to do. When I first started, I talked myself into doing 4 pick-ups (which would be 1 mile in total). My plan was to run 1/8 mile and then walk back to where I had started as recovery. Each pick-up took about 3:00 (~1:00 running and 2:00 walking).
Once I had done three pick-ups, I talked myself into doing three more (so I'd be doing 1.50 miles instead of just 1.00). I realized that it'd only be three more minutes of actual running and I figured I could handle that. Of course, every time that I was walking back to the start, I just kept getting hungrier and hungrier. While I was running (and walking) all I could think about was what was I going to eat when I got home? Our fridge is pretty low on supplies (and even on a good day there aren't a lot of options) but I remembered that there was a little bit of cheese left and I was just totally fixated on that for the majority of my pick-ups.
When I was done, I was so excited to run home so that I could get something to eat. Normally I feel like walking home (even if I do in fact run), but today I actually wanted to run. Of course, I had some sort of curse on the way back because I think I got stuck at every single red light that there was on the way, but I made it eventually.
In all, I ended up doing 7.25 miles total and burning almost as many calories as I had eaten in the day. No wonder I was hungry! So, now I'm currently eating some cheese, drinking some muscle milk and compressing my calves. My plan for the weekend is to deviate slightly from the original plan (shocking, isn't it?) and to do my 12 mile run on Saturday and do the 5K race on Sunday. The weather is actually supposed to be decently warm this weekend and sunny too, so hopefully it'll be a great weekend for running!
Run To NYRR
Time: 25:59
Distance: 2.50 miles
Pace: 10:23/mile
Calories: 328
Maximum HR: 186
Average HR: 173
Run To S
Time: 24:53
Distance: 2.45 miles
Pace: 10:09/mile
Calories: 319
Maximum HR: 182
Average HR: 175
Pick-Ups
Time: 18:20
Distance: 1.50 miles
Pace: 12:13/mile
Calories: 202
Maximum HR: 183
Average HR: 160
Run Home
Time: 19:24
Distance: 0.80 miles
Pace: 11:24/mile
Calories: 104
Maximum HR: 176
Average HR: 162
.jpg)
So, naturally, once I got them, I pulled them on at work. Of course, I just happened to be wearing a skirt and tights yesterday, so I just wore them over my tights and kept my legs planted firmly under my desk so that I wouldn't appear too weird. I'm not sure I really noticed anything while at work, but I tried them again after work while I was just lounging around and being lazy watching TV and I will say that they improved my leg circulation by about 100%. I didn't wear them to bed (I took them off right before), but I think it was the first time that I didn't have cold feet when we went to bed. Normally I just plant them on Drew to warm them up, but that wasn't even necessary this time. I'm sure he'll be wanting me to wear these every evening!My plan for today was pretty similar to another night not so long ago. I was going to run to the New York Road Runner (NYRR) office in order to pick up my race number and t-shirt for the 5K Race that I'm doing on Sunday. The actual plan for today was supposed to be 7 miles plus 5 GP. So, I left work, headed home and changed clothes. By this point, I was really hungry, but I knew I needed to get myself out the door as soon as possible in order to get to the NYRR office before they closed at 7:00, so I didn't take the time to eat anything. I figured that since I had a big afternoon snack (Kind bar crumbled up into Chobani yogurt) of around 350 calories, I'd be totally fine.
Tonight the weather was about 39 when I left the apartment and I wore the exact same thing that I wore on Tuesday when I went running: capris, thin long-sleeved shirt, windbreaker. Both times I ended up taking my hat and gloves along with me, just in case, and both times I ended up keeping them in my pockets. Better safe than sorry, I guess.
I had planned on taking the inserts for my shoes, but decided that I'd just tough it out with just the orthotics and my shoes and see what happens. I figured that if something went wrong, I could always walk and if I didn't have the inserts, I'd probably be less likely to want to stop and fidget with my shoes. Turns out that I was totally correct on this as my shoes were totally fine the whole time. I think I've figured out what to do with these new ones. Whew!
I ran to the NYRR office and picked up my race number and D-Tag for my shoe, but they only had L or XL t-shirts available. Since I don't know anyone who normally wears size L t-shirts, I decided to skip that part. The guy told me that I could come back tomorrow or before the race to see if they had some smalls in stock then. A bit of a bummer as it was actually a really pretty teal color. Oh well.
The bad thing was that when I was picking up my number, my tummy was really rumbling. I was starving already. I wasn't sure how in the heck I was going to make it through the route I had planned for tonight. I was thinking a lot about the book Born to Run while I was running tonight. Although I'm still not quite done, the end portion of the book is really interesting to me - about barefoot running as well as how humans were designed to run for survival and hunting. Somehow that just made me feel better about running longer distances in general. If I'm designed to do it, I must be able to do it, right?
After I left NYRR, I had planned on running around the top of the reservoir before heading back south. There was no one on the path, which was really really weird to me. Normally there are at least a handful of people. Of course, once I started running, I realized that it was probably because the path was filled with huge puddles that took up the entire path. I must have looked like a crazy person running from one side of the path to the other, jumping up on the ledge and so on in order to avoid a step in a puddle. Luckily, there was no one around to actually see me!
I decided that I could get myself to the bottom of the park, but that I just couldn't stomach the idea of going around the Lower Loop again as I had planned (in order to get my 7 miles in). When I got to the bottom of the park, I talked myself into doing the pick-ups because that would only be a small amount of running that I would have to do. When I first started, I talked myself into doing 4 pick-ups (which would be 1 mile in total). My plan was to run 1/8 mile and then walk back to where I had started as recovery. Each pick-up took about 3:00 (~1:00 running and 2:00 walking).
Once I had done three pick-ups, I talked myself into doing three more (so I'd be doing 1.50 miles instead of just 1.00). I realized that it'd only be three more minutes of actual running and I figured I could handle that. Of course, every time that I was walking back to the start, I just kept getting hungrier and hungrier. While I was running (and walking) all I could think about was what was I going to eat when I got home? Our fridge is pretty low on supplies (and even on a good day there aren't a lot of options) but I remembered that there was a little bit of cheese left and I was just totally fixated on that for the majority of my pick-ups.
When I was done, I was so excited to run home so that I could get something to eat. Normally I feel like walking home (even if I do in fact run), but today I actually wanted to run. Of course, I had some sort of curse on the way back because I think I got stuck at every single red light that there was on the way, but I made it eventually.
In all, I ended up doing 7.25 miles total and burning almost as many calories as I had eaten in the day. No wonder I was hungry! So, now I'm currently eating some cheese, drinking some muscle milk and compressing my calves. My plan for the weekend is to deviate slightly from the original plan (shocking, isn't it?) and to do my 12 mile run on Saturday and do the 5K race on Sunday. The weather is actually supposed to be decently warm this weekend and sunny too, so hopefully it'll be a great weekend for running!
Run To NYRR
Time: 25:59
Distance: 2.50 miles
Pace: 10:23/mile
Calories: 328
Maximum HR: 186
Average HR: 173
Run To S
Time: 24:53
Distance: 2.45 miles
Pace: 10:09/mile
Calories: 319
Maximum HR: 182
Average HR: 175
Pick-Ups
Time: 18:20
Distance: 1.50 miles
Pace: 12:13/mile
Calories: 202
Maximum HR: 183
Average HR: 160
Run Home
Time: 19:24
Distance: 0.80 miles
Pace: 11:24/mile
Calories: 104
Maximum HR: 176
Average HR: 162
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Wimp
I took another rest day yesterday. I was possibly going to swim with Laura yesterday morning, but she sent me an e-mail at 2:30 Friday morning saying that she was still working and she didn't think swimming was in the cards for her. I can't say that I blame her! I also was fine with the extra rest, of course. It is really funny to me that not that long ago I was really beating myself up for skipping workouts and now that my plan says that I only have to work out Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday & Sunday, I don't feel bad about not going on the other days. I know that I won't be able to do that forever, but it's nice to not feel bad about myself when I'm not going to the gym.
This morning I was planning on running in the New York Road Runners Fred Lebow 5-Mile Race. I went on Thursday night and picked up my t-shirt and number ... see ...
So, the t-shirt has a creepy guy on the front, but it's my first race t-shirt that actually fits, so I like that aspect. I also thought that picking up the t-shirt and my number before the morning of the race would inspire me to try running in 10 degree weather.
Turns out that's not the case. I skipped the race. Drew met with his personal trainer this morning and we were thinking that we'd meet after my race if I went and go for breakfast. However, Drew sent me a text saying that he'd left his phone at home and he was texting from his trainer's phone and I should just let him know what I was doing about going to the race. I texted back saying that I was skipping the race and would be going to the gym instead. When I got a text back saying "Wimp," I knew that Drew hadn't sent that! He's not that mean. It had to have been his trainer, Billy!
Truth be told, I do feel a little bit bad that I didn't make it to the race. Although when I was walking to the gym, it was really cold outside and I was wearing plenty of clothes and my winter coat! When I had mentioned to Laura last week that I was thinking of doing this race in the cold, she said that I should just do the distance at the gym if I really felt so compelled.
I listened to her wise advice and headed to the gym with the idea that I'd run 5 miles on the treadmill instead of the 3-4 that were in the training plan for today. The last couple of times that I've gone running on the treadmill, I've walked for a few minutes first to get warmed up. Normally, I then stop the treadmill and start fresh for the running so that when the mileage gets to the desired point, I don't have to remember that I also walked X miles beforehand. Of course, I forgot to start fresh today!
I was having an okay run today. I started at 5.5 speed and went up from there. I still had the problem of running into the bar and so I'd just bump it up by 0.1 every time that happened. I got up to 6.3 before I felt like I was running too fast and had to slow down again. The first part of my run, I was kept entertained by a guy in the workout studio in front of the treadmills. He was wearing construction boots, jeans and a t-shirt and he went through a really entertaining circuit of exercises for about the first 20 minutes that I was running, so it was fun to watch. I tried to take a picture with my phone, but since I was moving and he was moving, it didn't really turn out very well, so it's not worth posting.
Once I got to 4.0 miles, I was really excited that I only had a mile to go. Except then I realized that I had forgotten to reset the treadmill and I really had 1.25 miles to go. I'm not going to lie, in that moment, I got really frustrated and wanted to quit right then. Instead I hung on for another half mile and had run 4.5 miles. Then I ended up stopping and walking. While I was walking, I was trying to tell myself that it was okay since I had done more than the plan called for today, but I realized that I was being a wimp and I should just finish the 5.0 miles that I set out to do.
So, I bumped the treadmill up to 7.0 and ran for 0.25 miles and then bumped it down to 6.0 and finished the last half-mile really quickly. I was so happy with myself that I finished, even if I did take a two-minute walking break and I had to talk myself into it. It really made me feel better about the workout knowing that I did finish in the end what I had set out to do.
I did realize today that I think the treadmills are going to start being a problem pretty soon on my longer runs. Today since I didn't restart the treadmill, I was really close to running out of the 60 minute time limit they impose on you with the warm-up time at the beginning factored into the total time I was on. And I did have to restart the whole thing for the last half-mile, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to finish in 60 minutes. Considering the fact that tomorrow I'm supposed to run between 6-7 miles and I've been running over 10 minute miles recently, I'm not too sure how that'll work out. I guess we'll have to figure it out in the morning!
Run #1
Time: 46: 52
Distance: 4.50 miles
Pace: 10:24/mile
Calories: 667
Maximum HR: 193
Average HR: 184
Run #2
Time: 4:29
Distance: 0.50 miles
Pace: 8:58/mile
Calories: 66
Maximum HR: 195
Average HR: 191
This morning I was planning on running in the New York Road Runners Fred Lebow 5-Mile Race. I went on Thursday night and picked up my t-shirt and number ... see ...
So, the t-shirt has a creepy guy on the front, but it's my first race t-shirt that actually fits, so I like that aspect. I also thought that picking up the t-shirt and my number before the morning of the race would inspire me to try running in 10 degree weather.
Turns out that's not the case. I skipped the race. Drew met with his personal trainer this morning and we were thinking that we'd meet after my race if I went and go for breakfast. However, Drew sent me a text saying that he'd left his phone at home and he was texting from his trainer's phone and I should just let him know what I was doing about going to the race. I texted back saying that I was skipping the race and would be going to the gym instead. When I got a text back saying "Wimp," I knew that Drew hadn't sent that! He's not that mean. It had to have been his trainer, Billy!
Truth be told, I do feel a little bit bad that I didn't make it to the race. Although when I was walking to the gym, it was really cold outside and I was wearing plenty of clothes and my winter coat! When I had mentioned to Laura last week that I was thinking of doing this race in the cold, she said that I should just do the distance at the gym if I really felt so compelled.
I listened to her wise advice and headed to the gym with the idea that I'd run 5 miles on the treadmill instead of the 3-4 that were in the training plan for today. The last couple of times that I've gone running on the treadmill, I've walked for a few minutes first to get warmed up. Normally, I then stop the treadmill and start fresh for the running so that when the mileage gets to the desired point, I don't have to remember that I also walked X miles beforehand. Of course, I forgot to start fresh today!
I was having an okay run today. I started at 5.5 speed and went up from there. I still had the problem of running into the bar and so I'd just bump it up by 0.1 every time that happened. I got up to 6.3 before I felt like I was running too fast and had to slow down again. The first part of my run, I was kept entertained by a guy in the workout studio in front of the treadmills. He was wearing construction boots, jeans and a t-shirt and he went through a really entertaining circuit of exercises for about the first 20 minutes that I was running, so it was fun to watch. I tried to take a picture with my phone, but since I was moving and he was moving, it didn't really turn out very well, so it's not worth posting.
Once I got to 4.0 miles, I was really excited that I only had a mile to go. Except then I realized that I had forgotten to reset the treadmill and I really had 1.25 miles to go. I'm not going to lie, in that moment, I got really frustrated and wanted to quit right then. Instead I hung on for another half mile and had run 4.5 miles. Then I ended up stopping and walking. While I was walking, I was trying to tell myself that it was okay since I had done more than the plan called for today, but I realized that I was being a wimp and I should just finish the 5.0 miles that I set out to do.
So, I bumped the treadmill up to 7.0 and ran for 0.25 miles and then bumped it down to 6.0 and finished the last half-mile really quickly. I was so happy with myself that I finished, even if I did take a two-minute walking break and I had to talk myself into it. It really made me feel better about the workout knowing that I did finish in the end what I had set out to do.
I did realize today that I think the treadmills are going to start being a problem pretty soon on my longer runs. Today since I didn't restart the treadmill, I was really close to running out of the 60 minute time limit they impose on you with the warm-up time at the beginning factored into the total time I was on. And I did have to restart the whole thing for the last half-mile, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to finish in 60 minutes. Considering the fact that tomorrow I'm supposed to run between 6-7 miles and I've been running over 10 minute miles recently, I'm not too sure how that'll work out. I guess we'll have to figure it out in the morning!
Run #1
Time: 46: 52
Distance: 4.50 miles
Pace: 10:24/mile
Calories: 667
Maximum HR: 193
Average HR: 184
Run #2
Time: 4:29
Distance: 0.50 miles
Pace: 8:58/mile
Calories: 66
Maximum HR: 195
Average HR: 191
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Runners Spit A Lot
Yesterday on my way home from work, I decided that I would stop into City Sports because they always have pretty good stuff on their clearance rack, and I was hoping that I could score some good long-sleeved running tops. I also signed up for their mailing (by e-mail) list, so I also had a 15% off coupon for any one regularly priced item. I ended up finding two long-sleeved tops that were both originally $60 each, but on sale for $20 each and a pair of shorts on clearance for $15. Granted, I know I didn't need the shorts for winter, but for $15 it was too hard to pass up!
This was my shopping booty:
.jpg)
While I was walking home from work yesterday, I was walking home in a wintery mix of snow and rain. Not too fun. It also made me a little bit nervous about this morning's race and what the weather conditions would be like. I knew it would be cold - the coldest morning so far this winter, I think - but I also wasn't quite sure how that would go for me. When I woke up this morning, I got up in plenty of time to get dressed, eat and get all organized before the race and to ride the subway up to pick up my race number and chip. Instead of taking the subway, I decided to just take a cab. I know it seems like I wimped out a little bit, and I sort of feel like I did, but I was also okay with that. I really didn't want to end up standing outside for any longer than I had to in the cold.
The temperature was 33 degrees and according to the internet, felt much colder (about 10 degrees), although I didn't think it felt that much colder. I ended up wearing: a tank top, a long sleeved shirt, my new purple long-sleeved shirt, running tights, shorts, my Terrier bike vest, gloves and my Westchester Triathlon running hat. The bike vest was fantastic for the pockets! I took some Muscle Milk to have before the race in one of our new collapsible water bottles, so the back pockets of the vest were perfect for holding the bottle while I was running.
I took a cab up to 89th Street and picked up my number and timing chip and it was about 7:10 by that point. I was supposed to be meeting the other Terriers at 7:30. Since I had some time to kill before that and all I had to do was stand outside, I figured I might as well just jog for a few minutes to keep myself a little bit warm. I ran for about 10 minutes and then went back to the meeting spot. People started arriving shortly after that as well as Coach Robert, who led us through some drills in order to warm up before the race.
We started with some push-up drills. We went into plank position and then did some stretches by bringing one foot up next to our hand. We'd then go back to plank and do a couple of push-ups. Then we did some really short stride drills - high knees with claps underneath the knee, marching, stretching our quads, and one really horrible one to open up your hips. That drill called for you to bring your knee up and then swing it out to the side of your body and then put it down on the ground. Every time I did that, I could just hear my hips clicking and cracking. It really wasn't my favorite and I was glad that it was a short drill. After the drills, we ran up to the start of the race.
Holy cow! That was not what I was expecting! I was expecting a few hundred people ... not thousands of people! This is what greeted me:
To be fair, I've seen other NYRR races in the past and they've never had anywhere near this many people participating. I was floored as to how many people were there. I lined up in my corral (near the back, with the other slow people), and waited for the race to start. I did cool down a little bit while waiting, but it wasn't too bad and they started the race pretty much on time, so that was nice. I have to say that I never got nervous while I was waiting for the race to start. That told me a couple of things: (1) that I was really taking this seriously as a race and (2) that I had absolutely no doubts that I could complete this. Me waiting in the corral:
I have never done a running race before and certainly not one with 8,000+ people participating, so I had no idea what to expect. The first mile was definitely the worst because people were really bunched up and there was a lot of jostling for position. There were also a lot of faster runners coming up from the back because they had gotten there late. Also, one of the most surprising things to me was all the noises that people were making. I must have heard 1,000 people hock up loogies and spit them out. I had no idea that runners were such big spitters! And then, all throughout the race, I saw people spitting all over the place. Gross!
The start of the race was at 102nd Street, which meant that we had to tackle the Harlem Hill almost right away. I thought that would be good because it would make the rest of the race seem pretty easy in comparison. Truthfully, the hill really wasn't that hard. I don't know if part of that was the fact that I was mostly being carried along in a sea of people or what, but it really wasn't bad at all. I reached mile marker #1 at 10:10. I was hoping to average about 10 minute miles, but I also really wasn't wanting to push myself too much. After all, I only signed up for the race to motivate myself to keep my running miles up at a decent place, not to win anything. I figured that anything under 1:05:00 I'd be happy with although I was hoping to beat my Standalone Time from a week ago.
Somewhere between Miles 1 & 2, I saw a guy sitting on a rock in the park. It looked like it could have been Drew, but it also didn't quite look like him. He was wearing a hat I didn't recognize and the sun shining off his coat made it look grey instead of black. But, as I was running past, I realized that it was in fact him and I yelled out and he snapped a quick picture:
As you can see, it's not really any wonder he didn't see me. I can barely see me! He said he couldn't believe how many people there were and that once he realized how many people were participating that he was wishing a little bit that he had signed up to run with me. I tried to tell him that a month ago, too bad he didn't!
At some point between Mile 2 & 3, I realized that my heart rate was pretty high, especially compared to what it's been when I've been running recently, and I tried to slow down a little bit, but that didn't have much effect, so I took a 30 second walking break as an attempt to try to get it lowered. I don't really think it helped my heart slow down, but mentally it made me feel like I tried, so that was probably what really mattered. When I got to Mile 3, there were a bunch of spectators standing there cheering that we'd made it half-way already! Even though it had taken me 30 minutes to get there, it definitely felt like it was really fast. I ran Mile 2 and 3 in 10 minutes each.
Mile 3 was right at the 72nd Street Transverse and I did briefly wonder what would happen if I just ran across and headed north, cutting off the bottom loop of the Park. I didn't really seriously consider it, I was mostly more just curious what would happen. Would the volunteers stop me? Of course, I just kept running the actual path in the park. Somewhere during Mile 4, the hip opening drills that we had done this morning came back to haunt me. My hips were not happy. I decided in the interest of personal safety that I should take another quick walk break and start again and see how they felt. I took another 30 second walking break and started running again. It was a little bit better and I realized that I could tough it out for another two miles. I was still doing really well on my 10 minute/mile pace, so I was hoping to keep it up for the end of the race too.
Pretty soon I was back to 90th Street and the point where I had met the other Terriers this morning. From that point on, I just kept telling myself that I had already run the rest of the distance once today and I was just re-tracing my steps from earlier. When I reached the mile marker for Mile 6, Drew was standing there. I gave him a fist-bump and kept running strong for the last 0.20 miles to the finish.
My official time was 1:02:12, which is a 10:01 pace. I am thrilled with that pace! Granted, my heart rate was out of control, but I felt okay during the race. I think that if I hadn't been worried about my heart rate and not taken that first 30 second walking break, I would have made it for 10:00 miles, but I'm 100% satisfied with this result, especially since all I really wanted to do was keep myself motivated to keep running.
After I was done with the race, I grabbed a cup of water and a bagel and met up with Drew. They were handing out t-shirts before the race, but I didn't get one because I didn't want to have to either (A) carry it with me or (B) check my t-shirt with the baggage people. I tried to see if I could get one after the fact, but they had packed them up already, so we just headed for the subway home. When we got home, Drew made us brunch and then I settled in for a nap!
Drew was planning on going to the gymnasium this afternoon and in order to keep up with my weight training, I really needed to go too and finish up Week 9's plan, which was legs. Oof. I'm not sure that it was the smartest idea I've ever had to go to the gym with him and do my leg lifting after running a 10K, but I figure it's not the dumbest idea I've ever had either. The lifts are still Pyramid Ups (meaning you add weight and decrease the reps each set) and with Drew's help I definitely lifted above my normal comfort zone.
This was the workout:
Barbell Squats: 1 set of 12 reps @ 45 lbs / 1 set of 12 reps @ 65 lbs / 1 set of 8 reps @ 95 lbs
Leg Press: 1 set of 12 reps @ 135 lbs / 1 set of 10 reps @ 180 lbs / 1 set of 8 reps @ 225 lbs
Leg Extension: 1 set of 12 reps @ 70 lbs / 1 set of 10 reps @ 85 lbs / 1 set of 8 reps @ 100 lbs
Crunches (with weight): 1 set of 20 reps @ 25 lbs / 1 set of 15 reps @ 25 lbs / 1 set of 20 reps @ 25 lbs
I've definitely never done weights that heavy before for any of the lifts. I really owe it all to Drew for pushing me more than I would have pushed myself. He definitely helped me by standing by me and the fact that he was there and I knew he would be able to help me if I couldn't do it myself helped me mentally. I wanted to make sure he didn't have to help me, but I was glad that he was there. The crunches with weight are the first time I've actually done them. All I can really say is that if you're wearing a white shirt while doing it, it's dirty. It also made it harder to do the crunches. Next time I'll try bumping up the weight a little bit.
All in all, it was quite the day today. I know I didn't have the best week earlier this week with workouts, but I'm hoping that today made up for some of that.
Running (1oK)
Time: 1:02:12
Distance: 6.20 miles
Pace: 10:01/mile
Calories: 871
Maximum HR: 195
Average HR: 183
Weight Lifting
Time: 49:10
Calories: 277
Maximum HR: 149
Average HR: 115
This was my shopping booty:
.jpg)
While I was walking home from work yesterday, I was walking home in a wintery mix of snow and rain. Not too fun. It also made me a little bit nervous about this morning's race and what the weather conditions would be like. I knew it would be cold - the coldest morning so far this winter, I think - but I also wasn't quite sure how that would go for me. When I woke up this morning, I got up in plenty of time to get dressed, eat and get all organized before the race and to ride the subway up to pick up my race number and chip. Instead of taking the subway, I decided to just take a cab. I know it seems like I wimped out a little bit, and I sort of feel like I did, but I was also okay with that. I really didn't want to end up standing outside for any longer than I had to in the cold.
The temperature was 33 degrees and according to the internet, felt much colder (about 10 degrees), although I didn't think it felt that much colder. I ended up wearing: a tank top, a long sleeved shirt, my new purple long-sleeved shirt, running tights, shorts, my Terrier bike vest, gloves and my Westchester Triathlon running hat. The bike vest was fantastic for the pockets! I took some Muscle Milk to have before the race in one of our new collapsible water bottles, so the back pockets of the vest were perfect for holding the bottle while I was running.
I took a cab up to 89th Street and picked up my number and timing chip and it was about 7:10 by that point. I was supposed to be meeting the other Terriers at 7:30. Since I had some time to kill before that and all I had to do was stand outside, I figured I might as well just jog for a few minutes to keep myself a little bit warm. I ran for about 10 minutes and then went back to the meeting spot. People started arriving shortly after that as well as Coach Robert, who led us through some drills in order to warm up before the race.
We started with some push-up drills. We went into plank position and then did some stretches by bringing one foot up next to our hand. We'd then go back to plank and do a couple of push-ups. Then we did some really short stride drills - high knees with claps underneath the knee, marching, stretching our quads, and one really horrible one to open up your hips. That drill called for you to bring your knee up and then swing it out to the side of your body and then put it down on the ground. Every time I did that, I could just hear my hips clicking and cracking. It really wasn't my favorite and I was glad that it was a short drill. After the drills, we ran up to the start of the race.
Holy cow! That was not what I was expecting! I was expecting a few hundred people ... not thousands of people! This is what greeted me:
To be fair, I've seen other NYRR races in the past and they've never had anywhere near this many people participating. I was floored as to how many people were there. I lined up in my corral (near the back, with the other slow people), and waited for the race to start. I did cool down a little bit while waiting, but it wasn't too bad and they started the race pretty much on time, so that was nice. I have to say that I never got nervous while I was waiting for the race to start. That told me a couple of things: (1) that I was really taking this seriously as a race and (2) that I had absolutely no doubts that I could complete this. Me waiting in the corral:
I have never done a running race before and certainly not one with 8,000+ people participating, so I had no idea what to expect. The first mile was definitely the worst because people were really bunched up and there was a lot of jostling for position. There were also a lot of faster runners coming up from the back because they had gotten there late. Also, one of the most surprising things to me was all the noises that people were making. I must have heard 1,000 people hock up loogies and spit them out. I had no idea that runners were such big spitters! And then, all throughout the race, I saw people spitting all over the place. Gross!
The start of the race was at 102nd Street, which meant that we had to tackle the Harlem Hill almost right away. I thought that would be good because it would make the rest of the race seem pretty easy in comparison. Truthfully, the hill really wasn't that hard. I don't know if part of that was the fact that I was mostly being carried along in a sea of people or what, but it really wasn't bad at all. I reached mile marker #1 at 10:10. I was hoping to average about 10 minute miles, but I also really wasn't wanting to push myself too much. After all, I only signed up for the race to motivate myself to keep my running miles up at a decent place, not to win anything. I figured that anything under 1:05:00 I'd be happy with although I was hoping to beat my Standalone Time from a week ago.
Somewhere between Miles 1 & 2, I saw a guy sitting on a rock in the park. It looked like it could have been Drew, but it also didn't quite look like him. He was wearing a hat I didn't recognize and the sun shining off his coat made it look grey instead of black. But, as I was running past, I realized that it was in fact him and I yelled out and he snapped a quick picture:
As you can see, it's not really any wonder he didn't see me. I can barely see me! He said he couldn't believe how many people there were and that once he realized how many people were participating that he was wishing a little bit that he had signed up to run with me. I tried to tell him that a month ago, too bad he didn't!
At some point between Mile 2 & 3, I realized that my heart rate was pretty high, especially compared to what it's been when I've been running recently, and I tried to slow down a little bit, but that didn't have much effect, so I took a 30 second walking break as an attempt to try to get it lowered. I don't really think it helped my heart slow down, but mentally it made me feel like I tried, so that was probably what really mattered. When I got to Mile 3, there were a bunch of spectators standing there cheering that we'd made it half-way already! Even though it had taken me 30 minutes to get there, it definitely felt like it was really fast. I ran Mile 2 and 3 in 10 minutes each.
Mile 3 was right at the 72nd Street Transverse and I did briefly wonder what would happen if I just ran across and headed north, cutting off the bottom loop of the Park. I didn't really seriously consider it, I was mostly more just curious what would happen. Would the volunteers stop me? Of course, I just kept running the actual path in the park. Somewhere during Mile 4, the hip opening drills that we had done this morning came back to haunt me. My hips were not happy. I decided in the interest of personal safety that I should take another quick walk break and start again and see how they felt. I took another 30 second walking break and started running again. It was a little bit better and I realized that I could tough it out for another two miles. I was still doing really well on my 10 minute/mile pace, so I was hoping to keep it up for the end of the race too.
Pretty soon I was back to 90th Street and the point where I had met the other Terriers this morning. From that point on, I just kept telling myself that I had already run the rest of the distance once today and I was just re-tracing my steps from earlier. When I reached the mile marker for Mile 6, Drew was standing there. I gave him a fist-bump and kept running strong for the last 0.20 miles to the finish.
My official time was 1:02:12, which is a 10:01 pace. I am thrilled with that pace! Granted, my heart rate was out of control, but I felt okay during the race. I think that if I hadn't been worried about my heart rate and not taken that first 30 second walking break, I would have made it for 10:00 miles, but I'm 100% satisfied with this result, especially since all I really wanted to do was keep myself motivated to keep running.
After I was done with the race, I grabbed a cup of water and a bagel and met up with Drew. They were handing out t-shirts before the race, but I didn't get one because I didn't want to have to either (A) carry it with me or (B) check my t-shirt with the baggage people. I tried to see if I could get one after the fact, but they had packed them up already, so we just headed for the subway home. When we got home, Drew made us brunch and then I settled in for a nap!
Drew was planning on going to the gymnasium this afternoon and in order to keep up with my weight training, I really needed to go too and finish up Week 9's plan, which was legs. Oof. I'm not sure that it was the smartest idea I've ever had to go to the gym with him and do my leg lifting after running a 10K, but I figure it's not the dumbest idea I've ever had either. The lifts are still Pyramid Ups (meaning you add weight and decrease the reps each set) and with Drew's help I definitely lifted above my normal comfort zone.
This was the workout:
Barbell Squats: 1 set of 12 reps @ 45 lbs / 1 set of 12 reps @ 65 lbs / 1 set of 8 reps @ 95 lbs
Leg Press: 1 set of 12 reps @ 135 lbs / 1 set of 10 reps @ 180 lbs / 1 set of 8 reps @ 225 lbs
Leg Extension: 1 set of 12 reps @ 70 lbs / 1 set of 10 reps @ 85 lbs / 1 set of 8 reps @ 100 lbs
Crunches (with weight): 1 set of 20 reps @ 25 lbs / 1 set of 15 reps @ 25 lbs / 1 set of 20 reps @ 25 lbs
I've definitely never done weights that heavy before for any of the lifts. I really owe it all to Drew for pushing me more than I would have pushed myself. He definitely helped me by standing by me and the fact that he was there and I knew he would be able to help me if I couldn't do it myself helped me mentally. I wanted to make sure he didn't have to help me, but I was glad that he was there. The crunches with weight are the first time I've actually done them. All I can really say is that if you're wearing a white shirt while doing it, it's dirty. It also made it harder to do the crunches. Next time I'll try bumping up the weight a little bit.
All in all, it was quite the day today. I know I didn't have the best week earlier this week with workouts, but I'm hoping that today made up for some of that.
Running (1oK)
Time: 1:02:12
Distance: 6.20 miles
Pace: 10:01/mile
Calories: 871
Maximum HR: 195
Average HR: 183
Weight Lifting
Time: 49:10
Calories: 277
Maximum HR: 149
Average HR: 115
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
It's A Little Distressing
This morning I was determined to get back into the swing of things by going to the gymnasium. Although, to be honest, when the alarm went off, I wasn't so sure of that decision. However, I got up and headed off to workout with Drew.
We did a quick 5 minutes on the treadmill as a warm-up. I just jogged slowly at speed 5.5 on the treadmill in order to wake-up my muscles before I made them lift a bunch of heavy things. We then headed over to the weight room and I did the same workout that I had done over the weekend.
Dumbbell Bench Press: 2 sets of 15 reps @ 15 lbs (per arm)
Lat Pulldown (wide grip): 1 set of 15 reps @ 60 lbs / 1 set of 12 reps @ 60 lbs
Leg Press: 2 sets of 15 reps @ 90 lbs
Dumbbell Pullovers: 1 set of 15 reps @ 15 lbs / 1 set of 15 reps @ 20 lbs
Barbell Curls: 1 set of 20 reps @ 20 lbs / 1 set of 15 reps @ 25 lbs
Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 2 sets of 15 reps @ 10 lbs (per arm)
Crunches: 2 sets of 15 reps
I felt a lot better with the workout today than I had on Saturday. I think part of that was that I knew what the exercises were this time around. Drew suggested that I try to make "Day 1" of each week of this plan over the weekend so that I have a little bit more time to figure things out.
After doing the lifting for today, we headed over to do some cardio. I asked Drew what he was going to do and he said the Arc Trainer. I just do not see the appeal of that machine. But, when I told him that I was going to do the Elliptical, he said that he'd join me! So, we found two machines side-by-side and went on our ways. I did a random hill setting on level 8, which, if I'm honest, was mostly pretty easy. It didn't prevent me from working up a sweat though! I will tell you that it's a little distressing to work out for 30 minutes and only go 1.04 miles when you're not swimming.
I also have been contemplating joining New York Road Runners and then signing up for some of their shorter races over the winter. I'm hoping that will give me some motivation to keep running and also help me out in advance of my half-marathon in March!
Warm-Up
Distance: 0.44 Miles
Time: 5:00
Pace: 11:21/mile
Calories: 52
Maximum HR: 168
Average HR: 153
Weight Lifting
Time: 32:38
Calories: 232
Maximum HR: 152
Average HR: 124
Elliptical
Distance: 1.04 Miles
Time: 30:00
Pace: 28:50/mile
Calories: 284
Maximum HR: 168
Average HR: 153
We did a quick 5 minutes on the treadmill as a warm-up. I just jogged slowly at speed 5.5 on the treadmill in order to wake-up my muscles before I made them lift a bunch of heavy things. We then headed over to the weight room and I did the same workout that I had done over the weekend.
Dumbbell Bench Press: 2 sets of 15 reps @ 15 lbs (per arm)
Lat Pulldown (wide grip): 1 set of 15 reps @ 60 lbs / 1 set of 12 reps @ 60 lbs
Leg Press: 2 sets of 15 reps @ 90 lbs
Dumbbell Pullovers: 1 set of 15 reps @ 15 lbs / 1 set of 15 reps @ 20 lbs
Barbell Curls: 1 set of 20 reps @ 20 lbs / 1 set of 15 reps @ 25 lbs
Dumbbell Shoulder Press: 2 sets of 15 reps @ 10 lbs (per arm)
Crunches: 2 sets of 15 reps
I felt a lot better with the workout today than I had on Saturday. I think part of that was that I knew what the exercises were this time around. Drew suggested that I try to make "Day 1" of each week of this plan over the weekend so that I have a little bit more time to figure things out.
After doing the lifting for today, we headed over to do some cardio. I asked Drew what he was going to do and he said the Arc Trainer. I just do not see the appeal of that machine. But, when I told him that I was going to do the Elliptical, he said that he'd join me! So, we found two machines side-by-side and went on our ways. I did a random hill setting on level 8, which, if I'm honest, was mostly pretty easy. It didn't prevent me from working up a sweat though! I will tell you that it's a little distressing to work out for 30 minutes and only go 1.04 miles when you're not swimming.
I also have been contemplating joining New York Road Runners and then signing up for some of their shorter races over the winter. I'm hoping that will give me some motivation to keep running and also help me out in advance of my half-marathon in March!
Warm-Up
Distance: 0.44 Miles
Time: 5:00
Pace: 11:21/mile
Calories: 52
Maximum HR: 168
Average HR: 153
Weight Lifting
Time: 32:38
Calories: 232
Maximum HR: 152
Average HR: 124
Elliptical
Distance: 1.04 Miles
Time: 30:00
Pace: 28:50/mile
Calories: 284
Maximum HR: 168
Average HR: 153
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
